Alcantara Beethoven Diabelli Variations Reviews Highlights

Reviews' highlights:

* Disc of the month at WHOLE NOTE magazine (Canada): “Everything about this new recording speaks to Alcantara’s tremendous sense of commitment to this work, and to this project. I’ve never seen better CD liner notes in my life. (...)Alcantara’s playing leaves nothing to be desired. You can hear the will of his personality combined with moments of raucous humour, tenderness, reverence, and passion. In every way, this recording is a stunning achievement.” Jamie Parker * AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE (USA): “Alcantara lets the music speak for itself and never calls attention to his technical accomplishments. (...) If this does not displace Serkin, Demidenko, Bishop-Kovacevich, and others in my affection, it certainly joins them.” Alan Becker * THE ABSOLUTE SOUND magazine (USA): “He communicates fully the wealth of Beethoven’s invention and imagination, the three sublime variations in C minor (Nos. 29–31) creating a mood of deep, spiritual introspection. (...)Worthwhile.” Andrew Quint * Web site AUDIOPHILE AUDITION (USA): “In a rather daunting, encyclopedic fashion, Brazilian pianist and the Sui Generis label have collaborated on a thickly annotated edition of Beethoven's C Major Variations on a Theme of Diabelli (...).” Gary Lemco * SOUNDSTAGE! magazine (Canada): “Once in a while a disc comes in that seems to stand above the others: all the details are covered and right in place. Such a release is Marco Alcantara’s performance of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on a two-channel SACD/CD from Sui Generis. Alcantara plays with flair, precision, and lyricism on a piano tuned to the even-tempered scale known as Thomas Young #1." Rad Bennett * VEJA magazine (Brazil): “(...) Mr. Alcantara uses a historical tuning for the piano, which brings a colourful sound to this recording. It includes sketches for the work, never recorded before.” * Web site DIGESTIVO CULTURAL (Brazil): “(...)It is amazing to find a musician so conscious of his work, so worried about giving a true contribution to the work, and at the same time, with such a sensitive and talented playing. (...) Marco followed the steps of other masters, like Alfred Brendel, and put another piece in the Diabelli’s puzzle, while deeply investigating this huge sea called Beethoven.” Julio Daio Borges * FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO newspaper (Brazil):

“ (...) the disc has impressive audio quality.” Irineu Franco Perpetuo * CORREIO BRAZILIENSE newspaper (Brazil): “There is a collection of musical reasons, which makes this interpretation important for the Variations, but it is in the small details that Mr. Alcantara’s work begins.” Nahima Maciel * ÁUDIO E VÍDEO magazine (Brazil): “The technical quality makes this recording even more important: the care in choosing the piano, location, tuning, but above all that, the interpretation are impeccable! It is an obligatory disc for anyone who like classical music or not. Even if you should go to the Himalayas to get this disc, it would be worth it.” Fernando Andrette * Web site CORREIO WEB (Brazil): “It is the first classical music SACD (Super Audio) in Brazil. The CD also includes a booklet in English and Portuguese with 173 pages and sketches for the Diabelli Variations.” Ronaldo Mendes * AGÊNCIA JB (Brazil): “(...) masterfully modelled with a level of musical understanding and interpretation in perfect synchrony with the pieces’ huge dimension." Carlos Eduardo Muniz da Silva * CORREIO DO POVO – RS newspaper (Brazil): “The result, already praised in many different magazines, is a vigorous, liric elegant and precise interpretation.” Daniel Soares