New album:
Reviews:
All about Jazz, C. Michael Bailey (USA), 12. 10.2022:
Full review: HERE
"Socanski reaches deeply into Glass's minimalistic psyche to extract what exists inside and outside of those purposefully repeated melodies and motifs characterizing the solo piano work of the composer. The pianist identifies and presses her thumb on that brooding quality lurking just below the surface of Glass compositions. Socanski does this by accentuating the often hidden elements of the music, like the descending left-hand figures in the No. 11 Étude and "Wichita Vortex Sutra" and the dramatic tension created by carefully modulating the tempo and rhythm. This latter effect may be heard in both "Glassworks: Opening" and "Mad Rush" (both favorite recording subjects of pianists). What Socanski brings to Glass is a well-defined pathos, an emotive momentum expressed by inference and nuance. Full- blooded and robust, Socanski's performances are revealing and accessible, providing a new perspective on Glass and his piano composing."
Fanfare Magazine (USA), Huntley Dent , 20.09.2022:
Full review: HERE
“What sets apart the approach of the talented Serbian-Norwegian pianist Kristina Socanski is her intention to reclaim expression...Socanski sets out to dramatize each étude, and in a sense this is where she achieves her greatest success. Just because the printed score verges on the sterile, it becomes fascinating to see what the pianist’s imagination can extract for expressive effect. It is impressive to hear how much she actually finds, or creates…Because she doesn’t exaggerate her effects, I think Socanski has expanded the meaning of Glass’s music. She has made it her own, which after all is the performer’s prerogative, and thankfully so, because this is where great interpreters thrive.»
Brutal New Music, 05.09.2022:
Full review: HERE
ore
"In her recent interpretation, Kristina Socanski creates a sense of beauty not often heard when listening to performances of Philip Glass' music. Socanski's second album release, consisting of a curated selection of Glass' solo piano pieces from across two decades, equally touches seasoned and amateur listeners with minimalist waves tinged with hints of pianistic romanticism. Too often Glass' brand of minimalism is deemed robotic and unemotional; to combat such, Socanski redefines what the music offers the performer and listener. She masks the mathematical repetitive structures behind the curtain, finally letting one experience the universal affect of this distinct musical world."
25.07.2022, Guy Rickards for Klassiskmusikk.com
Full review: klassiskmusikk.com
" In this all-Glass programme, she grows into the playing as her programme proceeds, coping with increasing confidence and elan with Glass’ endlessly repeating rippling patterns and textures and sudden, lyrical chordal sequences. She is markedly swifter—and much less meditative—in the Glassworks Opening (at 4’ 36”) than Vikingur Olafssón (7’ 45”) in his acclaimed DG selection (479 6918) in 2016. Olafssón might be slicker (who wouldn’t be at such a tempo?) but Sočanski imparts a winning sense of dynamism otherwise absent. She also provides barnstorming accounts of Etudes Nos 6, one of the grander, most outwardly virtuosic of the sequence (Olafssón is half-a-minute quicker, as he is inNo 5), and 15, where she manages the slow build of grandeur and tension rather well... "
22.07.2022, Trond Erikson, Den Klassiske Musikkbloggen:
Full review: HERE
"...Socanski conveys the music in a very fine way. She does not overdramatize - she lets the music air where it needs it and she is faithful to the composer's writings (at least to the scores of his piano pieces that I have in my collection).
I have a great feeling for many of the pieces she has included on the record. "Metamorphosis II" is a piece of music that just flows - well suited to letting your own imagination run wild.
In "Mad Rush" it is liberating to listen to Socanski's perfectionism where, as the most natural thing in the world, she makes the three against four rhythms work in the best way. "Wichita Wortex Sutra" and "Opening" from "Glassworks" are two small favorite pieces that she fortunately includes on the record. Here again, the simplicity she prefers in the music is central. And it is of the very elegant kind that she serves these pearls..."
Media appearances:
Ars Sonora, Radio Beograd, 23.01.2023:
Преглед музичке недеље | Радио Београд 2 | РТС
Susretanja, Radio Beograd, 06.09.2022:
Pijanistkinja Kristina Sočanski | Radio Beograd 1 | RTS