Pianist: The father of us all?
You could write a book about pianist/teacher Leon Fleisher: Childhood prodigy, collaborator with Hertz and Monteux, student of Artur Schnabel, recipient of Rachmaninoff’s advice, victim of a severe three-decade right-hand injury, commissioner and performer of numerous left-hand-only compositions, eminent Peabody teacher. Now 90, the indestructible Fleisher returned to San Francisco to play a Mozart concerto, cautious solo pieces and reminiscences. Some think that the Year One for American pianists bursting onto the international scene was 1958, with Van Cliburn winning…