Shura Cherkassky was characterized by a degree of “unpredictability” not least in matters of programme planning. This pianist was several times a guest at the Salzburg Festival, but it was perhaps precisely his ability to display his virtuosity in music of the most varied constellations and epochs that meant he remained less fixed in the collective memory of the Festival audiences than did many a prominent colleague. But if one hears the recording of his solo concert from 1961, one is not surprised that the brilliance of Cherkassky’s piano playing was at the time appreciated as much as the sense of balance that he achieved in his interpretations. Thus in the concert documented on this CD he was able to follow a well-proportioned interpretation of Mozart’s Sonata K 330 with Schumann’s high-Romantic C-major Fantasy and then contrasted a powerful performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with Barber’s trenchant Excursions. With Chopin’s Nocturne op. 55/1 and the Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante, Cherkassky finally arrived at the composer with whom his name is perhaps most associated today.