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Interview with The Wall Street Journal
www.online.wsj.com
"One can find evidence
of her musicality on nearly every page here - for throughout
the recital, she fuses firm technique with unfailing interpretive
imagination to produce performances of consistently striking
character."
Peter
J. Rabinowitz - Fanfare
"Rankovich, one of those
miracle musicians who can make musical architecture breathe
and come alive, can also thrill you just with her sound.
I have seldom heard the musical climax to phrases so tellingly
prepared for and placed without losing a sense of the thrust
of the entire movement. Most of the works here don't require
a pianist this good. Certainly the Crestons don't, despite
their genuine attractiveness. Still, she lavishes her considerable
musicianship on them and makes a persuasive case. You know
just how good a musician she is when you realize that the
Creston and the Giannini works are
premiere recordings. To all intents and purposes, she's the
moonwalker. She hasn't heard these pieces before. Later interpreters
will take her readings into account."
-Steve Schwartz-Classical.net
Read the Full Review
www.Classical.net
"Finally came Tatjana
Rankovich, whom I've heard for the first time. Her first
piece was Robert Muczynski's Desperate Measures (1994). You
might very well ask, "Who needs
another Paganini Variations?" Apparently the audience
tonight did. Mr. Muczynski's variations are not as virtuosic
when compared to those of Brahms and Rachmaninov, but still
fierce and demanding. The most interesting of them was No.
11 with its dance-like rhythm and jazzy scales. Ms. Rankovich
gave each variation its own character deriving an endless
amount of sonorities. By the end of the last variation, which
ends in an ethereal chord, I imagine many in the audience
were ready for another twelve.
The Fugue, Interlude and Finale (2002) from Bruce Stark was
the last piece. Immensely difficult to play, the fugue was
fitting for Ms. Rankovich's talents, which were needed to
bring out the almost transparent third and fourth voices.
The subjects sometimes appear as mere accompaniments and
they demand extra attention from the listener, and I can't
presume to have understood the piece completely from my initial
exposure. The quieter middle interlude is designed to draw
unique sonorities from the piano. Its Zen-like quality soon
gives way to the frantic finale, which is highl virtuosic.
Tatjana Rankovich pulled off this segment without any apparent
difficulties and walked away from the music wrestling against
itself as the clear winner."
-Alain Matlon- Musicweb International-January
- June 2008
"The second half belonged to Tatjana Rankovich (who
teaches at Mannes College of Music), with the world premiere
of Mr. Rubenstein's Romance No. 2 (aurora), a graceful exercise
in legato simplicity occasionally diving into more complex
pools. Her introspection matched the composer's, whose inspiration
seemed not far from say, Scriabin, but with tiny touches
showing an introspective mind at work. She ended the evening
with four of Henry Martin's Preludes and Fugues, a set mirroring
the layout of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. The slight acidity
and irregular meters of No. 7 are followed by the delicate
prelude of No. 4, which ends with a thunderous fugue. No.
9 begins with a scherzo flirting with tango, and in No. 13,
subtitled "A Slow Drag," the prelude's main theme
combines with the fugue in a virtuosic finish. These are
hardly pieces for the timid or those without expert chops,
and Rankovich seems to know them inside and out, always making
Martin's voicing easily audible and playing with casual brilliance,
lightness and humor."
-Bruce Hodges Musicweb International.com
Jan-Jun 2008
"As a chaser to the Gershwin Piano Concerto, one could
hardly do better than Nicolas Flagello's piano concertos.
In them one finds a similar energy, brashness and soaring
lyricism, but suffused with the existential component of
a life intensly agaist the grain. The album listed features
the 22-year-old's first Piano Concerto, animated with blazing
conviction by the astounding Tatiana Rankovich. An Absolute
Classic!"
-Adrian Corleons, Fanfare, November/December
2007
Read an Interview
with Tatjana Rankovich at Tokafi.com
Flagello: Piano Concerto No.1 / Dante's Farwell / Concerto
Sinfonico Review
www.naxos.com
Artek Recordings Review
www.artekrecordings.com
"...More than simply an accomplished pianist, she is
an intelligent artist, capable of bringing to life a work
that has never been played before, and making it sound like
an established masterpiece."
- Fanfare
"...performed with an exquisite touch, and displayed
commanding and deeply probing qualities of expression."
- La Libre Belgique, Brussels
"Her artistic and technical mastery allows her to attain
rigorous perfection of execution without sacrificing the
necessary quality of creative fancy."
- Gazetta Del Sud, Catania, Italy
"Tatjana Rankovich displayed a richness of artistry
and a depth of commitment which assure her a future on the
concert stage."
- NIN, Belgrade
"She achieved a perfect balance of structural clarity,
tonal resonance, subtle nuance and expressive abandon while
preserving a flawless continuity."
- Le Soir, Brussels
"Tatjana Rankovich's interpretation of the Liszt A
Major Concerto was at once subtle and powerful. Her playing
had a truly extraordinary charm and beauty."
- Borba, Belgrade
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