Bella Davidovich in recital in Amsterdam, May 24, 1998

A stellar recital by acclaimed Russian pianist Bella Davidovich given in Amsterdam on May 24, 1998. This audience recording was made by Dutch-born conductor Gerrit Schuil, who provided it to me some years ago for upload (he has now sadly passed away), who had two weeks earlier conducted the artist in Beethoven’s 3rd Concerto in Reykjavik (a recording of which he also sent me). This recital had a celebratory tone in that it took place during Davidovich’s 70th birthday year and twenty years after her departure from the Soviet Union to begin a new life in the West - her Carnegie Hall recital of October 1978 was the first sold-out premiere since Richter’s almost two decades earlier, and she held a 10-year anniversary recital there too later in 1988. Davidovich is fine form here, playing a number of works not in her studio repertoire with her trademark clarity of texture, fullness of tone, seamless phrasing, and natural timing. The Schumann in particular is glorious - perhaps not as