I am so appalled that this century that saw great artists such as Rachmaninoff, Artur Rubinstein, Paderewski, etc... has left one very individual artist/composer in the piano field in semi-oblivion. His piano rhapsody op. 11 no.4 became an instant favorite the first time I heard it in 1974 from a record music sampler and I couldn't get over my craving for this piano piece ever since but unfortunately, the rhapsodies can never be found among famous recordings nor performances of all the talented pianists of the last 3-5 decades! How lamentable! I even read that even the great Brahms esteemed Dohnanyi well. How I wish that history would give this man his proper place of honor in the world of classical piano music even as his esteemed grandson - Christoph - failed to rally for it. Even now, I wish there would be more recordings of his piano pieces by many pianists of this decade and I wish the same for all his other works for other instruments.

I started a fan club of sorts to unite lovers of Dohnanyi's music. It's on Yahoo Groups and is, of course, free. http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ernst_von_Dohnanyi_Appreciation/

Larry