Wanda Landowska plays Bach, Mozart, Händel, Scarlatti, Rameau

Featuring

Wanda Landowska
Yehudi Menuhin
Eugène Bigot
Artur Rodziński
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris
New York Philharmonic

Domenico Scarlatti
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jacques Champion Chambonnières
François Couperin
Henry Purcell
Anonymous
George Frideric Handel
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Johann Sebastian Bach
Joseph Haydn

Did you know?

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Recording & Production

This album includes recordings of Wanda Landowska playing the harpsichord from 1933 to 1954, and also features her playing the pianoforte on CD 10.

Performer Biography

Wanda Landowska, described as the "high priestess of the harpsichord" by conductor Arthur Nikisch, played a central role in reviving 17th and 18th-century harpsichord music.

Cultural Impact

Wanda Landowska's influence led composers like Francis Poulenc and Manuel de Falla to write new works for the harpsichord.

Performer Biography

Wanda Landowska, the harpsichordist and pianist on this album, began playing piano at age four and later studied composition in Berlin.

Performer Biography

Wanda Landowska was the first harpsichord teacher at a German music college, appointed to the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin in 1913.

Instruments

Wanda Landowska commissioned the first large, modern concert harpsichord from Pleyel in 1912, built to her own specifications.

Historical Context

During World War II, Wanda Landowska, a Jewish woman with a Polish passport, fled to the USA in 1941, and her school, library, and instrument collection in France were pillaged by the Nazis.