Author: yrnuid

5 stars from the Irish Times: ‘Vivaldi s concertos for recorders are works of rare theatricality … The Swiss recorder player Maurice Steger rings the changes in seven demanding concertos … The brio and élan of the playing are so unfailingly infectious that you may find it hard to listen without a smile on your face.’ *****,

Michael Dervan The Irish Times, 24th October 2014

OUTSTANDING

Recorder virtuoso Steger’s latest recital traces the history of the Corelli cult of Georgian London, Edinburgh and Manchester. Adored for its simplicity by gentleman amateurs, orchestrated by Geminiani and flamboyantly decorated by professional soloists (usually violinists), Corelli’s music outlived its creator, dressed up or down according to taste and ability. Steger’s performance is a thrilling hybrid, dazzlingly embellished yet pure and true of tone. The English Concert match Steger’s élan, with glorious solos from the ensemble.

Independent on Sunday by Anna Picard (2010-04-11)


Steger is a wonderfully deft player, with absolute clarity of note an line, even in the most virtuosic variations, of which there are many. Nonetheless, one of the most interesting pieces comes at the very end of the disc, when … he plays the gentle variations by Jacques or James Paisible upon the Sarabande of the original sonata. This is a large-scaled ground-bass piece that increases in intensity as it goes along, without giving way to the flashy cascades that are a feature of most of the rest of the pieces.

Fanfare USA by Alan Swanson, 2010-11-05


On New Year’s Day the coups de coeur de nos critiques the press price of the best 10 performances was lent in Canada – and Maurice Steger has been awarded!

cyberpresse.ca, Le Soleil by Josianne Desloges, 2011-01-03

Still, it has to be said that the star of this show was the snappily dressed, willowy figure of recorder player Maurice Steger. Anyone who thinks the recorder is fit only for school assemblies would have been forced to think again by Steger’s amazing virtuosity, which somehow soared over the instruments limitations. The rapid passagework in Corelli’s F major Concerto emerges as a barely audible bird-like twittering, but Steger made it so crystal-clear that it pushed through the orchestral sound without difficulty.

This offered the “wow” factor, but more striking was the way Steger draped expressive ornaments over the melodies of the slow movements, creating a luxuriant melancholy at each dying fall by leaning on the dissonant notes. Even grandeur isn’t beyond his reach, as was shown by a riveting performance of the Sarabande from Corelli’s 7th sonata. The unknown arranger added to the sense of unfolding majesty by bringing in more instruments (though I imagine director Laurence Cummings had a hand in this too), while over the top Steger floated a lovely line, fragile and droopingly expressive and dignified all at once.

The Telegraph – Ivan Hewett’s 5-star review – 2011-04-06

Maurice Steger, Violons du Roy offer thrilling baroque playing at Rackham


For sheer virtuosity, and “I can’t believe I’m hearing this” pleasure, the final work of the evening, a transcription for recorder and orchestra, by Geminiani, of an Op. 5 Corelli violin sonata, topped the cake. Whipped cream, cherries on top, more notes per second than you’ve ever heard—it was not only tasty but tasteful. For sheer beauty, though, my vote would go to the Telemann Suite in a minor for Treble Recorder, strings and Basso Continuo, where Steger and his string colleagues partnered each other in glorious, ever-more-ornamented minuets, passepieds and polonaises.

Ann Arbor USA – 29. 01. 2012

Les Violons du Roy, recorder soloist Maurice Steger light up Shriver Hall
I don’t think of the typical Shriver Hall Concert Series crowd as very likely to do a lot of enthusiastic hooting and hollering over baroque music, but that was the reaction given Sunday evening to Les Violons du Roy. No wonder.

The Baltimore Sun – 2012-01-31


Les Violons du Roy, recorder soloist Maurice Steger at Nichols School’s Flickinger Performing Arts Center, Buffalo


To say Steger is the world’s leading recorder virtuoso does not begin to describe it. He’s like a pied piper, standing bowlegged as he turns out those bubbly, brisk solos, each more astonishing than the last, lightning quick, every note distinct. His breaths go on forever. Several times, I found myself whispering, “Incredible!”

BuffaloNews.com / 2012-02-12


From the first note of this CD one is transported into a rainbow of scintillating colour and deep passion. Everything about it is perfect: the ensemble performance, the tempi, the ornamentation (a delight) and the musicianship, which is spellbinding.

CD Spotlight UK – recommended by Jennifer Paull

The Independent

Now the world’s leading recorder virtuoso, Steger delivered what must be the fastest ever account of Telemann’s Suite in A minor for treble recorder and strings. Ravishingly phrased, with heady swirls from Cummings’ harpsichord, saucily swung notes inegales, piquant decorations, Steger’s prestissimo performance adumbrated interpretative sophistication and technical show-offery, bringing broad smiles to the faces of a packed Wigmore Hall audience in this and the Sammartini Concerto in F.

Anna Picard after a concert with The English Concert in Wigmore Hall London

The rapid passagework in Corelli’s F major Concerto emerges as a barely audible bird-like twittering, but Steger made it so crystal-clear that it pushed through the orchestral sound without difficulty.

This offered the “wow” factor, but more striking was the way Steger draped expressive ornaments over the melodies of the slow movements, creating a luxuriant melancholy at each dying fall by leaning on the dissonant notes. Even grandeur isn’t beyond his reach, as was shown by a riveting performance of the Sarabande from Corelli’s 7th sonata. The unknown arranger added to the sense of unfolding majesty by bringing in more instruments (though I imagine director Laurence Cummings had a hand in this too), while over the top Steger floated a lovely line, fragile and droopingly expressive and dignified all at once.

Highest Ratings: ***** – THE TELEGRAPH, 6. April 2011, Concert in Wigmore Hall London

The stiff labels don’t make Maurice Steger sound that exciting, you know? But listen to this guy play—which is precisely what the rapt audience at Rackham Auditorium did Saturday evening, when Steger appeared with the Canadian chamber ensemble Les Violons du Roy, conducted by Bernard Labadie, in a University Musical Society concert—and it’s a whole other story.

Who knew recorder virtuosity could be that thrilling? But Steger, a man of elfin charm who virtually dances with his instrument and offers blissed- out smiles between extended licks that would wind a marathon runner, is a phenom. Musical in the extreme, witty, clearly having the time of his life, and bending a column of air to his will to make his instrument sing, trill, dip and soar like some sweet unreal bird.

ANN ARBOR.COM, CONCERT REVIEW – US Tour with LES VIOLONS DU ROY, 2012

Maurice Steger embodies in his unique, colorful, technically brilliant and exuberant manner a new, pathbreaking definition of what it means to play the recorder. The popularity that he enjoys in Switzerland and abroad has reached dimensions usually restricted to other music genres. Maurice Steger is a resolute master and a wonderful performer with profound understanding of the music he performs; his successes are as numerous as the partners with whom he has performed …

Christian Berzins in ‘RadioMagazin’

Hahn’s musical temperament never goes astray in trivial nuances but takes off in an unbridled drive. At times that can seem somewhat conventional and motor-driven, particularly in comparison with Maurice Steger (in the double concerto), who playfully splashed Bach’s music with fitting ornamentation …

Rising Stars: with Hilary Hahn at the ‘Lucerne Concerts’

Maurice Steger is without a doubt an artist who pushes the recorder to its physical and expressive limits. Dedicated as few others, he presents music as a pulsing, throbbing moment, breaking the chains of notation and transforming notes into living entities. That music is more than just the patient reading of a score, that spontaneous, imaginative turns are the essence of music, Maurice Steger embodies this platitude anew: his playing is not merely spectacular but also is driven by the desire to give shape and form in the tradition of Harnoncourt …

Early music Magazine

The star of the evening was Maurice Steger, for this brilliant young musician provides living proof that all of the clichés about the recorder are not true. To hear Maurice Steger perform is to experience how he can scatter acrobatic cascades of notes as Vivaldi’s capricious finch throughout the Tonhalle, how he can combine a weave of lines in an Adagio to create a perfect rainbow, how he can embody musical communication with subtle humor and wit, how he can utilize the interaction between work, ensemble and soloist to form a musical theater of the most entertaining kind – and together with the “Academie” to be answered in return by the warmth of the audience’s affection.

Such charismatic performances are typical of popstars, but this is Maurice Steger, and his exuberant performances of Vivaldi or Telemann would not be out of place in the hit parade, and his cascades of notes have just the right frequency even to reach techno-ears …

Reinmar Wagner, ‘Musik & Theater’, Concert with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin at the Tonhalle in Zurich

And then the manner with which recorder whirlwind Maurice Steger performed Bach’s Double Concerto BWV 1060: masterful gestures, passionate expression, varied phrasing, and all of that on an instrument that (despite its limitations in color and dynamic range) turned into a magic wand in his hands …

Bach’s Double Concerto with Igor Oistrakh

The phrases just run off his fingers, whether jumping through the octaves or gracing every note with an ornament; he is able to conjure up the most whispered pianissimo, the most profound emotion, the most forceful tone; at times Maurice Steger blows into his recorder as if he is trying to draw more out than is physically possible …

CD Telemann’s Flute Quartets with Musica Antiqua Köln and Reinhard Goebel

The real star of this show is the virtuosic soloist with his astonishing flow without flippancy. Telemann’s music therefore responds to the treatment, and such performances provide a veritable feast for our ears.

Basil Ramsey, music & vision, Telmann CD ‚Solos and Trios’

Telemann knew very well what the recorder could stand up to and what not, but there are of course many people who can’t stand the recorder. They should hear Maurice Steger and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [Academy for Ancient Music Berlin]. Steger can make an “Air à l’Italien” tremble on the recorder like a dramatic soprano in an Opera seria. And in the closing minuet of the Concerto in C major the repeated notes came in a frenzied shower as if in a Scarlatti harpsichord sonata. Your ears begin to flap just from listening. Wonderful!

Jan Brachmann, Berliner Zeitung, Feuilleton, 22 March 2006

What makes this CD indispensable can be found in the two works for recorder performed by Maurice Steger. The phrasing in the Suite in A Minor is more than astounding; and he plays les Plaisirs with splendid, cat-like dynamics. The Overture is particularly remarkable – it is filled with rhythmic force and delicate poetry. Maurice Steger’s virtuosity is astonishing both here and in the Concerto in C Major (which is rarely to be found on CD, and one must ask why!). His articulation is masterful regardless of the difficulty or tempo of the passage, his sonorities always subtle and varied; a new authority 40 years after Brüggen and Harnoncourt.

Pierre-Yves Lascar, Diapason No 534, Les 200 critiques du mois, April 2006 – Diapason d’or

Bird of Paradise

Europa Galante with Fabio Biondi and Maurice Steger at the Tonhalle in Zurich

Snow blowing across the fields, and not a bird around to mark summer’s presence. It is time to bring out the flutes and violins in order to warm the hearts. But the Sinfonia in G Major (RV 149) by Antonio Vivaldi didn’t quite do the trick. Fabio Biondi and his Baroque ensemble “Europa Galante”, who created quite a furor with their recording of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” a number of years ago, began their Klubhaus concert with reserved elegance, although somewhat lukewarm in mood.

And then he suddenly he was there, “Il Gardellino”, the finch, on the middle of the stage in the Tonhalle Zurich. Brazen and carefree he began to trill and whistle, to beguile, to shout and dance for joy. It seemed almost as if Vivaldi wrote his Concerto in D Major for Flute and Strings (RV 428) specifically for Maurice Steger. Steger’s fine nuances in articulation and tone production were particularly entrancing in the slow movements. And his lavish ornamentation was so airy and light that the melodies never appeared to be exaggerated or sluggish. The Siciliana from Vivaldi’s Concerto was absolutely bewitching, and the slow movement from Giuseppe Sammartini’s Recorder Concerto in F Major became a tender song.

The middle movements in general provided the greatest magic during the evening. String pizzicatos and splashes of lute and harpsichord harmonies provided a fine accompaniment to which Biondi played a graceful melody in the Largo from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concerto in G Minor (reconstructed from the Harpsichord Concerto in F Minor BWV 1056). And the fourth Brandenburg Concerto united all of the evening’s performers once again, who brought Bach’s dense weave of music to glow. The contrapuntal art of the concertante fugue in the closing movement was filled with playful spontaneity.

Jürg Huber

…Maurice Steger verkörpert in seiner persönlichen, farbigen, technisch brillanten und lebendigen Art eine geradezu richtungsweisende Neudefinition Blockflöte zu spielen. Nicht nur in der Schweiz erreicht seine Bekanntheit nun jene Werte, die bisher anderen Musiksparten vorbehalten schien. Maurice Steger ist ein kompromissloser Könner und ein grosses Bühnentalent mit intellektuellem Tiefgang, dessen Erfolge so zahlreich, wie seine Partner prominent sind…

Christian Berzins im RadioMagazin

…Der junge Flötist Maurice Steger ließ in Giuseppe Sammartinis Concerto eine hinreissende Anverwandlung barocker Musik erklingen. Mit einem ungemein präsenten Klang lotete er den Affektgehalt der Musik aus…

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 
Konzert mit Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi in der Tonhalle Zürich

Breathtaking Escapades

Music Festival: Maurice Steger’s Recorder Sonorities

Concert promoters singing the praises of the artists performing in their events is something understandable but at the same time not above suspicion. In the case of Swiss recorder player Maurice Steger, however, the biographical hymn of praise printed in the program for his performance at the music festival seems quite understated in retrospect. There was not an empty seat in the hall when the 33-year old instrumentalist took the stage with harpsichordist Sergio Ciomei to perform a program of Italian Baroque music – which he did so with captivating ease and breathtaking intensity.

Maurice Steger seemed to be inspired by the character of the hall and the design of its historical interior. Accompanied by these impressions, the various sonatas by Dario Castello up to Antonio Vivaldi were lent a special aura. Wonderfully exuberant, virtuoso technique, endless breath control and profoundly expressive; Maurice Steger turned every work into a fascinating sonorous jewel and gave meaning to the Italian term for the recorder: “flauto dolce”. In his hands the alto and tenor recorders sounded delicate, gentle, velvety and sweet. And on the soprano recorder, on the other hand, he produced more penetrating sonorities that brought the listeners almost to tremble.

It was as if he gradually began to transform himself into a playful, brazen, youthful faun consumed by music. His lively, ecstatic escapades on his instruments provided moments of pure pleasure, as in the Sonata II by Giovanni Battista Fontana (who died circa 1631). And in the adagios he masterfully spun out gentle, long, legato lines that contrasted wonderfully with his vivace bite. The partnership with harpsichordist Sergio Ciomei was perfect and their unrestrained joy in the music was visible and audible.

In Giuseppe Sammartini’s Sonata IV in G Major, for example, they threw each other balls of notes, set their marks, and ran unrestrained through the affects. Their virtuoso playing was characterized by enthusiasm, rhythmic precision and spirit. The harpsichordist proved himself to be an eager partner who mastered recitative-like accompaniment as well as flowing arpeggios and glimmering cascades of notes. His manner of performing lively sequences of chords in an almost jazz-like fashion in the Sammartini piece was astounding. And he further demonstrated his mastery in his performance of three solo sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti.

For their first encore the two artists exchanged places and instruments. Newly-appointed flutist Sergio Ciomei struggled through a weave of notes in search of a final trill – to no avail. Harpsichordist Steger brought the wonderful comedy to its (much too early) end.

Peter Buske

Hahns Musiziertemperament verliert sich nie in feinsinnigen Nuancen, sondern entlädt in einen unbändigen Drive. Zuweilen wirkte das fast schon wieder konventionell motorisch, namentlich (im Doppelkonzert) im Vergleich mit Maurice Steger, der, noch verspielter, mit dezenten Verzierungen Bachs Musik gänzlich ins Filigrane auflöste…

Rising Stars: Bach mit Maurice Steger und Hilary Hahn bei den “Lucerne Concerts” im KKL

Bisher die Schweizer CD des Jahres!

SonntagsZeitung, 2010

Obwohl man weiß, dass virtuose Interpreten kräftig verzierten, haben derartige Quellen in der Praxis nur wenig Beachtung gefunden: Denn was da auf dem Papier steht, wirkt oft so aberwitzig überladen, dass man geneigt ist, an notierte Kuriositäten und nicht an ernsthafte Kunst zu glauben.

Steger aber beweist das Gegenteil: Obwohl ihn das Feuerwerk an Trillern, Vorhalten und wilden Kaskaden selbst in den langsamen Sätzen dazu zwingt, schneller zu spielen, als ein Vogel zwitschern kann, wird Corellis schlichte Architektur keineswegs verdeckt. Bei einer schier unglaublichen Leichtigkeit, Schnelligkeit und Differenziertheit seines Spiels bringt Steger zugleich das Kunststück fertig, aus kleinsten Noten große Melodiebögen zu gestalten, deren Sinnlichkeit durch die vielen kleinen Vorhalte und rhythmischen Verzögerungen nur noch intensiviert wird. Ein musikalisches Aha-Erlebnis!

Karsten Niemann in RONDO, 5 Noten für ‚Mr Corelli in London’!

If Maurice Steger made such a strong impression, at the beginning it was because there was something exceptional about his physical presence. One might say that he sprang onto the stage as if jumping out of a music box. And he was continually in motion, ready to jump anew or to take flight on the wings of the music, leaving behind a swirling cloud of notes. During the pause someone compared him to a faun – I couldn’t think of a more appropriate image.

CYBERPRESSE – CANADA – Richard Boisvert

Terrific recorder performance: Steger, manned with a collection of wooden recorders, gave a terrific performance. It was evident from the hearty applause and sounds of amazement and approval coming from the church pews that Steger’s warm personality and ardent playing had won over the audience.

What Sonin, Cape Town, South Africa Tour 2013

Explaining the success of an artist is every-day business for music journalists, still it’s probably the most error-prone affair you could think of. After all: Who could seriously claim to be able to chase apart the clew of connections between musicians, agencies, concert organizers, festivals, concert halls, record companies, distributors, the press and official arts subsidies, while at the same time keeping track of audience preferences and that little bit of luck that everyone needs? We thought so. Sometimes, however, you just can’t keep yourself from asking. As in the case of Maurice Steger.

MYSTERY MAN by TOBIAS FISCHER on TOKAFI

Par-dessus tout, l’homme semble prendre un plaisir fou à jouer de la flûte à bec. Il écoute l’orchestre. Il sourit aux musiciens, qui lui sourient aussi. Il va leur donner la main ou leur faire la bise quand il a fini de jouer.

Claude Gingras – La Presse – Quebec – Canada

The brightest light came from Maurice Steger, a recorder player in a million, in Telemann, Sammartini and a wizard Vivaldi encore. Neat and spry, with the sartorial air of an early Beatle (well, he is Swiss), he carried the audience away with his gracious delivery and liquid, mercurial tone.

Geoff Brown, The Times – London – 22 February 2008

This is historically informed performance that is intelligent but also imaginative and energetic — highly recommended.

Early Music, Oxford University Press

CHOC DU MONDE DE LA MUSIQUE pour TELEMANN avec MAURICE STEGER!

“Choc” du Monde de la Musique
… Maurice Steger amazes with his alto recorder: versatile articulation, clear intonation, homogenous in all registers, with a dynamic range and never out of breath, an imagination that knows no boundaries, a hymn to the timbre of his instrumental style — a miracle of the performing arts.

Le Monde de la Musique/Philippe Venturini

But then, almost like in a baroque opera, the diva moves to the front of the stage and performs a lyrical passage in a wonderfully smooth legato. The skies open and sweet round pearls rain down. It’s Mademoiselle Alto Recorder.
 One of the best virtuosos currently playing this instrument, known as “flauto dolce” in the baroque period for a reason and later needlessly relegated to pre-school use, is Maurice Steger.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / Eleonore Büning

The most exciting recorder artist currently performing classical music is in town as part of the “Schweizgenössisch”- Festivals, (…). With his “turbo sound” Maurice Steger blows away any conventional ideas normally associated with the recorder — and when the slim Swiss leans back to send a brilliant passage into the venue’s air, it almost looks as if he is playing an early baroque version of the saxophone. Steger’s performances are electrifying — his Telemann, for example, recorded with the Berliner Akademie für Alte Musik, sounds so full of relish and energy (including a strong vibrato) that recorder artists of older generations like Frans Brüggen or Michala Petri look rather tame in comparison. Naturally, the virtuosic barrage flood of sounds unleashed on his new CD “Venezia 1625” must be seen in concert.

Tagesspiegel Berlin / Jörg Königsdorf / 2.8.09

Steger’s performance is striking not only for its effortless agility, but also for the precision of his intonation. Even in those slow numbers, drifting along in wide chords like the opening of Fontana’s second sonata, there is no sign of the sloppiness typically unavoidable in recorder performances. Instead, the instrument’s sensitive response to even the slightest breath of air is always evident.

Frankfurter Allgemeine – 22.8.09 – CD VENEZIA 1625

Today, Steger can be considered the recorder’s Horowitz and quite possibly the greatest virtuoso since Arnold Dolmetsch reintroduced a modern version of the recorder to the public in the 1920s.

Süddeutsche Zeitung – Jörg Königsdorf – 16.12.09

Steger’s playing is unfailingly seductive; the English Concert under Cummings is equally delectable.

Sunday Times by Stephen Pettitt (2010-04-18)


Diese Musik aus den alten englischen Manuskripten scheint wie geschaffen für Steger. Begleitet vom English Concert unter der Leitung von Laurence Cummings, erweckt er sie mit großer Spielfreude und Leidenschaft zu neuem Leben. “Man kann mit der Flöte emotionale Welten eröffnen, und das ist eigentlich das, worauf es ankommt”, so Steger.

NDR KULTUR, CD des Monats

This is a very interesting disc which delivers a considerable addition to our knowledge of the popularity and dissemination of Corelli’s oeuvre through Europe. The performances are generally excellent, and in particular Maurice Steger is impressive in his performances of the recorder parts. The way he realises the arrangement by Blavet is quite astonishing.

musica Dei donum, Johan van Veen (2010)

Nur wer taube Ohren hat, wird diese Kompositionen fortan noch als pompösen Schmalspur-Barock denunzieren können. Und alle, die das Instrument Blockflöte bisher anpestete, werden es jetzt lieben lernen.

Märkische Allgemeine, CD ‚Mr Corelli in London’

Plénitude du son et folles ornementations sont la marque du virtuose, entouré par l’English Concert de Laurence Cummings.

Elisabeth Haas in LA LIBERTÉ