Pianist Shirley Reisman recounts one frightening tour in the South with the Reisman Trio during the tragic summer in 1955 when 14-year-old Emmet Till was lynched for whistling at a white woman. Since the Trio was popular with black audiences, their hotel canceled their rooms, and their limousines had to use back allies for safety’s sake. But tour they did.
One of the first all-female trios in America, the highly talented sisters were signed up by Columbia Artists to blaze a tour across America. The Reisman sisters were born in Newark, New Jersey, of Jewish and Russian heritage and were famous on the East Coast. The tour thus opened a world to them and they, in turn, captivated audiences wherever they performed.
The Reisman Trio represented an emerging positive face for America in the 1950s and ’60s. Their music overcame race boundaries and linked them to humanity in an era when America was changing.
And yet their music was not the blues, jazz, or any pop favorites. They played classical music. In addition to the standard trio favorites of Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Mendelssohn, the Reismans often featured shorter virtuoso pieces.
The Sisters
Shirley Reisman, the oldest of the sisters, is a remarkable pianist. Some of her luminary teachers included Rudolf Firkusny, and Wanda Landowska. She lived in Paris for a time and impressed many with her uncanny ability to turn a phrase beautifully.
Her magic on the keyboard cannot always be taught—it is just the precise ability to give each note its due measure, with a result we call rubato.
Her sister, violinist Mona Reisman-Schoen, earned extra money playing gypsy music (in addition to freelancing in all violin styles) at the prestigious Weylin Hotel in Manhattan. Great artists would frequent her performances where she was often the featured player.
Mona was taught by the greats Oscar Shumsky and Shmuel Ashkenasi, among others. She always had a very eloquent sense of taste and never fell for exaggerations found in the music of some modern-day players.
In later years, Mona was a principal player in the Chicago Lyric Opera. She and her virtuoso violist husband, William Schoen (formerly the principal violin with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony), performed many chamber music concerts together.
Last in the trio is Barbara Reisman, the youngest member of the group, who plays the cello. Barbara is so talented that she impressed the great Felix Salmond, teacher of Rose Miller and Orlando Cole.
Her career is remarkable. Beautiful as well as talented (she was Miss Newark in the 1960s) Bobby, as her friends affectionately call her, worked with the who’s who of the cello world: Leonard Rose, Janos Starker, and Bernard Greenhouse. She was flexible enough to have been chosen by Charles Mingus, the great jazz bass player, to be featured on tours.
In addition, Bobby has a remarkable singing voice, has won competitions, and was a featured guest for the famous TV programs of Paul Whitman and Arthur Godfrey, in addition to having her own television program in Newark.
To this date, her prowess on the cello and vocally is unmatched. I know of no other artist who can sing the complex and great work by Heitor Villa-Lobos, “Bachianas Brasileiras,” which demands dexterity and great pitch control from both the cello and vocal line.
Such beauty and talent coming from one family—remarkable!
Eric Shumsky is a concert violist. For more information, see www.shumskymusic.com .
