It’s about time for the (re-)discovery of an outstanding pianist of the 20th century! Lili Kraus, born in Hungary, set interpretative milestones with her Haydn and Mozart recordings and is also highly regarded by connoisseurs around the world for her playing of the works of Schubert.

In Germany, her perception always stayed in the shadows of an Edwin Fischer or Wilhelm Backhaus, as she represented a completely different, much less monumental style of interpretation. Her subtle interpretive skills were particularly appreciated in France, where most of her recordings were made. Kraus was educated in Budapest by Zoltán Kodály (music theory) and by Béla Bartók (piano), in Berlin she later attended Artur Schnabel’s masterclass.

Lili Kraus’s special love was for chamber music. She played the violin sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven among others with violinists Szymon Goldberg and Willi Boskovsky, her favorite chamber music partners. Testimonies of this exquisite musical collaboration can be heard in this documentation including 10 original albums from 1934 to 1962 with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert and Bartók.