Amazon

Rachmaninov concertos no.2 and 3/RLPO/Petrenko

"Simon Trpceski slipped beow my radar after is initial CD in the Debut series from EMI. Macedonian born and trained, he was launched as one of the BBC's New Generation artists in 2001 and is now thirty. On the strength of this Rachmaninov pairing, I should have paid more attention. The standard for Russian music has soared with the proliferation of Russian performers. Young Vasily Petrenko is one of six prominent post-Soviet conductors in the UK, and his feeling for the composer is unassailable. The same must be said of Trpceski, whose two recordngs have centered on Russian repertoire with a sprinkling of Chopin and Debussy, even though he's personally from outside the Russian orbit.

What struck me from the first notes of the Rachmaninov Second is the seriousness and even nobility of intent. In the West this work has sunk to the level of cliche, almost kitsch. But beyond its use as music for popular songs in the Forties, Rachmaninov's solo writing can sound loungy and a touch seamy. Not in Trpceski's hands. For some, this reading may bend over backwards to sound dignified; the big tune in the third movement isn't lingered over or romanticized. This finale is meant to dazzle; it's impossible to set off too many fireworks in it. Petrenko and Trpceski pussyfoot a bit, so the charisma quotient is a bit too low. Avie's sound is fine, even though the piano timbre is fairly hard.

The Rachmaninov Third, which Horowitz basically owned during his lifetime, coaxes pianists into either competing with him for dazzlement or to bend in the other direction and aim for seriousness. I find the work too weak to sustain too much seriousness; I want to be reminded of Horowitz, even if his special fire can't be duplicated. Petrenko and Trpceski clearly have other ideas. They begin with one of the most understated, restrained openings I've ever heard. Under James Levine, the Keyboard wizard Arcadi Volodos had much the same idea, but as the passagework got more difficult, he upped the wattage. Trpceski does, too, but the magnetism of a Martha Argerich, say, isn't his to command. The middle movement is dignified and lyrical, with a touch of the melancholy. It's well proportioned and beautifully phrased by both conductor and soloist. They make their best impression here. The finale is knuckle-crunching frippery unless the soloist can generate extra excitement. No surprise, Trpceski and Petrenko instead slow the pace and rely on precise, detailed musicianship instead. On its own terms, this approach works well, I must admit.

In all, I came away feeling that Trpceski really had something to say in these two warhorses, which is praise enough. But there's something deeper here, and I imagine he and Petrenko are set to impress their audiences for a long time."

 

 Debussy,Simon Trpceski

Canada, December, 2008

Show time magazine, Canada

Simon Trpceski’s 4th album for EMI is marked by his understated but flawless technique and a kind of objective sense of the music that releases the freshness nascent in the (amply recorded) solo piano music of Debussy. I have enjoyed repeated listenings of “Images: Bks I and II” because Trpceski’s style brings out both mysteriousness and passion that are substantial in the floating vagueness of Debussy’s middle period music, following the transfer of his affections from his first wife to Emma Bardac.
Nowhere is the freshness of Trpceski’s approach more evident than in the over-exposed “Claire de lune” which one hears as if for the first time, due to the thoughtful musicality of his phrasing. One has the sense of a lovely sea-breeze blowing through French doors that open onto a patio overlooking a moonlit sea murmuring of endless love.
“L’isle joyeuse”, from the same happy period, is crisp and extraverted in its unfolding. Here the passion is clothed in high spirits and the virtuosity required is characteristically under the control of Trpceski’s good taste. There are examples of Debussy’s earliest ornamental salon music–the “Arabesques” of 1891, and the dramatic, playful 6 sections of the suite “Children’s Corner” dedicated to his daughter Chou-chou and full of impish good humour (“Golliwog’s Cakewalk”) but fine enough to serve as a piano method work (“Serenade for the Doll”).
.
Trpceski has recorded Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and several Russians. I had the good fortune to hear him in a Toronto performance that included some later Brahms that would be worth having on disc.

Debussy Images - Simon Trpceski

September, 20.2008

By William Dart

 Debussy Images: * * * * *

 The Macedonian Simon Trpceski makes some significant choices for his new Debussy disc, centred around the six Images that give the CD its title. One senses an intense affection here, whether for the salon ripples of two early Arabesques or the nostalgic images of the Children's Corner suite.

The Images enchant, especially in John Fraser's spacious recording. Debussy's tribute to Rameau is the musical equivalent of graceful gravure while the goldfish of Poissons d'or flash and glisten with the occasional jazzy flick of the tail. Finally, a whirlwind trip to Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse reminds us of Trpceski's spectacular concertos with the NZSO a few months back.

 Debussy, Simon Trpceski

Germany, July, 14.2008

Fono Forum, Classical Music Magazine

By Wolfram Goetz

When children are mentioned in the title of piano music, one has to be careful. Often they are the ones who have to play what their teachers give them for food suitable for their age. But are the little ones always the right addresses for compositions? At the horizon of children's imagination there is hardly room for the concise poetry as Schumann produced it. He rather addressed the eternal children, who live in adults.

Also Debussy’s "Children's Corner" belongs, as to the restriction of age, rather to the "Asservatenkammer" -  which should not be  opened before reaching maturity.

"The snow is dancing" or the "Cakewalk" are cunning variations of plays about the children's world of experience - to be listened to by the little ones, to be played by the old.

Now the young Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski shows us, that the seemingly loose structured world of this "Children's Corner" does not belong  to the sand-pit any more.

One can hardly play these six peaces in a more subtle mixture of innocence and calculation.

Trpceski plays it with such a verve-pointed emphasis, that it is for students nearly as difficult to imitate than it is to pronounce his name.

At such furious elan, "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" does not need to play any more etudes, and the "Serenade for the Doll" dances like a marionette in dark light.

Also the unequally more complicated "Images" find in Trpceski a brilliant curator, who is as well versed on the clouds as he is on the surface of the sea; who does not missunderstand the moonlight (Suite bergamasque) as a cheap spotlight, who presents the "Isle joyeuse" as an island full of secrets.

One has to remember the name Trpceski.

Classic CD of the week

Bayerischer Rundfunk

BR 5, July, 05.2008

By Oswald Beaujean

In 2000 Simon Trpceski won the famous London piano competition, and with that began a new era for him. His debut at the London Wigmore Hall was followed by invitations to the big international concert halls and tours all over the world. Each of the new CDs of the Macedonian pianist is welcomed euphorically.  Now Simon Trpceski has recorded an album with piano music by Claude Debussy."

CD Review

Debussy is often described as an impressionist, but that is a misunderstanding. His revolutionary style of playing the piano did not at all intend the complete dissolution of the form, the disappearance of all outlines. Finally he wrote music of absolute clarity, and in the Debussy interpretation of the Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski precisely this becomes clear.

The 28 year old plays extreme atmosphere and nuance, the sound polished to the last detail, at the same time with such vitality and clarity, that preserves Debussy from being heard globally as impressionist.

Great, illustrative music excellently interpreted.

Classical CD of the month

With Simon Trpceski EMI has really reeled in a big fish.

His Rachmaninov album that came out two years ago has already caused a sensation in professional circles and with his ardent Chopin album the 27 year old from Macedonia also proves himself a first-rate interpreter of Chopin.

With the b-minor sonata and the four scherzos Trpceski has opted for the sinister, abysmal, bizarre regions of the soul of the piano-titan Chopin.

Simply astonishing what he elicits from these war-horses of virtuosity, how he recharges the allegedly played to death with demonic elegance, with revolutionary pathos, with dangerous passion and nervous dramatic artand grows to threatening liveliness, as if one hears all this for the first time, as if this is not just about brilliant piano playing but about the nightmares, fears, longings and inner tumult of a deeply doubtful soul.

In Trpceski´s breathtaking effortless-free, restless forward pressing interpretation Chopin´s musical night-fantasies regain its original political quality - they are all burning appeals to life and passionate appeals for resistance, they are really the "cannons embedded in flowers" of a deracinated polish patriot in the parlours of Paris.

What impresses me most is Trpceski´s natural feeling for musical contexts, his “dramatic" timing, which draws almost fatefully-tragically, as it heads for its destination, the catastrophe, and thereby implicates the listener into the events.

This rare ability for "enchantment" distinguishes the true interpreter from the legions of technicians who control today´s piano-scene.

Since Pogorelich´s "Préludes"-artefact of 1987 no Chopin recording has fascinated and impressed me more: It is a pity that one can enjoy such a Chopin-magic moment only on CD.

The Guardian, February, 8. 2008

By Tim Ashley

 Debussy: Images; Arabesques; Children's Corner; Clair de Lune; L'Isle Joyeuse, Trpceski
 
Buy Debussy: Images now
 
This has claims to being Simon Trpceski's finest disc to date. The qualities that make his playing so distinctive - the finely judged balance between muscularity and sensitivity, his delight and affection - allow him to be strikingly extrovert, witty and at times even playful in Debussy, without ever losing sight of the profundity and mystery. The centrepiece is Images, in which Trpceski traverses a vast yet subtle emotional spectrum from the deep nostalgia of Hommage à Rameau via the exotic disquiet of Et la Lune Descend Sur la Temple Qui Fut to the shimmering ebullience of Poissons d'Or, which he plays with abandon. Children's Corner is very gleeful, meanwhile, the Arabesques supremely gracious and Clair de Lune at once sweet, slow and very sad. The disc is rounded off with L'Isle Joyeuse, done with tremendous panache. Throughout, Trpceski is acutely alert to Debussy's colouristic range, and the whole disc comes over as marvellously fresh. Recommended.

The Independent, February, 3. 2008

Reviewed by Anna Picard

Album: Debussy
Images/Children's Corner/Arabesques - Simon Trpceski, EMI

Simon Trpceski's luminous sound and technical ease make this recital of Debussy piano favourites positively irresistible. Delicate without being fey, unhurried but never sluggish, sensuous and dry, his "Clair de Lune" and two Arabesques have startling freshness. "Children's Corner" is characterised firmly and precisely, Books I and II of "Images" are beautifully contrasted and developed, while the dancing figures and long-legged leaps of "L'isle joyeuse" lie as easily under his fingertips as the broad, honeymooner lyricism of the piu lento. This is subtle, clever, imaginative pianism of the very highest quality.

The Times February, 2008

By Rick Jones

This Macedonian pianist displays an impressive technique in his Debussy album. In the frothing Mouvement Animé of Debussy’s Images Book I, he maintains as many as four different textures simultaneously. His bells are solemn in Cloches and the vacant beauty of Poissons d’Or leaves a shimmering afterglow. Children’s Corner, however, builds towards an admirably jaunty cakewalk.

Daily Telegraph, January, 26.2008
by Geoffrey Norris

The best of the new releases: Debussy, Verdi, Bach and more...
Debussy: Arabesques; Children's Corner; Images; Clair de Lune; L'Isle joyeuse
Simon Trpceski (piano) 
 
Compelling: Simon Trpceski transports the listener

The luminous quality of Simon Trpceski's playing in this magically light-imbued music is the immediately striking feature of his enthralling new disc. It radiates in a myriad different ways.
In "Reflets dans l'eau" from the first book of Images, for example, the colours glisten and sparkle, the eddies of the music creating scintillating whirlpools and washes of sound. "Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fût" from the second book, and the famous "Clair de lune" from the Suite bergamasque, shimmer with silvery tranquillity. In "Poissons d'or" the rippling undercurrents and surges yield up darting flecks. That singular masterpiece "L'Isle joyeuse" exudes the glow of elation.
Not that these generalised descriptions convey anything like the full extent of Trpceski's interpretative inspiration. In this Debussy repertoire he harnesses the subtlety and spontaneity that mark his playing with an infallible ear for atmosphere. He transcends the technical challenges that bestrew most of the pieces, and especially "L'Isle joyeuse", to find the music's defining traits and conjure up images that are profoundly evocative.
Being Debussy, these images can be elusive, evanescent or swathed in mystery, but Trpceski's performances have the ability to encapsulate an idea, however fleeting, and to fix it in the mind as part of a larger, more complex, more all-embracing picture.
This is as true of the "Images" and the delicate filigrees of the "Arabesques" as it is of the charming inventions of "Children's Corner", subtly and affectionately characterised with no hint of deliberate point-making. As ever, the clarity of Trpceski's textures and articulation, coupled with the spectrum of sonorities he elicits from the keyboard, are factors that are allied to his innate musical sensibility to make his playing utterly compelling. Hearing this disc, you are transported into the very heart of Debussy's imaginative world.

Audiophile Audition - Web magazine, January 2008

By Gary Lemco

DEBUSSY: Deux Arabesques; Images--Books I-II; Children's Corner Suite; Clair de Lune; L'Isle joyeuse - Simon Trpceski, piano

* * * *

Spend a lovely hour with Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski and the music of Claude Debussy, whose sound always manages to convey a liquid, pearly, water element. From the opening E Major Arabesque to the brilliant pyrotechnics of the 1904 L'Isle joyeuse, Trpceski performs beautifully graduated nuances in this most idiomatic set of Debussy staples. Recorded May-October 2007 at Potton Hall, Suffolk under the guidance of engineer Arne Akselberg, the mid- and upper range of the keyboard glistens, the sonic patina soft and even-toned. The opening of the Children's Corner, Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, immediately transcends the exercise medium to become a silken road to musical excellence; the Serenade for the Doll chants, totters, sings, sidles, and deftly jounces our youthful sensibilities. Crunchy, elephantine chords in seconds for Jimbo's Lullaby, the passing allusions to Mussorgsky's Bydlo gracing the episode. Tender figurations for The Snow is Dancing, gorgeous arpeggiations with a hint of plainchant.   The Little Shepherd becomes a solo flute in recitative-arioso. Steely fingers stride forth in Golliwogg's Cakewalk, softening appropriately for the Tristan mystique that suggests the fundamental things still apply, even in the midst of life's ironies.

Trpceski breaks out the Aeolian harp for the first of the Images, Reflets dans l'eau, an Andantino quite which proves capable of becoming a torrent of scintillating waves of sound, much in the manner Gieseking, Casadesus, and Michelangeli brought to this effective music. Ceremonial dignity follows in Homage a Rameau, a studied, harmonically intricate nod at the great clavecinist. Silver triplets grace Mouvement, and Trpceski's flawless tremolos apply no less to this pearly, impassioned rendering of Poissons d'or in Book II. The union of the timely and timeless marks both Cloches a travers les feuilles and El la lune descend sur le temple qui fut, where light dynamics and oriental syntax dominate. Trpceski takes the Joyous Isle at a ferocious clip, yet it retains its sinewy, elegant eroticism without any loss of motivic shape; kaleidoscopic, athletic, piercing music. Well done on all counts.

Gramophone, 2008

By Bryce Morrison

Following his fire-eating Chopin recital, Simon Trpčeski retreats into Debussy’s more withdrawn poetry and fantasy with an ease and delicacy that suggest, once more, a wholly exceptional artist.  He is, perhaps, above all, harmonically aware, with every change of colour and sonority subtely underpinned, making you doubly aware of Debussy’s chiaroscuro, his infinite play of light and shade.  The First Arabesque could hardly be more charming or insinuating, the Second thrown off with all the requisite perkiness and vivacity. 

In Children’s Corner Trpčeski’s “Dr Gradus” is truly modérément and a far cry from a once fashionable virtuoso rush (re Rachmaninov’s legendary recording) as well as much received French wisdom.  His “Golliwogg” is superbly cantankerous and up-front, through with plenty of sly winks and nudges when required, and in extreme contrast, at 1’18” in “Et la lune descend sure le temple qui fut” (Images, Bk 2) you will hear an ideally balanced chording and a tonal translucency inseparable from the great Debussy-playing.  The end, too (pianissimo and lointain) is memorably evocative.  True, there is a momentary loss of focus at the end of “Poissons d’or” where the final shift of emphasis is blurred, but such tiny lapses are like spots on the sun.

Trpčeski’s way with “Clair de lune” makes you long to hear him in the complete Suite bergamasque.  All this is altogether more fascinating and individual than Bavouzet’s recent and superb but relatively frost Debussy albums, and I look forward to further discs and, more particularly, a concert debut from Trpčeski, a fine and inspiring young pianist.

 The Guardian, March, 23. 2007

By Tim Ashley

Chopin: Sonata No 2; Scherzos, Trpceski
4 stars (EMI)
Also reviewed: Chopin: Impromptus and Polonaises, Kissin

Released in close proximity, these two Chopin recitals, each featuring one of today's cult pianists, almost inevitably invite comparison, even though their programmes don't overlap and their aims are very different. Evgeny Kissin, in a live performance at the Verbier festival in 2004, flanks the Impromptus with four of Chopin's grandest Polonaises. Simon Trpceski, meanwhile, prefaces the Scherzos with the Second Sonata. Neither disc presents Chopin as a Romantic dreamer; their principal point in common is an emphasis on his compositional muscularity.
Kissin's disc is very much a warts-and-all affair. It's on the short side, and too much of its 56 minutes is taken up by applause. There's persistent audience coughing, and you can also hear Kissin thumping as he pedals. The main drawback, however, is a close, glaring recording, which tends to emphasise Kissin's principal flaw, namely his relative narrowness of dynamic range. His Chopin is big-boned, monumental and percussive: this should not, in itself, be a problem, but too much of this disc plays itself out at varying degrees of loudness, which becomes wearing. Some of it still impresses, however. His hammering approach to the C minor Polonaise, Op 40 No 2, ideally suits its mood of protest at Russian oppression of Polish nationalism. Best of all is the G flat Impromptu, Op 51: the piece forces him to play with quiet delicacy, something he can clearly do when he needs to, and should certainly do more often.
Given Trpceski's reputation for sensitivity, meanwhile, it comes as something of a surprise to discover that his Chopin is so extrovert. The Scherzos dazzle. The Sonata is often thrilling, wild and tumultuous. Throughout, you are aware of a formidable intelligence at work, rethinking each piece from scratch, while his sense of dynamic control is marvellously acute. The Scherzos' plunges into reflective quiet are breathtaking and moving. His deployment of infinitely subtle shades of volume in the Sonata's funeral march leads to a relentless intensity of mood. An exceptionally fine recital, fabulously played.

 Classical CD of the week

Sunday Times, March, 11.2007
by Hugh Canning

CHOPIN

Piano Sonata No 2; Scherzos 1- 4

Simon Trpceski (piano) 

After his outstanding debut album - a dazzling collection of showpieces by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev - and his superb coupling of Rachmaninov's Second Sonata and a selection of the Preludes, the young Macedonian pianist turns to Chopin with hardly less compelling results. Trpceski's account of the sonata is announced with a weighty statement of the opening Grave bars before he rushes headlong into a restless, impetuous trajectory through the doppio movimento.

The brilliant technical bravura of his scherzo and presto finale is balanced by a broad and powerfully structured Funeral March, which rises to a shattering climax in Trpceski's youthful but expressive hands. This is a deeply felt account of one of the great Romantic sonata movements by one of today's most commanding young virtuosos. In the four individual scherzos, Trpceski may not yet fathom the musical depths of some of the great Chopin interpreters on disc, but these are spirited, thoughtful and technically impeccable readings that won't fail to leave the listener astounded at some of Chopin's grandest and most original creations. Four stars HC.

CHOPIN

Simon Trpceski's, Chopin: sonata no.2, 4 scherzos appeared in the editor's choice section of the Gramophone magazine.

SIMON TRPCESKI offers an inspired programme of Chopin

BBC Music magazine, March, 2007
By Jessica Duchen

CHOPIN
Piano Sonata No.2; Four Scherzos
Simon Trpceski (piano)


In Chopin's hands the scherzo, once a musical joke, can become as sinister, visionary and fearsome as anything in his Sonata No. 2. And so the programme of Simon Trpceski's magnificent new CD works excellently, not least for the lightening of snood in the E major scherzo that ends the disc.
There's a grand romanticism about Trpceski's interpretations, as well as an attention to detail in which he picks out powerful basslinesand unusual inner voices or chooses unexpected yet convincing rubatos. The hectic sweep in the Sonata's first subject drives ahead with a feverishness against which the second subject is allowed to relax, glowing deep and tender; and Trpceski's plirasing of the songful trio embedded in the manic second movement is simply magical. The interpretation overall is more idiosyncratic than the benchmark of William Kapell(awateness of whose early death adds extra poignancy to his phenomenal performance on RCA, though alas temporarily unavailable). But there's also something ideal in the intimacy of Trpceski's identification with the music and the beauty he finds in the breadth of contrast between nightmare and reverie.
The scherzos, too, are peppered with unusual insights. PoIIini's recording remains one to please pretty much everybody, but Trpceski's extra liveliness and imaginative touches make his canvas the more personal Particularly fine is the C sharp minor work, in which the 'chorale prelude' element is exceptionally evocative and well characterised. There's all the requisite power and drama in the B minor and B flat minor pieces, and a rich tone that is satisfying indeed, enhanced by close and resonant but well-judged recorded sound.

 CHOPIN: Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 35 & 4 Scherzos
EMI Classics – February, 2007

www.trpceskichopin.com 

“Towering virtuosity and refinement: this is superlative Chopin” Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

CLASSICAL - Simon Trpceski - Chopin
EMI Classics

The Times, February, 9. 2007

by Geoff  Brown

"Lovely sea breezes blowing through French windows that open on to a patio overlooking a starlit sea murmuring of endless love." That was what a Toronto critic, Stanley Fef-ferman, wrote last October, clearly whisked to seventh heaven by Simon Trpceski's concert handling of Chopin's fourth scherzo for piano.
Modesty forbids us to imagine his raptures when faced with the pianist's present disc. For it contains all four of Chopin's scherzos, plus the second sonata - the one weighed down with the funeral march.
Yet we should not mock. If any young musician on earth deserves effusions, it is Simon Trpccski. Four years after his graduation and still not yet out of his twenties, this Macedonian pianist has already conquered some of the stoniest critical hearts around, and you don't need to venture far into this CD to know why.
Give him a section marked "presto con fitoco", or even a hard-driven allegro, and he hurls along with incredible muscle and velocity. It's truly exciting to listen to: Horowitz's ghost,beware.Yet there's no showman's bludgeoning in his force. Intelligence and finger power serve the music first, and leave the pianist's ego trailing.
Trpceski is also, on demand, intensely poetic. Time and again in these familiar pieces Chopin swings between fast fury and slow meditation. Trpceski underlines the contrast with reflections brought close to fragility with delicately managed rubato, replete with  pocket pauses. Yet the sense of onward motion is never lost, as it might be with Evgeny Kissin; nor do we ever lose fibre. Nothing wilts with Trpceski, or arrives drowned in tinsel. Listen to the extreme, poised beauty of the B major middle section in the first scherzo, or the way the second sonata's cortege is carefully pitched between overt sobs and frozen grief. There are many other revelations on this disc.Young though he is, Trpceski already offers the mature virtuoso performances that seasoned players would die to command. Trpceski's Chopin is an explorer of the soul, never a boudoir entertainer.
"Probably the best Macedonian pianist of all time," says the current Wikipedia entry for Trpceski. But why garland him with faint praise? If Stanley Fefferman doesn't update the entry. I might well do it myself.

CLASSSICAL CD OF THE WEEK

Daily Telegraph, February, 03.2007

CHOPIN: PIANO SONATA NO 2; SCHERZOS 1-4

By Geoffrey Norris

This striking disc shows Simon Trpceski broadening his outlook and at the same time using his characteristic insight to throw Chopin's stylistic traits into sharp focus. There is no shortage of Chopin recordings on the market, but this one leaps to the forefront.

The restless urgency in the opening movement of the Second Sonata is immediately arresting, but so too is the extraordinary clarity of Trpceski's textures. No matter what music he is playing, one of Trepcski's gifts is to illuminate it afresh. And so it is here: a familiar-enough sonata is presented with wonderful new perspectives and telling emphases, the bravura dazzling but always deployed with discretion and sensitivity.

Trpceski's assured sense of structure in the four-movement sonata is applied with equal security and vision in the multi-sectional scherzos. Momentum, dynamism, contemplation and lyricism are held in perfect equilibrium in these fantastic pieces.

The reason they are so stimulating to listen to here is not simply because of Trpceski's command of the virtuosity, but also because he brings such an apt spectrum of colour, phrasing, touch and vitality to the music.

Only a few weeks into 2007, this is already a disc of the year.

Trpceski is on the verge of greatness

Ottawa Citizen , January, 10. 2007

By Richard Todd

Chopin: Sonata no. 2, 4 Scherzos HHHH Simon Trpceski (EMI)

According to Wikipedia, the world's most popular reference tool, "Simon Trpceski is one of the most famous Macedonian musical performers, and probably the best Macedonian pianist of all times."
It's true that not everything in Wikipedia has been peer-reviewed and it's conceivable this opinion was contributed by, for example, Trpceski's mother.
It's a credible statement, though. Trpceski, who will make his Ottawa debut tonight with conductor Thomas Dausgaard and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, is probably the only Macedonian musician most of us could name readily.
Trpceski's new Chopin CD, to be issued next month by EMI, is another reason to take the claim seriously. His technique is of the highest calibre, but that's only a beginning. He has the gift of interpretive maturity, combined with the ability to present unique expressive nuances that give us an enhanced experience of a work's possibilities.
In some cases, these can sound a little eccentric, at least on first hearing. One example is the third movement of the sonata, the funeral march. He takes it a little slowly to begin with. Then, in the contrasting sections, instead of taking on a mood of lilting grace, he keeps the tempos scrupulously even. The result is contemplative calm.
There isn't a hint of pomposity in Trpceski's handling of Chopin's frequent heroic gestures. In the Third Scherzo, there's a famous segment in which series of strong, low chords are interwoven with some high runs, the latter usually played for their brilliance. Here they are quieter and perhaps better integrated. What really characterizes this playing, though, is the sense we get that every phrase is a necessary consequence of the one before it.
At only 26, Trpceski may become one of the major pianists of his generation. To achieve that status, he needs only to maintain his technique and build upon his already impressive understanding of the music.
At the NAC, Trpceski will perform the knuckle-scrambling Saint-Saens Second Piano Concerto.
Conductor Dausgaard, also making his Ottawa debut, will lead the orchestra in works by Debussy and Dvorak.

Chinese Daily Newspaper, July, 09.2006

by Jonathan Wong, Wen Wei Po

Translated by Tiphanie Chan

Trpceski's Rachmaninov

On the day this article goes public, Simon Trpceski - a Macedonia born 26-year-old smart and handsome star pianist, who emerged in the UK, has just played the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. It is a pity that the concert cannot match with the printing deadline, I haven't got a chance to listen to his LIVE performance yet. After I listened to his 2nd all-Rachmaninov album, however, I guess it should be an enjoyable evening.

Since his 2001 London Wigmore Hall recital, Trpceski started his tour. His first album in 2002 brought him one or two Gramophone Awards, including the best Début Album. The one I recommend today is his 2nd album released last year.

Rachmaninov treated Chopin as his idol, and was greatly influenced by him. The form of Rachmaninov's music tends towards romantic. Besides the famous piano concerto, he as a professional pianist, also wrote a number of piano solo pieces which includes preludes, sonatas etc. All these pieces formed his album with strong emotional power.

Put aside performance standard, the programming is intelligent. Play according to  sequence, it is just like an excellent piano recital! The disc starts with the sonorous Prelude Op.23, No.2, the style switches to romantic with a few Preludes and an adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Cradle Song. In the middle of the disc, Trpceski's playing of the piano version "The Flight of the Bumblebee" adapted by Rachmoninov that has high popularity, together with the Prelude Op.23, No.5 brings us a delightful listening journey. The album ends with the romantic Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor. The whole album fully reflects Trpceski's all-rounded virtuosity.

The popular piano player Maksim made his mark in playing "The Flight of the Bumblebee", Trpceski's version is what a real classical musician will do, controlled and meticulous, without Maksim's show off.

Compare with Rachmaninov's own version (Telarc, 1988), Trpceski handled the Prelude Op.23, No.5 with a slower tempo, and in a much heavier and forceful manner which is quite different from the light and hopping style of that of Rachmaninov. The beast Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, however, let us discover his romanticism, and of course his virtuosic bravura.

Album Title: Simon Trpceski plays Rachmaninov
Artist: Simon Trpceski
Publisher: EMI

Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No 2; Preludes; Transcriptions
Simon Trpceski (piano)

Geoffrey Norris

The fusion of mature interpretation and youthful passion makes this second EMI disc by Simon Trpceski a must for anyone who values pianism at its most stimulating.

Trpceski has the capacity to thrill through the dynamism and dash of the Preludes in B flat and G minor Op 23 Nos 2 and 5, and through his luminous dexterity in Rachmaninov's transcription of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee and the scherzo from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream. But the playing has at its base a deeply ingrained thoughtfulness, a proper concern for conveying the music's inner character and substance rather than any mere surface flashiness.

The climax to the recital is a magnificent, magisterial performance of the Second Sonata (done in the revised version of 1931), shrewd in its structural proportions, clearly defined in its textures, yet fluid in its sweep. Trpceski's way of carrying phrases through with a natural contour and with a clear idea of their place in the music's general scheme is something that makes his playing at once so eloquent and so mellifluous, as can be heard here in such introspective preludes as the F sharp minor and D major Op 23 Nos 1 and 4, and in Rachmaninov's transcriptions of his own songs Lilacs and Daisies.

The programme is deftly chosen to reveal the rich variety of Rachmaninov's piano writing, and Trpceski is the pianist to communicate it.

 Dallas Morning News, April, 17.2005

By Lawson Taitte

Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 Preludes

Simon Trpceski (piano)

Grade: A

Simon Trpceski's EMI debut disc didn't get very wide circulation in the United States, but this second recital should thrust him into the forefront of public awareness. The Macedonian pianist, still only 25, burns up this Rachmaninoff program, ending with a haunting performance of the Sonata No. 2.

Trpceski revealed a flair for showy transcriptions on that earlier CD. Listen to him spin through Rachmaninoff's version of The Flight of the Bumblebee and the Midsummer Night's Dream scherzo and be dazzled. Trpceski's ability to voice chords - that is, weight the various notes subtly to bring out line and harmony - is particularly useful in Rachmaninoff.

You expect a young virtuoso to excel in the brilliant stuff, but this one has a serious side as well. He mines slower pieces for gems of subtle color. And his titanic performance of Prelude in C-sharp minor is played more deliberately and majestically than most.

The Guardian, January, 28. 2005
By Andrew Clements

Simon Trpceski plays Rachmaninov
EMI Classics

Now aged 24, Macedonia's Trpceski is perhaps the most exciting pianistic talent to emerge on the international scene in recent years, and so far he has been at his most impressive in the late-romantic repertoire. Rachmaninov's Second Sonata suits him perfectly, for he possesses precisely the right combination of searing technique, structural command and carefully calculated flamboyance to meet all the work's demands. It's a thrillingly vivid performance, even though he does play the shorter revision of the sonata that Rachmaninov produced in 1931. The selection of preludes and transcriptions is equally absorbing, with Trpceski's command obvious from the opening bars of the first item, the B flat Prelude Op 23 no 2, while his prodigious range of colour and touch generates a perfectly elfin account of the scherzo from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream music.

Rachmaninov - Works for Solo Piano
Simon Trpceski (piano)

The Observer, January, 16. 2005
By Anthony Holden

Still only 25, precocious Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski has already established a formidable reputation, consolidated by his account of the Saint-Saëns concerto at last year's Proms. For his debut disc on EMI, he shows off his considerable range in works by Rachmaninov, notably the formidable Sonata No 2 in B flat major, alongside some preludes and transcriptions of his vocal works, including 'Lilacs' and 'Daisies'. An apt showcase for Trpceski's remarkable lightness of touch combined with bursts of passionate virtuosity worthy of the composer's own playing.

The Times, January, 15.2005

By Ivan Hewitt

Simon Trpceski plays Rachmaninov
EMI Classics

Listen to this new all-Rachmaninov CD and you will hear that Simon Trpceski is more than just another brilliant young virtuoso. Take, for instance, Rachmaninov's arrangement of the Scherzo from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream. It is an amazing tour de force on Rachmaninov's part to make this elfin orchestral music fit under a pianist's fingers, and most performers are content to play it as a virtuoso showpiece. But in Trpceski's hands it becomes a romantic mood piece, full of fascinating patterns of light and shade, almost meditative at times.

Hackneyed pieces such as the C sharp Prelude are made to sound fascinatingly different, but always in a convincing way - Trpceski's playing never sounds mannered. Most impressive of all is the blazing performance of Rachmaninov's B flat Minor Sonata, so hard to bring off with its rhapsodic changes of mood and tempo. The recording, too, is marvellous.

The Guardian, December, 6.2002

By Charlotte Higgins

Tchaikovsky: Suite from the Nutcracker, etc Simon Trpceski
EMI Classics

Not only does this CD's inclusion of Mikhail Pletnev's flashy transcription of The Nutcracker bring a whiff of seasonality (without being naff), it is also one of the most thrilling piano CDs of recent times. The young Macedonian Simon Trpceski has everything: a technique that copes effortlessly with all the demands of Pletnev's take on Tchaikovsky and the Three Dances from Stravinsky's Petrushka, and a musicality that maintains a perfect balance in the most impressive of all Prokofiev's sonatas.

The Guardian, May, 17. 2002
By Andrew Clements

Tchaikovsky (arr Pletnev): Suite from The Nutcracker; Scriabin: Sonata No 5; Stravinsky: Three Dances from Petrushka; Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No 6
Simon Trpcesky (EMI)

Launching EMI's repackaged Debut series, Trpcesky's recital is one of the most thrilling piano discs of recent times. The 23-year-old Macedonian took second place in the London Piano Competition in 2000, but his career has already totally eclipsed that of the Finn who came first. On this evidence Trpcesky has everything - a technique that copes effortlessly with all the demands of Mikhail Pletnev's flashy transcription of The Nutcracker and the powerful virtuosity of the Three Dances from Stravinsky's Petrushka, and a musicality that maintains a perfect balance in the most impressive of all Prokofiev's sonatas. Above all it is his ability to generate dramatic excitement that makes his playing so special. The highlight here is Scriabin's Fifth Sonata, which receives an incandescent performance to compare with Vladimir Horowitz's legendary account, and that is praise indeed.

Amazon, 2002

By Marc Bridle

Simon Trpceski Plays Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev
EMI Classics

Simon Trpceski's first disc is long overdue and in the end well worth waiting for. It is one of the finest debut piano recital discs I have heard in years.

Controversially awarded second place at the 2000 World Piano Competition in London (after playing a superbly dramatic Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto) he has become one of the most inspirational young pianists currently playing before the public. Not only does he command an incandescent technique, he also demonstrates unfailing understanding at the keyboard, attributes which should go hand-in-hand but rarely do. His performance of Pletnev's virtuosic transcription of Tchaikovsky's ballet suite, for example, is not only flawlessly played but given a performance of enormous sensibility. As I wrote of his June 2001 Wigmore Hall debut where he performed this work, Trpceski "possesses a magical touch - moments such as the Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and the Russian and Chinese Tea Dances had feather-light touch and delicate phrasing. The Intermezzo inspired Trpceski to moments of ecstatic lyricism, which almost suggested harp-like textures". It is exactly the same here - although there is perhaps even more magic to the touch and a balminess to the mood which the Wigmore performance slightly underplayed.

At that recital he played Prokofiev's Seventh Sonata; here we have the Sixth. That performance of the Seventh was marked by incandescent phrasing and a fabulously clean technique, along with a potent lyricism. His performance of the Sixth, a work which has received some extraordinary performances on record, is similarly impressive: the opening of the vivace, for example, is glitteringly done with light finger strokes painting a Prokofievian sound world almost orchestral in texture. Where some pianists can make this movement sound overly percussive, even pedantic, Trpceski gives it a breathtaking clarity. He dazzles, as Pogorelich does in his famous recording of the piece, but does so without the latter's mannerisms. Trpceski's is selfless virtuosity of a rare kind.

His performance of Scriabin's Fifth Sonata is feverish, idiomatically played and scrupulously detailed in marking out dynamics. If not quite equal to Horowitz or Gilels, who both brought a particular authority to this music, it is certainly a performance of distinction. He certainly invests the sonata with the colour and visionary brilliance which are its hallmarks.

There is no doubt that Simon Trpceski is an important young artist, fiery and poetic in equal measure. A recent recital, of Brahms and Liszt, showed how deep his understanding has become. I hope EMI will now record him in this repertoire.

Sydney Star Observer, 2002

By Marcus O'Donnell

Simon Trpceski Plays Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev
EMI Classics

I guess young musical geniuses have always presented an attractive vision of precocity but these days the big record companies seem to be finding and promoting them at great speed. The 24 year old Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski is the latest youngster set to play the opera house. He won the London international piano competition in 2000 and has since played to glowing accolades world-wide. He has been acclaimed for both his technical virtuosity, his imaginative musicianship and a sense of youthful flare. His debut album on EMI which was released last year amply demonstrates these qualities. The pieces include the familiar concert suite from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite, Scriabin's one movement sonata 5, Stravinsky's piano version of his Petrouchka and Prokofiev's Sonata 6. Each of these works is in their own way highly demanding and Trpceski manages to discover the right idiom for each. He manages to make the Nutcracker seem fresh and vital giving into its lyricism on occasion then reminding us of its simple power. The Stravinsky and Prokofiev are the disc's key pieces and here we hear both his virtuosity and percussive power. But my favourite is the Scriabin which has a lively freshness and showcases the ease with which Trpceski moves from delicate moments crafted with great care to powerful full orchestral playing. It is clear in all the work that he is in charge of the overall architecture of the music rather than just the notes at hand. This is not music to relax to it is passionate, demanding and at times harsh but it is here played by a captivating musical personality.

Bangkok Post, August, 09. 2002

By Ung-aang Talay

An impressive Russian piano programme by a Macedonian newcomer

TCHAIKOVSKY : Concert Suite from The Nutcracker, transc.
Mikhail Pletnev SCRIABIN : Piano Sonata No. 5, Opus 53
STRAVINSKY : Trois mouvements de Petrouchka
PROKOFIEV :Piano Sonata No. 6 in A, Opus 82. Simon Trpceski, piano. EMI Classics Debut series
EMI's ``Debut'' series by young artists have one of last year's best recordings, a recital by violinist Elisabeth Batiashvili and her accompanist Milana Chernyavska. Now comes a new release by another East European musician, a solo piano programme by the Macedonian artist Simon Trpceski, and it's just as impressive.

Trpceski limits himself to a mainstream Russian repertoire that has (with the exception of the Tchaikovsky transcription) been recorded many times by front-rank artists. It is a measure of his artistry that, while you are listening to him play, you rarely miss them. He has the kind of super-technique that sounded superhuman a couple of decades ago, but that has now come to seem standard issue for young pianists. But he uses it to communicate an affinity with this music that is his own. When I played the disc for the first time and Trpceski launched into the first item on it, the march from the Nutcracker Suite transcription, I felt a little apprehensive about what was to come. His approach is heavy and percussive, and some listeners may find it too aggressive for this music. As the suite progressed, however, I came to feel that it fit into an interpretation of the piece that worked.

Trpceski pushes his instrument hard to achieve Tchaikovskian orchestral effects, and often achieves spectacular results. Listen to the breadth and warmth in his playing of the intermezzo, and to the brightness of the treble, against the dark bass, in the ``Chinese Dance'', and then to the way the alto and tenor sonorities brighten as the little piece progresses.
He is equally successful with the alternation of crazy, jazzy abandon and ethereal stargazing that make the Scriabin Fifth Sonata such a challenge. This music has always been Richter territory for me, but here Trpceski allows the contrasting episodes to dissolve into each other seamlessly the way abrupt transitions do in our dreams.

In the Stravinsky, the young Macedonian is up against the stiffest possible competition in the form of the classic Pollini account (on DG The Originals 447 431-2, a desert island disc), one of the most breathtaking piano recordings ever made. Fortunately, he doesn't attempt to out-Pollini Pollini. He takes the music at a slightly slower tempo, and points up sub-rhythms in a way that allows you to remember that this is really music for the dance. Trpceski doesn't blow your head off with his virtuosity the way Pollini does (although I suspect that he could). He elates rather than dazzles.

Prokofiev's Sixth Sonata seems to have replaced the Seventh as the showpiece chosen by young artists from among the composer's sonatas. Back in the 1970s DG issued a series of LPs in a kind of debut series of their own, in which they introduced new young artists. It included a recording of this sonata played by a Russian pianist whose name I can't recall, but oh, how I wish I could, because his performance of this piece remains the platinum-iridium standard for me, beside Richter's.

Since then there have been very good recorded interpretations by Kissin and especially Pogorelich. But to my ear, this new one goes to the top of the list of available recordings, the Richter (on Revelation RV 10094 and elsewhere), of course, always excepted. Once again, Trpceski lets this piece, with its often tough exterior, move naturally, and dance when it wants to. Listen to his way with the allegretto second movement, especially the passage that begins at 00:55, and smile.
This excellent new release is in stock at the WTC branch of CD Warehouse.

Solo Piano Recital: Tchaikovsky/ Scriabin/ Stravinsky/ Prokofiev
EMI Classics Debut Series - May 2002

Tchaikovsky - Concert suite from the Nutcracker, transc. Mikhail Pletnev
Scriabin - Piano Sonata no.5, op.53
Stravinsky - Three movements from Petrouchka
Prokofiev - Piano Sonata no.6 in A, op.82

“A thrilling debut”  Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times

“Trpčeski’s quality is unfailing”  Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

“A picture of an exceptional young talent in all its freshness and sense of enjoyment”  Adrian Jack, BBC Music Magazine