News Wilhelm Backhaus

Bach 2022 

[…] 1881 in Hannover.  A wonderful musician, he was a student and friend of Ferruccio Busoni, and helped his teacher in editing the 25-volume version of all Bach’s clavier compositions.  And like Busoni, Egon Petri wrote several piano arrangements of Bach’s music.  Here is one of them, the arrangement of Bach’s chorale prelude Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit (I Step Before Thy Throne), BWV 668.  Petri recorded it in 1958. Another brilliant German pianist, Wilhelm Backhaus was three years younger than Petri, he was born on March 26th of 1884 in Leipzig.  Backhaus’s career was very long: he went on his first concert tour of England in 1900 and recorded Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2 with Karl Böhm in April of 1968, when he was 83, his formidable technique still quite in place.  The problem with Backhaus (as with Böhm) is that he was a supporter of the Nazi regime […]

Bartok & more, 2021 

[…] of the stars of his generation; he performed with all major orchestras and played at many major halls worldwide.  In 1960, two years after Van Cliburn had won the first Tchaikovsky competition, Janis toured the Soviet Union with spectacular success.  In 1973 he developed arthritis which brought his brilliant career to a halt.  Here’s Byron Janis playing Rachmaninov’s Prelude in E-Flat Major, Op. 23, No. 6 And then there are two моrе eminent pianists, Wilhelm Backhaus and Rudolf Serkin.  Backhaus was born on March 26th of 1884 in Leipzig, Serkin – on March 28th of 1903 in Eger, a town in Bohemia now called Cheb.  Both immensely talented, both great interpreters of the music of Beethoven, both native German speakers, both spent a lot of time in the US, but it’s hard to imagine more different biographies.  Backhaus was close to the Nazis and knew Hitler personally, though eventually he […]

Filling In The Gaps: Wilhelm Backhaus’ 1940s Recordings 

The recording career of Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) spanned 60 years from 1908 until the pianist’s final recital in 1969, shortly before his death. The Pearl, Biddulph, and APR labels reissued most of his 78s, while Universal Classics brought out a boxed set encompassing Backhaus’ complete Decca recordings. Although the pianist’s Mozart “Coronation” concerto recorded around […]

Ataulfo Argenta Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" Smetana: The Bartered Bride -  Overture Chapi and Gimenez: Zarzuela Preludes and Intemezzos Orquesta Nacional de EspañaOrchestre de la Suisse RomandeRecorded 1955-57 Claudio ArrauChopin: Piano Concerto No. 1Beethoven: piano Concerto No. 4Otto KlempererChristoph von DohnanyiKolner RSORecorded 1954 and 1959 Wilhem Backhaus Schubert: Impromptu Op. 142 No. 3 Beethoven: Sonata HammerklavierPiano Sonata No. 6 Recorded 1959 Sir John BarbirolliHaydn: Symphony No. 83 "The Hen"Berlioz: Symphonie FantastiqueSWF Baden- Baden SORecorded 1969Sir John Barbirolli Schubert: Symphony No. 4 "Tragic" Britten: Serenade Sibelius: Symphony No. 2Gerard English tenorHermann Baumann hornKolner RSO Recorded 1969 Sir Adrian BoultElgar: Symphony No. 2Wagner: Tannhauser - Overture and Venusberg MusicBBC Symphony Orchestra and ChorusRecorded 1968 and 1977Guido Cantelli Rossini. Semiramide - Overture Schumann: Symphony No. 4 Brahms: Symphony No. 1 Philharmonia Orchestra Recorded 1953 Guido CantelliSchumann: Symphony No. 4Debussy: La MerLe Martyre […]