GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE YEAR 1996. Scharwenka was one of the most beloved of musical figures during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His Concerto No 4 in F minor, written in 1908, was greeted at its premiere with astonishing enthusiasm from an audience ‘which may, without exaggeration, be said to have included almost every pianist – virtuoso, teacher and student – in Berlin’. Two years later Scharwenka was to give his first performance of the work at a concert in New York. The conductor was Gustav Mahler. Emil Von Sauer’s compositions have suffered from an even greater neglect, wholly unjustifiable, than Scharwenka’s. The E minor Concerto had already gone through eight printings by 1908 when he performed it in Chicago: “It was no matter for astonishment that when the pianist-composer had brought the work to its conclusion a storm of genuine enthusiasm should seep the house from gallery to floor … Mr Sauer represents a school of piano-playing that has all but vanished. The pianists who are now moulding the taste of the public are, one and all, engaged in the questionable task of reproducing with their instruments effects that are orchestral … but in the meantime we are in danger of forgetting the joys of pure pianism. To such joys Mr Sauer has awakened us.” Two first recordings, played by one of the greatest virtuoso pianists today.

Oleg Marshev has recorded several very good CDs of the piano music of Emil von Sauer (1862-1942), thus rescuing this forgotten composer from undeserved obscurity. Sauer was a pupil of Liszt and Nikolai Rubinstein and he became one of the preeminent virtuosos of his day, along with d'Albert and Godowsky. These etudes are incredibly finely crafted dainties, which require a brilliant technique - something Marshev has in abundance. The Etudes de Concert are not works of great profundity or emotional depth, but they explore some of the furthest reaches of Romantic pianism, marshaling countless colours, textures and effects.

Oleg Marshev’s well-recorded, stylish playing brings out the best in Sauer’s picture-postcard miniatures. Emil von Sauer (1862-1942) was a Liszt pupil who achieved an enduring celebrity status as a pianist. Alas, with few exceptions, his compositions are mostly undistinguished, apt to chatter on long after they have run their course. At the same time one is grateful to Oleg Marshev’s stylish and eloquent advocacy, though even he cannot make you believe that the sonatas’ derivative material deserves such a strenuous workout.

Emil von Sauer's piano works mark the twilight of an era in which the composer pianist was still in fashion. Sauer, Godowsky, Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, Rosenthal, Busoni and Paderewski were just a few of the reigning titans who frequently played their own compositions on the concert stage. The music of most of these composers has unfortunately fallen out of vogue today. However, turn of the century audiences enthusiastically applauded, demanded even, these works, if not during the actual programmed recital then afterwards as encores. Sauer was born in Hamburg. He studied with Nicholas Rubinstein in Moscow and for two years with Liszt in Weimar.

Emil von Sauer's piano works mark the twilight of an era in which the composer-pianist was still in fashion. Sauer, Godowsky, Rachmaninoff, Busoni and Paderewski were just a few of the reigning titans who frequently played their own compositions on the concert stage. The music of most of these composers has unfortunately fallen out of vogue today. However, turn of the century audiences enthusiastically applauded, demanded even, these works, if not during the actual programmed recital then afterwards as encores. Sauer was born in Hamburg and died in Vienna. His first piano lessons were from his mother.