In today's truly international world of music there are few remaining examples of any particular 'school' of playing. In earlier generations, national and even sub-national musical traditions were instantly recognizable. You could tell a violinist from Odessa apart from a violinist from Moscow, and pianists were equally distinguishable by the tone they cultivated and their repertoire choices.

Such was the case with Wilhelm Backhaus, a true 'lion' of the piano. He was the last exponent of a style of playing that was centered in Leipzig. It emphasized a transparent approach to the music, eschewing overt virtuosity for a quest to get to the heart of the text.

Backhaus studied with Eugen d'Albert, himself an early advocate of a more 'modern' attitude towards virtuosity for its own sake. Backhaus cultivated a broad repertoire but focused on the great Romantics, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann. He was a prolific Decca recording artist, leaving the complete Beethoven Sonatas as a landmark LP first.