The world's best pianist?
It’s been months since I wrote a review, which makes sense since it’s been a while since I attended a concert meriting a review. But I am back! I recently gorged on pianists, or at least piano performances, seeing four within 3 weeks. Since piano was my first instrument, I always feel a bit thrilled, a bit nostalgic, and a bit anxious when I attend these, since they evoke nerve-wracking moments when I was 11, waiting in my teacher’s bedroom to go out into her living room to play for the discerning audience of parents. There was one standout among these four performances, that of the 80 year-old Georgian-Russian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja. I have not heard a better recital in decades. She was unknown to me, but should not be. Her recital was a gripping, old-school demonstration of classic Russian piano technique and musicianship, and was the best concert I have been to for several years. I loved her programming. In the first half she alternated bracing, dance-like Mozart with ...