“

Overall, this is a marvellous disc. The cover notes are interesting and informative and the recording quality is superb – well up to the usual standards of the Divine Art label. Andrew Wright is clearly an extremely talented and versatile performer with a lovely tone and bagsful of virtuosity… fantastically well done and a thoroughly wonderful performance.

” —Jonathan Welsh

“

Wright is a pianist-scholar, and an aficionado of this sort of repertory. His best skill is his legato playing, and that’s an essential skill to have if you are going to play and record a program of operatic transcriptions. , I am expecting The Operatic Pianist III in early 2021, and I am sure I will enjoy that one too.

” —Raymond Tuttle

“

(EDITOR’S CHOICE – DISC OF THE MONTH)
Not only opera lovers, but also those of great piano literature can only be impressed by these readings. such a repertoire can be approached only by those who are able to be a great virtuoso, a refined psychologist of notes and musical nuances and a skilful storyteller… all qualities that Andrew Wright proves to possess adequately. The recording enhances the piano sound with fine tonal balance even in the most convulsive passages and capable of expressing in detail the finest tonal nuances.

” —Andrea Bedetti

“

Mr Wright has the prodigious technique these arrangements require. Wright’s two Lisztian arrangements are excellent—the most desirable nine minutes here. Excellent sound.

” —Stephen Wright

“

Lyricism is supplied in abundance by Wright. His warm tone and his ability to spin a legato phrase on what is essentially a percussion instrument are very impressive. There is something truly vocal about his playing. I can recommend this disc… very natural recorded sound and superb notes round out the production.

” —Henry Fogel

“

Wright clearly has a wonderful working grasp of this repertoire and knows how to bring forward the vocal line as well as how to portray the orchestral colour that any given emotional moment requires. His playing is consistently fabulous.

” —Alex Baran

“

The art of the keyboard transcription of opera has a passionate acolyte in Andrew Wright’s assembly of virtuoso treatments. Wright applies his formidable prowess. Stunning piano sound makes the entire [program] engaging and educational, at once.

” —Gary Lemco

“

The playing is superb; even a non-pianist can tell that in places Wright is playing at world-class levels. If it has a drawback (and it’s hard to really be critical on something this good), it’s that the styles range considerably, from the gentle and calming to the highly ornate, fiendishly complex. On the other hand, and this is a big plus, if you’re not too keen on opera, you get all the best bits.

” —Jeremy Condliffe

“

In terms of musical and pianistic invention, of greater interest (than the Jaëll and Leschitzky) are Thalberg’s Moses Fantasy, one of the pieces he played during the famous Paris ‘duel’ with Liszt at the Princess Belgiojoso’s, and Saint-Saëns’s treatment of Massenet’s Thaïs, titled La mort de Thaïs.Wright admirably avoids over-playing and his pedalling is always judicious.

” —Patrick Rucker

“

Horrendously difficult technical passages, spectacular and jolly difficult. [In Thalberg’s Fantasie alone] there are horrendously complex pianistic configurations including fiendish octave passages, ‘sweeping arpeggios’ and extremely fast chromatic melodic patterns… it is utterly amazing. Interestingly, more than half of these ‘paraphrases’ are receiving their “first commercial recording”. Wright’s playing is superb. The sound quality of the recording is ideally balanced: every detail from the most intimate arabesque to the hammered octaves is clear and undistorted.

” —John France

“

Divine Art is a record company that focuses its efforts instead on creating very special things… Andrew Wright dazzles with his command and conquest of the pianistic mine fields of [these works]. The demands this repertory places on technical wizardry, including interlocking and alternating and cross-voicing from hand to hand, extended passages using massive octaves, unending arpeggios, and its call for the stamina of a sportsman are beyond the reach of any but the most valiant of pianists. Mr. Wright is one such keyboard artist.

” —Rafael de Acha