Walter Gieseking

Walter Gieseking – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 5 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:15:21 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Walter Gieseking wurde in Frankreich geboren und wuchs an der französischen und italienischen Riviera auf. Sein Vater, geboren in Lahde im Kreis Minden, hatte Medizin studiert, wurde später aber Entomologe (Schmetterlingskundler). Giesekings Mutter wurde am 27. März 1870 in Berlin geboren. 1911 übersiedelten seine Eltern nach Hannover. Dort erhielt er von 1912 bis 1917 seinen ersten geregelten Klavierunterricht am damaligen Städtischen Konservatorium bei Karl Leimer, dem er nach eigener Aussage seine gesamte Ausbildung als Pianist verdankt. Gieseking hat nie eine Schule besucht und auch keinen Privatunterricht erhalten. Am 31. März 1925 heiratete er in Hannover Annie Haake (1. Dezember 1889 – 2. Dezember 1955); aus der Ehe gingen die Töchter Jutta und Freya hervor. Ein Plan, in die Schweiz zu übersiedeln, scheiterte, da seine Frau abgeneigt war und die Reichsfluchtsteuer eingeführt wurde. Er erwarb ein Haus in Wiesbaden, Wilhelminenstraße 24, wo er fortan seinen festen Wohnsitz hatte.

Nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg verschaffte Gieseking sich bald einen Namen als Konzertpianist in Europa, nach 1926 auch in Amerika, und konzertierte weltweit. Während des Zweiten Weltkriegs lebte Gieseking weiterhin in Deutschland und konzertierte in Europa, auch in von Deutschland besetzten Gebieten. Dies brachte ihm nach 1945 den Vorwurf der Nähe zum Naziregime und der Kollaboration ein und führte zum zeitweiligen Auftrittsverbot.

1947 erhielt er einen Ruf als Professor und Leiter einer Meisterklasse an das Staatliche Konservatorium Saarbrücken. Dieses Amt hatte Gieseking bis zu seinem Lebensende inne. Am 2. Dezember 1955 erlitt er auf dem Weg zu einer Konzertreise in Italien in Stuttgart einen schweren Autounfall, an dessen Folgen seine Frau ums Leben kam. Am 23. Oktober 1956 brach er in London während einer Studioaufnahme für seinen Beethovenzyklus zusammen und musste am gleichen Abend operiert werden; zwei Tage schwankte er zwischen Leben und Tod. Am 26. Oktober 1956 starb er noch nicht ganz 61-jährig.

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Walter Gieseking – Schumann: Arabesque, Kindeszenen & Vogel als Prophet (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 30:46 minutes | 636 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Schumann was always Walter Gieseking’s favorite composer. He promoted him relentlessly even though his compositions were not fashionable in the 1950s. The “Arabesque” from 1954 is a world premiere release, exhumed from our archive!

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Walter Gieseking – Mozart: Piano Works, Vol. 4. Piano Sonatas, K. 279 – 284 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:23:50 minutes | 1,56 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Piano legends of the 20th-century in the spotlight: after Claudio Arrau, it is now Walter Gieseking to be honored with an complete boxset of his Warner recordings. Guided by his refined intelligence of the score, unrivalled technique, and deep understanding of the new recording techniques, he revolutionized piano performance in the post-war years. This collection of Mozart pieces, scheduled by Walter Legge ahead of the composer’s bicentenary in 1956, is one of the crowning glories of his discography. Here is the fourth volume, dedicated to the Piano Sonatas, K. 279 – 284.

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Walter Gieseking – Grieg: Piano Concerto, Op. 16 – Franck: Variations symphoniques, FWV 46 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 45:40 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Walter Gieseking and Herbert von Karajan shared the same views regarding technical innovation in musical recording and always paid close attention to the sound quality of their production. Their artistic collaboration culminated in a series of albums made between 1951-1953 which included the greatest pieces of the concertante repertoire. Here are two iconic Romantic works by Grieg and Franck.

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Walter Gieseking – Debussy: La plus que lente, Études & Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:24:21 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

The foruth release of Walter Gieseking’s mythical 1953 Debussy cycle. Several short works are placed alongside Debussy’s 12 Études and Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra, highlighting Gieseking’s unique ability to vary the nuances of his play and to illuminate Debussy’s music with his incredible palette of colours.

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Walter Gieseking – Ravel: Tombeau de Couperin, Gaspard de la nuit, Pavane pour une infante défunte & Sonatine (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:03:47 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Among the major accomplishments of Walter Gieseking’s career at the piano, the three cycles Mozart, Debussy, and Ravel have influenced generations of musicians and are part of the discographic legend. The Ravel recordings in particular are striking tokens of Gieseking’s unsurpassed refinement and deep understanding of the French spirit, perhaps a legacy of his French childhood?

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Walter Gieseking – Ravel: Miroirs, Jeux d’eau, Valses nobles et sentimentales & À la manière de… (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 53:57 minutes | 1019 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Walter Gieseking is undoubtedly one of the most important interpreters of French piano music. Especially when it comes to Debussy and Ravel, few can compete with him. Excellent pianistic skills, a musical culture of expression and a love of the Mediterranean landscape were important sources of Gieseking’s specialism in this genre.

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Walter Gieseking – Poet of the Piano (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:46:02 minutes | 3,62 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Walter Gieseking was truly an aesthete of the piano and a perfectionist passionate about developments in recording technique. This collection – Poet of the Piano – focuses on his intense recording sessions of the 1950s, into which he put his full energy and soul before his untimely death. Including several tracks made available digitally for the first time, such as Chopin’s Berceuse and Schubert’s Impromptus, it highlights the pianist’s unsurpassable talent from baroque music to the French impressionists.

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Walter Gieseking – Mozart: Piano Works, Vol. 3. Fantasias, Minuets & German Dances (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:01:24 minutes | 2,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Piano legends of the 20th-century in the spotlight: after Claudio Arrau, it is now Walter Gieseking to be honored with an complete boxset of his Warner recordings, out on November 11th 2022. Guided by his refined intelligence of the score, unrivalled technique, and deep understanding of the new recording techniques, he revolutionized piano performance in the post-war years. This collection of Mozart pieces, scheduled by Walter Legge ahead of the composer’s bicentenary in 1956, is one of the crowning glories of his discography. Here is the third volume, dedicated to the wonder child’s “Fantasias, Minuets & German Dances”.

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Walter Gieseking – Mozart: Piano Works, Vol. 2. Variations (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:20:11 minutes | 1,56 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

This volume of Walter Gieseking’s Mozart discography includes mostly variations after opera arias from Mozart’s contemporaries such as Grétry, Gluck or Paisiello, and the famous set after Duport’s minuet.

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Walter Gieseking – Mozart: Piano Works, Vol. 1. Variations & Nannerl Notenbuch (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 57:58 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Piano legends of the 20th-century in the spotlight: after Claudio Arrau, it is now Walter Gieseking to be honored with an complete boxset of his Warner recordings, out on November 11th. Guided by his refined intelligence of the score, unrivalled technique, and deep understanding of the new recording techniques, he revolutionized piano performance in the post-war years. This collection of Mozart pieces, scheduled by Walter Legge ahead of the composer’s bicentenary in 1956, is one of the crowning glories of his discography. Here is the first volume, dedicated to the earliest works of the wonder child collected in the “Nannerl Notebook”, and a few sets of variations such as “Ah, vous dirai-je Maman”.

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Walter Gieseking – Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488 – Schumann: Piano Concerto, Op. 54 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 56:06 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Walter Gieseking and Herbert von Karajan shared the same passion for advanced recording techniques and the same ideal of well-balanced beauty. The few albums they made with the Philharmonia Orchestra are absolute standards of the concertante repertoire, as these beautiful concertos by Mozart and Schumann demonstrate.

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Walter Gieseking – Mendelssohn: 17 Songs without Words by Walter Gieseking (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:32 minutes | 837 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alexandre Bak – Classical Music Reference Recording

Walter Gieseking wurde in Frankreich geboren und wuchs an der französischen und italienischen Riviera auf. Sein Vater, geboren in Lahde im Kreis Minden, hatte Medizin studiert, wurde später aber Entomologe (Schmetterlingskundler). Giesekings Mutter wurde am 27. März 1870 in Berlin geboren. 1911 übersiedelten seine Eltern nach Hannover. Dort erhielt er von 1912 bis 1917 seinen ersten geregelten Klavierunterricht am damaligen Städtischen Konservatorium bei Karl Leimer, dem er nach eigener Aussage seine gesamte Ausbildung als Pianist verdankt. Gieseking hat nie eine Schule besucht und auch keinen Privatunterricht erhalten. Am 31. März 1925 heiratete er in Hannover Annie Haake (1. Dezember 1889 – 2. Dezember 1955); aus der Ehe gingen die Töchter Jutta und Freya hervor. Ein Plan, in die Schweiz zu übersiedeln, scheiterte, da seine Frau abgeneigt war und die Reichsfluchtsteuer eingeführt wurde. Er erwarb ein Haus in Wiesbaden, Wilhelminenstraße 24, wo er fortan seinen festen Wohnsitz hatte.

(more…)

Walter Gieseking – Grieg: Lyric Pieces (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:40:48 minutes | 2,13 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

An expert in the delicate art of miniature, Walter Gieseking excelled in short evocative pieces in which his technical mastery and unique sensitivity worked wonders. The numerous albums of Lyric Pieces by Edvard Grieg were a constant source of inspiration for him: he recorded some selections on many occasions, and added excerpts to his concert programs with the same enthusiasm. This album includes the complete set recorded at the very end of his life, coupled with some earlier renditions from the 1948 sessions.

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Walter Gieseking – Debussy: Images, Children’s Corner, Masques & L’isle joyeuse (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 51:17 minutes | 938 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Here is the first volume of Walter Gieseking’s legendary complete Debussy recordings from 1953-1954. They were the first complete cycle ever put on record and display an incredible variety and delicacy.

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