Gilbert Kalish plays Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert

This disc presents the long-awaited return of Gilbert Kalish as a solo pianist. Kalish, widely regarded as a 'musician's musician', has had long associations with singers Jan DeGaetani and Dawn Upshaw, and with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In the 70s, his revelatory recordings of Haydn sonatas and Ives's “Concord” Sonata were highly acclaimed, and so it is no small mystery as to why he has, for decades, disappeared as a solo artist. This new CD might be regarded as valedictory in more than one sense, for the 78 year old Kalish offers luminous performances of Haydn and Schubert's final sonatas, as well as Beethoven's, op. 119 Bagatelles, the recording dedicated to the memory of his late wife.