A few reviews
TOM PURDON for Broad Street Review, on Rodrigo
One Authentic Deep Experience… Marja Kaisla, colored the piano version with an epic nobility that transcended any specific
referents.
JOE BARRON, Montgomery County, on Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto
Marja Kaisla, the soloist in the Fifth, was astonishing…
MICHAEL CARUSO for The Chestnut Hill Local on solo concert including Paderewski, Gade, Liszt, Debussy and Chopin
...Paderewski also composed a
good deal, but the only work of his that has remained even vaguely
popular in our day is his Minuet in G major, often heard as an encore.
Kaisla broke tradition and played it as the opening of her recital and
gave it a technically stunning and interpretively stylish rendition. Her
playing glowed with tonal warmth, sparkled with timbral variety, and
breathed with eloquent phrasing through an engaging yet unaffected
rubato.
Niels Gade was an early 19th century Danish
composer. His “Watercolors” is a set of ten short pieces that projects a
brief sonic image of scenes and moods. Kaisla caught the color of each
in a dazzling display worthy of a world-class quick-sketch artist in
playing that was delicate and exhilarating. She phrased with supple
expression yet maintained a steady, rhythmic pulse throughout each
individual piece as well as from one number to the next, stringing the
musical decade together with imagination and discipline.
Prior to performing Liszt’s “Petrarch Sonnet #104,” Kaisla read
an English translation of the Italian poet’s original love-drenched
poem, showing the great Hungarian pianist/composer/conductor to have
been more than a mere pianistic showman in this particular piece. Kaisla
delved deeply into Liszt’s profound appreciation of the poet’s love of a
woman who seemed out of reach in music of melodic and harmonic power,
offering playing that throbbed with passion and coursed with heartache.
Three works by the French impressionist Claude Debussy seemed
the perfect aural compliment to the artwork hanging throughout the
galleries at Woodmere. The “First Arabesque” traced exquisite lines of
melody and harmony – all expertly sustained by exemplary pedaling and
played with an extraordinary freedom of tempo. The “Etude on Arpeggios”
swirled across the keyboard in exotic blocks of chords while “Gardens in
the Rain” was a shimmering splash of sparkling colors under Kaisla’s
fleet fingers.
Kaisla rounded out her program with three Chopin Waltzes – all in
the key of A-flat majo and all played with interpretive style and
technical panache. The listener shared in the composer’s remembrance of
past soirees as well as in the pianist’s command of the traditions of
great Chopin playing spiced with her own personal touch
