Webster Aitken (June 17, 1908 in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

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– May 11, 1981 in Santa Fe,

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) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He studied piano in Europe with

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...

and

Emil von Sauer Emil Georg Conrad von Sauer (8 October 186227 April 1942) was a German composer, pianist, score editor, and music (piano) teacher. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation. Josef Hofmann called vo ...

. In 1929, he made his professional debut in

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. Upon returning to America, he gave a concert in

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on November 17, 1935. In 1938, Aitken presented a series of recitals in New York City in programs featuring the complete collection of Franz Schubert's works for piano. He subsequently devoted his time to teaching. Aitken performed in the inaugural year of the

Peabody Mason Concerts Benefactor The name Peabody Mason comes from Miss Fanny Peabody Mason, who until her death in 1948 was an active patron of music both in the United States and abroad. Her musical interests were piano, singing and chamber music. Concert series ...

in Boston in 1950.''Boston Globe'', 2-Dec-1950, J.W.R., "Webster Aitken plays late Beethoven piano works in Cambridge" A live recording of a recital Aitken gave of Beethoven's works was released on a Delos label LP, and in the early LP era he began to record all of Schubert's piano sonatas for EMS Records, in competition with the American Vox series by

Friedrich Wührer Friedrich Wührer (29 June 1900 – 27 December 1975) was an Austrian-German pianist and piano pedagogue. He was a close associate and advocate of composer Franz Schmidt, whose music he edited and, in the case of the works for left hand alone, revi ...

; the latter came to fruition, becoming the first such cycle on records, but Aitken's ended when his label went out of business.

References

* Baker's Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Classical Musicians, Schirmer Books, 1997 * Records in Review 1960, Brattleboro, Vermont: George McKibbin & Co. (David Johnson, review of Schubert Sonatas performed by

Beveridge Webster Beveridge Webster (May 13, 1908, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – June 30, 1999, in Hanover, New Hampshire) was an American pianist and educator. Beveridge Webster studied with his father, initially, and in 1921, at age 14, he began five years of ...

, MGM E 3711, reprinted from '' High Fidelity'' magazine) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Webster 1908 births 1981 deaths Musicians from Los Angeles American classical pianists American male pianists 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American pianists Classical musicians from California 20th-century American male musicians Canadian emigrants to the United States

See also

References