Jörg Demus
Austrian pianist celebrated for sparkling performances of Viennese classics such as Winterreise
JÖRG DEMUS, who has died aged 90, was an old-school Austrian pianist best known for his sensitive accompaniment of singers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elly Ameling and, above all, Dietrich Fischer-dieskau; he made his name with the music of Vienna – Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven – and, according to one reviewer, often performed as if the 20th century had never happened.
He first met Fischer-dieskau in Vienna in 1952 and the pair forged a remarkable musical partnership both in the concert hall and on disc. Their recording of Schubert’s Winterreise from 1968 is still widely seen as the gold standard.
In his memoir, Echoes of a Lifetime (1989), Fischer-dieskau credits Demus with helping him to return to music after the death in childbirth of his wife, Irmel, in 1963. “He demonstrated thematic comparisons on the piano, perhaps between sonatas and certain lieder passages, and quite unaware I hummed along,” wrote the singer.
Demus was also a reassuring presence to other singers. Elly Ameling recalled letting off steam to him about how working in the recording studio felt cold and clinical. “I complained, ‘How can I get the full feeling at 11 o’clock in the morning without an audience?’” she said. “I will never forget his reply. ‘Ah, Elly, I am your most grateful listener.’ That was a real lesson to me.”
Although Demus’s solo appearances
in Britain were rare, they were memorable, including a series of three recitals at the Wigmore Hall in 1966 devoted entirely to Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues that left one critic declaring: “The audience had only to watch him to realise that his journey is a labour of love.”
Jörg Wolfgang Demus was born at St Pölten, a small city west of Vienna, on December 2 1928. His father, Otto Demus, was an eminent art historian and his mother a violinist. By the age of 11 he was studying at the Vienna Music Academy, going on to take lessons on piano with Hans Swarowsky, conducting with Josef Krips and composition with Joseph Marx. In 1943 he made his debut as a concert pianist at the Musikverein in Vienna.
After the war Demus was one of a handful of young Austrian pianists, including his friend and duo partner Paul Badura-skoda, who flooded the classical-music record market with sparkling recordings of Viennese classics. He was soon performing across Europe: in London he appeared at the Kingsway Hall in February 1950 with the Konzerthaus Quartet of Vienna; at the Wigmore Hall in April 1952 in duets with Badura-skoda; and at the Royal Festival Hall in March 1958, although on that occasion Fischer-dieskau cancelled at short notice and Demus found himself accompanying Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Meanwhile, from 1951 to 1953 Demus had been studying in Paris with Yves Nat, culminating in an acclaimed performance at the Salle Gaveau that was reviewed with the headline “Jörg Demus joue et gagne” (Jörg Demus plays and wins).
In 1956, the Mozart bicentenary year, he entered and won the prestigious Busoni International Piano Competition, which had been found in 1949 by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He recalled having a dream the night before he played in which he rehearsed the B minor triple fugue from the first volume of Bach’s
Well-tempered Clavier, from both volumes of which the jury would select a section for him to play. The following day they chose that same B minor triple fugue. “I played it confidently from memory,” he said with satisfaction. He took part in two summer courses with Michelangeli, recalling how the Italian was at first strict but, seeing his student’s determination, gradually warmed up.
Over the years, Demus, who also played the organ and composed, acquired dozens of keyboard instruments, which he displayed at his own museum until the collection was sold in 2004. He taught in Vienna, where his students included the British pianist Imogen Cooper, wrote on music theory and received numerous awards including the Beethoven Ring, the Mozart Medal and the Schumann Prize.
In 2000, a long-forgotten recording of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin that Demus had made with Fischerdieskau in 1968 came to light. It had been intended as a companion piece to their legendary Winterreise but had never been released.
Asked in 2016, on the 60th anniversary of his victory in the Busoni competition, which he was now chairing, how the prize had contributed to his career as a pianist, Demus responded that it had done great things, but added: “I do not have a career as a pianist, but as a musician.”
Jörg Demus, born December 2 1928, died April 16 2019