Richard Egarr
Conductor
"The Bernstein of Early Music" — NPR Music, CD Review /
“Everything sounds newly minted, bursting with vitality”– BBC Music Magazine
Documents |
| Richard Egarr biography |
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| Richard Egarr discography |
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| Richard Egarr press kit |
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| Richard Egarr press quotes |
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| Richard Egarr sample conducting programmes |
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| Richard Egarr sample harpsichord recital programmes |
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Photos |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Richard Egarr (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Tafelmusik puts the humour in Haydn
John Terauds, Toronto Star
2 December 2010
British keyboard virtuoso and conductor Richard Egarr helped Tafelmusik give Mozart and Haydn a kick in the breeches at the first of five concerts this week at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre.
In two symphonies and two keyboard concertos from the second half of the 18th century, Egarr and orchestra brought palpable life force to the stage on Wednesday night.
If a musician wants to be honest to a particular style of music, he or she can research and follow the practices of that historical period. But their performance won’t really come alive unless they also capture the spirit of that period.
What Egarr does best is capture the spirit, and he wastes no time and spares no energy to convey it to the orchestra and audience.
Nobody would think that an 18th-century fortepiano can render solos more beautifully than a modern concert piano. But played with the ease, fluidity and sensitivity that Egarr brings to the keyboard, the fortepiano made an ideal companion to Tafelmusik’s period instruments.
Just as he coaxed every possible nuance out of his fortepiano, Egarr brought an extra blast of pulse and colour to the orchestra. It was magnetic music-making from beginning to end.
Any 8-year-old capable of writing music needs to be applauded. That was Mozart’s age when he wrote his first symphony. It’s not a complex piece, and repeats its few nice musical ideas a few times too often.
Although he and the orchestra could have treated it like a pretty trifle, Egarr insisted on approaching this music as if it were Mozart’s finest work, making it all the more compelling to hear.
Egarr’s solo work in the evening’s two concertos — Mozart’s No. 12 and Haydn’s No. 11, both written around 1782 — was notable for his silken keyboard technique and for the elegance in which he switched from following the score and leading the orchestra to improvising freely during the solo cadenzas.
Egarr did this with the easy, casual humour of someone entertaining his favourite friends over a few drinks.
The program ended with a crystal clear, rhythmically lively and impeccably contrasted reading of Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 that put the emphasis on humour and entertainment — refreshing presences in any 21st-century concert hall.
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