Bronisław von Poźniak
After the family moved to Krakow, he received lessons from renowned teachers at the conservatoire such as Felicjan Szopski (1865–1939), Jerzy Lalewicz [pl] (1875–1951) and Władysław Żeleński (1837–1921).
In addition to solo concertizing, these were above all his great interest in pedagogical activity (he began teaching at the Ochs-Eichelberger Conservatory in Berlin while still a student) and his passion for chamber music, which then led to the formation of a piano trio.
[10] In addition to this pedagogical work, there was intensive solo activity, performances in piano duos[11] and, above all, concert tours with his trio to the most important cities in Europe.
Because he played music with Jewish artists, he was blacklisted by the National Socialist rulers, suspended from service at the university institute for a year, but then reinstated.
Fleeing the Russian army from Breslau on 3 February 1945, Pozniak and his family first went to Markranstädt, then in August 1945 to Leipzig, where he stayed for three and a half years, and later to Halle.
In his memoirs[14] Pozniak, now homeless, unemployed and almost penniless, describes the difficulties the unwelcome and ill-treated refugees had to contend with and how he, the once celebrated and popular pianist and teacher, had to stand his ground against the united front of hostile colleagues.
Pozniak decided, partly because of the political situation which did not allow performances abroad, to give up concertizing and devote himself to publishing work in addition to his pedagogical activities.
The enormous workload, the sometimes adverse living conditions, the unresolved fate of his eldest son Jan, who had been missing during the war, exhausted the strength of the musician, who was also admired by young people in his new homeland.
The focus was on the weight technique of Rudolf Maria Breithaupt and its uncompromising rejection by Elisabeth Caland in favour of the use of the back muscles and the lowering of the shoulder blades.
It reflects Pozniak's pedagogical experience and he also wants to make piano playing easier in this sector, in contrast to other editors who lead the player into blind alleys through some quibbles.
Thus, the finger changes for repeated notes and ornaments are consistently dispensed with, as is practised by most pianists today and as was already presented by, for example, Gottfried Galston in his study book and Ferruccio Busoni in the preface to his later edition of J. S. Bach's 2-part inventions.
Here one can reproach Pozniak for not having taken into account that Chopin, for all the differences in the effect of the damping of the pianos of the time, very well sometimes intended sound mixtures and therefore resorted to pedal indications that seem bold to us today.
[19] The surviving sound documents with his piano trio show, despite the age-related acoustic-technical deficiencies, a sensitive musician, responsive to his fellow players, whose slender and transparent tone, also according to his partners and critics, made him an ideal chamber music pianist.
Berlin, late 1920 / early 1921 Trio Pozniak-Deman-Beyer: Bronislaw von Pozniak (piano), Rudolf Deman (violin), Hans Beyer (violoncello) Recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon AG.
Berlin, 1925 Auslandslabel: POLYDOR Pozniak-Trio: Bronislaw von Pozniak (piano); Carl Freund (violin); Joseph Schuster (cello) Recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon AG.
Berlin, 1926 Pozniak-Trio: Bronislaw von Pozniak (piano); Carl Freund (violin); Joseph Schuster (cello) with Emmi Leisner, alto Recordings for the Electrola AG.
Berlin, 23 October 1930 Pozniak-Trio: Bronislaw von Pozniak (piano); Carl Freund (violin); Jascha Bernstein (violoncello) RUNDFUNK.
