CCMusic.com

Andre Watts was born in 1946 in Nuremberg, the son of an American soldier and a Hungarian pianist. He was just 9 years old when he made his concert debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra playing the Haydn D Major concerto. As a 16-year-old, Leonard Bernstein asked the young man to step in for a performance of Liszt's First Piano Concerto. It was Watt's breakthrough concert and thereafter, Bernstein would become his mentor and Leon Fleisher his teacher. His career continued to develop over the following decades and Watts maintains his mastery to this day, though he performs with less frequency. This recording comes from 1986 and shows the pianist at the full disposal of his virtuoso skills.