by Robert Rollin
Last Saturday’s Youngstown Symphony season opener at Powers Auditorium under the direction of Music Director Randall Craig Fleischer featured a delightful rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in c with Caroline Oltmanns as soloist. She maintained an impressive focus throughout the performance, playing with delicacy and elegance. [Read more…]
The gift of music is always a wonderful way to say happy holidays to friends and family. The week, the editors and correspondents of ClevelandClassical.com are pleased to suggest nineteen CDs released in 2016 by outstanding musicians, most of whom call Northeast Ohio home.
There’s certainly something on this list for every classical music lover. Click on the links at the end of each paragraph to read complete reviews of each album. [Read more…]
by Jeremy Reynolds
Ghosts is an apt title for an album featuring Robert Schumann’s solo piano music. The composer had just finished his Geistervariationen (“Ghost Variations”) before entering a mental asylum for treatment of his schizophrenia, which manifested itself as spirits, ghosts, and demons playing him strange, otherworldly music. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
It’s the time of year when lots of young people have been eagerly watching their mailboxes — or inboxes — to see whether they’ve been admitted to the college of their choice.
This year, the same has been true for the nearly 330 pianists, ages 18-30, who applied to compete in the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition, to be held from July 24 through August 7. Of those hopefuls, 35 recently received the “fat” letter inviting them to Cleveland — an acceptance rate of 10.6%, which is roughly equivalent to that of last year’s admissions to Dartmouth, Duke, or Vanderbilt.
The successful candidates emerged a few weeks ago after a marathon, three-day session of video viewing by a selection jury made up of Kathryn Brown and Paul Schenly (Cleveland Institute of Music), Lei Weng (University of Colorado), Caroline Oltmanns (Youngstown State University), and CIPC president and CEO Pierre van der Westhuizen. The 35 who were invited have now formally accepted. [Read more…]
Pathways: Robert Cassidy, piano (MSR Classics).
Although composer Claude Debussy rejected the term “impressionism” and referred to music writers who used the term as “fools,” today Debussy’s music is synonymous with the impressionist movement. On his self-titled CD from back in 2012, pianist Robert Cassidy captured the essence of the composer’s music with his performances of the twelve Préludes of Book 1. On his latest recording, Pathways, Cassidy once again demonstrates his affinity for this music with discerning interpretations of the twelve preludes that comprise Debussy’s second book, as well as works by Chopin and Feigin.
From the first prelude to the last, Cassidy plays with a light touch, assured technique, and an expansive color palette. While no. 3, La Puerta del Vino (Mouvement de Habanera), is appealingly seductive, Cassidy brings a playfulness to Ondine (Water-Sprite) during No. 8. The pianist beautifully voices No. 10, Canope (Très calme et doucement triste), and the concluding Feux d’artifice (Fireworks) brings his performance to a flashy end. [Read more…]
Youngstown University’s Dana School of Music will collaborate with the University of Akron’s Kulas Concert Series to present a piano festival comprising seven events both in Youngstown and Akron between October 4 and 7.
Faculty and guest artists Zahari Metchkov, Joachim Reinhuber, Caroline Oltmanns, James Wilding and Sean Baran will play a variety of piano and harpsichord music during recitals throughout the week, and lectures and master classes will fill out the range of activities. The complete schedule follows. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Before concert halls became ubiquitous, piano recitals were usually intimate affairs staged in domestic music rooms or salons. Caroline Oltmanns recreated that kind of ambiance during her recital on Sunday afternoon, February 23 at Valley Lutheran Church in Chagrin Falls when she played the annual midwinter piano concert on the Chagrin Valley Chamber Music series.
The room is not large, though the ceiling is lofty. The audience was good-sized for a February Sunday, but not numerous enough to need to be addressed as though it were a public meeting. And the piano, somewhere between a baby grand and a six-footer, was the sort of instrument you might encounter in someone’s living room.
Oltmanns took profit of all of those circumstances to spend an engaging hour communicating directly to her listeners, both through her flawless and eloquent playing and through her running commentary. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Youngstown State University piano professor Caroline Oltmanns launched the new season of Music From The Western Reserve’s distinguished concert series at Christ Episcopal Church in Hudson on Sunday afternoon with an engaging hour of music by Schubert, Beethoven, James Wilding and Chopin. Oltmann’s easy confidence as a performer and her skill as a commentator drew the nice-sized audience in as though listeners and performer were gathered together in an intimate living room.
The centerpiece of the afternoon was Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata, op. 53, which Oltmanns prefaced with the intelligence that the sonata’s earlier nickname was L’Aurore (Dawn) and with the caveat that this would, at 25 minutes, be the most demanding listening assignment of the afternoon. She dispatched the work with a refreshing straightforwardness and relaxed tempos which allowed the music to breathe in places where other pianists press nervously ahead. The final prestos gained extra character from that approach.