Concert Reviews
Tschaikowsky Bb Piano Concerto (University of North Texas)
“When a young lady of 15 sits down at the keyboard and plays… as Ms. Nancy Lee did….the natural order of things cannot help but be somewhat displaced. In the first place, it is an unladylike concerto, secondly Ms. Lee is quite young, and thirdly she played it very well. None of this seems orderly to the mind. It is always unsettling to hear a young person perform standard virtuoso repertory with obvious technical facility and musicianship, but it is also encouraging to see such outstanding ability developing so early.” Denton Record Chronicle
Schumann Piano Works (Santa Fe)
“Harper played the original version of Schumann’s Etudes Symphoniques, Op. 13, a theme with 12 variations. It made quite a thrilling climax to this recital. Most of these variations are fast, with incessant rippling and rolling figures. Two years earlier, when he was 22, Schumann wrote his Toccata in C Major, Op. 7, which is an out and out perpetual motion show piece. Harper used this to begin the Schumann section. The clarity she achieved in these pieces was remarkable. There was no muddy rumbling. Between these two works came Romance in F-sharp minor, Op. 28, nº 2 from a set of three character pieces. Its beautiful melody, laid in the dark-timbered tenor range of the keyboard was made to sing ravishingly by Harper’s smoothest stroking.” John Robert, The New Mexican (Santa Fe)
Mozart Trio (Santa Fe)
“…Mozart’s evergreen Trio in C Major, K. 548 came like a burst of sunlight into a gloomy room….The work’s piano part is especially demanding, calling for high but not empty virtuosity and the ability to project rapid passages clearly and cleanly. Harper met these difficulties with élan. The complicated scale passages were generally crisp and even, and her cadential trills fluent and firm.” Craig Smith, The New Mexican
London Recitals
“….In the slow movement (Clementi Sonata in G minor, op. 34, nº 2) Nancy Lee Harper conveyed the elegant, Schubertian lyricism with gentle resonance, poetic plangent chromaticism, and a touching counterpoint in the codetta. The last movement, Molto Allegro, again exuded the romantic turbulence yet restrained within classical proportions. The main theme's bristling energy was brightly complemented by virtuoso scalic passages and there were overtones of the Appassionata in the second subject. Particularly impressive were the richly articulated imitative textures of this fizzing finale. Late romantic pianism ensued with Nancy Lee Harper's compelling performance of two pieces by Oscar da Silva (1870-1958)… The recital was crowned in pyrotechnical excitement with music by de Falla, whose work is the subject of two recent books by Nancy Lee Harper (Greenwood Press and Scarecrow Press). The Fantasía baetica, so-called after the Roman term for Spain, exploded in wild Iberian energy evoked in turn through brusque chordal textures, glistening glissandi and richly ornamented melodies enveloped in suitably guitar-like flamenco effects of repeated notes and cross hands passages. The swirling syncopations of the encore, de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, brought the recital to a splendid close, affirming the artistry of a pianist boldly attuned to the Iberian inspiration of a repertoire that well rewards the hearing.” Malcolm Miller, “Iberian Discovery” in Music & Vision, 7 October 2003.
“Nancy Lee Harper is an extraordinarily multi-talented American musician and scholar who works and lives in Portugal. An expert on Hispanic music, her recent book on Manual de Falla, is a landmark biography and study of the composer. Her visits to London are always well-received, and in her piano recitals, usually sprinkled with Portuguese works, she contrasts the familiar with less well known pieces.” Ray Picot, Music & Vision
“Especially compelling was the Balada (1903) by Jose Vianna da Motta, the best known Portuguese pianist-composer on account of his having been a Von Bülow pupil who also knew and studied with Liszt....The variation like design of the Balada recalled the idiom of Liszt, with similar bravura and rhetoric, yet the pianistic textures also look ahead to Rachmaninov….Nancy Lee Harper gave dramatic and virtuoso accounts of these works, then relaxed into the poetic impressionist character works of 20th century versions of Portuguese folk music.… The fascinating programme concluded with two Brazilian works, As Tres Marias by Heitor Villa-Lobos, remarkably original, with radiance in the high piano textures sustained over a sonorous bass melody, and glistening outer movements. The final work was the rhythmically exciting, ostinato impelled Jongo, Danza Negra from Lorenzo Fernandez's third Brazilian Suite. The concert offered a glimpse into a repertoire from which pianists, and listeners have much to benefit, and one looks forwards to more UK recitals by this enterprising pianist in the near future.” Malcolm Miller, “An American in Portugal”, Ensemble, 5 August 2002 www.mvdaily.com
Portuguese Recital
“Nancy Lee Harper Deslumbrou….protagonizou, no dia 9 de Junho, em Sernancelhe, um dos melhores recitais de piano do ciclo de concertos Musicarte.”
“Nancy Lee Harper Dazzles…is centre-stage on 9 June in Sernancelhe in one of the best piano recitals in Musicarte’s concert series.”