Few musicians have made a greater contribution to Australian music than Max Olding, the pianist who died on 17 November 2021. Competing with Peter Sculthorpe as a youthful pianist, Sculthorpe credited him with his decision to devote himself to composing, since he realised, he could never best his rival at the keyboard.

Olding’s marriage in 1955 to fellow pianist Pamela Page had a fairy-tale quality – they met when they tied for first place in a piano competition in London, and tied the knot the following year in Vienna. It was a fruitful marriage, welding them into a celebrated, much-recorded and much-broadcast piano duo, and producing, in the person of their son Dene, an equally celebrated violinist.

Don’t miss our tribute to Max Olding, this Thursday 9 December at 1pm.

Program items

Prepared by Paul Cooke
with Brian Cornish

Beethoven, L. Violin sonata in F, op 24, Spring (1800-01).    Dene Olding, vn; Max Olding, pf.
Fine Music Tape Archive [23:49]

Rachmaninov, S. Romance; Tarantella, from Suite no 2, op 17 (1901).    Pamela Page, pf; Max Olding, pf.
Fine Music Concert Recording [13:22]

Lutoslawski, W. Partita (1984).    Dene Olding, vn; Max Olding, pf.
Fine Music Concert Recording [16:00]