REVIEWS
GRAMOPHONE
July 2024
"... with Lee also expertly drawing out its Brahmsian flavour... All in all, the two discs make for a consistently high-quality and thoroughly enjoyable set."
GRAMOPHONE
December 2020
"Music such as this needs to be performed with due regard to its textural clarity and expressive poise, which it receives in abundance from Hyejin Chung and Warren Lee – the attentiveness of their music-making well served by the admirably lucid sound. Qualities, indeed, that will doubtless be equally in evidence on the follow-up release of Fuch’s subsequent three sonatas."
GRAMOPHONE
January 2020
"Warren Lee is a young Hong Kong-based pianist who talks engagingly... about the composer's transcription of the complete Prometheus score..."
BBC MUSIC
December 2019
"This piano version of The Creatures of Prometheus... is enjoyable enough in the capable hands of Warren Lee."
December 2018
"The piano soloist for the Choral Fantasy was Warren Lee, whom this reviewer heard just this spring in an excellent program at Weill Hall devoted largely to Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Lee struck one then as a highly thoughtful musician, and his performance in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy simply reinforced one’s original impression. The Choral Fantasy opens with an extended piano solo, and despite its improvisatory nature, it is deceptively difficult and quite exposed. Each detail must be “just so” as the other musicians onstage, chorus, orchestra, and soloists, wait with bated breath. Mr. Lee handled all of its challenges superbly, with precision and a robust sound in the leaping chords and octaves, fine articulation in the tricky left-hand passages, convincing phrasing in the cantabile moments, and clear projection even at pianissimo levels. As the piece progressed, Mr. Lee showed a keen awareness of the orchestral whole (occasionally seeming almost to conduct), and he effected the changes of tempo and character to its “Turkish” section with convincing drive and energy. His collaboration with excellent conductor Jonathan Griffith was strong."
MUSIC AND AUDIOPHILE 音樂與音響
June 2018
終章《保衛黃河》李偉安的琴音，在教堂的拱型空間響起，彷如狂風刮過一樣，最後響起《國際歌》的音調，那種教堂迴音帶起的澎湃激情，更讓人渾忘了身處的是聖玫瑰堂呢。
NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW
April 2018
"Lee gave his audiences a memorable gift of insight into Bernstein's world... what was so ingenious about Lee's presentation was the alternation of his own carefully selected readings from Bernstein's letters with his own compelling interpretations of the music... His gentle and stunningly voiced phrases... created the otherworldly music of heartbreak. Lee proved himself to be a truly insightful and sympathetic interpreter."
THE ADVERTISER, ADELAIDE
February 2018
"Warren Lee is the excellent soloist [in the Yellow River Piano Concerto] notable especially for his delicate and expressive playing in the second movement."
NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW
November 2016
"[Lee] delivered a performance [of Beethoven's Sonata in E major, Op.109] of intelligence and sensitivity that reminded one of Alfred Brendel."
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
September 2016
"Warren Lee is a first-rate artist, and this program of miniatures by Bernstein and Tan is exquisite in every respect."
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
May 2015
"Each piece, from light to heavy, was performed with urgent commitment from pianist Warren Lee and principals from the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra."
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
25 December 2015
"...a recital of 20th century masterpieces performed by Philharmonic principals Richard Bamping, Andrew Simon, Jing Wang and pianist Warren Lee. Messiaen’s harrowing Quartet for the End of Time is an event and this was a definitive version."
TIMEOUT HONG KONG
January 2015
"Hong Kong's own Warren Lee tackled the technically demanding piece with quiet confidence and superb articulation on the piano. His reading of Ode to the Yellow River was sensitive and soulful... the tremolos mimicking the Chinese instrument pipa were played with aching bitter-sweetness. By the time he reached the final movement, the pianist had set the keys on fire and placed the audience under a spell... Lee’s affecting interpretation and deep understanding of the score."
FANFARE MAGAZINE
2014
“...hard to imagine these works played with any more liquid tone, fluent technique... and expressive phrasing than that which is brought to them by Andrew Simon... it wouldn't be right to conclude without acknowledging the excellent work of pianist Warren Lee... these are duo works in the full sense of the term and Lee proves himself Simon's equal partner in every way.”
深圳特区报
2012年12月13日
[香港指挥家潘明和李偉安]对音乐的共同理解令合作非常融洽，传递出乐曲中的深刻意蕴。
THE MERCURY, AUSTRALIA
20 August 2012
“...exhibiting both technical prowess and deeply musical instincts. The Bach-Busoni Chaconne was structurally rigorous, controlled and powerful, leaving no doubt about the player's mastery.”
THE STRAITS TIMES, SINGAPORE
12 September 2011
“superb pianism… wonderful sense of colour and… impeccably controlled articulation… dazzling virtuoso fingerwork… instinctive awareness of [Andrew] Simon’s every interpretative nuance… ”
THE MERCURY, AUSTRALIA
18 May 2011
“Together [with clarinetist Andrew Simon and violist Jeremy Williams], they produced a rich, vibrant and well-balanced sound, characterized by clear articulations, neat phrasing and a finely tuned sense of ensemble.”
THE NEWS-GAZETTE, CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, IL, USA
October 1996
“… as a keyboard artist, he obviously has much talent to burn… In the loud, dramatic sections, Lee’s delivery was appropriately thunderous… This declamatory style was in marked contrast to his restrained, deliberate way of playing the lyrical sections of the slow movement. One could not fault this reading for lack of individuality.”
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, GERMANY
12 July 2005
“…pianistic sovereignty…”
MINDELHEIMER ZEITUNG, GERMANY
11 July 1995
“… highly talented, musically already very matured, technically perfect… Warren Lee opened the concert effectively with Bach’s Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue with sparkling play and wonderfully nuanced tempo changes.”
CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE, UK
26 November 1994
“Lee’s dilemma [between staying at Marlborough College for A-Level and attending the Royal Academy of Music early] is the result of the kind of success awaiting talented students and scholars.”
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
25 May 1988
“Warren Lee’s performance bore out the insight… that exceptional artists are not so much people to be praised as phenomena to be treasured, bearers of a power altogether greater than the poor vessels that contain it.”