Michael Endres
Michael Endres (born 1961) is a German pianist.
He was professor for piano from 1993 to 2004 at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Cologne, until 2009 at the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin—since autumn 2009 at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand until February 2014 and from March 2014 at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway.
Early life and training
He was born 1961 in Sonthofen in the Oberallgäu region of the Bavarian Alps and studied with Klaus Schilde and Karl Hermann Mrongovius in Munich, then with Jacob Lateiner at the Juilliard School New York, where he received his master's degree - and later with Peter Feuchtwanger in London.
For many years, Michael Endres was the pianist to the late baritone Hermann Prey.
Repertoire
As well as specializing in Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Ravel, he has a wide repertoire including the somewhat neglected composers Carl Maria von Weber, Leopold Godowsky, Gabriel Fauré, Sir Arnold Bax and Eduard Tubin.[1] His comprehensive recordings include the complete sonatas of Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Carl Maria von Weber and Arnold Bax, the complete piano works of Maurice Ravel and George Gershwin as well as a complete recording of the 400 dances of Franz Schubert and 3 CDs of works by Robert Schumann. His recordings have received many prizes including Choc du Musique and Diapason d'Or and he has appeared at many major festivals and concert-halls around the world, such as the Salzburg Festival, Wigmore Hall London, Newport Festival, Wiener Musikverein and Suntory Hall, Tokyo.
Style
His playing is often described as subtle, elegant and refined regarding his recordings, where he does not take the dramatic elements of the music to the extreme. This is more than compensated for by the insights that he brings and the remarkable clarity of his readings and playing. On concert stage he often follows a riskier approach. The Boston Globe reviewer Richard Dyer described him as following during his Newport Festival debut:
- "Endres has made an admirable series of records for Capriccio and Oehms Classics -- Mozart, Ravel, Weber, Schumann, and the finest recent account of the complete Schubert sonatas -- but the CDs don't begin to do him justice. They are poised, thoughtful, and expressive, but there is no hint of the wild-man risk-taking that marked his Newport recital. Endres took big chances, communicated how thrilling every dimension of the music was to him, and succeeded triumphantly against the odds."
Recordings
W.A. Mozart: Complete Sonatas for piano
Franz Schubert: Complete Sonatas for piano
Complete dances
Wandererfantasy and other works
Carl Maria von Weber: Complete piano sonatas und other works
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Lieder ohne Worte ( complete )
Robert Schumann: Piano works ( 3 CDs )
Arnold Bax : Complete Sonatas for piano
Maurice Ravel: Complete piano works
George Gershwin: Works for piano
Carl Loewe: Ballades ( with Hermann Prey )
Franz Schubert & Johann: W. Kalliwoda ( with Ashan Pillai )