Stephen Kovacevich
Stephen Kovacevich ( born October 17, 1940 in San Pedro; former name Stephen Bishop) is an American pianist and conductor.
Life
Stephen Kovacevich comes from a Croatian immigrant family. He received his first piano lessons from Lev Schorr. The age of eleven he made his debut in his native city. When his mother married the second time, he took the new surname of Bishop, later he initially called Bishop - Kovacevich, in the end only Kovacevich. In 1959 he went to London and studied there with Myra Hess.
His first major solo recital including Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, he gave in 1961 at the Wigmore Hall. This well-received concert laid the foundation for his future career. In 1962 he was in London awarded the Mozart Prize.
In 1964 he played with cellist Jacqueline du Pré, and later went on a personal relationship with me her one. In March 1967, he debuted in the Town Hall in New York City with works by Bach, Schubert and Beethoven. In the season 1969/70 he played with the Geraint Jones Orchestra all Mozart's piano concertos. In 1968 he gave the premiere of the Piano Concerto by Richard Rodney Bennett. The recording of the Second Piano Concerto by Bartók was awarded the 1970 Edison Award.
In 1974 he married the exceptional pianist Martha Argerich. The had a daughter, Stephanie.
In 1984 he began a second career as a conductor and in 1990 the artistic director and chief conductor of the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
Repertoire and reception
Stephen Kovacevich feels connected especially Ludwig van Beethoven as a performer. Recordings of the Diabelli Variations and Piano Sonatas and concerts led to international recognition. In the 1990s he joined an exclusive contract with EMI Classics and here presented a complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas.
The interpretations are characterized by adherence to the text and naturalness, seriousness and depth and waive extravagant freedoms. His Beethoven is cantabile, powerful and clearly articulated, if not differentiated to the last detail. Although a comparison of the former with the later recording of the Pathétique reveals no fundamentally new view, but changes in many details. The dramatic contrast between the pathetic and the wild Introduction Grave Allegro di molte e con brio is leveled, and the finale does not seem so vivid and natural as 1971. The slightly higher pace in the cantabile second set is the recording, however, benefit.
Joachim Kaiser praised in the 1970s, the seriousness and the ability to articulate as well as the silent power of expression and the large Legato, skills that would make Kovacevich to a weighty Beethoven interpreters. In special moments Kovacevich Solomons associate size with Klemperer's massive natural. Emperor admired the power of concentration, with the Kovacevich divided the large Diabelli Variations and handles and keeps the resulting thereof television receiver for a visual- acoustic wonder. Sometimes he lacks, however, to freedom, and in contrast to Daniel Barenboim he acted under something heavy and moody. So he played in the final of the A major Cello Sonata, Op 69 or the second movement of the Piano Sonata, Op 101 by Schumann anticipatory brilliance of time, even if the glow with which he recites the endless melody of the first movement listen up, leave.
Other composers whose works he has recorded, are Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. The recordings of the two Brahms concertos were highly praised and the recording of the first concert under Wolfgang Sawallisch awarded the 1993 Gramophone Award. The second recording of the second concert was recorded with a larger share of space, which meant that the symphonic dimensions of the tremendous work emerged accurate and could merge the piano with the orchestra sound better. Compared to the earlier recording he played classy and reserved, the pianistic access in the first shot had more direct.
Kovacevich is also devoted to chamber music. Already in the 1960s he played - under the name of Stephen Bishop - with the famous cellist Jacqueline du Pré and took Beethoven Cello Sonatas Nos. 3 and 5; later he played four hands with Martha Argerich. Other chamber music partners include the cellist Truls Mørk and Lynn Harrell and flutist Emmanuel Pahud the
Another focus of interest is Stephen Kovacevichs early modernism as Béla Bartók, Alban Berg and Igor Stravinsky. Sir Colin Davis, who promoted the career of the pianist, convinced him to study Bartok's Second Piano Concerto. Kovacevich described the effort in the study of this concert. Never before he had studied something so heavy, and technically he had received during the months of Einstudierens the "finishing touch ". Later he acquired also the first and third concert and played it with colors and rhythmic flexibility. The dedicated his first piano concerto Richard Rodney Bennett played Kovacevich one for the record. The Piano Concerto by Michael Tippett he interpreted likewise.
Kovacevich be considered flexible pianist who can make the melodies of Chopin as well as the percussive roles in Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds.