"In the second-movement aria, Kuerti shaped the
melody with a manifold palette of articulation, innumerable
precisely-cut facets, but also deployed an uncanny consistency of tone
to give Beethoven’s more obsessive, repeated patterns a slow-burning
intensity. An occasional delicate staccato and a touch of melting
rubato emphasized the off-balance polyrhythms at the finale’s outset,
making the movement’s thumping peroration all the more triumphant.
After orchestra and soloist brought the music to a near-inaudible
stillness, the piano positively detonated the blazing coda."
[Beethoven 'Emporer' Concerto with
the Boston Symphony] The Boston Globe
"Kuerti was meticulous in laying out a
distinctive, tonally gleaming interpretation...His playing had a
remarkable consistency. Runs, trills,
chords -- all had impeccable weight, color, balance, etc....His work
was thus constantly fascinating, including even the unexpected notes
and motifs he chose to accentuate."
Houston Chronicle
"one of the truly great pianists
of this century"
CD Review, London
"It was risky - and magnificent."
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Anton Kuerti is the best pianist currently
playing."
Fanfare Magazine
"Over the last several centuries, Austria has
given the world some of its greatest music, along with a number of
fine artists to perform it...Viennese-born pianist Anton Kuerti, with
awe-inspiring interpretive and technical prowess, confirmed his
position as one of the top-ranked pianists today."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
|
FANFARE:
Without rehearsal and on just two hours notice, Anton Kuerti stepped
in for an indisposed soloist to perform the Beethoven 5th Piano
Concerto ("Emperor") with the Boston Symphony on March 12th. And the
next morning, at a press conference in Montreal, Mr. Kuerti was honored as a 2008 recipient of the
prestigious Governor General's Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA) for
Lifetime Artistic Achievement, the most illustrious artistic honor
conferred upon Canada's performing artists.
Read the Boston Globe review.
AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW:
Anton Kuerti performed an all-Beethoven program at
the Concertgebouw in June, featuring the "Diabelli Variations", and
two of Beethoven's most famous sonatas, "Les Adieux", and the "Appassionata".
The press turned out in force, and the superlatives include:
“The miracle occurred when Anton Kuerti began his superior
interpretation of the ‘Diabelli Variations’.... this work is
considered an unconquerable fortress by many a pianist. Not by Kuerti
whose performance was flawless, dazzling, lively and analytical, with
an
unparalleled ability to link the 33 variations with each other." Trouw
Read more.
Pianist Anton Kuerti
was born in Austria, grew up in the U.S., and has lived in Canada for
the last 35 years. His teachers included Arthur Loesser, Mieczyslaw
Horszowski and Rudolf Serkin. At the age of 11 he performed the Grieg
Concerto with Arthur Fiedler and, while still a student, he won the
famous Leventritt Award. In 2007 he received two more prestigious
awards, the Schumann Prize of the Schumann Gesellschaft in Germany,
and the National Arts Prize of the Banff Centre in Canada.
His distinguished performing career has included tours to nearly forty
countries, including Japan, Russia, and most of Europe. He has
performed with most major U.S. orchestras and conductors, such as the
Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony (Menuhin), Cleveland
Orchestra (Szell), Philadelphia Orchestra (Ormandy), and the
orchestras of Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and San
Francisco. His vast repertoire includes some 50 concertos, including
one he composed himself.
Anton Kuerti maintains a busy performance and teaching schedule in
North America and abroad. In the last two seasons he has performed the
complete cycle of the five Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Columbus Symphony,
Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Brott Festival Orchestra. He has
appeared as concerto soloist with The Boston Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra (Peter Oundjian
conducting, to read more,
click here), and
the symphonies of Toronto, Edmonton, Colorado, Victoria,
Kitchener-Waterloo, Thunder Bay, Windsor and Santa Fe, as well as with
the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa and the Chamber Orchestra
of Philadelphia. He appeared as guest pianist with the St. Lawrence
String Quartet in Calgary, with the Shanghai Quartet in Richmond, with
the DaPonte String Quartet and with the Jacques Thibaud Trio (both in
Maine). A sought-after recitalist, he has just given a selection of
successful recitals, including appearances in Boston, Chicago, and
Philadelphia, as well as on the stages of the Caramoor and Ravinia
Festivals.
Recent chamber music performances include a program for CBC Montreal,
a visit to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and a week-long
residency at the Vermont Mozart Festival including recital, chamber
music and concerto appearances. Anton Kuerti performed a
Beethoven "Sonatathon" for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society in
late spring 2003 before his return to the Caramoor Festival that
summer.
In June, 2002, Anton Kuerti served as director of the the world's
first Czerny Festival in Edmonton. Artists such as the St. Lawrence
String Quartet and violinist Erika Raum joined Anton Kuerti in
celebrating the works of Carl Czerny at Convocation Hall and the
Winspear Center. To read more,
click here.
In Canada Kuerti has appeared in 140 communities from coast to coast,
and has played with every professional orchestra, including 39
concerts with the Toronto Symphony. He is an Officer of the Order of
Canada, and is the recipient of several honourary doctorates.
As a chamber musician, Kuerti has performed the major repertoire with
such artists as Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker, and the
Cleveland, Colorado, Guarneri, St. Lawrence and Tokyo String Quartets.
Anton Kuerti is one of today's most recorded artists, having put on
disc all the Beethoven Concertos and Sonatas, the Schubert Sonatas,
the Brahms Concertos and works by many other composers. His recordings
are heard almost daily on the CBC. Soon to be released is a CD of
works for piano and orchestra by Schumann, and a world premiere
release of works for violin and piano by Czerny.
A critic for the U.S. magazine Fanfare wrote simply that
'Kuerti is the best pianist currently playing'.
CD Review (London) called him 'one of the truly great pianists of this
century... stunningly played... poignantly beautiful ... a superb
Schubert player', while Classic CD (London) wrote that his was 'some
of the finest Schubert playing I've ever heard.
To order an
Anton Kuerti CD or tape, Click Here. |
