I had just begun my career as a critic 10 years ago when that acclaimed nine-disc set of William Kapell came out on Sony. I regret it because everything I hear by the American pianist who died young in a airplane crash (in 1953 at 31) blows me away. I would have loved to have reviewed it.

Kapell was a marvel. On disc, he interprets with such imagination! I honestly hear works seemingly for the first time when he plays.

Luckily, Sony/BMG just released a two-disc set of performances he made in Australia before his tragic accident, so I can delve into them. These recordings are revelatory. Kapell has an incredible knack for playing a work in a way that captures something you never expected, almost improving the work (even some times from its composer's intent) while never doing something untoward to the composition.

Case in point, listen to what he does with the "Tuileries" movement of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" in this new set is breathtaking. Listen how he accelerates ever so slightly at certain points -- almost animating the music with extra energy.

And then listen to the nobility he culls in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, here with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Heinze. Rachmaninoff himself didn't play it with such grace, in my opinion, in his recordings of the work.

The audio quality of these recent discs is not great -- they are radio broadcasts recorded by an amateur using a home recorder -- but the artistry comes through. Kapell, whether in this collection (with works by Mozart, Debussy, Chopin, Bach and Prokofiev, too) or the earlier box set, is not to be missed if you are a devotee of great pianism. If only he had lived longer, I say selfishly. The music that we would have gotten from Kapell would have been staggering.