Backhaus: The Complete British Acoustic Recordings, 1908-25

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Backhaus was among the giants of 20th-century keyboard artists, renowned for his solid--some would say stolid--Beethoven and Brahms interpretations. The younger Backhaus was a more overtly virtuosic pianist with a wide repertory. This invaluable Pearl set covers his British recordings, starting in 1908 when he was only 24, and it includes composers and works he abandoned in later years when he pared his programs down to essential masterworks. So we get his only recordings of Rachmaninoff, whom he admired as the greatest among living piano composers, along with Bach, Scarlatti, and others. Backhaus's dazzling virtuosity can be heard in his abridged Brahms Paganini Variations, the Liszt, La Campanella, with its marvelously even runs, and the Weber, Perpetuum Mobile, with precise articulation at fast speeds, among many other examples. Some of his early electrical recordings fill out disc two, sounding fresher than most of the acoustics. Seth Winner's transfers on both well-filled discs are uniformly fine. Collectors of historical recordings will want these rarities. --Dan Davis

Tracks:

Prelude In C Sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2
Liebestraum No. 3 In A Flat
'Harmonious Blacksmith' Vars
Prelude No. 1 In C, Op. 28, No. 1
Etude No. 1 In C, Op. 10, No. 1
Norwegian Bridal Procession, Op. 19, No. 2
Finale: Perpetuum Mobile
Fantasy-Impromptu In C Sharp Minor, Op. 66
La Cam-panella
Etude No. 20 In D Flat, Op. 25, No. 8
Etude No. 21 In G Flat, Op. 25, No. 9
Etude No. 5 In G Flat, Op. 10, No. 5
Prelude
Fugue
Etude No. 18 In G Sharp Minor, Op. 25, No. 6
Etude No. 13 In A Flat, Op. 25, No. 1
Etude In E Flat Minor, Op. 10, No. 12
First Movement (Abridged)
Third Movenment (Abridged)
Novelette No. 7 In E, Op. 21, No. 7
Waltz No. 11 In G Flat, Op. 70, No. 1
Waltz No. 14 In E Minor, Op. Posth.
Waltz No. 5 In A Flat, Op. 42
Polka In F
Sonata In F, L. 188 (Kk. 525)
Sonata In G, L. 490 (Kk. 523)
Etude No. 7 In C, Op. 10, No. 7
Waltz No. 6 In D Flat, Op. 64, No. 1
Moment Musical No. 3 In F Minor, Op. 94, No. 3
Hark! Hark! The Lark!

Tracks:

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Abridged)
Polka In F
Naila Waltz
Polonaise No. 6 In A Flat, Op. 53 (Abridged)
Caprice Espagnol, Op. 37
Don Juan Seranade
Widmung
Liebestraum No. 3 In A Flat
Waltz No. 5 In A Flat, Op. 42
Variations On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 35, Book I
Variations On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 35, Book II
Berceuse In D Flat, Op. 57
Moment Musical No. 3 In F Minor, Op. 94, No. 3
Traumeswirren, Op. 12, No. 7
Scherzo
Triana, No. 6
Don Juan Serenade

Amazon.com

Backhaus was among the giants of 20th-century keyboard artists, renowned for his solid--some would say stolid--Beethoven and Brahms interpretations. The younger Backhaus was a more overtly virtuosic pianist with a wide repertory. This invaluable Pearl set covers his British recordings, starting in 1908 when he was only 24, and it includes composers and works he abandoned in later years when he pared his programs down to essential masterworks. So we get his only recordings of Rachmaninoff, whom he admired as the greatest among living piano composers, along with Bach, Scarlatti, and others. Backhaus's dazzling virtuosity can be heard in his abridged Brahms Paganini Variations, the Liszt, La Campanella, with its marvelously even runs, and the Weber, Perpetuum Mobile, with precise articulation at fast speeds, among many other examples. Some of his early electrical recordings fill out disc two, sounding fresher than most of the acoustics. Seth Winner's transfers on both well-filled discs are uniformly fine. Collectors of historical recordings will want these rarities. --Dan Davis

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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