Of the pianists whose names evoke awe from classical music lovers of a certain age, Romanian-born Clara Haskil is among the hardest to get a grip on for the modern listener. Underestimated during her lifetime and troubled by physical problems, she left only spotty traces of her artistry on recordings. Thus any addition to the Haskil discography is welcome. This one's not going to be part of any "desert-island collection" as touted on the cover, but it has its unique moments. The downside is the low quality of the original ...
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Of the pianists whose names evoke awe from classical music lovers of a certain age, Romanian-born Clara Haskil is among the hardest to get a grip on for the modern listener. Underestimated during her lifetime and troubled by physical problems, she left only spotty traces of her artistry on recordings. Thus any addition to the Haskil discography is welcome. This one's not going to be part of any "desert-island collection" as touted on the cover, but it has its unique moments. The downside is the low quality of the original mid-'50s live recordings. The more troublesome of the two is that of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, with volleys of coughing such as only Bostonians can deliver when the weather starts to turn ugly. But even the Piano Concerto No. 4, recorded in Paris at the height of vacation time, has its share of noise. If you can put this out of mind, you begin to see why people made it a point to hear Haskil when they could. Her long view of Beethoven's structures was...
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