Tag: Pianist
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Aurélien Pontier: “Joyful Apocalypse” and the Power of Nostalgia
Ahead of his album release for Warner Classics, I had the pleasure of speaking to French pianist Aurélien Pontier about his new album “Joyful Apocalypse”. “The title is taken from an exhibition put on by the Musée d’Orsay which I visited some years ago,” Aurélien told me. “Artworks from fin-de-siècle Vienna were displayed,” he said,…
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Full house for Angela Hewitt at Wigmore Hall
It was a full house last night welcoming Angela Hewitt back to the Wigmore Hall for yet another triumphant recital. You really feel the capacity of this venue when it takes you the entire interval just to queue to the toilet! At an age where many would pare down their repertoire to a few gems,…
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Vadym Kholodenko’s core-shaking Rzewski Variations
It takes courage and commitment on the part of the audience member to attend a Sunday afternoon recital featuring two ultra heavyweight pieces: Mozart’s Requiem (arranged for solo piano) and Rzewski’s Variations on “The People United Will Never Be Defeated”. But this was Vadym Kholodenko, and people make exceptions for this unassuming yet radically unconventional…
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Seong-Jin Cho’s Electrifying Beethoven 4 with the LPO
Seong-Jin Cho gave a supreme performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto with Ed Gardner leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. Regrettably I was sat high up in the balcony, in the last row to be exact. Tickets for concerts with star Korean pianists are often hard to come by, and I didn’t…
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Charles Owen’s magical recital at Westminster Cathedral Hall
Programme: Chopin Polonaise-Fantasie, op. 61 Schumann Carnaval, op. 9 Chopin Berceuse, op. 57 Chopin Barcarolle, op. 60 Prokofiev Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, op. 14 Encore: Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte On Sunday afternoon pianist Charles Owen delivered a magical recital for the Chopin Society UK. It was a concert where Charles…
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Seong-Jin Cho at the Barbican: Stunning, sensational, and yet…
It was the performance of a great master and a showcase of magnificent playing as well as impressive endurance, yet Cho for me didn’t bring the personal touch required of the pieces he chose to programme.
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Beethoven 4 by Eric Lu, Marin Alsop and the LSO
Right from the very beginning of the concerto, Eric had firmly placed his signature mark on it with the unique, exquisite sound only he could evince from this grand ivory instrument.
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CD Review: KaJeng Wong’s “God Pray Love”
“KaJeng brings to it a deep and personal idea of what programming should be like, a skilled honed through years of experimenting and performing, and takes his listeners on a journey that is simultaneously personal and universal.”
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Paul Lewis at the Wigmore Hall
A very different kind of performance from a very different kind of pianist. Schubert Sonatas at the Wigmore Hall.
Literally Left-handed 