Stefan Auber, cellist accompanied by Ernst Victor Wolff on piano.

The concert opens with Variations in E flat by Beethoven. It is followed by Johannes Brahms' Sonata in E minor. Selections by Robert Schumann leads the second half of the concert followed by Tchiakovsky's Variations as the concluding work.

Stefan Auber (1903-1986) was a cellist. He was born in Vienna, where his father was his first teacher, and made his performance debut at the age of eight. Later, he was a student of the cellist Julius Klengel. In the late 1930s, he immigrated to the United States, where he enjoyed a successful career as a chamber music, orchestral, and solo performer. He played for three years with the violinist Rudolf Kolisch's quartet, which took part in the first recording of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire under the composer's direction in 1940. Following the breakup of the Kolisch Quartet in 1942, Auber became principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner, a post he held at least until the mid-1950s. He continued to perform into the 1970s. (From NYPL)

Ernst Victor Wolff (1889-1960) was a German-born concert pianist and harpsichordist who maintained a career not only as a soloist but also as a respected accompanist. As a harpsichordist, on February 20, 1938 he participated in the Carnegie Hall premiere of J.S. Bach's Coffee Cantata under the direction of Walter Damrosch; the other performers on that occasion. From 1955 until his death, Wolff taught at Michigan State University. (From Wikipedia)

WNYC archives id: 42577