Gavryluyk's Dazzling Debut - reviews

Alexander Gavrylyuk's debut in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam Sunday february 8^th garnered rave reviews from the Dutch Press. Still only 24, the Ukrainian pianist proved himself a real master of the keys. Read here some of the reviews.

De Volkskrant – Wednesday 11 February 2009

Concertgebouw in trance after masterly performance

A rare sight indeed: the Concertgebouw audience whistling and singing as they leave the Main Hall. One particular enthusiast couldn’t hold back during the concert. He whistled steadily to the Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn, the fourth and last encore of debutante master pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk. All this cheerfulness was caused by the flow of the 24-year old prize winner: Gavrylyuk makes piano playing look astonishingly easy.
In May 2008 Gavrylyuk performed in the Netherlands for the very first time. In June of this year he will make his debut with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has already invited him for next season. This is the sensational arrival of new master: a young pianist and virtuoso communicator with breathtaking technique.
Bearing in mind that Alexander Gavrylyuk was in a coma only six years ago, part of his skull, above the left eye, was crushed during a car accident. After a long period of recovery the pianist simply remarked it had given him plenty of time to reflect. If making music was ever about the communication of heartfelt human emotions, this experience had given him ample.
The Ukrainian learned the trade in Sydney. These days he resides in Berlin, with an Australian passport. During his recovery he learnt another important lesson; never leave until tomorrow what you can do toady. The programme he offered in Amsterdam looked mighty difficult. In the wrong hands, the Brahms Paganini Variations and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata can turn out to be disastrous. And how many pianists bit off more than they could chew with Mozart and Bach ‘exercises’?
But Alexander Gavrylyuk turns heavy into light and light into floating. Mozart’s Sonata KV 576 passed by as a fragrant spring breeze. The maddening dexterity of the second encore, the Flight of the Bumblebee, proved the wrist joint can vibrate with the speed of a woodpecker. Only during Bach’s composition for organ, the Toccata and Fugue in D, did the pianist seem to get lost occasionally.
With great authority Gavrylyuk entered the stage that can break fingers and reputations. His interpretations of Rachmaninoff and Brahms were fine examples of how to make a score transparent. One highlights the melody, stresses the bass line secretly and lights the connecting voices stealthily. All this of course with superior ease and natural calm.
Gavrylyuk creates a wonderful world of sound with the clear lines and colours of a Mondrian.

By Guido van Oorschot

Translation: Riaskoff Concert Management – www.riaskoff.nl / www.meesterpianisten.nl

NRC Handelsblad – 9 February 2009

The young Gavrylyuk is already a master pianist

The secret of Alexander Gavrylyuk is focus. This 24 year old master pianist from Ukraine made his debut in the Master Pianists series as if he has lived three piano lives already. Whoever is capable at such a young age of playing so superior and truthful is born with the gift of divine concentration.
At the age of 13 Gavrylyuk followed his teacher Victor Makarov to Australia. He won First Prizes at the Horowitz Piano Competition in Kiev and the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv. Gavrylyuk settled in Berlin recently. He appears to possess naturally all the qualities that violinist Jascha Heifetz considered to be essential for a great soloist: the nerves of a bullfighter, the digestion of a peasant, the vitality of a nightclub hostess, the tact of a diplomat and the concentration of a Tibetan monk.
Gavrylyuk plays the piano like a part of himself, almost without technical restrictions and with a remarkably honest feeling for music. He started his extraordinary recital with a fine interpretation of Mozart’s Sonata in D KV576, outlining all voices, contra voices and harmonic movements crystal clear. On a sentimental level Gavrylyuk appeared to still peak through a key hole, observing the emotions he would have liked to portray in full bloom. Mozart sounded fresh and pure but lacked a little colour and poetry.
Highly impressive was Gavrylyuk’s unparalleled virtuosity, placed entirely in the service of Brahms’ notoriously difficult 28 Variations to a theme of N. Paganini.
Emotional doors and windows were blast open during the Toccata and Fugue by Bach/Busoni. Gavrylyuk’s enchanted playing now included taking more risks and even making the odd mistake, which did not detract from his masterly performance. Then again during the expansive performance of Rachmaninoff’s second Sonata, the young Russian made everything flow and glitter. Four spectacular encores followed: Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, Cziffra’s Bumblebee, a Prelude by Scriabin and the Horowitz arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March.

Wenneke Savenije

Pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk is the discovery of the year

None of the young pianists that made their debut in the Master Pianists series during the past years, made as big an impression as the 24 year old Alexander Gavrylyuk last Sunday. Ever since he won the Horowitz competition, the Yamaha Competition and the Arthur Rubinstein Competition, the young Ukrainian enjoyed great international fame.
Gavrylyuk showed a musicality so natural, sympathetic and modest, that his flawless technique, which equals Volodos and Lang Lang, appears to be a mere vehicle for the music. Characteristically the virtuoso Gavrylyuk didn’t hesitate to start Mozart’s Sonata KV 576 in a calm and simple manner. How many piano masters who excel in Liszt and Rachmaninoff, fail to impress with the technically simple but musically difficult Mozart Sonatas? Not Gavrylyuk. He played the fast parts relatively slowly, clear, balanced and with thorough understanding. His interpretation of the adagio was distinguished by refinement and musical depth, and it proved his musical maturity.
The technical difficulties that Brahms put into his Paganini variations seemed mere child’s play to Gavrylyuk. I have rarely heard them played so pure, light and colourful, with a warm expression in the slower variations.
Around 1900, Busoni made transcriptions of the organ works by Bach. Busoni produced complex pieces in which the sound of the organ was transplanted to the piano. More precisely, the sound of organ from the beginning of the twentieth century. The main aesthetic difference between the adaptor and the composer is that Busoni applied more dynamic layers and colours than Bach was used to. With his multi-coloured toucher Gavrylyuk gave a wonderful performance of the late-romantic ‘organ registrations’, grafted onto the traditions of the early twentieth century.
Gavrylyuk then applied his surplus of technique to the Second Sonata by Rachmaninoff. He created an impressive structure with fabulous contrast.
Through his choice of encores Gavrylyuk revealed his affinity with the late romantic masters of the ‘Golden Age’ like Rachmaninoff and Horowitz. Apart from the velvet sounds in Scriabin and Rachmaninoff, he showed great spectacle in Cziffra’s adaptation of Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Flight of the Bumblebee. Finally, the audience went through the roof during Mendelssohn’s Wedding March (Horowitz’ refined adaptation of the Liszt version). Gavrylyuk appears to be the piano-discovery of the year, even though this year has only just begun.

By Christo Lelie

Trouw - 10 February 2009