McDermott performs and judges Kapell Festival read more

07.21.07
Anne-Marie McDermott
The Washington Post

 

McDermott's Expressive Haydn Sonatas

Washington Post

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Andrew Lindemann Malone

"As part of the William Kapell International Piano Competition and Festival, the concert helped to spotlight the diversity of the piano repertoire. More important, it allowed McDermott to prove her point with spectacular performances of five of the sonatas, presented in chronological order to show Haydn's development in the form.

The one constant in Haydn's sonatas is drama. Even the "Allegretto e innocente" movement of the early Sonata in G No. 54 provides hair-raising elaborations on its initial material, which McDermott essayed with brio and humor. She also had fun with the wild textural contrasts of the Sonata in C Minor No. 33, which can move from commanding chords to fleet figuration to lyrical interlude in the space of a few bars. Yet she played Haydn's sublime slow melodies simply and eloquently, as in the gentle Adagio of the Sonata in F No. 38.

In the last two sonatas McDermott played, the C No. 60 and the E-flat No. 62, Haydn adds a mature depth to the relentless creativity of the earlier works. McDermott created irresistible tension in the finale of the C Major by prolonging the movement's frequent silences before relaunching the music, and she brought out both the grandeur and the human emotion of the great E-flat, with a magical account of the tender slow movement."

Crescendo Builds for Kapell Contenders

Washington Post

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Andrew Lindemann Malone

"Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott will play an all-Haydn program on the evening of July 19 and discuss the thinking behind it the next morning. "The Haydn sonatas are just so alive, and they have such a story to tell and such drama," she says. "And I think in this day and age, it's very important for young artists to put together intelligently thought-out programming that comes from a very sincere place. The public responds to that more, to having a story behind the program.""

To view Mr. Malone's article McDermott's Expressive Haydn Sonatas, visit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072001973.html

 

To view Mr. Malone's article Crescendo Builds for Kapell Contenders, visit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR2007070600492.html