Reviews

Cordelia Williams’ inspiring piano recital at Emmanuel URC on Wednesday… the overall impression she gave in her recital was of elegance and charm rather than virtuosity. Of course technical prowess was there in abundance or she could never have tackled the works on her fiendishly difficult programme. But Cordelia’s mastery in this area is actually so great that it’s just not an issue.

Far more important is her obvious pleasure in playing which communicates itself instantly to her audience. Her technique is floaty and her approach lyrical, so much so that you simply can’t imagine her playing anything harsh or even unduly emphatic. Wedded to this is Cordelia’s transcending interest in the music she’s performing. Classical concertising can be overly formal and off-putting at times, so that it came as a breath of fresh air when Cordelia sat down at the piano and chatted conversationally about the three works on her programme.

The Cambridge Tab, April 2010

I cannot imagine a more perfect performance of the Liszt and Chopin – superb!

Antony Hopkins, July 2008

Cordelia Williams’ Wigmore lunchtime debut yesterday demonstrated fine tonal gradations, a gorgeous singing sound even when pianissimo, and unerring sense of phrase-shape – rare qualities in today’s barn-storming young pianists. But where necessary she could drive the music to an enormously exciting finish as she did in the finale of the Chopin B minor sonata. Her aural imagination must have been the young composer Hugh Brunt’s dream in his evocative Absentia and Sphere. The early Schubert A major sonata was played with spell-binding simplicity and natural understated eloquence in the slow movement. This was memorable playing in its limpidity and expressiveness.

Thisislondon.co.uk, September 2006

Grieg’s glorious Piano Concerto always steals the show, but this was an especially expressive, yet never under-powered performance from soloist, Cordelia Williams

whatsonsouthwest.co.uk, October 2009

In a programme encompassing sonatas by Mozart and Schubert, together with more romantic works of Chopin, Glinka and Rachmaninov, she showed remarkable empathy with these composers and always kept her astonishing technical ability subservient to the music with effortless ease. Judging by the exquisite rendering of three Chopin Mazurkas, her stated ambition to study this genre in depth is very understandable. In the highly competitive world of the concert pianist, hers is certainly a name to remember.

Surrey advertiser, October 2007

Ms. Williams played the Beethoven concerto with a refreshing compound of power, polish and wit. She demonstrated her technical skill and maturity in the first movement and produced a lyrical depth and ‘Innigkeit’ that belied her youth in the second. I have never before heard such a sparkling and witty performance of the finale.

Cambridgeshire Pride, June 2007

Cordelia’s stunning performance of Shostakovich’s Concerto no. 1 in C minor for Piano, Trumpet and Strings proved she really is an amazing talent. Seemingly possessing a lightness of touch one minute, to effusive passion the next, Shostakovich’s dynamic concerto was made to look effortless.

Salisbury Journal, January 2008

Schubert’s final sonata … a performance that balanced care and conviction. Ms. Williams proved herself a natural Schubertian, with a flowing, singing style. The Kiss of the Infant Jesus by French composer Messiaen had a unifying sense of mysticism in both birdsong and dissonance. You could almost smell the incense. In Liszt’s Danté Sonata, flair for shaping big romantic melodies was equalled by skill in balancing powerful chordal passages.

Portsmouth Evening News, January 2008