Elly Ney (1882 - 1968) was the world's most famous German pianist. Still, opinions about her continue to contrast widely even today. Born the daughter of a sergeant in Dusseldorf, she at first studied at the Cologne Conservatory, then with Leschetitzky and von Sauer in Vienna. When she first appeared as a soloist in 1904, it initiated a sensational career, first in Europe, and from 1921 on in the US, where Ney enriched the concert life between New York and Hollywood for ten years - often together with the violinist and conductor Willem van Hoogstraten, who she had married in 1911. The couple moved back to Europe In 1931. Elly Ney became the founder and director of the Beethovenfest in Bonn, settled again in Germany in 1933, became a professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum and throughout it all unquestionably profited from the Nazi’s cultural politics. After her performance ban ended in 1952, she resumed her concert activities. In her artistic sense of mission, she relied entirely on the power of pure art. She did not look for or use effects, "only restrained expression" (Karl Schumann, music critic). Joachim Kaiser, the great connoisseur of pianists, summed it up like this: "It was amazing to witness with how much freshness the artist performed the most powerful and radiant of all Beethoven concerts even at her advanced age. She did not care about technical problems. But again and again she tried, even in the "Emperor" concert, to extract what dazzling pianists like to simply roll over: the intimacy".

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5 No. 1

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5 No. 2

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 No. 1

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op. 102 No. 2

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor'

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major, Op. 7

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight'

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 'Appassionata'

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 5 in D major, Op. 70 No. 1 'The Ghost'

Beethoven: Variations (12) on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" for Cello and Piano, Op. 66

Beethoven: Variations (6) in G major on the duet 'Nel cor più non mi sento' from the opera La Molinara by Giovanni Paisiello, WoO 70

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83

Haydn: Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob.XV:25: Finale 'Rondo all'ongarese'

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat major, K450

Schubert: Fantasie in C major, D760 'Wanderer'

Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D667 'The Trout'

Schumann: Études symphoniques, Op. 13

Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47

Strauss, R: Burleske for Piano and orchestra in D minor, AV85