Fanny Davies was pupil of Carl Reinecke and Clara Schumann. While she specialized in the German Classics and Romantics, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, she was one of the first to perform the works of Debussy and Scriabin.
A very successful concert pianist, Fanny Davies performed all over Europe, giving numerous concerts in England, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain, Austria and Czechoslovakia to great acclaim. Even George Bernard Shaw, often the most severe of music critics who at one point referred to her as a "wild young woman", eventually grew to admire her.
She often performed chamber music having given the first performances in London of several works by Brahms. The violinist Joseph Joachim, a close friend and colleague of Brahms and Clara Schumann, was a frequent partner with whom Davies gave the London premier of Brahms Violin Sonata in D minor, Op 108. She was much admired for her chamber music, and she was also a fine accompanist of singers with whom she often performed the Lieder of Schumann, Brahms and others.
I have been able to find only two examples of her playing which you can hear below. The first is the complete Kinderszenen, Opus 15 by Robert Schumann. The 13 numbers that make up that work give us a good appreciation of her capabilities as a solo pianist of this type of music. The second is a performance of the a minor piano concerto. Both are eye opening.
It must be assumed that her interpretation and style of playing are authentically representative of the piece given her study with Clara Schumann and close association with Joachim who often performed with Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, and others who had known Schumann.
Robert Schumann Kinderszenen Op.15 Recorded in 1929
1 Of Foreign Lands and Peoples, G major 2 A Curious Story, D major 3 Blind Man's Bluff, B minor 4 Pleading Child, D major 5 Happiness, D major 6 An Important Event, A major 7 Reverie ("Träumerei"), F major 8 At the Fireside, F major 9 Knight of the Hobbyhorse, C major 10 Almost Too Serious, G# minor
11 Frightening, E minor 12 Child Falling Asleep, E minor 13 The Poet Speaks, G major
Robert Schumann Piano Concerto in a minor Opus 54 Ernest Ansermet conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Recorded in 1928
i Allegro affettuoso (beginning)
i Allegro affettuoso (conclusion) ii Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso - attaca
