... the distinguished pianist Garrick Ohlsson joined the Takacs Quartet for a concert of works by Elgar and the little-known American Amy Beach, 10 years his junior.
Elgar and Beach with the Takács Quartet31 May 2019
“ … 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 profundity.
Ohlsson gave us a couple of Elgar solos, too: his May Song and Serenade, exemplifying the salon style he so uncannily transfigures in his Piano Quintet, the programme’s second half. And one was indeed regularly waltzed, in this brilliantly accomplished account, between Palm Court and sublimity.”