Lesson With Peter Feuchtwanger

LENNART FELIX

As an educator Peter Feuchtwanger left his mark on several generations of pianists. With his individual technique based on uncompromising naturalness, he helped the young Martha Argerich to achieve her breakthrough. Very much interested in Far Eastern and Indian culture, Feuchtwanger also repeatedly composed for unusual instrumental combinations and wrote “Dhun,” a work commissioned by the unforgettable Yehudi Menuhin, who premiered it with Ravi Shankar. Lennart Felix, one of Feuchtwanger’s youngest pupils, is now commemorating his teacher, who died in 2016, with a very special epitaph: he presents Feuchtwanger’s works along with the Paganini Variations by Johannes Brahms – a greater act of homage could hardly be imagined! With this recording Lennart Felix continues a line of tradition leading from Brahms by way of Feuchtwanger’s teacher Edwin Fischer, Walter Gieseking, and above all Clara Haskil from the golden age of German piano playing through to the present day. Martha Argerich has written of the works of her early mentor, “Peter Feuchtwanger’s piano music impressed me very much because of its depth, great freshness, and originality.” That says it all!