Customer Reviews

Great Pianists 27

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

fleisher has always been one of my favorites, with one or both hands, and this collection is just wonderful.

it would be tedious to go over all the music, but high points for me are the liszt sonata, which is hard to sustain, the rorem barcarolles, which are rarely played and quite charming, and alborada del gracioso -- fleisher's performance just blows me away every time i hear it.

what's best about his playing, for me, is the lack of sentimentality (as well as perfect chops...)

When people hear his name, Leon Fleisher, first recording which comes to mind is his sublime recording of Beethoven concertos or the overwhelmingly powerful recording of Brahms concertos. But this 2CD set includes many recordings not available any more, like Liszt sonata, Weber's Sonata no.4, Ravel's sonatine and Copland's sonata etc, which shows different aspect of this great artist of keyboard. Like Sviatoslav Richter, Leon Fleisher is the kind of pianist who uses one's formidable technique solely to present music itself. All these works show how dazzling and exciting his playing can be, but one's attention is always drawn to music, not to pianist's technical brilliance only.

Recordings which stand out in this set are incandescent account of Liszt sonata and Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody which is on a par with William Kapell. The famous Var.18 is one of the most intesely felt performances with strong orchestra support by Szell. Weber sonata displays his uncompromising virtuosity. Ravel's Sonatine is played with stunning delicacy and clarity. All recordings, except Ravel's left hand concerto were made between 1957-62 (stereo) at the hight of his career.

Just amazing playing by Fleisher in a wide variety of pieces/composers. His Liszt Sonata must be heard to be believed, and all the works are idiomatic for each composer. Like Richter, Fleisher had the ability to adapt his playing to seemingly any composer. If he had not been injured, he likely would have been the dominant American pianist for decades. If you can find this set, snap it up, along with Fleisher's Brahms and Beethoven concertos(and don't forget the Mozart No.25) with Szell.