Pianist Jascha Nemtsov was on the fast track to success as a concert artist when he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1986 with distinction and a gold medal. Little did he suspect that an accidental meeting would turn him into a musical detective.
After moving from Russia to Germany, he met by chance an Israeli conductor living there who talked about Russian-Jewish composers Nemtsov had never heard of. From the few names given him, he began researching. At first he was only interested in pianists and music composed for them. But his interest in history soon led him to the state library in Berlin where he found a sizable collection of music printed by two Jewish publishers in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century.
He was so pleased by his discoveries that, three years later, he spent six weeks in the Russian archives for literature and the arts at St. Petersburg and Moscow. It was not easy to work there because they have rigid rules and a researcher first has to establish personal connections. But Nemtsov was highly motivated. After 16 years, he emerged with 100 pieces from Israel, Holland, Switzerland and elsewhere. Once he began using them in his concerts and recording them, he received many inquiries from musicians around the world.
Among Nemtsov’s extensive discography are 25 CDs containing world premieres of lost and forgotten pieces he located. Along with the recordings, he wrote seven books about German Jewish composers, their music, struggles and contributions to culture. Today he is vitally important to the arts as both a pianist and as a Jewish musicologist. His honors include the BBC Magazine’s “Disc of the Month” award in April 2006 and the German Record Critics Prize in February 2008
He recently presented in Washington, DC the world premiere of “Hebrew Suite” by Julius Chajes, the American premiere of “Chassidic Suite” for solo piano by Jacob Schoenberg and “Piano Trio” by the Soviet Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Weinberg is now well known in Europe and his opera, “The Passenger,” was the focus of the 2010 Bregentz Festival in Austria. It was based on a novel by an Auschwitz survivor about two women who recognize each other on an ocean liner years after the war. One had been a prisoner, the other a guard. Two stages were used, one set aboard the ship, the other in Auschwitz.
During his research, Nemtsov was eager to find music by Jacob Schoenberg who had edited songbooks about the land of Israel in the 1930s. The composer was highly esteemed at the time by critics, but his work disappeared. Then, three years ago, Nemtsov got a tip from a fan that there might be something at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Sure enough, he found what he was seeking scattered between four different archives.
“It’s important to bring the world this music that was suppressed for so many years,” Nemtsov said. “It is so good that it deserves to be played with other classical works and I hope it will be on many future concert programs.”