Oleg Marshev - Emil von Sauer: Suite & Galop de Concert (2003)

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. At 14, he met and played for Anton Rubinstein, who was deeply impressed by the boy's talent and arranged for him to study in Moscow with his younger brother Nicholas. After Nicholas died in 1881, Sauer returned to Hamburg and then went to Weimar where he studied with Franz Liszt for two summers. It is interesting to note that Sauer always proclaimed Nicholas Rubinstein as his most important influence and downplayed his lessons with Liszt, stating that Liszt was very old at the time and did not teach him very much. In this respect, Sauer stands apart from the mainstream of Liszt pupils whose idolatrous accounts of Liszt had no bounds. After Liszt's death, Sauer concentrated on furthering his career as a touring virtuoso, and his fame and reputation grew over the next several decades. Although concertizing took up the majority of his time, he was also a dedicated composer, and his early compositions met with considerable success. His first work appeared in print in 1895 and they continued to appear under various publishers until the mid 1930s.