Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No.1 op.15 in d minor, "Maestoso"
Vladimir Horowitz (piano)
Bruno Walter conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra
Amsterdam (1936) [15:51]

Gustav Mahler
"Das Lied von der Erde: VI. Der Abschied"
Kathleen Ferrier (alto)
Bruno Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna (1947) [28:21]

Robert Schumann
Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 a minor op.105"
Gidon Kremer (violin)
Martha Argerich (piano)
La Chaux de Fonds, CH (1986)
1. Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck [7:24] 
2. Allegretto [4:07] 
3. Lebhaft [5:01] 

 
Bruno WALTER (1876 - 1962)

Bruno Walter was a conductor and composer. He was born in Berlin, but moved to several countries between 1933 and 1939, finally settling in the USA. His original name was Bruno Walter Schlesinger, but he dropped his surname.

Like Otto Klemperer, Walter worked with Mahler, and his performances of Mahler's works are considered outstanding, particularly his recording of the Ninth Symphony, the first performance of which he was privileged to give.

He also gave the first performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, which he later recorded in a famous recording with Kathleen Ferrier. Other first performances by Walter include Pfitzner's Der arme Heinrich.

He performed the works of another Viennese composer, Anton Bruckner, and his recording of that composer's Ninth Symphony is also a landmark performance.

Walter was a distinguished conductor of music from the classical period, and his recorded performances of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are well loved. He also directed opera, and gave productions of Mozart operas at the Metropolitan Opera which are now available on CD, together with his performances of Beethoven's Fidelio.

Vladimir HOROWITZ (1903 - 1989)

Vladimir Horowitz was born in Kiev, Russia on 1 October, 1903. His father was an engineer, his mother a musician with whom he began to study the piano at age six. At fifteen he entered the music conservatory in his native city, studying with Felix Blumenfeld. He graduated in two years with honors and began to perform; his debut in the neighboring town of Kharkov was enthusiastically received. After additional concerts there and some in Kiev, he went on to triumph in Moscow and Leningrad. Thus began one of the most spectacular musical careers of this century. In the 1924-25 season, at the age of 21, he gave 70 concerts, all to capacity audiences.

In the fall of 1925 he played concerts in Berlin, Hamburg and Paris. News of his phenomenal playing spread quickly. In Paris, the American concert manager Arthur Judson heard him and signed him for a tour of the United States, which took place in 1928. His American debut took place on 12 January 1928, at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham, who was also making his American debut.

In 1933 he gave his first solo performances with Arturo Toscanini, who chose Horowitz to play the Emperor Concerto in a Beethoven cycle with the New York Philharmonic. During preparations for the concert the pianist met Toscanini's daughter Wanda, and that December they were married in Milan.

Vladimir Horowitz settled in New York in 1940 and became an American citizen in 1942, and helped raise millions of dollars for the War Bond effort through benefit performances; one of them generated $11,000,000 for the allied forces. In 1953 he retired from the concert stage, and for the next 12 years he did not perform, choosing instead to help a few promising young artists.

On 9 May 1965 he returned to the concert platform in a now-legendary recital at Carnegie Hall. It was the first in a succession of triumphant appearances he made not only in New York, but in Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., Cleveland and other cities. His art was brought to millions via a television special entitled "Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall". His historic return to Russia in 1986 brought worldwide attention.

Kathleen Ferrier was born on April 22, 1912, in a Lancashire village in the north of Enland. Despite the limited financial means of the household, her mother insisted that Kathleen should have a proper education. Very early on, she became fascinated by the piano. Although a very bright student, she seemed to go on to university, but unfortunately, funds were lacking and she had to leave school at the age of 14 to start work as a telephone operator. As a pianist she participated in the many local festivals and won numerous prizes. Very soon, she accompanied her singing friends.

In 1935 Ferrier married and the couple moved to Carlisle (the marriage turned out to be an unhappy one and was later annulled). It was her husband who challenged her to enter the Carlisle Festival for singing. After winning both the piano and singing prizes there in 1937, she decided to work as a professional singer, learning by appearing wherever she was asked. She studied with J.E. Hutchinson, who built her repertoire (songs by Purcell, Bach’s B minor Mass and Passions according to Saint John and Saint Matthew, excerpts from cantatas, Italian arias, oratorios by Handel and Elgars’ The Dream of Gerontius). She continued her studies with Roy Henderson, a former baritone and dedicated teacher who also introduced her to German songs. Within a short time Kathleen Ferrier became one of the world’s leading concert artists. She enjoyed tremendous success in Mahler’s orchestral songs, in songs by Brahms, Schubert and Schumann as well as in oratorios.

She worked with all the celebrated conductors of the time like Monteux, Enescu, Karajan, Van Beinum, Erich Kleiber, Busch and Schuricht, to name but a few. The artist also reintroduced many previously neglected British songs to her audiences. She told in interviews that working with her mentor and fatherly friend Bruno Walter was probably of the greatest importance to her. Glyndebourne Festival saw her as Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia and Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eudridice (sung in English), her only two operatic roles. In 1951, a first operation interrupted her touring and, two years later, death of breast cancer put an early end to her too brief career.

In 1952 she did her last recording "Es ist vollbracht" (St. John Passion). The last words before she passed away on 8th October 1953 were ".. now I'll have eine kleine Pause".