Stephen Kovacevich in memoriam

We mourn the passing of Stephen Kovacevich, who died this week at the age of 86. Deeply private, averse to the social limelight, and plagued throughout his life by debilitating stage fright, he was nonetheless transformed at the keyboard. There, his fierce integrity, his rejection of superficial display, and his forensic approach to the score unlocked a coiled inner intensity, lending his interpretations a rare poetic gravity. This purity of vision found its ultimate home in the classical and romantic repertoire: Schubert, Chopin, and above all his seminal Beethoven sonata cycle for EMI, widely regarded as a benchmark of modern recording. Over four decades with the label, he also shone as an ardent chamber musician (alongside Jacqueline du Pré, Emmanuel Pahud, and his former partner and lifelong confidante Martha Argerich) and as a soloist in Brahms with Wolfgang Sawallisch. Completing the portrait with his work on the podium in Mozart and Haydn brass concertos, this collection pays tribute to an artist of monumental stature, austere and unyielding in his craft, yet infinitely sensitive.