Mahan Esfahani's Prague tribute to Zuzana Růžičková

By Frank Kuznik, 16 January 2018

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“a virtuoso performance, with blazing fingerwork and powerful emotion”

Reviewed at Maisel Synagogue, Prague on 14 January 2018

Bach, Sonata in A minor after Reinken, BWV965

Saariaho, Le jardin secret II, for harpsichord and tape

Kalabis, Dialogues, für Cello und Cembalo

Bach, English Suite no. 3 in G minor, BWV808

Mahan Esfahani, Harpsichord

Tomáš Jamník, Cello

Andrew Manze excels in Sibelius and Mozart

Leighton Jones, 23rd March

Bookending a new harpsichord concerto from Gavin Bryars for the renowned virtuoso Mahan Esfahani, two underrated symphonies are given highly commendable performances in Liverpool.

****1

Mahan Esfahani performs the Goldberg Variations in Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 23rd February

The harpsichordist brought a highly personal, deeply engrossing interpretation that invited the listener to consider this familiar work anew.

*****

Music by non-dead people: Manchester Collective at the Proms

David Karlin, 17th August

Six pieces, all of them different, all of them new to the Proms, most by living composers, and all played superbly. A great contemporary music Prom.

****1

Mahan Esfahani and Sarah Connolly at Wigmore Hall

David Karlin, 14th June

A varied programme of harpsichord pieces interleaves with songs from Shakespeare and the following century.

***11

Baroque Futurism: Mesmerising soundscapes from Mahan Esfahani

Benjamin Poore, 17th January

Thrilling and spellbinding experimental music for harpsichord and electronics, performed by Mahan Esfahani.

*****

Thrilling Bach from Mahan Esfahani at Wigmore Hall

David Karlin, 9th February

To reach the mother lode of Bach's keyboard music, you have to listen to it on harpsichord, and today, no performer embodies that mother lode more than Mahan Esfahani.

****1

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.

Bach's Eternal Palace: Mahan Esfahani's Prague tribute to Zuzana Růžičková