The Composer-Pianists

By ELLIOT RAVETZ

Hamelin is a throwback to golden age piano virtuosos--wizards like Ignaz Friedman, Josef Hofmann and Leopold Godowsky--whose keyboard pyrotechnics lit up concert halls during the first 40 years of this century. He is fascinated by the piano's expressive range, its ability to produce almost orchestral varieties of sounds and colors, seemingly bound only by the performer's own limitations. These varied works--by Rachmaninoff, Alkan, Busoni, Godowsky and others--are wickedly difficult, yet Hamelin plays them, often at dazzling speeds, with color, power, a long line and unfailing elan. He also performs three of his own witty, equally difficult etudes inspired by Chopin and Rossini.

--By Elliot Ravetz