Corren 151209
By: GUNNAR EKERMO
5+
Concert & Congress, Linköping, December 9
No costume changes and grand gestures, no choreography, no extravagance and lavish light – only two artists and a stripped and honest music making! […]
First Sjöholm sang a cappella from a dark stage, and I once again thought: what a fabulously beautiful voice! The beauty and expressiveness are still amazing. She sings so naturally and beguilingly, rarely gets her notes from below but approaches and puts them cleanly regardless of the interval that precedes.
Of talented pianists there are oh so many, but that Widmark is a unique musician is no exaggeration. He has a rich palette to choose colors from, often giving priority to the simple and pure. Hymns and operatic melodies he turns inside out, while maintaining a crystal clear respect for the original, the intelligent improvisations are kind of thoughtful, never flashy. […]
[…] gems like Sibelius’ “Christmas song” was performed – straight and rather “un-organized”, so beautifully and explained and as though taken from the air. Another highlight was “Nyårsballongen”, Horace Engdahl’s touching text to Benny Andersson’s music, the one which won the competition in TV’s “Babel.”
The glitter and the predictability of many Christmas concerts can make you fed up and drain you, but this concert instead meant refilling of something that we need.
Note: Due to copyright reasons the entire review is not reproduced, but is available in Swedish at Corren’s homepage.