Paul Badura-Skoda

PAUL BADURA-SKODA is one of the most important pianists of our time. A legendary artist who has been heard in all the world´s greatest concert halls, and for years was the pianist who had the largest number of records available in the market. His musical personality is characterized by complete immersion in music, a passionate search for the essential, and a sense of artistic responsibility. It soon becomes evident to any listener that he loves music with every part of his being. In 1945, Badura-Skoda entered the Vienna Conservatory, and two years later won first prize in the Austrian Music Competition and a scholarship which allowed him to study with Edwin Fischer. These years laid the foundation for Badura-Skoda´s artistic future. In 1949, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan became aware of Badura-Skoda´s outstanding talent, and invited him to play concerts. Practically overnight the young viennese became a world-famous artist. Since then, Badura-Skoda has been a regular and celebrated guest at the most important music festivals, and a soloist with the world´s most prestigious orchestras. In addition to Furtwängler and von Karajan, he has collaborated with such renowned conducters as George Szell, Karl Böhm, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Georg Solti, Kent Nagano and John Eliot Gardiner. Paul Badura-Skoda has recorded a vast repertoire – more than 200 LPs and dozens of compact discs including the complete cycles of the piano sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Badura-Skoda performs with equal authority on both period and modern instruments. He was a pioneer in proposing the use of period pianos in perfomance. His profound knowledge of instruments from Bach´s and Mozart time up to the present has given him the capacity to extract from modern instruments a quality of sound which never fails to amaze audiences and critics alike. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.