Walter Klien
Walter Klien was an Austrian pianist who was known for his interpretations of the piano music of Schubert. His association with the VOX record label led to a massive recorded legacy, but also contributed to his obscurity. He was born in 1928, in Graz, Austria, to the artist Erika Giovanna Klien. She initially hid her son's birth from her family, and in 1929 she emigrated to the U.S. to pursue her career as an artist and educator. Klien began playing the piano when he was five years old. He received his first piano instruction in Frankfurt, and then studied piano, composition, and conducting in Graz. In 1953 he graduated from the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied piano with Josef Dichler and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. It was also around this time when he competed and won prizes at the Bolzano Busoni Competition in 1951 and 1952, the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris in 1954, and the Bosendorfer Prize in 1953. Following these successes, Klien began recording with the VOX record label. On his earliest recordings he was an accompanist to vocalists Julius Patzak, and Norman Foster, followed by collaborations with pianist Alfred Brendel on albums of four-hand piano music by Brahms, Mozart, and Dvorak. Throughout the 1960s he toured the world, with successful debut performances in London in 1968, and in the United States in 1969. That same year, he also won the Wiener Flötenuhr Prize for his recording of Mozart's complete Piano Sonatas. He continued touring and recording through the '70s, and became known as an interpreter of classical Austrian and German composers. Collaborations in the early '80s with Arthur Grumiaux and Wolfgang Schneiderhan led to many chamber music recordings. He recorded extensively with VOX, leaving a sizeable legacy of masterful interpretations, but this also led to his relative obscurity due to the label's "low-budget" reputation. However, he became the first pianist to record the complete solo piano music of Brahms, and his complete recording of Schubert's Piano Sonatas is especially revered. He also recorded piano concertos by more modern composers such as Stravinsky, Janáček, and Honegger.
© RJ Lambert /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms - Fantasias - Intermezzi - Piano Pieces
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 5
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chabrier: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 1966
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Fantasias, Intermezzi, Piano Pieces
Classical - Released by HORTUS on Jan 12, 1990
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Music for Two Pianos (Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Œuvre pour piano, vol. 1 (Mono Version)
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Concertos pour piano Nos. 14 & 16 (Mono Version)
Walter Klien, Pro Musica Orchester Wien, Paul Angerer
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 3
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Piano Music, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Jeux d'enfants (Menuetto Kids - Classical Music for Children)
Classical - Released by Menuetto Classics on Dec 16, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Two Sonatas for Piano
Classical - Released by RHI on Sep 19, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 18 & 21
Walter Klien, Mainz Chamber Orchestra, Günter Kehr
Concertos - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert - schwanengesang
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on May 10, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze / Kreisleriana
Classical - Released by CarltonClassics on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos No.17 & No.27
Classical - Released by CarltonClassics on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Piano Works
Jürg von Vintschger, Walter Klien, Vienna Pro Musica
Classical - Released by CarltonClassics on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milhaud / Chabrier / Faure / Ravel / Brahms
Walter Klien, Beatriz Klien, Rena Kyriakou
Classical - Released by CarltonClassics on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo