reviews

of harpsichord performances by Elizabeth Anderson

Elizabeth Anderson’s Goldberg variations are an event. Like a knowledgeable, enthusiastic guide, Anderson lovingly shepherds the listener across the huge musical canvas . . . one of the great beauties of this reading is the player’s respect for the harpsichord as a plucked string instrument. After 93 minutes of engrossing music, it’s hard to come back to earth. The Age (Melbourne)

Listener’s Choice

Goldberg Variations . . . Her performance is one of sustained excellence: thoughtful, witty and admirably dexterous. Many harpsichordists flag in the course of the great Variation 25 (Landowska’s black pearl), but it holds no terrors for Anderson, whose intense reading is gripping from start to finish. Elizabeth Anderson has delivered what the Goldbergs title page promised: ‘refreshment of the spirit’. Andrew O’Connor Soundscapes (Sydney)

Truly Inspired Playing

Leeuwarder Courant (Leeuwarden, The Netherlands)

Anderson handled the difficult solo part with ease (Bach: C major concerto). For this music, she truly had the right touch. Tagespiegel (Berlin)

The performance ... is fine, with better ensemble than one can hear on the old Falla version (Falla Harpsichord Concerto) . . . This is a collection that can be listened to from beginning to end with pleasure, exhibiting both the beauty and the variety of this composer’s music. James Miller Fanfare (New York)

Barock virtuosity

Bizarre or baRock . . . the concert featured . . . a wonderfully eclectic mix of styles from Bach to the Beatles. Anderson’s musical minestrone was intellectually nourishing: ... the centrepiece ... was the ‘Danza Ostinata’ ... by William Albright. This is brilliant music, for not only does the performer have to maintain a consistent watch over the ever-present ostinato, but also has to allow for freer mobility in the articulation of the constantly evolving foreground information which has boogie woogie inflections. This structural give and take makes for fascinating listening, and a powerful performance was forthcoming from Anderson. Joel Crotty The Age (Melbourne) 1 February 1998

With formidable technique and heaps of vitality, harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson swept through Bach’s harpsichord concerto in D minor. Patricia KellyThe Courier Mail (Brisbane) 29 July, 1996

Budget CD choice

Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto . . . comes across as a likeably spiky piece, hot tempered and energetic . . . Elizabeth Anderson’s . . . smoothness and refinement bringing out an often-overlooked lyrical breadth in the writing. Daily Telegraph (London) 22 August 1998

Elizabeth Anderson is a fine musician. Her playing was both lively and and sensitive with strength when needed. She certainly lived up to the flamboyance of many of the pieces with exciting displays of virtuosity. Yet all was marked by her superb phrasing and sympathetic understanding of the music. Janet Beat The Scotsman (Glasgow)

The precision, the delicate nuance, the lightness and the finesse of the performance of harpsichordist, Elizabeth Anderson, marvellous in the Sonatas in D major and minor, K140 and 141 of Scarlatti: the virtuosity that these works require is undoubtedly there. Peter Schöpf Tribune de Genève

Harpsichordist trips the light Fandango

Fandango is given a virtuoso performance to match the considerable demands that it makes on the performer. ... Puyana's rather flamboyant attitude to the notes ... can be contrasted with Anderson's absolute precision.In Anderson, Australia possesses an artist whose academic achievements endow her performance with a greater clarity of interpretation. ... Anderson has a considered and intelligent approach to authentic performance . . . Philip Nunn - The Age (Melbourne)

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