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| Festival Musica - Strasbourg - 7 October 2007
“…Parmi les révélations de cette année, le pianiste anglais Andrew Zolinsky offre un récital puissant (Nancarrow, Chin, Ligeti, Lang, Messiaen)…” |
| Patrick Szersnovicz, Le Monde de la Musique, Novembre 2007 |
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“ L’athlétique piano de Zolinsky
Ce récital de l’autre dimanche matin fit à nouveau salle comble au Palais du Rhin à Strasbourg. Y fut applaudi Andrew Zolinsky, dans un programme prodigieux de virtuosité, notamment dans les partitions d’Unsuk Chin et Bernhard Lang, deux compositeurs distingués par le festival Musica…
…Ce très athlétique parcours aurait usé un pianiste autre qu’Andrew Zolinsky. Mais après ce marathon extraordinaire, le lauréat du concours de concerto de San Francisco, aujourd’hui patron des claviers au London College of Music, est revenu sur l’estrade pour entamer avec un calme confondant l’un des mystiques Regards de Messiaen. ” |
| Marc Munch, Dernieres Nouvelles D’Alsace, Octobre 2007 |
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| “ …Le portrait No 3 met en évidence la virtuosité de l’écriture d’Unsuk Chin dans ses Etudes pour piano (1995 – 2003) grâce à ce très grand pianiste qu’est Andrew Zolinsky qui nous a offert un concert éblouissant de virtuosité. dimanche matin 7 octobre dans le cadre magnifique du Palais du Rhin… ” |
| Marie Françoise Grislin, Hebdo scope, Octobre 2007 |
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| " …Tippett’s Piano Sonata No 2. This was the opening item of an excellent piano recital given by Andrew Zolinsky under Park Lane Group auspices at Wigmore Hall. He did not persuade me that the rather galumphing, over-terse, studiously repetitive movement comes off, but nobody else has. He did, though, give us a marvellously alive Haydn sonata (Hob:XV1:24, in D), realise the ferocious virtuoso wit of Unsuk Chin’s Six Etudes and wrestle mightily with the Liszt Sonata." |
| Paul Driver, The Sunday Times - May 2006 |
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| "Andrew Zolinsky won the largely unknown – in this country – San Francisco International Piano Concerto Competition in 1998 and has mainly been promoted in the UK as a performer of contemporary and offbeat repertoire. Certainly the programme would have discouraged many, with the mainstream works of Tippett, Haydn and Liszt juxtaposed with pieces by contemporary composers. But those who stayed away out of fear or indifference missed a fascinating recital, which….showcased an artist who has great potential." |
| Rob Pennock, www.classicalsource.com - May 2006 |
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| "It’s a tribute to Andrew Zolinsky’s versatility as a performer …that he should undertake a series of concerts of such diverse repertoire…in this “Transcendental Piano” series he took a more diachronic view of his instrument’s, or its repertoire’s, virtues. In three carefully planned and nicely timed recitals, Zolinsky presented works that he considered to have changed the course of piano music…" |
| John Fallas, www.classicalsource.com - February 2004 |
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| "PRIZE-winning pianist Andrew Zolinsky's recital at the Courtyard last Thursday demonstrated why he has gained wide recognition for his undoubted talent, both in Britain and overseas. His well-balanced programme, which included works from the Baroque period to that of the 20th century, opened with three single-movement sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti - K39 in A major, K197 in B minor and K492 in D major - performed with exemplary clarity and style. Providing a sharp contrast were four of Brahm's Six Pieces, Opus 118. Three intermezzi - Numbers 1,2 and 6 - and a Ballade, No. 3, ranged in mood and were played with panache. A brave leap from the full-bodied weight of Brahms to the delicacy of Debussy's Clair de Lune was successfully accomplished and this well-known piece was followed by the less familiar L'Isle Joyeuse. The second half of the programme opened with the Premiere Communion de la Vierge, one of Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus. The composer was a great admirer of Beethoven and, like him, broke new ground. The music is technically extremely difficult but Andrew made it sound easy - and palatable. Beethoven's last piano sonata - No. 32 in C minor, Op 111 - ended the recital. This dramatic work, with its complex rhythms, dissonances and prolonged trills, must have seemed outrageous when it was first heard; in the second movement there is even a syncopated variation which sounds suspiciously like jazz." |
| Hilary Carnson, ‘This is Herefordshire’ - March 2004 |
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| "Andrew Zolinsky, 1998 winner of San Francisco's International Piano Competition, is giving a thoughtfully constructed series of recitals during the weekend, exploring what he conceived as "Transcendental Piano", juxtaposing traditional and contemporary music that is 'visionary and of great emotional depth'. He is a relaxed communicator with an audience, both verbally and in his playing. He found just the right sound on the Blackheath Bosendorfer for Mozart's Fantasia K.396 (Mozart actually composed only the first 20 bars!) and a different one for his searching performance of Brahms Op 118, six pieces which 'experiment with rhythm' and 'eliminate the first beat of the bar as a strong beat'. These were treated soberly, with careful voicing of chords and delineation of the harmonic movement….Late Brahms led naturally to Schoenberg's concise Six little pieces Op.19 and, across the interval, to Rihm's Bagatellen - Klavierstucke 6. Here at Blackheath their spare concentration and small gestures, often single well notes and chords placed amid silent pauses, with occasional brief violent eruptions, made a strong impression, holding the audience rapt." |
| Musical Pointers, February 2004 |
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| World premiere of David Lang's 'Psalms without words' |
| "Zolinsky just kept the energy alive... he brought this enigmatic music to life." |
| Newsday, New York - January 2003 |
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| "Zolinsky's virtuosity was at times incredible." |
| Paul Driver, The Sunday Times - February 2001 |
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| "Zolinsky also gave us a volcanic "Ginastera" sonata. ...Recitals are rarely so riveting" |
| Michael Church, The Independent - November 1998 |
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| "Zolinsky who had travelled from London emerged the big winner, he played the piece offering a sharply conceived account full of the Jazzy inflections that gave it such distinctive character and lift. The real winners were the audience who witnessed this distinctive interpretation of Gershwin's work...." |
| Contra-Costa Times, San Francisco - September 1998 |
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| "The highlight of Zolinsky's lunchtime recital was his light yet sharply contoured handling of Arc en ciel and Fanfares, two of the ongoing set of studies by Ligeti" |
| Michael Dervan, The Irish Times - April 1998 |
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| "Gershwin's Three Preludes, stylishly played by Andrew Zolinsky" |
| Barry Millington, The Times - February 1996 |
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| "Andrew Zolinsky, who showed his brilliance not only in Berio but also in a coruscating performance of Karen Tanaka's Crystalline" |
| Paul Griffiths, The Times - January 1992 |
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| "Zolinsky made something magical of Karen Tanaka's tiny, refined Crystalline" |
| David Murray, The Financial Times - January 1992 |
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