To Presskit - Ivan Martin

ivan
martin
piano
in its
purest
form
“Impeccable virtuosity”
DNA Strasbourg, 2005
“Ivan Martin, an expressive and engaging soloist”
Monterrey County Herald,2006
“The best in our memories”
Le Devoir Canada, 2008
“Ivan Martin, pianist with pedigree”
Valentina di Matteo, Naples, 2009
“Ivan Martin, the explosive piano performance”
Scherzo Magazine, 2012
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Ivan Martin is nowadays
recognized by critics and audiences around the world as one of the most
brilliant and engaging pianists of his generation.
He collaborates regulary with practically all spanish orchestras as well as
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestre de
Paris, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Praga
Virtuosi, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Zagreb Philharmonic,
Monterey Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, Montevideo Philharmonic,
Santiago de Chile Symphony, Jeneuses Musicales World Orchestra, etc., with
conductors such as Gerd Albrecht, Max Bragado, Josep Caballé Domenech,
Marzio Conti, Justin Brown, Christoph Eschenbach, Andrew Gurlay, Günter
Herbig, Pedro Halffter, Eliahu Inbal, Lü Jia, Vladimir Jurowsky, Christoph
König, Jean Jacques Kantorow, Kirill Karabits, Adrian Leaper, Paul Mann,
Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Juanjo Mena, Roberto Montenegro, John
Neschling, Josep Pons, Alejandro Posada, Christophe Rousset, Antoni Ros
Marbá, George Pehlivanian, Michael Sanderling, Michael Schønwandt, Dima
Slobodeniouk, Georges Tchitchinadze or Antoni Wit. He has been invited to
perform in “New York International Keyboard Festival” (EE.UU.), “Orford
International Music Festival” (Canadá), “Festival International La Roque
d’Anthéron” (Francia), “Festival International La Folle Journée” (France and
Spain), “Festival Internacional de Grandes Pianistas” (Chile), “Festival
Internacional Cervantino” (Mexico), “International Music Festival Macao”
(China), “Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada” (España),
“Festival Internacional de Música de Perelada” (España) or “Festival de
Música de Canarias” (España), visiting the most prestigious concert halls
around the World, such as Berliner Konzerthaus, Berliner
Staatsoper, Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw,
Salle Pleyel (Paris), New York Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colón de
Buenos Aires or Beijing National Center for Performing Arts.
around the World, such as Berliner Konzerthaus, Berliner Staatsoper, Berliner
Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Salle Pleyel (Paris), New York
Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires or Beijing National Center for
Performing Arts.
Engaged with the musical creation, Iván Martín has featured several
premieres by composers such as Antón García Abril, Cristóbal Halffter, Pedro
Halffter, Ramón Paús and, more recently, Enric Palomar and Michael Nyman
whom he has premiered their piano concertos. He has recently made his
debut as a conductor with several orchestras such as “Real Filharmonia de
Santiago”, “Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia” and “Orquesta Sinfónica de
Castilla y León”, and founded “Galdós Ensemble”, a new and versatile
orchestral group to perform music from the Baroque and Classic era as well
as modern and contemporary ages.
He has recorded several programs for radio and televisión in Spain, France,
Italy, Brasil and United States, and as Warner Music artist, after his first cd
dedicated to Antonio Soler piano sonatas which has been warmly welcomed
by audiences and critics, receiving the best reviews considering it as a
“reference” and been nominated for “XV Spanish National Music Awards”,
Iván Martín has recently launched his second album performing Mozart and
Schröter piano concertos, which has quickly gained a great acclaim. He is
currently working on his next three albums for Sony Classical, which are going
to be launched along 2014 and 2015. Iván Martín has been, for first time in its
history, artist in residence of Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra for season
2012-2013 and is currently artist in residence of Miguel Delibes Cultural
Centre in Valladolid.
discography
ANTONIO SOLER SONATAS
Ivan Martin, piano
Warner Music
Release: October 2010
Ref.: 52498076222
Bar code: 5052498076222
“With story lines, good taste and wonderful abilities,
Ivan Martin plays a Soler as bravely as the best […] He
played Soler’s music with brave honesty and the
result has a feel of substance and awakens the
inevitable interest that the performance of a true
artist always awakens. Ivan Martin is such an artist.”
Scherzo Magazine, January 2010
“[…] there is a hint of freshness and vitality, energy
and meticulosness, it majes a detailed and balanced,
generous and serene, use of connections, where the
melody line and its many twists and turns always
prevails. […] Ivan Martin imprints his personality and
the result is sonatas that are both brilliant and subtle,
both effervescent and essential. Is is more tan
interesting, more tan recommended.”
MOZART & SCHRÖTER
PIANO CONCERTOS
Galdós Ensemble
Ivan Martin, soloist and conductor
Warner Music
BEETHOVEN
PIANO CONCERTOS 2&1
Galicia Symphony Orchestra
Ivan Martin, soloist and conductor
Sony Classical
Release: October 2011
Ref.: 5249888432
Bar code: 5052498884322
Release: November 2014
“In summary, the excellent work, both in
performance and musicology, presented by Warner
Music, attracts the listener from the first second
through the almost chamber-style working of the
scores, through the unabridged adaptation and unión
of soloist and ensemble and by the working that is
modern, but without losing any trace of the dogmas
of classic style, and the intelligent and pleasantsounding recording by Martin.”
Melomano Magazine, February 2012
“We invite you to rediscover Soler’s sonatas with this
very modern and convincing sound as expressed by
Ivan Martin in this album, a future recording
reference in the not so distant future.”
“Ivan Martin becomes one of the most brilliant
emerging spanish soloists in the last years. After an
outstanting Sonatas by Antonio Soler, on this new
album, together with recently-founded Galdos
Ensemble, he explores with freshness and spontaneity
these three concertos by young Mozart and another
concerto by his contemporary Johann Samuel
Schröter […] A recording that brings the listener a
healthy breath of fresh air”
Melomano Magazine, January 2011
Babelia Magazine, May 2012
CD Compact, January 2011
press
Magazine covers
Antonio Soler Sonatas
VARIACIONES MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2010
CD COMPACT
OCTOBER 2010
RITMO MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2010
IVAN MARTIN, NEW ALBUM OF
SOLER’S PIANO SONATAS
IVAN MARTIN, PROMISING DEBUT
RECORD
IVAN MARTIN RECORDS SOLER’S
SONATAS FOR WARNER MUSIC
Making a debut with an
international album is an
important step for any artist, and
doing so with music by a Spanish
composer is an additional
"exciting challenge" for the
pianist Iván Martín and a test that
the young musician from Gran
Canaria has passed with flying
colours: his new album of sonatas
by Soler for Warner Music, will be
launched on the market in
October and aspires to be a
reference point.
Young pianist Ivan Martin, make
his debut in the discography
world with an album dedicated to
Antonio Soler’s sonatas for piano
for Warner Music.
It is an intrincate and personal
creation process, sometimes
approaching heterodoxy, but this
is the real news: Ivan Martin has
excellent technical and musical
skills, but in addition to this, he
has the ability to opine, to think
about how he wants the music he
makes to be.
Magazine covers
Mozart & Schröter piano concertos
VARIACIONES MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2011
RITMO MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2011
AUDIOCLASICA MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2011
SCHERZO MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2012
IVAN MARTIN, MOZART &
SCHRÖTER
IVAN MARTIN LINKS THE FIRST
MOZART WITH SCHRÖTER IN HIS
NEW RECORD FOR WARNER
IVAN MARTIN, THINGS WELL
DONE
IVAN MARTIN, THE EXPLOSIVE
PIANO PERFORMANCE
The awareness with which Ivan
Martin expresses his ideas brings
to mind the famous motto of
Guido d’Arezzo […] who
distinguished between real
musicians from those who played
without really knowing what they
were doing. […] Ivan dedicates
long development periods to
musically complex works even
though he masters the skills much
earlier.
Ivan Martin, who is talkative,
dynamic and almost hyperactive,
scarcely finds any moments of
peace during the conversation. As
if it were a theme with
variations, the arguments arise,
progress and before falling away
to give rise to new ones. The
passion of this musician overflows
when he talks about his work and
quickly becomes contagious. […]
on this occasion he launches a
second offer in which our
attention is drawn to his audacity
in going through with the
recovery of a piano pieces by
Mozart that still remains almost
unexplored. It is an area where
research can still be combined
with creativity to open the doors
to surprise.
Martin carefully unearths
everything around a score and
only when he thinks he has been
able to find out everything about
it is he satisfied. Only then can he
sit at the piano and show
whoever is listening how he
understands the score, the work
and the life of the composer.
Performer and pianist, but even
more, musician. This musician, as
he should be called, is a tireless
talker, intelligent, perceptive and
with musical knowledge that is
not limited to the world of the
piano […] and in this interview he
tells us important details about
Schröter and the admiration he
feels for Mozart. Talking to Ivan
Martin about music is a summary
of the words of Carl Phipipp
Emmanuel Bach, whohe likes to
quote: “If virtuosism does not
bring anything new or
extraordinary to music, it means
nothing”.
Summary of reviews
Lastupdate:june2012
VIVA JAÉN
JANUARY 18TH,2012
beginning, expressed himself with elegance in the larghetto
and successfully combined the freshness of the rondo with the
final mazurka [of the Chopin second piano concerto]”
SOLI DEO GLORIA
“Ivan Martin from the Canary Islands is one of those pianists
with an exquisitely delicate sound, who transmits passion and
emotion, with a technique that is more than refined, in an
strange combination of simplicity and sophistication. The four
sonatas by Antonio Soler –I don’t think there is a better
performer of them nowadays– seem to be glass-blown, with a
transparent beat and deep rhythmic gait”
·
DIARIODE JAÉN
JANUARY 12TH,2012
IVAN IS THE BEST PERFORMER OF SOLER’S
WORKS IN THE WORLD
·
EUROPA PRESS
AUGUST19TH,2011
PIANIST IVAN MARTIN TRIUMPHES AT THE
IBERIA FESTIVAL IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
“[…] at his performance he had a “completely” full
auditórium with five hundred people who enthusiastically
welcomed the virtuosism of this young musician. Ivan Martin is
today recognised by critics and audiences as on of the most
brilliant pianist in his generation within and beyond the
borders [of Spain]”
·
DIARIODE MALLORCA
AUGUST12TH,2011
MUSICAL EPISODES
“Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away by the
music, by this all-consuming sound that has a texture, a sound
with the texture of velvet. […] the combination is perfect. […]
to be transported to the place where only the most talented
can take us. Ivan Martin knows the wat and the journey itself
is the goal. A night full of delicate phrasing, exquisite
technique and wonderful-sounding combinations.
Undoubtedly a night to remember”
·
NORTE DECASTILLA
APRIL 17TH,2011
IVAN’S CONFIDENCE
“The way the young musician from the Canaries adapted
easily in such a short time saved the concert, because it was
the highlight of the evening. […] Ivan Martin tackled it, after a
flat orchestral introduction, with wide and deliberate
phrasing, always taking the lead over an orchestra that never
managed to come together. The pianist played fluently from
the
·
LA PROVINCIA
JANUARY 31ST,2010
A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH CONCERT
“Ivan Martin is one of the most relevant pianists of his
generation. He appears at ease with his fast tempos of Soler
and Scarlatti […] because he is able to integrate everything
that happens into music: technical tricks, the fleeting spark of
the trills or surprising textual changes”
“Ivan Martin, the splendid pianist from Gran Canaria with and
international career made a memorable versión of Isaac
Albeniz’s rhapsody for piano and orchestra. All of its folkloric
nationalism and viruous mimicry was concientiously
transformed into a strong pre-Iberian sound through a perfect
harmonic ear and manual depth which carves out the
substance of sound from its very nature. This work deserves a
much greater presence in concert halls when played in this
way […] The ovations moved the soloist to gice the audience
Chopin’s revolutionary etude with an amazing left hand”
LA PROVINCIA
AUGUST26TH,2010
EL ADELANTADODE SEGOVIA
NOVEMBER1ST, 2009
IVAN MARTIN AND HALFFTER WIN ON THE
CLASSICAL FRONT
INTRODUCING IVAN MARTIN
“A FIRST-CLASS SOLOIST”
“the soloist performed with perfect style and touch, accurate
emphasis on the perlée of arpeggios, mordents, trills or
adornments and deep chords, staccatti without brusqueness
and simply perfect beats for the digital expression of a
rhythmic and expressive discourse that is pure light and joy”
“The performance was masterly”
LA OPINIÓN DE ZAMORA
APRIL 11TH,2011
A PIANO IN THE PÓRTICO
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TIMESOF OMAN
SEPTEMBER2ND,2010
HERALDING EUROPEAN UNITY
“Totally absorbed in the music, at times silently singing, Ivan
touched the keys with feathery lightness to evoke the waterdrops and sunlight that infuse Debussy’s works with mood and
colour. In the rushing sections with their dissonant harmonies,
Ivan moved his fingers so suddenly and swiftly that they
became a blur like the wind in winter. He was equally
dexterous with the subtle, noble beauty and exquisite
tenderness of Chopin’s piano solos”
·
LA VOZDE GALICIA
MARCH6TH,2010
IVAN MARTIN’S PIANO MASTERY
“UNIQUE”
“[…] he gave us a performance [of the Schumann piano
concerto] in which he managed to give a new colour to each
note, exceptional phrasing to each of the musical materials
[…] Martin is a true pianist who managed to move the
audience”
·
·
LE DEVOIROF CANADA
AUGUST18TH, 2008
THE BEST IN OUR MEMORIES
“Ivan Martin’s performance [of Ravel G major piano concerto]
was highly classical and balanced, halfway between the
radical French clarity and excessive romanticism”
·
BUZZLE
JANUARY 9TH, 2008
ORCHESTRAL CONCERT BY JEUNESSES MUSICALES
WORLD ORCHESTRA
“The concert’s first half concluded with a performance of
Ravel’s G major piano concerto, with Canaries-born Ivan
Martin as soloist. I would dearly love to write more of the
orchestra’s superb playing of this deceptive piece, but not to
give complete prominence to Ivan Martin‘s playing would be
criminal. He made the solo part sound effortless, kept a
wonderful pace and was perfection indeed across the
rhythmic syncopations. But he was especially convincing in the
slow movement, when the piano plays throughout. It all
sounds deceptively simple, and too often the movement is
presented as sentimental or comes across as a platitude.”
·
LA PROVINCIA
AUGUST24TH, 2007
A GREAT PIANIST AND EXCELLENT ORCHESTRA
·
ABC
JUNE21ST,2007
LA PROVINCIA
NOVEMBER27TH,2005
THE FIRST AND THE LAST
IVAN MARTIN, AN INMENSE PIANIST
“Ivan Martin […] a technique, resources and musicality which,
without exaggeration, place him amongst the best pianists in
the world. “Moonlight Sonata” was performed with absolute
perfection. Subilme”
“In his hands, the refined decadence of Rachmaninov piano
concerto n.2 reaches new levels of vitality and even
modernity. It was the perfect example of romantic pianism,
sometimes brilliantly expansive and in other moments
withdrawn in an intimist discourse. With no shortage of
resources, fantasy-inducing or rigorous, without inhibitions he
laid down his deepest faith: that of music as the supreme
language of intersubjetive communication. A highly-talented
pianist destined for the top on the international scene”
·
ABC
FEBRUARY 17TH,2006
TECHNIQUE WITH SOUL
“IN SUMMARY: DELICATE, EXQUISITE, REFINED”
“The Canaries pianist again demonstrated his developed and
proven vast skill; skill that masters the smallest details. From a
marvellously balanced finger work, in which both hands reign
supreme –we are so unused to this piano "ambidexterity", that
we tend to imagine the left hand being dominant; an acoustic
illusion, as a result of the right hand not being dominant–, the
attention to dynamics and pitch, the use of "legato" and
"rubato", the exquisite choice of "tempi", the delight in
imperceptible staggering of the "staccato", masterly control of
the pedal...”
·
NORTE DECASTILLA
APRIL 4TH,2006
DUEL OF SOUND
“Ivan Martin is fully mature and able to create an appropiate
sound for every theme and every composer in any dynamic.
Listening to Mozart’s Fantaisie K.397, you could tell that the
recital would meet expectations and those expectations were
met”
·
MONTEREY COUNTY HERALD
JANUARY 24TH,2006
IVAN MARTIN SOLOS WITH MONTEREY SYMOHONY
“Martin proves an expressive and engaging soloist, capable of
moving from instrospective depth to flashy pianistic
exuberance without losing his center. He gave us colourful
cadenzas and virile, lyrical fast movements, while allowing the
quiet beuty of the middle sections to open fully”
·
BRONSON PIANOSTUDIO
JANUARY 23RD,2006
PIANIST IVAN MARTIN SOLOS WITH MONTEREY
SYMPHONY
“When Martin played his opening bars [of Beethoven piano
concerto n.4] slowly and with great depth of feeling, I
assumed that this was going to be one of those ponderous
deep performances revealing new levels of profundity. Martin
also dazzled us in the Beethoven cadenzas in the outer
movements and convinced us that he is definitely a musician
we would like to hear again”
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which has a lot to say”
·
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ABC
JUNE22TH,2004
THE TREMENDOUS IVAN MARTIN
“He is a true piano giant. His performance personality is
overpowering. He has an amazing ability to immerse himself
in expressive works as different from each other as Scarlatti,
Mozart, Chopin or Rachmaninov, always with the right
expressive touch. And this man is a truly great artist who
makes his fans rise frome their seats”
·
LA NUEVA ESPAÑA
FEBRUARY 8TH,2005
EL PAIS
MARCH14TH,2003
IVAN MARTIN, AN EXQUISITE PIANIST
TAKE NOTE: IVAN MARTIN, PIANIST
“A WONDERFUL PIANIST WITH EXTREMELY
STRONG SKILLS
“As a special attraction of this piano soirée, the pianist Ivan
Martin […] offered his interpretation of one of Mozart’s most
important piano concertos: n.26 in D major. Ivan has turned,
due to his magnificent and personal interpretation, to the
central figure of this concert, showing his virtuosity on the
piano with a captivating naturalness : his expression being so
subtle and elegant, his piano sonority, his perfect and wellbalanced control of a clean fingering and his brilliance in the
mastery of a dynamic line, drawn with the accuracy of an
authentic virtuoso. In the Larghetto, his interpretation
reached memorable moments, in which Ivan gave voice to his
piano with an unusual tenderness, in which he did a real feat
in an incredible scale of cristal-clear pianos and pianissimos
and showed his personal colouristic palette. The liveliness of
the third movement did not disturb the delicate mechanism of
a Mozart performance designed by Ivan Martin with a pianistic
personality that cannot leave anybody indifferent. Without
any doubt, the young virtuoso Ivan Martin will be a musician
worth to be kept in mind for the future”
·
“It was a pleasure to listen to the light staccatti, delicate and
fluid Scarlatti pieces. The keys of the piano are impressively
obedient to Ivan Martin and he is able to control the quality of
the keystrokes with dizzying speeds and his rhythm is
accurate. He made us fall in love for La fille aux cheveux de
lin and Le vent dans la plaine literally unsettled the quiet
audience at the Schubertiada”
·
DIARIODE MALLORCA
APRIL 10TH,2003
THE MOST APPLAUDED CONCERT
“[…] A cast that also benefited from the outstanding
cooperation of the Canaries pianist Ivan Martin. His
performance […] was impecable […] clean, subtle and
controlled were some of the attributes that led to a round of
applause and a finale extended with three encores”
·
DNA STRASBOURG
FEBRUARY 5TH,2005
LA NEUVIÉME DE BRUCKNER
“[…] For his part, the soloist born in the Canaries, supported
completely this musical purpose with an impecable virtuosity
and considerable license that only Mozart could permit
himself. The understanding was perfect and Ivan Martin added
to the Mozart solos his own inspired cadenzas, ending with a
very subtle modulation. When crossing his hands, we
recognized a Scarlatti’s sonata in B minor in the first concert
repeat”
·
LA VANGUARDIA
AUGUST11TH,2004
TALENT AND VIRTUOSISM
“Ivan Martin displayed his artistic talents that make him a
reference point for a generation of pianists
LA VANGUARDIA
SEPTEMBER8TH, 2002
STIMULATING
“Versions that don’t fail to impress. Good explorer of the
depths of sound and harmony”
·
EL COMERCIO
FEBRUARY 9TH,2002
THE GLORIOUS SUBSTITUTE
“Ivan Martin gave us a memorably Chopin. The pianist’s
qualities include the confidence, the aplomb, the lyrical
fantasy, very pronounced in the exquisite means of
ornamenting and singing the second movement and, finally,
the difficult merger between freedom and rigour”
·