Leon Fleisher

Leon Fleisher was among the leading American pianists of his generation but was stricken with a debilitating condition in his right hand, which forced him to withdraw from public performance in 1965. He soon reappeared in repertory for the left hand alone and also turned to conducting, but until the late 1990s rarely performed music for two hands; around 1995, he became active again as a two-handed pianist. Early in his career, Fleisher had become identified with the concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, the sonatas of Mozart and Schubert, and works by American composers, such as...