International Piano September 2019
Phillip Kawin, Gerard Schwarz and the Russian National Orchestra
​
Phillip Kawin’s performances are always deeply considered: he follows in a lineage from Cortot and was influenced by Dora Zaslavsky Koch, a student of Bauer and Backhaus. Kawin’s reading of the Beethoven C minor concerto combines a strong grasp of structure with intense concentration on detail, as did his previously issued Appassionata.
​
Filmed in Moskow’s Rachmaninov Concert Hall without an audience, the camera angles selected by director Paul Carasco (himself a pianist) are pertinent and imaginative. Against a calm blue background, orchestra and soloist deliver an interpretation of maturity and grandeur. Readers who know the old Bishop Kovacevich/Davis BBC version will find parallels.
​
The RNO, with antiphonal violins, is highly disciplined and there is clear rapport between Kawin and Schwarz. The finale is most impressive of all, glittering yet with enough space for lyricism. The Blu-ray format offers enhanced visual clarity.
​
By Colin Clarke
More Reviews
Fanfare Magazine
Phillip Kawin, Gerard Schwarz and the Russian National Orchestra
Approximately three minutes into the Allegro con brio, pianist Phillip Kawin commences his graceful and generous performance of Beethoven’s third piano concerto. With minimal melodrama and more playfulness and joy, the piece is highly colorful and emotive—the flutes, woodwinds, and French horns seem to hover somewhere near the ceiling, circling the orchestra...
Fanfare Magazine
Phillip Kawin, Gerard Schwarz and the Russian National Orchestra
​
My last review of Phillip Kawin’s work (40:3) praised Kawin’s “subtlety, maturity, individuality, and musicality.” I have much the same reaction to his playing of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. He makes one tasteful, sensitive choice after another throughout his performance of the piece...
Fanfare Magazine
Phillip Kawin, Gerard Schwarz and the Russian National Orchestra
Sometimes I regret that I don’t know everything. Oh, I’ve claimed that I do often enough; but usually the person I am talking to suddenly walks quickly across the street and pretends to be intensely studying the manure display in the window of the farm supplies store...