In first part of yesterday concert Marcin Koziak performed Frederic Chopin’s Piano Concerto in E minor with Sinfonietta Cracovia. It was not only next performance of Chopin’s music in the end of his year but a sophisticated and polished at the highest level interpretation of Chopin’s concerto, which we heard hundreds of times in Chopin’s anniversary year. The maximum concentration of the orchestra led by Robert Kabara gave a wonderful timbre of orchestra and an excellent cooperation with soloist, but pianist showed that in Chopin’s music he has much to say and is without a doubt an individuality.
Faithfulness to the music, precision in details, great concentration in slower movements and virtuoso nonchalance in the most risky places characterize Koziak’s playing.
The public demanded an encore from a young pianist three times and because of that we had a possibility to admire his equally excellent solo performance as that with orchestra.
A special admiration was aroused by Etude in C minor op.10 no.12, truly virtuoso performed in a truly ‘revolutionary’ tempo. We were under the impression that the more difficult was the part of piece the easier was for him to play that.
23.11 2010 Concert in Krakow Philharmonic Concert Hall
Internet Review by Daniel Wierzejski
www.danielwierzejski.blogspot.com
…A young, but still wonderfully developing artist, proved in his differentiated performance
(X Hungarian Rhapsody, ‘Ave Maria’, ‘Stabat Mater’ and ‘Fantasy on themes from “Le Nozze di Figaro”’) that he is a thrilling virtuoso and spiritual poet of piano.”
Recital on ‘Days of Franz Liszt’ in Krakow, Poland
Press Review by Anna Wozniakowska, ‘Ruch Muzyczny’ Magazine, 27.XI.2011
He played phenomenally. We could feel spirit of Chopin during his performance. He realizes in his playing one of the main ideas of Chopin’s music syndrome: feeling of freedom, which is given by courage – said prof. Mieczyslaw Tomaszewski, Chopin scholar, the greatest musicological authority on a field of Chopin’s music and life
Performance on International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, stage 1st
Review from article in ‘Dziennik Polski’ newspaper, 09.10.2010
by Agnieszka Malatynska
…Koziak proved himself a remarkable musician.Indeed , these recordings show a natural, poetic feel for Chopin’s art – and the virtuosity and structural clarity needed to deliver completely rounded performances of his music.
Booklet from CD, “Chopin Marcin Koziak”
NIFCCD616, 2012
Written by John Allison
…His performance of Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2 was spellbinding, his Szymanowski mazurkas were a lovely revelation (…) and his Rachmaninoff second sonata was a compelling sound drama…
Performance on Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Screening Audition,
Ed Landreth Hall, Fort Worth, USA
Review from article in ‘Star Telegram’, 22.02.2013 by Olin Chism
The highlight of the evening was the performance of Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto by the young Polish pianist Marcin Koziak. His account of this beautiful piece was musically elegant and technically brilliant; variations in tone color and dynamic contrasts were carefully planned and executed, and difficult scale passages, trills and arpeggios were tossed off effortlessly. The pianist’s doodling on the Eb chord before he launched into the buoyant third movement rondo was an artful tease, and he managed to make the famous chord sequence sound fresh at every return. The orchestra, directed by Boguslaw Dawidow, was a capable partner, and to its credit did not overpower the soloist despite being 124 members strong. The performance drew a standing ovation, and Koziak graciously responded with Chopin’s Etude in C minor, opus 25, No. 12, a study in perpetual motion which cascaded off his fingertips like sparkling crystals. Wonderful!
Splendid piano soloist highlights Polish Baltic Philharmonic concert
By Joyce Tamer
Telegram & Gazette Reviewer
Posted Feb. 13, 2016 at 12:39 PM
a real artist who I look forward to hearing again.
by Timothy Gilligan for New York Concert Review Inc.
13th June 2014
