Search - George Flynn, Fredrik Ullén :: George Flynn: Trinity

Fantastic Performance

George Flynn | Chicago, IL USA | 05/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I composed "Trinity," and will not comment on the music; but, as one who has performed each of its three works ("Kanal," "Wound" and "Salvage"), I can say with enthusiasm that Fredrik Ullén's performance is absolutely wonderful! I am honored that he chose to learn "Trinity," and thrilled that he has the technical ability and poetic insight to bring my work alive so convincingly. In fact, though I have performed each of the three parts of "Trinity" as self-contained works and recorded them separately, Fredrik is the only one to have performed the entire set in concert, both in the U.S. and Europe, and to have recorded "Trinity" as a single entity. I wonder how many pianists in the world are capable of performing this technically and poetically demanding set. Fredrik's performance deserves 5 stars +!"

Worth the Price (and the Wait)

Kenneth Derus | Chicago, IL | 05/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jornado del Muerto, 1945--the felt-choreography of an explosion and its aftermath: Herma with a patina of ugliness--as though Ustvolskaya had written it--, or Ornstein's Poems of 1917 as re-imagined by Xenakis, but as remarkable for the controlled dissipation of its energies (a 114-minute pitch-wise journey down then up, reminiscent of Dante's journey to Empyreum by way of the Pit). The greatest of all American piano works--premiered by Fredrik Ullén in 2003, and recorded by him for BIS in 2004.



That's more or less how I described Trinity a couple of years ago in Tempo. You can read Malcolm MacDonald's substantially more useful review of the piece (and of Ullén's remarkable playing) in the April 2008 issue of the same journal.



Among other things, Disc 2 contains the complete score (three pdf files, adding up to 154 pages of printed music)."