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* Concert Review: Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra Opens 69th season with Dazzling Show – 'In Truth'

"The spotlight was also on guest pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who joined the orchestra in a concerto in 'neo-romantic' style demonstrating his substantial gifts as an accomplished keyboard virtuoso.

Lucas Richman's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra "In Truth" appears to be an autobiographical statement of "self, world, and spirit."" Mr. Latshaw's comment from the stage that the work is a "mash-up of a piano concerto in the style of Rachmaninoff and stylistic characteristics of Leonard Bernstein" certainly reinforced this listener's reaction to the piece, though I would lean more to the allusion to Rachmaninoff... Pianist Jeffrey Biegel demonstrated the capacity for powerful and dynamic energy as well as sensitivity and delicate touch in bringing off a fine performance of this piece...Biegel's encore, Chopin's Waltz in C-sharp Minor, was a beautifully executed example of that delicate touch, rhythmic flexibility and intense feeling reminiscent of the style of the late master pianist Vladimir Horowitz in many of his concert encores.

By Charly Spining - Arizona Daily Sun - Oct. 2, 2018

* Concert Review: Lucas Richman and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra – 'In Truth'

"The soul of Sunday's concert was Richman's own "In Truth," written for pianist Jeffrey Biegel. The composer might not have intended the three movements - To One's Self, To One's World and To One's Spirit - to be experienced as "The Ages of Man," but concertgoers may have experienced that way.

The joy and tumult of the opening movement sounded like a child growing into a teenager and then an uncertain adult. The second movement, which began with a piano cadenza, moved this individual into society and the demands of defining oneself in it, living in it and aging through it.

The final movement began with an instrumental setting of a line from Psalm 145: "The Lord is near to all who call to Him - to all who call to Him in truth." The piece ended with a harmonization that balances the outer self and the inner spirit.

Biegel inhabited this music as if he had written it himself. The pianist and orchestra intricately wove Richman's composition into a vivid tapestry that wrapped the audience in the truth of what it means to be a human navigating the world.

It was obvious from Sunday's performance that Biegel, who last appeared with the BSO in 2005 when he memorably performed Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Richman share a deep musical bond. Their work in this concert will long be remembered as a high point in Richman's time with the symphony."

By Judy Harrison - The Bangor Daily News - Sept. 28, 2015

* Concert Review: Lucas Richman and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra – 'In Truth'

"But the newest and most exciting musical adventure of the evening was [Lucas] Richman's own original composition - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: In Truth, with guest pianist Jeffrey Biegel - was every bit as robust, focused and "American" as any of the other pieces played that evening. With a very bluesy Gershwin-esque theme running through it, the composition was multi-layered and textured; at times melodic and romantic at other times dissonant, dramatic, challenging and fragmented with so much going on - including some clattering percussives - it was easy to lose one's way. That seemed to be the point, actually, and let's face it, who hasn't been there.

But again and again, Richman returns to his core theme - da-da-dee,dum,dee dum - and it was like seeing a light through the forest leading us back to something familiar and safe. Biegel's commanding piano also was a well-lit pathway through this lovely, evocative piece and both he and the composer received a well-earned standing ovation as did the whole orchestra for interpreting this and the evening's other compositions played so beautifully."

By Nan Lincoln - The Ellsworth American - Sept. 28, 2015

* Music Review: Lucas Richman and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra – 'In Truth'

Russian romanticism and American triumphalism merge in the passionate, exciting first movement ("To One's Self") of Lucas Richman's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: In Truth. Pianist Jeffrey Biegel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer give a bright, muscular account of this appealing music, whose aggressive tempos and friendly tonalities suggest a concerto with a typical classical structure.

The second movement ("To One's World") counter expectations, beginning with a peaceful piano cadenza but exploding into angular jazzy and ragtime colors, not at all the standard quiet center. A wind chorale and a gently flowing violin melody set a contemplative mood for the final movement ("To One's Spirit"). The orchestra picks up the violin theme, the piano supports it with soft arpeggios, the music swells, the brass takes up the theme, and all is resolved in a huge major chord halfway through that suggests an optimistic forecast for "one's spirit." The densely textured final section thunders to a movie-score climax before ending with a hopeful sigh from the piano and a final Broadway-style orchestral flourish.

The whole work is built around the idea of "truth" and the conflict between "abiding by society's universal 'truths' and railing against those who create new 'truths' so as to avoid personal culpability." Sound like anyone you've read about in the news lately – on any day of the week? But with its dedication to "self," "world," and "spirit" the whole conception has a meditative rather than an ideological flavor. While reading of the thoughts that inspired this accessible and often quite lovely concerto may add a dimension to one's listening, it's by no means necessary. I'm tempted to say Richman writes for the masses, in the best sense of the phrase. [...]

By Jon Sobel - BlogCritics.org - August 28, 2015