Acclaim
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
“Guest cellist Bion Tsang wowed those who should know: the philharmonic’s cello section. Usually, when the musicians show their appreciation, they slap their thighs or tap their feet while the audience applauds. But the cellists put down their bows and clapped, two-handed, after Tsang’s performance of Eduoard Lalo’s “Cello Concerto in D Minor.” Tsang played the first movement as if his cello were an animal to be tamed, the second as if the instrument needed to be coaxed to produce its expressive notes and the third as if the cello were an extension of his hands.”
ABILENE REPORTER NEWS
“Tsang won over a near-capacity audience Saturday night with a virtuosic performance of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Concerto in C for Cello and Orchestra. The music clearly inspired Tsang, who at times threw his whole being—including his body—around his instrument as if to caress each note and phrase. Conductor Birney responded to Tsang’s energy and charisma and conveyed them to the orchestra, which supported the soloist while allowing him free rein. The audience afforded Tsang the same sensitivity. An audible hush filled the hall during each cadenza, which Tsang executed with bewitching precision and panache.”
ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL
“Tsang swashed and buckled his way through the [Dvorák Concerto] like a great actor playing Cyrano de Bergerac. Maybe it was the way in which Tsang wielded his bow that first put me in mind of Edmond Rostand’s peerless swordsman – thrusting swiftly and with unerring precision into the heart of each note – but the comparison felt apt through the concerto’s finale. In it, the cello has all of Cyrano’s brio and valor and pluck, dashing headlong into melodic themes and executing them with a breathless panache. In a work with seeming martial aspirations – the opening sounds like it’s dropping you in the middle of a battle – the cello is its soldier-hero, taking on all comers. But like Rostand’s, this is also a highly romantic figure with a strong melancholy streak. Repeatedly, the cello succumbs to rueful reverie – slow, exquisitely lovely passages in which it oozes regret. Because Tsang attacked the “action sequences” with such verve and relish, it brought even richer contrast to these moments of sorrowful reflection, which ached with the loss of a dozen loves. On the podium, conductor Peter Bay devoted much of his efforts to reining in the orchestra, keeping them soft enough for Tsang’s every rich note to be clearly heard. And they were heard, and deeply appreciated, too, so much so that the audience leapt to its feet in an instant for the guest soloist. It led to a quick encore of Dvorák ‘Humoresque No. 7′ – you may know it as the tune to ‘Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets on the train’ – during which Tsang proved himself as adroit at comedy as romance and action. His jaunty, sly performance left the crowd grinning and no doubt hoping that his first appearance with the ASO will be followed by another sooner rather than later.”
AUSTIN CHRONICLE
“Monday, UT cellist Bion Tsang managed the musical equivalent of blasting a homer out of the park with his constantly beautiful performance in Antonín Dvorák’s Cello Concerto with the UT Symphony Orchestra under guest conductor Gunther Schuller. As on other occasions, he displayed extraordinary technical security and rich expression that seemed never to waver from the chosen course. There was surely no one in the crowded Bates Recital Hall who had trouble hearing him, yet his tone was never strident or forced.”
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
“A bit of recent music history strode onto the Bates Recital Hall stage in the person of pianist Leon Fleisher last week. While his performance of solo music, plus the Brahms Cello Sonata in E minor with UT cello professor Bion Tsang included wrong notes, the quality of the music-making was so exalted that some oopses here and there just didn’t matter. In the Cello Sonata with Tsang, I noticed odd balance choices that could have been due to Fleisher’s right hand tiring. Still, it was as if four hands and two instruments were being controlled by one brain. Tsang’s tone, particularly in the low register, was like warm chocolate sauce.”
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
“Some might find listening to all of Beethoven’s compositions for piano and cello too much of a good thing, but a few hundred attentive Austinites packed the University of Texas’ Jessen Auditorium on Sunday when pianist Anton Nel and cellist Bion Tsang offered exactly that. In afternoon and evening recitals, these faculty members of the UT School of Music brought a panoramic survey of Beethoven’s work with this instrumental combination to vivid, sparkling life. Both of these players brought strong identities as soloists to the task. While a cello with its medium-low range tends to get covered in this situation, Tsang fought this disadvantage aggressively with a bright tone, a fast vibrato that was never tense and bow strokes that produced clear, incisive articulations. The players generated a fiery energy. The brisk pacing never felt rushed. The players took full advantage of their modern instruments, yet the expression was never inappropriate to the music. The early compositions were classics with a sharp edge, while the later works were gazing far off into the heart of the romantic era. These programs, far from being academic, were richly rewarding.”
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
“Where there was some gloss was in the playing of the soloists in the Beethoven Triple Concerto. As Boston concertgoers have had ample occasion to hear, Mihae Lee (piano), Lynn Chang (violin), and Bion Tsang (cello) are instrumentalists who know how to play and know how to think. In his case it went to making a case for the Concerto as a sort of divertimento writ large, amiable yes but prosaic no, and a disappointment only if you try to read into it a victory-through-struggle scenario that the composer hadn’t intended. All three soloists leaned into their parts, to be sure, but the emphases weren’t flashy or untrue to the overall aesthetic.”
THE BOSTON GLOBE
“The consummate poise and assurance he displayed came as no surprise, since Tsang is already a veteran of the stage (he played with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 11). The program he chose was not for the faint-hearted. For cello alone he offered Bach’s Suite No. 3 and Crumb’s Sonata (1955), and with the assistance of longtime accompanist Richard Bishop, Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne” and Brahms’ F-major Sonata. There was much to admire in Tsang’s playing. Not least was the flexibility of timbre at his command, from sweet and singing in the higher register to gritty and earthy down below; a lightning bow arm that enabled him to dispatch rapid passages with stunning clarity (as in the Toccata of the Crumb); and a deep understanding of how to connect one phrase to the next.”
THE BOSTON GLOBE
“With Mahler’s ironic humor and grotesquerie a strong influence on Dmitri Shostakovich, the Russian composer’s darkly mordant Cello Concerto No. 1 proved a good programming foil. Soloist and Mehta protege Bion Tsang merits a salute for showing admirable poise when, after breaking a string just a few bars into the final movement, he returned after a quick off-stage repair job to finish the concerto with renewed vigor. The young American’s performance showed flashes of individuality and inspiration, notably his rapt and concentrated handling of the extended solo cadenza and the fiery commitment he brought to the bustling outer movements.”
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“His work with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra on a Boccherini cello concerto on Saturday won thundering echoes from the audience. But it wasn’t really a surprise, not after his last two appearances in early December—teaming with violinist Hu Nai-Yuan in a Brahms double concerto and a chamber concert with Hu and three local soloists.”
THE CHINA NEWS
“Paganini left to the interpretation of a gifted young cellist like Bion Tsang was deeply moving and dramatic. He packed his performance with a generous dose of emotion, leaving his privileged audience in a state of awe.”
THE CHINA POST
“The last time I heard Bion Tsang’s performance was in his wonderful interpretation of the Saint-Saens Concerto with the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra. His performance in tonight’s recital was beyond my expectations. A chamber music setting, it seems, allows him to freely show all his dimensions as a performing artist. Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata, with its long lyrical melodies, offers much opportunity for the cellist to sing in bel canto aria style. Mr. Tsang’s broad left hand vibrato was refreshingly warm and smooth; his right bow arm was articulate, precise in applying pressure to the string, and flawless in creating seamless bow changes. His physical expression was one with the music. The Chopin Sonata was so beautiful that it left the audience breathless. The animated Tsang together with pianist Richard Bishop successfully created an atmosphere that hypnotized the audience, leading them along their fantastic journey. Their interpretation was more subtle and expressive than even Rostropovich’s or Du Pre’s. In the Britten Sonata, Mr. Tsang displayed a dazzling technique that was both virtuosic and effortless towards serving the music. Whether in the bow ricochet of the Moto Perpetuo, or the harmonic slides of the Marcia, or the double-stops of the Dialogo, he never let the audience sense how difficult the passages really were. In the Scherzo-Pizzacato, his two-handed pizzicato was absolutely spellbinding. After the concert, this listener was left with no doubt that Bion Tsang Has truly established himself as a world-class artist.”
THE CHINA TIMES
“This performance was something special: tremendous subtlety, beautiful shading, loads of interpretative finesse. With the pianist Inon Barnatan, Tsang produced a variety of tone colors, ranging from the smoky and subtle to the feisty and assertive. It was a compelling performance that drew sustained cheers from the audience.”
CLASSICAL KING FM
“Never, in the midst of the wildest, string-sliding, polyphonic passages of the Shostakovich concerto’s solo cadenza, does it register that Tsang is a brilliant young cellist on a virtuoso tear. He plays like a man possessed, emptied of self, buffeted by the passion of the work that rides through his instrument. Awe, terror, a multitude of primal emotions disturb the audience as Tsang survives their passing as medium and communicant. Tsang’s gift is his receptivity, an ability to divine and pass all that hides on the other side of written notes, without the arresting interference of ego.”
DAILY FREEMAN
“Fragility, ferocity—control and lyric abandon—beauty of intonation and indifference to it marked Tsang’s performance, distinguished ultimately by something beyond notes. Beyond, even, the conversant intelligence of his dialogue with the orchestra and polyphonic executions where his second voice enters like a questioning second thought: Tsang’s release of Haydn’s wistful melodic theme touched like the call of some enchanted creature struck mute and forced to speak its whole heart’s hunger in a single musical phrase. Something like the bay of flying wild geese—the music stirs an incredible yearning in the bearer, painful and beautiful at the same moment. A Russian émigré pianist, a new, transient visitor in the Hudson Valley, can create poignant disturbance like this when he plays. Cosmopolitan critics call the gift artistry and say he is the world’s greatest pianist because of it. Who knows what the music world will say about Tsang. Who cares. More important that this palpable, living voice in his music reaches and touches a multitude of listeners.”
DAILY FREEMAN
“Tsang made a riveting case for Britten’s C major Sonata for cello and piano. Composed for the late Mstislav Rostropovich, this comprises five movements of amazing invention. In the opening ‘Dialogo,’ two-note motifs eventually spin out scales. Succeeding movements explore pizzicato chatters, high cello keenings over pounding piano chords, hushed arpeggios against piano tinklings, glissandos and a final fury of bow bouncings. Playing with a tone of silken beauty, Tsang made some very challenging music sound utterly natural.”
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
“The orchestral writing in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No.1 in E-flat Major bristled with harmonic astringency under Yoo’s lively direction. He astutely highlighted the composer’s colorful wind writing. Cellist Bion Tsang, a frequent artistic collaborator with Yoo, demonstrated agile command and an introspective approach to this 1959 showpiece, originally written for Mistislav Rostropovich. Tsang deeply communicated the brooding intensity of the Moderato movement. Even in this bravura display piece, Shostakovich’s angst comes through powerfully. Tsang rendered the elongated Cadenza with impressive technical acumen and an almost improvisatory sense of musical flow.”
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS & VIEWS MAGAZINE
“The intense musicianship rose to fever pitches, leaving the audience dumbfounded over the virtuoso playing of these young men. During the Kodaly piece, Tsang performed the most demanding stops and chord changes not only with a surgeon’s precision, but also with a sensitivity not to be expected under such technical duress. The piece is a notorious Everest to aspiring and veteran musicians alike. One wonders what is more audacious: Tsang’s decision to tackle it or the triumph of his performance.”
ESSEX JOURNAL
“Cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Adam Neiman have been welcome performers at the festival for years, and each time they seem to play with even more depth and insightful musicianship, if that’s possible. From the first notes, urgent but not loud, it was possible to sit back and just appreciate a masterly interpretation.”
THE GATHERING NOTE
“The great moment of consolation was the extraordinary performance of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto. Tsang gave an impressive performance of the Dvorak, truly admirable both musically and technically. His tone is clear and incisive, his bowing masterful, but all these qualities were used to serve his penetrating understanding of the music. While other cellists tend to blemish their expression with mannerisms and clichés, Tsang went to the heart of the music at every moment, following its intent with heartfelt sincerity. The concerto affords many beautiful passages for solo winds, in which the cello serves sometimes as an equal partner in dialogue, other times as an accompaniment, then rising to central focus as soloist. Tsang understood all these distinctions and it was a joy to hear this music at last in proper perspective with the real melodies emerging in their full beauty. His lyric passages were exquisite in color and nuance, his bravura passages always contained musical thought, his timing and sense of drama were flawless.”
GREENWICH TIME
“Cellist Bion Tsang gave the full house a superb rendering of Camille Saint-Saens’ Concerto No. 1 in A Minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33. Tsang earned a reputation for a singing tone ever since his earliest performing days as a prodigy. That reputation was amply confirmed Friday. He is possessed of superb intonation and dazzling finger technique, best evidenced in terrific trilling in the second movement. A mahogany timbre emerged warm and enveloping in the final section, while his lowest register there produced a somber sonority worthy of Russian composers. But finally it indeed was his singing line that elevated Tsang above most other fine cellists. The intelligent musicality underlying his sound suggests Tsang eventually will rise to the uppermost echelon of cellists of his generation.”
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
“I had the pleasure of hearing Bion Tsang recently at Bargemusic. He is a cellist of uncommon intensity and brilliant dexterity. He seemed to have no problems traversing the difficult solo part in the Enescu Symphonie Concertante.”
LE CONCERTOGRAPHE
“Cellist Bion Tsang was the masterly soloist in Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, (Op. 107). Written in the late 1950s for Mstislav Rostropovich, it has become a core work in the cello concerto repertoire. Tsang delivered an account full of power and delicacy, spinning out extended harmonics and thickly scored passage-work with remarkable poise. There were also substantial, glowing contributions from principal hornist Jon Gustely, who occupied a chair directly behind the soloist. Tsang’s performance, and his partnership with Yoo and the orchestra, was as insightful as one could wish for.”
LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL
“Pianist Leonid Levitsky and cellist Bion Tsang elevate a Schubert birthday program to a joyful celebration. Credit Levitsky’s choice of superb cellist Bion Tsang, who was returning as a collaborator on the series from his first appearance there in 1995. Simply put, Tsang is an artist who guarantees the future of our music. His playing is inspiring to hear and inspiring to watch. Period. In the “Arpegionne” Sonata, which opened the program, Tsang and Levitsky made tender and impassioned musical partners. Things got problematic, however, with the addition, after intermission, of violinist Levon Ambartsumian, for the great B-flat Piano Trio, Opus 99, the one that sent Schumann into raptures. Ambartsumian had already demonstrated a kind of detached efficiency in his playing of the Violin Sonata in A, Opus 162, earlier in the program, and he did nothing here to change that unfortunate impression. Musically, Ambartsumian resembled an ice skater, while Tsang resembled an oncoming tide. OK, it’s a mixed metaphor, but it suggests the differences in the two approaches. Besides, great playing tends to stupefy parts of the critical mind.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Tsang conveyed insight and passion during his solo passages.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Tsang—pardon the pun—sang with fervent eloquence. Playing a Giovanni Grancino cello made in Milan in 1705, Tsang proved an honest, committed soloist, forcing neither the tone, the music, nor his Tchaikovksy interpretation.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Bion Tsang on cello was a revelation, making me repeatedly wonder, ‘Has anyone ever played that phrase more beautifully?’”
MILWAUKEE SHEPHERD EXPRESS
“It is due to the good friendship between Brussilovsky and the cellist Bion Tsang that he traveled especially from New York for this evening’s performance. ‘Under any other circumstances a soloist of such world renown would be far beyond our financial means,’ say the presenters. It is obvious that the friendship is rooted in a deep sense of shared musical understanding. Very seldom does one hear such an intensive and intuitive collaboration between soloist, conductor and orchestra as in this interpretation of Schubert. Tsang certainly justifies his outstanding reputation as he does not simply “reel off the piece”—as some star might do in the province—but he gives us his best and shines brightly particularly in the virtuoso passages Schubert included in this piece.”
NEUBURGER RUNDSCHAU
“Tsang, an extraordinarily gifted young man whose command of the cello and spiritual involvement with his task held his audience from beginning to end, offered a wide range of works for his instrument: Boccherini’s Sonata in A Major, the Brahms Sonata in F Major, Op. 99, Leon Kirchner’s “For Solo Cello” (unaccompanied), and the Stravinsky-Piatigorsky “Suite Italienne” for cello and piano. Tsang’s playing style (perhaps his temperament as well) is a very romantic one, reminiscent of Feuermann or Piatigorsky. He is obviously an exceptionally sensitive musician with much to say and with the virtuoso command of his instrument to enable him to say it.”
NEW HAVEN REGISTER
“Enescu, a Romanian trained in Vienna and deeply affected by his years in Paris, was certainly a musical polymath: composer, conductor, prodigy, folklorist, master of many instruments and teacher (his most important pupil being Yehudi Menuhin). If Enescu’s genius is to be demonstrated, it must be done in the playing of his music. Bion Tsang, a splendid young cellist, played the solos of the Symphonic Concertante with flair and freedom.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Lest anyone doubt how far Bartok had to travel from the cities to uncover his indigenous music, we had some works by his contemporaries who got their fold music from Budapest cafes. There was, for example, Erno Dohnanyi’s Kozertstuck for Cello and Orchestra, a post-Romantic, opulently lyrical, well-behaved piece. Bion Tsang, an excellent young cellist, performed it supplely, with vivid color.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Bion Tsang is a young cellist of remarkable gifts. Mr. Tsang combines a full, rich tone and accomplished technique with surprising artistic maturity. He seemed at home in a variety of different works; particularly fine was Frank Bridge’s neglected Cello Sonata, with its slate-gray Romanticism, its mixture of formality and discursion. Mr. Tsang took an unusually reserved approach to the Sonata in F (Op. 99) by Johannes Brahms—an approach that imbued this familiar work with an unaccustomed autumnal warmth.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Bion Tsang displayed technical perfection, profound technical thought, and a natural feel for style.”
OFFICIAL PRESS BULLETIN, IX INTERNATIONAL TCHAIKOVSKY COMPETITION
“Among the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s artistic partners, Italian conductor Roberto Abbado is the one most fond of spending two or three weeks delving deeply into the repertoire of a particular composer. But his latest SPCO collaboration has a focus as broad as Russia is wide. For the forms of earlier eras were the basis for Tchaikovsky’s “Mozartiana” suite and “Variations on a Rococo Theme.” In each, the composer employs the time-tested structure of delivering a melodic line in a variety of moods and styles, but that sounds somewhat academic for something as expressive and exciting as the “Rococo Variations” sounded Thursday night. It’s the closest thing that Tchaikovsky wrote to a cello concerto, and soloist Bion Tsang made a tour de force of the demanding work, a singing, screaming compendium of radically shifting moods, serving sweetness and aggression in equal measure.”
PIONEER PRESS
“The highlight of the evening was an elegant rendering of Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations.” This work seemed calculated to highlight the strengths of solo cellist Bion Tsang. Understated mock-18th century flourishes alternated with fleeting virtuosic outbursts that seemed all the more effective for the casual ease with which Tsang dashed them off. The hushed, liquid beginning of the slow middle section was breathtaking. Tsang’s impressive control of color is well suited to the wistful way he teases at melodic intervals as they unfold as if having discovered them for the first time. After a standing ovation, Tsang returned to the stage for an encore, a touchingly phrased arrangement of a “Melodie” by Tchaikovsky. His boyhood teacher, orchestra cellist Nanette Koch accompanied him in duet.”
POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL
“Saturday’s season finale featured the gifted young American cellist Bion Tsang. Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra is a splendid showcase. Tsang fastidiously honed in on the composer’s intentions to bless both the theme and its seven exquisite treatments with his rapturous tone, uncommonly pure intonation, impeccable technical control, and urgency for the music. Even more impressive was the cellist’s depth of understanding and interpretive approach to Shostakovich’s emotionally draining Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E Flat Major. It was a fabulous performance.”
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
“Tsang is a remarkable young musician. His tone is robust but warm, his interpretation lyrical whenever possible with a towering technical command of his instrument. Tsang’s performance showed complete control of dynamic elements with lyrical slower elements. He tossed off scaler runs and other technical displays in the third movement as if these were never meant to be difficult. The audience responded with three curtain calls and a standing ovation.”
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
“Most musicians who play at the festival are regulars. However, every year new artists are introduced. Some make greater impressions than others. Cellist Bion Tsang is making a big impression. He is wildly talented and musically articulate. In the Kodaly, performed at McKay Chapel, Tsang revealed his musical depth, burnished tone and dazzling fingers. The sonata is technically difficult and musically probing. Tsang swam through both with concentration and richness of style, always with a firm grasp of the work’s architecture. The young musician, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, is on the verge of a major career. I hope someone rebooks him in Seattle—summer or winter.”
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
“Cellist Tsang, well partnered by pianist Adam Neiman, gave the performance of the festival so far in the Britten sonata. When I say he played with “ease,” I don’t mean nonchalance. Plenty of works thrive on audible struggle, and this is one of them; there are moments in this sonata when difficulties blithely skated over would be the last thing you’d want to hear. Tsang played as if there were no barriers of any kind between his hands and the sounds he wanted; the connections between his mind and Britten’s were perfectly clear. In another recital Tsang played six encores, as tribute, that had been favorites in Jascha Heifetz’s and Pablo Casals’ repertoires (including Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s transmutation of the aria “Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville—a Rossinian pastry shell stuffed with outrageous complications). The finest of these was Casals’ cello/piano version of Chopin’s famous E-flat Nocturne, which took advantage of the same strengths as the Britten. The fluency he brought Chopin’s Italianate, swoonily ornate melody, and the expressiveness this made possible, was astonishing. Frankly, the nocturne sounded even better on cello than it does on piano.”
SEATTLE WEEKLY
“Few would have predicted that Alfred Schnittke’s thorny, difficult Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano would garner an ovation. In the hands of cellist Bion Tsang, however, the 1978 sonata took on a completely convincing urgency and expertise. The level of intensity, of passionate insistence, propelled the performance forward, especially in the agitated, perpetual-motion second movement—as dizzying as the flight of a bumblebee on steroids. The final movement gave a sense of time attenuated and prolonged after the frantic activity of the second movement.”
SEATTLE TIMES
“Bion Tsang played at Bargemusic on 16 August, on board a gently rocking craft anchored to the port at the Fulton Street Ferry Landing. With the unresonant acoustics, one was somehow able to focus entirely on Tsang’s excellent musicianship (and that of his able pianist Judith Gordon) in every ingenious nuance of Beethoven’s delightful Variations in E flat major on a Theme from Mozart’s Magic Flute and Grieg’s substantial Sonata for Cello and Piano. In Kodály’s fiendishly virtuosic Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello, Tsang played with accuracy and beautiful colouristic variety; more lubricating echo would, doubtless, have solidified the faultless expertise of Tsang’s nevertheless commanding performance.”
THE STRAD
“One of this season’s best concerts took place on May 1 in a familiar venue (Alice Tully Hall), but under unlikely auspices. Three Chinese players, violinist Cho-Liang Lin, cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Li Jian played what was one of the finest performances of Beethoven’s “Archduke” that I have ever heard. It was simply extraordinary for the purity and utter correctness of musical expression—one of those rare experiences that is completely satisfying. Whatever chemistry produced this result should be cherished and nurtured, and I hope to be able to hear this trio again.”
THE STRAD
“Tsang’s playing suggested why he is a prizewinner. He is unquestionably a big talent.”
THE STRAD
“Beethoven’s cello and piano sonatas, written between 1796 (Opus 5, Nos. 1 and 2), 1807 (Opus 69), and 1815 (Opus 102 Nos. 1 and 2) are among the jewels of the repertoire. On November 4 at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Anton Nel performed the complete cycle in one concert—a feat of physical, mental, and emotional endurance. The artists, both multiple prize winners, enjoy flourishing international solo careers and participate in many chamber music groups and summer festivals. In addition, both are on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, and judging from their impeccable, empathetic ensemble, unanimous phrasing and expressiveness, they must play together a great deal. Their technical mastery is formidable, but used entirely in the service of the music. Tsang’s tone is warm, pure, and beautiful. He can change its color and intensity with bow and vibrato, and Nel matches him sensitively with an infinite variety of touch and nuance. Their approach is serious and thoughtful but spontaneous, their rhythm flexible but steady, their liberties are poised and balanced. Letting the music speak for itself, they captured its moods and character perfectly, from the lightness, whimsical humor, and dramatic ardor of Beethoven’s youthful works to the compositional complexity and sublime serenity of his mature ones.”
STRINGS
“The most interesting piece was the Enescu Symphonic Concertante for Cello and Orchestra, a substantial, ambitious work in several connected sections. Its opening is startlingly reminiscent of the Dvorak Cello Concerto (in the same key, too), but despite echoes of Strauss, Stravinsky and Bartok, it is not really derivative. Warm, flowing melodies alternate with running scale and arpeggio passages, and the orchestral writing is colorful. In the solo part, Bion Tsang was a most persuasive advocate, playing with technical flair, a beautiful, expressive tone, and great security, involvement and conviction.”
STRINGS
“Bion Tsang is an excellent cellist with a fine technique and a beautiful, warm tone. Carefully partnered by pianist Judith Gordon, he played Beethoven’s lovely Variations on a Theme by Mozart and Grieg’s somewhat bland Sonata with style, expressiveness and involvement. In Kodaly’s Solo Sonata, which exploits every imaginable and unimaginable bravura effect, he met the formidable technical challenges head-on, while bringing out the work’s idiomatic character.”
STRINGS
“Obviously a seasoned performer, Tsang is natural, relaxed, and unassuming, the possessor of a fabulous technique entirely at the service of the music and a beautiful tone, warm, powerful, and infinitely variable. His changes of mood and character have perfect poise, and his rhythmic command is uncanny; the phrases have shape and flow unfettered by barlines, the melodic lines soar in long arches, and the cross-rhythms seem as natural as speech. Though in total control, he responds to the music as spontaneously as if he’d just discovered it. He gave the premiere of a duo for cello and piano by Ezra Laderman, a solid, accessible piece. After some time of playing at, rather than with each other, cello and piano come together in very beautiful slow sections. The composer shared the applause. De Falla’s Suite Populaire Espagnole had true Spanish flair and character; the dances really danced. Brahms’ F Major Sonata, Op. 99, was best: impetuous, exuberant, and expressive with great inner involvement. I felt I was in the presence of a powerful inner impulse translated into sound with sovereign technical control. Pianist Richard Bishop was a superb partner, strong in his solos, and their rapport was complete.”
STRINGS
“Soloist Bion Tsang highlighted the evening with an expressive and solid virtuoso performance on the cello. His rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme” was sensuous and dramatic, exploring the melodic lines with clarity and feeling, at turns sweet and serious. The orchestra expanded the variations of the dialogue with accomplished balance in a Mozartean style, allowing the cello to respond and shine through the accompaniment.”
THE TIMES HERALD RECORD
“Tsang made an excellent impression in Haydn’s overexposed Concerto in D, music of no great inner tension or brilliance, but rewarding application of subtle interpretive means. The soloist’s playing was clean, warm and plain-spoken in tone. He employed more than the ordinary portamento, not enough to brand it old-fashioned, but refreshingly expansive and delicate.”
THE TIMES HERALD RECORD
“The outstanding performance of cellist Bion Tsang was undoubtedly a highlight of the evening. Sunday night, Bion Tsang transcended age to give a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme” that displayed not only incredible technique and virtuosity, but a maturity of understanding of the music that was nothing short of magical. As in his performance earlier this year, Tsang is so immersed in music and his very precious early Italian master cello, that the audience’s attention is totally focused on the soloist. Tsang’s performances should only bring cello works to the forefront of recitals and orchestral appearances as he progresses on a long road of triumphal appearances.”
ULSTER COUNTY TOWNSMAN
“Sans any distracting mannerisms, Tsang concentrated solely on his cello and how the two would present the exciting Shostakovich ‘Concerto for Cello No. 1, Op. 107.’ The soloist lured beatific sound from the Giovanni Grancino cello (circa 1705) that explored every facet of the intent of the composer, reducing intricate passages to alluring messages. Tsang gave his audience a performance that showed his reverence for instrument and music with exquisite technique coupled with emotional overtones that marked a giant talent in the music world.”
ULSTER COUNTY TOWNSMAN
“Saturday’s orchestral concert, conducted by the Bard’s co-director Leon Botstein, featured Ernst von Dohnanyi’s mellifluous Konzertstuck in D for cello, op. 12, in an eloquent performance by the young cellist Bion Tsang.”
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“The Mozartean spirit flowed without interruption into the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations, also in A, which featured cellist Bion Tsang as guest soloist. Tsang gazed frequently at the audience, his facial expressions reflecting the composite moods behind each generously bowed line. He and the National Symphony Orchestra forged an immediate partnership.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“Cellist Bion Tsang offered elegant, expansive, loping notes, mixing passion with charm. His crisp delivery was matched—save in a few final and wobbly bars—by that of the orchestra.”
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
“Cello soloist Tsang was featured in Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme.” A good number of fans came out for this young man. He didn’t fail to delight with his sensitive, precise, and virtuosic play.”
WOODSTOCK TIMES
“Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his first cello concerto in 1959, six years after Stalin’s death. Prokofiev’s complaint that this composer “never takes a single risk,” a comment made while Shostakovich’s music was repressed by Stalin, no longer seems applicable. The exuberance of the cello concerto, and Tsang’s energetic performance, leaves no doubt. The soloist poured himself into his instrument with incredible virtuosity and the music emerged with power and grace.”
WOODSTOCK TIMES
“In a natural cathedral of the northern Catskills, never in a concert hall, I once witnessed psychic immersion similar to Tsang’s on a blueberry hill, as a black bear, upright on hind legs, rubbed against a tree trunk. Oblivious to all presence, its mask reflected absorption in some pleasurable act, transcendent of the merely sensual and necessary to the gratification of its soul. Sketching the frenetic passages of the concerto’s third movement, Tsang’s facial expression was a facsimile of that bear’s, equally engrossed in the satisfaction of some psychic longing, transcendent of all technique.”
WOODSTOCK TIMES