What critics are saying about Pollack’s recordings…
COLORS
“Pollack has taken on the subtle challenges of Schumann’s Carnaval and has recorded a revelatory view of the work that is balm for the jaded ear and a soul-satisfying achievement. There is little need to compare this Carnaval with the performance of other artists since along with the best of them it occupies its own unique special world. The great Schumann Fantasy is played with sweep and passion…(Pollack) plays all three sections with all the emotion, imagination and color necessary to make it sound like a disciplined, yet grand improvisation. Liszt’s two blockbusters (the Mephisto Waltz, Funerailles) only add additional incentives to acquire this outstanding recording.”
Alan Becker, American Record
Legendary…
“Prokofiev’s War Sonata in B flat major receives a powerful and urgent reading from Pollack who also emphasizes the emotionally unbalanced and frenetic nature of the music. The Nocturne in C sharp minor gets an exceptional performance from Pollack who conveys an intense melancholy without getting overtly dramatic about it…”
“The Pollack traits of quick pacing and urgency pay significant benefits in the two Brahms Intermezzos. Pollack gives the two pieces a rhythmic vitality that is quite appealing and surely bests those recorded versions that can put the listener into a stupor. His performance of the Intermezzo in E major is particularly gorgeous and compelling.”
Don Satz, MusicWeb
Complete Solo Piano Works of Samuel Barber (NAXOS)- Grammy Nomination
“This illuminating and sensuous pianism evident even in the most resounding fortissimos, making virile a discourse that is all too often watered down; prodigious pianism of fiery energy, of dynamic articulation, élan and fullness – that dominates and towers over the competition from now on – and constitutes the disc that most approaches Barber’s piano music and becomes as well a summation and an event.”
Repertoire Magazine, Paris, France
“In his hands the Sonata is powerfully driven and crisply articulated, creating a palpable sense of raw energy and excitement.”
Gramaphone, London, England
“Pollack embraces the sonata wholeheartedly using deep resources and myriad details. The lighter material he imbues with elegance.”
Los Angeles Times
What Critics Have Been Saying about Pollack’s performances over decades…
“Pollack’s large-scaled virtuosity – displayed in pliant, powerful fingers that unleashed torrents of sound that turned feathery flurries of delicate detachment – was evident everywhere.”
Los Angeles Times
“Splendid drive and virility.”
Daily Telegraph, London
“A performer of elegance, sensitivity and taste, with a resonant singing tone that can provoke calm and warmth as well as thunder on high.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“One of the most gifted pianists around with a definite flair for the romantics…”
Time Magazine
“His star has ascended. Pollack is having the last laugh on the piano celebrities to whom fame came almost as quickly as it left.”
Chicago Tribune
“Beautiful and natural fluidity, tonal elegance and unostentatious facility.”
Beijing, China
“Pollack’s playing had bravura, profound penetrating feeling and a natural gift for large dramatic contrasts and colors.”
El Pais, Montevideo, Uruguay
“Astonishing pianism.”
Washington Post, Washington, DC
“An interpretation of great scope and abandon.”
Kurier, Vienna, Austria
“Fascinating was the quality of his (Pollack’s) sound which seems to hover in space equally well during gentle “piano”- or during the masculine “forte” passages of the Bach-Siloti work. The second Sonata by Chopin was played with great force and rhythmic subtleties, which were clearly revealed, and the Funeral March, which started very quiet, ends gigantic, after going through an incredibly dynamic development; during the quiet center passages of the piece, gentle trills reveal magical sounds.”
Drehpunkt Kultur, Salzburg, Austria
“Pollack became the great name in the Chopin Concerto.”
Arbeiderblad, Bergen, Norway
“Astounding brilliance”
The New York Times
“Once again Pollack showed himself to be a player of exceptional virtuosity with rare interpretive insights and a flair that shaped everything he played”.
Los Angeles Times
“He possesses a formidable range in tone – from the very powerful to a melting pianissimo.”
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
“Now that we had been thoroughly bedazzled, Pollack presented two sides of another mystical voluptuary, Alexandre Scriabin, in his Nocturne for the Left Hand, Op. 9, No. 2 and the tumultuous Etude in D-sharp Minor, Op. 8, No. 12. Refined, amorous, and infused with the spirit of Chopin, the Nocturne had the imprimatur of Horowitz and the alten Romantics at Pollock’s fingertips. The Etude, undeniably, incarnates the grand passion, unbridled erotic energy surging to meet and overcome Chopin’s own prelude in D minor.”
Gary R. Lemco
Classical Music Guide.
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