On this day in 1951 the great Austrian pianist Artur Schnabel passed away. He is most remembered for having been the first pianist to have recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas, a massive project when undertaken in the 1930s: it was part of a prepaid subscription series that helped raise the required funds for the project to proceed, which it did remarkably well considering it was the Great Depression. Schnabel also recorded the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos between 1932 and 1935 with Malcolm Sargent conducting - I believe this was the first complete cycle (please let me know if youre aware that it was not). [He would record 2 through 5 again in the late 1940s, having previously rerecorded 4 and 5 in Chicago in 1942.] It is the 1930s series that is presented here in one clip - how things have changed since the era when these were recorded! Glorious music marvellously played with brio and depth, joy and profundity. Be sure to join the Schnabel Music Foundation here on Facebook, which is run by Arturs granddaughter Ann and her husband Francois - they are doing a terrific job of making public lesser-known aspects of the family musical heritage through the publication of recordings, scores, and correspondence. https://facebook/groups/364819630236630
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 22:33:38 +0000
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