“The young American pianist, Ann Schein, who is visiting us under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of State Cultural Presentations program offered some very attractive Beethoven and Chopin playing in her debut recital at the Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall last Tuesday. The dominant qualities of her performance were a supple, brilliant technique, clarity of tone, and sustained emotional power to characterize each work on her program. In Beethoven’s Opus 81a Sonata…the structural factions are difficult to hold together, and she manifested admirable penetration, especially in the slow movement… In the Chopin Preludes, the playing throughout was finely controlled…the poetic ones were treated with delicacy and imagination… Schein’s program contained virtuoso works of Rachmaninoff and Liszt. These offered a brilliant display of finger dexterity, but behind all the piano wizardry, one also found sound musical taste.”

“The American pianist, Ann Schein, has a distinct style of her own – her music emerges with great power and stands clearly with every corner and crevice illuminated by a bright light.”

“With her extraordinarily refined technique, youthful power and musically fully realized design,… Everyone can hear her deep interpretation of the music, so much so that she seems to become part of a living and vast musical entity. One of her triumphant achievements was (her performance of) the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto. Totally interwoven with the orchestra, her voluminous and fantastic playing through all the movements proved that she is one who is equipped with everything a pianist should be… this performance will be remembered for years and years. Without a doubt, Ann Schein…will be one of those gigantic legendary world pianists.”

“Ann Schein, brilliant young pianistic star in the Hurok management firmament, made her Seoul debut this week. Miss Schein revealed a precocity of accomplishments which left no doubt that she has more going for her than her youthful good looks… That she is a piano technician in the grand tradition was apparent in the fireworks of her closing group of Rachmaninoff and Liszt. Here, too, innate musical taste was uppermost, as Miss Schein shaded her tone from a rich autumnal depth approximating that achieved by Rachmaninoff himself to the alternating steely and feathery touch appropriate to Liszt’s bravura style… Perhaps the most striking factor in Ann Schein’s recital was her strong sensitivity to and projection of the differences in each composer’s style and approach. From Beethoven through the romantics to conservative modern (Five Pieces of Peter Mennin), each piece had its individual color and internal frame of reference. Not even some of our revered pianistic elder statesmen are able to catch these elusive differences as well as Miss Schein does now, at the outset of a career that may well place her with the very greatest.”

“American pianist, Ann Schein, proved to be an unusual and fascinating musician. (Her) playing gave me enormous pleasure… she performed the Beethoven 4th Concerto with a special lightness and lyricism. Even the first movement cadenza… seemed like anything but a technical display; it took on a mysterious, far away beauty. An extraordinary mastery of tone made possible the most ethereal pianissimo effects. The principal theme of the last movement was done with inexpressible gaiety and grace. The Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto which followed (what a feat of strength!) showed what had already been hinted at in the Beethoven, namely that if Miss Schein plays delicately, it’s not for want of a powerful technique. While giving this extroverted music a welcome touch of gentleness, she did full justice to brilliant virtuosity.”

Sydney, Australia, ABC Sydney Orchestra, Stanford Robinson, conductor
Beethoven Concerto No. 4 in G major
Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 in d minor