Cyril Smith plays Dohnanyi Variations on a nursery theme Op. 25 (1/2)

[NOSEhow2LIV]

In his memoirs,Cyril Smith related how he played a shocking Wrong Note right at the beginning of the "tune,"(on "star", of "twinkle twinkle..." i think),and Walter Legge,the producer,shot out of the control cabin asking how,if his pianist couldn't play the nursery ryme,how would he cope with the variations to follow...? As we can now hear here,he followed on brilliantly.Rachmaninov esteemed Smith highly and asked for his critical opinion after his own recitals!

[snaaptaker]

Marvelous! I haven't heard Smith in more than 50 years. IIRC, he had an excellent recording of Liszt's 2nd Concerto back then, but I haven't heard him since then. Sorry to hear about his stroke. I didn't know that.

Great to hear him again after all this time. He was a wonderful pianist.