Geza Anda
Since his death in 1976 at the age of 55, Géza Anda's considerable reputation has faded somewhat from view. But in his heyday he was widely regarded as a transcendent pianist, possessed of a natural technique that gave his performances an intimate quality, even when he was scaling the Himalayan heights of his signature Brahms B flat major concerto. It was with that work that he made his debut in 1939 in Budapest under Willem Mengelberg.
Anda was born in 1921 in Budapest; after studying with Imre Stefaniai and Imre Keeri-Szanto, he became a piano pupil of Ernst von Dohnányi at the Royal Music Academy. A stipend allowed him to travel to Berlin, where he performed Franck's Symphonic Variations under Furtwängler. Anda remained in Berlin during the first years of World War II, but in 1942 he fled to Switzerland, where he encountered the great pianist and teacher Edwin Fischer. Fischer was a proponent of performing the Mozart piano concertos while conducting from the keyboard, and Anda would later adopt this practice, adding bench-led performances of all the concertos (even the early ones) to his repertoire. Anda was among the first to explore the whole range of Mozart's concertos at a time when only the greatest hits were heard in concert halls; his outstanding 1960s recordings of the complete cycle with the Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum remain a milestone in the history of recorded music.
Anda's style was noteworthy for its transparency of texture and its singing qualities, which led Furtwängler to dub him a "troubadour" of the piano. His flawless technique allowed him to invest his performances with considerable individuality: his readings of Schumann, for instance, were breathtakingly multidimensional, full of asides and highly appropriate introspective commentary conveyed from within Schumann's notes. He was especially influenced by his artistic partnership with the great Romanian pianist Clara Haskil, with whom he played two-piano repertoire from 1953 to 1958. Her moral commitment to conveying music's essence deepened Anda's own musical insight; his subsequent performances reflected a new harnessing of Anda's strong musical personality to the service of the music's meaning.
Although his repertoire was wide and ranged across core Classical-Romantic territory, it is likely that Anda will be most remembered for his interpretations of the music of his countryman Béla Bartók, whose three piano concertos he recorded in 1959 and 1960. These performances are masterpieces of technical ease and artistic mastery, and remain available in commercial release. A few months before the end of his too-brief life, Anda went into the studio and left a final testament of waltzes by Chopin, interpreted in an astonishing otherworldly manner. Anda allows the rhythmic impulse of Chopin's triple-time to hover almost motionlessly, as if contemplated from a distant and ethereal height.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Chopin: 24 Préludes; Sonata No.2 "Marche funèbre"
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Edition Geza Anda, Vol. 2 - Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt (1955-1959)
Classical - Released by Audite on 20 Feb 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2
Classical - Released by Ica Classics on 4 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Béla Bartók by Géza Anda: For Children Sz.42
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 24 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Concerto pour violon, violoncelle et piano, Op. 56 (Stereo Version)
Geza Anda, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Pierre Fournier
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: 24 Préludes, Op. 28 & Polonaise No. 6, Op. 53 "Héroique" (Remastered, Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Clara Haskil Mozart and Bach
Clara Haskil, Geza Anda, Kölner Gürzenich Orchester, The Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Alceo Galliera
Classical - Released by Archipel on 28 Nov 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, Chopin, Ravel & Schumann: Works for Piano (Live)
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 1 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master of Brahms - Géza Anda
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 24 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Géza Anda - Legendary Recordings
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 20 Feb 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
CHOPIN, F. / RACHMANINOV, S. / SCHUMANN, R. / BRAHMS, J.: Piano Concertos (Anda, South West German Radio Symphony, Bour, Rosbaud) (1952-1963)
Geza Anda, SWR Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks, Ernest Bour, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 10 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Géza Anda plays Bartók & Tchaikovsky
Geza Anda, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Hans Müller-Kray, Ferdinand Leitner
Concertos - Released by SWR Classic on 4 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber, Beethoven & Brahms: Orchestral Works (Live)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Geza Anda, Hans Knappertsbusch
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 7 Jul 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Piano Concerto No.27 KV 595, Concerto for two Pianos KV 365 - Johann Sebastian Bach : Concerto for two Pianos
Clara Haskil, Geza Anda, Alceo Galliera, The Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Kölner Gürzenich
Classical - Released by OperaPrima-Carillon on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Concerto pour piano No. 1, Op. 23 (Mono Version)
Geza Anda, Philharmonia Orchestra, Alceo Galliera
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 - "Moonlight Sonata"
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 25 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Piano Concerto NO. 1, SZ. 83 - Piano Concerto NO. 2, SZ. 95 - Piano Concerto NO. 3, SZ. 119
Geza Anda, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Altair on 7 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Karajan in Italy Live Recordings 1953 - 1954
Herbert von Karajan, Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai - Roma, Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai - Torino, Geza Anda
Classical - Released by Artemisia on 13 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Complete Piano Concertos, Nos. 1-3
Geza Anda, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay
Chamber Music - Released by Musical Concepts on 1 Jul 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Schumann: Études symphoniques - Brahms: Variations sur un thème de Paganini (Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo