Description
Pierre Monteux, the celebrated French conductor, called Leon Fleisher ‘the pianistic find of the century’. After his early success in the US, Fleisher lived in Europe during the 1950s, winning the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. During this time he made highly successful tours of Europe, North and South America and his partnership with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in the late 1950’s and 1960’s is today considered one of the great recording legacies. These exciting and penetrating performances of Mozart and Beethoven concertos made in 1957 and 1960 have never been issued before and represent one of the few examples of Fleisher caught live, wonderfully engineered by the WDR. During the 1960’s Fleisher was diagnosed with focal dystonia in his right hand forcing him to stop playing and concentrate only with his left hand. He eventually recovered and by 2008 was recording again as a two handed pianist. This release celebrates Leon Flesher’s 85th birthday.
