CONCERT & RECORDING artists
MARIANNE THORSEN violin
The IndependentConcert Review, Nielsen Concerto Performance, London
The glory of the evening, however, was the Norwegian violinist Marianne Thorsen's performance of Nielsen's Violin Concerto - technically first-rate and full of love for this very lovable music.
International Record ReviewMozart: Concertos 3-5 CD (2L)Trondheim Soloists Norwegian Spellemann Prize: Best Classical Album
This was masterly playing, impeccably phrased and articulated. Rarely has Mozart come dancing off the page so enticingly. Thorsen's deeply committed playing succeeds in making the music both expressively cogent and structurally compelling.
MARTIN OWEN horn
The Sunday Times Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings CD (Linn) Scottish Ensemble, Toby Spence
Owen's playing is a luxury for the ear.
The Times Elliot Carter Concerto at the composer's 100th birthday at the Barbican. BBCSO / Oliver Knussen
Martin Owen dazzled us in the recent Horn Concerto, a jubilant celebration of this "peculiar instrument" (Carter's phrase), with the solo gymnastics magically tinctured by a rainbow of wonders, from tutti shrieks and a percussion salsa to whispers of vibraphone and muted brass.
VIV MCLEAN piano
Le Monde, ParisRecital performance at Festival de Melle, France
Extraordinary originality, superb simplicity, and fingers of steel hidden behind muscles of velvet. He is an otherworldly young man - he plays with the genius one finds in those who know how to forget themselves, naturally placing themselves at the right point to meet the music, this mystery of the moment.
The TimesRecital performance at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London.
The pianist Viv McLean never faltered, spewing molten lava.
RUI PINHEIROconductor
Hardmusica, PortugalConcert with Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa including Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto with Artur Pizarro
Pinheiro is a sober conductor, with restrained but firm gestures, always keeping the musicians attentive to his baton. Rui Pinheiro is a conductor which, by the simplicity of his conducting, achieves exactly what he wants: a brilliant and perfect execution of the works he interprets.
Bournemouth Echo Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Pinheiro's immaculate orchestral balancing delighted our ears...finely gauged attention to the music's character…under the direction of Rui Pinheiro it was clear that the Pavilion soundstage had been transformed…with Rui Pinheiro on the podium we were assured well-focused reading.
