"Mr. Ponthus's virtuosity
is hair-raising, like beams of electricity shooting from a Frankenstein
machine… a kind of priest channeling spirits in an arcane rite, hurling
himself at the keyboard with little ferocious cries until the whole instrument
shook, resounding in the vibrating air." “Ponthus offers a Gaspard of considerable originality…his tempo (Gibet) allows us to enjoy each and every deathly aromatic, Baudelairean detail. In the four Xenakis pieces, Ponthus has the rare ability to go beyond technical difficulties and recreate in his own image music that usually strikes terror into the pianist’s heart. I find these works clicking into focus here for the first time, their sense of purpose revealed…A unique coupling, then, and strongly recommended – indeed, this is already one of my favorite piano releases of the year.” Arved Ashby "It is an immense challenge, to which Marc Ponthus rises triumphantly…his performance is thoroughly physical, transforming Xenakis's abstract ideas into tactile masses of sound. Ponthus is up against much stiffer competition (Ravel), but for my money his is among the best versions.” Ivan Hewett “Mr. Ponthus opened the festival with the Boulez Second Sonata, an explosion of aggressive energy that seemed magnified by the concentrated power of his technique and by the relative intimacy of the Mannes concert hall. He gave a spare, thoroughly soulful reading of the slow movement, in which the spread of pitches is extreme and the dynamics are tightly constrained. And he gave the third movement a playfulness that is not always immediately evident in Mr. Boulez’s music.” Allan Kozinn "Two
years ago, French pianist Marc Ponthus made the most astonishing debut of
that musical season and probably of any season in recent memory." "Ponthus is among
today's most impressive pianists." "Mr. Ponthus
was a cogent, impressive performer, who combined beauty of tone with beauty
and power of thought." "Mr. Ponthus
opened the festival with the Boulez Second Sonata, an explosion of aggressive
energy that seemed magnified by the concentrated power of his technique
and by the relative intimacy of the Mannes concert hall. He gave a spare,
thoroughly soulful reading of the slow movement, in which the spread of
pitches is extreme and the dynamics are tightly constrained. And he gave
the third movement a playfulness that is not always immediately evident
in Mr. Boulez's music." Ponthus is definitely
the right pianist for Xenakis. He tries to re-invent and freshen the piano
recital experience just as Xenakis invented and explored an entirely new
sound world!
"Flowing through
his fingers, the jagged phrases, asymmetrical structures, dynamic shocks
and metrical eccentricities of the music suddenly made perfect musical
sense. Contours of quasi-melodic lines and analogs of harmonic progressions
emerged from the music; there was even strong emotional communication.
Ponthus has a technique and a musical sensitivity that simply brush technical
obstacles aside." "One listened
rapt with attention, because Mr. Ponthus discerned gestures in Mr. Stockhausen's
score and articulated them with fervor." |
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