Hans Richter-Haaser

Hans Richter-Haaser (born January 6, 1912 in Dresden , † December 13, 1980 in Braunschweig ) was a German pianist .

In addition to his main instrument, the piano , Hans Richter-Haaser studied drums , composition and conducting at the Dresden Conservatory . He also showed great talent for playing the violin. Even at age 16, in 1928, he appeared for the first time publicly on the Wanderer Fantasy by Franz Schubert . Two years later, in 1930, he prevailed among 120 piano applicants and won the prestigious C. Bechstein Prize.

In the turmoil of the Second World War Richter-Haaser left his hometown Dresden and moved to Detmold . After the war he became director of the Detmold Symphony Orchestra. At the Northwest German Music Academy founded in 1946, today's Detmold University of Music , he immediately received a teaching position for piano and chamber music , which was converted into a professorship in 1955 . In 1963, however, he gave up this post in order to be able to devote himself fully to his international concert activities as a pianist. He also made numerous recordings.

Above all as an interpreter of the works of Beethoven , Schumann and Brahms , Hans Richter-Haaser made a name for himself worldwide. He liked to play Beethoven's 5 piano concertos in a cycle on two consecutive performance evenings (most recently in April 1980 with the Berliner Sinfoniker in what was then the eastern part of Berlin )

During the dress rehearsal for a symphony concert in the Braunschweig town hall , he collapsed on the piano in the second movement of the 2nd piano concerto in B flat major by Johannes Brahms and succumbed to a pulmonary embolism in hospital shortly before he was 69 years old.

Honors

• 1969: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany

Discography (selection)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 3, C minor, op.37

• with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Piano Concerto No. 4, G major, op.58

• with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, conducted by István Kertész (EMI, 1960, stereo)

• with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (radio recording, Chicago February 3, 1966, mono).

• with the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Herbert Kegel (live at the Leipzig Congress Hall, June 6, 1978; CD Weitblick 2007, stereo)

Piano Concerto No. 5, E flat major, op.73

• with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, conducted by István Kertész (EMI, 1960, stereo)

• with the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Herbert Kegel (live at the Leipzig Congress Hall, May 11, 1971; CD Weitblick 2007, stereo)

• with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kurt Sanderling ; CD KONTRAPUNKT (DEN), 1979, stereo

Choral Fantasy, C minor, Op. 80

• with Teresa Stich-Randall , Judith Hellwig, Hilde Rössel-Majdan , Anton Dermota , Vienna State Opera Choir, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Karl Böhm ; Philips, 1958, mono

• with Käthe Graus, Hilde Tonndorf (soprano), Eva Bornemann, Maria Plümacher (alto), Peter Witsch, André Peysang (tenor), Arno Reinhardt (bass), Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Kölner Rundfunkchor, led by Wolfgang Sawallisch, live, January 18, 1960, mono

Piano Sonata No. 1, F minor, Op 2.1

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 2, A major, op.2.2

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 3, C major, Op. 2,3

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 8, C minor, Op. 13, “Pathétique”

• (Philips, 1956, mono)

Piano Sonata No. 14, C sharp minor, Op. 27,2, “Mondschein”

• (Philips, 1956, mono)

Piano Sonata No. 16, G major, Op.31, No.1

• October 7, 1959 Hessischer Rundfunk, studio recording, mono; CD Meloclassic, 2014

• (EMI, 1962, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31,2 "Storm"

• (EMI, 1959, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 18, E flat major, op.31,3

• (EMI, 1962/63, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 21, C major, op. 53, “Waldstein”

• (Philips, 1956, mono)

Piano Sonata No. 22, F major, op.54

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 23, F minor, Op. 57, "Appassionata"

• (Philips, 1956, mono)

Piano Sonata No. 24, F sharp major, op.78

• (Philips, 1956, mono)

Piano Sonata No. 26, E flat major, op.81a, "Les Adieux"

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 27, E minor, op.90

• (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 28, A major, op.101

• (Philips, 1956, mono)

Piano Sonata No. 29, B flat major, op.106, "Hammerklavier"

• (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 30, E major, op.109

• (EMI, 1959, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 31, A flat major, op.110

• (EMI, 1959, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 32, C minor, op.111

• (EMI, 1959, stereo)

Fantasia for piano, G minor, op.77

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Rondo in C major, op.51,1

• (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Rondo in G major, op.51,2

• (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Diabelli Variations, op.120

• (EMI, 1963, stereo)

Sonata for violin and piano No. 8, G major, op.30, No. 3

• with Henryk Szeryng (date of recording unknown, unpublished)

Sonata for violin and piano No. 9, A major, op. 47, "Kreutzersonata"

• with Henryk Szeryng (June 25, 1956, unpublished)

Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 1 in F major op.5,1

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on December 6, 1958, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5.2

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on October 6, 1951, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Johannes Brahms

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, op.15

• with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (live, Hollywood Bowl, July 30, 1963, mono.)

• (with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Sanderling ; CD KONTRAPUNKT (DEN), 1980, stereo)

Piano Concerto No. 2, B flat major, op.83

• With the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Herbert von Karajan ; (EMI, 1957, stereo)

16 waltz op 3

• (LP Tudor, 1978, stereo)

Rhapsody op 79 no 1 in B minor

• (LP Tudor, 1978, stereo)

Rhapsody op 79 no 2 in G minor

• (LP Tudor, 1978, stereo)

3 Intermezzi op 117

• (LP Tudor, 1978, stereo)

Horn trio in E flat major, op 40

• (with Heribert Lauer / violin and Gunther Schlund / horn; LP EX LIBRIS, stereo)

Clarinet Trio in A minor, op 114

• (with Hans Rudolf Stalder / clarinet and Esther Nyffenegger / cello; LP EX LIBRIS, stereo)

Sonata for violin and piano No. 1, G major, op.78

• with Henryk Szeryng (July 3, 1957, unpublished)

Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 1, E minor, op.38

• (with Ludwig Hoelscher / violoncello; Deutsche Grammophon, 1954, mono)

Frederick Chopin

Piano Concerto No. 1, E minor, op.11

• with the Südwestfunk-Orchester Baden-Baden, conducted by Hans Rosbaud (SWR Classic, April 28, 1961, studio recording mono)

Antonin Dvorak

Adagio in D flat major / Rondo in G minor op.94

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on December 6, 1958, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Girolamo Frescobaldi

Toccata for violoncello and bc.

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on October 6, 1951, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Edward Grieg

Piano concerto in a minor, op.16

• (with the Wiener Symphoniker, conducted by Rudolf Moralt ; Philips 1958, Stereo)

Sonata for violoncello and piano in A minor, op.36

• (with Ludwig Hoelscher / violoncello; Deutsche Grammophon, LP 16097, 1954, mono)

Joseph Haydn

Piano Sonata No. 59, E flat major, Hob XVI: 49

• (October 7, 1959, Hessischer Rundfunk, studio recording, mono; CD Meloclassic, 2014)

Paul Hindemith

Sonata for violoncello and piano op.11.3

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on December 6, 1958, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 2 in D major op.58

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on December 6, 1958, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453

• with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, conducted by István Kertész (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major KV 537 "Coronation Concert"

• with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, conducted by István Kertész (EMI, 1960, stereo)

Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595

• with the Symphony Orchestra of the North German Radio, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf (broadcast Hamburg December 7, 1970)

Piano Sonata No. 6, D major, KV 284

• (December 30, 1950, Hessischer Rundfunk, studio recording, mono; CD Meloclassic, 2014)

Piano Sonata No. 15, F major, KV 533

• (December 30, 1950, Hessischer Rundfunk, studio recording, mono; CD Meloclassic, 2014)

Sonata for violin and piano No. 33, F major, KV 377

• (with Henryk Szeryng , date of recording unknown, unpublished)

Sonata for violin and piano No. 42, A major, KV 526

• (with Henryk Szeryng , date of recording unknown, unpublished)

Hans Pfitzner

Sonata for violoncello and piano in F sharp minor op.1

• with Ludwig Hoelscher (live, Ludwigsburg Palace Concert on October 6, 1951, Ordenssaal des Ludwigsburg Palace, Bayer Records (BR 200 038/39), Hoelscher Edition 8, mono)

Franz Schubert

Piano Sonata No. 14, D 784

• (EMI, 1964, stereo)

Piano Sonata No. 19, D 958

• (EMI, 1965, stereo)

Trout Quintet op. Posth. 144, D 667

• (with the Zurich Chamber Ensemble; LP Ex Libris, 1975, stereo)

Robert Schumann

Piano concerto in a minor, op.54

• (with the Wiener Symphoniker, conducted by Rudolf Moralt ; Philips 1958, Stereo)

Richard Strauss

Sonata for violoncello and piano in F major, op.6

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://rec.tuzikaze.com/Live.html
2. ↑ Los Angeles Philarharmonic With Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt And Hans Richter-Haaser Play Music Of Brahms - 1963 - Past Daily Mid-Week Concert , Past Daily, August 13, 2014