GRAMOPHONE AWARDS 2011 SHORTLISTED - INSTRUMENTAL
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH 2010
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE 2010
'One of this extraordinary musician's finest achievements, indeed, one of the great solo piano recordings ever made' --Fanfare, USA
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH 2010
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE 2010
'One of this extraordinary musician's finest achievements, indeed, one of the great solo piano recordings ever made' --Fanfare, USA
'Dear Marc-André, I begged and pleaded for Hyperion to keep this disc under wraps. But now that it's released, all of us composer / pianists have no choice but to go out of business. Isn't it enough for you simply to be the world's most proficient pianist? Do you also have to compose amazingly well for your instrument, and rewardingly so? Must you serve up some of the most witty, charming, entertaining and devastatingly effective piano music of your generation?' --Gramophone
Hamelin's original etudes … as well as the character pieces that round out the disc, with their blend of tasteful lyricism and striking textures and harmonies, are as enjoyable as his homages. While brashly flaunting his influences (Gershwin, Poulenc, Rachmaninov) he sounds utterly individual. Of course, the composer makes all the technical difficulties sound easy to play in these vividly recorded performances' --BBC Music Magazine
'A set of 12 Études that reveals Hamelin's immersion in the great virtuoso tradition … Hamelin the composer has the same kind of tact and imagination that Hamelin the pianist does … The virtuoso demands are daunting; but there's so much harmonic and contrapuntal interest in these works, so much sheer joie de vivre, such evident love for the instrument and its history, and such consistent wit, that even music lovers who disdain virtuoso excess are likely to be seduced … [Theme and Variations] In its gentle luminosity, it is the most touching work on the CD. Hamelin the pianist, of course, plays with his usual understated virtuosity - his unerring control of phrasing, articulation and dynamics; his ability to generate huge masses of sound without banging; his succulent legato; and, most important in the more thorny textures, his ability to give each contrapuntal line its own flavour … The engineering is first rate. A cause for celebration' --International Record Review
'A set of 12 Études that reveals Hamelin's immersion in the great virtuoso tradition … Hamelin the composer has the same kind of tact and imagination that Hamelin the pianist does … The virtuoso demands are daunting; but there's so much harmonic and contrapuntal interest in these works, so much sheer joie de vivre, such evident love for the instrument and its history, and such consistent wit, that even music lovers who disdain virtuoso excess are likely to be seduced … [Theme and Variations] In its gentle luminosity, it is the most touching work on the CD. Hamelin the pianist, of course, plays with his usual understated virtuosity - his unerring control of phrasing, articulation and dynamics; his ability to generate huge masses of sound without banging; his succulent legato; and, most important in the more thorny textures, his ability to give each contrapuntal line its own flavour … The engineering is first rate. A cause for celebration' --International Record Review
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