"Rarely have I had the privilege of hearing and bringing to public attention a pianist of the extraordinary artistic gifts of Roger Wright. As I have written elsewhere and say again, he is without question the greatest pianist that America has produced since William Kapell, an artist who radiates intensity, committment and intelligence in every note he plays. Indeed, in Roger Wright the western classical canon has found an ideal interpreter whose intellectual prowess is matched in equal measure by a largesse of spirit and a tender heart. There is something disarmingly naive about Mr. Wright's playing; one could almost say, American. That is hardly to say that Mr. Wright is not one of the most intellectually savvy pianists around these days; he most certainly is. But he sounds like no one else, and his way with music evokes something of a pioneer spirit for its refusal to indulge in sentimentality at the expense of rhythm and structure, and for its many moments of exquisite tenderness. Nowhere to be found in his playing is the rhapsodic didacticism favored by the Russians, the sunny laissez faire of the Italians, or even the gemutlichkeit of the Viennese. Mr. Wright, on the other hand, is his own country. Digging deep, he knows just how to flesh out a work from the inside, as it were, filtering it through his own prismatic imagination. By some miracle he has not born the influence of any single "school". It is precisely this plurality of affect, given to a fierce independence of thought and spirit, that makes his playing so compelling and unique. He is, like Kapell, an authentic original, and as such, will most certainly develop into one of the greatest interpretive artists of the 21st century."
John Bell Young
Critic for
The St Petersburg Times
"You recognize it immediately when you hear it. A long, arching, beautiful line that sings naturally, the way a fine singer sings. A true pianissimo poised just above audibility, natural gradations of sonority between very soft and very loud, and a thundering fortissimo that resounds without clamor or ugly overtones. A way of voicing chords so
that inner voices have their own dappled color and richness. A projection of personality that makes interpretation highly individual but illuminates rather than exploits the music. These are some of the characteristics that mark the true romantic pianist, a pianist who can unlock the secrets of the great romantic composers. All of that and more was on display in Roger Wright's recital Sunday at the Phillips Collection. Wright, at 26, has a powerful technique and he enjoys reveling in it. He took the Schumann Toccata - which makes inhuman demands on the wrist - at a burning tempo that was always under control, and along the way he shaped Schumann's contrapuntal lines with remarkable tonal beauty and masterful control of inner voices. The Chopin Sonata in B-flat Minor was a gorgeous display of effortlessly flowing melody, rhapsodic bravura and electrifying passage work. This was aristocratic, exhilarating Chopin that sounded freshly conceived and spontaneous in every bar. Frederic Rzewski's "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" erupted in huge sonic clusters that threatened to tear the recital hall asunder. Wright is virtually unknown, but he is a major pianist who should have a big career."
Ronald Broun
The Washington Post
March 2001
For more information on Roger Wright, please visit his website and several articles and reviews of interest at
SYDNEY HERALD
WASHINGTON POST
MUSIC & VISION DAILY
ST.PETERSBURG TIMES
NEW! Streaming Video of the Chopin B flat minor sonata
ROGER WRIGHT PLAYS CHOPIN
To hear Roger Wright in Rzewski's WINSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES and other works from his performances at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, please visit:
ROGER WRIGHT at THE VAN CLIBURN COMPETITION
To order ROGER WRIGHT on CD, please visit:
IMCA RESOURCE CENTER
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| Recorded in concert at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC March 2001 |
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| Recorded in concert, Washington DC 2001 |
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| Recorded in Concert, Washington DC 2001 |
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