Biography
When Lyubov Bruk and Mark Taimanov were 12, their joint teacher at the Leningrad music school, Samari Savshinsky, expanded their solo repertoire by including rarely performed works for two pianos in their practice programme. As a direct consequence of the German invasion, the music school and conservatory at Leningrad were moved to Tashkent, 1941-1944. There the duo finished music school, entered the conservatory and made their first public appearance (in private they were a twosome, too, from youth on). Completed their studies with distinction in 1948 and embarked on a busy concert career in the Soviet Union. Made recordings for Melodyia. Toured abroad in East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia etc. Parted company, privately and professionally, at the beginning of the 1970s. Bruk and Taimanov's repertoire covered all the great works for two pianos.
In addition to his career in music, Mark Taimanov, since his teens, has had a parallel career throughout the world as a chess grandmaster. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top ten players.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.