“The “Rach 3,” as it has come to be known, is a warhorse among warhorses, satisfying audiences and challenging aspiring pianists since its premiere in 1909. This past weekend, Garrick Ohlsson tackled it with the San Diego Symphony under the baton of Robert Spano at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, and turned in performances that helped to both amplify the lore and mystique of the concerto…

“…the ‘Emperor’, a majestic account with considered conducting, a lively orchestra, and fastidious solos from Ohlsson, an architect, a lyricist, and a dynamic purveyor of the notes, the sort of address that takes the listener into the music without performer artifice or intervention for its own sake; thus No.5 is essayed with character, a trust in – and a focus on – the music,…

“…there was something very special to hear in Garrick Ohlsson’s Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto on Saturday. It’s often considered one of the greatest challenges for any virtuoso pianist… But Ohlsson performed it with consummate skill, completely in control of all its demands and creating with it something of great musical beauty. […] The factor that first struck…

“Náladovou, lyricky vstřícnou introdukci, do které se vmísil orchestr, odvál Garrick Ohlsson vzrušivou virtuózní kadencí, kterou z úvodního vášnivého nasazení zmírnil do kontrastně poklidnějšího dění.” Klasika Plus “Jeho první sólový vstup vyzněl nesmírně poeticky a v průběhu věty jsme měli mnohokrát možnost ocenit Ohlssonovo lyrické…

“Garrick Ohlsson and Slatkin (longstanding musical comrades) conspired a magnificent traversal of Brahms’s equally magnificent First Piano Concerto… The orchestral opening was trenchant, Ohlsson introducing the piano so naturally (his focus is always on the music he plays; no spurious look-at-me antics), pianist, conductor, and orchestra (wonderful woodwinds), unfolding the first…