The great American pianist Leon Fleisher (born in 1928) was a pupil of Artur Schnabel, with whom he stayed for an unprecedented ten years. He made his professional debut with Pierre Monteux and the San Francisco Orchestra in 1942 aged fourteen. Success came quickly and by eighteen, Fleisher had played with all the US orchestras and had given recitals at Carnegie Hall. Between 1950 and 1958, Fleisher lived in Europe, 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 1950s and 1960s is today considered one of the great recording legacies.

During the 1960s, Fleisher was diagnosed with focal dystonia in his right hand, forcing him to restrict himself to left-hand repertoire. He eventually recovered and by 2008 was recording again as a two-handed pianist.

The celebrated French conductor Pierre Monteux called Fleisher ‘the pianistic find of the century’. This release celebrates Fleisher’s 85th birthday. Sony Classical have also issued a 23 CD set to commemorate the pianist’s association with them.

Fleisher’s 1960 live recording with the KRSO of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1, superbly conducted by André Cluytens, is wonderfully sprung and full of stylish brio. At this time Cluytens was just completing his acclaimed cycle of Beethoven Symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic for EMI.

Fleisher described Mozart’s K414 as ‘a beautiful little concerto … sparer and more direct than some of the pieces he wrote while he was still living in Salzburg’. The work is a rarity in Fleisher’s discography, since he did not record it until 2008 (and then in a commercial studio recording). This 1957 live performance is direct, with a full-bodied singing tone and pinpointed responsiveness.

These recordings have never been issued before and are beautifully recorded by WDR. In addition, they represent one of the few examples of Fleisher caught live, as opposed to his studio-made recordings.

Contents:
- Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1
Leon Fleisher (piano)
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester / André Cluytens
Saal 1, Funkhaus, Cologne - 7 March 1960

- Mozart: Piano Concerto No.12 K414
Leon Fleisher (piano)
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester / Georg Ludwig Jochum
Saal 1, Funkhaus, Cologne - 25 March 1957

MONO · WDR