MISHA DICHTER

Critical Acclaim

 In Concert

“A ravishing performance...Mr. Dichter’s reading [of Schubert B-flat Sonata] was that of a fresh-and-blood poet, gently inflected, keenly felt, and executed with breathtaking polish from start to finish.”

The New York Times

 “To his virtuosity, Dichter adds his artistic maturity, a depth of musical awareness and strength of artistic vision.”

Chicago Sun-Times

“...[the] pianist commands a wide dynamic and emotional range, finds nuances as well as new insights in all the music he plays, and places his details carefully...Dichter’s tremendous authority at the keyboard is the result of a comprehensive technique combined with an astute musicality.”

Los Angeles Times

“Stupendous strength and brilliance...nothing was ever done just for the sake of effect.  As an interpreter, Mr. Dichter combined romantic fervor with princely self-discipline.”

The Times, London

“It would be hard to imagine a more thrilling concert than the one that featured one of the world’s most distinguished pianists, Misha Dichter, performing one of Beethoven’s great keyboard calling cards, the Piano Concerto No. 3...His interpretation was revelatory.  Far too many pianists view this piece as a dark, melodramatic dazzler...But Dichter emphasized the work’s most endearing lyrical qualities, saving his fireworks for the appropriate places, the first movement cadenza and the finale.”

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

 “What clarity of detail and what beauty of tone ravished the ear!  Not since Artur Schnabel have I heard a pianist draw such vibrant, singing tone from the upper reaches of the keyboard.”

Music and Musicians, London

 “The man is a poet at the keyboard, a truly Byronic figure who demonstrated the reasons for his membership among the world’s elite.”

The Tennessean

 “One of the finest pianists of his generation–or of about any generation, for that matter...”

Indianapolis Star

“Dichter’s right to the top place among American pianists was confirmed by everything he did in the Beethoven.”

Montreal Gazette

“In Schubert’s A Minor Sonata, Op. 143, Dichter brought out the music’s ethereal harmonic shifts and contrasty moods with a forcefulness that underscored the orchestral thinking [prevalent] during an era in which composers and virtuosi expanded the range of the grand piano, transforming it into a protean, orchestra-like instrument.”

Chicago Tribune

 “Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor (Op. 111) also came off strongly...the obsessive trills and elaborate filigree were superbly controlled, and the offbeat pianissimo sighs near the end of the work carried a wonderful yearning.”

The New York Times

 “Dichter, a true professional, communed with the conductor in a brilliant, at times voluptuous, consistently stylish Beethoven First Piano Concerto.  And this only a short time after his thoughtful, lyrically fluid account of the Schubert [final sonata].

The Washington Post

“The pianist, to his credit, didn’t overdo the percussive element in Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments.  There was enough variety of attack, touch and tone color to point up the baroque antecedents of Stravinsky’s angular rhythms...”

Chicago Tribune

 “He made a dignified soloist in the Bartok [Piano Concerto No. 3], playing with clean execution, luminous clarity and decorous reserve.”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 “It all came together in the Brahms quartet [G Minor, Op. 25].  Dichter, although carefully balancing his instrument with the three string players, assumed a commanding role and fired the group with the zest Brahms requires.”

Chicago Sun-Times

 “In three of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, Dichter could do no wrong.  Here the pianist was clearly in his element–the virtuoso doing what he does best, dazzling on the high wire with only a rapt audience below.”

The Washington Post

“...Misha Dichter joined the ensemble [Oslo Philharmonic] in Beethoven’s C-Major Concerto, achieving not only stylishness and heat, but also as many contrasts as the piece actually contains...”Seldom has one heard the Largo given such depth of feeling in tandem with a genuine sense of improvisation.”

The Los Angeles Times

 “Misha Dichter gave an inspired account of the Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major [Mozart].  His keyboard work was graceful, intimate and beautifully cultivated.  It was deeply introspective in quiet passages and spirited in the bracing finale.”

The New York Post

 “Dichter’s tone was big and firm...and he fitted all hte intricate keyboard figuration into the intricate orchestral fabric [of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1] with the ease of a master jeweler assembling a fine watch.”

Houston Post\

On Recordings

 “[In Brahms’ Handel Variations and other works] Dichter’s greater elegance and restraint are wholly engaging; I cannot recall hearing the opening aria given so much charm.  Ditto for the Waltzes: none of the shifting moods eludes the soloist, and even listening to 16 of them in a row is not tiring.”

American Record Guide

                                                                                                                                                “There is tremendous panache in Dichter’s playing here [Liszt’s Piano Concertos], and technical difficulties seem to be utterly nonexistent for him.  Both pieces are endowed from start to finish with the genuine Lisztian Romantic surge and all the glitter one could ask.”

Stereo Review

“This is the most technically accomplished set of the complete [Liszt] Rhapsodies that I have yet heard.”

Gramophone

“Dichter’s style presents a modern view of Liszt at its best...It is direct, clear, strong and exuberant...He has the technique to do whatever the music demands, and he responds to the drama as well as the virtuosity of the music.”

American Record Guide