Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
November 9, 2004
"Formidable fireworks. Ulrich Roman Murtfeld plays."
“Ulrich Roman Murtfeld…presented a richly differentiated program made up entirely of French composers, understandably including two nocturnes and a polonaise by Chopin. The playful beginning with Francis Poulenc’s ‘Mouvements perpétuels’ and ‘Promendades’, with their elementary pleasure in diatonic motorism, gave clear proof of the pianist's precise knowledge of our westerly neighbour's stylistics. Modern music ‘outre Rhin’ has a very different character, as Murtfeld demonstrated with ‘Choral et variations’ from the Sonata of 1947 by Henri Dutilleux. Resolute élan made audible the Choral’s thematic link to the incessant variations, without the presentation's virtuosity suffering in any way.
Harsher tones were struck by the companion Maurice Ohana in the group of Préludes of 1973, characterized by clusters and bitter discords. Murtfeld was entirely in his element in the group from the second volume of Debussy’s Préludes. They flowed with confident direction into a veritably inspiring and brilliant show of fireworks. Clarity of presentation and a feeling for the architecture of the compositions were lasting qualities throughout the evening. Much applause.”