Narratives in motion: George Li at Caramoor

George Li

By Edward Sava-Segal, 20 July 2025

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“a kind of inner flux, an ebb and flow closer to thought than to drama”

Reviewed at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Music Room, Katonah on 19 July 2025

Schumann, Arabeske in C major, Op.18

Ravel, Valses nobles et sentimentales

Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition

Sgambati, Mélodie (transcribed from Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice)

George Li, Piano

A musical trip with Matthias Pintscher and the Kansas City Symphony

Hilary Stroh, 4th March

Matthias Pintscher revels in Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, once described as a “bath of ice, cocaine and rainbows”, while George Li plays Ravel.

*****

Marked by Schumann’s shadow: George Li at Zankel Hall

Edward Sava-Segal, 9th December

George Li brings forward unexpected connections in masterly interpretations of works by Ravel and Stravinsky.

****1

George Li is a class act at the Tsinandali Festival

James Imam, 9th September

Chinese American Li, once another purveyor of typically scorching performances, is better known these days for his sensitivity and nuance.

****1

Michael Tilson Thomas Makes His Montreal Debut

Ian Cochrane, 23rd May

Michael Tilson Thomas had a spectacular debut with Montreal's Orchestre Symphonique. George Li's performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 was breath-taking.

*****

A blaze of brassy glory in Vasily Petrenko's Walton 1

Chris Garlick, 27th March

Walton’s First Symphony from 1935 rounded off the evening in a blaze of brassy glory. Petrenko approached the work in a full-blooded fashion, which didn’t always hit the mark, but was ultimately thrilling.

****1

Petrenko’s Brahms reaches Alpine summits on the Mersey

Leighton Jones, 18th October

On reaching the second instalment of his Brahms cycle, Vasily Petrenko brings a fresh breath of alpine air to Liverpool, while George Li impresses in Rachmaninov’s ever popular Second Piano Concerto.

****1

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Edward Sava-Segal

Edward has been living in New York for the last 25 years, one of the reasons being the extraordinarily rich cultural life in this city. He has studied piano and classical music in his early years. He switched later on to computer science and data architecture but he kept an unwavering interest in following the classical music phenomenon here in New York and in his travels. Edward occasionally reviews fine arts events for the most prestigious literary magazine in Romania, his home country.