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Considered to be a maestro of clarity, void of ostentation, he displays his art in the most direct manner possible, with no emphasis, but all the other qualities of excellence;  a pianistic art at exceptional levels.

Nelson Freire is a discreet artist. His not very frequent performances on stage turn each meeting with him and the public into a special event. In September, he went on a tour with the Emperor Concerto, by Beethoven in Mexico and South America, in the first half of October, then, he returned to the Mariinsky Theatre, in Sankt Petersburg, alongside Valery Gergiev, for whom Nelson Freire is a new Emil Gilels. On 2^nd November he will play at the Barbican Centre, with the London Symphony Orchestra and, on 15^th November, at the Salle Pleyel, in Paris and then in Zurich.

This great pianist of Brazil finds a counterpart of himself only in his ‘lioness’ Argentinian partner – Martha Argerich (memorable, the album they recorded at the Salzburg Festival – Live from Salzburg Festival, was released by the recording label Decca, in 2009) … a lifelong friendship, a complicity in front of the two claviers.

We discover him, with his good-natured smile, surrounded by memories, always standing in front of the piano, fascinated, among other things, by Eroll Garner's art, by the way this jazz pianist used to improvise and by the joy with which he used to play. He used to find the same joy in Rubinstein, Horrowitz, but it seems that he, too, is governed by the same joy, which he transmits, but does not declare. All his feelings are conveyed through sound – not even one free external gesture. Only fineness.

Nelson Freire has turned seventy this month. And the recording label Decca offers him a present, by releasing a double album, which contains live recordings, accomplished during his youth and which has never been released on a CD. They have been recovered from the archives belonging to the French Radio and Television Broadcasting, Netherlands Public Broadcasting and from the German National Broadcasting Archives. 'Radio Days reunites concerts I performed in Europe, at the beginning of my career, said the pianist. I think it is a good thing that they are published, because they cover a period of time when I did not make a lot of recordings. '

You have the chance to discover a few jewels, recorded between 1968 – 1979, remastered, of course: the Piano Concerto No.1, by Fryderyc Chopin, the Piano Concerto No.2, by Franz Liszt, the Piano Concerto No.1, by Sergei Prokofiev, the Piano Concerto No.3, by Rachmaninoff, as well as the Piano Concerto No.1, by Tchaikovsky and the Concert Allegro with Introduction for Piano and Orchestra, Op.134, by Robert Schumann, recorded with German and French orchestras and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Also, a few names from the category of great conductors appear on the album – Kurt Mansur, David Zinman, and Heinz Walberg, Eleazar de Carvalho, Reinhardt Peters and Yuri Ahronovitch, as well.

Each concert give a satisfaction of its own, the pianistic proportions do not seem diminished by the lack of experience of the youthfulness of the pianist. On the contrary, we recognize his main features, the clarity of his discourse, the impetuosity and vitality which made out of Nelson Freire  one of the greatest pianist of the 20^th century. We are quoting from the articles published in the newspapers and magazines of thoese times,  too, when the Brazilian pianist was described as 'a young lion of the clavier'.

In two editions of the CD Review, at the appropriate beat, we chose Schumann and Prokofiev, for Tuesday,  21^st October, and Liszt, for 22^nd October, just small parts from what the Radio Days – Nelson Freire collection can offer us.