Karl Engel

Karl Engel (Birsfelden, June 1, 1923 - Chernex, September 2, 2006) was a Swiss pianist. In 1952 Engel was awarded the second prize at the Queen Elisabeth competition. Throughout his concert career he cultivated the art song repertory and worked extensively on works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann. He also held a professorship at Hannover's Musihochschule for three decades. Swiss pianist Karl (Rudolf) Engel, was a student of Paul Baumgartner at the Basel Conservatory from 1942 to 1945. After World War II he studied with Alfred Cortot at the École Normale de Musique in Paris in 1947-1948. In 1952 he won 2nd prize at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition in Brussels. Karl Engel toured internationally as a soloist with orchestras, a recitalist and a chamber music performer. He became particularly known for his complete cycles of Mozart piano sonatas and concertos, and the Beethoven piano sonatas. His performances of complete piano works of Robert Schumann during the 1970s were highly estimated. He also distinguished himself as an accompanist, often appearing in Lieder recitals with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier and Brigitte Fassbaender. Among his chamber music partners were the cellist Pablo Casals and the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the Melos Quartet. From 1958 to 1986 Karl Engel was Professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany. He led famous master-classes in France, Canada and Portugal.Since 1989 he led master-classes in his homeland and abroad. Son: Till Engel, pianist, Professor at Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, West-Germany Karl Engel recorded the complete piano music of Mozart and of Robert Schumann and a lot of recordings with the singers Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Herman Prey, Brigitte Fassbaender., Peter Schreier.