“One of the rarest artists in the world I would pay a ticket to hear. It was a real revelation to hear her. She is not just one from the many excellent pianists nowadays but an exciting artist to whom one has to listen. Beyond the spellbinding technique she mastered, she is a real interpreter of poetic feelings, great temperament and a delightful sound. She is unfailingly capable of charming her public. She has the spontaneity giving the impression that the work performed under her fingers is just created at that moment.”
TAMÁS VÁSÁRY
“...truly one of the most original pianists of her generation. She is capable of hypnotizing her audience. Her sound is unique and warm, her performances full of colors and imagination. And she has an exceptional technical command of the piano.”
SERGEI BABAYAN
“...a marvelous pianist. I've heard her in the repertoire of Chopin, Alkan, Rachmanionff and Ravel, all performed with great artistry and virtuosity.”
GARY GRAFFMAN
“... praises follow her all around the world...”
INTERNATIONAL PIANO
“The Chopin Rondo in E-flat, Op. 16 was played with elegance and flabbergasting finger work. Speaking in terms of sheer technical brilliance, I don’t recall being as amazed even by Horowitz’s performance of the same work.”
NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW
“Hu was a superb pianist, and the transcription [Chopin Piano Concerto #1] allowed her urgent, finely detailed phrasing to be appreciated to a degree not always possible with a full orchestra. Her legato is lovely, and the way she adjusted her playing - articulation, tone - to what the ensemble was doing at the moment was a lesson in what it means to be a listening and sensitive musician.”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Five Stars… essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.”
PIANIST
“…literally brought down the house with a standing ovation…”
CINCINNATI POST
“... that elusive superstar quality that everybody looks for. Musical, energetic and full of flair, she gushed through Beethoven’s Concerto No. 1 and drove some of the audience to give her a standing ovation.”
THE JERUSALEM POST
“She has everything you need in the pianistic league... extremely confident and physically strong, with a pleasant relaxed tone, also the soft sound beautifully textured. Especially in the second movement of Rachmaninoff's B minor Sonata: Here she exposes an emotional structure that is transparent, and even moving.”
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany)
“Hu displayed the maturity to infuse El Amor y la Muerte, from the Goyescas by Granados, with a profound depth of emotion in a beautifully-shaped, expansive performance. She followed it with Chopin's relatively unfamiliar E-flat Rondo, Op. 16, negotiating its fast-flowing passages with cool control, elegance and ease. To conclude, she offered a highly accomplished account of Rachmaninov's Second Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 36, the dramatic opening of the Allegro agitato compelling attention, while the concluding Allegro molto was the ideal showcase for Hu's virtuosity as she propelled the movement to an emphatic climax."
MUSICAL OPINION
(Wigmore Hall Recital, London)
“Listen to the dramatic thunder storm of the Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2, and energetic key work of the Leighton Fantasia, Hu's playing is especially shown when she played two well known Mozart works. Her playing expands from strength to the most deeply felt moments of almost inaudibility; to the soul and pianistic bliss. It is like the way of sculptures. Her way of music is to find the essential at the core of the composition's fullness.”
DER WESTERN
(Klavier-Ruhr Festival, Germany)
“This young woman brings with her the secret, the mystery, and the style. She has the suspense of Brendel, Perahia's lyricism and Barenboim's depth. Are we witnessing the birth of a new Martha Argerich?”
YEDIOT ACHARONOT (Israel)
“The slightly built Taiwanese, gossamer in her Ravel, outwardly romantic in Chopin’s Third Sonata, gave an account of Shostakovich’s First Sonata that was a show of red-blood brilliance.”
YORKSHIRE POST (UK)
“Hu gave an overwhelming impression as she changed drastically from Eusebius and Florestan in the Schumann Kreisleriana. The interpretation was beautifully done.”
ARTS MAGAZINE (Taiwan)
“Hu made a formidable Mendocino Music Festival debut recital in Preston Hall. A full house warmly greeted the diminutive artist, and she responded with a pensive and then dramatic performance of Scriabin’s Sonata Fantasy, Op. 19. Four Chopin works comprised the second half with the afternoon’s best playing coming in the shortest work, the E Flat Nocturne of Op. 55, No. 2. Rhythmic subtlety approaching Ignaz Friedman’s iconic 1936 recording was a delight (praise can go no higher), as was Ms. Hu’s command of pianissimo. The repeated right-hand A and B Flat notes had a character of bells, and she artfully pedaled the ethereal transition to the final two chords that held me spellbound.”
CLASSICAL SONOMA
“Hu’s staggering fingerwork in Liszt’s Spanish Rhapsody was tamped by her hallmark of visceral virtuosity allied to breathtaking clarity. A foretaste of Hu’s outstanding pianism came in the opening work in which Schubert’s amazingly fecund imagination inspired the Sonata in C minor, D. 958. With stamina sapping demands, Hu’s all-embracing playing never faltered. A towering talent, and in one so petit!”
BOURNEMOUTH ECHO (UK)
“In performance, Hu showed herself to be a first-class talent. Her concentrated treatment of Scriabin’s Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2 evoked an entrancing coloristic world. In Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, she conjured some incredibly sinister effects in the final movements, in a performance that graphically projected the poems on which each movement is based. A more complete summation of her talent can be heard on her CD “Chopin” (Archimusic). It more fully reveals her poetic use of color and confidently expressive phrasing in performances of works such as Barcarolle and Scherzo No. 4 that hold up with the best.”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Hu played with mesmerizing, magic touch in the Chopin Barcarolle, and even more so shown in the Ravel Gaspard de la nuit. And the transcription of the Strauss Blue Danube, like a marvelous ‘dessert,’ was played with great virtuosity.”
HAARETZ (Israel)
“Audience couldn’t wait to applaud [headline]
A capacity audience was entranced by the pianist, Ching-Yun Hu, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with such charm and intuition it was easy to realize we were in the presence of one of the world’s greatest performers. With the musicians moving from one triumph to another, there clearly came a time when the audience simply could no longer contain their delight. Hu wowed the audience with her dazzling performance of the Beethoven; such was her enthusiasm that she was almost dancing to the music. Her appearance was something of a coup for Maidstone audiences, since the rest of the international starlet’s programme takes her to Brazil, Holland, the USA, South Africa, Taiwan and Hungary.”
KENT MESSENGER (UK)