Grete Scherzer plays Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy

Read below: Austrian pianist Grete Scherzer in a series of recordings made for the Parlophone label in the 1950s. These are not her complete recordings for the label, but a selection of offerings that I could track down in 78rpm transfers. Many thanks to Tom Jardine, who assisted with declicking and noise reduction on a couple of the noisier transfers. Scherzer was born in Wolfsberg, Austria in 1933. She started at the piano at the age of three and gave her first public recital at six, after which she began training at the Klagenfurt Conservatoire. She played a Mozart concerto with the Klagenfurt Symphony orchestra at age 9 and also made broadcasts from Graz, after which a scholarship took her to the State Music Academy, Vienna. She then appeared soloist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14 and also began giving broadcasts throughout Austria. The 16-year-old won the 1949 International Schubert Competition in Geneva - the youngest ever winner - as well as the Vienna Music Critics’ Competition in 1950. She made her London début that year and was later invited to play at The Royal Festival Hall during the Festival of Britain. When she married architect and anthroposophist Rex Raab in 1957, she retired from public performance and little information about her is available from after that period. Thomas Deschamps has produced for the February 2024 edition of the French magazine Classica a tribute page along with a CD featuring a number of Parlophone recordings: a couple of shorter works from this video are included there (in more pristine transfers) as well as others, plus more significant offerings in the form of Schumann's 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦 and Ravel's 𝘎𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘵 (both set down in 1953). That disc - wholeheartedly recommended! - can be ordered here: https://www.musique-magazines.fr/site/PLG/cd__PLG.VPC.IN39V__/fr/boutique/produit.html The recordings on this video: 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 - Impromptu in G-Flat Major, D899/Op.90 No.3 (0:00) April 16, 1952 - Impromptu in A-flat major, D899/Op.90 No.4 (4:31) April 15, 1952 - Impromptu in A-flat major, D935/Op.142 No.2 (10:37) April 16, 1952 - Waltzes Op.9A Nos. 1, 2, 3, 14, 12, 10 (15:21) - Deutsche Tanze Op.33 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 (18:33) (recording dates unknown) 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧 - Étude in E Minor Op.25 No.5 (21:47) - Étude in G-Flat Major Op.25 No.9 'Butterfly' (24:42) March 14, 1951 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐦𝐬 - Intermezzo in E-Flat Major Op.117 No.1 (25:49) - Intermezzo in B-Flat Minor Op.117 No.2 (30:21) July 9, 1953 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐲 Pour le piano: Prelude (34:14) March 14, 1951 Children's corner: V. The little shepherd (37:53) VI. Golliwog's Cake-Walk (39:44) November 14, 1951 Préludes, Book II: XII. Feux d'artifice (42:06) November 14, 1951 If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership at my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/thepianofiles