DIARIO DE SEVILLA. Manel Guerrero. 10-2-2000
“The eternal gaze of Messiaen”
“It was however in the first sonata of Boulez and in four (one of which was unplanned) of the Vingt Régards sur l’Enfant Jésus of Messiaen where Pilar López-Carrasco became for the fortunate public the heroine of the night. Her interpretation of Boulez conveyed magnificently all the deaf rage, the viscera, and the painful tenderness that reside in the score. Just playing from memory, like the entirety of the concert, was enough to produce a genuine admiration.
Those who missed the concert will not have the wonderful memory having listened to contemporary music at its best, or how much beauty they lost last night. The execution of Pilar was technically overwhelming (not in vain a student of Jean-Pierre Dupuy) and in the expressive devastated by its truth and its emotional overwhelmingness. Her virtuosity was totally at the service of depth, the barbaric spell of rhythm, inner peace, that experience the eternity of time that only the French composer has shaped into music. She is a pianist who will soon give the world of music much to speak about.”
REVISTA MUSICAL CATALANA. Francesc Taverna-Bech. December 1997.
“Approaching contemporaneity”
“It goes with out saying the we should point out in a very special way the recital offered by the pianist from Manresa Pilar López-Carrasco. The strength, the tension and the neatness with which she interpreted the suite op. 25 of Arnold Schönberg, a truly difficult and complex work, showed from the very first moment her extraordinary musicality. She truly captured the attention of the audience throughout her performance with a vehement expression and a pianism of the first order in which colors, nuances, rhythmic formulations and lyrical inflections fit punctually into the intentionality and content of the score. We can say that her Schönberg is definitive, as is her music of Messiaen.”
EL DIARIO VASCO. María José Cano. 1-7-2000
“A start with character”
“The energetic Toccata de Martinu introduced us to a pianist of polished technique, great professionalism and unique character. The work, with very percussive passages, was approached with security and cleanliness. Martin’s Prelude num. 7 gave birth to the first sonata of Boulez, a devilish score and superb execution by Pilar López-Carrasco. The three pieces of the “Vingt Régards sur l’Enfant-Jésus” , returned to show a high level of difficulties and an admirable execution.”
IDEAL de Granada. Andrés Molinari. 21-1-2000
“Fifth concert of the Viñes Cycle in the Manuel de Falla Auditorium”
“… A talented pianist like Pilar, whose memorization of such varied pieces underlines her aesthetic identification with its authors. She is delicate and swaying on the keyboard, endowed with springing fingering, and exquisite with the timbres.
Thanks to her restraint and enthusiasm we were able to gauge Ohana’s volumetric contrasts, Barber’s descriptive kindness, Khachaturian’s childish tenderness, Rodrigo’s purity, Turina’s Andalusian nostalgia, Boulez’s avant-garde, and Messiaen’s mystical simplicity.”
REGIÓ 7. Oriol Pérez.2-1-94
“Metaphysical interpretations”
“Pilar López-Carrasco filled the auditorium of La Plana of the Fundació la Caixa de Manresa (…). Pilar put everything in her power in order to captivate her unconditional audience with her musical performances of an unusual level in our country (…). Bartok’s Op.20 served for the display of technical virtuosity (…). Liszt’s Sonata as a minor appeared as the final plot of the piece. Pursuing the aforementioned virtuosity, Pilar used a wide range of interpretive elements for the building of a solid, expressive musical construction (…).
It is this series of characteristics, in metaphysical key, that distinguish a piano player from a Pianist (thus, in capital letters). And, of course, Pilar López-Carrasco is a Pianist (…)”
REVISTA MUSICAL CATALANA. Francesc Taverna-Bech.January 1999.
“Suggestive vitalism of two young musicians”
The concert of the pianist Pilar López-Carrasco and clarinetist Josep Sancho was memorable. In short, we would say that we listened to two interpreters with the true desire to make music. Thus, through the art of the pianist and clarinettist, music breathed communicability, vitality and joy to perform a first-rate virtuoso work and willingness to enter into the spirit of the pieces. We would like to highlight the very positive surprise of hearing in the first version of Pilar the premiere of Nou apunts per a piano by Joaquim Homs.”
REGIÓ 7. Oriol Pérez.21-7-2001
“With elegance and solvency”
“In addition, I would dare to say that, currently, we can hardly find in Catalonia (except for Jean-Pierre Dupuy and Liliana Maffiote) a pianist as committed as she is to the music of the XX century.
The first element to emphasize is her elegance, while on the other hand somber, which confirms the interpretative solvency of such a difficult and complex repertoire. And the second is the ease with which she presents the work, neat, and perfectly designed.”
REGIÓ 7. OriolPérez. 21-12-1989
“Tangible reality”
“Pilar López-Carrasco showed a pure musicality, together with the majesty of the musical essence, where lies the great virtue of Pilar.
In the interpretation of Ballad No. 4 op 52, by Chopin, her performance maximized the expressive, rhythmic direction together with a wide polychromatic margin. The concert ended the notebook number 2 of the Suite Iberia de Albéniz. Here a perfect diction was achieved, even where the polyphonic structure became filigree, increasing the difficulty in tempo, which were quite accelerated.”