Tom Connor wrote:

>This made me curious to know more of Paul Badura-Skoda.  ...
>Does anyone know more? I hadn't realized he was so young when these
>recordings were made and am curious why I haven't seen a stronger presence.

He was quite popular during my college days (1948-52).  Quoting from David
Dubal's *The Art of the Piano*:

   "b. 1927--Austria

   "At the dawn of the LP era, Badura-Skoda, an elegant young man from
   Vienna, became involved in studying the Schubert sonatas and Mozart
   concerti.  He made many recordings and became one of the most
   listened-to pianists of his generation.  Badura-Skoda is best suited
   to the German classics, but occasionally leaves this territory.  His
   Ravel disc includes a rather tepid *Gaspard de la nuit*.  When playing
   Chopin, most especially the Twenty-four Etudes, he is temperamentally
   far from his turf, and the technical material is too hot to handle
   with comfort.

   "He has recorded the entire Beethoven sonata cycle with the
   courage of a dedicated player, not quite up to every technical
   challenge, but always with astute intelligence.  His Schubert is
   proficient; at its best it possesses charm and innocence, especially
   in the *Moments musicaux*.  His Schumann gives off some heat, but is
   mostly too well behaved.  His finest work comes in Mozart, which is
   deft, careful, and balanced, and there is a Haydn sonata disc, played
   on a fortepiano, that is sparkling and witty, especially in the B
   minor Sonata.  Badura-Skoda's cadenzas to Mozart concerti are invariably
   pianistic, effective, and imaginative."

Walter Meyer