Urspruch: Complete Piano Works
Sheet Music

SKU: NX.HC16015

By Ana-Marija Markovina. By Anton Urspruch. Classical. CD. Haenssler Classic #HC16015. Published by Haenssler Classic (NX.HC16015).

UPC: 881488160154.

First of all, this is a composer, pianist and conductor who has wrongly been marginalized from contemporary awareness. He was born in Frankfurt on February 17, 1850, and died there on January 11, 1907. These dates show him to be an artist of an era characterized by a multidimensional intellectual climate and a psychological outlook that harked back to traditional values on the one hand whilst holding out revolutionary prospects on the other. As an artist, Urspruch was respected by his contemporaries and well established on the music scene. He began teaching at Dr. Hoch's Conservatory at just 28 years of age, at a time when Clara Schumann was teaching there too. The director there was Joachim Raff, who was also his teacher. After Raff's death in 1882, Urspruch moved to the newly founded Raff Conservatory and taught there for the rest of his life. He dedicated his piano concerto to Raff. His works encompass many genres, from piano pieces through song cycles, chamber music, symphonies, choral works and his comic opera Das Unmoglichste von allem, which was premiered in 1897. His life was centered around his family. His close personal friendship with Franz Liszt brought him a level of support that went far beyond the usual kind of appreciation shown by the more famous and older composer.