Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear, in a seminal year approaching his debut at the BBC proms, presents his new album of works by Sergei Prokofiev, alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton. Proclaimed "a phenomenon" by the Los Angeles Times and "one of the best pianists of his generation" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear has carved out a formidable international reputation as both concert pianist and composer, with an impressive catalogue of recorded repertoire to date. Following on from his releases of Beethoven, Ravel, Gershwin and his own suite for piano and orchestra, "Callaloo" along with his piano sonata, Goodyear's new recording features some of the greatest works in the repertory: the Op. 16 and Op. 26 Piano Concertos, as well as the Piano Sonata no. 7 in B flat major. This ambitious undertaking, with it's roots in the struggles of the 2020 pandemic, is inherently personal to Goodyear, as he revisits one of the key composers from his very first days on the piano recital circuit, and channels the youthful dynamism and vibrancy central to Prokofiev's music. With Goodyear's sage and seasoned take on these three works, the album takes on another dimension: that of steadfast endurance in the face of personal challenges.

REVIEW:

Pianist Stewart Goodyear has won praise for his Beethoven interpretations, but from the evidence here, he is already well along on a second specialty. He handles with great ease the finger-busting movements like the “Precipitato” of the Piano Sonata No. 7. Yet he also catches the grim, implacable quality of that movement that reflects its status as one of the composer’s War Sonatas. In the Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, he is equally good, understanding that these pieces had roots in Prokofiev’s early neoclassic style but also marked his point of departure from that. This album wasn’t conceived as a whole; the Piano Sonata No. 7 was recorded in a different location from that of the two concertos. Yet Goodyear’s strengths run from beginning to end and continue to confirm a major talent.

— AllMusic.com (James Manheim)