Virtuosity that is special, electrifying in effect, transcendental, brilliantly illuminating.
I continue to find the whole of Perahia's recording stimulating and fresh. I said in my first review that the freshness of a still quite youthful player is there. With never a hint of gratuitous agitation, the sense of an invigorating energy being released in the act of performance comes across strongly; and I'm sure Beethoven would have loved it. As Perahia with the wind his sails carries you along—in the finale of the Appassionata above all—his virtuosity is special, electrifying in effect, transcendental, brilliantly illuminating. The delightful thing about him is that it's all done with such ease and naturalness of expression. When he records the Appassionata again he will have to play it differently. He could hardly play it better than he does here.
