Geoffrey Saba has performed in Great Britain since the 1970’s, when he made his London début and was awarded a bronze medal at the First Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. Regular touring takes him to North America, Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, India, Japan, South East Asia and his native Australia, and he has played at festivals in Australia, South East Asia and Britain. His large repertoire includes much rarely-performed music from the early part of the 20th century. He is regularly invited to take master classes during tours abroad, and when at home in London he enjoys teaching. Geoffrey’s best-selling recordings for Carlton Classics have achieved tremendous critical acclaim. They include performances of virtuoso Russian works, unusual and romantically flamboyant transcriptions, and a Schubert recital. His London concerts since 2001 are recorded and released by Carnegie Concerts and comprise repertoire from Bach to Bartok including the complete Debussy Preludes and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. His recent Mozart recording elicited these remarks from the reviewer in Limelight: “This is real classical playing of a kind rarely encountered now. Saba’s playing of Mozart’s great Rondo K511 can stand comparison with that of Artur Schnabel … one of his great strengths is his controlled rhythm throughout … his performances are refreshingly free from the personalized distortions that have crept into Mozart playing …”. Geoffrey Crankshaw wrote in Musical Opinion: “Geoffrey Saba is an artist of perception. What we have here is a Diabelli perfectly blending gravity and humour. In the Opus 126 Bagatelles he offers wit and brilliance and succeeds admirably. An excellent disc.” The International Franz Schubert Institute, Vienna has published his essay on a performer’s approach to playing Schubert’s unfinished piano sonatas in its facsimile edition of the C major Sonata D840 (Relique).
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