CLASSICAL PIANIST
Reviews on Performances of Junghwa Lee, pianist
“As winner of Artists International auditions, Junghwa Lee gave a debut recital encompassing just about every type of musical and pianistic challenge, and she emerged with flying colors. She is a pianist of acute intelligence, conviction… and passion. … Prokofiev’s difficult Sonata No. 7 followed, showing extraordinary stamina after the other works. Ms. Lee played it with mastery, throwing herself into the finale like one possessed and earning a standing ovation.”
-New York Concert Review
“Lee’s beautifully persuasive playing… Lee…delivered her highly demanding program with masterful artistic control, integrity, and refinement.”
-The Manhattan Mercury
“Flawless technique and exquisite attention to details left the [audience] … dazzled by her performance.”
-The Philips County Review
“The ‘Improvisation’ title of the first piece sounded exactly like that in Junghwa Lee's hands - in fact I found it difficult to tell whether the pianist was playing the music or vice versa, so integrated and organic-sounding was sound with gesture, rapt concentration with liquid flow. Throughout, her performance caught the piece's play of light and colour in and around spontaneous irruptions of energy and beautifully floated stillnesses.”
[on E. Chabrier’s Improvisation from 10 Pièces pittoresques]
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"Junghwa Lee's ever-varied voicing of the lines and beautiful control of the music's harmonic colourings”
[on C. Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue]
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"If Junghwa Lee's playing had impressed up to this point, her full-blooded engagement with the music's demands at this point astonished us further still - again that 'playing or being played' sense of oneness with it all was overwhelming...! Then, at the tumult's height the music suddenly returned to the world of the work's opening pages - a most eerie and engaging effect... A remarkable journey, to say the least…….”
[on F. Stemper’s Sonata No. 2 – world premiere performance]
-Middle C - Classical Music Reviews, Wellington, New Zealand
“Lee mastered the Érard and the music alike: every note was clear and rang harmoniously; she handled the instrument’s potential power enchantingly…”
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"Lee’s stellar performance brought the house to its feet instantly upon its conclusion.”
-The Boston Musical Intelligencer
REVIEWS ON COMPACT DISC BLUE13:
“I’ve already praised the playing of Junghwa Lee in my comments above, but must reiterate that it is a wondrous thing to hear. Seldom have I heard such cleanly executed runs and articulation in such impossibly difficult music. She surely must be one of the great technicians of our time, but it’s not just on the technical front that she shines, for she excels in the musical one as well. Stemper’s demands on his performer means that these pieces would fail in their impact unless they were shaped into logical musical entities, and Lee provides the flow and forward movement that this music requires. This is the sort of CD that should get a Grammy. It’s that good, and will be a strong contender for my next Want List. Urgently recommended for those who aren’t afraid of pronounced, if very listenable dissonance.”
-Fanfare
"Junghwa Lee plays this ... [Blue13] with fierce abandon, and all her performances are bold and colorful. Stemper is fortunate to have her as his champion."
-American Record Guide
REVIEWS ON COMPACT DISC CLARA SCHUMANN: PIANO WORKS:
"Here then is a gloriously beautiful recital of what are surely some of Clara Schumann’s finest and most attractive pieces, beautifully recorded, and played with flawless technique, faultless musical intuition, and soulful sensitivity by Junghwa Lee, a pianist and an artist of the highest caliber."
"Five stars: Impossible to resist by anyone with a beating heart"
-Fanfare
"Junghwa Lee, a native of South Korea, and currently serving as Associate Professor of Piano at Southern Illinois University, has written her own intelligent notes and performs most expressively. She coaxes some exquisite tone colors from [the piano]..."
-American Record Guide