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| Concerts |
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| USA Tour – Miller Theatre, Columbia University, New York |
| "Listening to Mr. Tharaud’s crisply articulated and vividly etched playing, a listener might guess that he is a Baroque specialist who, for some reason, prefers the modern piano to the harpsichord. But a glance at his discography shows that Baroque music is only one of his interests….he clearly knows how to turn an ornament stylishly, he has distinct ideas about tempos - his brisk ones [Bach] dance and his slow ones linger, though never to the breaking point - and he has clearly considered how bass lines and internal counterpoint should be balanced against a singing melody." |
| The New York Times – 25 March 2005 |
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| USA Tour – Terrace Theater, Kennedy Centre, Washington |
| "This fine young artist, yet another brilliant adornment to the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Hayes Piano Series,…The Bach arrangements were notable for their mixture of dewy, lustrous piano sonorities, in the style of such legendary mid-20th-century pianists as Harold Bauer and Edwin Fischer, and the energetic, aggressively contrapuntal clarity associated with Glenn Gould—two radically different ways of playing baroque music that Tharaud reconciled neatly. I particularly liked the way he implied the presence of an orchestra in the Marcello arrangement; his whole manner of playing changed when he moved from solo keyboard music to passages that were originally intended to be played by a full ensemble, growing grander and more resonant." |
| The Washington Post – 28 March 2005 |
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| USA Tour – An Die Musik, Baltimore |
| "Throughout his performance, Tharaud revealed seemingly effortless technical command, a broad palette of tonal shades, probing intellect and a clearly defined sense of style. Whether in baroque items or Ravel gems (all the repertoire can be found on his widely admired discography), the pianist had something distinctive to say….he offered abundant subtlety [Ravel], clarity and, held in reserve for just the right moment, terrific bravura. Tharaud produced plenty of atmosphere, not to mention virtuosity, in Gaspard de la nuit, without ever laying it on thick." |
| The Baltimore Sun – 28 March 2005 |
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| Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France |
| "MUSIC FIRST… a great many people were queuing to hear Alexandre Tharaud's recital… This is living proof of how one can attract an audience - neither snobbish nor elitist - without relying on doubtful publicity that does not have to do anything with the music." |
| Le Figaro - 4 November 2003 |
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| Kultur Casino, Bern, Switzerland |
| "Why should Rameau's great art be reserved for harpsichord players? Tharaud is able to present it on today's grand-piano, in today's spirit, with a delicate touch, accuracy with the ornamentation, a sense for the important harmonic subtleties, without rushing even in the fast tempi, and without any scorn for the modern instrument's nuances of dynamics and colour which he uses with great sensitivity…Tharaud's highly developed technical skills were beyond any doubt; however this appeared secondary to the variety of his expression and the extensiveness of his dynamic range…" |
| Der Bund - May 2003 |
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| Opéra de Rennes, France |
A BRILLIANT 'HOMMAGE TO RAMEAU'
"…Alexandre Tharaud masters his technique, his playing is animated and fluid with an impressive accuracy, without any useless effect which gives the interpretation a genuine depth. This excellent pianist is a tasteful man…" |
| Ouest-France - 13 January 2003 |
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| BBC Proms Lunchtime Chamber Recital |
PRECISE PHILOSOPHICAL PIANO-PLAYING
"The second of the Proms chamber- music concerts was a welcome chance to hear the young French pianist Alexandre Tharaud...Tharaud is a fastidious pianist, as his exquisitely chosen programme testified...Opening his second group of pieces, Scarlatti's Sonata in A minor, K3, slipped by in a succession of delicious little shocks - scales, chromatic progressions and percussive thumps all punctuating more regular passages of delicate counterpoint. It led very effectively into five pieces from Federico Mompou's Musica Callada - ultra-delicate music with a philosophical austerity about it, expressed in the most sophisticated choices of harmony..." |
| The Independent Review - August 2002 |
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| Festival de Wallonie, Belgium - Monsieur Satie et la phonométrie |
| "Alexandre Tharaud is celebrated as a pianist specialising in French music of the Twentieth Century… His almost serene playing irradiates a poetic dimension, a sensitivity which brings out the sad grimaces of a being [Erik Satie] who never stopped whispering in silence: please love me, I am all alone…" |
| Le Soir - October 2001 |
