“ Francine Kay is one of those rare and precious artists (Lupu in the past, Kolesnikov or Grosvenor today) who attract you into worlds and almost hypnotize you.
The end of the recital is truly blessed by the gods, with an ideal Chopin 1st Scherzo, between a bewitched presto con fuoco-agitato in the style of “Scarbo” (Gaspard de la nuit) and a weightless lunar molto piu lento. Connoisseurs will have noted the subtlety of accentuation and nuances in the return to the first theme.
As icing on the cake, Debussy, decidedly the supreme universe of Francine Kay, where we heard unheard things in the purest and most improbable sense of the term, in the way of linking together the most marked accents, the most mellow sounds, the most mastered resonances.
”
60th Chopin Festival Marienbad, Marianské Lazné
60th CHOPIN FESTIVAL 2019 - Monday 19.8. at the Mariánské Lázně Town Theater we heard a great concert by the pianist Francine Kay from Canada who lives and works in the USA. Expectations were fulfilled, the tumultuous applause at the end was a reward for the great performance of this Princeton University professor.
“17:28 That’s where the music is...One of the things it means to play the piano is exploiting the beauties of sound that this instrument can create. I want you to hear what someone can actually do with this instrument- so beautiful- it’s a Canadian pianist named Francine Kay...”
“‘ardent lyricism…idiomatic and imaginative….impassioned’ ”
“Janáček’s sonata which opens the CD has not even started for three minutes when time stops...the magic and the sense of sound are totally intact. The emotion is gripping...”
“Featured in the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody was pianist Francine Kay, a member of the performance faculty at the University. Throughout the 24 variations of the Rhapsody, Kay achieved the seemingly impossible technical demands with focus and intensity, showing especially strong and fluid playing which allowed the uppermost register of the piano to resound in the hall. Often executing flawless extended passages of crossed hands, Kay kept the audience at rapt attention while Pratt maintained effective suspense and drama from the Orchestra.”