reviews/press
“Semi-standing ovation at a lunchtime concert in a London church? Predictable, perhaps, from the first recital I heard George Xiaoyuan Fu give... Yesterday’s “Chopin Revisited” sequence heightened the sense of originality in planning and confidence in presentation. This is one of the most exciting young pianists of our time, no question.” David Nice, The Arts Desk
“Fantastic George Fu coming to the rescue at 48 hours notice… an unforgettable musical experience of joy and exhilaration… played with ravishing beauty and simplicity but also passion and transcendental technical command.” Christopher Axworthy
“The evening began with the first three of the thirteen evocations of birds from Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux… George Xiaoyuan Fu helpfully introduced the collection by reading the poems that Messiaen used as his inspiration, and played illustrative extracts of what we were to hear, of both the birds and their surroundings, the former both lyrical and squawkish. And then he plunged with jaw-dropping virtuosity… In Chocard des Alpes (Alpine chough), we glimpsed the sinister majesty of a rocky, almost supernatural fortress, Fu’s effortlessly jazzy syncopation merging with the grandeur of the setting. In no. 2, Loriot d’Europe (Eurasian golden oriole), set in an early June morning with golden and rainbow colours, his touch was now delicate, effervescent, as the birds gossiped humorously through the acciaccaturas, and now powerful and permanent, the unresolved bass chords reminding us of Debussy’s Cathédrale engloutie... Finally, Le Merle Bleu (Blue rock thrush) reflected the sea, evoking Bali. Here, Fu coaxed so many moods from the piano, from the impetuous to a limpid pianissimo and angular, leaping chords of which Errol Garner might have been proud. The power of nature climaxed with a terrifyingly sonorous, double-handed crash into the lowest register of the piano, the last chord eventually left hanging forever….” John Dunston, Daily Info
“His playing was precise, glamorous, youthfully vigorous, coherent, with neatly finished phrases. Differentiated with choices of dynamics, speeds and weight of sound depending on the structural and stylistic identity of each piece, he supported the works with interpretations that moved in the area of the tried and tested, without, however, sounding safe…” Nikos A. Dontas, Efimerida ton Syntakton
“And what a masterstroke from pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu to place three substantial tableaux from Catalogue d’Oiseaux between other bird-inspired pieces: the little mystery of Schumann’s Bird as Prophet, Ravel’s Oiseaux tristes and the world premiere of three of Fu’s own startling paraphrases from Respighi’s The Birds, Messiaenizing Respighisation of Rameau, Pasquini and Gallot. This artist is a deep thinker, thoroughly in command of dynamics from pianissimo to fortissimo, and fearless in negotiating Messiaen’s more massive demands, the rock-faces between the poetic glidings, swoops and dives of birds of the French mountains, countryside and coastline.” David Nice, The Arts Desk
“…George Fu’s exhilarating hour-long concert of music by Messiaen and his tantalising transcriptions of Respighi’s The Birds…” Jon Jacob, Thoroughly Good
“A fantasy of sounds and colours… [George Fu] showed a total mastery not only of the extraordinary technical challenges but also the intellectual one’s of joining all the pieces of this great jigsaw together into a coherent whole… his own ‘transformation’ of the Gigue from the 2nd Violin Partita… revealed a completely different sound world with its opening left hand octaves and some startling virtuosity every so often allowing Bach a peek into the fun that he was having throwing the end off with the ease of the great pianists of a past era… Three Etudes-Tableaux by Rachmaninoff were played with sumptuous sounds with the passionate outpourings of the fifth and the haunting beauty of the eighth before the grandiose driving rhythms of the ninth. Played with astonishing virtuosity and total command it brought this short streamed recital to a triumphant conclusion.” Christopher Axworthy
“Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 brought the audience a wonderful artist by the name of George Fu… the first movement contains many sections where the piano plays alone – all the better to experience Fu’s delicate precision.” Chelsea Huber, Classical Voice of North Carolina
“… George Xiaoyuan Fu impressively navigated the fierce demands of Messiaen’s ecstatically-charged piano writing…”Jeremy Eicher, Boston Globe
“… The orchestra of Tanglewood Center Music fellows, plus the heroic piano soloist George Xiaoyuan Fu… provided me with 60 of the most entertaining, moving and purely joyful minutes of my listening career… With stunning virtuosity, Fu summoned an appropriately shiny, brilliant, hard tone that never flagged or lost its edge: a touch of Prokofiev inside Messiaen…” Brian Schuth, The Boston Music Intelligencer
Interview feature: Meet the Artists
Interview feature: Philadelphia Music Makers, WRTI Radio