A Pianist Fills In, Saving The Day
“Mr. Gerstein played these pieces with an illuminating clarity and an unassailable technique. Those qualities served him even better on larger canvases. In Schumann’s “Humoreske” (Op. 20), Mr. Gerstein kept the singing top line soaring over the accompaniment, even in the work’s more intensely driven sections, and if that was not quite enough to conquer the structural unwieldiness that afflicts the work, the reading maintained a level of excitement that overcame the score’s shortcomings.
But this performance paled beside Mr. Gerstein’s spellbinding account of Liszt’s B minor Sonata, in which he balanced a big, torrential sound in the work’s thunderous sections with crystalline — but still assertive — phrasing in the more introspective passages. As an encore, he gave a brisk, pedal-free performance of the two bourées from Bach’s English Suite No. 2.”
- New York Times, May 10, 2010
The Gilmore Guy: Kirill Gerstein on Kalamazoo’s Cloak and Dagger Competition
When I heard Kirill Gerstein had called my office trying to catch me before I began writing about him, I knew something exciting was in the works. And I was right: I could hear the Gilmore Prize winner smiling into his phone in Stuttgart where he teaches at the Musikhochschule, as he shared the news that he’ll be premiering a new piece by the Scots composer and conductor Oliver Knussen at his Gilmore recital on 3 May. Called ‘Ophelia’s Dream’ and based on a short fragment Knussen wrote some time ago, the work will feature in both halves of the Gilmore recital programme.
Gerstein / Gilmore Award Festival Recital
“Finally, the new Gilmore Artist understands the hidden dimension of musical beauty available from playing pianissimos. Gerstein proved a master of that art, causing the large Chenery audience to hold its breath so as not to miss a single note. As a result, Liszt emerged a more brilliant composer thanks to the layers of beauty Gerstein located in the score.”
- Kalamazoo Gazette, May 4, 2010
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