THE PIANIST’S PIANIST Nelson Freire (1944-2021)

he music world is mourning Nelson Freire, a pianist of rare quality who tempered his prodigious musical gifts and a capacity for life with a genuine regard for the instrument’s past masters. I was fortunate to speak with him at the London offices of Decca Records in 2014. The occasion was the release of a two-CD collection of his broadcast recordings from 1968-1979, performances that shone a light on the 70-year-old pianist after a career spent partly in the shadows. I was struck by his serenity, humility and perfect manners – qualities that were also evident in his playing. However, he was surprisingly open, too, at one point revealing how he miraculously survived a bus crash in which his parents