Wilhelm Backhaus (1884 - 1969) was internationally recognized and celebrated as an outstanding authority for classical-romantic piano music. Just how well deserved this admiration is can especially be heard in the Beethoven-concerts and the Diabelli-variations which are included in this 10-CD-Box and regarded as "trend setting" by critics until today. Early on Backhaus had become a German pianist of world renown. As a sixteen-year-old he gave his first concert in London. In 1905 he won the coveted Anton Rubinstein Prize in Paris pitted against Klemperer and Bartok. His US debut in 1912 was followed by tours across South America and Australia. Twenty-eight years later he returned to New York a period which is also impressively documented in this CD collection. As an interesting "encore" for collectors there are also examples of rolls that Backhaus had recorded in the 1920s for use in player pianos which were often preferred to the gramophone back then because of their superior sound quality ＜収録内容＞ [Disc 1] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major Op. 15 Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 C-Dur op. 15 1. I Allegro con brio 13'42 2. II Largo 9'18 3. III Rondo: Allegro scherzando 8'50 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B ?at major Op. 19 Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 B-Dur op. 19 4. I Allegro con brio 13'29 5. II Adagio 7'46 6. III Rondo: Molto allegro 6'18 [Disc 2] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Op. 37 Klavierkonzert Nr. 3 c-Moll op. 37 1. I Allegro con brio 16'42 2. II Largo 8'43 3. III Rondo: Allegro 9'25 Piano Concerto No 4 in G major Op. 58 Klavierkonzert Nr. 4 G-Dur op. 58 BONUS Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major Op. 58 Klavierkonzert Nr. 4 G-Dur op. 58 4. I Allegro moderato 17'44 5. II Andante con moto 4'46 6. III Rondo: Vivace 10'19 [Disc 3] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major Op. 73 Klavierkonzert Nr. 5 Es-Dur op. 73 1. I Allegro 19'40 2. II Adagio un poco mosso 7'19 3. III Rondo: Allegro 10'29 BONUS Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major Op. 58 Klavierkonzert Nr. 4 G-Dur op. 58 4. I Allegro moderato 17'45 5. II Andante con moto 4'47 6. III Rondo: Vivace 10'23 [Disc 4] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major Op. 10 No. 2 Klaviersonate Nr. 6 F-Dur op. 10 Nr. 2 1. I Allegro 4'37 2. II Allegretto 3'37 3. III Presto 2'36 Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13 "Pathetique" Klaviersonate Nr. 8 c-Moll op. 13 4. I Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio 6'14 5. II Adagio cantabile 4'47 6. III Rondo: Allegro 4'24 BONUS Piano Sonate No. 8 in C minor Op. 13 "Pathetique" Klaviersonate Nr. 8 c-Moll op. 13 7. I Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio 6'16 8. II Andante cantabile 4'52 9. III Rondo : Allegro 4'35 [Disc 5] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor Op. 10 No. 1 Klaviersonate Nr. 5 c-Moll op. 10 Nr. 1 1. I Allegro molto e con brio 4'13 2. II Adagio molto 6'06 3. III Finale: Prestissimo 3'39 Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor Op. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight" Klaviersonate Nr. 14 cis-Moll op. 27 Nr. 2 "Mondscheinsonate" 4. I Adagio sostenuto 5'42 5. II Allegretto & Trio 2'19 6. III Presto 7'22 Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major Op. 28 "Pastorale" Klaviersonate Nr. 15 D-Dur op. 28 7. I Allegro 6'44 8. II Andante 6'27 9. III Scherzo & Trio: Allegro vivace 1'53 10. IV Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo. Piu allegro quasi presto 4'11 [Disc 6] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major Op. 33 "Waldstein" Klaviersonate Nr. 21 C-Dur op. 33 "Waldstein-Sonate" 1. I Allegro con brio 8'50 2. II Introduzione: Adagio molto 3'12 3. III Rondo: Allegretto moderato. Prestissimo 9'36 Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor Op. 31 No. 2 "Tempest" Klaviersonate Nr. 17 d-Moll op. 31 Nr. 2 "Sturmsonate" 4. I Largo. Allegro 8'09 5. II Adagio 6'12 6. III Allegretto 6'22 [Disc 7] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor op. 57 "Appassionata" Klaviersonate Nr. 23 f-Moll op. 57 1. I Allegro assai 9'35 2. II Andante con moto 5'56 3. III Allegro ma non troppo. Presto 5'25 Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major Op. 79 (Sonatine) Klaviersonate Nr. 25 G-Durop.79 4. I Presto alla tedesca 4'15 5. II Andante 2'55 6. III Vivace 1'49 Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major Op. 81A "Les Adieux" Klaviersonate Nr. 26 Es-Dur op. 81A "Das Lebewohl" 7. I The farewell / Das Lebewohl: Adagio. Allegro 6'43 8. II Absence / Abwesenheit: Andante espressivo 3'05 9. III The return / Das Wiedersehen: Vivacissimamente. 6'08 [Disc 8] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major Op. 106 GroBe Sonate fur Hammer-Klavier B-Dur op. 106 1. I Allegro 12'06 2. II Scherzo: assai vivace. Presto. Tempo I 2'43 3. III Adagio sostenuto 15'29 4. IV Largo. Allegro. Allegro risoluto 11'11 [Disc 9] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major Op. 109 Klaviersonate Nr. 30 E-Dur op. 109 1. I Vivace ma non troppo. Adagio espressivo 5'15 2. II Prestissimo 7'55 3. III Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo 4'29 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111 Klaviersonate Nr. 32 c-Moll op. 111 4. I Maestoso. Allegro con brio ed appassionato 8'15 5. II Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile 13'06 BONUS 7. Piano Sonata No. 8 (First movement) 6'42 Klaviersonate Nr. 8 (Erster Satz) [Disc 10] Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Variations on a Waltz of Diabelli Op. 120 Variationen uber einen Walzer von Diabelli op. 120 1. Thema: Vivace 0'47 2. Alla marcia maestoso 1'35 3. Poco allegro 0'35 4. Poco allegro 1'04 5. Un poco piu vivace 0'52 6. Allegro vivace 0'50 7. Allegro ma non troppo e serioso 1'28 8. Un poco piu allegro 0'57 9. Poco vivace 0'57 10. Allegro pesante e risoluto 1'26 11. Presto 0'36 12. Allegretto 0'46 13. Un poco piu moto 0'38 14. Vivace 0'54 15. Grave e maestoso 2'11 16. Presto scherzando 0'38 17. Allegro 0'56 18. Allegro 0'50 19. Poco moderato 1'12 20. Presto 0'52 21. Andante 1'29 22. Allegro con brio 1'04 23. Allegro molto - alla "Notte e giorno faticar" di Mozart 0'39 24. Allegro assai 0'48 25. Fughetta: Andante 2'54 26. Allegro 0'38 27. Allegretto 0'57 28. Vivace 0'58 29. Allegro 1'01 30. Adagio ma non troppo 0'59 31. Andante sempre cantabile 1'42 32. Largo molto espressivo 4'08 33. Fuga: Allegro 2'44 34. Tempo di minuetto moderato grazioso e dolce 3'44 BONUS Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) 35. Variations on a Theme 7'59