Don has done a masterful job of his reviews of this great work!!  I
first got to know it by Fleisher's version back when I was in college
(yes, we *did* have records back then).  Fleisher's is certainly one
of the best as Don has concluded.  I still miss Fleisher's starting the
trills on the upper note on some other versions.  Don didn't mention
this practice, or lack of it as I recall, and some pianists play it this
way and others don't.

I still think that the Anievas version which is supposed to come out on
CD this year is very good!

For the life of me, I can't understand what Don sees in the Cohen CD.
I have it and had to check that it was the version that Don was reviewing.
It was.  I have listened to it a number of times recently to see what
the fuss was about, but find it lackluster and almost completely
unsatisfying.  I don't know what I am missing, but it is among my
least favorite versions.

Like an overly optimistic idiot, I told my piano teacher in college that
I wanted to learn it.  Instead of laughing at me, he said OK, but wanted
me to start with the Fugue.  It took me about 3 weeks to finally give
up and admit that it was totally beyond my ability.  Letting me find
this out for myself was very wise of my teacher!

Joel Hill
Tallahassee, FL - USA
ALKAN Web Page: http://www.nettally.com/joelhill/alkan