my meetings with composers

Recently, i realised that i totally forgot to update my blog as i had so many things happening, many concerts and crazy projects ...

And also to keep in touch with a very close friend, i used to post a very lot of pictures on Instagram.

Yes it was fun, but after a while , well like all social medias (Facebook too) a bit boring as its directness miss some content too.

As most of you already knows, i really enjoy performing new music, meet new composers. And only recently i started to take pictures with them !

So here some nice pictures i did with them (the list might get bigger when i will do more pictures)

The pictures are put there in no special order

Denis Levaillant , Regis Campo and me

(at Denis Levaillant recording studio)

This is the last (up to Jan 2016) that i did with my 2 French favorite composers / friends

Denis Levaillant is the first composer that really trusted my piano playing. It goes back to one of my very first concerts in 2010 when i was invited in Italy to do a Chopin Recital and did .... 1 hour Chopin and 1 hours of French Avant Garde ! Denis was so happy of my idea that he gave me some piece to world premiere !!

Regis Campo on the other hand, i met him later. It was thanks to the fantastic pianist Jay Gottlieb. I was in touch with Jay as i was "supposed" to do a Philip Glass Festival in Monaco in 2011. Unfortunately the Festival (who was on its very last stage of preparation) totally failed for extremely stupid reason (well it's serious unfortunately). But, as i did not want to loose 3 months of work, i used my most crazy idea for other festivals such as the 3 Glass Concertos in a row or the Glass Marathon.

What Régis has to do there ? Well , Régis loved my ideas andwhile we were talking we got a very "strange" idea ........ and ............ if i was going to ask composers to write hommage to Glass ?

Yes ! GlassWorlds very first concept came from this discussion !

Of course Régis did a fantastic piece. He has a very fun and nice musical style !

Danny Elfman (and me)

Last october 2015, i agreed to play in an orchestra (no, not on concerto, but the pianist waaaaaaay back in the orchestra). I really never wanted to do that, but .... here it was too much attractive : Danny Elfman was there !!!!! And , come on .... everyone loves Tim Briton movies ! and ... it was on a huge huge hall (Grand Rex) and many concerts too. Well , i had my solo moment (you know when there is the piano moment in the Corpse Bride, and .... i could see myself on the giaaaaant projector ! amazing!!!) but more interesting : i was able to work directly with Danny Elfman as time to time i had solo moments with him singing ! Yeah !!!!!!!

Jaan Rääts (me) and Ebba Rääts

As many might have understood, Jaan Rääts is really my big discovery. It goes back to 2012 when i discovered his music by total luck (no words can describle that better). First the little pieces that i found on internet were not that fantastic. But once they invited me to their place, and gave me a total access to all his archives .... ho my gosh !!!!!! What i had under my eyes was so amazing ! I can easily said that i am one of the few real Rääts enthusatc (i even did his only official website!)

Here we were working on some Sonatas. It was video recorded (in case i forget), and ... it was so funny to see Ebba and Maestro agruing about Maestro own music ! Also i was so touched by their hospitality. After the piano parts , we used to talk (with a nice bottle of red wine and a candle) until very very late in the night !

I am performing his music quite often, always with a lot of success ! There will be some very interesting projects in the near futur with this composer. So .... stay tuned !!!!

Fabien Saillard (and me)

This time it was in Menton, as we just ended visiting the Cocteau museum there (it happened after the "last minute" cancellation of my BIG concert with the OPMC : the 5 Liszt concertos in a row.... That was hard time ......

Anyway, i am glad Fabien was there as we had very nice time together ! I met him in 2010 as i was jury in an international competition near Lyon. We were both jury there and liked each other very well !

Fabien is a very great electroacoustic composer, i like his style very much . We have some projects together and i can't wait for them to happen !

Frédérick Martin (and me)

A french composer that i met a long time ago. I don't remember exactly how, but once, as i was digging out of a lot of contemporary pieces and found out his 1st Piano Sonata who was pretty amazing. In Prague i performed its 2nd Movement and after posting a video on YouTube, the composer contacted me. We had some very fantastic discussions together and he also wrote me 2 pieces : his incredible 6th Sonata , and a Prelude. I am glad that slowly by slowly he is getting more and more recognition !

Jean Michel Damase (and me)

In 2011 i had the honor and pleasure to meet JM Damase during a masterclass course. As a teenager i was not very much found of his very "french music" (at this time i was really much into late romanticism) , but i was very please to meet this lovely man, who actually was the only one (in the big list of maestro who's i worked with) who gave me advices on Erik Satie music ! We also had a nice talk and .... he was really looking forward the releases of my albums.... too bad i could never gave any of them to him ....

Another picture with Régis Campo and Denis Levaillant (and me)

This one was made after a recital i did for the launch of my Liszt Christus album. It was in Paris ' American Church and my program was ... a little too long. But both of them loved it !!

Frédérick Martin was also there (as i premiered his 6th Sonata) , but too shy to take a picture with me.

Ludmilla Yurina (and me)

This was taken in Kiev last November 2015 after a fantastic 2 pianos recital of all Jaan Rääts 2 pianos music with the great Lorenzo Meo. My Kiyv friends told me for a long time about this composer, and after some talk on internet , i was really extremely pleased to meet. She also gave me some very interesting piano music scores and now i am looking forward having an opportunity to perform them 

(me and) Masashi Hamauzu

I had the pleasure to meet this legendary video game composer after a concert he did in Paris with his band. I was invited by my friends from Wayo that introduced him to me. In his hand you can see my Liszt Christus album , and i played (as i was not aware that i would meet him) Scriabin Vers la Flamme. Hamauzu compose a very nice piano music , very much inspired by Ravel. He had a very interesting talk, and i am looking forward his newer compositions (and specially his etudes)

(me and) Michel Merlet

One of the composers i was really looking forward to meet. As a student i always regarded Michel Merlet as a great french figure. And i was so happy to be pretty well matching. I am looking forward playing his music when it will be possible. We had some talk about possible projects , but ... well ... we will see.

(me) David Chaillou and François Nicolas

Here enjoying a very nice talk involving many topics about music , mysticism, russian avant garde, electroacoustic ..... and who knows .... new projects as well ?

Was very surprised to learn that David knew i was doing electroacoustic compositions when... i am so silent about it ...

Paul E. Epstein (and me)

One of the minimalist who really has his own touch. We have been talking for quite a lot of time , and we have some projects together. I really like his bell like technique (no , nothing like the Pärt thing ! luckily for us ! ) . He wrote me 3 pieces so far : One hommage for the GlassWorlds project , one short piece for my Carnegie Premiere and also a very long piece that should be recorded (by me) soon.

Jaan Rääts congratulating me after a concert were a played some of his pieces

Well everything is in the title ^^

Too bad Maestro could not come to Milan for the World Expo Closing day Recital ... i am sure he would have been extra touched by the success his music has !

Terry Riley (and me)

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was able to meet the Legend !!!!!!!

And also i was SOOOOOO much touched, when ... as i introduced myself he replied : "ho yes i know you, what you do is wonderful, when you come to the US, please come to see me, i want to listen to you"

Well ..... i think there is no word able to describe the state of bliss i was at this time (and still is!)

(me and) Valentin Silvestrov

Yes, i was also very honored to meet this Ukrainian Legend !

It is very fun because at first ... well .... he was like "impossible to get near" . But as some of you know, when the Maydan revolution and bloodbath happenned , i did not cancel any of my tour concerts in Kyiv (and had blasting success). Also i performed some of his music at those time. So ... after hearing what i did, he was so much touched that he started to gave me almost everything he had (musically speaking) : all his personal recordings (40 hours of piano by himself !!!) , his scores , some manuscripts .... as much as i understood it was presents for other personns , but ... well ... he really wanted to give all that to me , with an open invitation to see him at anytime in Ukrain !

Unfortunately last time i was there, i was too much over busy with the Rääts tour, but next time .... you can count on me !!!!!

Steve Kornicki (and me)

A nice picture taken on september 2015 in Orlando one day after i just performed my GlassWorlds there. Steve had written me a fantastic mix (piano + electroacoustic) piece , and i was really happy to finally meet him (yes i was there when i performed the piece). Public really loved it as it is energetic and powerful ! I am looking forward more of his pieces !

William Susman (and me)

A nice picture taken after my Carnegie debut where i performed a nice piece he wrote for my GlassWorlds project. He is a "kind of" minimal composer, but not in the way we can imagine it. He composed a fantastic cycle of pieces "Quiet Rythms" .

Also i was so happy to have finally met him as we are pretty well fitting ! Nice intense and interesting talk !

We have some great projects for a near futur ..... stay tuned !!!

Laszlo Horvàth (me) , Melaine Dalibert & Giuliano D'Angiolini

Yes not a composer on the photo ! Well Laszlo and me are not family related at all ! This great Abstract Photograph and me will do some verrrrrry nice things in a near futur !

Also Melaine is a very nice composer i know for year. He is doing some very abstract minimalist music , imagine Jean Catoire or Morton Feldman but ... more abstract !!!! He says to use some fractal technique .... but his style tends to be bit more lyrical on each new composition

Giuliano is a great italian composer , there should be some very nice things coming soon with him too

Robert Sarrade (and me)

Robert Sarrade is a pretty famous composer of Sardanes (a very special danse from South West of France) , i premiered one of his and we performed it couples of times (with danser and even once with a cello and him doing the flute ! ). It was always very fun, specially with those music , there is extremely few on the scores and everything has to follow the dansers themselves (with their strange beats )

LP Duo , Sandra & Jeroen Van Veen (me) and Antonio Correa

This pictures had been taken during a Canto Ostinato XL Festival where we performed all together for the grand finale (Simeon Ten Holt 's Canto Ostinato)

I know Jeroen van Veen for couples of years as he was one of the very very early birds to compose a Glass Hommage, he also wrote a 2 pianos pieces. Unfortunately i could never play it (as i don't do often 2 pianos concerts unfortunately). He was always kind and introduced me to a lot of very strange minimalistics pieces and composers. It is great to see his evolution thought his great numbers of Minimal Preludes. I am really looking forward the pleasure to see his new music and also to perform with him !

Antonio Correa was met during this festival. It was for me quite a stunning shock. It would be difficult to describle his style. Maybe a mixture of late Morton Feldman and John Cage 's Dreaming ?

I really liked his music and as a result he wrote a very nice piece to me. I am still hopping for a Glass Hommage as he promised it since quite a lot of time now !

Craig Shepard , Paul A. Epstein (me) and William Susman

Yes again a group picture ! I will this time talk only about Craig Shepard nice and peacefull music.  He is one of the newest composer i met, and curiously , while i was aware (and liked his style) , and was on my way to ask him if he would be interested to be part of my GlassWorlds project, he just had finished a brand new piece that was exactly meeting my expectation ! Fate !

When we met (unfortunately he could not stay for diner with all of us) , he gave me his latest (well on early 2015) album and i was very surprised by his newest compositions , the walking in NYC ...

Again, i can't wait to have more of his music !

Anna Korotkina (and me)

It was after my recital at the House of Composer in Belarus that i had the pleasure to meet Anna Korotkina. She is at the head of the Composer Union in Belarus and has a very strong and personal style, a nice mixture of spectralism and graphic notation (but not too orthodox in both way). I received a nice package of scores and cds and i am looking forward having an opportunity to perform them. Unfortunately it is very difficult to get music from this country as their musical editorial system is purely catastrophic. A whole world to discover !

Olivier Innoncenti (and me)

A wonderful picture made by Olivier 's wife Florence Innoncenti. Olivier is a very gifted electroacoustic composer from Monaco (like me). He is most famous for his ballet. I have the luck to have me Olivier since i am a kid in the Monaco Academy of Music. He was like a big brother to me as he was the very first in Monaco to have won an international competition (he is also a very talented Bayan / Accordion / Egenhard player) , study abroad, having a teacher position in a conservatory .... etc etc .... Now we see pretty often and we collaborate as much as we can (he also participate time to time in my S.A.I. Ensemble).

Kanstantsin Yaskou  (and me)

Kanstantsin is a very great composer from Belarus, i am very happy that he wrote one of the most interesting (in its conception) hommage for my GlassWorlds Project. In fact he was able to see the similarties of Glass harmonic evolution with the Moonlight Sonata and then recreated a Philip Glass version of this cult piece. While i was in Belarus we exchanged a lot and really matched very well. His piece is always very successful and this is why i chosen it to be part of my Carnegie Hall debut !

I am really looking forward his new evolution and chances to meet again !

More to come .... when i will find the pictures !!!

Milan Expo Closing day Recital ! All Rääts recital !

2016 Milan World Expo : Closing Day Recital

Last 31st October 2015 , for the very last day of the World Expo in Milan , I was extremely honored to be invited by the Estonian Pavillon to give a recital for the Closing Day.

Since this Month was exactly the very same as Jaan RÄÄTS birthday month , my idea was to make a kind of musical birthday present. And then ... i programmed a whole recital dedicated only to his music.

For amateur of contemporary music, the recital was very interesting as it displayed music from all his creatives periods : from the begining until the very last piece he composed for my Carnegie Hall recital.

Here is the complete program :

Variatsioonid Op.6 (1958)

Sonaat n°1 Op 11 n°1 (1959) [world premiere]

Prelüüd n° 4 Op.33 (1968)

Tokaata (1968)

Bagatelli n°3,4,8,15,22 Op.50 (1973)

Marginaali n° 1,19 Op.65 (1979-80)

Sonaat n°9 Op.76 (1985 rev.2014)

Eesti Prelüüdi Cm, F# Gm, Op.80 (1988-89)

Autogram Op.110 (1999)

Sonaat n°10 Op.111 (2000 rev.2014)

Radio 4 Op.124 (2004 rev.2014)

Prelüüd Op 128 (2014)

some pictures of the concert

 Succes was just amazing. It started peacefully, as few understood that a concert was really going on. But after 20 minutes and the crazy Tokaata, a huge croud started to gather all around me ! Also many reporters. As much as i remember there were like 3 different huge pro camera (you know the very big ones) , and i don't remember how many people did ZOOM recordings.
But after 40 minutes, as i was into the very strong pieces such as the Sonatas 9 & 10 , Radio 4 and the last Prelude, I had to ask my page turner really to look after me as the public was dangerously too near me (i still need some "space" around me to be able to keep the focus), there were people staring at me who were on the piano itself and also (more dangerous) people trying to take the scores !
Yes many of the scores were manuscripts and as you know composers .... when they gave you a manuscript .... if you loose them , they will never give you another one back !!!!

At the end i had a huge applause, and did 3 Encores :

Satie : Gnosienne 1

Rääts : Sonata 1 2nd movement (as i was not really happy with my first rendition)

Glass : Etudes 2, 1, 16 & 6

After it , well , spent a long time to meet the public who wanted to know much more about Jaan Rääts music , and also answered to some short interviews.

The concert was filmed with my little cam, but .... the croud was so big and the space so tinny that ... no one cared about the cam and so many people were standing front of it .....

Such an amazing moment i will remember all my life . As a child i was staring as World Expo books, and i still remember when my father visited Barcelona World Expo and told me how fantastic it was.
Never at this time i would have dream to be invited to perform in one and .... for a Closing Day !

Portrait and live interview at France Music !

My so dear friends


This Monday 1st Feb 2016 at 9.30 pm , I have the pleasure and the extreme honor to have been invited by "Les Lundis de la Contemporaine" at France Musique, who wish to do a live interview and a portrait of my implication toward the contemporary and actual musical scene.

I had the possibility to organise my own 30 minutes playlist totally freely , so .... as you will see on the program ...  it will be full of surprise and ... with many fields that i do not have the opportunity to really promote

For the one who can't attend it , you will be able to listen to it live , or for 3 years at this link :

http://www.francemusique.fr/emission/le-magazine-de-la-contemporaine/2015-2016/l-invite-nicolas-horvath-02-01-2016-21-30

Some pictures of it :

My Playlist :




Claude DEBUSSY Canope
03:05:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
The French Avant-Garde In The 20th Century
Label: LTM – LTMCD 2571


Philip GLASS Orphée's Bedroom (Orphée Suite: II)
01:32:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
Philip Glass : Glassworlds 1
Label: Grand Piano – GP677
HD mastering


Philip GLASS Etude n°11 (Book 2)
04:02:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
Philip Glass : Glassworlds 2
Label: Grand Piano – GP690
HD mastering


Philip GLASS Sonatina n°2
02:40:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
Philip Glass : Glassworlds 3
Label: Grand Piano – GP691
HD mastering


Jaan RÄÄTS Tokaata
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
03:44:00
Live recording


Erik SATIE Vexations (extrait)
01:38:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
Complet(ed) Erik Satie Edition Vol.1
Label: Sheva Collection (2016 TBR)
Pre-mastered version


Marcel DUCHAMP Erratum Musical
01:14:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
The French Avant-Garde In The 20th Century
Label: LTM – LTMCD 2571


"a little surprise"


Cornelius CARDEW Treatise
(pages 22 à 28 - harsh noise version)
01:59:00
Nicolas HORVATH
Cornelius Cardew : Treatise (harsh noise version)
Label: Sublime Recapitulation Music – hoof070


Terry RILEY In C (extrait)
ENSEMBLE S.A.I. (Live recording)
04:59:00
Guitares:
Laurent JAMES
JUDICAËL
Florian LENIAUD
Eigenharpp: Olivier INNOCENTI
synthétiseur:
Nicolas HORVATH


Nicolas HORVATH Electroacoustic Prelude XXIV
(yes my own music!)
04:02:00
N.Horvath 24 Electroacoustic Preludes
Label: Demerara Records (2016 TBR)


Nobuo UEMATSU ( 植松 伸夫 ) / Hiroyuki NAKAYAMA Biggu Burijji no Shitō (ビッグブリッヂの死闘)
02:42:00
(piano : Nicolas HORVATH)
Live recording



ENJOY !!!!!!

Happy Birthday Scriabin !!!!

Happy Birthday Alexander Scriabin ! (version française plus bas)

With all the contemporary music I am performing, most of the people hardly belive when i say that my favorite composer is Alexander Scriabin (i am still sad that a Scriabin album i was supposed to do is postponned to ..... an unknown time).
Anyway, this is my oldest live recording available. It was made years before i started to work with my first real maestro Gerard Frémy and one week before my meeting with Br...igitte Engerer (for extremely stupid reasons i could never work with her, as she really wanted to take care of me). I was then 18
It is also the very first time i performed with orchestra and of course i choose ? The Scriabin Concerto !
Yes my technique at the time was perfectible, but i like this recording, it reflect a naive time of me, right before i was going to come in Paris and face my first huge personal deceptions
Next week in Monaco, I will perform after 20 years one of my warhorse of the time the Etude Op.8 n°12 aka "Patetico" (and what Jean Yves Thibaudet used to tell to all his friends "the best version i ever listen ot this étude")

Yes i can still say it : i love you Scriabin , i always did and will always do ! Happy Birthday ! ! !

Heureux anniversaire Alexandre Scriabine !

Il est toujours curieux de voir que, malgré toute la musique contemporaine que je joue et soutiens, à chaque fois que je mentionne le nom de Scriabine comme étant mon compositeur favori, cela génère de l'étonnement (on s'attend plus à Glass, voir Liszt ou Satie, rah quelle tristesse que mon album Scriabine ai été repoussée aux calendres grecques ....)
Voici donc le plus vieil enregistrement Live disponible sur ma page YouTube . Il a été réalisé de nombreuses années avant que je commence à travailler avec mon tout premier maître : Gerard Frémy et une petite semaine avant ma rencontre avec Brigitte Engerer (malheureusement pour des raisons d'une stupidité affligeante je n'ai jamais pu travailler avec elle, malgré le très vif intérêt qu'elle avait envers moi). J'avais 18 ans.
C'était la toute première fois que je jouais avec orchestre et qu'avais-je choisi ? Le concerto de Scriabine !
Oui ma technique était à ce moment là perfectible, mais j'aime cet enregistrement qui est un peu pour moi ma madeleine de Proust, un temps qui n'est plus , il reflète le monde naïf dans lequel je me trouvais pour quelques derniers moments , quelques années avant de monter à Paris et d'affronter mes premières grandes désillusions personnelles.
La semaine prochaine à Monaco, je vais jouer, après 20 ans, un de mes chevaux de bataille : l'Etude Op.8 n°12 aka "Patetico" (à l'époque, Jean Yves Thibaudet avait dit à tout ses amis que ma version était "la meilleure version que j'ai jamais entendu" )

Oui je peux toujours le dire : J'aime Scriabine, je l'ai toujours aimé et l'aimerais toujours ! Heureux Anniversaire ! ! !

Siloti's daughter on Scriabin

My dear friends

As you might know, right now after all the concerts and recording i did, i am now preparing all material for futur releases , means .... writting booklets , doing the editing , the checking , organising musicologists about what i am looking for ...

Not really a peacefull vacation !

Also, i still have in mind to do nice longer new articles (i have in mind : last Glass tour in all Paris , last Vexations , and some other such as my Kiev adventure during the eve of the war , or the Glassworlds, the dreamt success in Carnegie ... )

Anyway , until this time , i wanted to share with you a great discovery . Specially if you are a Scriabin lover.

As few might know, Scriabin is my fav composer ! Yes ! Scriabin and not Liszt or Glass or Satie or i don t know whom

And .... honestly .... he is also the reason i worked with Gerard Frémy (assistant of Heinrich Neuhaus)  and Oxana Yablonskaya (who studied with Alexander Goldenweiser) .

Maybe i was dreaming about that ? 

It was also the very first international competition i won , the first concerto i played with orchestra ( i was 17 then ) , i shared with him my serious first love (and deception ! of course it always go together) , my search for absolute and also the unknown (yes i even read Blavatsky ! even if most of the time i had to take aspirin every 10 lines! ) the dark ....

Well to sum it , Scriabin is (since my 16) the composer whom i feel the most close and ... when i play his music i feel completely at home

myself at 18, unfortunately only the end was taped : ) 

a little juveline with a not strong technique at all , but ... very romantic and masculine approach of this fantastic music 

So what is my discovery about ?

Well today i read an article from the incredible label Arbiter records (link to article here) where a wonderful letter from Siloti's daughter describle Scriabin ! Yes !!

So to avoid you lot of search , here it is ! (of course if you visit the page you will have tons of other interesting things if, like me, you love russian music)

the letter : 

it s translation ! 

Kyriena on  Scriabin

Scriabin was a very delicate and sensitive person.

His eyes often bore an expression as if he was “in a different world” as it were…

He was of modest height, with small and elegantly shaped hands. Once after having sung something, he put his hand at the edge of a table and started tapping against it with his fifth finger. When my mother, having noticed this, looked at him curiously, he said that the pinky concerns him and he is testing it.

It was hard to find good performers of his music. I have heard a recording of a ‘poem’ by Sofronitsky, who performed it very well, in a true Scriabin style, but with a slightly added romanticism.

Among other pianists who play Scriabin well, too many treat the loud sections with too harsh a tone. He himself performed them certainly in a loud fashion, providing the inner drama, without harshness…

translated by Dmitry Rachmanov

And to finish ... the wonderful Scriabin performing himself

Electroacoustic releases !

2 MORE ELECTROACOUSTIC RELEASE !!! 

My dear friends 

I am very happy and honored that 2 of my electroacoustic compositions will be soon released !!! 

Yes unfortunately i am not very active on this spot as piano really takes me a lot of energy, but recently i got more and more proposal. Some leads to nothing serious and sometime it really works. 

So now those are the great news !!! 

This Sat 23 May 2015 :

LBDLC AHA

my own composition "La Tentation d'exister" will be release on a limited 33 unit print on Vinyl (EP) on one face, and on the other face a poem (AHA) written  and recitated by Maurice Benhamou 

Also it includes a Jean Degottex 's  Hors Sphere facsimile 

it will be release by AH AH AH editions and available only during the MAD#1 - Multiple Art Day in Paris 

Also 7 of them (tirage de tête) are signed by both Maurice Benhamou and me ! 

AUGUST 17th 2015 

THIS IS TOMORROW CALLING

my own composition "Electroacoustic Prelude XVII" will be part of the 2 CD digital release album from Demerarra Records. 

It will feature many young and promising composers and .... i am honored to be part of the selection !!! 

Also the same label should release in 2016 my "24 Electroacoustic Preludes" on album (both digital and "normal") !!!! 

Glass: Glassworlds, Vol. 1 : reviews

My dear friends

No show off intend with this post. I simply try to , like i did with my Liszt - Christus album , to centralise the review for a real practical reason. 

Unfortunately my website "review" section is very exaustive , but ... not very practical. 

I hope in this way, it will be then way easier for everyone 

Reviews : 

Seth Colter Walls (Rhapsody.com) - RHAPSODY - TOP 10 CLASSICAL ALBUMS, APRIL 2015

Nicolas Horvath has launched the first volume of a planned series, Glassworlds, with an album that includes a buoyant performance of Glass' Orphee Suite.

Remy Franck (Pizzicato.lu)

Die technische Herausforderung an den Pianisten ist gewaltig, bereitet aber dem monegassischen Pianisten Nicolas Horvath keine Probleme. Seine Virtuosität ist stupend

International Piano (june 2016) 5 Stars

‘Expert performances.’

C. Michael Bailey (All About Jazz, April 2015)

Glassworlds I promises to be a comprehensive look at the whole of Philip Glass’ piano art. Horvath takes great care in his articulation of the volume dynamics of the piece, treating the music gently were required and with muscle where appropriate. It will be a treat to hear what is on Glassworlds 2.

Patrice Imbaud (L'Education Musicale - Mars 2016) "A découvrir absolument !"

Si certains esprits critiques se plairont à souligner la faiblesse compositionnelle de ces pièces, nul ne pourra mettre en doute la magie de l'interprétation de Nicolas Horvath qui nous avait déjà séduit avec son dernier enregistrement lisztien. Rigueur dans la progression rythmique, virtuosité et délicatesse du toucher, poésie de la ligne tout y est pour affirmer haut et fort la profonde affinité existant entre le pianiste et le compositeur américain. Une merveilleuse façon d'entrer dans le monde si particulier de Philip Glass.

Dionys (Inactuelles)

Le pianiste nous entraîne loin des lectures sages, compassées qui réduisent Philip Glass à une icône de la musique minimaliste ou répétitive. Primat à la sensibilité sur la technique compositionnelle !

C'est bien ce que l'on entend dès Opening (1981), une des plus célèbres compositions de Glass, plus contrasté m'a-t-il semblé que sous les doigts du compositeur, avec des moments de retenue très beaux joints à une incroyable délicatesse de toucher, une grâce brumeuse, des montées plus intenses. Une très belle relecture, qui nous prépare à l'étonnante "Orphée Suite", arrangement par Paul Barnes pour le piano d'extraits de l'opéra de chambre en deux actes Orphée d'après Jean Cocteau. Rappelons au passage que Philip Glass a terminé ses études musicales à Paris, sous la houlette de Nadia Boulanger, qu'il parle assez bien français et connaît notre culture, d'où son intérêt pour Cocteau, auquel il consacrera une trilogie. Étonnante, cette suite ? Elle combine ragtime tumultueux et mélodies envoûtantes comme celle de "Journey to the Undeworld", vision infernale à la beauté trouble, très inattendue dans l'œuvre de Philip Glass. Même "Orphée and the Princess", a priori plus dans les clichés glassiens, est aérée par le toucher précis qui fait ressortir chaque note, par l'énergie des montées, la profondeur des moments graves. Toute la suite est tranfigurée, portée par un charme irréel qui se résoud en une atmosphère vaporeuse traversée d'élans émouvants dans la dernière section "Orphée's Bedroom Reprise".

Dreaming Awake, pièce de 2003, si elle ressemble plus à du Glass, surprend par une fougue étincelante, une inventivité mélodique que j'ai pu entendre sous les doigts du compositeur interprétant quelques unes de ses récentes Études pour piano lors de son récent concert à La Comète de Châlons en Champagne. Ce premier enregistrement mondial est superbe, brassant les émotions les plus diverses avec une grande palette de couleurs au long des quatre mouvements, surprenant par un savant jeu de reprises et d'amplifications.

Le programme se termine avec une longue pièce de plus de trente minutes datant de 1968, How Now, représentative du style répétitif de cette période, mais également influencée par les ragas indiens, les gamelans indonésiens. Le piano s'y fait percussif, le jeu roulant des notes produit des champs harmoniques denses, d'où son côté hypnotique. Le piano devient portique de cloches folles agitées par le vent. Musique extraordinaire, qui suscitera sans doute de violents rejets de la part de ceux qui voudraient n'y entendre que le retour du même, tout à fait enthousiasmante pour les autres, dont je suis, ravis d'être transportés dans cette série d'escalades vertigineuses, dans cette houle illuminée, ce martèlement pourtant assez différent de celui d'un Charlemagne Palestine. C'est un chemin violent d'ascèse, un dépouillement, sans cesse à reprendre pour atteindre l'extase.

Un disque magistral, éblouissant, fort intelligemment conçu de manière non chronologique pour présenter toute la diversité de l'œuvre de Philip Glass, ce jeune compositeur de plus de 87 ans. La rencontre d'un immense compositeur et d'un non moins immense pianiste, qu'on se le dise ! Sans oublier le piano, un Fazioli, à la musicalité exceptionnelle !!

David Denton (David’s Review Corner)

Glass was to embrace every genre, though as he composes at the piano, he has contributed much for keyboard. Certainly an acquired taste, but one which you have to become acquainted, the opening of Glassworks having a delicacy that reminds one of Debussy. With jazz introducing a different slant to the opening of the suite from Orphee, this too largely relies on quiet nuances. The opera, from which it is taken, points to Glass’s quite considerable and critically acclaimed contribution to the stage. The ‘hard nut’ to crack, for those just coming to Glass, will be How Now, a score that lasts for over thirty minutes, its highly repetitive nature requiring the French-born pianist, Nicolas Horvath, to breath life into it. Basically the music does not demand a prodigious technique, though the ability to shade music with an infinite number of sounds is a prime requisite. Here we have such remarkably smooth crescendos and diminuendos, you would almost construe they were electronically created. The engineering is excellent.

Piano Bleu

Inutile donc de vous commenter les qualités d’interprétation de Nicolas Horvath, un pianiste qui semble ici complètement et parfaitement « chez lui » avec cette musique dans laquelle il met beaucoup de sa sensibilité personnelle.

Seth Colter Walls (Rhapsody.com)

On this all-Philip Glass album, young pianist Horvath has the honor of giving the recorded premiere of « Dreaming Awake, » a pleasant 2003 piece that breaks no new ground. Much more interesting is his take on Glass’ « How Now, » which dates from 1968. Glass himself once played this uber-minimalist opus with a brittle, buzz-saw synth — though Horvath goes in the other direction, managing to sound both nervy and graceful on a resonant grand piano. And while his teasingly languorous performance of the Orphee Suite flirts with lassitude, he keeps the work’s essential momentum going.

Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier (En Piste ! 8 Février 2015)

En passant par l œuvre pour piano que l on peut découvrir aujourd'hui grâce à Nicolas Horvath , excellent pianiste qui se lance dans une intégrale , c'est le premier volume pour le label Grand Piano. Il faut dire que Nicolas Horvath c'est l'un des grands interprètes de ce répertoire qu'il défend depuis des années en récital principalement et il donne aujourd'hui une vision très chaleureuse de cette musique qui lui retire un peu ce coté mécanique que l'on peut parfois trouver à la musique de Philip Glass pour lui installer une sorte de rubato de lyrisme même. à cette musique que l'on peut parfois trouver un petit peu froide.

C'est le début d'une belle intégrale en tout cas c'est le premier volume.

C'est lui qui écrit la notice de ce disque , on sent un véritable amour , il dit qu'il la joue depuis des années , qu'il se lance dans cette intégrale et j'ai l impression que c 'est vraiment un interprète privilégié aussi pour la musique du XXI ème siècle et du XX ème siècle , on va suivre ceci avec intérêt

On a là en plus une très belle prise de son.

Infodad.com (March 2015)

Nicolas Horvath brings as much care and sensitivity to the piano version of How Now…as to the much more dramatic Dreaming Awake …

JPC.de

Nicolas Horvath ist unter anderem bekannt für seine viel gelobten Liszt-Einspielungen auf dem Label Editions Hortus. Aber immer wieder realisiert der Monegasse auch Projekte abseits eingetretener Klassikpfade, so etwa ein Album mit einem Soundtrack zu H. P. Lovecraft's Fantasy-Geschichte »Dreams in the Witch House« in Kollaboration mit einer Dark Ambient-Rockband.

Philip Glass' Klavierwerke sind bei Horvath also in den besten Händen, denn in seiner Persönlichkeit vereinen sich spieltechnische Könnerschaft und das gewisse Quäntchen Pop-Feeling, das man für Glass' minimalistische Klanglandschaften eben auch benötigt.

Stephen Smoliar (Examiner.com)

There is no shortage of excitement in […] performances.As a result, my greatest pleasure come from Horvath’s performance of Barnes’ suite based on Glass’ opera. ...Horvath [...] bring[s] an accessibility to Glass’ music that affirms that his years of youthful provocation have long passed.

La Nuit Magazine – 18 Septembre 2015

Le brillant pianiste français Nicolas Horvath nous propose une plongée dans l’univers feutré du compositeurs américain Philip Glass.

Outre la technique remarquable du pianiste que l’on peut apprécier dans ses interprétations virtuoses des oeuvres de Franz Liszt, on savoure ici la sensibilité de son touchée, et sa vision simple et épurée de cette partition que l’on ressent dès les premières notes d' »Opening », pièce écrite en 1981 et qui reste a ce jour l’une des plus connues du compositeur. Sous les doigts de Nicolas Horvath, « Glassworlds vol1 » parait plus contrasté qu’à l’habitude, le musicien y injectant une grâce brumeuse et toute en retenue qui contraste avec des émotions intenses, une très belle relecture.

Un disque magistral qui vous fera découvrir une partie des multiples facettes de cet immense compositeur portée par la maestria de son brillant interprète. Le piano Fazioli utilisé lors de l’enregistrement nous rappelle a quel point la marque italienne manufacture des merveilles, tant pour leurs capacités musicales, que leur puissance sonore, leur robustesse implicite, ainsi que pour leur finition et leur extrême raffinement. À découvrir sans plus attendre.

cdconnection.com

Top 100 Classical - Fastest Selling Classical CDs April 23, 2015 :   GlassWorlds #19

AudioNec

For all the piano lovers and contemporary music, this CD is a must have. Perfect play of Philip Glass’s music with a kind of eternal candle to light it inside. Perfect sound and recording of a Fiazoli Grand Piano with all the harmonics and exceptional dynamic of this unique instrument.

fnac.com

Top 50 Classical Best Selling Classical CDs  May 6, 2015 : GlassWorlds #42

Chris Morgan (Scene Magazine, July 2015)

Pianist Nicolas Horvath exhibits skill and inventiveness in his performance, qualities which allow him to go wherever the music leads

Rob Haskins (American Record Guide, July 2015)

…the disc is important because it demonstrates that Glass’s music works quite nicely alongside other composers of the past and alongside quite traditional approaches to performance generally

Christian Williams (Utne Reader, May 2015)

Considered one of the most sought after classical pianists of his generation, Steinway Artist Nicolas Horvath is always looking for bigger challenges. His latest release, Glassworlds Vol. 1, sees him taking on more of Glass’ complex minimalism with aplomb.

Mike Shooter (La Vos de los Vientos)

La aproximación de Horvath a la pieza [Opening from Glassworks] es profundamente lírica, con un sentimiento que cuesta adivinar en otras versiones, incluyendo la del propio compositor.

La sola presencia de “Dreaming Awake” sería motivo más que justificado para que el seguidor de Glass se acercase a esta grabación. El resto del repertorio, sin ser tan “raro” no está entre lo más interpretado de su autor lo que convierte a este primer volumen de “Glassworlds” en un interesante punto de partida para una serie que puede atraer por igual al neófito y al experto. Estamos seguros, además, de que el seguidor habitual del blog encontrará en él muchos motivos de disfrute.

Michel Dutrieue (Klassiek Centraal - 30/05/15 ) ranking : ****

Na de opening van Glassworks (1981) volgt het arrangement voor piano solo van pianist en eveneens Liszt vertolker Paul Barnes (°1961) van de Orphée Suite uit 2000. Ritmische ostinati, trance achtige arpèges, etherische melodieën, toonladderfiguren en harmonische progressies wisselen elkaar af of volgen elkaar op. De suite bestaat uit The Cafe in verrassende ragtime stijl, het wazige en fragiele Orphée’s Bedroom met het Gluck citaat dat uitmondt in het gelijkaardig Beethoven citaat uit diens Mondschein, het mysterieuze, Chopin prélude-achtige Journey To The Underworld, het elegante Orphée And The Princess met zijn innemende dalende toonladder, het tremolerend, repetitief Return To Orphée’s House, het aarzelend, meditatief en vredig Orphée’s Return en het magisch, bedwelmend Orphée’s Bedroom.

Dreaming Awake, verklanking van verdriet, angst en wanhoop uit 2003, is hier voor de eerste keer opgenomen. De orgelachtige klank van How Now uit 1968 (een goeie 30 min.) klinkt door al Glass’ typische stijlkenmerken, hypnotiserend. De compositie betekende het begin van Glass’ minimalistische, repetitieve muziek en besluit op deze cd wat pianist Nicolas Horvath in de tekst van het bijhorend boekje omschrijft als “the experience of the divine feeling of love”.

Colin Clarke ( International PIano n°31 May-June 2015 ) ranking : *****

Somehow, the objectivity of the sound of a piano suits the music of Philip Glass perfectly. Certainly that's how it seems in Nicolas Horvath's expert performances on this, the first of a series of Glass Recordings.

The Opening from Glassworks (1981) exudes calm in its echt-Glassian construction. The programming is impeccable here, with the first movement of the Orphée Suite, The Café, at once immediately related to Glassworks but more external, more ragtime.

If the delicacy of Orphée’s Bedroom is as heady as the most Impressionist perfume, it could hardly stand in higher contrast to Orphée’s Journey to Hell , a nightmarish tone poem that immediately makes clear the composer’s affi nity with film (one is reminded of his awe-inspiring soundtrack to the 1931 Dracula). The sheer beauty of the melodic line of Orphée and the Princess is stunning in this performance, while Orphée’s Return finds myth morphing into fairytale.

Dreaming Awake (2003) is a world premiere recording, in itself making this a mandatory purchase, and Horvath projects the music’s energy perfectly. The much earlier (1968) How Now comes up against stiff competition in the shape of Schleiermacher (Dabringhaus). Influenced by Indian raga and gamelan as well as jazz, How Now is a virtuoso piece in which the piano seems to transcend its own boundaries and where the sustaining pedal transports the listener to whole new worlds. Horvath in no way loses out to Schleiermacher. Volume 2 is eagerly awaited.

Gramola.at

Philip Glass’ Klavierwerke sind bei Horvath also in den besten Händen, denn in seiner Persönlichkeit vereinen sich spieltechnische Könnerschaft und das gewisse Quäntchen Pop-Feeling, das man für Glass’ minimalistische Klanglandschaften eben auch benötigt.