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Edwin Fischer

Edwin Fischer

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Posted to: rec.music.classical.recordings
Subject: Edwin Fischer
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995

Ian Bell asks:

Can someone suggest some (currently available) recordings by Edwin Fischer?

Fischer was one of the great pianists of the 20th century. He was born in Switzerland in 1886, to a father who was alive when Beethoven walked the earth, and whose grandfather was alive at the time of Johann Sebastian Bach! His wild, Eraserhead-like shock of hair is unmistakeable, as is the fierce probing intelligence that informs his playing. Like Artur Schnabel, Fischer tended to stress interpretation and meaning over pure digital skill, so there are sometimes rough patches in his playing, but often the insights that he offers make up for that.

The liner notes accompanying a CD I recently bought suggested that Fischer's best work was done before WW II, when his technique was somewhat more secure. There are several groups of Fischer recordings: some are studio efforts made for EMI, both before and after the war, others are concert performances that have found their way to CD on various reissue and semi-pirate labels.

Concerto Recordings

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Ludwig van Beethoven

Ruediger Fritsch wrote:

What I would like to know is which Beethoven sonatas with Fischer are actually available on CD? I have only one (the one that comes bundled with the 5th piano concerto; am I the only one who likes the sonata on this disc more than the concerto??).

A search of H&B Direct's database pulled up the following CD's:

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Franz Schubert

It's available in a few incarnations. There are lovely-sounding reissues on APR and Pearl, coupled with a fine Wanderer Fantasy. Several other editions (some pirated) offer the same coupling.

Fischer was also capable of being a remarkably sensitive accompanist. Try to find an EMI compilation of Schubert songs, where Fischer's intelligent style serves as a perfect foil to Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's probing interpretations.

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Finally, Fischer was a Bach player of rare refinement and musicianship. His pioneering recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier remains one of the finest, and has been available on 3 EMI CD's. He also made a classic series of recordings of the keyboard concerti, along with other solo pieces, for EMI with a chamber orchestra of his own devising. (I think there may also be a complete Brandenburg cycle.) These are in the process of being reissued, again on EMI's Great Recordings of the Century Series; CDH 7 63039 2 and CDH 7 64928 2 should still be available, and include a series of concerti recorded with Fischer's characteristic brand of intelligent, thoughtful, stylish musicianship, and the latter CD has some solo pieces including a uniquely compelling Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.

Written in January of 1998, about Pearl GEMM CD 9481

An interesting compilation sampling a range of Fischer's art. I found most of the Baroque stuff less than compelling; I've heard Bach organ works played by organists with a more organ-like sonority (perhaps by using more bass and pedal?), and found myself yearning for an organ, particularly in the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue. The Handel Chaconne is interesting, though -- in Fischer's hands, you almost feel like you've tuned into a lost Goldberg Variation, or something.

The Schubert I already know from a complete set of the Impromptus, and love dearly. The Beethoven left me oddly disappointed. Perhaps it's the prewar recorded sound (and the awareness of fine modern-sound recordings like Stephen Kovacevich on EMI), but I didn't find the kind of logic and sweep that I was hoping for from Fischer's hands. The Mozart, though, is a gem: lovely and lyrical without ever being precious, a wonderful recording. The closing Ricercar is a new arrangement to me, though I wonder how much it influenced other arrangements, like Neville Marriner's, for instance.