Great review of Piano aux Jacobins recital on Diapason Magazine, France
Diapason Magazine's review for my recital at the fantastic International Festival Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse: "The performance of Einav Yarden, rare in France but noted for her recordings, reveals a radically different universe. At the Saint-Pierre-des-Cuisines auditorium, she performs C.P.E. Bach's Rondo and Fantasias with vitality, clarity and style, pages of unbridled inventiveness, full of daring and surprises, in which the shadow of Beethoven is already looming - one sometimes thinks one hears Sonata no. 1 or a concerto cadenza. In J.S. Bach's English Suite no. 2, she displays authority and naturalness in a masterly yet unostentatious manner..." by Bertrand Boissard, 29.9.23
Hailing review on Fanfare Magazine, USA:
"...What I truly love about Yarden’s performances, though, is the way she not only plays the music but inhabits it. The way that she naturally tosses of the abrupt figurations, at first virtuosic and full-bodied, later gentle, even sigh-like—making them feel like real physical gestures, not only musical ones—in C. P. E. Bach’s E♭-Major Fantasia is just delightful. Her playing is palpable... Could I imagine a finer evening of the works of Bach and his son? I’d be hard pressed to. I would also be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable recital of both of their works in one place. Recommended! " by Scott Noriega, November-December 2023 Issue of Fanfare Magazine
Hailing review on Germany's RONDO Magazine and 5/5 Stars!
Attila Csampai wrote a hailing and beautifully-written review on Rondo Magazine, published on 17.6.23:
"the stylistic break…comes here to light spectacularly… a fantastically prepared new grand piano by Chris Maene for this, whose parallel stringing positively reinforces the radical clarity of her playing, so that one can hear the extreme dynamic and emotional contrasts and the discontinuous course of C. P.E. Bach's music in skin-deep conciseness. In this way, she also succeeds in illuminating in depth the intellectual wit and constant surprises of this music that boldly looks to the future… But Einav Yarden does not spare the father from her unleashed joy of playing: one has seldom heard his second English Suite so fresh, so cheeky, so lively-motoric, and the Chromatic Fantasy has never sounded so freely improvised. With her, Bach the father sounds so alive and current, as if he were among us, as if one could marvel at him live in the "Café Zimmermann". For the complete review: https://www.rondomagazin.de/kritiken_alle.php
Fantastic new CD reveiew on Germany's KLASSIK-HEUTE!
Fantastic review of my Bach CD just published in Germany's "Klassik-Heute", with 'artistic quality' scoring of 9/10 and 'sound quality' scoring of 10/10:
“…The pianist Einav Yarden proves in several respects to be an authoritative interpreter here: on Chris Maene's unique but also relentless grand piano, which due to its tonal purity does not forgive even the slightest technical or musical imbalance, her extraordinary pianistic mastery commands the listener's respect and admiration: The artist thus succeeds in a performance that allows both the father's and the son's music to shine forth, each with its own stringency. The sound engineering, which is absolutely appropriate for the extraordinary performance of the interpreter, further increases the listening pleasure when enjoying this exquisite recording.” by Detmar Huchting, 15.6.2023
For the complete extensive review: http://www.klassik-heute.com/4daction/www_medien_einzeln?id=24358&CDS30
Great review for live concert at the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper, by Mario-Felix Vogt
Published on 10.6.2023 at the Berliner Morgenpost"...the Israeli showed herself to be a brilliantly skilled pianist with excellent technique and a profound awareness of structures... Einav Yarden succeeds in shaping the abundance of characters into a great whole. The transparency and clarity are just as impressive as the passionate moments of urgency in her playing, which greatly benefits the highly emotional music of C.P.E. Bach.... The second "English Suite" by Bach's father she interpreted spiritedly with a motoric drive that at times reminded a little of Glenn Gould... The Israeli showed it all the more in the late Brahms pieces [Op. 116], which she performed with romantic pathos and high sense of tonal culture, without neglecting the work's architecture. There was justifiably rapturous applause in the well-attended Piano Salon Christophori, and the pianist thanked them with a witty tango from Stravinsky's neoclassical period." -- by Mario-Felix Vogt
https://www.morgenpost.de/kultur/article238363091/klavier-kostbarkeit-johann-sebastian-bach-vater-sohn-christophori-einav-yarden.html
France Musique (of Radio France) Presents a 2-hour Program of Einav Yarden's Recordings
Renowned pianist Philippe Cassard presented a 2-hour program on France Musique of my recordings and live performances in late January 2023, a great honor for me. The link to the program, which is accompanied by his beautiful presentation, is still available:
https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/portraits-de-famille/einav-yarden-pianiste-1080287
Wonderful Review for Einav Yarden's Recital at South Windsor Cultural Arts, USA, by Michael Moran
[In regards to two Rondos and a Fantasia by C.P.E. Bach:] "The sharp-edged clarity of her playing recalled that of her teacher, legendary pianist Leon Fleisher...and her buoyant performance [of the C.P.E Bach Variations] made a powerful showcase for this imaginative score... Both the classical rigor of Bach the father and the emotional force of Bach the son were evident in Yarden’s protean rendition of Johannes Brahms’ 1892 set of seven Fantasies, Op. 116... Yarden displays enormous technical proficiency, unerring interpretive mastery, and a winning stage presence which clearly engaged her capacity audience."
By Michael J. Moran, February 2023
Raving review on Classical Sonoma by Terry McNeill, March 2022
"A crisp and detaché touch gave the [C.P.E. Bach] Sonata’s Allegro di molto lift, even as the music jumped all over, and scale playing was always clear and Arpeggios expressive. The often episodic runs in the Presto and the following E-Flat Fantasia mirrored waves of sound, never loud, and the music was intriguing and in Ms. Yarden’s hands (and feet) always convincing... many in the audience cheered. It was an ideal joining of a composer’s genius with a commanding pianistic performance."
https://classicalsonoma.org/reviews/?reviewid=946
The 'Philadelphia Inquirer' on Yarden's recital at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society:
"In Philadelphia debut, pianist Einav Yarden is an intruiging personality"
"her personality was strong... a musical personality operating at a high level... She was an ardent advocate for the sweetness in Schumann’s Three Fantasy Pieces... I did love her way with this hunting jaunt in which a clear sense of key sometimes slips away like elusive prey [about Haydn Fantasie Hob XVII/4]. She stretched the meaning of those long-held low notes to the point where you think the piece may have ended. Wait for it, her playing said, and then wait some more. Is the hunt over? Yarden is not one for spoilers, and that’s a good deal of her appeal."
-- Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Hailing review on France's distinguished Diapason Magazine!
"...Il est difficile d'imaginer un jeu plus simple, plus direct, plus en prise avec le texte... elle a en tout cas la candeur, la main légère et les doigts alertes. Jamais un point d'appui trop marqué, mais une fluidité et une attention portée au détail qui signalent un idéal fait de probité et d'idéalisme. Les atmosphères naissent, passent et meurent dans une clarté aveuglante tant l'articulation, le poids, les équilibres, les réponses main gauche main droite sont prenants... A noter, au seuil de ce disque admirable et splendidement enregistré, des Fantasiestücke op. 111, aussi étranges, énigmatiques, fuyants, sombres qu'ils le doivent." -- Alain Lompech, "Diapason" (France)
French Magazine Artagmag' in new praising review of Schumann CD:
By Jean-Charles Hoffelé (original in French in the link below):
“Schumann the whimsical? Einav Yarden answers yes,... the fingers are immaterial by force of shadow. This secretive, unapologetic speech, which sings in the depths... tells all about the ultimate Schumann, lost to the world, entirely taken refuge in his music.... The pianist also finds the erased trails in Forest Scenes... beautiful sound of tenderness, touching gesture, an example of this art of suggestion that throughout the collection will be like a journey of eyes wide open in a forest full of surprise, surprisingly simple: listen to Einsame Blumen! It is the stuff of dreams that makes this piano so immaterial, so mobile... The final ode [in the Fantasy op 17], lonely, exhausted, magnificent prelude to a stellar night, will also sing in a moving shadow, unfolding its shades of gray colored. Decidedly, this pianist is a poetess.”
http://www.artalinna.com/?p=10833&fbclid=IwAR1wIDtDlcfVwkABkmuCU7cFJQCXFy0vqwr_xbOdaWsGhnCmyXLWWnNAMpc
Enthusiastic review by Carsten Dürer on German Magazine
“The Pianist Einav Yarden resorts to the fantastical whims of Robert Schumann for her third CD, and also with this music is she exactly the right performer. Because Yarden engages herself not with the technical side of the music, but with its sonic-emotional interpretation. Already in the Drei Fantasiestücke op. 111, one can hear the fusion of passion and an after-hearing, a combination indispensable to Schumann, which she uses in order to precisely match the musical expression. Yarden thus succeeds in interpreting Schumann’s great youthful-tempestuous Fantasie in C major op. 17, with supreme sensitivity […][about Forest Scenes, op. 82] She executes these pieces with such depth and panache that it’s impossible not to listen with bated breath. Einav Yarden is a captivating pianist with a clear vision and a wonderful, convincing sound.” -- Carsten Dürer, Piano News Magazine (Sept-Oct 2018)
Praising review of Schumann CD on Haaretz Newspaper
“...The first word that comes to mind after listening to the album, is ‘intimacy’. Einav Yarden draws out the lyrical and gentle sides of Schumann in all the pieces of the album... [In the Forest Scenes] she illustrates long, elegant musical lines, and in fact, the measuredness of her expression and sensitivity of her pianistic colors, emphasizes the wealth of imagination and unique magic of the pieces...” -- Amir Mandel, Ha'aretz Newspaper, August 8, 2018
https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/music/classicalmusic/classicalmusic-review/.premium-1.6359916
Five Stars for Artistic Merit on Amadeus Magazine, Italy
"Scenes and Fantasies"... is the theme of this elegant engraving, the new recording effort from Israeli pianist Einav Yarden, which demonstrates always a great intelligence in the choice of repertoires in addition to undisputed qualities of interpreter. This record, in particular, is revealed especially suitable to her for stylistic and careful affinity of understanding of the compositions he engraved..." Claudia Abbiati, Amadeus Magazine (Italy), July 1, 2018
Nordbayerischer Kurier, Review for concert shared with Daniil Trifonov at Markgräfliches Opernhaus in Bayreuth
"...Freilich hat sie den Abend weit mehr als nur gerettet. Großer Beifall des internationalen Publikums."
"...She certainly did much more than save the evening. Grand appluase from the international audience."
Fantastic review on French magazine Télérama
"The highly sensitive playing of the Israeli pianist adapts to the entire palette of moods of the German composer Robert Schumann... remarkable artist... As a final bouquet, the nine miniatures of the scenes of the forest, revive under her fingers with delicacy and an unexpected evocative power." published July 10, 2018
https://www.telerama.fr/musiques/scenes-and-fantasies,n5724472.php
Great review of Schumann CD from HRAudio
"Yarden proves once again being amongst the best pianists around...she ably creates an ambiance of dreamy resignation leading into troubled dismay; a masterly portrayal of opposing elements... engaging soul searching tour..
A deeply moving account, landing her audience in the more peaceful waters of the final movement: a love song, lovingly played." by Adrian Quanjer, HRAudio
https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=12978#reviews
Süddeutsche Zeitung Review by Wolfgang Schreiber
"...die frühe C-Dur-Fantasie mit farbenreicher Kraft und Konzentration, die reifen Waldszenen eingebettet in poetische Charakterisierungen... Von den drei späten Fantasiestücken op.111 besticht zumal das zweite, das längste, "ziemlich langsam" überschrieben. Die Pianistin hat für das Stück viel aufgestaute Energie und einen schlichten, ausdrucksstarken Tonfall --- Wolfgang Schreiber, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Classic FM - Album of the Week
"The Israeli pianist Einav Yarden shines on this album of the week with music by Robert Schumann. Having previously beautifully performed the music of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Haydn, she now ventures to one of the most colorful and complex figures of early German Romanticism... Einav Yarden performs these pieces in an excellent way. She brings clarity to the structure and shape of the pieces and her play is extraordinarily poetic and intimate. Herewith she beautifully demonstrates her empathy in the noisy period of Schumann." Classic FM, Netherlands
American Record Guide - Haydn CD Review
It is Yarden who strikes the right balance, I think. Her performances are lively, intelligent, and have just the right degree of expressivity...This is my favorite among the three recordings" American Record Guide, Bruno Repp (in comparison of three new Haydn piano sonatas CD releases)
Great review on UK's Gramophone Magazine!
"What an enterprising programme from the Israeli pianist Einav Yarden. She eschews the obvious, choosing six of Haydn’s middle-period sonatas which offer a microcosm of his endlessly varied world and she responds to each with great characterfulness. That is evident from the first sonata here, the F major (No 29), whose first movement satirically juxtaposes the most highly contrasted ideas: Yarden allows the humour to speak for itself, whereas Marc-André Hamelin tends rather to underline the jokes. Her way with the minuet finale, with its dolorous syncopated trio, is also spot-on.
She delights in the physicality of the Allegro of the D major Sonata (No 24), with its repeated-note figuration that simultaneously looks back to Scarlatti and forwards to Beethoven; its operatic D minor slow movement has a beautiful sense of line and she switches effortlessly back to freneticism as the Presto breaks in.
Every sonata seems to spring a surprise, not just musically but compositionally too. So we have as the second movement of the E flat major (No 25) a two-part canon which manages never to sound contrived; this follows a far-reaching Moderato which moves from mock-pomposity to gleefully upbeat writing. If Hamelin again is inclined to overdo the contrasts a little, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is the most subtle of mischief-makers. In the A major (No 26) Haydn borrows the palindromic minuet from his Symphony No 47, and then follows this with a brilliant blink-and-you-miss-it finale; here, Yarden is fleet and airy, though her accentuation certainly doesn’t lack bite.
The best-known sonata here is the B minor (No 32). Perhaps the highlight of Yarden’s reading is the Minuet’s Trio, captivatingly played; in the driving finale she balances the dramatic and the filigree to a nicety... Yarden clearly has much to say in this repertoire and she’s beautifully recorded too."
--by Harriet Smith
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/haydn-piano-sonatas-einav-yarden
Haydn CD Awarded Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik!!!
Haydn CD awarded the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik Bestenliste!
From the Jury of the "German Records Critics' Award" :
"Die Pointen sitzen, die langen Melodiebögen finden punktgenau ihr Ziel, und die Bassfiguren verharren nicht im Begleit-Status, sie nehmen Einfluss auf das gesamte musikalische Geschehen. Wo auch immer man in diese Auswahl an (weniger bekannten) Sonaten von Joseph Haydn hineinhört, wird man reich beschenkt. Ob Echoeffekte, kleine lyrische Oasen oder rasche Tonwiederholungen - Einav Yarden holt diese Musik aus der Ecke des Behaglich-Vergnüglichen heraus, wo sie fälschlicherweise abgestellt wurde, und präsentiert sie, übertragen auf das moderne Klavier, unverstellt und lebendig, mit Nachdenklichkeit und Humor. Dank dieser stilistischen Sicherheit erscheinen die Sonaten wie kleine Theater-Stücke! (Für die Jury: Christoph Vratz)
http://www.schallplattenkritik.de/bestenlisten/827-bestenliste-3-2016
CD-des-Doppelmonats (CD of the Bi-Monthly Issue) on Piano News Magazine, Germany
Haydn CD selected as the CD of the Bi-Monthly Issue on Germany's Piano News magazine (Sept-Oct Issue). From the accompanying review (to be translated soon): "Mit Finesse und einer sensiblen Tongebung gestaltet sie die meist einfachen Motive, die Haydn mit harmonischen Wechseln und Verzierungen weiterentwickelt. Der moderne Flügel wird unter Yardens Händen zu einem Mittel, das der Pianisten die Möglichkeiten unterschiedliecher Klangfarben bietet: zwischen Hammerflügel und der Klangweite eines modernen Instruments.... Einav Yarden ist sich jeder Nuance im Zusammenhang des Geschriebenen bewusst, gestaltet geschickt, ohne zu (den heutzutage üblichen) Übertreibungen zu neigen, sondern lässt der Musik bei aller Gestaltung ihren natürlichen Fluss. Das ist großartiges Klavierspiel und Yarden beweist einmal mehr, zu welcher künstlerischen Größe sie fähig ist" --- Carsten Dürer, Piano News Magazine
Haaretz Newspaper CD Review by Amir Mandel, Israel
“… In her last CD, Yarden presented Beethoven and Stravinsky, and excelled in demonstrating their novelty. Here she unveils the freshness and force of inventiveness and newness also with Haydn. The playing is clear, precise and finely crafted, and fascinates also with a wide range of colors, delicate dynamics and beautiful relations between the movements...This is a CD I will come back to.”
-- Amir Mandel, Haaretz Newspaper, Israel
http://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/music/classicalmusic/.premium-1.3083957
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Sonntagzeitung)
"Einav Yarden…a passionate advocate for the smallest details"
Beautiful review on Stereoplay Magazine, Germany by Attila Csampai
"...Mit großer intellektueller Souveränität, mit Feingefühl für Haydns subtilen Humor, und insbesondere mit ihrem glasklar prägnantem Zugriff schafft es die 37-jährige Pianistin, Haydns trockene musikalische Logik mit Leben anzureichern, und mit feiner Agogik den inneren Gestenreichtum, und den menschlichen Puls dieser elementaren Strukturen plastisch auszuformen, sodass der immense substanzielle Reichtum dieser Miniatur Sinfonien deutlich und als Prozess ständiger Überraschungen für den Hörer erfahrbar wird. Mit unbeirrbarem timing, flüssigen Tempi und präziser, pedalfreier Artikulation verweist Yarden zudem auf Haydns neue Chronometrie, die wie eine tickende Uhr den neuen, objektiven Lebenspuls schlägt: Die Zeit wird kostbar und jeder Takt enthält Essenzielles. So überrascht uns Haydn in der Sonate Nr. 39, der er dem Fürsten Esterházy widmet, mit einem seiner schönsten, eindringlichsten Adagio Sätze und Einav Yarden gestaltet auch diesen schmerzlichen Monolog mit einer Zärtlichkeit und schutzlosen Schlichtheit, die Haydns tragischen Andeutungen eine größere Wirkung verleihen als jeder große Gestus. Die in Berlin lebende Leon Fleisher Schülerin findet hier auf Anhieb die richtige Balance von intellektueller Klarheit und emotionaler Sensibilität, Humor und Empathie, struktureller Strenge und lebendigimpulsreicher Spielfreude. Farbenreicher, knackiger Klavierklang, der auch im Mehrkanalmodus genügend Präsenz bereithält. Nach diesem Album bist du ein Haydn Fan, garantiert." --- Review by Attila Csampai, Stereoplay Magazine, September 2016 Issue
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik - German Records Critics' Award
“Wherever you listen in this recording, you will be richly rewarded… she presents this music vividly on the modern piano, with no obstruction, full of reflection and humor.”
-The Jury of the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, August 2016
CD of the Week and Review of Panel on Radio 4 Netherlends
"With the right people there is no better music than Haydn's, it is full of imagination, wonder, contrasts and boldness, but you have to dare to play it that way. If it gets only slightly academic it looses its strength and gets dull. This performance is enlightening and exciting".
Daniel Rowland, Diskotabel Radio 4
HRAudio CD Review
Yarden shines with a delicate and disarming frankness as well as transparent simplicity... This is a fine recital, which can safely be taken as a prime recommendation for enlarging your collection.
-- HRAudio CD Review, Adrian Quanjer
Fono Forum, Germany, Christoph Vratz (August Edition) - Five Stars
(For the original language, click on 'German' at the top right corner)
“What an unusual selection: first, because it consists solely of sonatas by Joseph Haydn, and second, because the pieces are without exception from his middle period, all stemming from the years 1773-1776. Einav Yarden displays an inventively intelligent Haydn, full of wit and abundance, with a delicate, varying touch. From the opening of the D major sonata no. 39, she unveils a grand theater, with dramatic density in the powerful base, and with delicate piano and pianissimo enclaves that temporarily lift the curtain for completely new scenery. Yarden doesn’t play so harried, as one occasionally hears in Hamelin’s Haydn recordings; her playing is more finely-spirited and artful than Ekatarina Dershavina in her Haydn recordings; Yarden’s style lies in the vicinity of Yevgeny Sudbin, and furthermore within the radius of Brendel and Schiff. She knows how to storm through this music with chic, as in the Presto-Finale of the A major sonata no. 41, wherein with tiny modulations of tempo she attains great effect, and through the runs her fingers virtually bubble intoxicatingly, before heading to the short, full concluding chords. Next to these stand the slower movements, as that of the F major sonata no. 44, where after a few bars the treble melody sings out and the accompanying material consists of only subdued chords – an almost recitative-like passage, before the arioso theme rises, while supported by only a minimal use of pedal. In this way the melody can unfold vocally, because at the same time the assistance of the left hand is cleverly deployed. With refined technique Yarden handles the many repetitions of the Finale in the closing B-minor sonata no. 47, with many transitions, runs and echo effects. This brings us back to the Theater. Yarden plays a wonderfully exuberant, vibrant Haydn, glowing, transparent, adventurous, at times intimately chamber-music-like, at times grand and orchestral. A voice for Haydn!”
Christoph Vratz, Fono Forum Magazine, Germany, August 2016
New Haydn CD Review by David Rohde
"Nobody does “funny” on the piano like Einav Yarden. Okay, she gets a lot of help from Joseph Haydn, the classical master who was a mentor to Mozart and teacher of Beethoven. But like jokes in a written script, it’s all in the delivery and timing.[...]
That’s what Einav brings here, with Six Piano Sonatas that are varied gems of inspiration and inventiveness. Her tools are hills and valleys of dynamics, extra little split-seconds of rests followed by cascading notes, and a robust bass line that matches left-hand articulation to the right-hand filigrees.[...]
Listen to Einav’s interpretation with the image of several balls bouncing down a hill or a decorative water fountain doing choreography, and the sense of playfulness and controlled acceleration will come to life beyond the abstraction of instrumental music. As a sneaky little trick, then call up a YouTube video of one of the 20th century’s greatest pianists, Sviatoslav Richter, playing the same piece and tell me you are not comparatively bored to tears.", By David Rohde
To read the full review, go to: http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2016/06/09/midyear-cd-review-evocative-oboe-witty-haydn-new-take-duke-ellington1/
La Lettre du Musicien, by Frédéric Gaussin
Direct, incisif, constamment intelligible, ce piano-là fait merveille d’emblée dans deux œuvres de Haydn (Hob. XVI 24 et 31), s’amusant avec grâce, élégance, d’une écriture spirituelle à l’expressivité très ornée - frictions savoureuses, imitations en canons, trilles acérés, batteries bondissantes, sextolets en cascades. D’une ferme concentration de pensée, clair de lignes, dépouillé de chichis, l’Allegretto central de laSonate en mi majeur, de facture quasi baroque, sonne pur et beau comme du Bach. En l’espace de ces quelques pages, conçues de manière organique en dessinant des arches longues, l’ancienne élève de Léon Fleischer révèle sa nature : un respect absolu des valeurs et des figures rythmiques, une intelligence aiguë des phrasés, conduits toujours à leur terme, une compréhension de la forme, un agencement rigoureux des plans, un souci des timbres, de la sonorité, des pédales précises, une attention portée d’instinct à l’enveloppe globale plus qu’à la digitalité per se, pourtant impeccable, qui lui offrent de communiquer le sens profond d’un ouvrage avec une autorité magistrale et sereine.
La Sonate en sol majeur de Schubert (D.894) en recueille tous les fruits. Tirant du clavier des couleurs qu’on ne lui soupçonnait pas encore, respirant sans crainte du silence, mue par une pulsation vivante (à l’image de l’arbre de Liszt, dont les feuilles ondoient sous l’effet du vent sans que sa base ne vacille), la musicienne déploie un éventail de motifs, et en renouvelle constamment l’éclairage à mesure qu’elle nous les remémore ; l’altération du discours, climat et psychologie, étant induite ici, peu à peu, par les modulations du texte lui-même, par l’harmonie et non par un artifice du jeu.
Vivement acclamée, Yarden chante Widmung d’un même élan spontané, par déferlement de vagues successives. Pris sotto voce avec une pudeur exquise, le thème transcrit par Liszt du célèbre lied de Schumann se gorge à chaque itération de résonances neuves, enfle et s’anime jusqu’à la déclamation passionnée, soutenu par sa dentelle d’arpèges, les inflexions du poème de Rückert que l’on croirait presque entendre. Réjouissant programme, que refermèrent les syncopes argentines, décalées et plaisantes du Tango de Stravinsky (7 avril).
The Washington Post, Stephen Brooks, USA
"In her debut album released last year, “Oscillations,” Israeli pianist Einav Yarden paired Beethoven with Stravinsky to striking effect, merging that unlikely couple with imagination and exceptionally vivid playing.
Yarden brought those same qualities to the Phillips Collection on Sunday in a recital of Bach, Ravel and Schubert. The afternoon [...' showed Yarden to be a probing, incisive pianist with a beautiful sound and an impressively transparent touch.
That transparency was quickly evident in Bach’s English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, which opened the program. If you like Glenn Gould’s Bach, you’ll like Yarden’s. It is crystalline and precisely balanced down to its molecules, with superb voice-leading and a sense of purpose in every note. Yarden might not have demonstrated the hyper-immaculate technique that has become the new normal in classical music, but [...] she turned in a reading with something much more important — a sense of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and quiet grace.
Maurice Ravel’s “Valses nobles et sentimentales,” from 1911, gave Yarden an opportunity to display her more lyrical side. The suite of eight waltzes still sounds adventurous and even edgy, and Yarden seemed to revel in its quick shifts of light and dark, its shimmering textures and its playful, sly wit. She brought the same clarity to Ravel that she brought to Bach.
Piano recitals often close with a high-octane piece designed to get the pulse racing, but Yarden chose Schubert’s Piano Sonata in G, D. 894, a work that glows with serenity for a good half-hour, then just sort of falls asleep. There’s little of the heaven-storming that Schubert dishes out in his other sonatas, but Yarden brought a quiet sense of drama to the work, and the delicate mix of wistfulness and thundering that she found in the Andante was worth the price of admission.
Still, it was a welcome treat to hear Stravinsky’s “Piano-Rag-Music” as an encore. This spirited, jagged work from 1918 (think Cubist jazz, with a Russian edge) is not often heard, and Yarden’s quick, lively reading brought it to life.
Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, by Isabel Herzfeld,
La lauréate du concours international Beethoven à Bonn s'est approprié les Bagatelles du Maître dans une interprétation ravissante et étincelante, accentuant les fractures et les atonalités novatrices. La sonate en ré majeur de Haydn, peu connue, a aussi brillé par son humour plein d’esprit. Dans le programme le plus intelligent de la journée, elle a ainsi fait le lien avec "Jatékok" de György Kurtág , ces interludes mystérieux avec leurs “particules élémentaires” musicales.
International Record Review, UK, by Stephen Pruslin (CD Review)
“…I listened to the two Beethoven Sonatas first, and it was immediately apparent a great virtue of Einav Yarden’s playing is that she not only observes Beethoven’s dynamics and articulation marks scrupulously, but (and this is much more important) she understands the reasons for his markings, so that it is their musical intelligence that she conveys to the listener. […] Yarden’s semi-staccato touch in the left hand is utterly delightful and I have never heard anyone else play the moment in this way. Her finger work is immaculate: every demisemiquaver (32nd note) scale in this movement (and there are many of them) is placed with complete clarity and fluency. These virtues continue throughout the outer fast movements[...]. At the same time Yarden posesses a firm legato wherever relevant. [...] The short Stravinsky pieces are actually bagatelles in the most usual sense: they are entertaining, sometimes jazzy (Piano-Rag Music), ironic (Tango), or naive (Valse pour les enfants), wherein Yarden understands that to play it properly, one must simultaneously be an adult "telling a story" to a child and an adult who can recapture her own childhood"... (to read the complete review, go to 'downloads')
DC Metro Arts, review by David Rohde
A packed house at the Phillips Collection could have been forgiven if they thought that pianist Einav Yarden had magically switched out Steinway grand pianos between numbers.
The Israeli pianist, making a return to our region since her days studying with piano legend Leon Fleisher at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory, brought her growing international reputation for drawing remarkable contrasts and connections among dissimilar parts of the piano repertoire to Phillips in its Sunday Concerts series.
Ms. Yarden began her program with Bach’s English Suite #2 in A minor....Key to Ms. Yarden being able to do both with the same instrument is her uncanny mastery of the sustaining pedal. Unlike even some renowned pianists, she absolutely never “cheats” in very fast passages by smearing notes together with the pedal. Thus the Bach suite had the quality of space in between even rapidly running notes, especially in fast dances like its “Courante” and “Gigue” movements.
Yet the Ravel waltzes on the same piano had the magical quality of sustained background chords, with each notional “melody” – often really a set of notes or note clusters linked across various registers in the piano – clearly presented in phrases pulled together by the pedal for no shorter nor longer than was required to isolate them.
As soon as Ms. Yarden began the second of the eight Ravel waltzes, marked Assez lent avec une expression intense [...]the piano in the Phillips’ Music Room seemed to have completely transformed from the harpsichord-like quality of Ms. Yarden’s Bach rendering to the dreamy, almost orchestral world of Ravel.
To read the full review: http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/12/09/pianist-einav-yarden-phillips-collection/
FonoForum, Germany, March 2014
"Vor aliem aber spricht ihr Spiel weit mehr von Ausgleich als von Kontrast. Es ist pianistisch und musikalisch perfekt harmonisch, dazu vorbildlich klangschön und insofern bestnotenverdächtig."
Piano News Magazine, Carsten Dürer, Germany
"Her concept works, thanks largely to Yarden’s mesmerizing pianism. With exceptional sensitivity and from her quite individual perspective, she manages to extract a degree of logic from the Beethoven sonatas that one hears only rarely in young pianists. She astutely gauges the design of each movement with playing of classical rigour and a restrained but refined range of dynamics, using little pedal and almost suggesting the sound of a fortepiano. Yet she also manages to convey the music’s urgency and tension. The roundness and warmth of her tone immediately capture the listener’s ear. She is able to bring an uncommon transparency to the sound of the Stravinsky works. Her playing of his sonata is genuinely “classical”, in the best sense of that word, with an ear for the Russian composer’s reminiscences of musical traditions, which are audible everywhere. Moreover, she plays with extreme rhythmic precision and is undaunted by technique in her choice of tempi...Closing with more Beethoven, his late Bagatelles Op. 119, the pianist is again persuasive with her sophisticated combination of exactitude and natural rubati. A fascinating debut CD from a marvellous musician.” (full review in 'downloads')
The Magazine chose the CD as the 'CD des doppelmonats' (the CD of the bi-monthly issue)
International Piano Magazine, Benjamin Ivry, United Kingdom
"...an exemplary CD anchored by a vividly insightful rendition of Beethoven's Sonata No 6 in F major, Op 14 No 2...Yarden offers warmly humane wit and animation. Stravinsky's substantial 1 924 Sonata and his shorter dance-inspired works all benefit from this reading.Yarden has the intelligence to imply that when Stravinsky wrote a polka, waltz or tango, it transcended the popular dance genre to become a commentary on human aspirations and experience... As a former student of the eminent pedagogues Leon Fleisher and Emanuel Krasovsky, both masters of metaphysical insights into Beethoven's sound world, Yarden has clearly absorbed a profound understanding of Romantic and modern pianism. I look forward to hearing her perform Schubert, Brahms, Webern and Shostakovich."
DC Metro Arts, CD Review by David Rohde
Does Beethoven make you laugh? Does Stravinsky make you dance? No? Then you need to hear Israeli pianist Einav Yarden interweave these two composers’ music in her debut album Oscillations.
In her album notes, Einav sets out to find how both composers – writing a century apart and with an entirely different tonal vocabulary – juxtapose drama with humor and sincerity next to mischievousness. To find that nexus requires more than the simple piano chops that dozens of young pianists on the international scene bring to the table. Einav employs superb dynamic sense, stellar pedaling technique, and exceptional “voice-leading” – the ability to find and tease out internal melodies from a massive cornucopia of notes – to make the piano tell a tale. [...]in the third movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata #6 [...]. Not only do I practically crack up every time I hear Einav joyfully execute this sequence, but the album continues the humor theme in a number of pieces. With great gusto she plays a polka, a waltz, a rag and a tango by Stravinsky, reveling in their fascinating early 20th century distortions, very much like explorations by Picasso and other artists of the time of the classical forms in their own disciplines.
To read the full review:
http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/12/23/standout-cds-three-rising-classical-artists-einav-yarden-yevgeny-kutik-danielle-talamantes2/
Noam Ben-Zeev, Haaretz Newspaper, Israel
"...Einav Yarden, qui interpréta Beethoven de façon si personnelle, avec une émotion retenue qui pénêtre le coeur et une perfection technique qui en elle-même ajoute une autre dimension à l’éxpérience musicale."
Harris Goldsmith, Musical America 2008, USA
"Dès l’instant où ses doigts inspirés ont touché le clavier, il devient évident que EY appartient à la fine fleur de sa génération. Son CV est formidable … immense talent … Nous ne devrions pas avoir longtemps à attendre."
Luister Magazine, The Netherlands (CD Review)
Exquisite Dramaturgical Total
"...The genius thing with Yarden is primarily her unprecedented high pianism in terms of the ultimate mastery of her instrument (no wish stays unfulfilled!), But most of all, the way in which all these diverse characters, not only within the program as a whole but also in the different pieces, managed to come together into a seamless exemplary total, especially in dramaturgical respect."
Ulrich Bumann, General-Anzeiger, Bonn, Germany
"Einav Yarden nous a régalés avec ces historiettes (Jakékok, de G. Kurtag) rendues avec une articulation extraordinairement vivante. Dans les Bagatelle op. 6 de Béla Bartok et surtout dans les onze Bagatelles op. 119 de Beethoven, pas un détail n’a échappé à la pianiste qui remporta le 3e prix du concours Beethoven il y a deux ans. Elle joue d’une façon puissante avec beaucoup d’énergie ; audacieuse de temps en temps, elle prend des libertés bien fondées d’un point de vue artistique et possède le sens de la poésie en musique. (…) Un bon exemple en est son interprétation sensible de la dernière bagatelle qui renferme en quelques mesures assez de matière musicale pour un concerto tout entier. L’Humoreske de Schumann, morceau principal du récital, n’est pas seulement un défi du point de vue technique ; il s’agit encore d’assembler les diverses pièces d’humeurs différentes en un tout homogène. Yarden y parvient sur un ton narratif quasi interrogateur qui donne à son interprétation la beauté d’une longue improvisation. Avec les transcriptions par Liszt de deux lieder de Schumann (Frühlingsnacht et Widmung), Yarden est restée fidèle au thème de l’été du piano, « Trans-Liszt ». Que l’on aime ou non le tonnerre de Liszt appliqué à Schumann, quand Widmung est joué avec cette perfection divine et extatique, on ne peut que se laisser captiver par la musique."
The Independent, UK
CD Album review: "The Sonatas chosen here share an exuberance of spirit skilfully evoked in Yarden's bright, inventive playing. The Stravinsky has an almost impersonal, mechanical bustle compared to Beethoven's more languid refinement, but their shared joviality and polymorphism [...] bridge the distance implied by time and style"
The Independent, UK, by Andy Gill
CD review: "This is an unusual juxtaposition of seemingly incongruent composers [...], but the Sonatas chosen here share an exuberance of spirit skillfully evoked in Yarden's bright, inventive playing."
Valerie Kahler, MPR (Minnesota Public Radio), Classical Notes
J'ai eu la bonne fortune de capter le récital d'Einav Yarden ce soir. Incroyable ! Dès le début, j'ai été captivé, vissé sur mon siège. Elle jouait un bouquet de "Jeux" de Gyorgy Kurtag, tantôt percussifs, tantôt arachnéens, espiègles ou menaçants ...
Daniel Tucker, Chicago Tribune, USA
"Einav Yarden… qui joue avec une autorité et une beauté de sons que l’on n’attend vraiment pas de la part de quelqu’un de si jeune. … Tout avait été réfléchi et répondait à un très haut niveau d’exigence musicale. Enfin, l’interprétation était impeccable. On ne peut pas demander beaucoup plus… "
Francis Albou, L'Union, France
Des pages tout en charme, d'autres tout en hardiesse… et une pianiste de feu en un savoureux bouquet musical où la chronologie historique était joyeusement malmenée : Beethoven, Stravinsky, puis Haydn et Prokofiev. Une telle organisation du programme annonçait d'emblée la forte personnalité de la jeune virtuose israélienne de 27 ans… La musique de Haydn ne se trouvait plus relayée au simple rôle d'exercice d'échauffement !
L'agreste sonate en Sol de Beethoven, délicate, raffinée, plus volontiers conçue pour être déclamée sur un ton de confidence entre amis était peut-être trop impétueuse dans son 1er mouvement où l'on attendait davantage de contrastes dans l'exposé des deux thèmes ; mais la brûlante dialectique du développement rééquilibrait les choses. Les variations de l'andante furent splendides : un Beethoven maniant l'humour davantage que le drame !… Le scherzo final, délicate plaisanterie au rythme malicieux, concluait la sonate avec autant d'audace que d'espièglerie.
Hardiesse… dans les trois pages de Stravinsky (l'étonnante Sonate néo-classique, puis le malicieux Tango, enfin la Valse donnée en bis) où l'interprète laissait deviner l'étendue de ses moyens techniques, son étonnante palette de couleurs, mais aussi sa brûlante personnalité. On se surprenait alors à songer que la mythique Martha Argerich devait lui ressembler au même âge….
La même lumière balayait la 39e sonate de Haydn, page magistrale aux forts contrastes mélodiques, glorifiant le bithématisme. C'est plus en virtuose qu'en conteuse que la jeune pianiste joua cette page rayonnante où elle n'oublia ni de s'épancher dans l'adagio, ni d'en souligner l'humour. Et quel panache pour le presto final !
Pourtant, c'est avec la 2e sonate de Prokofiev que le discours devint incandescent. Page foudroyante au niveau technique, elle annonce dans son second mouvement les grandes envolées lyriques des chefs-d'œuvre à venir. C'est bien cette exaltation, cette fougue, ce « culot » propre aux jeunes créateurs du début du XXe siècle que partagea Einav Yarden dans son impeccable interprétation où le toucher, mordant et martelé, faisait songer à ces « doigts d'acier » qui subjuguaient tant les critiques des années 20 ! L'andante, sublime méditation, ne regardait peut-être pas suffisamment les étoiles malgré de riches couleurs et de subtiles nuances. Evidemment, l'étourdissant final en style de toccata souleva l'enthousiasme d'un public curieusement clairsemé sous les voûtes ombragées de la Salle du Festin.
Francis ALBOU
Manuel Stangorra, Darmstädter Echo, Germany
“Right at the start of her performance, Einav Yarden demonstrated her musical prowess with her rendition of Debussy's "Hommage à Rameau". Whoever possesses such a measured, contemplative and intuitive talent for intonation is sure to attract a great amount of recognition. Yarden did not simply belt out the notes recklessly, but rather portrayed a profound view of the world, both sundry and reflective. Her performance revealed incredible self-discipline and vigor, drawn from her exemplary and calm posture.
With an almost uncanny ease, she unveiled the four-movement "Suite Bergamasque" from Debussy, sewing the parts together seemlessly as if cast from the same mold. Judging by her bedazzling ardency, Yarden would surely make an exceptional jazz pianist as well. Maurice Ravel's "Valses Nobles et Sentimentales" continued consistently in the same impressionist direction.
Her rendition of Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata op.57 in F minor proved to be an even greater success, unveiling yet another dimension of her musical talent with extreme manual dexterity meeting raw elemental force. One might accuse Yarden of having a certain propensity for romantic flair. Her music...in no way avoids the use of tempo rubato, but this is what gives it a sense of liveliness and dramatics. This is how the most intense of feelings are converted into sound. The pianist's performance truly enchanted her audience. Spectacular!
Translation: Zachary Mühlenberg
Ury Eppstein, Jerusalem Post, Israel
"Le jeu de Yarden est vif, décisif et accentué de façon significative ; elle est captivante dans son expression, intense, persuasive et pleine d'énergie."
The Jerusalem Post, Israel, by Max Stern
La vedette de ce concert Mendelssohn était la jeune pianiste Einav Yarden. La brillante lauréate a parcouru le concerto Op. 25 à tire d’aile comme un elfe du Songe d’une Nuit d’Eté (l’ouverture figurait en début de programme). Ses doigts infaillibles semblaient résolument danser sur le clavier.
Andre Peyregne, Nice-Matin paper, France
“Einav Yarden, beautiful Israeli pianist, with a name that suggests a garden (Jardin), offered us yesterday some beautiful bouquets of notes from her garden… We loved her way of playing – refined, full of emotion, and virtuosic”
Michael Huebner, Birmingham News, USA
Einav Yarden avait beaucoup à offrir à l’auditeur qui s’était aventuré à son récital de la série Piano à l’UAB. Elle présentait Haydn avec sa sonate en ré majeur Hob. XVI/24 dans une interprétation impeccable et bien construite qui pétillait d’énergie. En conclusion du récital, la sonate de Beethoven en mi majeur Op. 109 a abouti à un final exaltant.
Noam Ben-Zeev, Haaretz Newspaper, Israel
Einav Yarden a joué avec une parfaite aisance pianistique. Elle possède ce dont rêvent tous les pianiste : de belles sonorités, un toucher léger et étincelant, une merveilleuse capacité de se plier aux différents styles.