Jorge Bolet: RIAS Berlin 1963-1972 – Jorge Bolet

   in Piano International (Mar, 2018)
Here on three CDs, in Volume 1 of what promises to be a series featuring releases of previously unissued Berlin broadcasts made between 1962 and1975, is Jorge Bolet in all his glory. Given before the cruel irony of his late celebrity when his powers had dimmed, these performances are of a breathtaking aristocratic strength, grace and fluency. Indeed it is tempting to say that no piano playing of more sheer beauty exists on record. Principally devoted to Chopin and Liszt – cornerstones of Bolet’s repertoire – the playing is of a pianistic command and poetic instinct given to very few.

In his selection from Liszt’s ‘Suisse’ Années de pèlerinage there is …