"The first contestant who listened to himself and the music."
"At last, the beauty of the piano and the music go together."
"He made us forget the limitations of the piano and that it was not necessarily to our taste....He also made us forget our own musical concerns...This is a magic trick."
"His age/training/experience have greatly paid off for him."
"The Bach was the best interpretation of a single work."
Quotes from Dr.Paul C. Pollei, Founder/Artistic Director of the Gina Bachauer Competition
After awhile, all of Chopin's music sounds alike. Except, of course, when it is in the hands of Cuong Hung Van. . .
Van's musical sensibility has the maturity to reshape the sometimes decadent and often effeminate aspects of Chopin's music into a three-dimensional portrait: richly textured, thoroughly masculine and completely engaging.
Its twirling melody and mad frenzy [of Chopin's Scherzo in B Flat Minor] were subtly nuanced, and the middle, daydream interlude was skillfully shaded.
. . . right hand presented one musical bouquet after another, all superbly executed.
. . ., the "Etudes" were served for dessert. The first [Opus 10 No.1 in C Major] took off like a rocket with liquid arpeggios in the right hand while the left hand danced with its fingers on fire.
. . . a very well-play concert.
Harold Duckett, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, TN
. . . Cuong Hung Van delivered a deeply felt, elegantly sustained reading of Beethoven's Sonata Op.27 No.2 "The Moonlight."
. . . a single, seamless utterance.
. . . with rapid, brilliant passage-work.
He displayed carefully developed musical ideas, which he projected with tightly focused concentration and impressive execution.
. . . distinguished by multicolored cascades of sound, translucent sections of stillness and supple, tastefully porportioned phrasing.
Jane Shaw , The Island Packet, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Cuong Hung Van puts his searching musicality to splendid use in all of his fare...[his] taste was impeccable; his command of musical elements complete.
Donald Rosenberg , The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
........
