Press ReviewsPIANISTSeptember-November 2008 Novacek is overwhelmingly convincing in his Brahms recital, which is catapulted into the listing of the finest Brahms releases ever Cedric Tiberghien and Libor Novacek have both just recorded Brahms’s eight piano pieces opus 76. Tiberghien couples his opus 76 with the Hungarian dances Wo01 and the complete waltzes opus 39, while Novacek surrounds his opus 76 with the Second Sonata and the three Intermezzi opus 117. Tiberghien has a brisker and leaner tempo in the eight pieces, especially in the third, where he reads the grazioso tempo as a fast forward sign.……….. However, I find a deeper sense of understanding and more respect for the music and its emotions in Novacek’s recording. Yes, he might be very slow at times, making Tiberghien seem hasty, but one cannot get enough of his glorious piano sound. His round (and beautifully recorded) sound is never hard, and there is always a sense of direction to the music. From the stormy early Sonata opus 2 to the opus 76 up to the last of the utterly tender three opus 117 Intermezzi, Novacek is overwhelmingly convincing, and his Brahms recital is easily catapulted into the list of the finest Brahms releases ever, even ousting historic recordings by Katchen and Curzon. Marius Dawn CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE September 2008 Brahms: Sonata No 2, Eight Piano Pieces op.76, Three Intermezzi Op 117 Libor Novacek. Landor LAN285 **** Novacek’s strong sense of architecture in marshalling an absorbing unity from the sprawling turbulent sonata is matched by the yearning delicacy of the Op 7 and the Intermezzi. Philip Sommerich BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE - October 2008 Calum Macdonald hails Novacek's new benchmark Brahms Piano Sonata No2; Eight Piano Pieces, Op.76; Three Intermezzi, Op.117 Libor Novacek (piano) Landor Records LAN 285 PERFORMANCE ***** SOUND **** Brahms's official Piano Sonata No. 2 was largely composed before the official No. 1, and it's a fascinating revelation of the ultra- Romantic road that the young composer decided not to take. A kind of 'Fantasy-Sonata', its abrupt and extreme juxtapositions of emotion, dynamics and contrasted gesture are as daring as anything that Liszt's 'New German' followers could have produced. Libor Novacek, who has already recorded an estimable Liszt recital, well understands this: if anything he accentuates the contrasts, with battering fortissimos giving way to silky, whispered pianissimos - but this is to enhance the turbulent nature of the piece, and Brahms's achievement of equivocal balance in the almost Schubertian main tune of the finale. Novacek brings out, too, the awkward, uncompromising nature of the Op. 76 pieces, his wide range of accent and touch emphasizing their strangely experimental nature as well as their lyric underlay. It's in the first two of the Op. 117 Intermezzi that his approach seems fairly conventional (if very slow) - but then in No. 3 (slower still!) he conjures an ambience of half-lights and emotional hesitancy that is much less comforting than the melodious nostalgia that lesser players weave from the notes. The Sonata is among Brahms's least-recorded piano works, and though there are excellent versions available from, among others, Katchen and Richter (both on Decca), I feel Novacek may have set a new benchmark here, while his Op. 76 stands out strongly from other accounts. Altogether an impressive release. Calum MacDonald GRAMOPHONE - October 2008 Poised and poetic: this exceptional young pianist finds the beauty in Brahms Brahms Piano Sonata No2; Eight Piano Pieces, Op.76; Three Intermezzi, Op.117 Libor Novacek (piano) Landor Records LAN 285 For his third and finest CD so far Libor Novacek shows himself deeply sensitive to the interior light burning beneath the surface of Brahms's often dark-hued later masterpieces. What unfaltering poise and tonal translucence he achieves throughout Opp 76 and 117. less ebullient than, say, Rubenstein or Perahia in the second Capriccio from Op 76, his playing is so finely "worked" and controlled that even here he captures a reflection and nostalgia at the heart of such music, an "eternal note of sadness" (Wordsworth). His poetic refinement in No 6 is a far cry from Glenn Gould's perversity where he reduces Brahms's sense of elegy to an inane gabble, and if Novacek dims the radiance of No 8, keeping its exultance on a tight rein, he remains musicianly to his fingertips. Here once more he locates an underlying poetry denied to less subtle or engaging pianists. A master of inwardness, he also sets the storm clouds scudding menacingly across No 6 and shows that he's as swashbuckling as the best of them in the early F sharp minor Sonata, resolving every thorny and perverse difficulty with ease and lucidity. The Landor sound (Potton hall in Suffolk) is of demonstration quality and I can scarcely wait to hear this exceptional young artist in more Brahms and in the widest possible range of repertoire. Bryce Morrison INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW - September 2008 Brahms Piano Sonata No 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 2. Acht Klavierstücke, Op.76. Drei Intermezzi, Op.117 Libor Novacek (piano) Landor Records LAN 285 Comparisons: Katchen (London) 455 247-2 (1960s, six discs) Klein (Vox box) 3612 Zimerman (DG) 423 401-2 (1980) Normally, solo Brahms recordings collect together sonatas, variations or shorter pieces, but here Libor Novacek has chosen a programme that offsets works from all three periods of Brahms's creative output, ranging from the youthful passion of the F sharp minor Sonata through the middle-period mastery of the Op. 76 works to the autumnal musings of the Op. 117 Intermezzi. Few pianists are equally successful across the entire spectrum of Brahms's output - Katchen, Klein and Lupu spring to mind as notable exceptions to the general rule - which makes Novacek's achievement here all the more impressive. In the tricky F sharp minor Sonata - the closest Brahms ever came to permitting Lisztian outbursts of Romantic generic rhetoric, Novacek lies somewhere between Katchen's physically propulsive intensity and Klein's poetic classicism. As a result the octave bravura feels less invasive than is often the case and the finale's structural fantasy emerges as unusually convincing. No one quite rivals Zimerman in this work (a prize-winning DG account coupled with the first Sonata that unaccountably the Polish master later withdrew), which combines electrifying spontaneity with peerless technical command. Yet even in such distinguished company Novacek's Schubertian grace and clear sightedness pays real dividends. Novacek's refusal to become emotionally heated at the slightest provocation also works wonders in the Op.76 Klavierstucke, whose profound emotional changeability often encourages pianists to over-play the music's extroversion-introversion axis. Here the cycle emerges as a single emotional entity, with each piece growing in and out of its bedfellows with supreme naturalness. Novacek emerges as a master of multi-linear articulation, giving independent strands of simultaneous musical material their own identity. He cocoons the A major 'Intermezzo' in a Debussyan haze of time-suspending wonderment and also gets far more out of the C major 'Capriccio' finale than is often the case. 'It really is wonderful how things pour from him', enthused Clara Schumann upon receipt of copies of Brahms's super-compressed l ate miniatures. 'It is amazing how he combines passion and tenderness in the smallest of spaces'. Despite their apparently 'miniature' status, they provide a compelling insight into the true character of this elusive composer. Once again Novacek proves himself a Brahmsian of distinction, with readings of radiant sensitivity and tantalizing understatement. Some might crave a more overt response to Brahms's skin-rippling harmonic suspensions, but Novacek reminds us that no matter how old Brahms may have made himself look by the 1890s, the music's autumnal hues were the product of a man still in his early sixties. Julian Haycock CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE - October 2008 Brahms Piano Sonata No2; Eight Piano Pieces, Op.76; Three Intermezzi, Op.117 Libor Novacek (piano) Landor Records LAN 285 The three titles on this disc come from three different periods of Brahms's career. The Second Sonata (1853) was one of the pieces that so impressed Robert and Clara Schumann when it was played to them by the young composer at their first meeting. Like the Piano Sonata No.2, the first of the Eight Piano Pieces (1878) was dedicated to Clara; the group as a whole consists of short works that combine passion, humour, and despair in equal measure, and comes from the next period in the composer's career. Finally the ageing, melancholic Brahms in enshrined in the Three Intermezzi 91892). This is a highly rewarding programme, and one to which the young Czech pianist Libor Novacek brings clear textures, warm tonal colours and an insightful musicality. Jeremy Nicholas THE GUARDIAN - 11 September 2008 **** Brahms Piano Sonata No2; Eight Piano Pieces, Op.76; Three Intermezzi, Op.117 Libor Novacek (piano) Landor Records LAN 285 Czech pianist Libor Novacek's considerable reputation rests primarily on his Liszt performances, though he is also a superb Brahmsian if this startling recital is anything to go by. This is big-boned playing, very Romantic and covering huge dynamic and emotional range, so if your taste in Brahms is for something reined in, this may be not be for you. Contrasting the early F sharp minor sonata with later groups of piano pieces and intermezzos, Novacek places the emphasis on the turbulence that runs through Brahms's entire output. The Sonata seems at times overly violent, yet we're also conscious of how Brahms, by laying the work out on vast symphonic lines, is experimenting with form in order to find new expressive means. In the Op 76 pieces, Novacek continues to explore the turmoil that lurks beneath such disarming as the folksy B minor Capriccio or the graceful A flat major intermezzo. The high point comes, however, with Novacek's performance of the Op 117 Intermezzos, which are heartbreaking in the quiet intensity. Tim Ashley Libor Novacek at Darlington Arts Centre THE success of the Platform concert was reinforced by a return visit by the young Czech pianist Libor Novacek for Darlington Piano Society's penultimate concert of the season. In a very full evening of contrasting large-scale works, he played Janacek's In The Mists, which reflects on life from the viewpoint of old age, intense and resigned. Over the decades, I have heard the work performed many times by leading pianists of different nationalities and seniority, but never, I venture, recorded with such a deep emotional power and insight as by this young man. Brahms' Piano Sonata in F sharp minor Opus 2 is, in fact, the composer's first and a work also of emotive power, though this time of the joys and disappointments of youth. Novacek played it with relish, with the ardour of burgeoning youth in the opening allegro and no less lively in the ensuing movements. The first book of Liszt's Années de pèlerinage covers his visits to Switzerland, presented as a collection of musically coloured postcards showing the grandeur of alpine scenery in Chapel of William Tell, through quiet lake side scenery in Wallenstadt, the quiet Vallee d'Obermann and Liszt's frighteningly furious imagery of violent storm in Orage and yearning in Le mal de pays. All were performed with a sensitive touch, never replacing power with stridency, by a performer of distinction, even in the hot colours and rhythms of Spain in an deserved encore of Manuel de Falla's Sabre Dance. The last concert of the season is on April 19, when Yuri Paterson- Olenich will play music by Bach, Granados, Albeniz and Stephanie Cant's Sonatine at 7.30. He gives a public masterclass to talented students at 10.30am. For tickets for the recital, call the box office on 01325-486555; entry to the masterclass is free. Dave Robson Darlington & Stockton Times March 2008 Libor Novacek plays Liszt Landor Records – LAN278 GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE (Editor’s Choice, February 2007) Editor’s Foreword ‘It’s always welcome to see a major musician at the start of what promises to be a terrific career….there seems something very special about this artist. It’s evident in the hushed, reflective passages, in the whole sense of a pianist who knows how a piece should go. One to watch indeed.’ James Inverne Review 'In days of yore when pianists weren't so thick on the ground (and the distinguished ones as thinly spread out as they are today), the most absorbing Liszt players for me were Claudio Arrau, Clifford Curzon and Wilhelm Kempff. Naturally, their response to the composer was far from uniform; but they didn't substitute stridency for power. There was a common desire (not always reflected on disc) for an evenness of touch at all times. [Libor Novacek's] command of the keyboard is very impressive and he aspires to the highest interpretive ideals in this second book of which, like the first, contains some of Liszt's finest music. This artist takes time to express his views about these masterpieces. He is not in a hurry, not even in overtly virtuoso pieces such as the Dante Sonata and the First Mephisto Waltz. There is an expansive dignity to Novacek's playing that spares them from falling into a trough of banality, as often happens. how a similar approach works at a slow tempo (basically lento) may be heard in the Petrarch Sonnet No 123 where Liszt tries to convey its spirit through numerous marks of expression. Novacek doesn't balk at observing them. nor does he balk at emotional involvement with the music; and both virtues are duplicated everywhere. The recording by Tony Faulkner doesn't get in your way. It is unobtrusively excellent - as recordings ought to be.' Nalen Anthoni PIANIST MAGAZINE (Pianist Recommended) ‘On his second disc for Landor Records, Libor Novacek performs Liszt with an exceptional poetic verve and inwardness. Hushed and reverential at the start of Sposalizio, he then re-creates a rare sense of wonder and interior magic, and whether evoking bells distantly or jubilantly chiming, his playing is ear-catchingly fresh and vital. Il penseroso’s dark-hued prophecy of Liszt’s final years is no less memorably caught, its harmonic tension and audacity made almost palpable…Novacek captures all of the smouldering intensity of No 104 and is rapturous and interior in No 123. His imaginative scope makes something very special of the Dante sonata. Textures are kept enviably transparent in even the heaviest climaxes, stillness and hyperactivity are vividly contrasted yet nothing is exaggerated. Indeed, such a clear sense of poetic perspective makes this among the finest Dante Sonatas on record. The Mephisto Waltz is no less brilliantly alert and picturesque. This lavishly presented, beautifully recorded recital strongly suggests a young pianist very much on the edge of a major international career.’ Bryce Morrison INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW (piano recommended) ‘The repertoire choice facing both record buyer and pianist, seeking to begin his recording career, is vast, and the competition is fierce. None the less, this new recital by Libor Novacek is exceptional, and I urge all Lisztians and also those keen to get to know some of this composer's finest piano music to hear it. Novacek has the measure of these pieces. He shows a rare combination of virtuosity and musical intelligence, so that, as they progress, we experience the Dante Sonata as the culmination of the set. Indeed, there is a oneness of conception which is impressive in Novacek's playing the whole time. After the two tone-pictures which open the set, his delightful pointing of the Andante marziale throughout the brief Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa comes as the perfect foil, and his subtle revealing of the inherent unity of the succeeding three Petrarch Sonnets makes for absorbing listening. Finally, the Dante Sonata - a grand and spacious performance, powerful yet sensitive - is utterly true to Liszt, and which, at 19 minutes (among the longest on disc), crowns Novacek's remarkable achievement. There are other felicitous details in Novacek's playing of the Italian book, which is followed by a compelling account of the First Mephisto Waltz. The recording quality is very good indeed, natural and warm. This excellent issue is strongly recommended.’ Robert Matthew-Walker METRO NEWSPAPER, 1 December 2006 ***** ‘Someone just starting out on his career is the young Czech pianist Libor Novacek – and judging from Liszt (Landor) he has a brilliant future ahead of him. His performances of the Italian suite from Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage and the Mephisto Waltz No 1 are so painterly, so full of detail and colour, and so sympathetically recorded, that they fairly leap off the disc in front of your eyes. He knows when to play the showman and when the visionary – just as an ideal Lisztian should – and the result is compelling in the extreme.’ Warwick Thompson MUSICAL OPINION, November 2006 ‘I have yet to hear Libor Novacek in the flesh but this CD held me in my seat for the whole 73 minutes and I have played it again and again to convince myself that this is Liszt playing of the highest order by a player who concentrates on the composer's all too often ignored genius. Of course the Italian Années de Pèlerinage contains the three expressive Petrarch Sonnets and the dramatic and exciting Dante Sonata, often played separately in recitals, yet when the seven movements are presented as a whole conception of Liszt's Italian experience the overall impression is as stimulating as any epic. Even more impressive, however, is Novacek's treatment of the all too popular Mephisto Waltz, for once becoming a wonderful keyboard tone poem. Novacek won the 2006 Landor Competition and their recording shows the quality we hope to expect in the future.’ Denby Richards DE VOLKSKRANT, NETHERLANDS ‘Novacek, who made his recording debut with works of Janacek and Martinu on Landor Records, has recorded a Liszt programme that outshines everything that has appeared the last few years in this field. Few would think of fingers, keys or notes when listening to Novacek’s interpretations of the Petrarca-sonnets, which are full of colours without smudginess, which sing without a trace of sanctimoniousness, and in which Novacek, above all, tries to fathom the depths of Liszt's fascination for Petrarca’s odes to love and death. Seated in the higher heavens between Rafaël, Michelangelo, Petrarca and Dante – phenomena which almost maddened Liszt in his Italian 'Années de pèlerinage' – Liszt would most probably shout his approval. His ideal of immaterial pianism is realized here in great measure. The opening bars of Sposalizio, Liszt's impression of Rafaël's painting of the marriage of the Virgin, are a statement in themselves, right from the beginning of Novacek's CD. The poetry continues in the springing chords and octave cascades of the Dante Sonata. Even in the diabolic Mefisto Walz nr 1, perhaps added by Novacek in order to show colleagues how to keep the lyric middle parts exciting, everything sounds noble and well-formed.' Roland de Beer ARTE.TV – May 2007 'Difficile de résister au Liszt de Libor Novacek: un piano puissant et magnifiquement timbré fait de cette Deuxième Année de Pèlerinage une réussite indiscutable. ' Mathias Heizmann FONO FORUM, August 2007 – Musik* * * * *, Klang * * * 'Novacek ist ein Virtuose, der noch die schwierigsten Satze mit verwegen anmutenden Tempi geschmeidig und ohne erkennbare technische Muhen durchzieht. Vor allem aber ist ein musikalischer Gestalter...sechs Debussy-Préludes oder Liszt-Italien habe ich lange nicht mehr so eindrucksvoll gehort. Ingesamt ein erstaunlich reifes, musikalisch uneitel-fertiges und hochperonliches Diskus- Doppeldebut. ' Ingo Harden BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, July 2006 Performance * * * * Sound * * * * 'The strong of linkage between expression and form makes this a performance of real power …The juxtaposition with six of the Debussy Preludes in spiky and insightful performances works well, particularly given the wealth of detail revealed by the clarity of the recording. His reading of the Ravel is infectious and often ear-catching; as in the Janacek Sonata, there is a persuasive sense of structure in each of the movements and especially in the exquisitely understated Fugue… Martinu’s Three Czech Dances receive a model performance. From nearly every point of view this is a CD to savour'. Jan Smaczny PIANIST MAGAZINE, August/September 2006 Pianist RECOMMENDED 'Novacek is deeply sensitive to such high-octane drama, playing with an enviable fluency and conviction. Such playing makes you long for a complete Debussy cycle…. Finally, three playful and astringent Czech dances, superbly performed, bring this fresh, engaging and excellently recorded recital to a close.' Bryce Morrison GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE, August 2006 'Beautifully phrased, subtly coloured and acutely characterised, Novacek's playing is outstanding, capped by a triumphant performance of Feux d'artifice… Novacek's revels in the music's sec, veiled sonorities, infinitely better played and recorded (Potton Hall) than Samson François, with the motoric precision of the concluding Toccata more clearly articulated than Moiseiwitsch'. Jeremy Nicholas MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL, 26 May 2006 'The team of Jeremy Hayes and Tony Faulkner have provided a most agreeable and especially well balanced sound quality… The assured playing from Libor Novacek makes riveting listening. I look forward to hearing more recitals from him.' Michael Cookson DALLAS MORNING POST, 9th July 2006 'There's plenty of visceral impact to Janacek's haunting Sonata 1.X.1905, inspired by Czech uprising on that date, and to Martinu's earthy Three Czech Dances… The Debussy and Ravel works are played with finesse.' Scott Cantrel INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW, June 2006 'Novacek delivers fine and forthright performance. His passionate and satisfying performance of Janacek's wonderful sonata stands up well to all but the finest available on disc (such as Firkusny on CD)...The Martinu dances are a complete success. It would have been wonderful to have had more of this: hopefully a Martinu disc is not too far away. Altogether this is an impressive calling-card from fine and thoughtful player, with plenty to spark curiosity in his future.' Carl Rosman PIANO NEWS, May 2006 'Einer, der Technische Hürden mühelos meistert, der beherzt zupacken kann und dabei auch noch die Zwischentone achtet... Ravels haarsträubend schwere Toccata aus dem Tombeau de Couperin hat man kaum je so akkurat gehört - Klavierspiel auf atemberaubend hohem Niveau... Damit dürfte Novacek auch im internationalen Konzertbetrieb gute Karte haben.' Robert Nemecek |