David Tanenbaum: Performance Reviews
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"A master of the instrument. Mr. Tanenbaum played so musically and so expressively that the listener was led directly to the essence of each composer."
Allen Hughes, The New York Times
"Refined, aristocratic music-making."
Andrew Porter, The New Yorker
"O Tanenbaum-Marvelous! All the grace, refinement, intelligence of a master."
Richard Pontzious, San Francisco Examiner,
"Tanenbaum is a musician of the highest quality."
Gregg Wager, The Los Angeles Times
"Tanenbaum exhibited brisk fingering and keen musicality as he played and played with the effervescent solo part."
Andrew Druckenbrod, St. Paul Pioneer Press
"David Tanenbaum is one of the most important figures in American classical guitar, a world-class player."
Jim Ferguson, Guitar Player
"The pinnacle of flawless playing."
Paul Druey, Geneva Tribune
"Supremely delicate, fine-toned and selfless."
The London Times
"Brilliant technique. His fluency and nuance resulted in masterly interpretations."
Jim Koop,The Atlanta Journal
"America's foremost classical guitarist."
Stephanie Von Buchau,Oakland Tribune
"If you don't believe that we are living in a golden age of guitar music, listen to David Tanenbaum."
Joseph Mclellan, Washington Post
"A recital to challenge state-of-the-art standards anywhere. Tanenbaum is the complete artist, way ahead of the pack. His skill and musicianship are such that the instrument becomes almost irrelevant."
Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle
"Aristocratic, wonderfully vivid, eloquent and technically accomplished."
Andrew Porter, The New Yorker
"Tanenbaum's brilliant playing, a combination of lace and velvet, marked him as a major artist."
Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner
"The first few minutes of David Tanenbaum's recital warned the listener of the ensuing dilemma of wanting to concentrate on the performer's impeccable guitar playing while attention was constantly diverted to focus on his incredible powers of musical interpretation. It seems that Tanenbaum must have long ago conquered the task of playing the guitar and now spends his time locating and learning repertoire that speaks to him."
Sue Taylor, St Louis Post-Dispatch
"Superb."
Seattle Times
"A memorable event."
Los Angeles Times
"Tanenbaum is one of the finest guitarists and musicians of our time."
Scott Cmiel, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
"One of the nation's outstanding young guitarists."
Phil Hunt, The Oregonian
"Tanenbaum is one of the world's finest guitarists."
Alison Bert, Guitar Review
"Tanenbaum is simply one of the best guitarists around."
Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar magazine
"A truly passionate performance...a vibrancy and power which touches the heart."
Mary Guthrie, Guitar Review
"Tanenbaum is one of the most exciting musicians to emerge from the Bay Area in recent years"
Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner
"One of the rare, highly distinguished masters of the classical guitar."
Stefan Shickhaus, Frankfurter Rundschau
"To call him a master of the instrument seems like faint praise -- he's among the finest musicians on any instrument you'll ever hear, one of those rare players whose technical and interpretive skills are both of the highest order. "
James McGuillen, The Portland Oregonian,
"Magical playing"
Main Echo (Germany)
"Recital of the year -1987"
Paul Hertelendy, San Jose Mercury News
"Tanenbaum exquisitely created an intimate atmosphere..Versatility of expression and sonorous brilliance characterized the well-balanced interpretations, which had remarkable clarity"
Frankfurter Neue Presse
"Tanenbaum's obvious excellence as a musician makes his choice of instrument nearly irrelevant...dazzling technique and musicality."
David Surkamp, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Guitarist David Tanenbaum attended to Rodrigo's concerto with the assurance and passion of one who has known the piece intimately, but is still in love."
Josef Woodard, Los Angeles Times
"Tanenbaum has shown himself to be a consummate artist...in complete control of the instrument. I would not be surprised if, in the coming years, he achieves international prominence-beyond that which is already his."
Michael J. Carroll, The Sante Fe Reporter
"One of America's outstanding exponents of his instrument."
Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner
"David Tanenbaum gave a recital that brilliantly demonstrated the range of music for guitar and his mastery of it...He invariably finds the grand line of whatever he is playing so the music seems to flow artlessly from his fingers...He is also a master of his instrument, capable of realizing instrumental colors that elude many of his peers and playing with remarkable digital accuracy."
Richard Simon, Sacramento Union
"David Tanenbaum is one of the finest guitar players in the world today...David Tanenbaum is to guitar playing what the Taj Mahal is to architecture. His playing is the ultimate proof that technical skill can become so near perfection that it becomes obscured by the sheer beauty of the music that is being produced."
Carl Metze,KXJZ radio, Sacramento
"...a remarkably moving performance of Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez"...Tanenbaum was impressive from start to finish. Every phrase held meaning. One sensed that his speed and agility sprang from some very relaxed and peaceful source."
Paul Christopulos, Santa Rosa Press Democrat
"David Tanenbaum was the featured soloist in Rodrigo's 'Concierto de Aranjuez'.He and (conductor) Falleta breathed new life into this concert standard...Tanenbaum's solo was filled with sincere, heartfelt emotion."
Judy Davidson, Long Beach Press-Telegram
"(Tanenbaum) enthralled a hushed crowd with his imaginative sense of programming and his gentle way with the instrument...All was delivered with polish, precision and poise...Tanenbaum easily won over the crowd."
Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News
"Tanenbaum lavished attention on each nuance of a phrase, yet still made lines sing and flow. He gave happy lie to the idea that the guitar, like the piano, is a percussion instrument. Counterpoint seemed to delight, not tax, him."
Peter Mose, Toronto Star
"The easy standout on this occasion was 'Electric Counterpoint', a rare and joyful exercise in almost lyric whimsy. Guitarist David Tanenbaum played with eager, caressive elan and pinpoint accuracy, imposing a surprising feeling of spontaneity on the prerecorded accompaniment."
John Heinken, Los Angeles Times
"Tanenbaum's bewitching reading was tenderness itself. Reflective, inward, and extrovert by turn, the guitarist deployed subtle pianissimi and elucidated arpeggiated passages like strings of pearls."
Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner
"Tanenbaum's recitals (have) such a confident and lively appeal...Tanenbaum's performance was deft, making each delicate point one by one... Tanenbaum's superior impulse for the dance came into full play"
Marilyn Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle
""His sound, for instance, was rich, full and nuanced...Mr. Tanenbaum also played with color and shape"
Allan Kozinn, New York Times
"One of the brightest of the young guitarists. He has built a distinctive reputation...The guitar is gaining respect as a concert instrument, largely because players with Tanenbaum's skill and good sense are encouraging new works."
Alan Rich, Los Angeles Herald examiner
"One of America's most esteemed and talented guitarists...Tanenbaum worked his magic on the entire repertoire, getting at the heart of each piece and resonating them to perfection...His interpretations invariably fulfilled all dimensions of the music's expressive powers, with technique subservient to concept, and concept targeted accurately upon essence."
Phil Collins, Santa Cruz Sentinel
"A brilliant master of the guitar...a seasoned performer in marvelous control of his instrument, playing with extraordinary sensitivity and elegance."
Monterery Peninsula Tribune
"Incredible"
Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle
"Genuine musical insight and refinement...intense lyricism...poise and delicacy...Mr. Tanenbaum proved to be master."
New York Times
"Beautiful guitar playing"
Chicago Daily News
"Electrified a capacity audience with an astonishing New York debut recital...brilliant throughout"
New York City News
"His guitar sang above the Russian orchestra, filling the hall and the stage with the glorious sound of the classical composer's work. If Vivaldi were alive, he would surely have embraced the man."
'Nyet' by Thomas Gambino (Prentice-Hall)
"David Tanenbaum dazzled the audience with a well-rounded program of music...Tanenbaum proved his guitar mastery by displaying dazzling virtuosic technique...a well-deserved standing ovation."
Gary Fiazza, The St. Augustine Record
"Tanenbaum opened with a sparkling rendition of Malcolm Arnold's Concerto and followed with a brilliant reading of a new and fascinating work for 'concertante guitar and 15 instruments', An Eine Aolsharfe, by Hans Werner Henze."
Stephen Aron, Soundboard Magazine
"Though still young, Tanenbaum is a master of his instrument. The vividness of his playing seems to bring the guitar to life-he speaks so directly through it one nearly expects it to move as freely as if it were another of his limbs, yet it is static and wooden in his arms. That the player draws such beautiful, organic music from an inanimate instrument seems a miraculous feat when it occurs at this level of virtuosity."
Don Adair, The Spokesman Review and Spokane Chronicle
"His playing is informed by a sensitivity that surpasses that which you often hear on the international concert trail...Particularly appealing about Tanenbaum is his consistency in putting artistry before virtuosity...(He) has assimilated the Segovia reserve, the subtle sense of dynamics and a profound feeling for moods. And he does it with such technical command that he might as well be playing the keyboard; no fingering pauses, no finger-slide sounds, no notes too loud because they are hard to get to...His Scarlatti lived. It flew. It soared...The Giuliani brought down the house."
Paul Hertelendy, San Jose Mercury News
"David Tanenbaum is an ambitious, gifted and disciplined performer. His playing has that rare combination of personal statement, virtuosity and utter lack of self-indulgence; he is a sensitive and honest musician."
Charles Shere, Oakland Tribune
"Consummate mastery."
Berkeley Gazette
"Tired terms of glory don't measure up to Tanenbaum's living greatness; in witnessing his musicmaking one really experiences something special, something beyond virtuosity...Tanenbaum could have been answering encores until dawn...Regardless of what kind of music you're into, Tanenbaum's mastery, his befriending stage presence, his provocative programming will win you over."
Phil Collins, Santa Cruz Sentinel
"The musician seemed divinely inspired...Tanenbaum roams the fingerboard, effortlessly., executing complex chord and position shifts without hesitation...Tanenbaum cradled the guitar like a lover, caressing the silken wood of the neck, and drawing from the nylon and steel strings sounds of tenderness and passion."
Rusty Marks, Charleston, West Virginia
"Classical guitarist David Tanenbaum delighted a full-house audience with a highly varied program...Graceful, lyrical and technically brilliant"
Laurence Perkins, The Penn
"Another piece of superb musicianship came from the young American guitarist David Tanenbaum, whose flowing and seemingly spontaneous performance of the second Bach Cello Suite I shall long remember. "
Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine
"...an abundance of talent. He had a fine ear for nuance and tone color, and possessed a strict rhythmic sense that accommodated flexible phrasing when needed. His finger technique wasn't too shabby either, allowing him the freedom to be expressive even in the thorniest passages."
David Stabler, The Oregonian
"Tanenbaum, to whom the (Henze) work is dedicated, played with a delicacy of nuance and tonal resource that conveyed the spare textures and pointillistic statements beautifully. He is an artist of elegance and refinement, who draws an enormous variety of sounds from his instrument."
Donald Rosenberg, Akron Beacon Journal
"Music making of the highest order..unsurpassable intimacy. The guitar literally sang...When Tanenbaum comes around, don't his him for his talent, his musicality and his flawless playing."
Boris Nelson, Toledo Blade
"Guitarist David Tanenbaum...really did Kernis's piece justice with his elegant phrasing , speedy runs, and immaculately clean shifts."
Robert Jordan, The Goergia Straight, Vancouver
"The Bay Area guitarist David Tanenbaum furnished a high point with four pieces by as many composers. Each was played with strength and exquisite subtlety...brilliantly played."
William Glackin, The Sacramento Bee
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