Liszt’s pupils, his earnestness of purpose, his energy and his unswerving study made up
for the comparative want of what Liszt would have called the ‘feu sacré’ [‘sacred fire’].’
Bache taught piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He did not survive into the
recording era.
BARTOK
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. His
style is a synthesis of folk music, classicism and modernism. He was fond of the
asymmetrical dance rhythms and pungent harmonies found in Bulgarian dance music.
His piano concerto no. 2 in G major (1930-1931) is one of his more accessible works
from the point of view of an audience. His piano concerto no. 3 in E major contains tonal
themes and lacks much of the earlier dark colouring and complex rhythmic features. His
Sonata for two Pianos and Percussion is one of his most popular pieces, as are his
Romanian Folk Dances for solo piano. His ‘Mikrokosmos’ is popular with piano
teachers as a useful set of teaching pieces.
BECHSTEIN
The Bechstein piano factory was founded on 1 October 1853 by Carl Bechstein in Berlin,
Germany. Carl Bechstein set out to manufacture a piano able to withstand the great
demands imposed on the instrument by the virtuosi of the time, such as Franz Liszt. On
22 January 1857 Liszt’s son-in-law, Hans von Bülow gave the first public performance
on a Bechstein grand piano by performing Liszt’s B minor Sonata in Berlin. This
inaugurated the Bechstein piano, an instrument he came to admire above all others. He
became a ‘Bechstein artist’ and he and Carl Bechstein developed a close friendship, their
correspondence lasting a lifetime. The piano on which Bülow premièred the Sonata was
specially built for him by Carl Bechstein, who had just opened his own factory. He had
earlier learned the art of piano building at the Berlin firm of Perau, where he had been
made foreman at the age of twenty-one. It was apparently Cosima Liszt who had brought
Bechstein and Bülow together.
By 1870, with the endorsements by Liszt and Bülow, Bechstein pianos became a staple at
many concert halls, as well as in private houses. By that time Bechstein, Blüthner and
Steinway & Sons had become the leading makes of piano. By 1890 Bechstein had
opened branches in Paris and St Petersburg and in London, where the company, adjacent
to its London showroom in Wigmore Street, built Bechstein Hall which opened on 31
May 1901.
Between 1901 and 1914 C. Bechstein was the largest piano dealership in London and at
that time Bechstein was the official piano maker for the Tsar of Russia and the Kings of
Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark, as well as other royalty and aristocracy. Bechstein
suffered huge property losses in London, Paris and St Petersburg during World War I.
The largest loss was in London because all Bechstein property, including the concert hall