Nelson Freire was ‘the consummate recording artist’

Dominic Fyfe, Decca Classics’ Label Director, was Nelson Freire’s recording producer from 2002. He writes: ‘Nelson was the consummate recording artist. He was more meticulously prepared for the studio than almost any artist I have encountered and his recordings among the least edited. Paradoxically he claimed never to listen to his own recordings but he knew when his performance matched his exacting standards and he placed his trust in our hands to capture this. We will miss him not just for his extraordinary artistry but also for his friendship, his humour, his humility. He was one of the greats and truly irreplaceable’.

Nelson, who died today aged 77, began recording exclusively for Decca Classics in 2001. He won Gramophone Record of the Year in 2007 for the Brahms Piano Concertos and the Latin Grammy for Best Classical Recording in 2013 for ‘Brasileiro’.