South China Morning Post
December 20, 1996
(Review Excerpt)
"At the age of 18, Wendy Law has won practically every cello prize in the book, from the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition to the Harvard Achievement Award. She has played cello with Yo-Yo Ma, has her own string quartet, and performs with some of the world's great orchestras.
Judging from Ms. Law's recital last week, she inevitable is going to rise up to that rare pantheon of great cellists. It was a challenging recital, at times a thrilling one. But at all points, Ms. Law was in dashing control of her instrument.
[The] Prokofiev Sonata showed an honest technical mastery which opened gravity and eloquence. The naïve second movement tune was played with gracious simplicity…the promise of the first half reached an apotheosis of kinds with the marvelous Hindemith 1922 Sonata for Solo Cello. Unlike the later rather austere Hindemith, this piece is interesting, accessible, and in its Bach-like toccata, a fascinating experiment in tone and structure.
Ms. Law played the piece as if born to its complexities. Never straining for effect, she let the music's terse fluency speak for itself. As if playing a Bach cello suite, she allowed the short dancing movements to speak for themselves. She did not have to emphasize the folkish second movement or the toccata-like finale. The cello did the work.
Predictable accomplished accompanist Nancy Loo was easily Ms. Law's equal in the two 19th-century works, by Schumann and Chopin. And in the Ravel encore, Ms. Law showed a sensitivity almost unheard of for such a splendid young artist."
-Harry Rolnick
December 20, 1996
(Review Excerpt)
"Great Cello Talent in the making"
"At the age of 18, Wendy Law has won practically every cello prize in the book, from the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition to the Harvard Achievement Award. She has played cello with Yo-Yo Ma, has her own string quartet, and performs with some of the world's great orchestras.
Judging from Ms. Law's recital last week, she inevitable is going to rise up to that rare pantheon of great cellists. It was a challenging recital, at times a thrilling one. But at all points, Ms. Law was in dashing control of her instrument.
[The] Prokofiev Sonata showed an honest technical mastery which opened gravity and eloquence. The naïve second movement tune was played with gracious simplicity…the promise of the first half reached an apotheosis of kinds with the marvelous Hindemith 1922 Sonata for Solo Cello. Unlike the later rather austere Hindemith, this piece is interesting, accessible, and in its Bach-like toccata, a fascinating experiment in tone and structure.
Ms. Law played the piece as if born to its complexities. Never straining for effect, she let the music's terse fluency speak for itself. As if playing a Bach cello suite, she allowed the short dancing movements to speak for themselves. She did not have to emphasize the folkish second movement or the toccata-like finale. The cello did the work.
Predictable accomplished accompanist Nancy Loo was easily Ms. Law's equal in the two 19th-century works, by Schumann and Chopin. And in the Ravel encore, Ms. Law showed a sensitivity almost unheard of for such a splendid young artist."
-Harry Rolnick