International Press Reviews

Flexible yet commanding technique....Kvapil's undiluted, spontaneous performance, subtle in approach yet powerful in the overall thrust of ideas..... Beethoven's Opus 111 Sonata , delivered with decisive contrail, was performed with inexorable power....Kvapil is a pianist who commands attention.
David Alker, Musical Opinion, May 2003

Radoslav Kvapil has done sterling service for the cause of Czech piano music, including a complete recording of Dvorák´s piano works. Kvapils sympathies range broadly, and if his own concert repertoire is a guide, then this series should attract anyone interested in late 19th century piano music, as well as the Czech enthusiast. Any performance needs not only energy and virtuosity, but also insight. Kvapil brings all these qualities to bear in performances which continually capture and hold the ear.
J.W. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE (London)

Kvapil was born into the Janácek tradition. It shows in this superb disc. His romanticism is not a stylistic decision. It is an emphatic response to the music, which takes him straight to Janácek´s heart. Each tableau is unforgettably vivid. Kvapil is profoundly moving - one of the great piano records...Breathtaking.
Brian Hunt CLASSIC CD (London)

Kvapil plays this set with great understanding. He cherishes these curious reflective tonal sideslips, but also charges into the more energetic variations. His ability to characterize swiftly and surely is very necessary. Kvapil responds most vividly to the shorter pieces on this excellent record. These are interesting, intelligent and well-executed performances.
Leslie Gerber GRAMOPHONE (London)

Well-known for his "flying" interpretation of Smetana´s piano music, Kvapil is a pianist with a lively, rapid interpretation, whose repertoire is very different from that of the majority of career-minded pianists.
LE MONDE (Paris)

Radoslav Kvapil is today, without doubt, the greatest performer of piano works by Smetana,Janácek or Martinu
Alain Lompech CRESCENDO (Brussels)

This authentic, meticulous and unique bard of our time conveys Janácek´s expression of the very moment itself.
Harry Halbreich DIAPASON (Paris)

Kvapil´s lightness of touch, his creative imagination, his refusal of all pretentious virtuosity enable him to restore the essence of this music, which is still widely unknown. It expresses the song of a happy man, telling us about the beauty of his country and the joy of living in it. Between the composer and the pianist, there is a perfect communion... master works, played to perfection.
Pierre-Emile Barbier DIAPASON (Paris)

Performing with ease and clarity mixed with warm, poetic feeling and vivacity, Kvapil sketches Martinu and colours the composer with sparkling joy, illustrated by extreme tonal beauty. This is very great art.
REPERTOIRE (Paris)

This Czech pianist has become the successor of Rudolf Firkušný. His touch gives one the impression that he is constantly improvising, and Kvapil passes perfectly from one variation to the other, bringing dynamism to each melody. Who else, other than Kvapil, could so successfully illustrate the total refinement of Czech piano music?
Jean Hamon (le "10 " de Repertoire) (Paris)

Radoslav Kvapil´s piano performance possesses the most personal colours. A sincere and authentic performance.
Stéphane Friederich LE MONDE DE LA MUSIQUE (Paris)

The performances here are first rate: the key to all three is pianist Radoslav Kvapil, a magician with Czech music - and Moravian and Slovak. I know of no other pianist, not even Rudolf Firkušný, who has so consistently communicated its warmth and character. -He has a big technique, and plays his music with great panache.
Gérard Mannoni FANFARE (USA)

Kvapil, a superlative Dvorákian, plays this music with sensitivity and flair. Highly recommended. - It is fortunate that we have as fine a pianist as Kvapil. He has color and energy and in the shorter pieces, he is beguiling.
James H. North (USA)

This evening, Helsinki had the opportunity of hearing the disciple of Janácek´s disciple, the leading Czech pianist, Kvapil, who should be considered, as regards to Czech music, what Paul Bocuse is considered as regards to French cooking.
SANOMAT (Helsinki)

In his dossier "Legendary pianists throughout the Ages", Bernard POSTIAU writes: "The rest of Europe presents us with further important piano representatives. Rumania, for example, provided us with Dinu Lipatti, Clara Haskil and with Radu Lupu. But again, Czechoslovakia, where works for the piano by Dvorák, Smetana, Janácek, Fibich, Novak were expounded by such remarkable pianists as Rudolf Firkušný, Jan Panenka, Ivan Moravec and, more especially, František Maxian, and where this excellent tradition is at present continued by Radoslav Kvapil.
CRESCENDO (Brussels)