Diapason d’Or · Choix d’Arte
Liszt, Transcendental Études
Diapason No. 715 View clipping
© Lyodo Kaneko
Reviews · awards · radio
Press
“A name to remember.”
“[…] capable of being an acrobat or a poet.”
“The revelation of listening.”
© Lyodo Kaneko
Reviews · awards · radio
“A name to remember.”
“[…] capable of being an acrobat or a poet.”
“The revelation of listening.”
Awards
Liszt, Transcendental Études
Diapason No. 715 View clipping
Bach, Goldberg Variations
Diapason No. 686 View clipping
Bach, Goldberg Variations
France Musique Listen (opens in a new tab)
Bach, Goldberg Variations
Opus Haute Définition View clipping
Quotations from French-language publications are given in English translation.
Album · Mirare · 14 articles
Diapason · No. 715
Roman Marlière
Diapason d’Or with the Choix d’Arte
“Spotted for his ‘immense digital faculties’ in Bach’s Goldbergs in 2019, Stern has captured what makes Liszt such a genius according to Charles Rosen: reinventing the sound of the piano.”
Télérama
Sophie Bourdais
“Everything is seductive, and makes you want to follow closely the next exploits of this highly gifted musician, with his intense, no-nonsense playing, capable of being an acrobat or a poet.”
Classica · No. 243
Jérémie Bigorie
“Here is virtuosity that sees far ahead, faithful to the letter without ever betraying the poetic spirit.”
L’Obs
Philippe Cassard
“Gabriel Stern deployed a sound brimming with color, that of a hundred orchestral musicians.”
Musikzen
François Lafon
“We find here his conquering pianism and his very personal options. […] From one end of the journey to the other, he behaves as much like a painter as an architect, without forgetting to dream.”
ClassicsToday
Jed Distler
“Although Stern unquestionably possesses the technique and temperament to project these works across the proverbial footlights, he treats the etudes first and foremost like music, rather than athletic stunts.”
Pizzicato
Alain Steffen
Translated from German
“Gabriel Stern proves to be an ideal interpreter for these 12 fantastic pieces, always keeping control of the work and allowing virtuosity only where it truly benefits the music.”
Artalinna
Jean-Charles Hoffelé
“The entire Romantic century sings and dreams here, exalts and thinks under the fingers of this admirable pianist whose Goldberg Variations (Lyrinx) had already surprised me in a good way, and even the Romanticism beyond Liszt.”
Classique c’est cool !
Hugues Rameau-Crays
“Gabriel Stern’s technical resources are impressive, but the tour de force of this disc is to plunge us, as if in apnoea, into crazy music, precisely with a skilful use of resources.”
Classique mais pas has been
Claire de Castellane
“With ease, brilliance and a relaxed touch, Gabriel Stern strings these études together, fiendishly difficult as they are.”
Classique mais pas has been
Claire de Castellane
“Infallible technical means at the service of a musicality and artistic sensitivity that seem limitless. An intensity of reflection and personal commitment that borders on the mystical.”
France Musique · L’invité du jour
Jean-Baptiste Urbain
Radio
“Pianist Gabriel Stern devotes his second album to Liszt’s Transcendental Études, which have long inhabited the pianist’s mind.”
Ondes sensibles
Frédéric Hutman
Podcast
“Pianist Gabriel Stern has just released a magnificent interpretation of Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Mirare label). A highly musical version.”
Radio VINCI Autoroutes · Tempo 110
Charlotte Latour
Radio
“Gabriel Stern takes on Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Études.”
Album · Lyrinx · 9 articles
France Musique · La Tribune des critiques de disques
No. 1
“Immediately, joy leaps to the ears when listening to Gabriel Stern’s Bach, which gives wings to the Aria, light, playful, full of energy, before the whirlwind of Variation 1. The Andante of Variation 15, held with poetry and simplicity, overwhelms with its economy, before the indulgent, frank and more impatient than ever conclusion of 29 and 30. The revelation of listening.”
Diapason · No. 686
Philippe Ramin
5 Diapasons
“The performer’s signature is already evident in the full, ductile sonority and ornamental fluidity of the Aria. The limpidity of the fast variations, the detachment of the unison canon and variation XVIII are irresistible. […] The ornate slow variations (XIII and XXV) sing, the counterpoint seduces and moves. A wind of freedom blows through this work of rare spiritual concentration.”
Classica · No. 219
Philippe Venturini
“This determination is evident from the very first bars of the Aria. The three beats are counted with impressive regularity, the notes follow one another without the slightest hesitation, the lines flow straight. But this reading, which might seem intimidatingly severe and discouragingly cerebral, is enhanced by a dreamy sound, bursting with sap and color, without the slightest dryness or harshness. All in all, Stern reveals a clear musical maturity. The piano must now reckon with him.”
Opus Haute Définition
Jean-Jacques Millo
Opus d’or
“The balance of voices, dynamics and virtuosity are all present in an approach that is both warm and rigorous. But all this would be nothing if it weren’t for the depth, nuance and emotion that are present from start to finish in a music that is, once again, revealed.”
Bachtrack
Alain Lompech
“Playing of prodigious pianistic ease, free of any effect despite a phenomenal virtuosity, of formal ease and musicological knowledge, as articulation, ornaments, tempos and polyphony go hand in hand with an expression that pushes far away both the “Me! Me! Me!” and uncertainty, to let the music come into the world.”
Musikzen
Albéric Lagier
“This analytical approach brings out, with real originality, the full diversity of the Variations. The personal touch: perhaps this is what we expect of a pianist when he tackles works that have been played and replayed. And with Gabriel Stern, there’s no doubt that we’re dealing with a pianist of dazzling technique and strong personality.”
France Musique · Le disque classique du jour
Émilie Munera and Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier
Radio
“This time, it’s not virtuosity that’s admired, but concentration, intellect and height of vision […] No extravagance here with Gabriel Stern, but a vision of saving clarity. Each variation finds its place within the cycle, which never falters under the pianist’s guidance.”
France Musique · Le Bach du dimanche
Corinne Schneider
Radio
Alain Lompech · Facebook post
Social media
“So much intelligence, vivacity, varied articulations, absence of over-added expressive intentions; so much pertinence in the segues, the rich ornamentation always integrated into the articulation of lines thought out over long periods yet as if improvised in the moment. Such sensitivity, and the feeling that this young pianist is always on the lookout, that he is the receptacle of all the possibilities of this world-work, stunned me and, to put it bluntly, moved me even more.”
Radio France, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Grange de Meslay, Montpellier · 10 articles
Bachtrack
Pierre Michel · Radio France Auditorium
“As soon as the curtain rises on Messiaen’s Le Courlis cendré, we are struck by the evocative softness of Gabriel Stern’s touch.”
Diapason
Bertrand Boissard · La Roque d’Anthéron
“This mastery, this valour, is not given to everyone! And when the passion of Harmonies du soir, long contained, finally exults, the fever of the performer is not far from being transmitted to the listener. A name to remember.”
Classica · No. 244
Michel Le Naour · La Grange de Meslay Festival
“A real pianistic firework and, even more, an approach of superior intelligence in the management of time and the rhetoric of discourse. The dreaded Chasse-neige becomes a veritable keyboard opera.”
Zébuline
Maryvonne Colombani · La Roque d’Anthéron
“Perfect technical virtuosity, but which becomes incidental as the ability to color the playing, to draw nuances, to sculpt sound matter is mastered.”
Vivace Cantabile
Victoria Okada · La Grange de Meslay Festival
Interview
“Gabriel Stern likes to take his time, the time to understand, deepen and mature. It’s his trade secret.”
ResMusica
Jany Campell · Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier
“Gabriel Stern finally reveals the full extent of his artistry in Olivier Messiaen’s Le Courlis cendré, adorning it in a rainbow of chosen colors, making its jubilant trills shine, listening to its resonances, imagining its space as a landscape.”
Les Echos
Philippe Venturini · La Roque d’Anthéron
“[…] the young pianist impresses with his mastery of the keyboard, his triumphant musicality and his maturity. A striking knell and icy cold in “Funérailles”, then the mad rush of “Mazeppa”, the elusive dance of “Feux follets” and other bravura pages of the formidable Twelve Transcendental Études.”
Classique mais pas has been
Claire de Castellane · La Roque d’Anthéron
“Gabriel Stern, a breathtaking hope.”
Zébuline
Suzanne Canessa and Morgane Poulet · La Roque d’Anthéron
“[…] The “Funérailles”, from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, confirm Stern’s mastery, but also the passion and seriousness he conveys in his interpretations. Concentrated, he alternates energetic, lively passages with meditative calming. The instrument takes on a tragic quality, violently evoking the deaths of patriots executed during the Hungarian Revolution, while the left hand distinctly utters a heart-rending lament. Accelerated rhythms, like last breaths of life, lead relentlessly to silence. This rise in intensity leads to even greater complexity in the Twelve Transcendental Études, reputed to be among the most formidable works for solo piano. As with the Goldberg Variations, recently recorded by Gabriel Stern, the long time span and the succession of bravura pieces are as successful for his versatility of tone as for his technical solidity.”
France Musique · Portraits de famille
Philippe Cassard
Radio
“A perfection of execution, a phenomenal power that evokes the orchestras of Liszt and Wagner, a constantly renewed energy, a sense of construction for those epic frescoes so difficult as Mazeppa, Chasse Sauvage, Vision, Appassionata or Chasse Neige. And, in Ricordanza or Harmonies du Soir, a dreamy touch, poetry, colors, a celebration of vocality.”
