A very fine performance
Kenneth J. Luurs | Oak Park, IL USA | 11/18/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"OK, I have a lot of recordings of Schubert - perhaps 30 or so of just the Bflat sonata... This is one superb bit of music making. I was quite amazed at the sensitivity and musicality of the performance. This artist should be heard. I hope that he makes some more recordings. This is far superior to many more well-known pianists."
Great Beginnings
Neil Scott Mcnutt | New York, NY United States | 07/12/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was privileged to hear Inon Barnatan in person playing the Schubert Impromptus D. 935. His playing is exquisite and full of true love for the music. He has a very good sense of the requirements for playing these pieces with the delicacy and drama inherent in the music. His dynamic range is superb and any small flaws in the recording the softest passages are to be attributed to the recording process by Bridge Records rather than to his performance. Mr.Bartanan is a vigorous young artist who has a prodigious record already and a great future as far as we can predict. This early recording by him is a gem! It should be played without competition with the noise from air conditioners or other random sources, and is best if you listen to it in the dark! I look forward to future recordings by this young artist."
Superb Rare Expression
Thomas Randleman | Ohio | 09/13/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are many young talented musicians and one only has to look through the offerings of Shubert listings to realize the vast number of them. Too often with "Celebrity Style" photos on their covers.
One element which can make a performer atypical is their sensitivity to the music beyond the technical facility needed. The Shubert Impromptus have been recorded by a vast number of artists. Inon Barnatan makes "magic" with his performance. Not only is he up to the technical elements required, but he makes the music "breathe" and "bloom" in a way that allows you the experience as if "hearing it for the first time," or at least hearing in a new way.
I was fortunate to witness his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival this summer playing George Gershwin's "Rhapody In Blue in the smaller orchestral setting and it was a superb performance made up of the bombast, jazziness, and excitement of the score but also lovely moments of introspection and elegance, often left aside in the wish to dazzle. For a young performer this is rare and delightful.
So many young musicians are deep in the "Music Competition" mode and as a result the music itself can suffer from too much emphasis on the technical fireworks they seem to feel they need to do to win.
I am very very impressed with Mr. Barnatan's sensitivity and intellengence towards his approach. I bought this recording in a mood which would have compelled me to buy "anything" he had recorded and I was not disappointed. I look forward to watching his career."