Sunday 24 February 2013

Wolfgang Sawallisch, pianist

The auditorium seems empty. Wolfgang Sawallisch is dead, aged 89. All the obits give details of his career – look them up. When I write obits I try to add something personal. But it takes time, in order to do the person justice. So this time, something simple. Everyone has favourite memories of a conductor who seems to have been present all our lives.  His Munich era means most to me, because those were golden days whn Fischer-Dieskau, Schreier, Moser and others were active. The first thing that popped into my mind on hearing of his death was his Meistersinger with DFD.  But I'll post something different. Sawallisch was also a pianist, who accompanied Lieder singers. Here is a recording by an ensemble called "Capella Bavariae".  Here they're singing Schubert Der Gondelfahrer D809. Recognize the voices ? (Read more about this song here)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Regrettably, this video "contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in [my]country [the US] on copyright grounds". Fortunately, the song (sung by different singers) is also on the Hyperion Schubert Edition on the "Schubert 1822-1825" disc.