Wilhelm Backhaus play Schumann "Des Abends" - "Warum?"

[@usaginonakama]

魅了され続けて何度も聴いています。ありがとうございます。

[@maringjollma1704]

My god, this is incredible!!Can you imagine what emotion got anybody in that concert hall, just thinking that it was his last recital, that he didn`t play the last movement of Beethoven Sonata op.31, no.3 because he was sick and he felt not well. Instead he played Schumann. Before the "Abends" he played such harmonies and connected them remarkably with the beginning of "Des Abends". It seems that in the end, through "Warum", he wanted us to understand the same philosophical question that brought Shakespeare through Hamlet Scene: "To be or not to be?". In the end of his life, in his last recital, the one of the greatest artist of 20th century, Wilhelm Backhaus, is asking through music the question of life, "Warum". It can have many answers, but even in the end, he still has many question. He wanted to continue in infinity...And yes, his playing of the masterworks will live forever!

[@christopherczajasager9030]

Oh such poignant memory!!!....I had traveled from Wien to hear my first Backhaus recital....We all waited in the very warm humid Ossiach church with anxiety after he had stopped playing the 😅Beethoven sonata and disappeared for what seemed 😮n eternity.....days later bzck in my apartment in Wien I heard thst he had died....85. 😢

[@funklover24]

Beautyful playing of a master. Knowing, that he passed away a few days later, is making a kind of testament out of this wonderful recording. ❤

[@uhartchristian]

I was ten years old when I was present at this last concert in ossiach in that barock church on the lake in Austria. Backhaus impressed me a lot by his sincerity of play. It was my first time I went to a piano recital and it gave me the wish to play too...

[@stephenhunt8756]

Simply superb. Please will ALL pianists of today listen to these and learn how to play bass and treble both independently and as one unit. And the great musicianship of not rushing...and the cantabile...I could go on, but once again a thankyou to gullivior.

[@peterholetschek9803]

Especially copy - machine LANG LANG should listen to him...

[@opale1572]

@@peterholetschek9803 Y la otra "máquina de tocar piezas difíciles", Yuja Wang, que lo escuche también.

[@lipizdrusch]

@@opale1572каждому времени свои герои

[@danmessias]

Thanks , many thanks for giving us this marvelous piece.

[@j-mh.1669]

how lucky you are to have attended this historical musical event... the last recital and appearance of one of the greatest pianist of XX° century......

[@Ire_cincy1234]

i've just heard accidentally this piece. as soon as i heard the first note, i remember when my music's teacher told me this story: the last recital of wilhelm backhaus. and when i was 12 i was really impressed by this story, now i'm living again the same emotions.

[@PolkRidgeAesthete]

So historic and utterly ravishing...

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Wonderful. So pure.

[@chrisczajasager]

It was oppressively warm and humid in the church that evening; I had traveled to Ossiach by train ( Spittal a.der Drau>) 'Warum' , prophetic, played with simple poignancy...he appeared unwell at the onset of the recital, his face as white as a sheet, the high intensity lamps of the ORF not helping the discomfort.After an interruption in the Beethoven sonata and a long pause , he returned and played 3 enc Back in Wien later the Hausfrau shouted whilst I was in the bath: "Der Backhaus ist tot" !

[@eytonshalom]

wow.

[@richardwassmuth1032]

@Christopher: Ende der 70er las ich einen Bericht von Joachim Kaiser, in dem er diesen Abend auch kurz beschrieb - er nannte ihn da unter anderem den Unbestechlichen - und 1 Woche später war er tot - schade,daß es nur 1 Filmaufzeichnung von ihm gibt / Beethoven 4

[@JamesVaughan]

Priceless.

[@carolaybob]

Magnifico ,humano y divino

[@chloeee2001]

the last notes of his last recital... This really was hist last goodbye.

[@ardarico]

This is just awesome

[@berlinzerberus]

So frei und jenseitig schon, danach verstummte der große Backhaus für immer. Sehr ergreifend und zum Weinen! :-(

[@slawomirdobrzanski5889]

Wonderful playing!

[@dasglasperlenspiel10]

This is beautiful playing, clearly.

[@tetsuyamaruyama2314]

More than beautiful

[@chrisczajasager]

the experience of the recital ....indeed 'a singular experience' ! through You Tube much treasured enlightenment hearing other livew performances of Backhaus in so many wonderful performances, especially very poetic Chopin!

[@TedFrancis]

Just magic.

[@joeltheivalnec3671]

Backhaus est parfois froid et sec, là pas du tout. C’est sensible, hypnotique et métaphysique. Magnifique!

[@AndreJorgeOliveira1]

Wunderbar

[@artpalmer7034]

One can sense his adoration for Music, Herself, even more especially in the last half minute of Des Abends - the 'indefinable' issuing from his heart through fingers is absolutely prayerful.

[@TheJoyfulPianist]

Seriously? In other words, you saw Backhaus play just three days before his death and the Hausfrau yelled out "Der Backhaus ist tot!" What an experience!

[@palmerplantagenet]

As great as Schnabel was, I personally would rather listen to Backhaus (of course, better yet, both of them!). When I hear his Brahms recordings especially - and Schumann, I feel blessed by both composer and pianist. Did attend a concert of his in the early-mid 50s. It's effect was a sort of spiritual solidarity.

[@voisinjb]

Fascinating, above Rubinstein and Richter perhaps.

[@norahdealmeida5847]

I think "not perhaps". But "for sure"

[@fulviozanoni8450]

A lot of poetry

[@norahdealmeida5847]

So delicate, so sweet! Bravo Backhaus ! I remember I went to your recital in Rio de Janeiro, in 1967!! Wonderful!

[@paulcapaccio9905]

This golden age is gone forever We only have technical machines trying to touch the heart. Good grief !

[@pipogalli]

Actually Backhaus was also a "technical machine" in his early years. Listen to his chopin etudes. He is technically on a very high level. I think it's more of reaching maturity also in playing. Many excuisite technicians are switching to more serious repertoire with getting older and focusing more on the musicality instead of virtuosity.

[@opale1572]

Cierto. Hay demasiadas Yujas por todas partes.

[@keplergso8369]

I like this medium tempo, not too slow.

[@VILAYATU]

A 84 ans!!

[@donaldwright6617]

Which of the three sonatas from Beethoven's Op. 31 did Backhaus have to replace the last movement of with these marvelous Schumann pieces? Would be interested to know. Thanks!

[@MrFlorestan1]

I know you made this comment a while ago and may already know, but I searched out of curiosity and found that Backhaus performed the Beethoven Sonata op. 31 no. 3. (A recording of the entire recital is on KZbin now: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGLNm3VtideGZ6c) I wonder if Backhaus was also "hinting" at that sonata in the "prelude" he played before these pieces: he started it with the same dotted rhythm that is heard from the beginning of the Sonata. In any case, there is something truly special about the sounds of this last recital. Backhaus' playing from the beginning "prelude" to the very end of "Warum?" is so wonderfully, intimately lyrical.

[@fflambeauutube]

I have been listening to lots of version of this and rate this along with Benno Moiseiwitsch's version and Cortot's version as the best on the Internet. Better than Richter, better than Brendel etc.

[@calebhu6383]

5:36

[@palmerplantagenet]

In my listening life, I heard many of the great German pianists of yesteryear, but this recording of Backhaus (whom I heard not long before this last performance) -- encores of his last recital, are indeed memorable. I especially like "Des Abends" played just before the petals closed on a beautiful life of music.

[@olgashcherbakova8742]

🌹🌷🌺 thank you

[@ИринаМасленикова-е2н]

Одно из лучших,на мой взгляд,исполнений.Он играет как подросток,это не старый человек!

[@magbag70]

Che pianista!

[@paulmetdebbie447]

It is hard to surpass Harold Bauer's performance who was the first to record this suite. But Backhaus is doing a great piece of musical sculpturing here.

[@AlbertoJamases]

Oye la de Alfred Cortot

[@ye2z]

❤️❤️❤️

[@DrahomiraBiligova]

🌹

[@MichaelHalex-x4x]

Davon hat meine Ohr ohr oma was gesagt

[@Pogouldangeliwitz]

Ja, die Omi war ein echtes Ohrgestein!

[@milacherepovskaya1214]

Шуманиана - нежнейший лик планеты...

[@zzausel]

They say he was a big Nazi follower. I simply cannot forget this. Why should I. He may keep being a musician an let the public scene to the younger ones.

[@rupert99]

what on earth is this supposed to mean??

[@michelbichsel3063]

Read a little more history and you will avoid to write such stupidities. Backhaus was in the nazi time in Switzerland and helped other musicians they left the nazi Germany.

[@yusufu9]

Perhaps even more significantly, unlike Gieseking and a few others, Backhaus does not appear to have been called in for any of those so-called De-Nazification hearings, and he was not subjected to any performance bans or restrictions in the aftermath of the war. Had there been any evidence of Nazi links or sympathies, he doubtless would have been treated accordingly.

[@Hermanhub]

He was hitler’s favorite pianist

[@deanbrunel7277]

I don't like or dislike a musician because of his politics with one exception: there was a soprano who was one of Hitler's favorite singers.She did unusual and ugly things with the notes and I heard a recording once of her songs, and didn't know if I should laugh hysterically or vomit.I can't remember her name. Dean Brunel