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"Your gift is so unusual, because you compose pieces that are light-hearted very well – a bit jazzy, whatever, with harmonies that are not often used – and yet you compose a symphony, that's very serious, and totally different, like a different composer, but as convincing as your short pieces. That's quite unusual...I enjoyed your symphony very much: a masterful piece, logical in the use of the material and very well orchestrated" VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY on Mark Isaacs
“The work of an artist capable of matching the rich elements of classical composition with the flowing rhythms of jazz . .the product of a splendid musical mind”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“I am delighted to endorse Mark Isaacs as one of the finest contemporary symphonists working in Australia.” PROFESSOR RHODERICK McNEILL Author: The Australian Symphony from Federation to 1960 (Ashgate/Routledge, 2014) & The Symphony in Australia 1960-2020 (Routledge, 2022)
"Isaacs, with every release, has refined his systematic approach to post-modernity jazz to the point that his sound defines what jazz should sound like at the advent of the 21st Century" C. Michael Bailey ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
"This wonderful cycle is highly inventive and inspiring, accessible to children and adults alike. Very enjoyable and touching!"
VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY on Mark Isaacs's solo piano cycle Children's Songs
"With each new [jazz] release Mark finds a new angle of addressing his prodigious talents...there is a sophisticated musicality at work that is special and rare...He is a serious musician looking to solve deep questions" PAT METHENY
"His scoring is highly sophisticated; he can use all the colours of a full orchestra as well as anyone.....resembling Richard Strauss at his most exuberant"
Dr NICHOLAS ROUTLEY Associate Professor of Music, University of Sydney
"Propelled by a winning combination of sharp rhythms and lyrical melodies"
NEW YORK TIMES
"The great modern Australian pianist/composer is no stranger to Moscow audiences....pure, crisp and vehement...I never thought that jazz was still so much alive" MOSCOW TRIBUNE
“Here were dialogues to restore the faith. As the world crumbles into vulgarity, vitriol and worse, one felt blessed – privileged, even – to hear solo performances by pianists of the calibre of Mark Isaacs" SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
"At heart, the work of a full-blooded romantic, though one with plenty of rhythmic vitality" GRAMOPHONE Magazine
"In many ways Mark Isaacs's personality could be compared with that of Leonard Bernstein - the same boundless energy, enthusiasm for a broad range of music, pianistic skills and passionate concern for the performance bring to mind similar impressions to those I received from the few occasions I was lucky enough to work with Maestro Bernstein"
JOHN HARDING Former Concertmaster & Associate Conductor, Sydney Symphony Orchestra
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