Early life Thomas Richard Farrell was born in
Auckland in 1926 to Thomas and Ella Farrell, and spent most of his young years in
Wellington. His parents were not musicians, but his uncle, John Farrell, was an actor and singer with
J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd. At the age of 12, he was noted to possess
absolute pitch. At the age of 12 he moved to
Sydney,
Australia with his mother Ella and two brothers, Peter and Paul, going on to study under
Alexander Sverjensky at the
New South Wales Conservatorium of Music for five years. On Kapell's personal recommendation he was granted a full scholarship to study with
Olga Samaroff at the
Juilliard School in
New York. He remained with Samaroff for the remaining two years of her life, and she was said to have pronounced that Richard Farrell was the best student she had ever had. He also studied conducting at Juilliard with
Serge Koussevitzky. At Juilliard, he was noticed by
Aaron Copland and studied his 1941 Piano Sonata, which became a feature of his repertoire. Copland was heard to commend Farrell for performing the sonata without the aid of a musical score, saying, "Although I composed it myself, I can't memorise it". His tours also included
India. His solo and concerto repertoire included Brahms
Sonata No. 3, Ballades,
Waltzes, Op. 39, and the
Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel;
Ravel's
Concerto for the Left Hand and
Gaspard de la nuit;
Chopin's
B minor Sonata and
Études, Op. 10; Schumann's
Fantasie in C; Beethoven's concertos
No. 4 in G major and
No. 5 in E flat, "Emperor", and the
"Appassionata" and
E-flat major, Op. 7 sonatas;
Prokofiev's
7th Sonata;
Tchaikovsky's
Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor;
Rachmaninoff's
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (which he played under Sir Thomas Beecham),
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42, and Preludes; Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 and transcriptions and paraphrases; Grieg's Concerto in A minor,
Ballade in G minor and
Lyric Pieces;
Hindemith's Sonata No. 2; Copland's Sonata; and pieces by
Mendelssohn,
Granados and
Debussy. His musical interests, however, were not confined to the piano in solo recitals or in concertos. He performed all of the
Beethoven violin sonatas in the
Wigmore Hall.
William Alwyn composed his
Fantasy Waltzes in 1956 for Richard Farrell, who played a number of the individual waltzes on a New Zealand tour, and gave their first complete performance at
Broadcasting House, London, on 2 June 1957. Alwyn also dedicated the fifth of his
12 Preludes (1958) to Farrell's memory; it was written shortly after his death.
Death Richard Farrell died in a car accident near
Arundel,
Houghton,
Sussex, on 27 May 1958. The car in which he was travelling left the road and hit a tree, killing all three occupants. He was buried in London. ==Critical reception==