Do not think, though, that this performance is all hushed half-tones. There is plenty of fire when needed and the cadenza is rightly made the climax—structural as well as emotional—of the movement. It struck me that perhaps only in this concerto and the fifth Bach Brandenburg is the cadenza so completely integrated into the movement, forming the apex of its emotional arch.

Most performances of the second movement seem too fast and restless to me—more Allegretto than Andantino. So I loved every moment of Annie Fischer’s expansive, relaxed treatment. The sumptuous themes in the middle section belong mainly to the orchestra, and happily Keilberth seems fully agreed to take his time over them.

In the finale we find that it was not just Klemperer’s influence that resulted in a rather slow tempo in the famous EMI recording—this was clearly Fischer’s way with it. By combination, I had recently been listening to Boult conducting the first movement of Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, where he takes an extraordinarily fast tempo, too fast for me. I felt that he was doing everything in his very considerable powers to make his tempo convincing. Everything, that is, except slow down a tad, which might have been the best thing of all. Here we seem to have the exactly opposite case. Having chosen a tempo that is surely just a bit too slow, Fischer does everything she can—and she does some truly lovely things—to make it work.

I must however point to one moment that justifies everything. After the orchestra has stated the syncopated, staccato, stalking second theme, most pianists seem uncertain whether to repeat it in the same manner. Fischer takes it into another world with her subtle, withdrawn poetry. The steady main tempo does mean that the coda can be considerably faster without becoming manic.

The “Eroica” Variations emphasize the verve and ebullience of early Beethoven, each variation characterized sharply and the fugue bringing it to a fine conclusion without trying to pretend it’s the “Eroica” Symphony—a later and more earth-shattering work.

The pure gold here is op.109. This is a superb demonstration of how to bring the notes off the page, drawing the listener up in each paragraph, erupting in tmore....

Review By Lynn René Bayley ,Fanfare,July 2012

…Fischer’s performance of the “Eroica” Variations really takes off. Here, she seems to be in particularly felicitous form, her fingers dancing across the keyboard like a ballerina, alternately exuberant in spinning jetées or light and delicately on pointe. In her hands, dynamic changes do not occur in a conscious way; the music just ebbs and flows, almost of its own volition. I’ve not heard its like in all my life.

Similarly, the Sonata No. 30 is given a reading I can only describe as transcendent. After it was over, I refused to put another record on for 10 minutes. I was absolutely lost in the afterglow of this performance.