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CHRISTINA PETROWSKA QUILICO
16 Portraits
Splendid, November 2005
'...16 Portraits has an interesting back story: the performer, Christina Quilico, is an exceedingly talented pianist who also happens to be Michel Georges Bregent's ex-wife. Bregent, who died in 1993, was a gifted composer and performer who performed in various rock and jazz groups when he wasn't writing modern classical music.
The most striking thing about these 16 piano pieces, aside from the skill with which Quilico performers them, is how Romantic they seem. That's not little "r" "romantic" as in Sinatra or torch singers, but rather the Romantic period of Chopin, Grieg, and Dvorak. Sure, the pieces occasionally drift toward formlessness, but it's hardly a sterch to say that pairing "Ideal Romance" with a Chopin etude would make for an interesting comparison. Bregent's music is full of fire, but it's melodic and almost traditional in a way that most modern composers' work is not.
Whether this marks Bregent as some sort of compositional reactionary, or simply as a composer who wasn't afraid to look to the greatest of his forebears for inspiration, is a question we can leave to the classical music cognoscenti; everyone else should simply know that 16 Portraits is an excellent performance of some highly listenable and intriguing work".
Canadian Composer Portraits - Ann Southam (Centrediscs CMCCD 10505)
American Record Guide
Volume July/August 2005
By: KILPATRICK
'...Some minimalism is fast and insistent, some is slow and meditative, and some lies in between with fast notes, gentle articulations, and a slow process. As heard in Rivers, that's the kind of minimalism Ann Southam writes.
This music is intelligently absorbing, though not in the manner of a Beethoven sonata. it is pleasurable, though some will feel that each piece is too long. Listening to it is something like listening to Bach, where the beaty is in the piece and the execution not in the performer's creative thought processes. The performer must simply execute in a very skillful and highly aesthetic way, what the composer wrote.
Kudos to Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano professor at York University in Toronto, for doing exactly that.'
National Post
May 3, 2005
by: Tamara Bernstein
Toronto virtuosa Christina Petrowska Quilico becomes the first pianist to perform Ann Southam's Rivers cycle in its entirety tonight. The 19 solo piano pieces, written from 1979-1981, last a total of two hours, and demand extraordinary physical stamina from the player. Petrowska, whose recording of the cycle has just been released on the Centredisc label, has the monster technique to pull it off. Built on intricately and unpredictably interlocking melodic patterns, the pieces carry the listner into shimmering, at times ecstatic, realms.
The WholeNote.com
by: David Olds
March 1- April 7, 2005 Discs of the Month
"Where this Canadian Composer Portrait differs from its eventeen predecessors is in the all-music supplementary discs. Rather than a selection of whole works in different genres, here we are presented with an extended cycle of nineteen solo piano works: the three sets of Rivers (1979-1981). Christina Petrowska Quilico gives an outstanding performance of these intricate minimalist works that range from contemplative to ebulient".
Gems With An Edge
American Record Guide
July/August 2003
Petrowska is well known in Canada (this is a Canadian label) but not in
this country, and I hope these two releases will help to remedy the discrepancy.
She's an excellent musician, technically skillful and interpretively sound.
She knows her way through the thorny thickets of Messiaen, Boulez and
the other contemporary composers, delivering their strange rhythms and
discords effectively. I'm particularly taken by hearing the eerie sounds
of the Boulez sonata again. The release is called "Gems with an
Edge". I'm not sure they are all "gems" but the certainly
have an edge.
CD Review
www.jameswegreview.org
August 2004
"These Gems Sparkle Brilliantly"
The collection and re-issue of Christina Petrowska Quilico's CBC recordings of the '70s is a cause for celebration. For connoisseur or neophyte alike, these works provide a wonderful overview of five composers whose styles are as different as their backgrounds. The glue that holds this remarkable set together is Petrowska Quilico's unerring artistry and formidable skill.
Vocal Gems - Live From New York
Louis Quilico; Christina Petrowska Quilico
Welspringe Productions
WEL0006
Wholenote July 2003
"This CD was recorded in 1998 by Canada's most famous musical couple, during a recital performed at Merkin Hall, New York City...
The tenderness between singer and pianist shines through beautifully...
The recital ends with passionate Italian repertoire, songs by Tosti and Renato's Eri tu from Verdi's "Ballo in Maschera". For those of us who miss this man's excuisitve voice, this CD provides a most welcome legacy. Proceeds from the recording will go to the Christina and Louis Quilico Fund at the Ontario Arts Council to help young singer and pianists".
Romantic Gems
"Delightful Collection of Must Have"Jamesweggreview.com
Christina Petrowska Quilico has done music lovers a great service by recording this fascinating collection of twenty-nine "Romantic Gems" choosing from the neglected works of well-known and little appreciated composers from Franz Liszt to Cyril Scott.
Petrowska's formidable technique and musical imagination meant that any faults in the performances could almost exclusively be foundin the dusty scores that she so lovingly brought to life.
Not surprisingly (given the pianist's well0known affinity for dance), it was her saucy reading of Alberto Gurriero's Tango that stood out in the early tracks and had me wanting to roll back the carpet and find a rose.
But that is the joy of this wonderful CD" the tried and true with seldom heard, all vying to capture your attention and interest. Why not pick up a copy and have your own fun? Slip it into your player on random and have your guests play name that composer"!
Wholenote Vol 8, # 2
By John S.Gray
"The music on this disc is like a refreshing spring breeze through an open window. Petrowska Quilico plays with an enviable grace and ease, making the most difficult of the works seem effortless.
An incredible 32 selections are packed into the 63-minute programme. All fall into the category of miniatures, beginning with Alkan and encompassing a wide range of the genre...
Petrowska Quilico's pianistic skill is nicely complimented by the benign sound of CBC's Glenn Gould Studio and one of its Steinway D-274's...
The five-panel insert has notes by scholar William Wescott, spreading over all the panels. Graphic designer Adriana Dossena of Onda Designs, has superimposed Westcott's text over a backround comprised of a greyed-out enlarged fragment of the cover drawing, a work created by the pianist herself. The recording is dedicated to the pianist's late husband, baritone Louis Quilico. Photos of the couple in happier times are included in the insert.
This disc brings much enjoyment and would be an excellent choice for a gift".
Northern Sirens
Monday Magazine
November 25 – December 1, 1999
By Naomi Lester
New Canadian music - with some bite to it
Like Sundogs, this recording features a variety of composers and styles. The unifying element here is that they are all short piano pieces written by Canadian women composers and all played with easy expertise by Christina Petrowska. There are two pieces by Ann Southam, "Glass Houses" and "Rivers", written in a hypnotic minimalist vein. Larysa Kuzmenko's pieces, "Diabolic Dance" and "In Memoriam", are full of ten-sion and virtuosity, dark and biting in overall tone.
Also included are Diana Mcintosh's spacious "Worlds Apart" and Heather Schmidt's "Solus", which ranges from introspective to burst-ing with percussive immediacy - then trails away again to querying, coruscating upper notes. Alexina Louie's "Music for Piano", a five-piece suite, strikes a wonderful balance between an impressionistic, roman-tic quality and a muscular insistence in the melodies that does credit to Petrowska's command of touch. These are all pieces written by and for top-notch pianists, and take full advantage of the vast range of possibilities offered by the instrument.
Ann Summers International
43 Bright St.
Toronto M5A 3H5
tel: (416) 362-1422
fax: (416) 359-0043
e-mail: sumintl@sympatico.ca