{"id":3115,"date":"2012-04-18T08:20:13","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2012-04-18T08:20:13","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:20:13","slug":"legendary-pianist-arthur-schnabel-a-forgotten-atonalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/04\/18\/legendary-pianist-arthur-schnabel-a-forgotten-atonalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary pianist Arthur Schnabel a forgotten atonalist"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Devotees of the piano cherish recordings of Beethoven and Schubert by Arthur Schnabel (1882-1951), whose 130th birthday anniversary was yesterday. But nearly everyone has forgotten his own compositions, which bore the influence of his close friend, Arnold Schoenberg.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Times<\/em> music critic Mark Swed wrote a long essay on Schnabel the neglected composer for The Musical Times<\/em> in 1989, in which he suggested, among other things, that the Austrian’s fine insights into the music of Beethoven and Schubert were only possible because he approached them as a composer, not an interpreter.<\/p>\n

With scant mention in the music-history reference works and no advocates among his living connections (which include Leon Fleisher, who was a student), there isn’t much hope for Schnabel’s dense, challenging creations. So, in belated celebration of yesterday’s anniversary, here are a couple of smaller-scale comparisons and contrasts of Schnabel the interpreter and Schnabel the composer.<\/p>\n

1. Here is Invitation to the Dance<\/em>, by Carl Maria von Weber:<\/p>\n