Alexander Toradze earned widespread recognition through his distinctive readings of keyboard works by Russian masters, above all Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, and especially Prokofiev. Critics singled out his Philips cycle of the five Prokofiev piano concertos for particular distinction; the Third Concerto from that series was later selected by International Piano Quarterly, after comparison with seventy other versions, as the definitive account of the score. His programs also encompassed Beethoven, Chopin, Bartók, and Shostakovich, together with numerous additional composers. Appearances took him across Europe, the Americas, Japan, and far-flung regions beyond, while he regularly joined his students for extended seven- or eight-hour recitals that surveyed virtually the complete solo piano music of Stravinsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and others. Before each performance he customarily offered a private prayer, and he frequently underscored the central place of spiritual values in artistic endeavor. Over the course of his career he produced numerous recordings, the majority released on EMI and Philips.
He entered the world in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 30, 1952. His father, David, enjoyed recognition as a composer, while his mother practiced ophthalmology and appeared on stage. At the Moscow Conservatory he worked with Jakov Zak and Lev Naumov; during his student years he took second prize at the 1977 Van Cliburn Competition. Upon receiving his diploma in 1978 he was promptly named to the faculty. Engagements throughout the Soviet Union followed, although he increasingly chafed under official restrictions. In 1983, while touring Spain, he left the country and soon settled in the United States. Momentum built rapidly: his first major commercial recording appeared on EMI in 1986, coupling the Prokofiev Seventh Sonata with pieces by Stravinsky and Ravel.
Further discs and engagements ensued, and in 1991 Indiana University South Bend appointed him professor of piano. One of his earliest initiatives there was the creation of the Toradze Piano Studio, through which he guided gifted students from many countries; these same musicians frequently joined him on tour for the lengthy marathon programs already noted. The widely admired Philips set of the Prokofiev concertos, recorded with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra, reached the public in 1998. During the 2002–2003 season Toradze and his studio presented acclaimed marathon concerts in Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Upon his retirement in 2017 the studio was renamed the Indiana University South Bend Piano Studio. On April 23, 2022, while performing Shostakovich’s Second Concerto, he experienced sudden heart failure yet remained onstage to finish the work. Toradze died in South Bend on May 10, 2022, at the age of sixty-nine.
