SUSANNA ARTZT
Concert Reviews
Wiener Chopin-Blätter,
2014/2
30 years old and still going strong! A more than worthy celebration of
the Chopin Festival at the Kartause, Gaming
…30 years of the Chopin Festival in the municipality of Gaming, organized by
the International Chopin Society in Vienna – now if that's not a reason to
celebrate! … ... And sure enough in its special 30 th anniversary edition
the Chopin Festival in Gaming presented, as in previous years, a firework
display of artistic excellence. … Also belonging to the category "perfection"
was the orchestral concert in the Kartause church. On the one hand the
conductor: Mário Kosik had the high-precision Slovakian Radio Symphony Orchestra
superbly under control. The same unerring touch was displayed by the soloist
in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto KV 488. The outstanding Viennese
pianist Susanna Artzt made the A major Concerto truly sparkle, its original
cadenzas effervescent, its middle movement elegiac, so beautiful you could cry.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 28 July 2014
A visiting card from Franz Xaver Mozart
...yet Franz Xaver had no need of his father's giant footsteps: his
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in E flat major, composed in 1818 and
presented in Weilburg by the Croatian pianist Susanna Artzt in a completely
convincing interpretation, keeps at some remove from Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart's art, except for a few phrases in the Andante espressivo; indeed it
decidedly anticipates Romanticism and is a composition of such high calibre that
one again has to ask oneself why hardly any pianists have it in their
repertoire...
Frankfurter Neue Presse,
July 30th, 2014
No Mozart is alike by Anneke Jung
The Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and Susanna Artzt presented the Mozart
family in a concert at the Weilburger Schlosskonzerte festival.
Pianist Susanna Artzt gave an elegant and flowing
rendition of Franz Xaver Mozart's piano concerto, sensitively accompanied by the
orchestra. ... But very few people know of the son,
and if they do then it's by name only. That he's worth listening to closely was
demonstrated by the concert of the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Marcin Nalecz-Niesiolowski with the Croatian pianist Susanna Artzt.
Quite why the works of Franz Xaver have been largely
forgotten is hard to understand when one hears the accomplished Piano Concerto
No. 2 in E flat major. After the opulent orchestral introduction the listener is
treated to virtuosic rippling runs and lovely melodies. In the slow movement the
melancholy mood is as appealing as the fine-sounding dialogue of the woodwind
with the piano. A carefree, sometimes folk-style rondo brings the composition to
a close. Susanna Artzt's interpretation of the
three movements was elegant and flowing, so that even with closed eyes one would
have guessed it was a woman at the keyboard. With an unstrained virtuosity and
without any muscular display she placed the music and not herself in the centre
of the picture. The musicians in the orchestra responded to this without
difficulty and provided a subtle accompaniment that, thanks to the compositional
structure, left them ample scope to play with a fuller sound. There was plenty
of applause plus a Chopin waltz as an encore, executed with sublimely sensitive
musicianship.
WAZ
Mozart takes music into unearthly fields
The pianist Susanna Artzt stood out brilliantly with a
touch, which seemed to be light as a feather and effortless even at the most
difficult arpeggios and scales. This music seemed to hover far above earthly
fields, Susanna Artzt’s fantasy bestowed it depth and brilliance.
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG
United in success
Susanna Artzt played the seldom concerto in g-minor op. 22
by Saint-Saens. The daughter of an Indian and (former) student of Paul
Badura-Skoda intensified the pathetic g-minor mood of the first movement and
impressed strongly with the virtuoso bravura in the dance-like Presto-Finale.
Klaus P.Richter
DIE PRESSE, Vienna
Enchanting Piano Pearls
Susanna Artzt, pianist, enchanted in the Brahmssaal of the Vienna’s
Musikverein The pianist Susanna Artzt captivated her audience with Debussy,
Scriabin, and Ravel. To make a journey for one evening, without moving: to
immerse into Asiatic foreign parts of sound, then to sway in the rhythm of
Spanish dances, and suddenly to hear the rain, as it splashes down in a garden
in France. These are the locations evoked by the young pianist with her
sophisticated, subtly differentiating interpretation of Debussy`s piano cycle
„Estampes“. In the emotional restraint, in the sustained piano, the curbings of
a roaming thought are shown... Extremely passionate then Maurice Ravel`s „La
Valse“. Susanna Artzt had worked out exquisitely the often abruptly changing
impressions in the works of Debussy, now we had the breaks of the waltz melody,
crystallizing from an initial, soft tremolo. Tonal steps, dynamic jumps give the
impression of flashlights from other worlds, other dimensions. They anticipate
the drama which gradually plunges forward in a more and more tormenting way,
„the fantastic and also fatal whirl of a waltz night“ as Ravel commented
himself.
DER YBBSTALER Arts Section
Susanna Artzt, an Austrian pianist with experience in the international
field, made a good impression with the c # minor Nocturne as a self-effacing and
sensitive interpreter, who enchanted with magical pianissimo and legato. On the
other hand, where Ravel asks for power and impact in his “La Valse”, she
demonstrated her great powers of interpretation, showing an undeniable affinity
with the picturesque soundworld of this daring Frenchman. It was astonishing,
how this first class pianist teased out the highly complicated and cunning
harmonies in this apotheosis of the waltz, how she lost herself wholly in these
swooping and scintillating sounds. The audience was highly appreciative. Hubert
Bauernhauser
REWIEV FROM THE JAPANESE MAGAZINE „CHOPIN“
... Among all these highlights one artist stood out, the young Indian-Croat
pianist Susanna Artzt, who is now living near Vienna. Already in an earlier
recital, one was fascinated by her performance of the f-minor Ballade of Chopin,
with its finest details mapped out, in which, with remarkable control she
articulated to the full, without for a second breaking the curve of the phrase,
contrasting this with equally convincing, brilliant, passionate, cascading
figures. Susanna Artzt’s interpretation made for the attentive listener
something quite new out of this familiar work. Next day, Susanna Artzt tackled
the heights of the piano repertoire with the fiendishly difficult – and
therefore rarely to be heard live - „La Valse“ of Maurice Ravel. In a certain
sense this work presents a logical development of the valses of Chopin, who
produced magnificent compositions in this dance form, whilst always maintaining
a critical relationship with J. Strauss pêre. Ravel was also aware - and not
only after his first visit to Vienna in 1920 – of a considerable gap between
Viennese men and Viennese music. In a masterly manner, partly ironic, partly
even in caricature, Ravel contrives to interweave these strands and Susanna
Artzt was able to bring them out. In her hands, the piano was transformed into a
whole orchestra full of the most glittering and varied colours, whereby the
„conductor“ contrived to combine emotional depths, the presentation of dramatic
development, and clear formal structures. Sumie Ishibashi
INTERNATIONAL CHOPIN SOCIETY MAGAZINE, Vienna
Noted as an extraordinary sensitive pianist, the Austrian Susanna Artzt
again fascinated us with her „Ballad op.52, No 4, in f-minor“, where the
delicacy we expected, was set off by impressive drama and her excellent
technique, all of which brought tumultuous applause. Helmut Batliner
RHEIN-NECKAR-ZEITUNG
heidelberger frühling Music Festival „Prometheus Unbound“
That is how Beethoven might have imagined his music being performed:
dynamic, expressive, passionate, uncompromising. At the same time, however,
highly differenciated, qualified, and concentrated. Music freed from tradition
and conventions. [...] Here Prometheus was successfully unbound. Eckehard
J.Häberle
RECKLINGHÄUSER ZEITUNG
„Classic meeting“ with an enchanting Mozart” „
[…] Now we could hear this enchanting work played by Susanna Artzt and
numerous listeners enjoyed her performance, which was distinguished by sensitive
clearness and powerful virtuosity. The soloist played her part full of tension
by using finest dynamic and rhythmic evaluation and well thought- out agogic.
Thus this concert, which is regarded as Mozart’s most difficult work for the
piano, turned out to an extraordinarily high musical pleasure.“
WAZ
Mozart takes music into unearthly fields
The pianist Susanna Artzt stood out brilliantly with a
touch, which seemed to be light as a feather and effortless even at the most
difficult arpeggios and scales. This music seemed to hover far above earthly
fields, Susanna Artzt’s fantasy bestowed it depth and brilliance.
BUERSCHE ZEITUNG
Matthäuskirche: Philharmonic Orchestra made music with
the pianist Susanna Artzt
The pianist Susanna Artzt, daughter of Indian-Croatian
parents, who lives in Vienna, played the piano concerto with due clarity,
sophisticated culture of touch and definite structure.
RHEINISCHE POST, GERMANY
„Where many pianists can’t resist the temptation to
demonstrate their virtuosity, Susanna Artzt concentrates on underlining the
sensibility of the pieces, and turning their inner lives to the outside. There
was cheering already after the first part of the concert, but the great
highlight was still to come. Susanna Artzt had chosen Schubert’s sonata c-minor
D958 as the final piece. She played it like coming from one single impulse,
profoundly, without artificial showing off of temperament.“
OBERÖSTERREICHISCHE NACHRICHTEN
Brilliant
technique serving a wide palette of musical styles
„[...] Susanna Artzt played Etudes by Claude Debussy, shaping them with fine
suppleness, allowing the individual character of each to emerge. Then came a
worthwhile diversion onto the conservative „modern“ repertoire, works by Alban
Berg and György Ligeti, followed by Etudes by Frederic Chopin. Susanna Artzt
seems to have a special affinity for this composers music. With technical
perfection she took the extremely difficult „Revolutionary Etude“ at a
breathtaking tempo. This was the work of a young pianist who will certainly soon
make her mark on the classical music scene!“
YOUNG TALENTS PROMPT UNUSUAL CONSIDERATIONS:
PROBLEMS WITH THE MASTERS
Being a wunderkind can often be an unpleasant life-long
task for an artist or scholar. It is not uncommon that creative powers during
youthful years are regarded sceptically: „This young person or child is dealing
with things well beyond his/her years. With this way of life, the boy or the
girl may well advance to the status of a „young, rising star“, but later their
lives will become empty, if their dreams don´t come true.“
But all these are merely half-truths! We all know many
examples from music history of great artists who were already showing their
wondering skills in their very young age. Again and again in this context we
find Mozart´s father reporting to his wife in letters of the constant new
accomplishments of their son Wolfgang Amadeus (fortunately, these reports have
been saved in archives). He writes, for instance, of how Wolfgang, during their
many travels, was learning Italian and other European music, and that „just EN
PASSANT“, that is to say, without making any effort whatsoever - or, as Plato
puts it in a wise saying (in which of course he is referring to the greatest
talents), „When we learn something, it´s as if we were remembering it“.
[...] I pondered these things a few days ago while I was
sitting in the Croatian Music Society Hall („Hrvatski glazbeni zavod“) and
listening to the concert given by the young pianist Susanna ARTZT. At the age of
eighteen - when in best case one begins his or her studies - she played her
Diploma Recital, i.e. the requirements to fulfil the „Master“ level, which
corresponds to the highest level for piano soloists which one can reach, as
graduate student at the Zagreb Music Academy, the highest music-education
institution in this country. I had to admit to myself that ... I had completely
forgotten that I was actually attending a performance by a student who is
completing her studies! I was surprised and swept away! ... We´ll always be
swept by such talent!
Mladen Raukar