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On June 24 Daniel will play together with violinist Alexandre Brussilovsky at a concert in the Town hall of the Third Arrondissement in Paris. They will perform works by Achron, Mendelssohn, Podgaitz, Gershwin and Franck.
Daniel takes part in two concerts on July 11 and 12 at the Festival ‘Randonnés Musicales en Gâtinais’ in Essonne near Paris. He plays together with the violinist and artistic director of the festival, Alexandre Brussilovksy and with the cellist Suren Bagratuni. They will perform works by Brahms, Franck, Debussy, Ravel and Hovounts.
Daniel will be featured on July 18 at the festival 'Liszt en Provence'. He plays the Goldberg Variations by Bach, then Liszt's Variations on a theme by Bach and Après une lecture de Dante.
Liszt en Provence >
Daniel Propper plays this summer again at Chateau de Lourmarin in Provence, France, on August 24. He will introduce a new sonata programme with Beethoven's first sonata, Schubert's sonata in A major, D. 664, and the sonata in B minor by Liszt.
Château de Lourmarin >
New Cd released: Grieg's Lyric Pieces - volume 2. The record company Skarbo is distributed in France by Integral Distribution and in England by Discovery Records. It was featured on June 10 on French Music Radio Station (France Musique). The first volume recieved fine acclaim as released in the second half of 2007 and was featured in UK on June 14 by Classic FM Radio in “The New CD Show” presented by David Mellor. It was one of five CD choices alongside recordings by Domingo, Vilazon and Horowitz.
An interview made for French television channels TNA and BDM TV was screened during two weeks in June. The interview included a discussion on Bach's Goldberg Variations with Daniel Chocron.
Now released: the new DVD of the film "The Goldberg Variations by Daniel Propper". It's a film by Serge Gauthier-Pavlov, produced by l'AUTRE Film and distributed by DOM Disques.
News...
Schubert in London. On June 8 Daniel was back for a recital in the Wigmore Hall in London. The programme featured a momumental two-hour programme of the Three last sonatas by Schubert: D. 958 in C minor, D. 959 in A major and D. 960 in B-flat major. Daniel gave two encores.
Wigmore Hall >
Daniel performed the two last sonatas in A major, D. 959 and in B-flat major, D. 960 by Schubert at an exiting piano recital on June 4 in the church of his home-town Dourdan in France.
On May 30 Daniel Propper took part in the piano festival 'Un piano à Collonges', near Lyon in France, where he performed the Goldberg Variations.
Un Piano à Collonges >
Daniel Propper played the three first Sonatas, Opus 2, by Beethoven at a concert in the Swedish Church in Paris on Sunday 4 May. This was the very first concert in a series dedicated two the complete 32 sonatas.
The European Music TV channel Mezzo started to show the film 'Ten Lyric Pieces by Daniel Propper' on March 15. Mezzo, specializes in classical music and jazz and is available in 37 european countries (except Italy and UK).
Daniel was invited to play at the 'Queen's Gate Terrace Concerts' in London on March 13. He performed music by Schubert, Grieg and Liszt in this recital, presented by the Vernon Ellis Charitable Foundation.
Daniel Propper was featured again at a concert in the beautiful place of Les Vieilles Tourettes, in Provence, on March 9. His programme included pieces by the Swedish composer Peterson-Berger as well as by Schubert and Grieg.
Another review on the first disc of Grieg's Lyric Pieces was published in France on January 3 by "Le Dauphiné Libéré". It's signed by Philippe Tomasini:
"The Peer Gynt Suite or the sparkling Piano concerto by Grieg often
make us forget his orther compositions, notably his beautiful harvest
of works for paino alone, like these four albums of he Lyric Pieces.
The recording of these fruity pages that Daniel Propper has made with
such elegance and sensivity brings us right back to a true appreciation
of this music which is full of charm without being overly sentimental."
ResMusica.com, a French music magazine, wrote (on december 19) on Daniel's new disc 'Lyric pieces' by Grieg:
'The esay-listening character of these little pieces must not mask
the meticulous work of the pianist to do justice to these keyboard
miniatures, which can easily descend into a perfomance of poor taste in
the hands of the inexpert. Propper's strength lies in his ability to
assimilate the different sources of inspiration and to express them
with due introspection, enabling us to describe this disc as a kind of
Grieg-Propper personal diary.'
read more (in French only) >
Daniel took part in and performed at a special New Year's Eve concert
on December 31 at the 'Confidencen', Royal Theatre in Ulriksdal, near
Stockholm, Sweden. He played Liszt's famous 'Second Hungarian
Rhapsody'. This event was presented by the well-known singer Kjerstin
Dellert.
Daniel gave an all-Grieg recital in the
Norwegian Student's house at Cité Internationale Universitaire
in Paris on December 6. On December 2 Daniel gave a recital in the
Neuilly Theatre "Le Village" next to Paris. This programme included
Schubert's C minor sonata, D. 958, and Grieg's Impressions and Peer
Gynt Suite.
He was back to Danderyd, near
Stockholm, for a recital on November 22. Invited by the Danderyd
Concert Society, of which he has been a steady guest druing many years,
he played Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite and the Impressions as well as
Gershwin's Three Preludes and Ravel's Miroirs.
Daniel Propper wants to thank everyone who helped to support the Grieg-Festival,
two concerts organized in Salle Cortot in Paris during October and
November. This was a very sucessful tribute to Edvard Grieg, who used
to be a frequent guest to the French capital. The concerts included one
piano recital with works such as the Holberg suite, the Ballade, the
last book of the Lyric Pieces and the first Peer Gynt Suite. In a
second concert the soprano Klara Csordas joined for some of the most
beautiful songs by Grieg, while the well-known actor Pierre Santini
read texts about Grieg, thus beautifully displaying the life of the
Norwegian composer to everyone present.
The first CD - albums 1-4 - of the Lyric Pieces by Grieg was issued by Skarbo in France during the month of November.
Daniel performed Schubert's C minor sonata, D. 958, and Grieg's Ballade and Peer gynt Suite at a recital in the Steinway Room in Vienna on November 5.
The Sound & Music festival in Brussels hosted the Last American Dream project -
Piano and Urban Art - during three exciting days, 12 to 14 October in
the Tour &Taxis old postal building. Daniel performed Jeremy
Bentams music in several showcases. The conditions were extraordinary
in this gigantic space. Graffiti artists worked on and exposed their
paintings inspired from each of the piano pieces from the album and
which were performed by Daniel Propper on an incredible Steinway.
On October 5 he played Grieg (Peer Gynt suite and Ballade) and Ravel (Miroirs)
at a concert in the church Saint-Jean de Malte in Aix-en-Provence. This
was Daniel's third perfomance in a concert organized by the
organisation supporting the construction of the church's new organ.
On September 24 he played the Goldberg Variations
at a private concert of the prestigious festival Piano aux Jacobins in
Toulouse, France. A very large audience attended this concert in the
stunning hall of the abbey.
On September 18 he gave the "Tribute to Grieg" recital at a concert organized by the very active music society "Lilla
sällskapet" based in Gothenburg. He performed in a hall of the
University. This was his second visit to this music society.
On September 13 Daniel gave a piano recital in the very distinguished hall of the Royal Theatre of "Confidencen"
next to Stockholm in Sweden. He offered a new porgramme "Tribute to
Grieg", including, among other works, the Suite from Peer Gynt in
Grieg's own piano arrangement.
On September 6 Daniel gave his Vienna debut with a piano recital including the Goldberg Variations by Bach, Liszt's
Second Hungarian Rapsody and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit. The hall,
Bösendorfer Saal, was more than packed at this occasion. Daniel
wishes to send many thanks to his friends in Vienna!
Daniel was back in concert with a live radio broadcast in Budapest, Hungary on September 3. This concert featured Grieg's Lyric Pieces and songs together with Hungarian soprano Klara Csordas.
Daniel recorded all "Lyric Pieces" (10
books) and the "Impressions" by Grieg in sessions from July 30 through
August 3 in Paris. This recording will be released in France in the end
of October 2007 by Skarbo.
Daniel was asked to perform a recital on July 4, at the exceptional reception organized by the Paris
University in Chateau de Ferrières-en-Brie, near Paris. There he
performed works by Bach, Chopin, Grieg, Poulenc, Ravel and Liszt.
Daniel played in the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, on July 1. The highly charged programme included Grieg's Holberg-Suite, Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit and Schubert's last sonata.
Daniel performed on June 21 at a largely attended concert in Talence,
near Bordeaux on the French Yearly Music Feast. The varied programme
included works by Chopin, Liszt, Satie, Poulenc and also Gershwin, "Fats" Waller and Jeremy Bentam.
He performed on June 13 with mezzo-soprano Klara Csordas
and narrator Gerard Maarek in a concert with songs and Lyric Pieces by
Grieg and texts about and by the composer in the Swedish church in
Paris.
Daniel performed five books from Grieg's Lyric Pieces on June 5 at The Château de Lourmarin in Provence.
It has been decided that Daniel will be back for a piano recital in the Wigmore Hall in London
on June 8 (Sunday) by 2008. The programme will feature the Three last
sonatasSchubert written at the end of his life: D. 958 in C minor, D.
959 in A major and D. 960 in B-flat major.
Special thanks again for those who
participated in making a triumph of this year's concert (Bach's
Goldberg Variations) and for those who support and take part in this
next great event. This review of The Wigmore Hall recital appeared in
Britain's oldest classical journal "Musical Opinion" in the March-April
issue 2007.
Reviewed by Max Harrison...
"The performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which Daniel
Propper gave at the Wigmore Hall on 8 january, was a reconciliation of
emotion, intellect and refined pianism. Admirable throughout was the
exact characterisation of each Variation as in 4 or 14. Likewise,
Propper's keyboard skill was everywhere evident, as in the fleet
kaleidoscope of 5, 11 or the almost rumbustious French Overture of 16,
which marks the beginning of the work's second half. Yet it was the
prominence of musical emotion that was my overriding impression, this
being most apparent, almost paradoxically, in some of the most
'learned' pièces, such as 15, the Canon at the fifth, or 21, the
Canon at the seventh. It was in Variation 25, however, the so-called
Black pearl, the height of Bachian romanticism, that feeling was most
intensely expressed (...)
(...) Propper gave the score absolutely complete, which is to say with
all repeats duly made, while his musical insight and pianistic skill
were vividly evident in the ways he varied these repeats. Thus, the
connections deepened and broadened so that what earlier had appeared a
sequence of character variations became a single body of music. Yet,
finally, all complexity was banished and with the repeat of the Aria
simplicity was regained."