Mr. Petersen had technique to spare during the dazzling episodes, and plumbed the piece for tenderness and lyricism that many pianists gloss over.

This sweet sidestep was a fine primer for “Piano Concerto in G Major,” which…pianist Drew Petersen embraced with equal parts intimacy and intensity…Many players can get carried away in the pyrotechnics of the first movement (“Allegramente”), but Petersen brought a wonderfully soft touch and bejeweled articulation that made for enchanting dialogue with harpist Eric Sabatino.

Making his CSO debut, Petersen was the soloist in Norman’s “Suspend,”… What followed was a subtle, cinematic canvas, with the piano providing a tintinnabulation of repeating notes against softly intoning orchestral colors.

Soloist Drew Petersen, another speedily rising talent, delivered a crisply defined yet poetic performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37. In the outer movements we enjoyed the musical play between confident bursts of bravado and inwardly questioning asides. Petersen’s sparkling fingerwork was neatly controlled.

Fearless playing, with recordings to match; this pianist is destined for great things.

A really stunning, full-bodied sound makes this disc shine. Petersen showcases American piano works with superb technique and measured voicing. A very palatable selection.

We begin with the headily Impressionistic Fantasy Pieces of Griffes, which are evocatively coloured, with Petersen particularly relishing the Slavic tinges of the third piece. From Ives’s Concord Sonata he excerpts the luscious third movement, ‘The Alcotts’. It’s played with palpable affection, and the way he references Ives’s appropriation of the ‘fate’ motif from Beethoven’s Fifth without overstating it is just one example of the subtlety of his musicianship.

Drew Peterson’s playing is clean and crisp, avoiding the bathos some pianists have found in ‘The Alcotts’…Elliott Carter’s sonata is the surprise joy of this recital…Peterson not only fills the sonata with warmth but glides through the fugue as if it were child’s play, capturing the almost Bernstein-like rhythms that were in the New York air in 1945.

This release marks the recording debut of Drew Peterson, a fast-rising American pianist still in the program at the Juilliard School. His all-American program, which he has performed live in whole or in part many times, is suited to the mission of the Steinway & Sons label, which has done well to sign him to its roster.

Following such a breath-taking tempo and beginning, we were treated to a stellar performance of Gershwin’s “Concerto in F,” which brings together interlacing jazz and classical elements. This piece demands a pianist of the highest technical and interpretive caliber, and we were fortunate to experience such a performance by 24-year-old pianist Drew Petersen. Petersen has all the qualities necessary to capture the grandeur and brilliance of this masterpiece for piano and orchestra. He drew from the piano its last ounces of beauty, strength and precision to end the first half of the concert, receiving an immediate standing ovation. The enthusiasm of the large crowd inspired Petersen to offer two encores of Gershwin songs, the last one a fantastic arrangement of “The Man I Love” by early 20th Century pianist and composer, Earl Wild. Petersen managed the intricacies of this transcription with superior aplomb, again drawing the audience to its feet.

…a stellar performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 by a young virtuoso headed for greatness…