Dr. Gary Lemco’s program, “The Music Treasury” on Stanford University’s KZSU-FM, will feature a program in tribute to pianist Burkard Schliessmann on Sunday, July 14, 2024 at 7 PM Pacific. Listen online at kzsulive.stanford.edu.

Program

• BACH: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903 (11:55)
• SCHUMANN: Nachtstuecke, Op. 23 (15:54)
• CHOPIN: Valse in C# Minor, Op. 64/2 (3:56)
• SCHUMANN: Arabeske in C Major, Op. 18 (7:14)
• MENDELSSOHN: Variations sérieuses, Op. 54 (15:00)
• SCHUMANN: Gesaenge der Fruehe, Op. 133 (10:53)
• BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971 (12:04)
• SCHUMANN: Warum? from Fantasy-Pieces, Op. 12 (2:52)
• SCHUMANN: Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 (30:00)

Program Transcript Preview:

BURKARD SCHLIESSMANN is regarded as one of the most influential pianists of the modern era. He has received numerous prizes and awards of merits for his piano interpretations, having studied under musical masters Herbert Seidel, Shura Cherkassky, Bruno Leonardo Gelber and Poldi Mildner.

Schliessmann was born in Aschaffenburg. He performed at Steinway Hall in New York vante and orchestral soloist throughout the world and has participated in music festivals in Europe, among these the Münchner Klaviersommer, the festival “Frankfurt Feste,” the Valldemossa Chopin Festival and the Maurice Ravel Festival in Paris. He received invitations from orchestras like the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Symphony Orchestra Wuppertal and the New Philharmonic Westfalia, in addition to other orchestras. He enjoys great popularity in media and has been showcased at major German TV-studios, including the Philharmonie of Gasteig in Munich, the City Hall Wuppertal, and the WDR West German Radio studio in Cologne. Mr. Schliessmann has been featured by the WDR radio in its program ZDF-aspekte in a joint production of the ARD/ZDF TV- channels. He has also been featured by BR Bavarian radio, HR Hessian radio and was broadcasted nationwide and throughout Europe in the cultural programs of ARTE, 3sat, Fidelio-ORF, UNITEL Classica and the US channel Classic Arts Showcase. 

His recordings LIVE & ENCORES and recently SCHUMANN-FANTASIES had been met with outstanding success.  With Fantasies he set new standards and insights in the Schumann interpretation. Therefore he was invited in 2024 as special guest by major US-channels as well Canada and explained his approach to the works and their interpretation. So he was in discussions with Chris Wolf in Winnipeg’s Classic107 – Canada, with Isabella Cao at KUCI, Irvine, California, with Mary Claire Murphy host at WGTE, Toledo, OH, and with David Osenberg in CADENZA at New Jersey and others …  

Schliessmann has received honors and awards for his performances and his musical recordings and has been the subject and guest artist on many radio and television programs. His repertoire embraces Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Scriabin, the Second Viennese School up to the Avant Garde.  

Schliessmann is Professor for Piano at London Overseas Musicians’ League, LOML, in London, United Kingdom, a special project from Royal Academy London. 

Schliessmann is also a professional scuba diver and serves as an Ambassador for the “Protecting of Our Ocean Planet” program of the Project AWARE Foundation. The inspiration of the variety of colors of the underwater world he converts into differentiated sounds in his artistic interpretations, a phenomenon called synesthesia. In several segments of an interview with Oliver Fraenzke in The New Listener entitled “Interview: Burkard Schliessmann,” Schliessmann describes his experiences of these feelings and impressions.

He currently engages in the study of philosophy and photography.

In 2008, Schliessmann said that he played Bach more than any other composer and that he had played the complete organ works at the age of 21 – and these by memory. 

“As a child and youngster I had been taught by one of the last master-students of the legendary Helmut Walcha, and I completely had been affected by this style of insight into Bach and the internal structures. This method of regarding the independent coherence of all the voices gave me a special comprehension of Bach and his philosophy. Lastly one can say that I have been growing up with Bach, even to this day.”

— Burkard Schliessmann, Fanfare

According to Schliessmann, “Chopin is the crowning and climax of piano-playing. It’s something so unique, all-affecting in emotionalism, musical architecture, and structure, that all past giants are present in it: Bach and Mozart. Chopin’s elegance is so singular, that again you need much experience to convey his music in the real and original style. The question of rubato is very sensitive: It’s nothing arbitrary, but much more something well calculated and well proportioned, something that is integrated in the classical strength of form, which is constructed on the profound knowledge of the polyphonic and contrapuntal structures of Bach and Mozart.

Burkard Schliessmann Recordings

International Piano has published a FREE downloadable digital magazine feature focused on Burkard Schliessmann. See the full magazine on the International Piano Exact Editions website, or flip through the gallery below:

Burkard Schliessmann‘s performance of Chopin’s Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor was a finalist in the International Acoustic Music Awards – competing against music from all genres and from musicians around the globe! Schliessmann’s Chronological Chopin recording, which features the Scherzo, was also a Global Music Awards Silver Medalist!

Burkard Schliessmann recordings