Reviews
ILYA GRINGOLTS, violin
THE INDEPENDENT, April 24, 2011
Schumann. The 3 Piano Trios (Onyx)
“Cellist Dmitry Kouzov joins Gringolts and his pianist Peter Laul, his slightly acidic tone an interesting foil to Gringolt’s honeyed sound. The balance is unusually even-handed, leading to sensory overload in the dense melodic effusion of the third Trio. Though some tempi are cautious, this is stylish and thoughtful musicianship.”
“Gringolts’s fluency, virtuosity and lyrical intensity have been much and rightly admired and this record [Arensky, Yanayev]…is his best yet”
—
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINETHE INDEPENDENT, January 30, 2011
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Vassily Petrenko
“Ilya Gringolts' fresh, sweet tone sang birdlike and elated in Vassily Petrenko's beautifully poised and balanced reading of Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. If the purity of sound was impressive, so too was the fervor and invention in Gringolts' cadenzas, a dazzling amalgam of historically informed bowing and extemporizing.”
“I’m still enchanted by the subtle nuances that Ilya Gringolts and Peter Laul bring to [the Schumann Violin Sonatas]. I would certainly rank this with my favorite recordings…”
—AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDELIVERPOOL ECHO, January 24, 2011
“Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Vassily Petrenko
The 28-year-old does however wield his 1723 Stradivarius with joyful ease, here making the instrument sing and yearn like a human voice through the opening allegro – with creamy support from the RLPO, Petrenko on tiptoes wafting the violins through an expansive, lush accompaniment. A Larghetto of perfect elegance was followed by a Rondo big on spirit, with Gringolts attacking the energetic concluding solo with effortless vigor.”
“…his limpid and easy manner was stylishly seductive, slithering through fiendish passages of double-stopping with pleasingly old-school decorum and finding plenty of Gypsy melancholy in the slow movement’s plangent variations”
—THE LONDON TIMES
THE LONDON TIMESARTSJOURNAL.COM, December 21, 2010
Schumann. Violin sonatas 1-3 (Onyx)
“Ilya Gringolts and pianist Peter Laul take a sunny approach to the sonatas, a welcome change from the usual gloom and doom. The first two are mid-romantic meditations, the third a posthumous reconstruction. Gringolts is velvety and seductive in the softer passages, avoiding the pursuit of speed and showmanship, a natural storyteller.”
“Ilya Gringolts played a ravishing, totally seductive version of Korngold’s beautiful Violin Concerto”
—HERALD SCOTLAND
HERALD SCOTLANDNEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG, November 28, 2010
Camerata Zurich
“Soloist Ilya Gringolts displayed from his very first intense yet fragile sotto-voce tones what kind of emphasis and melancholy he wanted to give the music, and did so with a forcefulness beyond compare.”
“No one has come close to equaling the technical prowess and musicality that Gringolts displays here”
—CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE
CLASSIC FM MAGAZINEFINANCIAL TIMES, July 10, 2010
Schumann. Violin sonatas 1-3 (Onyx)
“Gringolts, one of the most inspirational violinists around today, plays with panache and sensitivity, his partnership with pianist Peter Laul reaching heady heights in the slow movement of the second sonata, the most Janus-faced of all.”
THE SUNDAY TELGRAPH, July 4, 2010
Schumann. Violin sonatas 1-3 (Onyx)
“Ilya Gringolts and Peter Laul give a poetic, animated performance of the Sonata No 1 in A minor that makes Schumann’s lack of enthusiasm for the piece all the more inexplicable (...) [they] embrace its strangeness with flair.”
THE SUNDAY TIMES, July 4, 2010
Schumann. Violin sonatas 1-3 (Onyx)
“Gringolts and Laul make a strong case for this bittersweet music (...) they have an intimate rapport and innate feeling for the undemonstrative yet deeply emotional content of this glorious music, providing three of the most live-withable accounts of these masterpieces in recent recording history.”
THE GUARDIAN, July 1, 2010
Schumann. Violin sonatas 1-3 (Onyx)
“Ilya Gringolts's dark, smoky violin tone suits the introspection of the three works perfectly. He and pianist Peter Laul do not attempt to impose themselves on the music (...) but instead seek out the moments when Schumann's individuality and lyrical invention are most obvious.”
BIRMINGHAM POST, April 20, 2010
“It’s a credit to Ilya Gringolts that his performance of Bartok’s second violin concerto was not overwhelmed by the second half of the concert. He excelled in its pungent mixture of lyricism, biting rhythms and Magyar folk music and had the requisite energy and technique for its bravura elements.”
TIMES ONLINE, April 20, 2010
“Ilya Gringolts was the mercurial soloist, and if he offered less pure fire-power than most, his limpid and easy manner was stylishly seductive, slithering through fiendish passages of double-stopping with pleasingly old-school decorum and finding plenty of Gypsy melancholy in the slow movement’s plangent variations.”
GRAMOPHONE, March 2009
“Ilya Gringolts is a fine advocate for both works, combining brilliance and idiomatic sensitivity.”
Press Quotes
KMI
