Early/competitive years of the legends (recordings or lack thereof)

[simombarerus]

I'm most interested in the legends who belonged to the generations and schools of the belle époque. It's a great pity that many of them recorded nothing / almost nothing in their teens and twenties, although / because some of their performances recorded in their 50s and 60s still sound so amazing (e.g. Lhevinne, Hofmann, Barere).

I wasn't too interested in the interwar and post-war generations before I listened to more and more of their performances recorded in their early/competitive years, which are so much more convincing and impressive than their later recordings.

For instance, I was amazed when I listened to some of the 18-year-old Pollini's live recordings in the Chopin Competition, and even more so when listening to some of his performances recorded when he was 14 years old -

- it reminds me of (and perhaps even edges out) Lhevinne's amazing performance of this etude (recorded in his 60s), which makes me wonder how amazing would Lhevinne's performance be when he was in his early/competitive years.