Gina Bachauer ∙ Salle Pleyel Recital in 1963

After Gina Bachauer made her American debut in 1950, Harold Schonberg described her playing in the New York Times as “Putting her into the foremost ranks of pianists, male or female.” It has been stated that Bachauer was an unrelenting critic of herself, an intense woman who was never completely satisfied with her work. “Musical problems are on my mind when I wake up,” she once told an interviewer. If she was critical of her work, she also loved it with a passion that was apparent to critics. She would practice five or six hours a day and, on concert nights, would practice more backstage until the last possible moment. Our album features her complete and previously unreleased recital at the Salle Pleyel in 1963, for which she carefully selected a program of various composers.