New Year, new look Noriko!
We are delighted to announce that Noriko Ogawa’s new website www.norikoogawa.com will be online on Monday 12 December, featuring new media clips, resources and images; this is a timely re-introduction to Noriko before Reflections on Debussy at Bridgewater Hall commences in the New Year. The festival has been heavily featured in recent articles in Classic FM, Pianist Magazine, Classical Music and International Piano Magazine and provides unique experiences and collaborations to look forward to. You can also follow Noriko on Twitter as the festival unfolds: http://twitter.com/norikogawa
“To this day, Debussy remains Ogawa’s favourite composer. Her special connection to his music has delighted audiences throughout her career – her complete Debussy cycle on the BIS label won the Gramophone Editor’s Choice award and remains a gold standard Debussy recording, and her live performances have enthralled critics the world over” International Piano Magazine
“Forget about the Impressionist label ‘Reflections on Debussy’ will help us to see Debussy in a new way” Classic FM Magazine
We are also excited to announce that Noriko will adjudicate a new competition for amateur adult performers, in association with Chethams School of Music, Yamaha and Pianist Magazine. More information can be found at: www.pianistmagazine.com/information/2012Amateurcompetition
BIS release Debussy Complete Piano Music
Released on five separate discs, Noriko Ogawa’s traversal of the solo piano music of Claude Debussy has been receiving consistent praise in the international music press, with distinctions such as Gramophone Editor’s Choice (twice); a top recommendation (‘10/10/10’) on the German website Klassik Heute, ‘Recording of the Month’ on MusicWeb International.com and ‘CD of the Week’ on BBC Radio 3 CD Review. Along with general acclaim for Noriko Ogawa’s approach to the music (‘a Debussy interpreter of exceptional class’ – International Record Review; ‘a most elegant, scrupulously sensitive interpreter’ – Gramophone), performances of individual works and sets of works have been singled out. In BBC Music Magazine Ogawa’s Images and Children's Corner were named benchmark recordings, while Classica-Répertoire placed the second book of Préludes and the set of Études among the most important and convincing versions in the discography. Less well-known works have also been cited, such as the piano score of the children’s ballet Boîte à joujoux (‘A superlative performance… worth the price of the disc alone’ – Gramophone) and Debussy’s own transcription for solo piano of Six Èpigraphes antiques (‘the pianist creates a poetic atmosphere which leaves the listener breathless’ – Classica-Répertoire).
The original five discs have now been brought together as a boxed set with the addition of a sixth CD, containing Noriko Ogawa’s previously unreleased recordings of Debussy’s only work for piano and orchestra, the Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre from 1890, and five school fugues, written as part of Debussy’s training at the Paris Conservatoire, and transcribed from the original manuscripts for this occasion.
