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Death of a brother pianist
August 24, 2017 by norman lebrecht
Reports are appearing of the death of Aloys Kontarsky, surviving half of the celebrated German piano duo. He was 86 and had been struggling in the aftermath of a stroke.
His brother Alphons died in 2010.
The duo recorded extensively for DG and other labels.
A chamber music play by Mauricio Kagel with the mime Rolf Scharre and the brothers Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky. Munich. 1964. Photograph by Franz Hubmann/Lebrecht
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Bad news. Their recording of the Hungarian Dances is a treasure and a must-have in all collections.
The youngest brother, Bernhard Kontarsky, is, I hope, still with us.
Their 1977 rendering of
Bartók: Sonata For 2 Pianos & Percussion (with Christoph Caskel, Heinz König)
Stravinsky: Concerto For 2 Solo Pianos
Stravinsky: Sonata For 2 Pianos
belongs to the finest recordings of these pieces.
(Deutsche Grammophon 437 027-2)
Sad. I heard them live only once. I will treasure my vinyl disks of them even more. Their ensemble was second to none. Their performances had grand shape. The DGG sound was big but round.
I knew them in the 70’s–my husband was a student of Caskel’s–a couple of years later they came to the Bay area to perform–Aloys was absolutely charming, and so talented.