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Elizabeth Rich has been called “a poet” (Berlin; Die Welt) “an incontestable discovery” (Amsterdam; De Telegraf) and “and artist of importance and integrity” (Boston Globe). A scholarship student at Juilliard from childhood, she was an early competition winner. Less typical was her training with the late Ernst Oster in applying Schenkerian analysis to performance. “She has a reputation for uncompromising integrity… spontaneity as a function of disciplined study” said a 2011 review (American Record Guide). Her two Beethoven series, her Brahms and Schumann programs, and her complete cycles of Mozart Piano Sonatas have been career highlights. Of the New York performance of the last, Faubion Bowers wrote in Musical America, “A triumph… Never had Mozart sounded more profound, more complex or more pertinent to the present.” Ms. Rich has appeared in most of Europe’s capitals in recital and as soloist, opening the “Mozart Days in Prague Festival” in Dvorak Hall and playing the first English performance of the Clara Schumann Concerto in Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; she has been Artist-of-the-Week on Israeli Radio.
Her recordings have been acclaimed. Of a disc of the Clara Schumann and Weber Concerti (Centaur Records), Fanfare wrote “Evident mastery, both technical and interpretive. These may be the most persuasive advocacies the Weber Concertos have ever enjoyed. I was dazzled…” Reviewing “Haydn and C.P.E. Bach” (Connoisseur Society) the American Record Guide said “Magical aura… Ms. Rich is a magnificent Haydn player. Such vital, affectionate and knowing readings of this music are rare. A treasurable release.” And Schumann’s “Carnaval and Novelletten” received “Five Stars – A meeting of two kindred spirits: a quintessentially romantic composer and an equally romantic player at their best…” (Classical Pulse) Deep recognition has greeted the five CDs of Mozart’s Complete Piano Sonatas: “A revelation… a major contribution” (Audiophile Auditions). Russel Lichter wrote in Stereo Times “Elizabeth Rich has fathomed these sonatas. Amazing musicianship, coherency… Absolute emotional certainty, intelligence, truth… that quality of inevitability.” And of a CD of 2 Mozart Piano Concerti, American Record Guide wrote “She seems born to play this music.”
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Elizabeth died in 2019, but her music lives on and she lives on in her music. Prior to her death, she had been preparing Beethoven’s Op. 111 and Schubert’s D.960—the composers’ last piano sonatas.