I must tell you, this was A REAL MAN! One of the first pupils of Heinrich Neuhaus, a close friend of Gilels and Richter (YOU CAN SEE THEIR PICTURE TAKEN TOGETHER IN BRUNO MONSANGEON'S BOOK ON RICHTER!), a husband of another devoted neuhaus' adept Bertha Marantz, the founder of the piano faculty of the Saratov Conservatory in Russia. Uh, I think it's more than enough. AND HE ALSO WAS A GREAT PIANIST AND
In 1925 he left his native Tiflis for Moscow to study with Constantin Igumnov, but was accepted into Neuhaus' class. There he met his love Neuhauses adept Bertha Solomonovna Marantz
It was actually the Bendizkies who saved Neuhaus' life during WWII when the Moscow NKVD authorities deported him to Siberia.
While his train was passing Sverdlovsk where Benditzky and Marantz used to work, a delegation of the local musicians went to the first secretary of the local communist orgaznization Adrianov to ask him to permit Neuhaus to stay in Sverdlovsk instead of continuing his trip to the place of his exile. Adrianov's son studied piano at the local music school, so the musicians tried to persuade him that Neuhaus would give him piano lessons.
His brother cellist Naoum Benditzky emigrated to the US and at time s played at the NBC orchestra
Senya Bendizky never hesitated to express his opinion openly, unlike others, he was not a career maker or anything like that. He came into the history of music not only because of his performances, but because of his unbelievable sense of humor. His jokes picked in Saratov were cited in the Mosocw musical circles, especially his famous said to one of his students: YOUNG MAN, WHY ARE YOU HARRASING THE MELODY WHILE YOU SHOULD FUCK HER? He was a great lover of curses and bad words, and it didn't make him any harm at all.
A WWII veteran, Benditzky was a strong men until his very last days. He liked to bathe in Volga during the winter, and also was so highly attracted by his female piano students at the age of eighty, that they had to switch from skirts to pants to attend his lessonns. his reaction was "Why do you wear pants, it' not sexy!"
Only God knows how I regret that never met him.
But then another opportunity opened to me. I happened to be a friend of his two sons, Alexander (Shurik), son of Bertha Marantz, and Nathan, his son from the second marriage.