“Beautiful ensemble and balance. Passionate expression indeed, and rich sonorities and varied colors throughout.”

David Clampitt, Music Theorist and Violinist

“Played with love and with beautiful tone, Raphael and Madeleine! I enjoyed the performance. The piece is often played too heavy-handed, your gentle approach fits it better.”

Matthew Bengtson, Pianist and Composer

“Thank you, Madeleine, it is a very good performance, much appreciated!”

John Nadas, Musicologist

“Hi from Belgium — Fantastic, passionate, brilliant!”

James Sinclair, Conductor

“Rich and luscious—Schumann at his most Brahmsian. Bravissimi!”

Jonathan D. Bellman, Musicologist

“Bravi, Madeleine. Beautiful playing! Thanks for sharing!!”

Craig Sheppard, Pianist

“I warmly congratulate and thank Madeleine and Raphael for this wonderful recording. Their playing is a beautiful example of mature, clear, wise and sensitive musicianship. Their choice of pieces is, as always, perfect. The music of Franck is timeless and speaks to the human soul.”

Agnes Papp, Pianist

“Thank you for this wonderful music! The players seem to speak the same musical language, nice to hear the harmony between them without showing up. It is simple music. Thank you for sharing!”

János Kéry, Pianist

“Thank you for this beautiful performance! We are glad we were able to see it! Wonderful music — with great performers! Congratulations! We wish you further success!”

Mária Kéry, Professional Choir Director and Music Teacher

“Passionate music, passionate performance! Beautifully delivered with drive alternating with moments of utmost tenderness. A deeply felt and engaging musical journey exploring this pinnacle of romanticism. Bravo!”

Mario Igrec, The Juilliard School

“Amazing and beautiful — thanks for sharing.”

Diane Krause, Physician

“Never has Fauré’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major sounded so good! Two great musicians, Madeleine Forte on piano & Raphael Ryger on violin, complemented each other amazingly well. Together they provide a powerful yet sensitive rendition of one of Fauré’s most well known and popular chamber works. Kudos to both Madeleine and Raphael.”

Art Fleischmann, Music Lover

“What an awesome performance! A half hour of pure enchantment.”

Lee Croft, Professor of Russian at ASU, AZ

“The technique on the piano is extraordinary and the intonation on the violin is wonderful! Both of you are to be commended for staying committed to fine music with these recordings!”

Fred Rossomando, President of Grace Recording

“The duo Ryger-Forte is exceptional, their souls are in perfect communion to celebrate the mystery of Music. As an old musician, I feel moved to tears that such musicians still exist for the joy of us all.”

Marlene Giroux, retired concert pianist, from Nîmes, France

“Everything about this release—the program, the playing, and the superb recording—make this release a winner in all three categories … A top contender for the gold”

Jerry Dubins in Fanfare 2026 — Click to read the entire review

“Bravi tutti! Masterful performances of two masterpieces by fine musicians. Let us hope that this ensemble will continue to present such admirable offerings for many years to come!”

Nicholas Renouf, Yale University

“From more or less the other side of the world, Norway, I have been enjoying the Lillibridge Ensemble and their last video with Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata for piano and violin… true jewels in the world of music! This video is impressive right from the entertaining and excellent introduction by violinist Raphael Ryger to the last note. The members of the Lillibridge Ensemble are masters of their instruments as well as they are displaying catching temperament and joy! It is a great pleasure to recommend the Lillibridge Ensemble, offering an enriching experience at concerts and similar events.”

Liv Glaser — pianist, fortepianist, Professor Emerita at Norwegian State Academy of Music, Oslo

“Two of the great chamber works expertly performed with complete honesty and fidelity. The deep knowledge and experience of the players shine through every moment of these performances. Bravo!”

Wayne Petty, Musicologist, University of Michigan

“Congratulations! You work wonderfully together and play beautiful pieces. Have such concerts in the future, too!”

opgabor, YouTube viewer

“Thank you both for this ravishing interpretation of Debussy. Your artistry brings much pleasure.”

Paul Jacobs, Organist

“This is absolutely gorgeous, and you two play it with a kind of intimate familiarity with the idiom that would have made the composer smile. The three Debussy sonatas show the composer at his compositional best, and you both present a truly memorable violin sonata. Many thanks! What joyful listening.”

Jonathan Bellman, Musicologist

“Thank you, Madeleine, for this delicious performance of the Debussy sonata! I really have to tell you just how wonderfully and expertly you continue to play!! Of course, it helps to have such an able collaborator. You give us all great optimism in being an inspiring model of how to grow older!!”

John Nadas, Musicologist

“The Debussy Violin Sonata is one of the most magical pieces. I delighted in the fact that you can collaborate so beautifully with such a wonderful violinist and friend.”

Shari Rhoads, Conductor

“Your elegant and delicate Debussy performance is truly wonderful!”

Heejung Kang, Pianist

“What a great idea! Not many pianists can play this Etude so elegantly in the first place. But it’s even rarer to find one who can offer such entirely different visions of the music. Either performance, on its own, is exceptional; together, they provide a radically richer understanding of the score. Madeleine already evoked Proust by referring to the ‘biscuit’; but Proust was also fascinated by stereoscopes—and he would have really enjoyed this binocular experience. Thanks!!”

Peter Rabinowitz (on multiple versions of Liszt Étude)

“Dazzling performance of a diamond-brilliant Scarlatti gem. The clarity of the playing is breathtaking.”

Nicholas Renouf, Yale University

“Ms. Forte makes musical magic through it all, with bravura and sensitivity.”

Maury Yeston, American Composer, Lyricist and Music Theorist

“They say practice makes perfect, which explains why Madeleine Forte’s piano playing is superb! I much prefer pedals vs without. The modulation of the volume and tone adds a subtlety to the notes in all the right places. The multiple styles of each practice ‘session’ made for an enjoyable experience. Brava, Madeleine!”

Art Fleischmann

“Congratulations! I am thrilled! Thanks for sharing!”

Del Parkinson, Pianist

“Repeated notes are not always free on a piano but with Madeleine’s ‘French-fried’ elegant fingers and eagle-like concentration on crossing hands and sharing spicy thirds as well, we are served Liszt’s Arpeggio on a silver platter!”

Liv Glaser — pianist, fortepianist, Professor Emerita at Norwegian State Academy of Music, Oslo (on Liszt)

“Your tireless work ethic is enviable. There is a wide repertoire, every piece you perform with heart and soul, energetically and flawlessly. Looking forward to more pleasant, thought-provoking solo and chamber music performances!”

Sara Opposits, Pianist from Hungary

“I listened to the CD with admiration for the faultless virtuosity and refined spirit. Mme. Forte obviously has this music in her blood and, of course, in her wonderful fingers. She is at the same time a formidable virtuoso and a musician steeped in the culture of the music she plays.”

Martin Canin, Pianist
The Juilliard School

“At a time when national styles have all but dissolved into a generalized international goulash, Forte's gorgeous tone and sensuous line evoke classic French pianism…her Maurice Ravel holds its own against interpretations by many of her more celebrated peers, from the chaste simplicity of the Sonatine to the virtuosic ‘Gaspard de la Nuit,’ in which no prisoners are taken and no notes are dropped.”

The New Yorker

“This is a wonderful Ravel-recording! Madeleine Forte's technique is exceptional; so is her tone. The pianist is absolutely in command of her instrument. In Scarbo, this French pianist meets the clear but cruel demands of the quicksilver fingerwork in her sparkling interpretation. The delicacy of Jeux d'eau provides the emotional core of the reading. In Le gibet, the listener experiences an interpretation rich in inspiration and sensitivity. In Forte's excellent and seductive playing, her native music becomes architecture with passion.”

Kultur Speilet
Oslo, Norway

“…her tonal resources are impressive as she pours forth some ravishing playing…Gaspard de la Nuit is quite imposing in Mme. Forte's hands…Jeux d'eau sparkles and the Sonatine is appropriately fresh in this pianist's readings.”

American Record Guide

“[Madame Forte] is an extraordinary pianist, with virtuosic fingers. In this CD… virtuosity is always in the service of the music. In Alborada del gracioso, the difficult passages… are played brilliantly. And in the fortissimo sections the sound is always rich… These qualities are present in each piece included on the CD. I strongly recommend that you make this CD part of your collection of fine piano music.”

Clavier Magazine

“Here is a nicely packaged hit parade of Ravel's solo piano music, in vibrant, intensely affectionate renditions… Forte plays in a classic French manner, with great emphasis on texture and color, subdued dynamics, and a treble dominated tonal balance… a quicksilver approach… straightforward and intelligent playing… For those seeking a nice trove of basic Ravel piano music to drop into a collection, this Forte project fits the bill quite nicely.”

Fanfare

Ravel's Sonatine, Miroirs, Gaspard de la nuit (three of his most important piano works) and Pavane are impressively played by Madeleine Forte (CD4226).

TUROK'S CHOICE: The Insider's Review of New Classical Recordings

“I am now listening to the Chopin record, and enjoying it enormously. The Polonaise-Fantaisie is very beautiful, and the 1st Scherzo very exciting.”

Emanuel Ax, Pianist

“Forte offers outstanding accounts of Chopin's music…her command of the keyboard projects power, technical assurance, and sensibility, with phrases and passagework carefully laid out and executed. She plays the outer movements of the sonata with dynamic energy and sails through the Scherzo with ease.

“[In her performance of the Chopin Polonaise-Fantasie,] she balances lyricism and rhythmic conviction without overindulging in rubato…

“Forte's confident readings of the Scherzos deserve much praise. Each shows uncompromising stamina and clearly defined detail… Her control of articulation in the Scherzo #4 was crisp, and the expressivity throughout the Molto più lento section of the Scherzo was touching.”

Clavier Magazine

“To be a medium for Chopin's musical fantasy, imagination and visions, you have to be in possession of at least two important factors: an exceptional technique and a rich tone. Madeleine Forte is persuasive in that respect! Especially in Chopin's Four Scherzi the listener realizes how the character of the composition continuously predominates this pianist's playing. Discreet rubato, romantic atmosphere, rich tone, color, poetry, but also drama and violent temper are adequate words regarding Madeleine Forte's Chopin interpretation.”

Kultur Speilet
Oslo, Norway

“On my last day in New York I could listen to your CDs and I had a pleasurable time through them. Thank you very much for having sent them to me. I wish you always a wonderful success.”

Alicia de Larrocha, pianist
Barcelona, Spain

“This is Chopin playing, filled with drama and intensity. It is vivid and arresting playing by any standard.”

Martin Canin, Pianist
The Juilliard School, New York

“Madeleine Forte offers a generous Chopin disc. She is a polished artist. In a program that invites comparison with myriad others, she proves a technically-adept, interpretively-secure performer…”

Turok’s Choice, No. 121

“Madeleine Forte is in some ways a formidable pianist: she has a big technique and a big sound; she attacks all these pieces confidently, and she has a firm conception of each. Here and there her interpretations remind me of Arthur Rubinstein's: e.g., the beginning of Scherzo 1 and much of Scherzo 3.”

American Record Guide

“Reviewing her previous Connoisseur Society disc, a Ravel recital, Peter Burwasser mentions her ‘quicksilver approach’ and her ‘emphasis on texture and color, subdued dynamics, and a treble-dominated tonal balance.’ Well, she has taken a different approach on these large-scaled Chopin masterpieces. She plays with a large, full-bodied tone, with great power and even majesty. At the same time Forte is able to ‘transmit’ (a T.S. Eliot phrase) the quicksilver passages convincingly, with the beautifully realized legato on which Cortot insisted. The dancing Scherzo of the sonata is an example, and so is the impressively powerful and precisely played opening of the Scherzo in B minor. These robust performances are nonetheless nuanced, controlled, and unaffected. Beautifully recorded, they should be heard.”

Fanfare

“Madeleine Forte shows once again, as in her Ravel CD, that she is a master of French style. It is vital and exciting playing, and always with a keen awareness of Debussy's special world of sonority. I recommend it enthusiastically.”

Martin Canin
The Juilliard School

“The recording gives the impression of hearing an intimate performance in a living room as Forte evokes a beautiful sonority through strong technique… In ‘Reflets dans l’eau’ from Images, Book I, and ‘Cloches à travers les feuilles’ from Images, Book II, Forte brings out the different musical planes in expressive detail. The contours of the lines are clear and distinct as she creates orchestral colors with the piano… “Toccate” from Pour le piano shows a flexible approach to style. The performance is close to the Baroque toccata, with almost no pedal or ritardando. The music is clear, showing the link between Debussy and the music of the past.”

Clavier

“Madeleine Forte shows great mastery and ‘une élégance exceptionnelle’…[She] has achieved a Debussy-interpretation in which she brings to light a rare musicianship. This French pianist is in the capacity of seductive musical gifts…On the one hand, Madeleine Forte interprets her Debussy with light touch and delicacy; on the other hand, when the music requires it, chords and arpeggios are handled with vigour and strength.”

Kultur Speilet
Oslo, Norway

“If we agree that some of the acknowledged masters of the French School included Cortot, Saint-Saëns, Darré, and Robert and Gaby Casadesus, and that we should take their recordings, teachings, writings, and interviews seriously, then we can reasonably suggest that this school is founded upon clarity of texture, meticulous preparation, fastidious execution (yes, even Cortot during his prime), and a lean, attractive sonority. Judged by these standards and by the CD in front of me, Madeleine Forte is another master of the French School, and their equal. She plays Debussy in a manner that would do her old master Cortot proud, with a clear-eyed vigor, pearlescent tone, and attention to detail that does not belie the emotional content of the music but only makes it more coherent…

“Forte gives us the composer in his entirety—the elegance and the charm, but also the magnificent rhetoric, the revolutionary ideas, the harmonic and technical hurdles as clear and fresh as they were when Debussy walked home with bread under his arm for Emma Bardac and his little Chou-chou.

“Constant attention to the logical progression of the music is the most observable feature I’ve heard in Forte's Debussy. She clearly follows Cortot's dictum that any phrase in a composition should be viewed as a continuing musical dialectic, and should function within time as part of the continuity. Her Debussy isn’t a walk through a terrain whose only features lie in proximity to their ostensible dramatic goals. There are no throwaway passages, either interpretatively or technically, in Forte's work. Everything contributes to the effect of the whole.

“It’s also clear from her playing that Madeleine Forte has the chops to perform just about as fast as she wants, but she doesn’t, sacrificing velocity for clearly articulated passagework. This is nowhere more apparent than in the Toccata from Pour le piano, which under Forte's ministrations (and thanks to her spare pedaling) emerges with a level of harmonic and figurative detail that it all too often lacks in the care of performers who wish to impress. Well, Forte impresses too, just not in the same way…

“The piano sound on this release is strong, forward, and natural…Liner notes were provided by Allen Forte, the pianist's husband and Battell Professor of Music, Emeritus, at Yale University. They are excellent of their kind, in which a thematic analysis is presented of each piece…

“I’m quite pleased with this release. It’s my first exposure to Madeleine Forte's fine musicianship, and, if her Debussy is at all typical, I look forward to hearing many more releases of hers in the future.”

Fanfare

“On this well-conceived disc, musicologist Allen Forte (Battell Professor of Music, Emeritus, at Yale University) discusses Messiaen’s piano music, focusing on two cycles: the Préludes of 1929 and Vingt Regards sur L’Enfant-Jésus of 1944. His wife, the accomplished pianist Madeleine Forte, plays five of the former and six of the latter…Madeleine Forte's demonstrations are crisply delineated…highly suitable to this more pedagogical context. Allen Forte provides context and detailed explications of the specific pieces, his tracks sensibly alternating with his wife’s…Highly recommended to all aficionados of French culture, the piano, or 20th century music.”

CDNOW

“Once again Madeleine Forte gives us a product of wonderful piano music. Messiaen’s music is above all increasingly peculiar and hard to play, especially with respect to its rhythm. The manipulation of psychological time and the control of phrasing are only two of the many fascinating aspects of the music of Olivier Messiaen. Forte’s superiority regarding rhythmic finesse is persuasive in this music. In addition to the composer’s rhythmic manipulations and great demands of timbre, dynamics and attack types, the poetic atmosphere and mystery is of utmost importance to Messiaen. It is a great pleasure to tell that Madeleine Forte fulfills every expectation. In addition to her impressive and intelligent interpretation, this CD is a highly interesting project: The informative commentary of professor Allen Forte contributes to a pedagogic introduction to the music of Olivier Messiaen!”

Kultur Speilet
Oslo, Norway

“Madeleine Forte’s performances are limpid and attractive, and the recorded sound clear. She plays her Messiaen evidently with the knowledge or intuition that the composer derived much of his style of piano-writing from Chopin.”

Fanfare

“The release is thoughtfully prepared and expertly realized…with spoken comments interlaced so as to introduce each of the eleven recital pieces, six of them from the masterful VINGT REGARDS SUR L’ENFANT-JESUS. Allen Forte has prepared his material carefully and, although his bent is analytical, he astutely keeps his comments well within the grasp of any reasonably aware person who is likely to consider listening to a Messiaen lecture-recital in the first place. Stick with him and you’ll start to glimpse what makes Messiaen’s music tick. Listen to Madeleine Forte’s performances, and you’ll also hear what makes Messiaen’s music tick. Descended from classic French piano playing—Alfred Cortot was one of her teachers—she informs the music with pellucid tone and intellectual rigor.”

Chamber Music

“Pianist Madeleine Forte commands a formidable technique that well serves Messiaen’s polytextural sound world. In the six Vingt Regards selections, for instance, Forte balances the chordal pillars in the piano’s low register so that they support yet don’t overpower the composer’s more fanciful treble flourishes (the Noël movement’s middle section provides an exuberant case in point). Allen Forte’s perceptive and informative commentaries are… matched by his emotionally detached… delivery.”

ClassicsToday.com

“Madeleine Forte beautifully projects the style of the composer in the first prelude, ‘La colombe,’ and the melody in octaves in the middle register of the piano comes through clearly as she plays raindrop chords in the upper register… Forte’s control in bringing out each voice makes the various levels of sound dimensional.

The Vingt Regards de l’Enfant-Jésus uses specific themes to represent God, the Star, and the Holy Cross that often create abrupt shifts in the music. Forte unifies these elements with a rich sound that is never harsh, even for several loud chords and clusters.

Allen Forte gives helpful explanations to understand and appreciate the music… This CD would be a fine addition to collections of piano teachers and connoisseurs of modern piano music.”

Clavier

“You are a fine sensitive artist! I liked especially the Etudes and Nocturnes, but this does not mean that some of the preludes aren’t also beautifully played.”

Prof. Dr. Phil. Eva Badura-Skoda, Austria

“Recently in these pages, I reviewed Madeleine Forte’s lovely recording of the Chopin scherzos. Now she is back on another label, with an interesting recital recorded on an historic instrument, an 1881 Erard… I still applaud Forte’s playing, her rapid, clear finger-work, the naturalness and effectiveness of her phrasing. Her romantically inclined rubato, pauses as if on tiptoe, do not interfere with the flow of the music. Nor do they mask Chopin’s beautifully contrived formal qualities… Forte is a wonderful Chopin player. Her instrument takes some getting used to.”

Fanfare

“Madeleine Forte plays a wide assortment of Chopin on an Erard piano made in Paris in 1881 and now housed at Yale University… Ms. Forte tries to follow the composer’s own idea about rubato—keeping the left hand in more or less strict tempo while letting the right push ahead and catch up. The music… takes on a new freshness.”

dallasnews.com

“As with her previous all-Chopin recital, Madeleine Forte largely proves to be an insightful, idiomatic interpreter. She paints the Fourth Ballade in intimate rather than heroic colors… she totally nails the B-flat minor Prelude’s taxing patterns and beautifully characterizes the other five selections from Op. 28… Worth hearing.”

Classics Today

“It´s no exaggeration to say that Madeleine Forte´s recording helps to increase our knowledge and understanding of Chopin´s musical imagination and dreamlike landscape. The nocturnes and préludes are among Chopin´s most intimate works. Forte´s pianissimo, her singing rubato, and poetic interpretation are crucial components in this regard…Forte´s strong technique and her mature musical talent articulates the music´s varied atmospheres and moods in the most persuasive way…”

Kultur Speilet
Oslo, Norway

“Madeleine Forte is a technically well-equipped artist, with the imagination to marshal and subdue her considerable forces…Her readings sometimes reach the level of Alfred Cortot, one of her important teachers, and summon on occasion the ghost of Artur Rubinstein, as in her Grande Polonaise in A♭, Op.53.

“Forte’s CD offers a generous sampling of 16 tracks…The Erard’s flash of colors for unexpected notes from every range works best for the effervescent mazurkas, where artist and medium achieve perfect rapport…

“Paradoxically, it is in her courageous coping with a near-historical instrument that Forte demonstrates her arsenal and musical gifts. She should serve her Chopin on the modern grand that time’s winnowing way has brought us, and trust our ears and hearts to respond to the rich brew of sounds and designs that she can produce.”

Clavier

“It is illuminating in an entirely different way to hear Chopin’s music on a piano of his time, which the fine, scholarly French pianist has done on a charming, chiming 1881 Erard instrument.”

Los Angeles Times

“Madeleine Forte’s version [of the Ballade], recorded on an 1881 Erard, sounds unpretentiously natural.”

International Piano (UK)

“Those interested in French-school pianism will want to be aware of the latest recording by Madeleine Forte. As with her previous recordings, it is the control—both of mood and of the more earthbound issues of piano technique—that first strikes the listener… The Liszt pieces feature the most familiar elements of French pianism at its best: limpid vocal phrasing (aided by a real gift at delineating musical layers) and a fleet passaggio. What stood out most for me on the disc is, however, the brutally difficult fugue-finale of the Barber. Animated by the ideal semi-detached rhythmic liveliness that the best Bach pianists all share, the piece absolutely dances from beginning to end… In sum, to use the vernacular, she nails this movement as few pieces are ever nailed by anyone. The entire CD is very, very worth hearing.”

AMS-L (American Musicological Society email list)
Jonathan Bellman

“…Forte’s intelligence, taste, and lucid voicing seize the day. In the Barber and Beethoven, especially, it is refreshing to hear this kind of tasteful restraint in music that is frequently butchered by banging. There is nothing too fragile in Forte’s Barber and Beethoven, but she invites us inside the music in a way that more brusque performers do not imagine. Her Liszt is also smart and attractive, the Bartók sprightly and alert.

“There is no sense in comparing these performances to more famous versions. Forte approaches these pieces in a unique personal style that nevertheless honors the composers, and that is the appeal of this recital.”

Fanfare

“…these recordings, made in concerts a decade ago, show her formidable talent even in music far from the French tradition.

“What is most striking is her exceptional control of textures… Whether in the voicing of the theme in Beethoven’s second movement, or the delineation of the polyphony in the Allegro that launches the Barber, or the remarkable transparency of the thorny fugue that ends it, Forte’s fingers keep the competing strands from congealing in the thickest music.

“But there is far more here than clarity. Forte is a notable colorist, too fully alert to the shadings of the music, and (an even rarer skill) able to trace out the mood swings of the program…without turning either fussy or melodramatic…this recital can be warmly recommended.”

Fanfare

“These performances are really ‘put together’ in a firm, healthy way: she (Forte) doesn’t impose anything alien on the scores to make them conform to some idiosyncratic point of view, yet she does present them in a consistent way that makes each come across as ‘of a piece,’ and there is nothing haphazard in the details. I really like that. And, yes, the clarity is remarkable, testifying to deep technical mastery…this reading is so musical!”

James Keller

“…you get a cogent sense of pianist Madeleine Forte’s considerable dynamic range and, more importantly, her commanding virtuosity and impressive musicianship. She makes the daunting jumps and meaty chord sequences in the Barber Sonata first movement sound utterly easy, and her brisk, playfully shaded Allegro Vivace reminds me of Earl Wild’s similarly puckish reference account…

“Swing is the operative word concerning Forte's way with the Bartók Suite, and she pays heed to all the composer’s subtle cross-rhythmic effects and quirky accents without a trace of percussiveness…Forte’s Appassionata charts a fleet, headlong course…this is the best playing I’ve heard from Madeleine Forte on disc.”

Classics Today

“Samuel Barber’s sonata is one of his most modern sounding compositions. Its dissonance and rhythmic vitality cannot disguise the fact that he was a romantic at heart. Madeleine Forte is at her best in emphasizing this and achieves a poignant lyricism in the slow movement…Forte should not be ignored, and the modern sound is a definite improvement.

“Bartók’s suite…is very effectively handled by Forte’s agile fingers. The two Liszt pieces make a nice contrast…

“In the Beethoven sonata, Forte is traditional in approach and seems content to play the notes without over-interpreting. It is a refreshingly musical performance that becomes especially involving with an aggressive finale that raises the adrenalin level.

“Could I recommend this? Most definitely yes, particularly for the Barber and Bartók.”

American Record Guide

“Forte gives Beethoven’s Opus 57 a refreshing reading. She plays the first movement in an urbane way, not lacking in passion but likewise not slipping into brutality in the sudden fortissimo outbursts. The second movement is offered at a proud and aristocratic Andante tempo, not (as is common) in the character of a delicately murmured lullaby or hymn. The finale finds a refreshing independence of line, with ideas being brought into the foreground or background with respect to each other regardless of whether every sixteenth note between the hands lines up vertically. Maintaining the integrity of discrete musical thoughts is a hallmark of her recordings of French repertory, and so not surprising here…In sum: a great pleasure, slated for many listenings.”

The Beethoven Journal, Summer 2003

“…Forte and Parkinson prove a well-rehearsed team whose note attacks and rubatos are carefully synchronized, particularly in their sensitive and stylish performances of Debussy’s ‘En blanc et noir’ and Ravel’s ‘La Valse’…”

Classics Today
Jed Distler

“…There are a variety of infrequently heard pieces on the three-disc set, and the live performances (1988–92) are sparkling and vibrant…The treatment here is delightful; Saint-Saëns glories in a variety of textural possibilities, and the balances are clear and transparent throughout…Both in the little-known works and the masterpieces (Debussy’s ‘En blanc et noir’, Ravel’s ‘La valse’), the pianism is a joy, and the recording an attractive package of much music that is not as well known as it ought to be.”

American Musicological Society
Jonathan Bellman

“This is a tremendous trio of discs—life-affirming, virtuoso, exploratory performances of often-great music. The pairing of Madeleine Forte…and Del Parkinson is a formidable one…A good idea, too, to have a disc each for music from Spain, France, and Russia. The Forte/Parkinson partnership adjusts to each with chameleon-like ease…Ravel’s is the most excitingly performed, from the shimmering ‘Prélude à la nuit’ through the middle two dances to the heady, intoxicating ‘Feria.’…The Carmen Fantasy is the ideal close to the program proper, a pot-pourri of delight.

“…Debussy’s En blanc et noir…The Lent is marvelously atmospheric, the final Scherzando elusive as well as playful…Poulenc’s cleaner language (in his Concerto for Two Pianos) comes as something of a palette-cleanser (delicious articulation from both players here).

“…Rachmaninoff…Virtuosity is at its height here, but Forte and Parkinson marry this to a lyric impulse that equates the work firmly with the contemporaneous Second Concerto…Forte and Parkinson project the twilit world of the gondolier perfectly in the opening ‘Barcarole’; ‘A night for love,’ the second movement, is even more tender and sensual. There is a real Russian sadness to ‘Tears.’

…This is an important set, intelligently planned and programmed and with real repertoire interest.”

Fanfare, Jan/Feb 2007
Colin Clarke

“In looking at the package, there is a lot to like about this set. First it the rather extensive collection of duo-piano music. Many of these pieces are rarely encountered on disc…the French set has quite a bit of appeal. The opening Saint-Saëns set of variations holds great charm and affability…The Glière miniatures have a bright sound, and the Valse triste is especially enjoyable, with its rocking left hand and sombre mood…competent, engaging interpretations. This set has quite a bit of appeal for those who require creditable performances of a collection of duo-piano works without having to hunt a wide array of discs.”

Music Web International (U.K.)

“For sheer sweep and full sound, there is nothing quite like the torrent of music that can be generated by a duo-piano recital, unless it be a symphony orchestra, its only serious rival…A duo-piano recital on matched pairs of Steinways or Yamahas is an event to fill the far reaches of a concert hall with cascades of glorious sound, especially when you have artists such as MADELEINE FORTE and DEL PARKINSON. ‘A CELEBRATION OF DUO-PIANO MUSIC’ is a great way to get acquainted with this very attractive genre. The three-CD set offers a generous 217 minutes of great music.

“…The Ravel and Bizet works, long familiar to concertgoers, shine in the radiant settings and the scintillating performances heard here.”

New Classik Reviews — Atlanta Audio Society

“The piano duo of Madeleine Forte and Del Parkinson gave several finely-planned concerts from 1988–1992…crisply and musically played, they offer Spanish, French and Russian programs…”

Turok’s Choice, May 2007