The young Cortot wrote of Risler's playing:

"I immediately felt myself engulfed by the music; it was not just a matter of what

he was playing, but also his charm, his faculty to reveal - to communicate the

incommunicable. His unique way of making music overwhelmed me, it entered into

me, into my very flesh. Risler presented to me a magical world, which previously I

had only known as an onlooker. He opened my soul to the appreciation of a music

that was born of spontaneous inspiration. His feeling for orchestral colour was

something that I had never associated with the piano. From that moment I

understood how the vocation of the interpreter could transcend the metier of the

pianist, I knew... I could see... I believed, and I was clear in my vision."

Well, through the miracles of YouTube, here's Risler himself performing Beethoven.