Peter Taussig Piano   

Peter Taussig was born in 1944 in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, and grew up in Israel, where his parents emigrated following the Communist take-over in 1949. Musical studies began at age 7 with another Czech refugee, Edith Kraus - a student of Artur Schnabel and niece of Alma Mahler. At age 11, Taussig began studying composition at the Israeli Academy of Music, during which time he began giving concert and radio performances.

After leaving Israel Taussig moved to Canada, where he enrolled at the University of Toronto, studying piano with Anton Kuerti. While a student, he performed both as a soloist, and with such chamber groups as the Orford String Quartet. Important concerts included his debut performances of the Bartok Third Piano Concerto with the Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.

In 1973, Taussig began a long relationship with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where among other things he became a friend and occasional collaborator with legendary pianist Glenn Gould. Over the next decade, Taussig recorded over 200 chamber music broadcasts for the CBC - including the complete works of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms. He gave frequent concerts, both as a soloist - with such conductors as Sir Andrew Davis, John Elliot Gardner. Erich Kunzel, and Arthur Fiedler, and with his own chamber ensemble, Camerata, In 1979, Taussig became the musical director of the Stratford Music Festival in Ontario.

After an extended hiatus from concerts and recordings between 1991 and 1995 Taussig returned to performance - but this time with the aim of creating a synthesized version of Bach's Art of the Fugue. During the preparation, however, he was diagnosed with severe carpal tunnel syndrome, coupled with Osteoarthritis in his right hand - preventing him from performing music as he had. Renewed hope came in the form of the Yamaha Disklavier PRO, a MIDI-capable nine-foot concert grand, which allowed Taussig to record with his left hand alone, and a computer mouse.

Taussig has taken on the monumental project of using his new recording technique, which he calls, "Musical Sculpting," to record the complete keyboard works of J.S. Bach - an undertaking that continues the legacy of his idol, Glenn Gould. The first and second releases from this project (The Art of the Fugue and Well Tempered Clavier, Book.I) are featured here on the Classical Archives, and we look forward to the future installments.

Reviews

"...heroic and thought-provoking...the sound is great."

American Record Guide

"Taussig's interpretation is solid and insightful. [His] performance is fully convincing, with inner voices emerging with both intelligence and feeling. [His] readings are tasteful and deftly-conceived."

Robert Cummings, Classical Net

"Taussig is following in the footsteps of Glenn Gould...[his recording] stands on its own as a fine work. Few musicians today dare realize originality. Kudos to Peter Taussig for having the courage to do so."

Kirk McElhearn, T-Reviews

"The performance is attractive, informed, and free of gimmickry...Kudos to Taussig and his brave resourcefulness, and thanks for an Art of Fugue that can teach all of us something new about the music...and about the human spirit."

Raymond Tuttle, International Record Review