WILHELM BACKHAUS The complete 1940s studio recordings

APR5637

1CD (82'51)

Electrola recording, Berlin  
1-3. MOZART Piano Concerto No 26 in D major K537 ‘Coronation’ 
BERLIN STATE OPERA ORCHESTRA / FRITZ ZAUN Recorded circa November 1941
HMV Recordings, Wolfbach Studio, Zürich
4-6. BACH Italian Concerto in F major BWV971 Recorded on 17 March 1948  
7-8. BACH Prelude and Fugue No 21 in B flat major BWV890 (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2) Recorded on 17 March 1948  
9-11. MOZART Piano Sonata in A major K331 Recorded on 16 March 1948 
12-15. BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata in E flat major Op 31 No 3 Recorded on 15–16 March 1948 
16. SCHUBERT Impromptu in E flat major D899/2 (Op 90 No 2) Recorded on 16 March 1948 

German pianist, Wilhelm Backhaus (1884–1969) left a 60-year recorded legacy which began in 1908, but a major turning point came in 1950 when he switched allegiance from HMV to Decca. His last HMV recordings, included in this set, are amongst his least known and it appears that those from his final HMV sessions in Zürich in 1948 are reissued here for the first time. Backhaus had settled in Switzerland in the 1930s and although he continued to perform in Germany during the war, he only made one commercial recording, which was done for HMV’s German affiliate Electrola. This recording, of Mozart’s ‘Coronation’ concerto, came about because of celebrations to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary and the result is particularly ebullient. Backhaus plays his own cadenzas and ornaments profusely in the slow movement, something very unusual in Mozart performance of the time. This exceptionally well-filled disc also includes full documentation explaining for the first time why Backhaus became disenchanted with HMV and left them for Decca.

APR5637 Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream