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David Finckel, Wu Han and Philip Setzer perform the Schubert Trios
News
25-Feb 2010
On January 31, David Finckel and Wu Han performed Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano in a sold-out concert at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. For the first time since reopening last year, the legendary venue was forced to resort to stage seating to accommodate the audience. This concert was part of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Complete Beethoven Cycle series. Vivien Schweitzer of the New York Times called the performance “terrific,” citing their “striking interpretation” of the Sonata in A (Op. 69) and the D Major Sonata, which offered “an impressive showcase for Mr. Finckel's rich tone and Ms. Wu's sensitive musicianship.” Read the full review
25-Feb 2010
Violinist Philip Setzer (of the Emerson Quartet) joined the duo this month to perform Franz Schubert's piano trios in a series of concerts in Chicago, Richmond, and Boston, where they were received by enthusiastic audiences and press acclaim.
The Chicago Classical Review had this to say:
"
The program, showcasing Schubert's two piano trios, offered a thrilling combination of technical prowess and almost telepathic communication onstage. Throughout the evening we felt the performers' sheer delight in making music together....
Setzer, Finckel and Han explored every corner of this fertile terrain. Their voices were perfectly balanced. Each was clearly present and more than willing to take the spotlight when appropriate. But at no point did Han's lucid, often playful piano, Finckel's darkly textured cello or Setzer's crisp violin distort Schubert's delicate musical balance....
These trios are full of sudden stops and changes of direction, and in these transitions the three musicians seemed to stop breathing and then exhale like a single organism. The music unfolded like a spontaneous, heady conversation among three intimate friends. Performances don't get more exciting than this." Read the full review
The Boston Globe concurred:
"The performance was marvelous. The sound was old-fashioned in its plushness.... Schubert's melodies unfolded with sure-footed grace, all three players attuned to the music's slow-build but resolute large-scale rhythmic pace, not injecting fervency into each phrase, but drawing out reserves of warmth.
Read the full review
Fall 2009
David Finckel and Wu Han have just launched a new website.
The duo joined forces with Emerson String Quartet violinist Philip Setzer to record Schubert's two piano trios (recently released through ArtistLed). The trio will continue to perform them in concert through 2011.
Press Highlights
"America's power couple of chamber music."
— The Wall St. Journal
“Mr. Finckel and Wu Han gave eloquent and deeply committed performances.
He played with a deep and burnished tone and she with a sparkling virtuosity.”
— The New York Times
“When a pair of genuine artists explodes on the stage, exuding not only glamour and theatrical flair but also superb musical insight, the audience's thrill is twofold.”
— Chicago Sun-Times
“Inspired….Finckel makes his instrument sing with a natural eloquence, at once muscular and supple. Han, for her part, dispatches musical material without flinching and without losing emotional mooring.”
— Los Angeles Times
"It was a performance in which lyricism and virtuosity shared equal roles, but what made it particularly memorable was the degree of exquisitely intimate ensemble achieved by Finckel and pianist Wu Han, with spontaneity, vigor and seamless melody."
— The Washington Post