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“The energy in Cruchley’s performance was received very enthusiastically by both the audience as well as by conductor [Stefan Blunier], who spontaneously and very warmly embraced him at the end of the 3rd concerto. Cruchley’s playing was pithy, direct, clearly defined and very individual. In the 2nd movement, he demonstrated perhaps the most sophisticated sound-production of the evening, enticing delicate tendrils of sound from the keyboard, and a multitude of colours and nuances – phenomenal!”

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Guido Krawinkel, Musik Heute (Music Today) – http://www.musik-heute.de/

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“At the competition finale, the charismatic 29-year-old rendered Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with an astonishing range of nuances, charming the orchestra as well to achieve a satisfying collaborative effort. And something that those who heard only the finale didn’t know: “He plays Shostakovich like a Russian,” remarked a visiting colleague from classical broadcaster Radio Orpheus in Moscow.”

 

Deutsche Welle – http://www.dw.com/

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"Cruchley…laid out the architecture of the music so extraordinarily clearly, such that the musical discourse of each individual composer was highly intelligible. He delighted us with his unusual capacity for variety of sounds and colours, bringing the instrument to a full orchestral might when called for, all the while remaining clear and contoured… 

In Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata, both the Virtuoso and the Artist are perfectly in command, serving the music at every moment. When the music reduces itself to the bare minimum of textures, with few notes at the interpreter’s disposal, Cruchley plays so delicately, so suggestively, that only admiration remains..."

 

Roland Happersberger, Die Rheinpfalz

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