(2 of 2)
The break with Sony was a watershed. The pianist cut his 100-concerts-a-year schedule in half and moved from his West Side Manhattan apartment to a quiet bungalow nestled in the woods near New Paltz. Last March he signed a contract with MusicMasters that will allow him to record the Germanic repertory he loves, particularly Bach and Beethoven. "Now everything is balanced," he says. "And I think that people finally are looking at me as just a musician, you know, not as a political hero or specialist in Russian music." For Feltsman, the cold war has finally ended.