Gunnar Johansen (January 21, 1906 – May 25, 1991) was a Danish-born pianist and composer. He was one of the chief proponents of the music of

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

, whose mature keyboard works he recorded in their entirety, as well as the complete keyboard works of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. He was an important supporter of

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

. Johansen was also a scholar, educator and humanist. His many humanitarian efforts included establishment of the Leonardo Academy, dedicated to the integration of the arts and sciences.

Biography

Born in Copenhagen, Johansen was introduced to the keyboard by his father and made his hometown debut at the age of twelve. Remaining in his native Denmark, he went on to study with the pianist and conductor Victor Schiøler. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Berlin to further his musical education with

Egon Petri Egon Petri (23 March 188127 May 1962) was a Dutch-American pianist. Life and career Petri's family was Dutch. He was born a Dutch citizen in Hanover, Germany, and grew up in Dresden, where he attended the Kreuzschule. His father, a professi ...

, a disciple of

. He also worked with

Edwin Fischer Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century. Biography Fischer was born in Basel and studied m ...

and

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

's pupil, Frederic Lamond. He toured as a pianist in Europe in the 1920s and came to the

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in 1929, first settling in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where he did weekly radio performances for

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San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He later taught for many years at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. Beginning his nearly four decade tenure there in 1939, Johansen has the distinction of being the first musical artist-in-residence at any university in the United States. In the early 1940s, Johansen settled in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, a small rural town approximately 25 miles west of Madison. It was here that many of his composing and recording projects took place. Johansen died of liver cancer at the age of 85 at his home in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, in 1991.

Recordings

Johansen was one of the first pianists to attempt to record all of Liszt's known piano music, researching and uncovering many previously unknown works in the 1960s. His recorded output of Liszt (which according to Johansen he "never intended to be absolutely complete") totals 51 LP records. The Australian born pianist

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director, producer and writer.Obituary, '' Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' an ...

subsequently recorded 99 CDs, which is believed to account for Liszt's total keyboard production. As a composer he was also prolific, with a catalogue of nearly 750 compositions in various forms: 31 piano sonatas, three piano concertos, three violin sonatas, a large 1937 work for orchestra (''Variations, Disguises, and Fugue, on a Merry Theme of

Cyrus McCormick Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the Blue ...

''), along with works for string quartet, oboe, and vocal ensembles.

References

External links

* (~1976) * (WNCN-FM, 7-Dec-1979) * (WNCN-FM, 15-May-1981) * (WNCN-FM, 22-May-1981) * (WNCN-FM, 29-May-1981) * (WNCN-FM, 11-May-1976) * Kenneth Woods
Pianist and Composer Gunnar Johansen – The First Millennial
(blog post) {{DEFAULTSORT:Johansen, Gunnar 1906 births 1991 deaths Danish classical pianists American classical pianists Danish male classical pianists American male pianists Danish music educators American music educators Piano educators Pupils of Egon Petri 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century American pianists People from Blue Mounds, Wisconsin 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American composers Danish emigrants to the United States