More precisely: 10 April 1953 in the great hall of the Holy Orders of the baroque castle of Ludwigsburg. Clara Haskil, who sadly only had five more years left to live, albeit the happiest and most fertile of her life: with Swiss nationality and a booked-out diary, she could finally give herself over to music without worrying about survival or exile. This most prodigious period of recording gave us Mozart, to be sure, but also rarer repertoires, like Ravel or Debussy, as documented in this publication - in which, indeed, she avoids Mozart altogether! The pièce de résistance is surely the 32nd Sonata Op. 111 by Beethoven, which she plays quite differently from how we are used to hearing it: under her fingers, the fire still crackles, but Haskil knows not to make it a perpetual volcano, which would harm the discourse. Who knows whether it was her fragile health that forced her to go easy - but whatever the reason, musically at least, it is a good thing she did. The programme continues with some rather more transparent pieces from Schumann – the Abegg Variations in particular – before sojourning a while on the other bank of the Rhine with two Études by Debussy, which she plays dreamily; Sonatine by Ravel which she dreams , playfully, before closing with a choral from Bach (the Cantor who opened the proceedings), and a delicate adieu from Schumann, "Abschied" from the Waldszenen. The grande dame of the piano passes into tender silence, rather than ending the concert with virtuoso explosions. 10 April 1953 was a fine day! © SM/Qobuz