Kasparas Uinskas, from Lithuania, is one of the most interesting pianists of the new generations, and this DVD shows his concert dèbut in 2008 in Berlin Philharmonie.

Concert’s program is ambitious and very important: works by Rachmaninov (including the famous Sonata N. 2) together with a “classic” like Chopin, and Haydn, whose Sonatas are quite unusual.

Balys Dvarionas is a latvian composer still traditional in his style although active in the 20th century. Three of his works are performed in this DVD and they look as a tribute to the Baltic countries, apart from their musical value in itself.  As said, they are traditional, one could define them post romantic or post impressionist. They are very rich in feelings and suggestions, descriptive, as their titles suggest, perfect for Uinskas’ fine sensitivity to shine at his best.

We could say that theese pages so harmonically rich, are in Tchaikovskij’s line, intimate and rich in athmosphere as “The Seasons”, or they let also think to Grieg’s “Lyric pieces”, short piano works depicting country life or emotions, full of light and naive poetry.

Uinskas enters perfectly in Dvarionas’ simple and a bit childish world with his great emotivity and excellent musicality, finding wonderful musical colours on his keyboard.

In the rest of the DVD Uinskas is probably a little less convincing. In Rachmaninov he has very good moments specially in the more turbulent parts of the Sonata N. 2, while in the soft moments, the pianist seems less convincing in finding the right colours. The rest is played very well but probably without special originalty.

In the whole we can say that Kasparas Uinskas is a very promising young pianist with an excellent technique. We hope he can do great things in his future. Maybe he should select carefully the right repertoire, for instance Debussy and the Impressionism, but this is just a critic’s adivice – evidently, a pianist can’t make without the great repertoire.

Music world needs new pianists, and we’re happy to have discovered a very good new one in this DVD with Uinskas’ Berlin dèbut.
Fabio Bardelli translation from italian to english Bruno Tredicine

 

KASPARAS UINSKAS. piano recital. Berlin Philharmonie, live. 30th March, 2008

Sergei Rachmaninov: Etude-Tableau in C minor op
. 33 n. 3

Joseph Haydn: Piano Sonata in F HXVI 23

Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in F minor op. 55 n. 1. Scherzo n. 3 in C# minor op

. 39

Balys Dvarionas: Three pieces from “Winter Sketches”:

– The First Snowflakes

– Down the Hill in a Sled

– Snow Covered Wood

Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata n. 2 in Bb minor op. 36

1 DVD

New Musical Generation NMG-DVD-001

Kasparas Uinskas home page: http://www.uinskas.lt

Links to Kasparas Uinskas on You Tube:

Tchaikovsky piano concerto No. 1 Mov. 3:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhhwOs126Fc/

Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie Op. 61: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CItLJ8Oxfpw

Balys Dvarionas, First Snowflakes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtnl9LAkzBs

Beethoven- Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’, Mov. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2uFet0X84E&feature=related

Rachmaninov Sonata in B flat minor, Op.36, No. 2, 1 Mov: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2pc5UZa6ts&feature=related

Chopin Scherzo in C sharp minor Op.39, No.3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8cTqfDGuQQ&feature=related

Haydn sonata Mov. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YBaIwHoOC0&feature=related

Chopin Concerto No.2 first mov,: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByLaplgcHro&feature=related