Tidbits: Radu Lupu

I was very sorry to hear that pianist Radu Lupu died yesterday. He's long been a favorite. His recording of the Schubert Sonata in A Minor (D.959) is still the best in my view. 

His Brahms is great, too, but it was the Schubert D.959 recording that first brought him to my attention. Years ago, I had the unexpected privilege of being invited to dine with with Kyung-wha Chung and her entourage after a concert in Ueno, in Tokyo (another story altogether). For some reason we got on the subject of Radu Lupu. They recorded Franck and Debussy sonatas together.  I remember her calling him "a crazy man." It was something about putting his fist through a glass door—which seems a very odd thing for a pianist to do. I don't know. He may have been crazy, but he will always remain among my favorites. I heard him in recital in Tokyo sometime around 1988. He was wonderful. I was surprised, however, by his virtual baldness even then. His photos on recordings were always of him as a younger man and with more hair. Funny the things you remember...