Nelson Freire in New York: 2013

[maestrob]

Recital, about 110 minutes. Bach, Chopin, Granados, Prokofiev, Brahms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iY2Nt-ya4g

Just can't ever get tired of his remarkably deep musicianship.

[Danny]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful recording.

I was really moved by Freire's playing. I don't mean to belittle Lang Lang, but he can only make me "wow": he can't make me weep. However, Freire could make me "wow" AND weep.

I wonder why Freire was not as famous as, say, Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia and the like. Perhaps he was a "low-key" person?

[maestrob]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful recording.

I was really moved by Freire's playing. I don't mean to belittle Lang Lang, but he can only make me "wow": he can't make me weep. However, Freire could make me "wow" AND weep.

I wonder why Freire was not as famous as, say, Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia and the like. Perhaps he was a "low-key" person?

Freire was indeed "low-key" as you put it. But he had depth of soul, and those who followed him and knew him recognized that in his playing.

One Chopin nocturne from him had more content than any Liszt B minor Sonata from anyone else.

We all here mourn his loss.

Danny, so hear the many other live recitals in the longer thread below.

[Danny]

Thanks for the recommendation, maestrob.

I will get to the longer thread shortly.

[Ricordanza]

I wonder why Freire was not as famous as, say, Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia and the like. Perhaps he was a "low-key" person?

That very issue was addressed in the New York Times obit:

....[His] profile remained relatively limited. Comparisons to Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz abounded, but Mr. Freire was an uncommonly reticent artist, giving fewer concerts than many of his peers, recording only rarely early in his career and remaining indifferent to publicity.

“There is a big difference between music and the music business,” he was quoted as saying in a 1992 profile in The Baltimore Sun. “It’s a completely different language, and when I get too involved in talking it, I get a little bit sick. As for talking about myself, it actually bores me.”

[Danny]

Thanks, Ricordanza, for drawing our attention to this passage.