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“Magdalena Filipczak is a great musician and a great violinist. She possesses the rare combination of complete mastery of her instrument and a thorough understanding of
music, which enables her to spellbind and touch audiences.”
Henk Guittart, violist and International Tutor in Strings Performance, Royal Northern College of Music
Review from theartsdesk.com
"Not many solo recitals are as eclectic as this; you
don't expect to find Elgar, Piazolla and Lutosławski sharing disc space.
As a calling card for a young violinist, Magdalena Filipczak's Essence
of Violin is a treat. She's a musical chameleon, quickly getting under
the skin of whatever she's playing. There's a consistency of approach
too; the less virtuosic salon pieces treated with as much care as the
showstoppers. A Saint-Saëns caprice has all the fireworks anyone could
want. To calm things down, Filipczak follows it with humane,
sweet-tempered performances of Elgar's Chanson de Matin and
Salut d'amore. Two movements from Piazolla's Histoire du
Tango sound suitably idiomatic, and they're beautifully accompanied
by guitarist Martin Fogel. He deserves a disc to himself; the veiled
intro to "Café 1930" is exquisite.
"We get Wieniawski's expansive
Fantaisie Brillante, based on themes from Gounod's
Faust. Cheesy, yes, but magnificently done, with sensational
piano playing from Agnieszka Kozło. Rarities include an extract from
Szymanowski's ballet Harnasie; its haunting opening followed by
a vigorous, foot-stamping folk dance. I'd never heard Britten's 1937
Reveille before, an engaging study inspired by the Spanish
violinist Antonio Brosa's difficulties in getting up each morning. Over
an insistent piano accompaniment, Filipczak's solo line slowly comes to
life. We're tricked into thinking that she's gone back to sleep at the
close, before Britten's brusque closing chords. A glittering chunk of
late-period Lutosławski closes proceedings. All immaculately recorded
and well-annotated; an anthology to suit all tastes."
Graham Rickson - Saturday, 05 September 2015
theartsdesk.com
Review from The Strad
"glittering...beguiling...captivating...virtuoso...hauntingly atmospheric..."
"Magdalena Filipczak opens her recital Essence of Violin (Audio-B, ABCD 5031) with a glittering performance of Ysaÿe's famous arrangement of Saint-Saëns's Etude en forme de valse, in which the various multiple-stoppings and thrown harmonics are offset by beguilingly phrased insinuations of ballroom delight. Her plaintive tone (coloured by a medium-fast, narrow vibrato) and temporal suppleness are particularly well suited to Elgar's world of autumnal reminiscences (Chanson de matin and Salut d'amour) and she also proves a captivating exponent of Piazzolla's twilight cool (Bordel 1900 and Café 1930) with guitarist Martin Fogel, before whipping up a virtuoso storm with Wieniawski's notorious Faust Fantasy (after Gounod), in which gifted pianist Agnieszka Kozło follows her every inch of the way. Also included are hauntingly atmospheric performances of three Britten rarities - the Reveille concert study and the Lullaby and Waltz from the Op.6 Suite."
Julian Haylock, The Strad, April 2015
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