Daniel Pollack first garnered the music world's attention when he became a prize-winner in the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition held in Moscow in 1958. This disc is worth it just to be able to read Pollack's essay called "Moscow Recollections" in which he details the trials and tribulations he had during this competition. You see the person he was in direct competition with was another American - Van Cliburn. To read about Pollack's account of learning five Russian pieces for the first round competition, instead of one out of five (because he had language problems and did not get a proper translation of the contest rules) or to read about his having to learn the Tchaikovsky First from memory in five days, is a fascinating read about music. Pollack made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of nine, performing the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Rosina Lhevinne, herself a gold medal graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. He continued his graduate studies at the Hochshule fir Musik in Vienna and in Siena, Italy. He was also selected as one of 12 pianists internationally to participate in a special Beethoven Master Class with the late Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy. Pollack has held several visiting faculty positions including at Juilliard, Columbia and Yale's School of Music. Today he is on the faculty of the University of Southern California.