Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Liszt: Solo Piano Works

Album review

Discovered at the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2015, where he took joint second place with Lukas Geniušas, young American pianist of Chinese descent George Li returns here for a second album released by Warner Classics. A francophile, he studied French literature at Harvard while travelling the world for concerts. A very flattering piece in the New York Times spoke of a "revelation" being provided by his performance of the much-played favourite, Tchaikovsky's First Concerto, recorded in London in 2019 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with new musical director Vasily Petrenko conducting. The tempo is comfortable, as is the rest of this very polished performance by both pianist and conductor, who bring out a thousand and one details of a score that many had thought they knew inside-out. One would also note the quality of the soloists in the orchestra: flute, oboe, bassoon or solo cello, all supremely expressive. What's more, this album also contains three pieces by Franz Liszt: two extracts from Années de pèlerinage (Les Jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este and Sonetto 104 del Petrarca) and the diabolical Réminiscences de Don Juan after Mozart. © François Hudry/Qobuz