Gramophone: Video of the Day: Marc-André Hamelin plays Ives
Marc-André Hamelin performs 'Alcotts' from the Concord Sonata
Marc-André Hamelin has recorded Charles Ives's Concord Sonata on two occasions, the first recording (for New World Records) was singled out for praise by Philip Clark in his overview of the available recordings of the work for Gramophone, writing: 'Hamelin’s technique can take him places other pianists can’t reach'.
Gramophone
Marc-André Hamelin performs 'Alcotts' from the Concord Sonata
Marc-André Hamelin has recorded Charles Ives's Concord Sonata on two occasions, the first recording (for New World Records) was singled out for praise by Philip Clark in his overview of the available recordings of the work for Gramophone, writing: 'Hamelin’s technique can take him places other pianists can’t reach'.
Read more here.
NPR: Marc-André Hamelin: Tiny Desk Concert
Marc-André Hamelin has a marvelous, curious mind. While we chatted before his Tiny Desk concert, he snooped around the CD shelves near my desk, commenting on a few rarities and sharing his own eclectic tastes, including a crazy YouTube mashup of all 15 Shostakovich symphonies stacked on top of each other.
The Boston-based Montreal native is regarded as one of his generation's most technically astounding pianists, but he's no empty virtuoso. His interpretations are probing, precise and warm — keen to bring out humor when necessary. He routinely performs the world's most treacherous repertoire with his characteristic ease. I've witnessed him practically reduce a concert grand to matchsticks, and I've heard him tenderly caress a late Schubert sonata.
NPR
By Tom Huizenga
Marc-André Hamelin has a marvelous, curious mind. While we chatted before his Tiny Desk concert, he snooped around the CD shelves near my desk, commenting on a few rarities and sharing his own eclectic tastes, including a crazy YouTube mashup of all 15 Shostakovich symphonies stacked on top of each other.
The Boston-based Montreal native is regarded as one of his generation's most technically astounding pianists, but he's no empty virtuoso. His interpretations are probing, precise and warm — keen to bring out humor when necessary. He routinely performs the world's most treacherous repertoire with his characteristic ease. I've witnessed him practically reduce a concert grand to matchsticks, and I've heard him tenderly caress a late Schubert sonata.
Hamelin's colossal breadth of repertoire is on display in this smart set of pieces. He begins in the 18th century with the off-kilter antics of C.P.E. Bach — a rondo that stops, starts and swerves with the spirit of improvisation. His limpid rendition of William Bolcom's "Graceful Ghost Rag" (from 1970) emphasizes the bittersweet harmonies with unhurried elegance.
Read more and watch here.
Your Classical: Marc-André Hamelin explores William Bolcom's piano rags in his new album
“In 1985, I won the Carnegie Hall competition for American Music. One of the prizes was an invitation to the Cabrillo Festival in California, which is still going on, I think. And the two composers in residence that year happened to be Arvo Pärt and William Bolcom. So, I got to meet him.”
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin not only got to meet Bolcom, the American composer whom he’d been admiring since he was 16, but he also got to make music with him. For his latest release, Hamelin has recorded a two-disc set of The Complete Rags of William Bolcom.
Your Classical
By Julie Amacher
“In 1985, I won the Carnegie Hall competition for American Music. One of the prizes was an invitation to the Cabrillo Festival in California, which is still going on, I think. And the two composers in residence that year happened to be Arvo Pärt and William Bolcom. So, I got to meet him.”
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin not only got to meet Bolcom, the American composer whom he’d been admiring since he was 16, but he also got to make music with him. For his latest release, Hamelin has recorded a two-disc set of The Complete Rags of William Bolcom.
There's a lot of diversity in Bolcom’s rags. Can you talk about the many moods that we experience throughout this two-disc set?
“I think his first rags were a little more Joplin influenced, even though he was adding some touches of his own.
“There is one of them, which is a kind of a joke, actually, it's called Brass Knuckles. And it was written in collaboration with the late William Albright. They decided to write that together one day as sort of an antidote to the overdelicate rags that they'd each been writing. It's just a joke, of course, but it's full of clusters and very violent piano writing. And that's why I put it at the very end of the two-disc set.
Read more here.
Boston Globe: Marc-André Hamelin and the riches of ragtime
Like many music lovers of a certain age, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was introduced to ragtime by pianist Joshua Rifkin’s recording of Scott Joplin rags, which his father bought when Hamelin was young. Released in 1970, Rifkin’s recording was credited with sparking a revival of interest in ragtime. (The resurgence got an extra kick a few years later with the release of the Paul Newman-Robert Redford film “The Sting” and its ragtime-infused soundtrack.)
Boston Globe
By David Weininger
The pianist, who appears at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival on Saturday, recently released a two-CD set of American composer William Bolcom’s complete piano rags
Like many music lovers of a certain age, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was introduced to ragtime by pianist Joshua Rifkin’s recording of Scott Joplin rags, which his father bought when Hamelin was young. Released in 1970, Rifkin’s recording was credited with sparking a revival of interest in ragtime. (The resurgence got an extra kick a few years later with the release of the Paul Newman-Robert Redford film “The Sting” and its ragtime-infused soundtrack.)
Hamelin started learning some of the rags from a popular Dover collection of Joplin’s piano works. A few years later, he came across “Heliotrope Bouquet,” an LP featuring the American composer William Bolcom at the piano. It featured a few Joplin rags, as well as pieces by Joseph Lamb and James Scott, who together made up the “big three” of ragtime.
Read more here.
The New York Times: Listen to Keyboard Music by Bach (No, Not That One)
The subject of the pianist Marc-André Hamelin’s latest album is Bach — no, not that one.
Hamelin — ever inquisitive in exploring the outer reaches of the repertoire, with recent releases of music by Sigismond Thalberg, Samuil Feinberg and Erno Dohnanyi — has now turned to the extraordinary range of keyboard works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian’s second surviving son.
The New York Times
By David Allen
The subject of the pianist Marc-André Hamelin’s latest album is Bach — no, not that one.
Hamelin — ever inquisitive in exploring the outer reaches of the repertoire, with recent releases of music by Sigismond Thalberg, Samuil Feinberg and Erno Dohnanyi — has now turned to the extraordinary range of keyboard works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian’s second surviving son.
C.P.E. Bach was a prolific composer and an important pedagogue, a significant influence on Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. (Hamelin’s new album is a welcome companion to the three volumes of solo Haydn that he set down, with ideal panache, a decade and more ago on the Hyperion label.) But if he was more widely appreciated than his father well into the 19th century, that has certainly not been the case more recently.
Read more here.
The New York Times: 5 Things to Do This Weekend
The pianist Marc-André Hamelin has a penchant for choosing unfamiliar repertoire. In doing so, his quicksilver playing has sometimes helped elevate the reputation of a neglected composer. His latest release on the Hyperion label is devoted to pieces by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. And while you might not deem C.P.E. obscure, exactly — what with being the most famous of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons — these works are hardly overfamiliar.
The New York Times
By Seth Colter Walls
The pianist Marc-André Hamelin has a penchant for choosing unfamiliar repertoire. In doing so, his quicksilver playing has sometimes helped elevate the reputation of a neglected composer. His latest release on the Hyperion label is devoted to pieces by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. And while you might not deem C.P.E. obscure, exactly — what with being the most famous of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons — these works are hardly overfamiliar.
Read more here.
Gramophone: Marc-André Hamelin's Latest Album Selected as Editor's Choice for April
Marc-André Hamelin’s Feinberg Piano Sonatas Nos 1-6 album chosen as one of the best new classical albums, Editor's Choice for April 2020.
Gramophone
David Fanning
The best new classical albums: Editor's Choice, April 2020
Feinberg Piano Sonatas Nos 1-6
Marc-André Hamelin pf (Hyperion)
Samuil Feinberg was a great Russian pianist perhaps best known for his Bach, but his compositions are less familiar. Marc-André Hamelin’s overwhelming advocacy of these sonatas comes highly recommended.
Read the Gramophone review here… “Hamelin does far more than tame these pianistic leviathans. He gives them momentum, character and individuality.”
International Piano Magazine: Marc-André Hamelin's Feinberg Album Named Album of the Month
International Piano Magazine
Bryce Morrison
Marc-André Hamelin’s latest solo album, Samuil Feinberg’s Piano Sonatas, is featured in the March issue of International Piano Magazine as Album of the Month.
"It is difficult to imagine any living pianist other than Hamelin who could confront this music - music that is stranger than strange - with such compelling mastery, eloquence and lucidity."
International Piano Magazine
Bryce Morrison
Marc-André Hamelin’s latest solo album, Samuil Feinberg’s Piano Sonatas, is featured in the March issue of International Piano Magazine as Album of the Month.
"It is difficult to imagine any living pianist other than Hamelin who could confront this music - music that is stranger than strange - with such compelling mastery, eloquence and lucidity."
To read the complete review, click here.
The New York Times: Two Pianists Offer Contrasting Paths of Exploration
The New York Times
Anthony Tommasini
Last week in New York, two brilliant pianists offered examples of adventurous programming in classical music. According to Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times, Marc-André Hamelin’s program lingered with him the most: “That Mr. Hamelin played both works with technical dazzle and wondrous subtleties made the music seem even wilder.” To read the full review, click here.
The New York Times: 6 Classical Music Concerts to See in N.Y.C. Including Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin visits Carnegie Hall on October 22, 2019 at 8:00 PM. Hamelin has always relished performing the most technically challenging of piano music, and there is plenty of it in this recital, with pieces by Scriabin, Prokofiev, and Samuil Feinberg. But this Canadian pianist has recently been recording more canonical works, including a fine account of Schubert’s final sonata, the last work on the program here.
The New York Times
David Allen
Our guide to the city’s best classical music and opera happening this weekend and in the week ahead.
MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN at Carnegie Hall (Oct. 22, 8 p.m.). Hamelin has always relished performing the most technically challenging of piano music, and there is plenty of it in this recital, with pieces by Scriabin, Prokofiev, and Samuil Feinberg. But this Canadian pianist has recently been recording more canonical works, including a fine account of Schubert’s final sonata, the last work on the program here.