"Eckardstein manages to execute the blinding juxtaposition of divergent energies. Eckardstein's playing, by turns, has been volcanic, impassioned, and occasionally understated, and always lyrically informed. "
Fanfare, 31-1-2022Prokofiev’s music has always been close to my heart.
In his childhood, the Russian composer loved to improvise on the piano, just as I did. His piano style was not as sprawling as, say, that of Rachmaninov, his contemporary. Yet it was all the more flexible, capable of instantly morphing to reflect current events – a style at times fresh and charged with energy, at others suddenly brooding.
Prokofiev’s music was stylistically multilayered from the onset, here and there juxtaposing melodies of a Classical bent with irony, self-deprecation, and driving rhythmic impulse. His skillful formal mastery and his unquenchable thirst for drama derived from opera, and always served him as a striking, never-ending source of inspiration.
In its impressive cohesion and vitality, Prokofiev’s piano output elaborately intermingles a variety of surprising moments where a touch of human feeling sneaks up on the listener, thereby revealing striking sincerity and profound inner feeling. Far from consisting in episodes of post-Romantic bathos, these are moments of bleak, violent despair.
Take, for example, the emotional outbreaks and the instances of sudden, hushed introversion in Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto, written prior to the Russian Revolution.
(Excerpt from the liner notes by the artist)
Severin von Eckardstein, one of the leading German pianists of his generation, has an already lengthy record of solo concerts and concerto performances on major stages around the world.
He has performed with orchestras such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, NHK Orchestra or the Mariinsky Orchestra, and conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Jaap Van Zweeden, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski and Valery Gergiev.
As a frequent guest of the concert series “Meesterpianisten” at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, von Eckardstein opened the gala concert celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary in 2012. In 2020 he was reinvited to this extraordinary series for the 8th time. He appears regularly at the Berliner Klavierfestival, Germany.
Born in Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1978, the pianist won prizes at numerous noteworthy international competitions, e.g the “Leeds International Piano Competition” (2000), the ARD-Competition in Munich (1999) and was awarded first prize at the “Concours Reine Elisabeth” in Brussels (2003).
Von Eckardstein’s education in the musical arts was predominately shaped by his teachers Prof. Barbara Szczepanska, Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Prof. Klaus Hellwig, University of Arts, Berlin. In an additional course of study at the International Piano Academy Lake Como, Italy, he profited from further instruction and inspiration. He regularly gives masterclasses, for example in Finland and South Korea. After three years as a professor at the Cologne University of Music, he accepted a professorship at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts in 2026.
Chamber music also plays a significant role in his repertoire with performances at festivals such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Finland, Delft Chamber Music Festival, Netherlands, and the Risør Chamber Music Festival, Norway, where he appeared with cellist Heinrich Schiff. His partners are for example the Schumann Quartet, Sophia Jaffé, isabelle van Keulen, Isang Enders and Nicolas Altstaedt. In 2015 he founded the chamber concert series “Klangbrücken” at Konzerthaus Berlin together with violinist Franziska Hölscher.
CD recordings with compositions by Medtner, Scriabin, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy and others are highly regarded. His recording of Dupont´s cycle “La maison dans les dunes” was awarded with “Diapason d´Or”. Piano Concertos by Medtner and Scharwenka with the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra will be released in 2026.
Eckardstein manages to execute the blinding juxtaposition of divergent energies.
Eckardstein's playing, by turns, has been volcanic, impassioned, and occasionally understated, and always lyrically informed.
Fanfare, 31-1-2022
Suddenly you end up in a forest full of dissenting voices that leave room for much, much more nuances and dancing flexibility.
De Nieuwe Muze, 01-10-2021
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