Wilhelm Backhaus - Brahms Recital / Mendelssohn (2020) (Hi-Res)

Backhaus began his training at the Leipzig Conservatory at the age of ten under Alois Reckendorf. He then had some lessons for around a year with Eugen d’Albert in Frankfurt, but after this received no more formal training. Although he had played in public since he was eight, he made his professional debut in 1900, following it with a tour. He had, by this time, a large repertoire of more than 300 pieces and at least twelve concertos. At his London debut he played Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor Op. 25 and Brahms’s Variations on a theme by Paganini Op. 35. A year after this he substituted at short notice for Alexander Siloti at one of the Hallé concerts in Manchester, and three years later took up a post as professor of piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In the same year Backhaus won the prestigious Anton Rubinstein Prize in Paris, adding a further boost to an already burgeoning career as a pianist that continued until a few days before his death.

Backhaus continued touring Europe, and a programme from a 1911 British tour shows the repertoire he favoured at that time. He began with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 111, followed it with Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B minor Op. 58, and continued with a Chopin group containing études, waltzes, a nocturne, a prélude and the Scherzo in C sharp minor Op. 39. The recital ended with Debussy and Liszt. Not long after this he decided to play in the USA. For his debut he chose Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto which he played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Walter Damrosch at Carnegie Hall. He returned to Germany for the duration of World War I and took Swiss citizenship between the two world wars.

Tracklist

01. Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118-1. Intermezzo in A Minor
02. Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118-2. Intermezzo in A Major
03. Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118-3. Ballade in G Minor
04. Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118-4. Intermezzo in F Minor
05. Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118-5. Romance in F Major
06. Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118-6. Intermezzo in E-Flat Minor
07. Brahms: 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 76-2. Capriccio in B minor
08. Brahms: 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117-No. 1 in E-Flat Major: Andante moderato
09. Brahms: Rhapsody in B Minor, Op. 79 No. 1
10. Brahms: 7 Piano Pieces, Op. 116-6. Intermezzo in E Major
11. Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119-2. Intermezzo in E Minor
12. Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119-3. Intermezzo in C Major
13. Mendelssohn: Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14
14. Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62-6. Andante grazioso in A Major "Spring Song"
15. Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62-1. Andante espressivo in G Major "May Breeze"
16. Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 67-4. Presto in C Major "The Bee's Wedding"