This was my review of the last local performance by the great pianist, whose touch and tone were as beautiful as ever two years ago. Leon Fleisher, who became a virtuoso of piano literature for the left hand after suffering injury to his right hand, died on Sunday in Baltimore at 92. May he rest in peace.
Leon Fleisher performed a luminous recital in Werner Hall at CCM on Saturday night.
Perhaps playing the piano is good for longevity. Amazingly, there are still two classical pianists who are concertizing into their 90s.
Earlier this year, Menahem Pressler, 94, the founding anchor of the Beaux Arts Trio, performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488, with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his debut with that orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in 1947. And, he’s still teaching at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University.
Over the weekend, Leon Fleisher, who is celebrating his 90th birthday, performed a recital as part of the Art of the Piano festival at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. (The festival’s founder, Awadagin Pratt, studied with Fleisher at Peabody.) As a teacher, Fleisher is a direct descendant of Beethoven, passed down through Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschetizky and Artur Schnabel.
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