Gunnar Johansen; Pianist Esteemed by Musicologists

Gunnar Johansen, the scholarly pianist and the first musician at any American university to be named an artist-in-residence, has died at his home in Blue Mounds, Wis.

His wife said he was 85 when he died Saturday of liver cancer.

Although not widely known because of limited personal appearances, he was held in high esteem by musicologists for his long effort to record the complete clavier music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his promotion of the works of Ferruccio Busoni.

He also was acclaimed for a series of radio concerts over the University of Wisconsin’s station in Madison. He became artist-in-residence there in 1939, retiring in 1976.

Music was not Johansen’s only interest.

In 1960, alarmed by what he considered an unhealthy trend toward specialization, Johansen founded the Leonardo Academy, an interdisciplinary study institute named for Leonardo da Vinci.

The academy, which had no permanent home, presented seminars at universities on cancer research, nutrition, aeronautics, fusion and other topics.

Johansen, a native of Copenhagen, also composed, primarily solo piano pieces. His recordings include 400 sonatas that he improvised during his radio broadcasts.

In the 1950s, Johansen shifted the focus of his career to recording and had his own label, Artist Direct. He produced a vast discography, including 50 albums of Liszt’s works and 43 albums of Bach.

Perhaps his best-known appearance occurred in 1969 when he learned the piano version of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on 30 hours’ notice and played it flawlessly with the Philadelphia Orchestra.