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| Fairfield Halls |
"Among the many fine piano recitalists in this and previous series, none has been more noteworthy than Bernard d'Ascoli, about whom I’m about to be lost for superlatives.
This unquestionably is a world class player…
The opening bars of his first piece, Mozart’s relatively unfamiliar Sonata in F, K. 280, immediately established him as a commanding performer… The musical lines in the second movement of the Mozart had exceptional clarity as d’Ascoli voiced them clearly to the fore and then back into the texture. No less arresting was his sensitive insight into Schumann’s impulsive temperament in his underexposed but multi-faceted Humoreske Op.20, or his deft touch in Chopin’s Etude in E flat minor, the latter with a quite special breadth in the central section….
If you have heard some of the vintage recordings of these works, you have not heard them much better-played, to be sure." |
| Croydon Advertiser, 27 February 2006 |
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| Théâtre Toursky |
| "Jouant au profit de l’association « Voir la vie », dimanche dernier, au théâtre Toursky, le pianiste Bernard d’Ascoli à son récital toutes les séductions propres à un parcours diversifié. Depuis les festons de Variations en fa mineur de Haydn jusqu’au rafinements de la Sonatine de Ravel en passant par l’ampleur polyphonique des Préludes. Choral et Fugue de Franck et toute une splendide partie Chopin. On ne sait ce qui est le plus à admirer chez cet interprète, de la simplicité de ton, du phrasé, du registre expressif, de la fluidité comme de la puissance, du jeu des couleurs, en un mot de la richesse musicale qui s’en dégage." |
| La Provence – 27 February 2005 |
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| With the London Mozart Players |
| St John's, Smith Square |
| "With a singularly physical style, d'Ascoli showed a brilliant talent which had the deftest of touches, blending splendidly with the orchestra. He well deserved the warm ovation, to which he responded with a beguiling encore, a Chopin Nocturne." |
| Croydon Advertiser - 24 October 2003 |
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| Queen Elizabeth Hall |
| "d'Ascoli's playing is always special. A fine example of the dictum that pianists placed second or third in the Leeds competition have more character and artistry than most of the winners, d'Ascoli uses his long fingers to pursue the French virtues of clarity, sparkle and balance at an ideal tempo." |
| The Independent - 29 April 2002 |
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| With the Sydney Symphony Orchestra |
| "Bernard d'Ascoli's return to this country to supply unhurried, thoughtfully phrased, lovingly detailed playing in Mozart's great C minor Piano Concerto, K491, required no commendation beyond its own outstanding quality." |
| Sydney Morning Herald - 23 October 2000 |
