Reviews

"This playing is vital and alive" Fanfare

"This Russian-trained British pianist arrests the attention immediately with the opening of the virtuosic The Spinner and his reading of all the works is sympathetic, lyrically cool, yet with the flair of a full-scale virtuoso and a sparkling intelligence." BBC Music Magazine

"Reared at the RAM and the Moscow Conservatory, he is a prodigy, of awesome technical fluency backed by exceptional artistry.... To the intellectual rigour of the brilliant young Boulez... he bought clarity, eloquence and illumination. The same general qualities informed his marvellous account of the Hammerklavier sustaining its impetus and interest throughout the endless span of its slow movement, and then attacking its fugal finale with irresistible energy and acumen. Balakirev's Islamey sounded as it must a spectacular "war horse". For all that Mr Walker is a gentle virtuoso never flailing the keyboard, his pedalling throughout immaculate, showing this remarkable pianist's flair for the lyrical and late romantic." Evening Standard

"Few pianists would be so intrepid or so rash, as to begin a recital with Boulez's uncompromising First Sonata and follow it with one of Beethoven's most abstruse: the "Hammerklavier". But Nicholas Walker did so in a masterly recital at St. John's Smith Square... Such contrasts of tone colour, coupled with an absolutely secure technique, put Walker's "Hammerklavier" in a class of its own. His superb control enabled one to respond to the poetry without the barrier often presented by the notes themselves - or rather, by their mechanical reproduction. An exhilarating account of Balakirev's oriental fantasy Islamey - requiring subtlety of nuance, as well as sovereign technique - was a fitting conclusion." The Times

"Only a few piano virtuosi, such as the late John Ogdon, have tended to give recitals of the kind Nicholas Walker undertook at St John's Smith Square: a fascinating mix of works that required the ultimate in stamina and technical prowess, along with lesser known romantic and modern repertoire...Juxtaposing Boulez's Sonata No.1 with Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata proved illuminating, since Walker brought to both a ruthless momentum and relish for extreme dynamic contrasts that suited the music admirably." The Guardian

"Walker proved to be the nearest thing to a natural Balakirev performer I have heard in a long while." Financial Times

"Walker's credentials as a Balakirev interpreter are immediately assured in La Fileuse, a sparkling curtain-raiser, and in an authoritative account of the B flat minor Scherzo. Particularly impressive, however, are the more introspective pieces...where Walker's sensitivity and subtly varied tonal palette are enchanting." Gramophone

"Here we can enjoy a wide range of captivating music, played with insight and invigorating fervour by one of Britain's undisputed best young pianists." Classic CD

"Nicholas Walker's thrilling, seat-of-the-pants account (of the Lyapunov Sonata live at the Husum Festival) is a tour de force." International Record Review

"Here an authoritive account [of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto] helped by the urgency of the accompaniment became an interpretation of noticeable freshness. A feeling of inner concentration allied to a necessary bold vigour in the outer movements, with a slow movement of hushed intensity, added to a thoughtful and quite distinguished reading. This was a performance without idiosyncrasy, controlled, at times powerful, and always serene." Birmingham Post

"Well-known and not well-known Balakirev Do we know our musical classics? In the Small Hall of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory a large number of music lovers received a negative reply to this question.

In a concert, which had been organized by the doctor of artistic research and professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory Tatiana Zaitseva, works by the leader of the "Mighty Handful" were heard which had been performed extremely rarely, and some not at all before. In a short (which does her credit), but substantial and pithy, opening speech Tatiana Zaitseva summarized the importance of Mily Alekseyevich Balakirev as a composer, "who defined the epoch".

Certainly there is no-one like Balakirev, neither in Russian music nor in the entire world of music, who could have created the greatest compositional school in the world, the members of which - Modest Mussorgsky, Aleksander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Aleksander Glazunov, Anatoly Liadov, Sergei Lyapunov and others - could so influence the development not only of Russian, but also other national schools of composition. And this genius, as emerged in Tatiana Zaitseva's opening address, was moulded almost in childhood. At the age of 16 he had written the "Grande Fantasie on Russian Folksongs" for piano and orchestra, and this work contained the basic traits of his style.

On this day the "Grande Fantasie" was given a world premier by the English pianist Nicholas Walker and the St Petersburg chamber orchestra of Russian folk instruments "Skomorokhi" under the direction of Viktor Akulovich. Unfortunately this world premier was heard not in the original version, but in an arrangement, albeit a very successful one, for piano and an orchestra of folk instruments.

Then Nicholas Walker played Balakirev's piano sonata – and here the mouths of the listeners fell open, so to speak: the Balakirev work had never before sounded so perfect and substantial in St Petersburg. But when Nicholas Walker performed the extremely difficult "finger breaking" Balakirev transcription of the "Jota Aragonesa" of Glinka the hall simply exploded. This work of Balakirev was played in his time by at most three or four pianists (including here Balakirev himself, Nikolai Rubinstein and two or three pupils of Franz Liszt, who very highly valued the talent of Balakirev).

As a result the St Petersburg public, which had packed the Small Hall of the Conservatory to the full, received a charge of positive emotion, but the professional musicians must have felt their consciences pricked: why had they, and not an Englishman (though a very worthy one!), not opened for the Russian public the music of our great compatriot?" St Petersburg Vedemosti

"Again and again the 'Festival of Rarities' has made us acquainted with notable British pianists. On Thursday evening it was Nicholas Walker. He knew how to shade Field's Nocturnes with sensitivity, and with a clever combination of passion, virtuosity and understatement he made a diverting, poetic pleasure of Rachmaninov's Etudes- Tableaux op.33. Most gripping: Walker's sharply characterised, intelligent rendition of Beethoven's rarely-played, substantial 'Waldmädchen' Variations and Sergei Lyapunov's great F Minor Sonata. Here we were reminded once more how to appreciate the originality of the 55 years older piece. The evening was one of the 'Highlights of Rarities' for this year." Kieler Nachtrichten

Reviews

Bach/Liszt