Piano Playing

It wasn’t until the end of the 1920s that professional duo-piano teams became a regular part of the concert scene with the emergence of Bartlett and Robertson, followed by Vronsky and Babin a bit later, and finally, in 1936, Luboshutz and Nemenoff.

The Swiss pianist Edwin Fischer (1886–1960) first came to prominence in the 1920s. In 1932 he formed his own chamber orchestra, and was one of the first performers to be interested in presenting music of the Baroque era in an historically accurate way. Though his performances were not particularly historically accurate, he did conduct concertos by the likes of Bach and Mozart from the keyboard, which at the time was most unusual. His interpretations, even of Bach, were romantically conceived, but still compelling.

Born in Basel but trained in Berlin, Edwin Fischer earned his fame as one of the great piano masters of pieces by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Five full CDs here are devoted to Fischer's brilliant Bach interpretations including Keyboard Concerto in A; Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D; Concerto in C for 3 Keyboards; Harpsichord Concerto; Fantasia in C Minor , and Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor . Those join selections from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor; Piano Concerto No. 25 in C; Rondo in D , and Minuet in G ; from Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 and Piano Sonata No. 23 ; from Schubert's 4 Impromptus and 6 Moments Musicaux ; from Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat ; from Furtwangler's Symphonic Concerto in B Minor , and more!