Classical
Paul Badura-Skoda
1927–2019. Austrian pianist. in the Historical Performance Practice tradition.
Renowned Austrian pianist known for his interpretations of Viennese Classical repertoire (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert) on both modern and period instruments. Longtime chamber music partner of Jörg Demus.
12 products
Paul Badura- Skoda plays the Chopin Piano Concertos (1954)
Schubert, F.: Piano Sonatas Nos. 12, 13 and 19
Schubert, F.: 6 Moments Musicaux / Allegretto, D. 915 / Impr
Paul Badura-skoda Plays Franz Schubert
Liszt: Sonata in B Minor, S 178 / Badura-Skoda
Three events were decisive for Paul Badura-Skonda’s beginnings: Furtwangler and Karajan hired the still unknown musician for their concerts in Vienna in 1949. By standing in for the sick Edwin Fischer at the Salzburg Festival in 1950 he became an international star. Major tours as a soloist followed. Further highlights in his career were his first tour of Japan, where he appeared in Tokyo alone 14 times, and the first, highly successful tour through the Soviet Union in 1964, which was followed by many other tours. In 1979, Paul Badura-Skoda was the first Western pianist to perform in China after the Cultural Revolution. In the Mozart jubilee year 1991, he played the cycle of all Mozart’s sonatas in Paris, Vienna Munich, Madrid, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. Paul describes his performance of the B minor Sonata by Franz Liszt from March 29, 1965 in the Carnegie Hall in New York as “one of the most inspired achievements of my career as a pianist.” To confront a perficious and nasty critique two weeks before in the same venue, Badura-Skoda played as unleashed, with an enormous energy, fuelled in part by internal fury. This concert recording which is to an extent owed to that heat of the moment is being published now, featuring a second interpretation of the same Sonata, a studio recording made in the Mozartsaal of the Vienna Konzerthaus six years later. This version is more controlled and, in the calmer passages, more internalized and contemplative than the New York interpretation. Let it be up to the listener to decide which of the two versions is the preferred one.
Schubert: Wanderer-fantasie & Piano Sonata No. 15
Haydn: Sonates et variations pour le pianoforte
Schubert: Piano Sonata in D Major, D. 850 & 3 Klavierstücke,
Schubert, F.: Piano Sonatas Nos. 14 and 20
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 29-32
Jean Fournier Plays Chamber and Concerto Works
Legendary Pianists - Famous Piano Concertos
For many decades the orchestras of the German broadcasting service SWR have worked together with many famous musicians from all over the world, including the outstanding pianists selected for this collection, among them Clara Haskil, Jörg Demus, Paul Badura-Skoda, Alicia de Larrocha, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Géza Anda. Furthermore, Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903–1991) is regarded as one of the supreme keyboard masters of the 20th century and must feature in any comparative survey of performances of the central repertoire from Beethoven to Brahms. Annie Fischer (1914–1995), a pupil of Ernst von Dohnányi later went on to make some legendary recordings with Otto Klemperer. Friedrich Gulda (1930–2000) polarized the music scene by embracing the parallel worlds of classical music and jazz in equal measure. He was not only one of the most brilliant pianists of the 20th century with regard to tone and technique, but also one of the wittiest and most musically competent. For decades Wilhelm Kempff (1895–1991) was seen as the leading interpreter of German music from Beethoven and Schubert through Schumann and Liszt to Brahms.
