“ … the distinguished pianist Garrick Ohlsson joined the Takács Quartet for a concert of works by Elgar and the little-known American Amy Beach, 10 years his junior. Her Five Improvisations for piano proved skilful inventions, but her F sharp minor Piano Quintet (1907) came as a magnificent surprise: a superbly crafted three movements, whose adagio espressivo went beyond craft into real…

“Rounding out the first half of the performance, Pianist Garrick Ohlsson returned to Heinz Hall to complete this season’s cycle of Rachmaninoff concertos with the Concerto No. 4 in G minor. Soloist and orchestra handed off melodies and gestures flawlessly, their interplay a pleasure to experience. Mr. Ohlsson’s playing is supremely polished, and he’s able to coax one of the largest…

Garrick Ohlsson is a pianist of vast vocabulary. He has a broader repertoire than most in his upper-echelon crowd, but he also specializes in the art of the recital, smartly focused on a single composer. In 2010, he brought to a Lobero recital his acknowledged mastery of Chopin (he was the only American to win the Chopin Competition, in 1970). Last Saturday, the Ohlsson program was all-Brahms,…

“Not every measure of Busoni’s epic, rarely heard Piano Concerto will linger in the mind, but the performance as a whole given by pianist Garrick Ohlsson was one of those musical experiences that will go down on everyone’s permanent mental record. Few pianists on Earth have the desire, talent, and sheer fortitude to perform the Busoni, a titanic, grandly virtuosic work from 1904…