Vlastimil Lejsek

Vlastimil Lejsek was a pianist, composer, teacher and co-founder of a piano duet he formed together with his wife Věra, née Králová.

They were true groundbreakers in this field in Czechoslovakia. Thanks to their extensive concert activity and a plentiful number of recordings at the Czech Radio and on LPs, they stimulated authors to create new compositions, and premiered many contemporary pieces, both Czech and of foreign origin. In 1978 they established the International Schubert Competition for Piano Duets in the town of Jeseník, which currently belongs to prominent competitions worldwide.

As for his compositional efforts, Vlastimil Lejsek started writing early on, but his interest in piano interpretation soon took over, mainly thanks to two teachers: František Schäfer and František Maxián.

His solo repertoire included principal works by such authors as Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Ferenc Liszt (best performance award at Liszt Competition in Budapest in 1956 for Lejsek’s rendering of Liszt’s 2nd Legend), Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Darius Milhaud (who referred to Lejsek as “best performer of my music”), George Gershwin and others.

When he got back to composing, it was mainly his instrument – the piano – that inspired him. He wrote both for solo piano (Preludes, Měsíční suita /Moon Suite/, Pianisté a koně /Pianists and Horses/, Písničky ze sklepa /Songs from the Cellar/, Sonatella, etc.), and for piano duets (Duets, Balady z Moravy /Ballads from Moravia/, Brazilské tance /Brazil Dances/, Tanečky mistrů /Dances of the Masters/, Sonata, Quattuor ludibria, etc.).

Many of his works were dedicated to children and the youth. Surprisingly, he never considered himself a composer, although he was a member of the Club of Moravian Composers. He referred to himself as a composing pianist who writes for pleasure.

Titles for sale:
Twenty-one Reminiscenses of a Piano Veteran