Brief description: The album was recorded on a Bösendorfer at the Hotel "Zur Post" in the little city of Weißenbach in Upper Austria.
Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist who performed in both the classical and jazz fields. Born in Vienna as the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano from Felix Pazofsky at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium, aged 7; in 1942, he entered the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied piano and musical theory under Bruno Seidlhofer and Joseph Marx. He won first prize at the International Competition in Geneva in 1946. Initially the jury preferred the Belgian pianist Lode Backx (b. 1922), but when the final vote was taken, Gulda was the winner. One of the jurors, Eileen Joyce, who favoured Backx, stormed out and created a minor international incident by claiming the other jurors were "nobbled" by Gulda's supporters. Gulda began going on concert tours throughout the world. Together with Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda, Gulda formed what became known as the "Viennese troika". Although most famous for his Beethoven interpretations, Gulda also performed the music of J. S. Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy and Ravel.

Brief description: Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends and was a member of jazz royalty. He won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career. He is considered to have been one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, who played thousands of live concerts to audiences worldwide in a career lasting more than 65 years.
Peterson wrote pieces for piano, for trio, for quartet and for big band. He also wrote several songs, and made recordings as a singer. Probably his best-known compositions are "Canadiana Suite" and "Hymn to Freedom," the latter composed in the 1960s and inspired by the U.S. civil rights movement.
Peterson taught piano and improvisation in Canada, mainly in Toronto. With associates, he started and headed the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto for five years during the 1960s, but it closed because concert touring called him and his associates away, and it did not have government funding. Later, he mentored the York University jazz program and was the Chancellor of the entire university for several years in the early 1990s. He also published his original jazz piano etudes for practice. However, he asked his students to study the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Well Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, and the The Art of Fugue, considering these piano pieces essential for every serious pianist. Pianists Benny Green and Oliver Jones were among his students.

Brief description: When Mozart composed his first six piano sonatas, end of 1774 until April 1775, he was 19 years old, had already written nine concertos for piano (among them the famed Jeunehomme concert K. 271), and had gained the reputation of being an acclaimed pianist himself.
There were three reasons for Mozart to embark on writing a whole series of piano sonatas: firstly, his enthusiasm for the new pianoforte developed by J. A. Stein from Augsburg, which, compared to the conventional harpsichord, offered undreamed of possibilities for both the composer and the pianist. Secondly, Joseph Haydn had set the example by composing a series of six sonatas the year before. But most of all, there was the upcoming premiere of his opera La finta giardiniera in Munich, and Mozart had to expect that the audience would also demand to hear him as a pianist.

Brief description: Musician, Composer, Producer, Arranger, Conductor - An impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, Quincy Jones’ career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, magazine founder and multi-media entrepreneur. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies and television.
Celebrating more than 50 years performing and being involved in music, Quincy’s creative magic has spanned over six decades, beginning with the music of the post-swing era and continuing through today’s high-technology, international multi-media hybrids.
On that DVD you can watch how to celebrate this incredible career—and Jones’ birthday. Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, put together a show to showcase the many career highlights of his longtime friend.
Cast: Patti Austin, Petula Clark, Herbie Hancock, Mick Hucknall, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Angelique Kidjo, James Moody, Nana Mouskouri, Naturally 7, Paolo Nutini, Lee Ritenour, Curtis Stigers, Toots Thielemans.

Brief description: Unlike the earlier Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, it uses poems by two poets, Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860) and Heinrich Heine (1797–1856). Schwanengesang has the number D 957 in the Deutsch catalogue.
The collection was named by its first publisher, presumably wishing to present it as Schubert's final musical testament to the world.
In the original manuscript in Schubert's hand, the first 13 songs were copied in a single sitting, on consecutive manuscript pages, and in the standard performance order. Some claim that the last song, Taubenpost, text by Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804–1875), catalogue number D 965 A, is not part of the cycle as Schubert conceived it. However, it's not clear that Schubert intended it to be a cycle at all, or if he did, that he completed it before he died. It may have been Tobias Haslinger, Schubert's publisher, who conceived of it as a cycle, or attempted to finish an incomplete work by adding Taubenpost onto the end. So most people consider Haslinger's published version 'the' version, and that's how it's performed today. Taubenpost is considered to be Schubert's last Lied.
Franz Liszt later transcribed these songs for solo piano.

Brief description: A versatile and highly respected conductor, Christoph von Dohnányi has pursued
a remarkable career both in Europe and the United States. His work has always
been characterized by the greatest artistic integrity and uncompromisingly
high standards, qualities that emerge to fascinating effect from a recording which,
dating from 1977, is of almost historical value. The piano soloist is Rudolf
Buchbinder, who can likewise look back on a career of exceptional distinction.
His performances of the German and Austrian repertory have set new standards.
In his hands, Strauss's Burleske is one of the undoubted high points of this
concert.
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born, and generally known in English-speaking countries, as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. The grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, he was born into a notable Jewish family, although he himself was brought up initially without religion, and later as a Lutheran. He was recognized early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his abilities.