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Older Press Quotes |
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"Oliver Schnyder/Stefan Tönz, A Character all their Own: ...Schnyder played [Schumann's accompaniment to Bach's Chaconne for violin] as a dry commentary, as if it comprised spoken asides. He thus left plenty of room for Stefan Tönz and for a violin sound that seems to take into account all the characteristics of the instrument. It probably sounds so beautiful because it does not try to pretend being what it isn't. This quite individual character also coloured the violin part in Brahms' d minor Sonata . . . and in Schumann's Fantasy Pieces op. 73, Schnyder found a lightness of touch, a versatility in the smallest detail . . . It is a pity that they seemed a touch more passive in their last work on this unusually impressive evening in the 'Winners and Masters' Series, namely Bartók's Second Sonata (1922) . . . but the applause nevertheless could have been much more enthusiastic." (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2003)"The concertos of Johannes Brahms have a decidedly orchestral character, for the solo part is highly integrated in the orchestra. For the soloist, this means that he has to hold his own in the middle of the orchestral texture. Oliver Schnyder achieved this with an agogic subtlety that was worked out in the smallest detail. It achieved its greatest effect in the dialogic tension between the right and left hands and in the marked tempo delineations of the work's virtuoso formal divisions. To this was added a robust touch that did not detract from the finger legato, but imparted a lucid clarity to the melody, giving only a hint of pedal. The young soloist achieved impressive, mysterious moments in the deepest bass registers, where Brahms masses the energies for his climactic passages. Schnyder's inner independence from the metrical pulse allows him subtly to blur the boundaries of the structure . . ." (Sibylle Ehrismann, Aargauer Zeitung, December 2003) "It's not easy for a Swiss to make his mark in the narrow world of classical music. But the young pianist Oliver Schnyder is succeeding. His CD of French and Russian music shows why he deserved all the international prizes he has won. The sheer beauty of sound is striking; he isn't one to thunder away at the keyboard, but knows how to shape the music subtly and with intelligence. From Debussy's Gardens in the Rain through to Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition, he hits the right note." (April 2003, Radio Magazine, CD Tip, Lislott Frei, radio producer of the Second Programme of German Swiss Radio) "Enraptured Worlds: Oliver Schnyder, a student of Homero Francesch and Leon Fleisher, takes on the Third Sonata of Brahms, Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses and Schubert's A Major Sonata D644 in a tempestuous spirit of conquest and with expressive depth (art unity 2001). He then surprises us with exemplary interpretations of Fauré that are noticeably individual. In the Frenchman's First Nocturne, this young but full-blooded musician's crystalline clarity and barely perceptible rubato let him achieve a rapture that makes you sit up and listen. One observes here an understanding of Fauré that is also reflected in the sleek flow of two Impromptus, where elegance is paired with brilliant wit. In Debussy's Estampes, this lightness of atmosphere is combined with an East-Asian, Spanish sense of colour. Then, in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Oliver Schnyder places his astonishing sense of touch and his masterly mature technique at the service of a musical language that seeks realism, but ends by affirming Romanticism." (Walter Labhart, CD review in Musik & Theater, October 2003.) "Is he a "great hope" for the future? No, he's long been much more, even though he is still so young. The pianist Oliver Schnyder is one of the most exciting things to happen on the piano scene, not just here, but internationally." (Aargauer Zeitung, 2003) "It's wonderful, how this young Oliver Schnyder plays the piano" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2004) "His interpretation of Camille Saint-Saëns' Second Piano Concerto is convincing on all levels. To satisfy the technical whims and monstrosities of this score is one thing; but the pianist seems not to have to take its keyboard acrobatics too seriously. With a twinkle in his eye at the end, he sweeps through the wild tarantella, rides on the crest of the frothing, bubbling waves of this music, and in doing so, really understands it. The virtuosity does not just serve the fame of the pianist, it is here a euphoric, jubilant, zest for life. Schnyder has understood this; he lets the corks pop, and the Tonhalle Orchestra under the baton of its chief conductor David Zinman cheerfully raises its glass to him." (Olivier Senn, Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, 2002) "Programmatic Recital: Oliver Schnyder here offers an impressive recital of pieces from the mainstream of German Romanticism. He unfolds these works from the score outwards, without imposing upon them any specific concept or philosophy from the outside. With him, the F Minor Sonata by Brahms, despite its gravity, attains a certain lightness and magic, as if the sun were breaking through the clouds. Schnyder's interpretations match the character of the music. Where the music demands it (as, for example, in the Scherzo and Finale of the Brahms Sonata), he can also become a real virtuoso. With a lightness of touch, he imparts the necessary transparency to the classicistic traits in the Variations sérieuses by Mendelssohn. It seems to me that Schnyder teases out a particular character trait in every work in the course of his programme (such as the manner in which he repeatedly breaks through the heaviness of the Brahms), which is then taken for granted in the next work, so that another trait can be brought to the fore (such as the transparency and the lightness of touch in the Mendelssohn). If this is the case, then Schubert's A Major Sonata seems to have a dance-like quality, a 'lightness' that however verges on the abyss and is anything but light, and which once more leads us back to Brahms." (Christoph Winzeler. CD Review in Musik & Theater, May 2002) "Whoever hears how this young Zurich pianist brings to life the f-minor Sonata by Brahms, or how he breathes spirit into Mendelssohn and Schubert, will know . . . that Schnyder belongs to the best pianists of his generation." (Gregor Willmes in FACTS, 2002) "An exceptional occasion ... the audience went wild. Oliver Schnyder, an artist highly successful on the international scene, blessed with a particular flair for modern music, possessed of highly sensitive interpretative gifts and a stupendous technique ... the listeners granted him frenetic applause. In his encores, he provided stark contrasts once again: After Schumann's pensive 'Träumerei', he brought everything to a close with the meteoric 'Flight of the bumble bee' by Rimsky-Korsakov." (Aargauer Zeitung, 2003) "His technical capacity is immense, his commanding hands triumphing effortlessly over all the work's refinements . . . Schnyder was astonishing in his phrasing, in his mastery of the musical line, and in the lucid transparency of his playing - even in the most dense passages, he seemed to give attention to every ornament, to even the smallest detail." (Aargauer Zeitung, 2002) "The fine young Swiss pianist Oliver Schnyder was a match for the music`s challenges. His energetic skills allowed the piano`s percussive lines to hold their own against the orchestra`s brash outbursts. In the second movement, he gave a sensitive delivery of its poetic and passionate expressions. And in the last, he relished the tricky rhythms of the sparkling scherzo." (The Columbus Dispatch, 2001) "A highly gifted pianist of international quality" (Zürichsee Zeitung, 1999) "Schnyder's awareness of structural detail informed his interpretation throughout... and his intelligence and aristocratic musicianship found the music's essential character." (Washington Post, 2000) "So that's the kind of musician Switzerland has to offer! ... Oliver Schnyder's playing fulfilled the highest demands of quality." (Rheinische Post, 1998) "Oliver Schnyder is one of the most exciting and brilliant young pianists I have ever heard. He has true sensitivity and an appealing style which will undoubtedly reach an immense audience. His future will be a great one." (Ruth Laredo, "America's First Lady of the Piano", 1998) |
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