REVIEWS
"Fresh from his success at the New Ross Piano Festival, were he is artistic director, Finghin Collins comes to the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, to which he is associate artist, as soloist and conductor. His NCH programme is devoted to Mozart in several forms including a number of the composer’s concert arias. Designed to test intonational prowess and interpretative powers, Lenneke Ruiten sails through ‘Bella mia fiamma, addio’ K 528 with flying colours. ‘Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!’ K 418 has her not only engaging vocal acrobatics with unfailing conviction but has NSO oboist Adrian Wilson no less artistically nimble. Requiring extraordinary breath control for its florid excesses, ‘Ah se in ciel, benigne stelle’ K 538 is sung here with disarming ease. An unusually extended piano obbligato adds extra colour to ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te’, K 505. Marvellously played by Finghin Collins, the aria finds Lenneke Ruiten’s coloratura phrases superbly fluid. Pitted between these vocal pyrotechnics is one of those technically challenging Mozartean treasures – the B flat K 450 Piano Concerto. Finghin Collins sets a brisk pace in both the opening and closing Allegros while his beautifully flowing central Andante is pressed gently forward.
The RTE NSO’s chamber proportions are further reduced for a ‘wild card’ innovatory addition to the programme. With lighting effects and conveying controlled mayhem, Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Moz-Art à la Haydn’ for 13 strings is based on various Mozart fragments.Sounding deliberately like drunken café musicians, the instrumentalists, including soloists Alan Smale and Sebastian Liebig, change places, give the odd wave and clomp about. Allegedly humorous, its comedy borders on the macabre.Akin to Haydn’s ‘Farewell’ Symphony, most of the artists steal away leaving a celli and double bass trio to follow Maestro Collins’s lonely rallantando."
Pat O'Kelly, Irish Independent, October 3rd 2011
"The second half of the programme, entirely devoted to Debussy, revealed that the Irish pianist is already one of the most eminent Debussy players of all time. Many of us were reminded of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, so much did the refinement of Finghin Collins' touch, his penetrating mind exploring the many facets of Debussy's genius, seem comparable to nobody, if not the mythical Italian."
Sylviane Falcinelli, www.falcinelli.org, October 1st 2011
"The works programmed by Finghin Colins for his recital are those which suit him particularly well - by Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy... he succeeded in finding a perilous balance between vehemence, passion, robustness and harmonic finesse of these pieces [Schumann Op. 111]... Debussy's Images are poetic elaborations of a great refinement whose subtle illuminations suit perfectly the refined and timbre-rich touch of Finghin Collins, who did full justice to the layers of sonoric strata, to the beauty of sound, to the very essence of this music... L'Isle Joyeuse was a perfect conclusion to this exceptional recital..."
Jean-Jacques Scherrer, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, September 2nd 2011
"Consummate artist Finghin Collins is currently forging a path through Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the RTE NSO at the National Concert Hall and other countrywide venues. Directing from the keyboard he combines the roles of soloist and conductor resulting in his intuitive interpretations being channelled to the orchestra without compromise or contention. The latest programme of Concertos 6, 19 and 10 finds the RTE ensemble reduced to chamber proportions with first violins, cellos and double basses on Collins’ left and second violins and violas on his right. Woodwind and horns – the only brass required – are in usual positions but the revised string seating brings a natural sense of acoustic balance with sturdiness and strength of tone undiminished.
The Salzburg B flat Concerto No 6, possibly written for Mozart’s own enjoyment, has Collins treating its galant style with corresponding elegance and finesse as well as giving it jaunty bounce. Eight years separate it from the Viennese F Major No 19. The opening Allegro here finds Collins and his musicians recognising its capricious vivace marking and expressing the music’s uplifting nature with compelling clarity.
The E Flat No 10 Concerto is, of course, for two pianos with Collins joined by the French artist Cedric Tiberghien. The result is a perfect musical match where mutual concord brings unfailing rapport and an assured sense of purpose. Mozart’s answering phrases stream with seamless cohesion and the crystalline purity of the pianists’ finger work gives the music magical momentum. Undoubtedly, playing of quality and stature."
Pat O'Kelly, Irish Independent, May 24th 2011
"Of Finghin Collins as soloist, little needs to be said that has not been said before: he is exceptionally fluent, exceptionally intelligent, exceptionally sensitive, responding to every possible nuance that Stanford prescribes. Kenneth Montgomery is resolute and sympathetic in support."
Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, April 2011
"Finghin Collins, magnifique pianiste irlandais (vainqueur du Concours Clara Haskil en 1999), possède un véritable sens poétique, une digitalité impressionnante (Variations Abegg), un tact un rien retenu (Scènes d’enfants)..."
Michel Le Naour, Concert Classic, April 2011
[Finghin Collins] nous ravit par le côté vivant, enjoué, enthousiaste, inpsiré de son interprétation. Emporté par l'élan de son jeu, il se laissait aller à des mouvements de buste, rejetait sa tête en arrière pour lancer de langoureux regards vers le ciel. Il nous ravit dans les "Variations Abegg" et les "Scènes d'enfants".
André Peyregne, Monaco-Matin, April 11th 2011
"Le jeu concentré de Finghin Collins, salué ici même pour ses disques Schumann, imprègne ces accords arpégés d'un sentiment réligieux. Les mystérieuses dernières mesures, quasi morendo, résonnent d'accords brucknériens, telle une fin du monde - une splendeur. Et l'Allegro molto conclusif, ainsi dénué de toute vulgarité et de toute pesanteur, gagne en impact; en poète du piano, le jeune Irlandais y met autant de sensibilité et de poésie que s'il interprétait le concerto de Schumann. .... L'Orchestre et son chef Kenneth Montgomery, d'une noblesse conquérante, sont également préférables... "
Bertrand Boissard, Diapason Magazine, mars 2011
"Soloist and orchestra were totally at one, horns and clarinets complementing the liquid pianism of Collins in the first movement, flute and bassoons doing so in the second and third. Collins found real magic in the latter and the string sound was particularly bright and supportive. This excellence continued into the popular ‘Elvira Madigan’ concerto, K 467 in C. A lovely bright tempo caught the mood in the opening Allegro and, in the second, we heard Finghin Collins simply allowing the music to flow and avoiding the occasional sentimentality that creeps into his playing in slow movements. The orchestra’s accompanying triplets were perfectly judged and the final Allegro was superb."
Declan Townsend, Irish Examiner, March 12th 2011
"Finghin Collins interprète avec une aisance discrète la cadence du premier mouvement avant d'installer, aérien, un climat intimiste pour l'adagio médian. L'allegro assai conclusif, enfin, révèle la vigueur de l'orchestre, qui répond sans faillir à l'attaque tourbillonnante d'un pianiste au jeu tantôt scintillant, tantôt vigoureux, et toujours inspiré."
Daniel Fattore, La Liberté, Fribourg (Suisse), February 18th 2011
