Earl Wild has been a flamboyant, vital musical presence for seven decades. I recall attending a concert he gave in Tucson, Arizona in the 1960s, yet I don’t remember hearing about his death a few weeks ago. He was one of those world-class pianists, like Horowitz and Rubinstein, and I assumed he would live forever. He made it to 94 years of age.

In September 25, 2005 to celebrate his 90th birthday he gave a concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Thanks to producer Boyce Alexander, we’re lucky to hear it on this piece, just shy of an hour long.

The fact that Wild plays as flawlessly and passionately as he does here gives the lie to the notion that nonagenarians are dodderers. His rendition of Liszt’s virtuosic “Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este” sounds as though Wild might have been in his 40s at the peak of his career. His performance of an early Beethoven sonata rivals those of the fabled Walter Gieseking and Wilhelm Kempff.

Wild was not the only American pianist to challenge European keyboard titans, but it seems a bit sad that his farewell concert was not given at Carnegie Hall. Wild’s enthusiastic reception at the Concertgebouw might have been matched by an audience in the Big Apple. Still, he flew all the way from his home in Palm Springs to feast the ears not of his countrymen but of Radio Netherlands.

Happily, this piece brings Wild home to Americans — and listeners all over the globe.

“Bravo!” I say. “Encore, encore!”