Kann, Hans

Kann, Hans, respected Austrian pianist, pedagogue, and composer; b. Vienna, Feb. 14, 1927. He studied piano with A. Bloch, A. Göllner, and F. Wührer, chamber music with O. Schulhoff, composition with J. Lechthaler, and analysis with J. Polnauer in Vienna, where he made his debut (1946). After winning the Silver Medal at the Geneva International Competition in 1948, he pursued an international career. Beginning in 1955, he made regular tours of Japan. He toured South America and Russia in 1966, gave concerts in China in 1980, 1982, and 1985, and played in the U.S. in 1981 and 1984. In 1987-88 he gave in Vienna the first complete performance of the Haydn sonatas; in 1988-89 he presented a “Biedermeier” cycle there, consisting of works by Beethoven and Schubert and their lesser-known contemporaries; in 1989-90 he performed the complete piano works of Mozart there, including Mozart’s pieces for children and his didactic works. Among other places, Kann taught at the Vienna Academy of Music (1950–52), the Univ. of Arts in Tokyo (1955–58), and the Vienna Hochschule für Musik (from 1977). He also gave master classes at the Darmstadt Academy of Music (1961–67). He wrote a book on piano playing that was publ. in Japanese. His compositions include a ballet, theater and film scores, chamber music, lieder, works for synthesizer, and various pieces for solo piano, including a curious album entitled 10 Klavierstücke ohne Bassschlüssel and 12 Alt-Wiener Walzer, as well as didactic pieces, exemplified by 33 Spezialstudien, Tägliche Fingerübungen, and Models.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire