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The present-day listener might be surprised to learn that composition was the favorite musical activity of pianist Artur Schnabel. Teaching came second in order of preference, and performance followed after that. Schnabel was reportedly uncomfortable with public performance as well as with recording, and described the years from 1919 to 1924, when he had withdrawn somewhat from active concertizing to concentrate on writing music, as the happiest of his life.

Schnabel was born in Lipnik, Poland, on April 17, 1882. When he was seven his family took him to Vienna; there he came under the tutelage of piano pedagogue Theodor Leschetizky, who spotted in the young prodigy an unusually deep musicality. It was Leschetizky who steered the boy away from virtuoso showpieces, instead encouraging him to explore the then-neglected piano sonatas of Schubert, introspective and lyrical works that needed sensitive and alert readings to come to life. Schnabel also studied theory and composition with Brahms' friend Eusebius Mandyczewski, and by the age of 19 had composed and performed a large-scale piano concerto.

In 1900 Schnabel settled in Berlin, already a growing center for new music where the forward-looking pianist-composer Ferruccio Busoni held court. Schnabel made the acquaintance of important composers and performers of the day and, through his marriage to contralto Therese Behr, immersed himself in the Romantic song literature. He joined the faculty of the Berlin State Academy in 1925.

Despite his prodigious talents as a musician, Schnabel was always more of a pianist's pianist. Eschewing the audience-pleasing blandishments of flashier soloists, he gave performances that revealed the inner significance of the music. His interpretations of the late, visionary sonatas of Beethoven were spiritual testaments, as can be heard in the landmark recordings he made in 1932 of the complete cycle of Beethoven's 32 sonatas. The company that issued the cycle, His Master's Voice, had had significant success with their subscription-funded recordings made in collaboration with the Hugo Wolf Society of that composer's complete songs, and they looked to repeat their success with Schnabel's studio performances. Although Schnabel greatly disliked the whole idea of recording, he created in HMV's studios one of the most valuable documents in the history of music, treasured not only for its technical artistry but also for the depth of Schnabel's musical insight.

In 1933, Schnabel left Berlin after the Nazi takeover of Germany. By 1939, he had settled in the United States, where he took citizenship and taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; he continued to record, but the commercial pressures of the American music industry were uncongenial for him. Though he maintained a home in New York City, he returned to Europe after World War II. In addition to his many recordings (he made far more, and with far more substantial repertoire, than such illustrious contemporaries as Rachmaninov and Busoni), Schnabel also prepared an edition of Beethoven's piano sonatas and the Diabelli Variations, and wrote three books: Reflections on Music (1933), Music and the Line of Most Resistance (1942), and the autobiographical My Life and Music (1961). As a composer, he wrote three symphonies, the aforementioned piano concerto, five string quartets, a Rhapsody for orchestra, piano pieces, and songs. His last work was a Duodecimet for strings, winds, and percussion. Most of these works remain unpublished and are only rarely heard; they demonstrate a highly original approach to the modernistic currents that flowed through Europe at mid-century. He died in Axenstein, Switzerland, on August 15, 1951.

Edwin Fischer was a Swiss pianist, conductor, and educator during the first half of the 20th century. He was known for his expressive interpretations of the piano music of J.S. Bach and Mozart.

Fischer was born in 1886 in Basle, Switzerland, and he started playing the piano when he was four years old. Both of his parents were pianists and worked as musical instrument makers. In 1896 he enrolled at the Basle Conservatory and studied piano with Hans Huber. After he graduated in 1904, he moved to Berlin, where he attended the Stern Academy. There he studied with Martin Krause, who was a former student of Franz Liszt and Eugen d'Albert. As a student in Berlin, Fischer made his debut as soloist performing d'Albert's Piano Concerto No. 2. The composer, who was present in the audience, was very impressed and gave Fischer some encouraging advice. After one year of study, he joined the faculty at the Stern Academy as a piano instructor, and his reputation as an educator quickly grew. He also became known as a recitalist and soloist, and performed as the accompanist for Ludwig Wüllner, the famous German tenor. Due to the onset of World War I, Fischer was driven out of Berlin, which ended his tenure at the Stern Academy around 1914.

After moving back to Switzerland, he began a career as a performer in 1916, and in 1919 he married Leonora von Mendelssohn, the daughter of a prominent banker. This relationship also put Fischer in contact with members of the social elite, which gave his already successful career an additional push. However, the marriage was turbulent due to Mendelssohn's increasing mental health problems, and they divorced in 1925. The following year, he became the conductor of the Lübeck Musikverein, and then in 1928 he moved to Munich to conduct the Bachverein. After four years, he left Munich and began an appointment as the director of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. From 1933 to 1936, Fischer made the first complete recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. He also formed a chamber orchestra in Berlin and was one of the first practitioners of the concept of historically informed performance.

As World War II escalated, Fischer relocated back to Switzerland in 1942 and discontinued his career in music until the after the war. In 1945 he resumed performing and teaching, and he formed a piano trio with cellist Enrico Mainardi and violinist Georg Kulenkampff. He made several recordings of the works of Bach and Beethoven, and his interpretations of Mozart's piano concertos are especially revered. Fischer also collaborated with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on a very popular recording of Schubert lieder. He stopped touring in 1954 when he began suffering from neuropathy in his fingers, but continued recording and teaching until his death in 1960. ~ RJ Lambert

Wilhelm Backhaus was a German pianist known for his selfless dedication to the composers' intentions. Also a recording pioneer, his 1909 recording of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto is the first known concerto recording. Backhaus was born on March 26, 1884 in Leipzig, Germany. His father was a successful architect, and his mother was an amateur pianist. He started learning the piano at the age of four, first from his mother, and then with Alois Reckendorf at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1891 to 1898. He studied with Eugen d'Albert for a year, and learned the rest on his own. In 1900 he enjoyed a very successful debut performance in England as part of his first tour, which established his reputation as a performer. Later, in 1905, he won the Rubinstein prize, competing against Béla Bartók who earned second place. He also began teaching at the Royal Manchester College of Music, but he never considered himself an educator. His first recording was for the HMV label in 1909 featuring Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, and this was also the very first recording of a concerto. He made several more recordings with HMV in London, but their association temporarily ceased in 1914 with the start of World War I. His American debut was in 1912, where he performed Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall with the New York Symphony Orchestra led by Walter Damrosch. This was the beginning of a series of North American tours, and he continued touring in Europe and the Americas into the 1920s. He also resumed recording in 1916 with Polydor, and with HMV after the war ended in 1918. Backhaus accepted a teaching position at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1925 to 1926, and then gradually moved back to Europe, eventually settling in Switzerland in 1930. He continued recording with HMV until 1947, and then worked with Decca. He made his final appearance in the U.S. in 1954 with a series of critically acclaimed recitals at Carnegie Hall featuring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas. He kept practicing, performing, and recording until his death in 1969, when he was in Austria preparing for a performance. His recorded legacy includes Beethoven's complete sonatas and concertos, and the works of Bach, Mozart, Brahms, and many others. His premiere recording of Chopin's complete etudes from 1928 is still considered to be one of the best. ~ RJ Lambert