Detlev Eisinger

Life and career

Eisinger started playing the piano at the age of seven. At eleven he continued his studies under the tutelage of the pianist Walter Krafft (* in 1936 in Bucharest), a pupil of Florica Musicescu (1887–1969) who had also taught Dinu Lipatti (1917–1950). In 1967 Krafft founded the Munich Musikseminar and has since then been its director. He was to become Eisinger's most important mentor at the piano, and it was thanks to him that Eisinger went on to perform his first recital and his first concerto with an orchestra at the age of thirteen in Munich. From 1976 on Eisinger studied under Professor Erik Then-Bergh (1916–1978) at the Munich Musikhochschule, passing his Staatsexamen (state examination) with distinction in 1980. In 1986 he won a scholarship to the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

By then, he had already - at the age of fourteen - made his first recordings in the studios of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (Bayerischer Rundfunk), and at 16 he cut his first record, playing, amongst other things, Ludwig van Beethoven's Pathétique sonata and the Variations sérieuses by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. After graduating, he began travelling widely on the concert circuit both at home and abroad. Notable among his many appearances was his performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's complete Well Tempered Clavier in Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, and Klagenfurt. He put in appearances at Menton, Paris, Montpellier, at the Kissinger Sommer (summer festival in Bad Kissingen/Germany), the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Kodály Festival in Kecskemét, Hungary. There were also five concert tours in South Africa.

A significant landmark in Eisinger's career was his performance of Robert Schumann's Carnaval at the Münchner Klaviersommer (Munich piano summer festival) of 1990. The soloist in the second half of the concert was Friedrich Gulda. Following this, he gave his début performance at the Berliner Philharmonie with Mendelssohn's G minor Piano Concerto and went on to give piano recitals in several European capitals, in Toronto/Canada and in San Francisco/USA. A number of recordings for radio and television followed, as well as CD productions, which included some of the great cycles in the repertoire of major works for the piano.

Eisinger has also been involved in chamber music performances and has appeared as accompanist to performers of the German Lied, notably Hermann Prey and Kieth Engen.

He has fascinated audiences with his Gesprächskonzerte (musical lectures, or lecture recitals) in which he introduces and elucidates each work before playing it. The audience are then suitably prepared, so that the performance itself becomes a deep and lasting experience for them, something which has proved particularly helpful with longer works such as Bach's Goldberg Variations, or Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, and a cycle of his 32 Piano Sonatas. A lecture recital at the Villa Wahnfried in 2002 turned out to be the start of a seven-year career at the Bayreuth Richard Wagner Festival. There, from 2002 to 2008, Eisinger performed introductions to all Wagner's operas at matinée recitals, with the result that he was invited to appear at a number of other opera houses both in Germany and abroad. In 2008 he was hired for a period of several years to provide musical introductions in the same vein at the Richard Wagner Festival at Wels in Austria.

Eisinger's interpretations, while reflecting his own ideals and feelings, remain true to the spirit of the work itself. For him, to convey the spirit and intention of the composer as naturally as possible is paramount.

At present, Eisinger ist working on recordings of all the Beethoven piano sonatas. He is the first pianist to give an introduction to each sonata and to elucidate it using musical illustrations and quotations, before playing it. He is also involved in making recordings of his introductory lectures of all the Wagner operas along the lines of his matinée recitals in Bayreuth.

Compact Discs

Long Playing Records

Music Cassettes