I thought I had put all of this week's papers in the recycle bin, but discovered that a page had fallen out of Tuesday's edition of the Sydney Morning Herald and was sitting on the kitchen table.
I'm so pleased that I hadn't thrown it out, because it contained a great story about one of the world's most remarkable musicians.
Leslie Howard has a place in the Guinness Book of Records for completing the largest recording project by a solo artist. This project is his 99 cd set of the complete piano works of Franz Liszt. He has also recorded another 60 or so cds, giving him the largest discography of any solo instrumentalist. And he has the largest repertoire of any pianist who has ever lived.
Mr Howard has recorded and performed more than 300 premieres of Liszt's piano works. He prepared many of these himself, by working systematically through Liszt's unpublished manuscripts.
Leslie Howard was born in Australia and achieved fame as a young man on Showcase, a 1960s talent program. He has lived in England since 1972, but has regularly come back to Australia to give concerts and masterclasses.
In 2011, Liszt's bicentenary, he will perform three concerts in Sydney, including
Discovering Liszt, a lecture-recital at Sydney Conservatorium on Friday, 6th May
a recital of Liszt and Rachmaninov pieces at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith on Saturday, 21st May
and a two piano recital with Simon Tedeschi at Angel Place on Thursday, 26th May.
