“Für mich ist der Steinway das einzige Piano, auf dem ich mein musikalisches Empfinden in vollem Umfang zum Ausdruck bringen kann. Neben allen anderen Qualitäten hat der Steinway die überhaupt größte: eine vollkommene Skala singender Töne.”
Nikita Magaloff
Nikita Magaloff (1912-1992) was a Georgian-Russian pianist. He was best known for his espousal of the music of Chopin, and was accustomed to perform the complete piano works in series of six recitals. He was the first one to ever record the completed works. These recordings were innovative for their textual fidelity and unsentimentality. His interpretations of Mendelssohn are also striking, finding a vein of melancholy that is often missed.
His playing, however, underwent a change in his later years, becoming more passionate, daring and challenging. He remarked in an interview that, "at the age of seventy, I have come to the conclusion that only the sentiment and fear of death can induce an immoderate passion for life." His last recordings bear eloquent tribute to this "immoderate passion for life.”