Word: pianos
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...chose a middle-of-the-road player." So said one of the judges of the 1992 Naumburg International Piano Competition, which Awadagin Pratt won with a flourish. At Jordan Hall on Sunday, Pratt was weaving between lanes and hogging both shoulders...
...word about the pianist. He's big. Buff. With dreads. He sits lower at the piano than Glenn Gould did. It's often hard to count the "f"s in his fortes. That's Awadagin. In other words, after Maurizio Pollini's recital last month, it was "time for something completely different...
...Strauss' moody Sonata in E-flat Major. This sonata is Romantic with a capital R and dramatic, alternating quickly between slow, cinematic melodies and passionate bombastic chords. Critics have often suggested that the eruptive Strauss sonata is more appropriate for a large-scale symphony orchestra than for violin and piano, yet the piece could not have been more perfect for Chang...
...high point of the recital, though, was Chang's stunning rendition of Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor. Chopin never wrote violin music; the Nocturne that Chang performed Friday night is a transcription of the original piano part. The Nocturne is unfalteringly sublime--in this adaptation, the violin part is elegant and the accompaniment somber and unintrusive. For this piece, Chang abandoned her usual fiery bravado for heartbreaking tenderness. Individual notes melted and the music rang with the unearthly sonority of a human voice. Its only fault was that it was tragically short, leaving one wishing that Chang...
Pratt began playing the piano at the age of six, the violin three years later and at 16 entered the University of Illinois, where he studied piano, violin and conducting, before moving to the Peabody Conservatory and earning diplomas in all three areas. It was as a pianist, however, that he seized the attention of the musical world. His kinetic style and distinctive personality stirred up a storm of critical raves and public interest...