I only recently earned of and found this man's recordings on YT.  I was deeply impressed by his performance along with the music of Mozart.  Most of my dislike of pianist performances are the moments of showiness, painful facial expressions and performance pizzazz, as I tend to call it all and it all tends to distract from the music itself. 
     However, I believe I can see that Manahem Pressler's performances as well as his choice of music and composers are deep from the heart.  He moves very little and so doesn't distract from the music. I am sure it helps to be in his late 90's when these performances were recorded and people in their 90's are usually not famous for their live-action.
     Read through just a few of my comments on his life and you will see that this man is playing with his fingers attached to his heart.  He has a brilliantly soft touch; notice how the piano responds to his touch like it is also alive.
  • …a poet, time and again revealing unexpected depths in works that have been endlessly plumbed and surveyed
The New York Times
  • Pressler’s ability to give all the voices prominence while simultaneously isolating the melody was amazing. His fingers still retain a youthful facility.
The Washington Post
  • His playing of the Brahms Trio No. 2 in C Major had a kind of magisterial rightness to it that could only come from a lifetime of immersion in this multidimensional work with its irresistible extremes of mood.
The New York Observer
  • Menahem Pressler’s joyous pianism-technically faultless, stylistically impeccable, emotionally irrepressible-is from another age and is a virtually forgotten sensibility. He is a national treasure.
Los Angeles Times
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Menahem Pressler (December 1923 – 6 May 2023) was a German-born Israeli-American pianist and academic teacher. He was known for his work since 1955, in hundreds of recordings and thousands of concerts. His playing was described as focused on elegance, delicacy and clarity.
He was born Max Jakob Pressler in Magdeburg on 16 December 1923. His Jewish parents owned a shop for men's clothing that was destroyed in the Kristallnachtthe of 9–10 November. 1938. His family fled Nazi Germany in 1939, initially to Italy.  Pressler suffered from eating disorders and was in danger of starvation, but later said that playing the piano cured him. His grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins all died in concentration camps. He died in London on 6 May 2023, at age 99.  Visit his homepage for life details of this wonderful and historically great pianist at https://menahempressler.org/.
The lights in the lobby flash, the restroom empties quickly - all coughs are suppressed from this moment on... the entire set of lights in the concert hall dim!  Shhh, the pianist and conductor are coming in.
Everyone is in their seat with their cell phones turned off, the kids tucked away in bed
and with you watching hopefully on a large screen with your headphones in place
and turned up a little higher than usual...
The concert is about to begin:
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23
Menahem Pressler,
Gulbenkian Orchestra & Leo Hussain
Program Notes:
“Concerts make me feel alive!” – the motto of veteran star pianist Menahem Pressler. As part of the “Pianomania!” concert series, Pressler plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major together with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under the baton of Leo Hussain. The performance took place in 2018 in the Grand Auditorium at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) wrote the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 in the year 1786 – one of the major Viennese concertos composed by Mozart for his own subscription concerts. It’s one of three piano concertos where Mozart swaps oboes for clarinets.
The Music: The Piano Concerto No. 23 is regarded as one of Mozart’s most famous works, written in the Austrian capital Vienna. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived in the city from 1781-1791 as a freelance composer.
Conductor: British national Leo Hussain, born in 1978, is a regular guest at Europe’s major opera houses and concert halls. He’s seen as a leading interpreter of Mozart and is especially fond of works produced during the composer’s years in Vienna. In this concert, he conducts the Portuguese Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra.
Video Concert Link:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Tk3sliZ0U&t=18s
Click on the above link and Watch and Listen through the entire concert - it isn't long!
(In fact, it is way shorter than most of my sermons and sermon presentations)
00:00 Ovations from the audience
00:44   I. Allegro
13:15   II. Adagio
20:06  III. Allegro assai
Video Performance Helps and Thoughts by None Other Than 'Yours Truly'
I am watching this 'again' and as I watch with you, I will jot down a few points of interest for you:
  • As he makes his entrance, note the concert hall and the life of this world of classic literature.  Unfortunately, because of the need to be educated to understand European music (Japheth) and is all usually supported by the rich people of the world, snobbery is often associated with these people.  It doesn’t have to be that way but in most cases, it is.  Many have made this music along with their riches to be their god.
  • One doesn’t have to be rich, educated, etc. to appreciate this music, however.  We know we can enjoy it for the sake of beautiful music.  I would say Mozart’s music is some of the closest music to being Absolute Music, especially this piece.  Very little, if any, dissonance – it is just what we could call ‘happy music’ and you will see that in the facial expressions of many of the performers within the orchestra but especially in the face of Manahem Pressler.
  • In five years, Manahem was going to be dead – he lost so much of his family to the Nazis – he has performed for years. Just watching him and thinking about all of what his life has consisted of and what he has seen over those 90+ years... and then watching and listening to him play.  Vunderbar!
  • Watching his facial expressions isn’t the same as watching many of the other ‘famous’ pianists as they tend to move around so much you think they might have ants in their pants - or their facial expressions look like they are in deep pain.
  • Watching his hands have such a marvelous touch, which I suppose, is best understood by the average pianist.  Watching this shows that his heart goes through his face to his fingers to the piano and to our ears.  I really hope you can give this a serious and undistracted listen.  What you hear might go to your heart, as well.
  • Long orchestra introduction before he even starts to play.
  • Expensive and wonderfully made instruments – if only the composers and inventors could hear the instruments we have today.
  • Many of them move while they play because it not only helps them express their music, the finger movements and breathing is quite a difficult and demanding thing to do.
  • Such a wonderful and smooth touch as he plays those keys.
  • Mozart had written some absolutely perfect AND happy music.
  • 4:10 – he appears to be singing his music – very melodic.
  • The muscles in their hands is an amazing piece of muscle to make those fingers work like they do.
  • Beautiful sounding piano, too.
  • Note the variations in timbre (loudness, etc.)
  • This piece is nothing but heart and soul of the performers – and hopefully listeners, as well.
  • The person sitting next to him is a page turner.  There is major skill in turning the pages, not to drop them and not to get in the site path for the performer.
  • 8:48 such a nice touch of quiet and peace
  • 11:30 is actually a mistake – you can’t miss it, unfortunately… the only one I hear.  But it happens to the best – especially when they are only a few years away from their end.
  • 13:14 – I hope you didn’t start to clap.  😊  Just the end of the first movement.
  • Now, the Adagio – slow. Just watch and hear the expression and how the orchestra matches back and forth  with him, etc.
  • This is what beautiful melodies sound like.
  • Singing through his fingers.
  • You must be engrossed in this music – this is why I hope the kids are in bed!  😊
  • Around 16:30 – they all blend back and forth so well… so smoothly.
  • 17:00 – 17:42 – such touch!
  • 18:05, the orchestra comes in and takes over oh so smoothly and perfect pitch!
  • That page turner girl does not move at all – not even a flinch!  She’s good!
  • 20:06 - Now comes the happy and exciting part. Not because it is the ‘last’ movement but because it is the sound of happiness, etc.
  • Mozart was known for lots of notes in his works – just listen to all the notes they all have to play.
  • Woodwind instruments have keys for at least 15+ fingers… but they get it done.
  • 23:13 He is ‘getting into it now”!
  • 23:50 – happy sounding isn’t it!
  • 24:19 – just when you think it sounds like it is almost over, Mozart writes more – it is called Development.  He takes the melodies we have heard and now plays around with them.
  • 25:50 – note his facial expressions – he is having ‘fun’ and just singing away with his fingers.
  • 26:50 – something is coming up – can you hear it building?
  • 28:08 – Back to the original melodies – called the Recapitulation
  • 28:47 – the end is near – listen to the bass viols… it is building up for the climax and finish.
  • Is that cool or what!!!!!
  • I really would like to hear what you thought of this performance and the music.
  • I have three more of his recordings waiting to be presented here!