I am just coming out of a concert in which Staier played the diabelli variations. It was absolutely perfect, imaginative, played at the correct tempo, full of imagination, poetry, power and wit. The basses were beautiful and did not crush the higher notes. Listening to the record just after the concert raised questions such as : why so much echo (as if it was recorded in a church), why so little color, why so little contrast, why so much less than the real sound ?
