Dieter Zechlin
Dieter Zechlin ( born October 30, 1926 in Goslar, † March 16, 2012 in Potsdam ) was a German pianist. He was one of the most famous pianists in the GDR.
Life
Zechlin was born in 1926 as the son of military doctor Theodor Zechlin ( 1889-1954 ) in Goslar. His father was during the Second World War at the front and most recently held the rank of general physician.
Dieter attended from 1936 to 1943 the Gymnasium Erfurt. In parallel, he learned from 1941 to 1943 piano with Otto Weinreich at the Leipzig Conservatory. From 1943 to 1945 he was drafted into the army, where he carried off a serious injury to his left hand. In 1945, he took piano lessons with Franz Jung on the Thuringian State Conservatory Erfurt, who was then music director of the Municipal Orchestra in Erfurt. From 1946 to 1948 he studied music then at Charles White at the Academy of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar.
After graduating, he taught at the conservatory in Erfurt and was from 1948 to 1949 assistant at the Weimar Academy of Music. In 1951 he was appointed to the German Academy of Music in Berlin. In 1971 he was a visiting professor at the International Music Seminar in Weimar. In 1973 he was a full professor of piano at the Musikhochschule in Berlin. From 1971 to 1982 he was the successor of Eberhard Rebling ibid rector. With the end of his rectorate he became Professor Emeritus.
In 1965 he became extraordinary and in 1971 a full member of the German Academy of Arts in East Berlin. From 1970 to 1978 he was member of the board and vice-president and acting president of the Academy in 1974. From 1972 to 1981 he headed the piano master class. He was also a 1969-1970 board member of the Association of Composers and Musicologists of the GDR. From 1971 to 1990 he was president of the Music Council of the German Democratic Republic and President of the Robert Schumann Society in Zwickau.
His concert tours have taken him to the Soviet Union, through Europe and to Japan and Latin America. Zechlin worked in the GDR in orchestral concerts, chamber music programs (including song accompanist for Jutta welting ) as well as radio and CD recordings of particular works of Ludwig van Beethoven. He played premieres of works by Günter Kochan, Ernst Hermann Meyer and Johann Cilenšek.
Family
Dieter Zechlin was a great grandson of the Altmark local historian Theodor Zechlin, nephew of the historian and author Ruth Egmont Zechlin Zechlin.
Dieter Zechlin to 1972 was married to the composer Ruth Zechlin. After joining in 1971 the SED, they filed for divorce. His third wife was the pianist Sascha Konstantinova. Later, he married his former pupil, the pianist Susanne Grützmann.
Awards
Discography (selection)
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Kurt Sanderling (Conductor ), 1962 /69 stainless Berlin Classics 2007.
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonatas ( complete recording ), 1959-1969, precious Berlin Classics, 2008. [9 CDs]
- Johann Cilenšek, Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Gerhard Pflüger (Conductor ), 1967, Hastedt 1998.
- Günter Kochan, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Kegel (Conductor ), 1959, Hastedt 1999.
- Günter Kochan, Sonata for Viola and Piano, Alfred Lipka (viola ), 1988, Hastedt 2006.
- Ernst Hermann Meyer, Toccata appassionata, 1966, Precious Berlin Classics 1995.
- Franz Schubert, Piano Sonatas ( complete recording ), 1970-1976, precious Berlin Classics, 2008. [8 CDs]
Filmography
Writings
- Conductor and instrumental soloists. In: legacy and commitment. Festschrift for Franz Konwitschny 60th birthday. German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1961, pp. 36-37.
- Wishes of the artist. In: Music and Society 13 (1963 ) 7, pp. 402-405.
- Beethoven's legacy - the possession of our socialist human community. In: Music and Society 20 (1970 ) 5, pp. 319-320.