{"id":15821,"date":"2025-01-12T19:44:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T00:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=15821"},"modified":"2025-03-07T19:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T00:47:14","slug":"review-george-li-dazzles-in-rachmaninoff-with-cso-under-matthias-pintscher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/review-george-li-dazzles-in-rachmaninoff-with-cso-under-matthias-pintscher\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: George Li dazzles in Rachmaninoff with CSO under Matthias Pintscher"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Cincinnati Business Courier<\/a><\/p>\n

By Janelle Gelfand<\/p>\n

Pianist George Li helped the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcome 2025 in a big way with his jaw-dropping performance of Rachmaninoff\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 3 on Jan. 11. Soaring through a showpiece that pits staggering difficulties against romantic themes, Li kept his cool, only pausing after the formidable first movement to mop his brow.<\/p>\n

The audience, having braved two snowstorms during the week, came out in parkas and boots for a rewarding program under the baton of the orchestra\u2019s creative partner, Matthias Pintscher, the newly appointed music director of the Kansas City Symphony. Besides Li\u2019s unforgettable performance, there was also the Americana of Aaron Copland\u2019s midcentury Symphony No. 3. Pintscher opened the program with the orchestra\u2019s first performance of Unsuk Chin\u2019s \u201csubito con forza\u201d of 2020.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Li tackled great fistfuls of treacherous figures with a glittering touch. He summoned orchestral sonorities in the first movement\u2019s massive cadenza, yet his sound was never harsh. Rachmaninoff\u2019s lyrical tunes were thoughtfully phrased, and he was able to illuminate lines within the dense textures of the composer\u2019s writing. This was playing of the highest caliber.<\/p>\n

The pianist didn\u2019t linger on themes but played with momentum from beginning to end. His phrasing in the slow movement, \u201cIntermezzo,\u201d was impassioned, and the scherzo (playful) section sparkled with color. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve heard a more electrifying finale, taken at a supercharged tempo and capped by a thrilling climb to the summit.<\/p>\n

Pintscher set a timeless mood in the orchestra\u2019s opening bars and summoned lush support throughout, rarely overpowering the soloist. He was alert to the pianist\u2019s every turn, even when Li\u2019s tempos pushed ahead. The audience leaped up with a roar at its conclusion.<\/p>\n

Read the full review.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Cincinnati Business Courier By Janelle Gelfand Pianist George Li helped the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcome 2025 in a big way with his jaw-dropping performance of Rachmaninoff\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 3 on Jan. 11. Soaring through a showpiece that pits staggering difficulties against romantic themes, Li kept his cool, only pausing after the formidable … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3613,3930,7129,3686,3610,3612],"class_list":["post-15821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-conductor","tag-george-li","tag-matthias-pintscher","tag-orchestra","tag-piano","tag-review"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15822,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions\/15822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}