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“In the Andante molto (Scene by the Brook) the melody unfolds between bass and treble under Claire Huangci's hands the unclouded lyricism of Beethoven's soul-life. In the brisk Scherzo, the merry festival of the country folk comes alive. Delightful how the nimble runs energetically, expressively and with nuance characterise this scene. Finally thunder, storm: in the Allegro the entire virtuosity is mustered. Hands and fingers fly up and down until, after a musical rain shower, nature, pianist and listeners settle again and the symphony for piano ends with a joyful and grateful feeling. A wonderful recording.”

“Piano arrangements mirror orchestral works in their pure, uncoloured form. Liszt did much more: he traced the orchestral sound brilliantly and burst the corset of the simple, conventional transcription. The German-based US pianist Claire Huangci shows her joy at the arrival in the countryside as if on a radiantly fresh morning, and just as I already admired in her Scarlatti album, her playing in this much more complex score is also marked by transparency, flawlessly pedalless themes that are carefully developed emotionally. Every movement — also the wild peasants' dance or the storm awaited with suspense — recalls an accomplished performance in historically informed reading. Convincing! From now on I will reach for this sonorous studio recording when I want to hear the Liszt version.”

“After the noteworthy complete recordings of the Chopin Nocturnes and the Rachmaninoff Préludes, pianist Claire Huangci has once again turned to an arrangement for her current project: the piano transcription of Beethoven's 6th Symphony by Franz Liszt. Despite the arrangement being entirely rooted in the style of virtuosity, the musician succeeds in a sensitively balanced dramaturgy of eruptive shaping and contemplative pause — unagitated and refreshingly without grand gesture. (Featured as No. 2 in the Klassik Top 5 CDs.)”

“As the transcription of Beethoven's Pastorale shows, Liszt succeeds very well in representing the many interacting sounds of different instruments on the piano alone. Orchestral tuttis become powerful clouds of sound supported by ample pedal use. The fine melodies of the woodwinds appear almost pointillistically as individual lines in the left hand. Liszt's transcriptions are much more — not merely a tool, but through their inherent virtuosity and sonic power, an independent work of art in their own right.”