Boris Berezovsky

• Pianist

Reviews

Boris Berezovsky reviews

'It takes something special to make a programme like this work. Boris Berezovsky has it in spades. [...] Within a couple of minutes [of Rachmaninov's Sonata no.1], comments about technique seemed superfluous, except that what Berezovsky did was so breathtakingly beautiful--in tone, in perfect placing and pacing within this sonata's deliberately loose narrative, and in the deceptive ease with which torrents of notes created utterly persuasive large-scale design. [...] As a taster to three of Godowsky's rarely played Studies on Chopin's Etudes, we heard the latter's Scherzo no.1, played with astonishing and very Russian-sounding flair. [...] Can you imaginet he famous 'Revolutionary' Etude played by left hand alone? Hard to believe. But there it was. And, as with everything else in this concert, it was beautifully shaped. That ability to trascend the physical challenges of such preposterously difficult music was part of Berezovsky's secret. And he sustained it throughout five of Liszt's Transcendental Studies. He moved very little; and his calm physicality seemed focused far more on listening, on holding onto a train of thought. Virtuosity was more a tool rather than an ed. And at the end, after a few impeccably shaped miniatures as encores, one was left thinking that Berezovsky is one of the greatest pianists of our time.' Martin Adams, Irish Times, 26 May 2009 Recital, National Concert Hall Dublin,

24 May 2009 '... Medtner still needs champions, and in Boris Berezovsky he's found the perfect one. Medtner's music has other virtues, as this laid-back young Russian proceeded to demonstrate from the first grand flourishes of Concerto No. 1. Where many pianists are content to deliver them as a generalised roar, Berezovsky gave them a crystalline clarity: big and bear-like, he made the piano seem a small, manageable thing. Medtner's lack of interest in orchestration meant the conductor, Alexander Lazarev, and the Philharmonia had nothing very exciting to do, but Berezovsky's task was immense: how to power this seamless 35-minute work from peak to peak of thunderous emotion, while dipping into valleys of exquisite, filigree pyrotechnics. Berezovsky's achievement was to bring out Medtner's fastidiously lyrical voice. When he delivered a Medtner rarity as a mid-concert encore, piling up the notes like a circus act, the house went wild.' Michael Church, The Independent, 8 May 2006 Philharmonia Orchestra/Alexander Lazarev, London Queen Elizabeth Hall, 23 and 27 April 2006

'The soloist in Medtner's Concerto was Boris Berezovsky, technically electrifying and searchingly assertive in expression...Lazarev took [Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto] at one hell of a lick, while Berezovsky flung out octaves and cadenzas like machine gun fire.' Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 2 May 2006

'It's certainly true that Berezovsky could turn up the soulful introspection at the heart of any work by Tchaikovsky, but his feverish exactitude still made room for softer touches. The fiery cadenzas of the first movement contained memorably poignant touches as well as heroic theatricality. Dextrous, subtle touches like this distinguished the simplicity of the second movement as well as the dancing finale, and were a fitting counterpoint to the big-boned, full-blooded accompaniment by Lazarev and the Philharmonia.' Neil Fisher, The Times, 2 May 2006 RECORDING REVIEWS 'Here are compelling accounts of the solo parts of these works accompanies by routine partners and a recorded balance that improves over successive movements. At first, the brass and especially woodwind are consigned too distantly to the background, while Mr Liss keeps track of his star soloist efficiently without contributing any special detail or insight. Such shortcomings, however, should not distract from Berezovsky on rampant top form as these artists complete the composer's piano-and-orchestra works... Only a handful of other recordings convey quite as well as this the same sense of desperate, heroic struggle in the first movement of cadenza of the First Concerto... though the sforzando orchestral re-entry as Berezovsky bursts his chains and sprints for freedom is one of many lost moments. The slow movement has some lovely touches (listen to the piano solo beginning at 1'03" and the breath-catching phrasing at 1'38") while Berezovsky's razor-sharp articulation and attack make for a thrilling finale. ...The Paganini Rhapsody has the distinction of being among the fastest and fieriest on disc - Berezovsky takes the last two variations at a staggering pace including a white-hot cadenza...' Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone Magazine, December 2006 Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 4; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini