CLARA HASKIL
Romanian-Swiss pianist (1895 - 1960)

Clara Haskil was a pupil of Richard Robert, an Austrian pianist who was considered to have been as significant as Emil von Sauer and Theodor Leschetizky as a teacher, and among whose students were Rudolf Serkin and George Szell. Subsequent instruction came at the hands of Ferruccio Busoni, Alfred Cortot, Lazare Levy. She graduated from the Paris Conservatory with First Prizes in piano and violin.  It has been suggested that her tone and phrasing as a pianist were the result of her having been an excellent violinist.

She was a favorite of the leading conductors and chamber musicians alike.  The list of the conductors with with whom Clara Haskil performed is staggering: Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Barbirolli, Rudolf Baumgartner, Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir Adrian Boult, Pablo Calals, Sergiu Celibidache, André Cluytens, Victor Desarzens, Ferenc Fricsay, Alceo Galliera, Carlo Maria Giulini, Inghelbrecht, Eugen Jochum, Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, Otto Klemperer, Rafael Kubelík, Igor Markevitch, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Paul Paray, Bernhard Paumgartner, Hans Rosbaud, Willem van Otterloo, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carl Schuricht, George Solti, Leopold Stokowski, Hans Swoboda, George Szell, and Carlo Zecchi, himself one of the greatest pianists of them all.

And she often performed chamber music with George Enescu, Eugène Ysaÿe, Pablo Casals, Dinu Lipatti, Joseph Szigeti, Géza Anda, Isaac Stern, Henryk Szeryng and Arthur Grumiaux, with whom she made many beautiful recordings of the violin and piano repertoire.  Grumiaux was also an excellent pianist and they were known to have performed together with Clara Haskil playing the violin and Grumiaux playing the piano.

As a pianist, everything Clara Haskil touched was made magic. Scarlatti, Bach, Haydn, Mozart (perhaps above all), Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Brahma, and the Impressionists all succombed to her glorious touch and musicianship.  Her recording of the Ravel Sonatine is perfection.

Perhaps the only work recorded hereby Clara Haskil that does not quite meet my highest expectations is the Beethoven Op 111.  The intensity I like in this work is not there.  But it is still so wonderfully played that in the end, all is forgiven.

You can hear Clara Haskil play Concerti by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and others, as well as chamber works, and Concerti by Mozart by following these links.

CLARA HASKIL SALZBURG RECITAL 

Mozart  Piano Sonata 10 in C major, K 330
i Allegro moderato
06:13 ➢ ii Andante cantabile
11:39 ➢ iii Allegretto

Beethoven  Piano Sonata 18 in E♭ major, Op 31~3
15:40 ➢ i Allegro
21:45 ➢ ii Scherzo - Allegretto vivace
26:29 ➢ iii Menuetto - Moderato e grazioso
30:21 ➢ iv Presto con fuoco

Schubert  Piano Sonata 21 in B♭ major, D 960
35:20 ➢ i Molto moderato
48:40 ➢ ii Andante sostenuto
56:13 ➢ iii Scherzo - Allegro vivace con delicatezza. Trio
59:53 ➢ iv Allegro ma non troppo. Presto

recorded live on 8 August 1957