Bartok & Schumann

Performance ****      Recording ****

“… Stephen Waarts and Gabriele Carcano find musical affinities between the composers. Bartók’s style is not just earth and fire, but poise, lyricism and elegance as well. Perhaps his works receive the more successful performances here: the folksong arrangement are full of atmosphere, freshness and verve… The recording is clear and warm.”

“… Waarts’s tone is just gorgeous – rich and singing, its sweetness balanced by a dark lustre. In the first movement, he and pianist Gabriele Carcano put lyricism at the forefront…But it’s Bartók’s First Sonata that’s the prize here. Waarts and Carcano navigate the work’s varied, often thorny terrain without a misstep, and reveal so much in the score that’s wondrous and beautiful…Waarts digs in fiercely when called for, yet his control is never in doubt…I’m convinced he’s the real deal.”

“If it’s startling to read in Waarts’s note that “the composers on this album both need advocates”, his stylish and searching playing, with Carcano’s brilliant pianism, makes a persuasive case for their respective first sonatas.”

“An average performer would play up the contrasts…Waarts, being far from average, reveals the affinities between them…Carcano is fully Waarts’s equal, tackling the fearsomely difficult piano part of Bartók’s piece with unflappable aplomb. Neither work may be quite a masterpiece, but these tremendous performances make it seem as if they are.”  *****