Alexander Jenner (Vienna - April 4th, 1929) studied from 1945 on for almost ten years at the "Musikakademie" in Vienna. During the first three years with Paul Weingarten, and the years after with Bruno Seidlhofer and Richard Hauser. In 1951 Jenner won the second price at the International Contest of Geneva (a first prize was not given), and the following year a second prize at the Viotti Contest in Vercellie (other contestants were René Pouget from France, Walter Blankenheim from Germany and Andrej Wasowski from Poland). In that same year he won the "Kranichstein Music Award for Modern Music Interpretation" (Kranichsteiner Musikpreis für Neue Musik-Interpretation) in Darmstadt. No wonder Prawy asked him to record for the Remington label while still further studying. After he had completed his studies in 1957 he participated in yet another competition: The Rio de Janeiro Contest for Pianists. Other participants were Sergei Dorensky, Augustin Anievas, Michael Voskresensky, Nelson Freire and a very young Arthur Moreira-Lima. Jenner won First Prize and the jury was unanimous in that vote. In those years Alexander Jenner not only played the classics but also performed music which was not considered standard repertory at the time. He was the first Austrian pianist to perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F (February 24, 1951) and he gave the first performance of Strawinsky's 'Petrouchka for Piano Solo'. As early as 1951 he gave the first performance of the 12 tone compositions of Hanns Jelinek. Jenner gave the first performance in Austria of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra of Aram Khatchaturian. He performed this concerto also with Khatchaturian conducting. It gave Jenner the opportunity to discuss the intentions of the composer and the way the Concerto was to be played. The performance of the Khachaturian Conderto on Classique 11353 / Orbis 81503 clearly shows an approach which differs substantially from the known recordings of Moura Lympany, Leonard Pennario, Mindru Katz and Peter Katin, to mention a few. In Jenner's recording the pianist puts an emphasis on the modernity of the composition. There are accents not heard in other recordings before. In his recording the Concerto is less folkloristic and becomes a more serious work of a higher level one could say. Alexander Jenner is the virtuoso who masters the technique extremely well. The playing of the cadenzas in all three movements is exemplary. The beginning of the second movement lets one hear that the pianist is familiar with the jazz idiom and though there is a precision about his playing, the setting of the mood is right and the intensity is very good, though - again - it differs from the recordings by pianists who sport a more popular, melodic approach. This is nevertheless a remarkable performance which can be fully enjoyed. Alexander Jenner's interest in modern music is exemplified by his participation (together with Ensemble "die reihe") in the recording of the "Zwolftonwerke" (12 Tone Music) of Hanns Jelinek, supervised by Friedrich Cerha, and by his performance of the "Castelli Romani" of Austrian composer Karl Marx on March 28/29, 1982, in the Stefaniensaal of Graz, with the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Peter Schrottner; and by his recording of the Bartok Concertos. This despite the fact that the classics from the romantic period - Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann and Grieg - dominate his repertory. He performed these composers as a soloist with the leading orchestras of Europe: Vienna Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Staatskapelle Dresden. He traveled to Poland, the Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Italy. He performed in Brazil and Japan and gave concerts with Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Christoph von Dohnányi, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Vaclav Neumann, Mariss Jansons, Isaac Karabtchevsky, and in his early years with legends like Ernest Ansermet, Josef Krips, Milo von Wawak, Volkmar Andreae, Paul Kletzki, Rudolf Kempe and Hans Swarowsky. In 1969, at the age of 40, Alexander Jenner became a professor at the "Wiener Musikhochschule"; he conducted master classes and gave courses in Austria, Japan, Germany, USA, Taiwan, Spain and Latin America. He also is a valuable jury member at international piano competitions and he judicated at various competitions, Beethoven (Vienna), Tchaikovsky (Moscow), Chopin (Warsaw), Busoni (Bolzano), Schubert (Dortmund), and Schumann (Zwickau), and the Hamamatsu Competiton and other contests organized in Munich, Tokyo, Cologne, Petria, Sydney and Nagoya. He received and accepted invitations for the Enesco Competition (2001) in Bucharest and the Rachmaninoff Competition in Moscow (2002). Alexander Jenner has been honored with many national and international orders of merit. When I talked to Alexander Jenner, he told me about the role of Marcel Prawy regarding the Remington recordings and he confirmed: "Yes, I only made two recordings for Remington". His discography is an interesting list of recordings of works in various styles. It also deserves mention of the recordings of Bartók's Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, released on Compact Disc.