Eduard Steuermann plays Schönberg -- 5 Piano Pieces, Opus 23

Arnold Schönberg (or Schoenberg, 1874-1951): Fünf Klavierstücke, Opus 23 (1920-1923) Nr. 1: Sehr langsam (1920) Nr. 2: Sehr rasch (1920) Nr. 3: Langsam (1923) Nr. 4: Schwungvoll (1920/1923) Nr. 5: Walzer (1923) Eduard Steuermann, piano Rec. 1951 Though not much remembered today, Eduard Steuermann (1892–1964, his given name is sometimes spelled Edward in America) was one of the more significant participants in the Second Viennese School, though more known as pianist than composer. A Polish Jew, he studied with both Schoenberg and Busoni, and (following the familiar pattern) fled the Nazis in the 1930s, becoming a professor of piano at the Philadelphia Conservatory and later at Juilliard while maintaining his career as a touring concert artist. Among his many distinguished students are Alfred Brendel, Lorin Hollander, Lili Kraus, and Joseph Kalichstein. As an interpreter of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, Steuermann had the tremendous advantage of being “present at the creation”. He premiered the piano works of Schoenberg and Webern under their guidance, and continued to play them, along with the piano parts in their chamber pieces and the solo in Schoenberg’s 1942 Piano Concerto, for decades afterwards, all over the world. He also arranged their music for smaller, more practical ensembles. Steuermann’s performances of Schoenberg’s piano music are inimitable and authoritative: more shapely, expressive, and nuanced than any other pianist's—including such luminaries as Rosen, Gould, Jacobs, and Pollini. He simply knew this music so intimately, and identified so completely with its emotional world, that it comes across with a clarity of line, verve, and humane warmth that no one else can match. Mark L Lehman American Record Guide, July 2011