Posts Tagged ‘Review’
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
Performing two renowned pieces, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor and Dvorak’s Symphony From the New World, Oxford Philomusica (Oxford University’s orchestra in residence) did not disappoint a packed out Oxford Town Hall last Saturday night.
Pianist Tatiana Kolesova’s overwhelmingly impressive performance throughout Chopin’s concerto showed immense skill and variation. From the rippling perfection of the Romance movement to the relentless succession of scales in the closing moments, Kolesova enthralled the audience throughout. In the past some critics have stated that the orchestral accompaniment provides only a backdrop for what is first and foremost a piece meant for piano. Although this is a piano concerto, when performed by the Philomusica, both piano and orchestra slot together in seamless harmony as conductor Marios Papadopoulos leads his orchestra with the flawless precision and control for which he is known.
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Tags:concert, Dvorak, oxford times, Review
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Thursday, August 26th, 2010
‘Schiff stands with perhaps only a handful of pianists in his total achievement of the most severe beauty,” reported the Philadelphia Inquirer after András Schiff had given a concert in the city. The description could apply to Schiff’s recital, given at the end of this year’s Oxford Philomusica International Piano Festival, of which he is the President.
But the first thing that strikes you about Schiff is how matter-of-fact he is. He walks on, bows unostentatiously, sits down, and gets on with it. There is no faffing about with adjustments to his piano stool, or his shirt cuffs. Here it was straight into a delicately poised account of the opening bars of Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata. As the first movement unfolded, however, that “severe beauty” became evident, as Schiff’s left hand brought out solemn, insistent chords. In the later two movements, scrupulous attention to clarity and tempi were particularly noticeable — no wonder Schiff’s performances of Bach’s keyboard works are so widely admired.
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Tags:andras schiff, christ church cathedral, concert review, Piano Festival, Review
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
His hands hovering high above the keyboard rather like a hawk selecting its prey, pianist Olli Mustonen holds you in a state of suspense before he begins each movement of each piece. In this recital his hands were aloft quite frequently, for he had selected a programme of impressionistic works, each divided into several movements, and each painting a series of different pictures.
First came Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons, a comparative rarity divided into 12 individually descriptive movements, one for each month of the year. Thus January depicts a snug fireside, with the bass line suggesting gently flickering flames, while February moves outdoors for a pre-Lent carnival, its tempo suggesting that the revellers have been spiced up with good shots of vodka. Mustonen’s bright tone and sensitivity to dynamics meant that The Seasons, designed for performance at home, expanded clearly into the large, lively St Mary’s acoustic, although some passages did end up sounding a bit too steely and analytical.
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Tags:Mustonen, olli mustonen, Piano Festival, Review
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Friday, March 19th, 2010
Oxford Philomusica’s teaming of works by Mahler and Mendelssohn with a modern piece by St Anne’s undergraduate Eldon Fayers seemed at first to defy explanation or logic.
But what binds these three together is their youthfulness; Fayers, clearly, needs no further explanation, but the other two were captured here in their formative years, in pieces that spoke volumes about their burgeoning genius and of the fact that greatness lay just around the corner. Mendelssohn was but 16 when he penned his delightful Octet in E flat, while the seeds for Mahler’s first symphony were sown when the composer was 24.
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Tags:audience, contemporary, eldon fayers, mahler, mendelssohn, music, nicola lisle, Oxford, oxford times, Papadopoulos, Review, sheldonian, soloists, st anne's college, symphony, The Orchestra, youth
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