Anja Thauer (1945-1973)

[Barbirollians]

I bought it from jpc.de and it arrived a couple of days ago. The performance of the Dvorak has a spontaneity and urgency about it (as well as the poetry to which Barbirollians has already referred) which is greatly appealing. Although it's a daft comparison, it's as if Martha Argerich was playing the cello. Fine recording for its age (I suspect Rudolfinum in Prague??) with the cello fairly forwardly balanced, and, unsurprisingly, alert and idiomatic support from Macal and the Czech Philharmonic. I much prefer it to the - for my taste rather murkily recorded and perfunctorily accompanied - Fournier. There's a good performance of the Debussy sonata on the disc as well which has the same qualities of youthful impetuousness about it. Very grateful to Barbirollians and others for bring its re-emergence to our notice - and for their justifiably enthusiastic responses.

It had not occurred to me as a comparison but I know exactly what you mean! I am glad you have enjoyed it .

[pastoralguy]

Thank you for the 'heads up' re. this disc. The Dvorak 'cello concerto is a great favourite of mine. I've just ordered it so, hopefully, it won't take too long to arrive.

[Barbirollians]

Not losing its charm . Record of the year for me .

[Barbirollians]

I should be very interested to know what others thought of this ? Ostuni PG etc .

[pastoralguy]

Hi Barbi. I did listen to this disc when it arrived and, to be honest, it didn't really 'hit the spot' for me. However, it may just have been the rather low mood I was in at the time. I'll try to listen tomorrow morning.

I have been listening to the new Dvorak concerto from the wonderful Alicia Weilerstein which has gone straight to the top of my huge pile of Dvorak 'cello concertos! Everything about it is just outstanding.

[Barbirollians]

Sorry to hear that PG . I am still very much in love with it . I love the vitality and the quick tempi of the reading and the Czech PO plays gloriously too.

[pastoralguy]

Hi again, Barbi. I listened to the Dvorak again this evening and I'm afraid it still does nothing for me. The slightly muffled sound and the occasional lack of synchronisation between soloist and conductor put it quite far down my list of recordings of what must be one of my top five favourite works.

Sorry but I did try!

[Barbirollians]

Ah well to each his own at least we agree about Ida Haendel !

[Barbirollians]

Anja Thauer's DG recordings to return on Eloquence in October

Delighted to see Anja Thauer's Dvorak Cello Concerto is being released by Eloquence coupled with her other album of Reger and Francaix .

This is first CD release of the latter and Universal's first reissue since the 1970s . One of the truly great accounts of this concerto - I know Roehre agrees though Pastoralguy was underwhelmed when I recommended the Hastedt reissue .

I dare to take a little credit for its return AE has a Facebook page where they asked you to recommend old recordings due a revisit . I suggested this one and they said they thought it sounded interesting and would look into it .

[Barbirollians]

As noted above it is coming out on Eloquence will be interesting to hear if much difference in the sound

[Barbirollians]

I have not compared them side by side but the Eloquence issue sounds good to me . The performance is as endearing as ever and now at mid price . I look forward to listening to the Reger and Francaix couplings .

[gurnemanz]

I have not compared them side by side but the Eloquence issue sounds good to me . The performance is as endearing as ever and now at mid price . I look forward to listening to the Reger and Francaix couplings .

Thanks for drawing attention to Anja Thauer. I missed your thread first time round and was not aware of her at all. Your enthusiasm and her early death moved me to investigate further. Some background to her life story and suicide are to be found here.

A contributor to the German classical music message board Tamino gives a bit more detail: a friend of the cellist had seen something he had written about her online and contacted him by email. Anja had been driven mercilessly ("gnadenlos") to a cello career by her mother. She was lonely and never had a life of her own. When she eventually met the love of her life (a married man), she became blissfully happy ("überglücklich"). But, as mentioned in the cello.org link above, the sad outcome was the suicide of both lovers.

That Eloquence disc looks very tempting: the Dvorak and the chance to get to know two works which are new to me. It seems that Claude Françaix, the son of the composer was a friend of hers, and that the father was so impressed by her playing that he accompanied her himself in his work for what turned out to be her last concert performance.

[Barbirollians]

Thanks for drawing attention to Anja Thauer. I missed your thread first time round and was not aware of her at all. Your enthusiasm and her early death moved me to investigate further. Some background to her life story and suicide are to be found here.

A contributor to the German classical music message board Tamino gives a bit more detail: a friend of the cellist had seen something he had written about her online and contacted him by email. Anja had been driven mercilessly ("gnadenlos") to a cello career by her mother. She was lonely and never had a life of her own. When she eventually met the love of her life (a married man), she became blissfully happy ("überglücklich"). But, as mentioned in the cello.org link above, the sad outcome was the suicide of both lovers.

That Eloquence disc looks very tempting: the Dvorak and the chance to get to know two works which are new to me. It seems that Claude Françaix, the son of the composer was a friend of hers, and that the father was so impressed by her playing that he accompanied her himself in his work for what turned out to be her last concert performance.

Tully Potter's note to the release is on similar lines , though the note is rather irritating in making references to du Pre that strike me as odd . Suggesting for example , that du Pre's success made life difficult for other women cellists - an assertion that seems to be based on no evidence at all . The final tragic circumstances of her life are terrible . Apparently, her lover ( a doctor)'s wife refused to divorce him , he ended the affair and she then committed suicide . Heartbroken he committed suicide five days later . Quite terrible but the real worth of this disc is its artistic quality . The Reger is a piece not known to me and is very striking and superbly played . Still to listen to the Francaix.

[Barbirollians]

I see there is a documentary on BBC sounds from last November a out her which suggests a domineering mother whose career was ended mysteriously by the war . I shall listen and report back.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I needed a programme to occupy 45 minutes and looking on the Sunday features came across the programme. Very interesting, and the enthusiasm for her recordings will lead me to follow up and listen to the Dvorak and some others. Here is the link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pm8v

" The Myth and Mystery of Anja Thauer

Anja Thauer was a young German cellist on the brink of stardom in the 1960s. She won the Grand Prix at the Paris Conservatoire, signed with Deutsche Grammophon, released two critically acclaimed albums, and toured internationally. And then, a tragic end: she took her own life in 1973, aged 28, after starting an affair with a married doctor in Wiesbaden. Five days later, he took his own life.

Thauer remains a cult figure among collectors of rare records, who will sometimes pay four-figure sums for original copies of her LPs. But her story has never been properly told. Why not? In this Sunday Feature, music journalist Phil Hebblethwaite discovers that her position in music history may have been intentionally obscured by her mother – a former violin virtuoso – who exerted complete control over her daughter’s career, and subsequently her legacy.

And was Thauer’s career also overshadowed by the success of Jacqueline du Pré at a time when classical music perhaps wasn’t ready for two female star cellists? Their stories have uncanny similarities. They were the same age, studied together at the Paris Conservatoire, and their careers both ended in 1973 – when Thauer died and du Pré was diagnosed with MS.

The documentary starts in a charity shop in west London, with Hebblethwaite finding a copy of a Thauer’s recording of the Dvořák Cello Concerto. We meet critics who have spent years trying to find out more about Thauer and hear from those who knew and worked by her, including the conductors Zdeněk Mácal and Neville Dilkes, and the pianist Claude Françaix. And we head to Germany too, to research Thauer’s mother Ruth, and to try and understand the complicated relationship she had with her gifted daughter."