Zoltán Kocsis plays Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert

This DVD arrived in the mail today from Amazon.com marketplace.  I really admire Zoltán Kocsis from the few recordings I have.  I think he was suppose to play with the Calgary Philharmonic in the 1980s when I lived there, but Michel Béroff came in his place to play the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto instead.  I really like his recording of the Rachmoniov 3rd Piano Concerto.  He plays it fast and chose the shorter first movement cadenza (and this is now in vogue) when during the time of the recording (1980s), the longer cadenza was more in favor.

The 1950s was a golden decade of Hungarian pianists: Dezső Ránki (1951), Zoltán Kocsis (1952) and András Schiff (1953) were all born in that decade.  I of course admire Géza Anda and Annie Fischer who preceded them.  I don't think Kocsis has made any piano recordings recently.  What a loss!

This is a DVD recorded in 1998 in Italy and the audience is very quiet.  I listened to Beethoven's Opus 111 first.  I've come to love the last three Beethoven piano sonatas this year.  I listened to the Mozart Fantasia and the Beethoven again, followed by Schubert's last sonata.  A very satisfying purchase indeed.