en en en nl en en en en en en af en af af af af en en en en en en nl nl af af af af af nl af af af af en en en en en en en en en en en nl en da af af nl af af af af af de en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en de en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en
Hertfordshire Advertiser – John Manning (March 2015)
Beeld, Pretoria – by Thys Odendaal (August 2010)
‘Nixon and Eloff give an outstanding contribution to vocal chamber music. Throughout Nixon is completely secure in the piano parts and as an exceptional accompanist understands the art of balancing with the voice’
Tatler, Cape Town – by Garth Asquith (August 2010)
Friends of Music Recital, Fish Hoek, Cape Town – London Song Circle
‘We were treated to a piano solo, the Second Scherzo by Chopin. This is a well known concert work demanding the full range of emotions and a virtuoso style of performance. Nixon fascinated me with his interpretation. It was most pleasing to hear this dramatically beguiling work so exquisitely played. It is not too often that one encounters a pianist who is so quite at home performing solo as well as accompanying. His playing can only be described as ‘full-blooded gutsiness’.
‘…Extraordinarily sensitivity of Nixon in his accompaniment’.
Die Volksblad, Bloemfontein – by Alida van der Walt (August 2010)
University of the Free State, Bloemfontein – London Song Circle
Mark Nixon het hom meesterlik van sy taak as begeleier gekwyt. Hy het die vermoë om een te word met die klavier en het die sangers wonderlik ondersteun.
Begeleiding verg groot beheer en dit is alleenlik moontlik as jy ’n deurwinterde kunstenaar is met ’n ongewone insig in die psige van ’n sanger. Begeleiers van sy kaliber kan sangers na nuwe horisonne neem.
Sy vermoë om deur die klavier te kommunikeer wanneer dit sy beurt is en dan weer terug te val in die rol van begeleier het my baie beïndruk.
Dit is duidelik hy het sy aandeel aan die program net so goed verstaan soos die sangers, wat verseker het dat selfs die kleinste nuanses van die musiek nie verlore gaan nie. ’n Aand om vir baie lank te onthou. Welgedaan!
Mark Nixon was masterly in his role as accompanist. He has the ability to become one with the piano and to support the singers wonderfully. Accompanying requires great control and is only possible if one is an experienced artist with an unusual insight into the psyche of the singer. Accompanists of his caliber can caterpult singers to new horizons.
His ability to communicate through the piano when it was his turn and then to fall back into a supportive role really impressed me.
It was clear that he understood his part in the programme as well as the singers which ensured that even the smallest nunces in the music were never lost. An evening to remember for a long time. Congratulations!
Beeld, Pretoria – by Lize Thomas (August 2010)
University of South Africa (Sontonga Hall), Pretoria – London Song Circle
Song Circle se uitvoering bevredig diep
Konserte aangebied deur Unisa se Musiekstigting wek wye belangstelling en lok gewoonlik uitgelese gehore.
Dit was ook die geval Saterdag met die London Song Circle, bestaande uit twee Suid-Afrikaans gebore kunstenaars en ’n Nederlandse kollega: Erica Eloff (sopraan) en Mark Nixon (klavier) en Margriet van Reisen (mezzo-sopraan).
Dit was ’n stilisties gepoleerde konsert.
Die programsamestelling is met oorleg gedoen en het die twee vroue se stemtimbres en tegniese vaardighede gevlei en beklemtoon. Uit die staanspoor, met Benjamin Britten se verwerkings van Purcell-liedere en -duette, was daar fyn afwisseling van tempo, dinamiek en klankverbeelding. Nommers wat veral beïndruk het, was Eloff se kristalhelder, dog sensuele weergawe van ’n ekstatiese soen in Sweeter Than Roses en die humoristiese, speelse duet What Can We Poor Females Do?
Vanweë die belangrike rol van die begeleier in Robert Schumann se vokale werke het die gekose duette die goed genuanseerde ensemble ten beste vertoon. Schön Blümelein is gekenmerk deur sprankelende kleurwisseling, veral tussen die verskillende strofes.
Die pragtige sopraan-aanvang van In der Nacht het sy-agtig, met beheersde intensiteit gesweef. In Sommerruh het die twee sangeresse moeiteloos soos die teks se engele en nagtegale geklink.
Vier duette van Brahms het die uitvoering indrukwekkend en passievol na die pouse gelei, met spesifieke vermelding van die klaviervoorspele.
Die spanningslyn is vokaal uitstekend beheer in veral Die Schwestern en Die Boten der Liebe.
Weens Eloff se ongesteldheid is die Rachmaninof-liedere vervang deur Chopin se Scherzo no.2, op. 31, virtuoos voorgedra deur Nixon. Van Reisen se vier liedere van Chopin is stemmingsvol vertolk.
Hoewel die kunstenaars vanselfsprekend vir ’n rede besluit het om die klavier oop te maak, het die begeleiding by geleentheid geneig om die sangers te verswelg, veral waar die laer tessitura volume van liriese stemme inperk.
Drie Quilter-duette en twee teatrale ballades van Britten was ’n deurdagte keuse ter afsluiting van ’n hoogs bevredigende artistieke ervaring.
www.artsmart.co.za – by Michael Green (August 2007)
Friends of Music Recital, Durban – Ensemble Hans Gal
‘playing of the highest quality in a long and taxing programme’
‘Mark Nixon is an expert pianist, with a fine technique and an expressive approach’
The Herald – by Rupert Mayr (August 2007)
NMMU, Port Elizabeth – Ensemble Hans Gal
Musician mix puts ensemble among the best
THREE brilliant musicians in a brilliantly compiled programme – this combination made the visit of the Hans Gal Ensemble a truly great experience.
Cleverly starting with Brahms‘s Clarinet Sonata Op.120/1, they attuned our mind to the Brahmsian idiosyncrasies charmingly colouring Hans Gal‘s fascinating Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano Op. 97 – a highly welcome introduction to an unduly neglected composer.
In similar manner, the French- refined Russian tinge in Debussy‘s Violin Sonata prepared the way for the exciting and full-blooded oriental idiom of Khachaturian‘s Trio. This line of thought then culminated in Bartok‘s often mercilessly dissonant Contrasts 1939, a work that, while based on folkloristic material, primarily explores the full potential of the three instruments.
It needs masters of their instrument to present a programme of this kind, a fact that was proved without any doubt. Though each a soloist they blended into a great ensemble, making this concert one of the best we have heard in a long time.
Beeld, Pretoria – by Stefans Grové (August 2010)
University of South Africa (Sontonga Hall), Pretoria – Ensemble Hans Gal
Hans Gál-trio lewer groot bydrae
Hans Gál (1890 – 1987) was ’n Oos-tenrykse komponis wie se loopbaan in Wene met groot toekomsbeloftes begin het. Omdat hy Joods was, moes by reeds in 1938 Brittanje toe vlug waar hom vir die res van sy lewe in Skotland gevestig het.
Waarom is sy musiek vandag onbekend? Omdat hy in die verkeerde rigting gevlug het. Londen of New York sou ’n belowender toevlugsoord gewees het as die musiekkultureel-afgesonderdheid van Edinburg.
Die drie jong musici – Katalin Kertézs (viool), Shelley Levy (klarinet) en Mark Nixon (klavier) – al drie in Brittanje werksaam, het besluit om die werk van dié merkwaardige komponis uit sy dodeslaap te wek – vandaar die naam Ensemble Hans Gál.
Volgens Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart was Gál ’n beduidende komponis in die post-Brahms-tradisie met ’n aansienlike werklys oor ’n groot verskeidenheid genres. Myns insiens is sy werk van hoër gehalte as byvoorbeeld dié van Max Reger, Hans Pfitzner of Joseph Rheinberger, wat vergetelheid oorlewe het.
In hul program het die groep Gál se Trio vir viool, klarinet en klavier, op. 97 (1950) aan ons bekendgestel. Dit is ’n indrukwekkende werk waarin betekenisvolle materiaal in meesterlike vormbou gestalte vind. Hierdie trio is op 60 gekomponeer, nog steeds veranker aan die Brahms-tradisie, wat ’n mens laat wonder of sy latere musiek, soos dié van Richard Strauss, sonder verdere stilistiese evolusie verloop het.
Die werke wat die Gál-trio omraam het, was Brahms se Sonate vir klarinet en klavier in f, op. 120 no. 1 en Debussy se Sonate vir viool en klavier. Albei is met vakmanskap en goeie stylbegrip uitgevoer.
Die slotwerk was Bela Bartók se Kontraste vir klarinet, viool en klavier, ’n fantastiese stuk waarin ’n groot aantal uitdrukkings- en tegniese terreine verken word. Eksotiese elemente speel hierin ook ’n belangrike rol.
Die musici is reeds sterk op mekaar ingespeel, dink en reageer univormig in ’n wye spektrum van style en uitdrukkings, en hul konsert was ’n groot bydrae tot die Unisa Musiekstigting se huidige reeks.
Saterdag in die Hilton College-teater, Pietermaritzburg en Sondag in die Drakensberg Mountain Retreat, KZN.
www.edinburghguide.com – by Iain Gilmour  (December 2007)
Stockbridge Parish Church, Edinburgh – Ensemble Hans Gal
It is odd that a work by a composer who spent half his long life in Edinburgh should have its Scottish premiere on the 20th anniversary of his death. It is even odder that the Sonata in D for violin and Piano should be brought to life by a group of young musicians who have banded together with the aim of promoting the music of Hans Gal.
Gal’s burgeoning career was permanently blighted by his brutal dismissal as Director of the Mainz Conservatoire immediately the Nazis came to power in 1933 and the sonata was written a short while later in the Black Forest village where the family had taken temporary refuge. In these circumstances, the listener could expect the work to show signs of turmoil and despair (as does the concert’s opening item, Khachaturian’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, written a year earlier in compliance with Soviet officialdom) but this is far from the case.
The sonata certainly has its emotional tones but these are within a lyrical progression that flows from a basic inner tranquillity, not in response to external events. Indeed the exuberance of the final Allegro seems to envisage something better than the reality of that time.
It is difficult to offer a detailed analysis of the first hearing of a not-yet published composition. But for an appreciative audience in Stockbridge Church on 1st November, pianist Mark Nixon and violinist Katalin Kertesz gave a near-impeccable performance that was the highlight of the evening for many.
After the interval, the three parts of Schuman’s Fantasiestucke for Clarinet and Piano virtually mirrored the composer’s emotional condition. The first of these fantasy pieces was introspective, tender and somewhat sombre, juxtaposed with a livelier almost joyful second section, while the tempo of the third thoroughly justified Schuman’s “rapid, with fire” instruction.
Though this work is heard fairly often, Shelly Levy’s decision to play it with an A clarinet – for which it was written – brought out a darker quality and a hidden warmth not found when played with the now normal higher-pitched B clarinet.
The Ensemble Hans Gal rounded off their concert with Gal’s Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano.
This 1950 Trio was composed during a decade of intense creativity after World War Two but shows no trace of being influenced by the buffeting Gal had endured before and during the war. Rooted firmly in Austrian and German musical tradition its contrapuntal passages blend with an expressive lyricism that stretch the range of the individual instruments – and the performers.
It was extremely unfortunate for Gal that this work came at a time when “avant garde” was the current fad to the exclusion of all else. This trio embodies Gal’s loving mastery of combinations of different instruments and his particular affinity for clarinet and piano and the Ensemble Hans Gal are to be lauded for their impressive performance.
Their technical excellence and intelligent understanding revealed the innermost Gal, at peace with himself and immune to external pressures.
(In fact, the only work in which Gal allowed external events to influence his compositions was the witty Lilliburlero variations of 1945.)
www.artsmart.co.za – Michael Green (March 2005)
Friends of Music Recital, Durban – Julianne Young and Mark Nixon
‘An evening of absolutely outstanding music-making. In a programme ranging from Haydn to Benjamin Britten, Julianne de Villiers and Mark Nixon showed that they are artists of the highest standard.
‘A pianist who combines technical expertise with the most sympathetic judgment of tone and emphasis in relation to his partner’s voice.’
www.artsmart.co.za – Michael Green (August 2003)
Friends of Music Recital, Durban – London Song Circle
The performances can hardly be faulted. Christian Immler has an impressive bass-baritone voice that is well projected and, unlike so many of its kind, is right on the note all the time. Likewise Angela Gilbert, who showed considerable dramatic flair and animation as well as a lovely voice. As for Mark Nixon, his virtuoso playing sometimes threatened to steal the show. As Roderick Swanston pointed out in his commentary, the piano is not an accompaniment in these songs, it is an equal partner with the voice.
Those who attended this recital were richly rewarded.
The Herald – Rupert Mayr (September 2003)
NMMU, Port Elizabeth – London Song Circle
Beautiful Voices Perform Song Recital
‘A feast of exquisite beauty’
‘In their deeply moving interpretation of the four Mignon Songs, Gilbert and Nixon masterfully portrayed the tragedy of this lost soul, abused and kidnapped in early youth, desperately looking for love and longing for a home she vaguely remembers from happier times. Perfect beauty of voice and pianistic sounds of highest quality rendered each of these songs an unforgettable experience.’
Classical Source – Peter Graham Woolf (April 2002)
Kathleen Ferrier Awards Competition, Wigmore Hall, London
…nor did any of the competing accompanists stand up in the company of Mark Nixon’.
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