Born in Stockholm in 1942 of a Swedish mother and a Viennese father, both musicians, he was raised in Switzerland, where he entered the Geneva Conservatory at age 8. Graduating with honors, he continued his studies with Greta Eriksson in Stockholm, with Guido Agosti in Siena, and with Suzanne Roche, Alfred Cortot and Vlado Perlemuter in Siena. In 1960 he claimed victory in the Rudolf Ganz Competition in Lausanne, and in 1964 took first prize at the coveted Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona. He was also a prizewinner at the Bavarian Radio Competition in Munich and the Viotti Competition in Vercelli. He has since performed in more than 25 countries and in every major musical center, including London, Paris, New York, Boston, Berlin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Tokyo and Beijing.

    Dag Achatz with Bernstein
Mr. Achatz has been a soloist with the radio orchestras of Stockholm, Munich, Paris, Stuttgart, Torino, Milan, and with the Orchestre de Pasdeloup of Paris, l'Orchestre de l'Opera de Monte-Carlo, the Gewandhaus of Leipzig, the Staatskapelle of Dresden, and with the philharmonic orchestras of Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona and Lisbon. He has participated in the international music festivals of Montreux, Aix-en-Provence and Savonlina in Finland. He has also collaborated with many eminent conductors including Celibidache, Bernstein, Kertesz, Zinmann, Kamu and others. His master classes have taken him to the Academie-Festival des Arcs in France, the Institute of Advanced Musical Studies in Montreux, the Osaka Conservatory in Japan, and the Umea International Academy in Sweden. Dag Achatz serves frequently on the juries of international competitions, including those at Jaen, the Clara Haskil, Vercelli, Paris, Oporto, Munich (Bavarian Radio Orchestra Competition), and many others. In chamber music and lieder, he has performed with the Da Ponte Quartet; with singers Barbara Hendricks, Birgit Finila, Hugues Cuenod and Joanna Porackova, and in four-hand music with Yukie Nagai. He has made more than two dozen recordings for BIS, CBS, EMI, Melodiya and Americus Records. His best-selling CD of the music of Gershwin, on the BIS label, has been widely praised, as are his recordings of Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Schumann, Liszt, Ravel, Stenhammer, Grieg and many others.

REVIEWS

"Ce diable d'interprete-arrangeur est un phenomene."

Diapason, Paris.
 

"There is a wonderful anatomical presence about this sound"

The New York Times.
 

"You need hear only a few minutes of this recording to recognize Dag Achatz as notonly a formidable technician but also a genuine pianist and musician with an especially fine ear for timbre...an iridescent palette of tone colors that reveal him to be an exceptionally sensitive and subtle artist."'\

Paul Moor, Musical America.
 

"Achatz, en demiurge absolu, se depense sans compter. Chef a la place du chef, il domine le hourvari granitique de Stravinsky. Son interpretation donne la fievre."

Le Monde de la Musique, Paris.
 

"A pianist of great class" –

La Vanguardia, Barcelona.
 

" A big-boned performance with a large and warm tone and with real power, sustained atmosphere"

The Times, London.
 

"...Playing of the very highest calibre, of real insight and cultivated sensitivity that is extremely rare...This is intimate and deeply personal playing that emanates from an inner committment. Achatz's use of sustaining pedal is absolutely impeccable...A disc of highly distinguished playing of the greatest artistic individuality"

James Methuen-Campbell, Records and Recording, London.
 

"His level of dedication is matched by a complete technique and poetic insights...For anyone interested in Liszt, this disc is a must."

The San Francisco Chronicle.
 

"The sound quality is wonderful and the performance is beautiful, sensitive and thrilling."

Record Geijutsu, Tokyo
 

"Achatz puts his musicianship before his sleight-of-hand artistry. He demonstrates a blazing technique but never at the expense of the piece. All of the passion and complexity of Stravinsky's music is still there; how Achatz so successfully muscled it all in I will never understand."

Esquire
 

"Dag Achatz est un pianiste dont on doit saluer bien bas les prodigieuses qualites instrumentles. Il a un toucher d'une incroyable variete et une virtuosite ebouriffante."

La Suisse, Geneve
 

"Brillantes und transparentes Spiel"

Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Zurich
 

"He takes liberties and toys with his tunes [in the Gershwin] that no one but the composer and/or the very finest of jazz musicians would dare attempt."

Gramophone
 

"A sensitive and excellent pianist"

Sovietskaya Litva, Moscow
 

"Dag Achatz resounds with robust keystrokes ...

For the better part of two decades Dag Achatz's recording of his own transcription for solo piano of Stravinsky's ''Rite of Spring'' has been a pianophile's party record. Leonard Bernstein was so impressed by it he asked Achatz to transcribe his ballet ''Fancy Free.''

Born in Sweden of Swedish and Austrian parents, Achatz studied with great pianists - Guido Agosti, Alfred Cortot and the late Vlado Perlemuter. He's built along the lines of Paul Bunyan, and the piano doesn't stand a chance of bringing him down.

Last night Achatz came to the Boston Conservatory to play the ''Rite'' live, and very impressive he was; no engineer assembled that recording in the studio.

It's not unusual to hear Stravinsky's ballet score in the composer's rehearsal version for two pianos, but the problem of getting all those notes and cross-rhythms into a mere 10 fingers is exponentially more difficult, especially if the point is to make a musical impression in concert performance. Achatz's pianistic solutions are ingenious, effective and musically convincing, and his performance was an outstanding demonstration of stamina, virtuosity, imagination and rhythmic drive.

Any piano version of this score is going to sound like the aural equivalent of a blueprint, but that enables us to hear inner workings of the music more clearly (and accurately) than we do in many orchestral performances. And while Achatz's playing was not notable for suggesting orchestral color, he did keep all those simultaneous events on different planes of timbre and dynamics, a staggering achievement.

Achatz's discography is full of transcriptions, so it was interesting to hear him in more traditional repertory. He began his recital with some rather romanticized and not altogether accurate Haydn (a two-movement Sonata in D, Hob. XVI:48) but continued with a charming group of six of Grieg's ''Lyric Pieces,'' played honestly, simply, tenderly, vigorously and with plenty of character. Six Debussy Preludes revealed some unexpected qualities under the clear Northern light Achatz shone on them, while more traditional aspects stood in shadow. The rhythm Achatz brought to ''La Puerta del Vino'' was bracing, and so was the ripe humor of ''La Danse de Puck.''

Midway through the ''Rite,'' Achatz and the audience were startled by an usher who calmly walked in, crossed the front row a few feet away from the pianist, picked up a coat, and walked out again. At least she didn't stop and ask him if he had the time; he was demonstrating that he did.

By Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe 10/30/2002

Video/Sound files

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