Outstanding album
The British magazine “International record review” has marked the album “Matsuev. Liszt” as outstanding.
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Denis Matsuev
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Instead of an interview
Giving interviews I often realize that a lot does not fit into an interview format and is left unsaid. Now I want to share with you my thoughts accumulated from the beginning of this year, which started with my personal subscription seasonal concert in Moscow and my USA Tour.
BBC Music Magazine assessed the latest CD by Denis Matsuev as a 5-star recording
The review by Callum McDonald says:
Denis Matsuev might be better known internationally as a Rachmaninov expert, but these new accounts of the two Shostakovich concertos must be among the best currently available. He is brilliant and mercurial in the fast movements of both works, creatively negotiating the First’s many changes of direction, tempo and style and bringing a sense of élan to the Second’s outer movements. He also gives the Second’s Rachmaninov-like central Andante due expressive weight and romantic feeling. In all this he is assisted by the superb playing that Valery Gergiev draws from the Mariinsky orchestra, and superb SACD sound.
Rodion Shchedrin’s atmospheric Fifth concerto (1999) is less pithy, but the subdued poetry of its first two movements is haunted by past composers – most notably, Prokofiev. Its finale explodes into a capricious moto perpetuo, becoming a bravura toccata that leads to a kaleidoscopic finale. Matsuev’s stamina and technique pass the test with flying colours. Though the piece seems overlong, I was glad to hear it. This unfamiliar coupling offers added value for any collector of Russian music.
Denis Matsuev brings young pianists contest to Kazakhstan
March, 6 Denis played “Rhapsody of love” concert in Astana. The musician announced that a contest for the young pianists will be launched soon in Kazakhstan under his patronage. The contest is planned for the autumn 2012.It was the 4th time that Denis has visited Kazakhstan in 2.5 years. He enjoyed playing with the Symphony orchestra of the Astana Philharmonic, especially given the fact that there are a lot of young musicians in the orchestra. The concert hall “Kazakhstan”, opened not so long ago, produced on Denis a most favourable impression: “Your hall has amazing acoustics that, in my opinion, will become better and better. A hall is a living being, it must get roots, it must live, it must breathe. A hall must live on music… I remember playing my first recital here, and now we have been rehearsing Rachmaninov’s concerto: the hall breathes in a completely new manner, the sound spreads in a totally new way, it has got more air”.
Norman Lebrecht thinks that Denis Matsuev has solved the puzzle of Shostakovich's concertos.
Norman Lebrecht, the famous music expert, critic and writer, the author of “Who killed classical music” bestseller, has listened to the latest Denis Matsuev’s release and named it “the CD of the week”. On this CD Denis and the Mariinsky orchestra headed by Valery Gergiev perform Shostakovich, Piano concerto no.1 and no.2 and also Shchedrin, Piano concerto no.5. Norman Lebrecht states in his review that Matsuev managed to come close to the solution of the Shostakovich’s concertos puzzle. Read more... Tags:Denis Matsuev plays at the Jubilee of the Moscow Philharmonic Society
January, 30 Denis Matsuev takes part in the Jubilee Concert dated to the 90th anniversary of the Moscow Philharmonic Society. The following musicians will also appear on the stage of Tchaikovsky Concert Hall this evening: Yuri Bashmet (viola), Vadim Repin (violin), Alexander Knyazev (cello), Alena Baeva (violin), Alexander Buzlov (cello) and Grigory Kovalevsky (contrabass). The programme will consist of Shostakovich, Piano Trio No. 2,Op.67 and Schubert, “Trout” quintet.
On the Moscow Philharmonic official site you can watch a video with Denis Matsuev congratulating the Philharmonic. Tags:
Matsuev draws a rock-star response from his audience
«Denis Matsuev’s solo recital at Hill Auditorium…drew a rapturous rock-star response from old and newly minted fans of this 36-year-old Russian phenom steeped in the Russian tradition of pianism» - write American media about Matsuev’s concert in Ann Arbor. You can read the article by Susan Isaacs Nisbett here.Meanwhile there is some other important news: the famous Estonian conductor, Grammy award winning Paavo Järvi accepted Denis Matsuev’s invitation to take part in his personal series concerts. The tandem, not afraid of any experiments, plays Tchaikovsky, Piano concert No.2 – a difficult, antipianistic composition. You can watch the piece of news by the Russian “Culture” TV channel here.
