Walter Gieseking

Walter Gieseking, born in Lyon and raised on the Riviera and Côte d’Azur as the son of a doctor and entomologist, became one of the world's most successful pianists, particularly celebrated in the USA, after receiving his first regular piano lessons at the age of sixteen. Thanks to his extraordinary gifts—much-admired sight-reading combined with an eidetic memory—he soon had what was probably the largest and most versatile repertoire ever available to a pianist. At the age of twenty, he played all of Beethoven's sonatas in six evenings; he always learned the great piano concertos in a few days – when time was pressing, sometimes even on the train journey to the performance venue. His recordings of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, and Ravel (complete) are famous discographic achievements.
Because he remained in Germany during the Nazi years and was included on the "Gottbegnadeten" list, he became embroiled in controversies similar to those surrounding Furtwängler and had to cancel his first post-war tour of the USA, scheduled for 1949, due to fierce protests before he had even played a note. However, his arrangements with the Nazi regime require closer examination and were by no means more offensive than those of his quickly rehabilitated colleagues Backhaus and Kempff, who were much closer to the party grandees. Gieseking lacked not only a party membership card, but also a belief in the unquestionable supremacy of German music and anti-Semitism...

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