Ven. 17 fév. – Emirate Metro Series

Beethoven was certainly not afraid of breaking traditions. He broke several long-held Classical traditions in his Piano Concerto no. 4, and no break was more revolutionary than beginning a concerto with the solo instrument. It was in this way that the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy opened their latest musical offering at Sydney Opera House. The pianist who opened the concert with the quiet G major chords of Beethoven's masterwork was one of the older statesmen of the piano, Stephen Kovacevich, who celebrated his seventieth birthday in 2010. His performance had authority…

Ven. 16 mars – Eilat Festival

by Pamela Hickman

This was a solo piano recital by Stephen Kovacevich (b.1940, USA). Also well-known as a conductor, Kovacevich performs with chamber ensembles, with major orchestras and records. When still a student with Myra Hess, it was becoming clear that the pianist was attracted to Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) music, in particular, to his later works. Kovacevich’s recording of all the Beethoven sonatas was issued in 2003.

Beethoven’s Bagatelles opus 126 (1825), dedicated to the composer’s brother Johann, were his last published works for solo piano; the composer contended that these brief character…

Lun. 20 fév. – International Piano Series

Concert promoter Guy Barrett and his RBS Morgans International Piano Series is another world-class Adelaide event. The Adelaide Review speaks to Barrett about the origins for the piano recital series.

When renowned pianist Stephen Kovacevich visited Adelaide in 2002 we were presented with the oddest situation, or so thought UK concert promoter Guy Barrett. Here was one of the superstars of the piano world, flying in from the US to play Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO), a work of 34 minutes’ duration. Ecstatic after the performance, Barrett turned…

Sam 18 fév. – Emirate Metro Series

by ANDREW MILLER • FEB 21, 2012

Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra continue with the second in their triptych of Beethoven-Richard Strauss concerts which opens their 2012 season. Maestro Ashkenazy, their artistic director for the past few years who usually conducts himself several concerts at the beginning and end of the season (the Eternal Summer!), and the SSO seem to have established a warm and close rapport and respect, to judge from the jocular, playful exchanges and inaudible banter he shares with the orchestra members after the music, shaking hands with…

by Jack Chenoweth in Classical Music

The American pianist on rage, bizarreness and "good cop/bad cop" in Beethoven.

You’re most often associated with Beethoven. What attracts you to his music more than, say, Rachmaninov’s?

Well I love Rachmaninov, but I just don’t think it suits me as well as other repertoire. I have learnt the concertos, but I haven’t really played them enough to feel comfortable performing them. Schumann, Beethoven and Brahms – somehow they’re wired into me. I don’t know whether people necessarily like the way I play these works, but I feel comfortable, which is what counts.

How…

Mar. 17 jan. – Piano ****

Salle Pleyel, Paris
Le 17/01/2012
Gérard MANNONI

Johann-Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prélude et fugue n° 4 en ut# mineur BWV 849
Partita n° 4 en ré majeur BWV 828

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Bagatelle n° 11 op. 119 en sib majeur
Bagatelle n° 8 op. 119 en ut majeur
Sonate pour piano n° 5 en ut mineur op. 10 n° 1

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonate pour piano n° 21 en sib majeur D960
Stephen Kovacevich, piano

Magnifique leçon de piano absolu par Stephen Kovacevich. Dans un programme Bach, Beethoven et Schubert, avec notamment la…

Sam 8 oct. – BEETHOVEN SOLO CONCERTOS

8 October 2011 saw two DFP debutants - namely conductor Jacek Kaspszyk and pianist Stephen Kovacevich. For the reputation that Kaspszyk garnered by winning the Karajan conducting competition in 1978, some of the conducting was quite disappointing.

In the opening Beethoven Egmont Overture, there was an obvious lack of tension in the earlier sustained portion of the piece. After the initial flaccid opening, I also felt that there was a lack of triumphant feeling at the coda of the overture.

In the Beethoven Piano Concerto No 1 (part of yet another DFP Beethoven…

Sam 8 oct. – BEETHOVEN SOLO CONCERTOS

After the slightly disappointing performance last week following a personally built up hype, I didn’t dare to anticipate what’s in store for me with this week’s performance.

Oh, but it was awesome. Everything about it was. 8D

The guest pianist, the guest conductor, the whole Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra musicians participating in Sunday’s performance, the composers of all the pieces played today, the musics they composed and being performed, the concert, heck even the very supportive patrons, the bravos! Everyone and everything were at the right douse of thrill and excitement mixed together and…

Sam 24 sept. – SOI 11th Celebrity Concert Season

A MASTER PLAYS
- An appreciation of a concert in Mumbai
Rudrangshu Mukherjee

Stephen Bishop Kovacevich

Tucked away in the weekend section of a business daily was the news item that the pianist, Stephen Bishop Kovacevich, would be playing in Mumbai. For a lover of Western classical music living in Calcutta — once a thriving centre of Western classical music in India, now dwindling like much else in the city — with little opportunity to listen to live concerts given by leading musicians of the world, a Kovacevich concert was too…

de Hubert Stoecklin

Piano aux Jacobins est un festival contrasté qui offre au public de beaux éléments de comparaison pour affiner ses goûts et ses choix. Si hier c’était la tradition un peu fermée d’un Beethoven tonitruant qui avait sous les doigts d’un Hollandais chevelu (lire notre chronique ci-dessous) conquis le Cloître, ce soir c’est l’Américain Stephen Kovacevich, qui avec des moyens très différents et avec autant de succès, a régalé le public.

Le changement de programme opéré qui nous fit entendre les Bagatelles 1, 2, 4 et 5 en remplacement de la sonate annoncée nous a permis d’emblée de…