Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ernst von Dohnanyi, Johann II [Junior] Strauss :: Piano Masters: Ernö Dohnányi

Regrettably , This Is Not His Best

BLee | HK | 03/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In his prime Dohnanyi was almost at the top of the world being hailed as the best Hungarian pianist since Liszt. He even compared favourably with Paderewski, the other world famous pianist then. Thereafter he was right at the top of the musical scene in Hungary being a composer/conductor and director of the national radio who at the same time also headed the Budapest Conservatoire all for a such long time that music and piano had virtually become his mother tongue. Rachmaninoff had also been driving a three horse chariot (composer/conductor/painist), but Dohnanyi had done it for a much longer time. And Dohnanyi had undergone more sufferings and humiliation including the death of his own son. In comparion Rachmaninoff was just a nostalgic exile in essence.It was Dohnanyi who championed Bartok. And his pupils included Sir George Solti, Geza Anda, Cziffra, Annie Fischer, Kilenyi... and his grandson is now a famous conductor too. Even as a composer, he is underrated even though his works regularly appear in modern reportoire. Perhaps it's time to put aside the politics...No less impressing would be Dohnanyi at the piano recorded in the US universities after all those upheavals and turmoils when he finally settled as a teacher. Sauer once remarked of Liszt: he struck a cord so sad like nobody else, that it ran right through your heart... Much the same could be said of Dohnanyi's playing, be it Mozart or otherwise. He was literally a piano wizard with music right inside his pocket: he could dismantle a piece into tiny little parts and then breathe life into it so that it's a whole again right in front of your eyes with such grace and elegance that left you stunned. To him each note, each line, each rubato or each pause all had a life and meaning to it and yet he was never showy nor erudite. His playing is well behind the notes/scores but never far away. He had captivated the art as well as the mysteries of everything about music. Obviously Glenn Gould hadn't heard him when he said structurally Mozart is impossible. Very heart-felt and touching. Definitely an artist of the highest rank. Strongly recommended."