Melvyn Tan
GEN
Kronen Zeitung, 26.3.2008 | pht
Tänzerische Gesten sprechen. [...] Tans Klang ist überaus differenziert, Liebe zum Detail imponiert. [...] Beim Opus 81, "Les Adieux", stimmt alles: Tan in Höchstform!

Wiener Zeitung, 26.3.2008 | Daniel Wagner
Da blieb kein Auge trocken, denn mit Tans liebevollem Anschlag genoss man eine ausdrucksstarke, differenzierte Themenvorstellung. Faszinierend, wie viele Seitenthemen er selbst in so "Kleinigkeiten" wie die Exposition der "Thérèse" op. 78 packte. Dafür ließ die Stringenz mancher Schlüsselläufe, etwa das herrliche Triolen-Quintolen Echo im Eröffnungsallegro zu op. 28 die nötige Konzentration vermissen. Zum Drüberstreuen gab es die wahrscheinlich berühmteste Sonatine der Musikgeschichte: Beethovens op. 79. Was für eine schulmeisterliche Interpretation, dafür überzeugte spätestens ein modern schlichtes "Wiedersehn" in op. 81a.

The Independent, November 2007
The star of the evening was the fortepianist Melvyn Tan, whose commitment, left-hand articulation and singing dexterity produced a performance of Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Concerto as memorable as the composer’s must have been, 170 years ago almost to the day. [Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment]

The Guardian, November 2007
Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Concerto was dispatched with twinkling agility on an 1840 Erard by Melvyn Tan. [Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment]

The Sunday Telegraph, October 2006
Tan is an excellent chamber musician, as he showed when close colleague, Steven Isserlis, shared the platform for three Debussy works, including a bold and dreamy account of the Cello Sonata. [Wigmore Hall]
   
The Guardian, April 2006
His approach to the Schumann was intimate, avoiding the overt histrionics favoured by some interpreters. This was a performance, above all, of subtly shifting moods, hinting throughout at the potential for extremes without sliding into sentimentality or melodrama. The heaving left-hand arpeggios in the first movement spoke of passion teetering on the brink of obsession. Carefully shaded dynamics lent the intermezzo great pressure as well as charm, while the finale glimmered with quiet wit. [London Philharmonic Orchestra]

The Sunday Telegraph, April 2006
Melvyn Tan unlocked a great variety of texture in Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Some pianists go for a bigger-boned approach in this music, but Tan’s crystalline technique was absolutely in keeping with the spirit of Schumann: mixing poetry and virtuosity throughout, he ensured that the final pages were unusually fresh and alive. [London Philharmonic Orchestra]