REVIEW 1: премьера Милосердия Тита в театре Покровского

Пётр Поспелов в Ведомостях о премьере.

“Дирижер Игнат Солженицын вывел труппу на новый уровень.

Оперный театр на Никольской улице, которым руководит выдающийся дирижер Геннадий Рождественский, в последние годы привлекал к себе внимание необычным репертуаром, однако не всегда радовал совершенством его музыкального воплощения. Новая работа – признак серьезного качественного скачка.

Рождественский пригласил к работе над постановкой «Милосердия Тита» дирижера Игната Солженицына, который привез с собой заокеанский стиль исполнения Моцарта – не склонный к догмам аутентистов, однако покоящийся на добродетелях стройности и точности. С первых же тактов увертюры оркестр заиграл так, словно его подменили – энергично, уверенно, а вместе с тем сбалансированно и прозрачно. Хор, по обыкновению состоящий из солистов театра, звучал не как набор солистов, а именно как хор (хормейстер Алексей Верещагин), полнозвучно, едино и легко, впечатляя не столько громогласием, сколько мягкой краской.

Соревнование по сотрясению воздуха, нередкое на спектаклях театра, среди солистов на сей раз не проводилось. И хотя в дальнобойных качествах голосов усомниться не пришлось, вокальные работы оставили впечатление прежде всего поиском гармонии.

Такого Моцарта в Камерной опере Покровского еще не было. Игнату Солженицыну и его музыкантам удалось воплотить архитектонику, высокий строй чувств и актуальную старомодность одной из последних моцартовских партитур.”
— Пётр Поспелов

WATCH: my lecture on Shostakovich Fifth Symphony and absolute music

Here is the video of my lecture from last October’s Recovered Voices symposium at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. The topic was: The Fifth Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich: Re-Visiting Absolute Music, Historical Memory, and the Concretization of Experience.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn Lecture: The Fifth Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich: Re-Visiting Absolute Music, Historical Memory, and the Concretization of Experience Few composers have engendered so much debate in the West as Dmitri Shostakovich, regarding both the intrinsic value of his music and whether it can ever be divorced from its cultural-historical significance.

Review: Solzhenitsyn, Orchestra give voice to Beethoven, Shostakovich

Toledo Blade review of my performances last week with the Toledo Symphony.

“The performance was stunning. Solzhenitsyn played with a breathtaking fluidity, grace, and agility; the scope of his timbre, astounding. The symphony supported with sensitivity, subtlety, and nuance. Between them was a symbiotic bond of pure artistry.

In the Shostakovich, Solzhenitsyn brought the soul of his heritage as he took the conductor’s platform, leading the entire 50­minute work without a score. He held a clear understanding of the 20th century Russian aesthetic; the orchestra bristled with an underlying artistic longing, colorful, cold, searching and finally overwhelmingly triumphant.

Solzhenitsyn is one of the great musical voices of our age. Educing the soul of this music with a voice that, as the subtitle suggested, not only refused to be silenced, but demanded the listener hear and understand.”
— Wayne F. Anthony, Toledo Blade

Review: Solzhenitsyn Plays Beethoven

From a recent review of another artist’s recital, referring to my late-Beethoven disc:

“Then came Beethoven. The E-minor Sonata, Op.90, drew an interpretation that stressed rather its dramatic concentration than the more intimate lyricism that other pianists have found in this compact and powerful work: I have particularly enjoyed superb recordings of it, by Ignat Solzhenitsyn and the late, great Ivan Moravec, that take the second of the two movements at a more serene tempo.”
— Bernard Jacobson, Seen and Heard International

Review: Mozart in New York

A review of my New York performance of Mozart’s E-flat Quartet, K. 493.

“What made Solzhenitsyn’s playing of this difficult piano part truly exceptional was his consummate timing from the very first notes, his crystal clear articulation, and his beautiful tone. Most important, however, was his adherence to the idea that Mozart scales and fast runs should be played as melody, allowing each note to speak. In so doing, he brought to mind the best interpreters of Mozart such as Lupu, Schiff, and the late Polish pianist Artur Balsam. I urge my readers to keep his name—already famous—foremost in their minds. Piano playing doesn’t come much better; perhaps faster and louder, but not better.”
— Roman Markowicz, ConcertoNet