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Louis Lortie, pianist

Reviews

"What an admirable musician, a throughbred virtuoso like Horowitz; with a keen fluency of touch, and like a Lipatti in the luminous radiance of his playing!… Lortie, attentive to detail and yet retaining the melodic line, performed a poetic miracle."
Rachmaninov 2, Orchestre National de Lyon/Krivine

"Lortie shone with an individual interpretation of great maturity, flawless facility and with an enormous range of pianistic colouring."
Beethoven 4, Czech Philharmonic/Bad Kissingen Festival

One really had to go back to some of the legendary pianists of the 1940’s and 50’s to put Louis Lortie in context. Lortie’s playing of Rachmaninov’s still loveable second piano concerto belongs in a class with the Romantic accomplishments of the icons of those earlier times.
Rachmaninov 2, Los Angeles Philharmonic

Lortie’s playing was precise and energised, with no wasted energy or superficial gestures. The music-making was utterly refined and compelling.
Mozart/Houston Symphony/Bamert

Lortie gave such a powerful and gripping performance of the piano concerto, that one wonders why it appears so infrequently in concert programmes…Crystal-clear, with impetuous spontaneity but also a dreamy poetry and… French sensual charm..
Debussy Fantaisie, Stuttgart Radio Symphony/Holliger

As a pianist, Lortie is both a compelling player and a purposeful thinker….This was playing of a quite exceptional order.
Chopin/BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Otaka, BBC Proms

Big success for the Canadian soloist, who was very inspired in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Lortie’s playing has presence and authority, and that natural rubato which is the essence of jazz.
Gershwin/Strasbourg Philharmonic/Colomer

Lortie’s playing is shaping into one of the finest and most individual accounts of these perennially fascinating pieces. He is evidently a major Beethovenian and one to be reckoned with.
Wigmore Hall (London), Beethoven cycle (Classic CD)

His opening recital at the Wigmore last Friday put him straight up there among the Gods.
Wigmore Hall (London), Beethoven cycle (Independent)

Lortie’s playing of Chopin has that unfathomable poetic quality which is a hallmark of exceptional artistry.
Chopin recital, Daily Telegraph

For sheer intelligence, subtlety and technical command he has few peers; for the unique demands of bravura, delicate colouring and seriousness which the music of Chopin places on the pianist I think he now has none…
Chopin recital, Daily Telegraph

In terms of sheer colour, Lortie’s playing of the Etudes harks back to the golden days of Cortot at his peak, surpassing Ashkenazy, Pollini, Perlemuter, even Backhaus… This is an A1 class act which can hold its own against all comers.
Chopin Etudes/Chandos (BBC Music Magazine)

"(They) gave us such a well-rounded and mature interpretation, that the public was gripped from start to finish…Astounding freedom.. passionate, almost wild vitality..and rhapsodic story-telling…The unanimity of expression and dynamic subtleties was noteworthy, and found its highpoint in the Brahms sonata… Perfection is too weak an expression for the magic in their playing."
Dresdener Festspiele, recital with cellist duo partner Jan Vogler