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Takács Quartet, photo: Amanda Tipton Photography

Review | Takács Quartet Performance with Insight and Passion

By Paul E. Robinson on 25 March 2023 Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Piano, Strings, Toronto

Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk. Music by Haydn, Fanny Mendelssohn and Schumann. Koerner Hall, Toronto. March 23, 2023. Rating: ***** Bringing together thoughtful and talented musicians for a concert nearly always guarantees time well spent, and the experience might even be revelatory. That was certainly the case on March 23, 2023 at Koerner Hall in Toronto when the Takács Quartet led by Edward Dusinberre and American pianist Jeremy Denk took the stage. The Takács Quartet has been around since 1975 and Edward Dusinberre has been its first violinist since 1993. Dusinberre is a wonderful violinist and leader but he is…

Lebrecht Weekly | Beethoven/Ravel: Concertos (Avanticlassic)

By Norman Lebrecht on 24 March 2023 Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic

Did anyone know that Pablo Casals had a kid brother who wrote him a concerto? Enrique Casals, 16 years younger, was a violinist and conductor. His cello concerto came to light three years ago and the enterprising Jan Vogler has made a captivating world premiere recording of it on Sony. It was sitting on my deck destined to be named album of the week when, as so often happens, an unforeseen astonishment dropped through the letterbox and took pride of place. Let’s not get all wokey and egalitarian about this: the best is, always and forever, the enemy of even the…

CD Review | Things Lived and Dreamt (Analekta, 2023)

By Pietro Freiburger on 18 February 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Piano

Things Lived and Dreamt Francine Kay, piano Analekta, 2023 The new CD by Francine Kay, professor of piano at Princeton University, features music by composers from the Czech Republic. Other than well-known names such as Dvořák, Smetana and Janáček, there are decidedly less-known ones, such as Josef Suk and Vitězslava Kaprálová. As the title indicates, life and dreams intertwine in this recording. Kay shows lyricism and drama, but also intimate narrative and self-reflection, which is absolutely appropriate to the chosen repertoire. The CD moves between melancholy and yearning, but the main characteristic of this recording is its narrative quality. It…

CD Review | Schumann: The Three Violin Sonatas (Analekta, 2022)

By Pietro Freiburger on 18 February 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Piano, Strings

Schumann: The Three Violin Sonatas Andrew Wan, violin, Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano Analekta, 2022 After the award-winning album containing the Beethoven Sonatas, the principal violin of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the winner of the second prize at the Warsaw Chopin Competition devote themselves to the Schumann Sonatas. The balance between the two musicians is great. The difficulty of Schumann’s music is to do justice to an often tormented spirit, without therefore exceeding in an inappropriate sound. Wan and Richard-Hamelin succeed really well in this work of balance, which basically represents the problem of the whole Schumann esthetic, suspended between action…

Review | The Piano Guys Begins Tour with Heart

By Andrea Rush on 17 February 2023 Concert Reviews, Piano

“In a world where classical music hangs in the balance”, The Piano Guys are making their way from the deserts of Palm Springs, California to Australia this week. Their style is as quizzical as their name suggests: upbeat classical music-based mashups played in front of full visuals of imaginary superheroes and travel videos, sometimes in the depth of artificial snow on stage. They espouse that classical music is the ancestor of all music. It is woven throughout their repertoire albeit in their unique sound and style. What you missed? In Palm Springs their repertoire included arrangements of Bach Suite No.…

Photo: J.B. Milhot

Lukas Geniušas at LMMC: Celebrating Rachmaninoff

By Catherine Kustanczy on 3 February 2023 Piano

Pianist Lukas Geniušas says the difference between the original and second versions of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor is not merely a matter of length. “There’s a lot of material which does not appear in the second edition,” he explains. “I love this work so much that I wanted to bring the original version to life.” Rachmaninoff performed the first version of his First Sonata, completed in 1908, for musical colleagues in Moscow. Including composer Nikolai Medtner and pianist Konstantin Igumnov, who subsequently premièred the work. The composer made the suggested cuts to the piece without…

Newswire | Canadian Kevin Chen Wins 76th Geneva Competition in Piano

By Newswire on 9 November 2022 Music Competition, Newswire, Piano

PRIZEWINNERS OF THE 76th CONCOURS DE GENÈVE The 76th Concours de Genève ended last Thursday with a spectacular Piano Final at Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Maržena Diakun. We are pleased to present the winners of this year’s edition, dedicated to piano and composition: PIANO PRIZEWINNERS FIRST PTRIZE Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada) SECOND PRIZE Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia) THIRD PRIZE EX AEQUO Kaoruko Igarashi (28 years old, Japan) Zijian Wei (24 years old, China) COMPOSITION PRIZEWINNERS FIRST PRIZE Shin Kim, 27 years old, South Korea For his…

Photo: Bo Huang

Newswire | Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico Named to the Order of Ontario

By Newswire on 7 November 2022 Newswire, Piano

Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, C.M., FRSC has just been accorded a new honour: the Order of Ontario. The province’s highest honour will be bestowed at a November 21 ceremony by Her Honour Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ontario Lieutenant Governor and Chancellor of The Order of Ontario. As the official announcement states, “The Order of Ontario recognizes exceptional leaders from all walks of life and diverse fields of endeavour whose impact and lasting legacy have played an important role in building a stronger province, country and world.” The sole classical musician amongst the 23 other illustrious 2021 appointees, Petrowska Quilico is cited for…

Jean-Philippe Sylvestre : Tam Photography

Review | Jean-Philippe Sylvestre: Virtuosic and Hyper-Romantic

By Pietro Freiburger on 23 October 2022 Concert Reviews, Piano

A large audience was present on Saturday, October 22 at the Maison Symphonique for pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre’s recital that will also be repeated at Palais Montcalm in Quebec City on Nov. 11. In the program, some of the best-known masterpieces for the piano, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2, Ravel’s Miroirs and Pavane, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Balakirev’s Islamey and a special performance of Mathieu’s Concerto de Québec, plus a Prelude and Fugue by Bach. What you missed The concert opens with the virtuosic Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt played convincing and full of contrasts. Sylvestre is a pianist…

Review | CellOpéra! (October 2022)

By Justin Bernard on 6 October 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Opera, Piano

CellOpéra! Duo Cavatine : Noémie Raymond-Friset, cello; Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, piano. Label: unknown (October 2022) Duo Cavatine’s name could never have been better suited than for this recording. Cellist Noémie Raymond-Friset and pianist Michel-Alexandre Broekaert have issued a sparkling collection of operatic arias all rearranged for this album. Given the cello’s range and timbral overlap with the human voice, it only seems natural to entrust it with the vocal parts. Such effects as vibrato and glissando translate well to stringed instruments like the cello. Whereas everything is dependent on interpretation, lyricism and repertoire choices, some pieces in this collection are bound…

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