Walter Frey (pianist)

Walter Frey (born January 26, 1898 in Basel , † August 27, 1985 in Zurich ) was a Swiss pianist and music teacher .

biography

Walter Frey, brother of the composer Emil Frey , studied piano with Friedrich Niggli and music theory with Volkmar Andreae in Zurich between 1906 and 1913 and with the pianist Willy Rehberg in Frankfurt from 1913 to 1916 . From 1925 to 1958 he directed a class for concert pianists at the Zurich Conservatory. His students included Alfred Baum , Ingolf Dahl , Ernst Widmer , Samuel Bächli , Urs Bührer and János Tamás .

Frey also pursued a career as a concert pianist in Germany and Scandinavia. He gained a reputation as an interpreter of modern music and played various world premieres of contemporary works. He appeared several times as a soloist at festivals of the International Society for New Music , of which he headed the Swiss section from 1934 to 1960. He later specialized in the piano works of Johann Sebastian Bach .

Since the late 1930s he has also performed as a piano duo with his brother. With Willi Schuh he published Swiss piano music from the Classical and Romantic periods in 1937 . In 1960 he was awarded the Hans Georg Nägeli Medal .

Walter Frey was the grandfather of Samuel Bächli , first conductor and deputy general music director at the Theater Erfurt, and of Tomas Bächli, freelance pianist in Berlin.

Web links

• Andres Briner : Frey, Walter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .