Heksch, Alice - Mozart Pianoconc. 21 KV 467 (Philips A 00777 R) 1955 Mov 1 - Бесплатное архивное аудио

Alice Heksch (Vienna, 12.02.1912 - Laren, 01.08.1957) was of Hungarian-Czech descent. After the First World War, the Heksch family moved to the Netherlands.

As an eight-year-old child, she already gave concerts, where her exceptional talent was noticed.

She studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Ulferts Schults, graduated cum laude in 1934 and received the Prix d'Excellence in 1936.

She also studied with Marcelle Meijer in Paris and received the Prix de Gabriel Fauré there.

At the Conservatory, she met violinist Nap de Klijn. They played together and became friends. They gave their first violin-piano recital on 19 April 1934 in the Hof van Holland in Hilversum.

In addition to being partners in music, they also became life partners: they married in 1936. The couple settled in Laren N.H. They gave lessons and performed frequently. The couple had three children.

Because Heksch and De Klijn were both Jewish, they went into hiding during the Second World War, at no fewer than 16 addresses. Heksch's parents were arrested and murdered by the Germans.

After the war, they continued their musical life. They called themselves the Amsterdam Duo and performed at home and abroad.

On one of their tours, they heard and saw the grand piano that Mozart himself had played in Salzburg: a Johann Andreas Stein grand piano.

Heksch was very impressed by this and had a replica of such a Mozart grand piano built by the Neupert company in Nuremberg in 1949.

The Mozart grand piano was smaller than the modern grand piano and had a range of five octaves. The hammers were covered with deerskin, the large keys were black and the small keys white.

The couple bought a Renault Frégate in which the grand piano fitted exactly and undertook various concert tours throughout Europe.

In addition to the concerts, they made numerous radio recordings at home and abroad.

In addition to the Amsterdam Duo, Heksch performed solo with conductors such as Neumark, Schuricht, Van Raalte, Schuurman, Van Otterloo and foreign conductors.

A highlight was the concert during the Salzburg Festival 1956 in the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Bernhard Paumgartner. There she played the Jeune-homme concerto KV 271.

Her scrapbook contains favourable reviews from 27 August 1956 from the Salzburger Volkszeitung, the Salzburger Nachrichten, the Salzburger Volksblatt, the Salzburger Tagblatt and the Demokratisches Volksblatt.

She herself would later write about this concert, especially the second part, in her diary: “It was as if I was playing my own requiem."

Earlier that year she had recorded Mozart's piano concertos no. 21 and 22 (KV 467 and KV 482) for Philips with Bernhard Paumgartner in Vienna.

The Amsterdam Duo recorded sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven with the Mozart grand piano.

In addition, De Klijn and Heksch played two gramophone records full of Encores under the name Romano Rubato & Bianca Ritorno.

At the height of its fame, the Amsterdam Duo received an invitation for a tour of 25 concerts in America and Canada. Due to Heksch's illness, this could not go ahead. She died in 1957.

On September 1, 1957, a month after her death, Wouter Paap gave a memorial speech in the concert hall of the Singer Memorial Foundation in Laren N.H., illustrated with gramophone recordings.

In his speech he mentioned, among other things, that the Amsterdam Duo had introduced 56 contemporary compositions, both in the concert hall and for the radio at home and abroad.

(source: Wikipedia)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Piano concerto no. 21 in C KV 467

Cadences: Alice Heksch

1  allegro maestoso

2  andante

3  allegro vivace assai

4  Fantasia in d KV 397

This LP was one of the many LPs released in 1956 on the occasion of Mozart's 200th birthday.

Alice Heksch, piano

Wiener Symphoniker c.b. Bernhard Paumgartner

LP 25 cm:  Philips A 00777 R

Recorded:  1955 04 14-16