Recordings

Moses Pergament, Volume Two: Songs

“[Soprano Tuuli Lindeberg’s] artistry is evident in a colourfully precise, linguistically fluent and supple emotional expression across the texts’ layered and charged turns. Martin Malmgren’s sensitively intuitive pianism ennobles the musical performance, while his equally thoughtful introductory texts elevate the whole to a high-quality recording.”

Jari Hoffrén, Keskisuomalainen

Moses Pergament, Volume One: A Musical Miscellany

"[The piano concerto] is a most attractive work, strongly characterised and with a real sense of personality, and it’s played with authority by Martin Malmgren. (…) This is a splendidly realised project (…) Malmgren is an especially valuable presence here, both for his stirring performance in the concerto and in the solo piano works and transcriptions."

Jonathan Woolf, Music Web Interntional

“There is some important music here for something called a miscellany. […] If the quality of what is heard on this disc is representative of Pergament’s output, we are in for some wonderful discoveries. […]

The dramatic declamatory opening of the first movement [of the piano concerto], marked Maestoso, is contrasted with a lyrical second subject. The two elements are woven together skillfully. The slow movement, marked Molto adagio, is particularly beautiful, demonstrating the composer’s gift for melody. […] Listeners who respond to Shostakovich or Prokofiev will almost certainly find this concerto appealing. For me, it was a major discovery.

All of the performances here are at a high level, interpretively and technically. The performer who appears in every piece but one is pianist Martin Malmgren. (He is absent in the three-minute Meditation for solo cello.) Malmgren’s knowledge of Pergament is displayed in his playing and his biographical sketch, one of two sets of superb notes. Cellist Tomas Nuñez has a warm, rich sound; he displays dramatic intensity in the four works he plays. I can’t wait for Volume Two.”

Henry Fogel, Fanfare Magazine

“Pergament has a truly distinct voice in his 28-minute Piano Concerto. […] It opens with motifs and melodies that verge on Gershwinesque jazz. The relationship between piano and orchestra is like in the Concerto in F. But Pergament is a far more serious composer. Its integral form grows organically; the drama becomes more serious and gripping than in Gershwin […]. I remained fixated as the quiet, steady development in the orchestra grew and held me through its quasi-tonal journey.”

Gil French, American Record Guide

This new release from Toccata Classics, curated by pianist and lead performer Martin Malmgren, is wholly to be welcomed in bringing a wide range of Pergament's music from right across his career into public view. […]

The Piano Concerto (...) is a brighter, more virtuosic work—for the orchestra as much as the soloist—in the conventional three movements: sonata-form, a haunting and emotionally charged adagio, and a rondo finale based in part on a song from the Simchat Torah festivities. Fleeting reminiscences of Prokofievan or Bartókian pianism aside, the music always sounds like Pergament in Martin Malmgren's committed revival [...].

            The remaining pieces—some gentle, some grave, all immediately engaging—range from early salon-like inspirations, such as the wistful Sorrow from 1908-9, the three Lyrical Dances and Chanson triste for 2 violins, cello & piano, both completed in 1915, to a variety of extracts, arranged by the composer for piano, from incidental music for the stage (1915; 1936) and the stately Festive Fanfare (1961), as well as Malmgren's transcription of some film music (1939). The closing quarter of the album changes focus to the cello for a series of late pieces (1969-74), lovingly played by Nuñez.

Guy Rickards, Klassiskmusikk.com

“There's a haunting strangeness and a sadness to much of this music, and Moses Pergament's compositional voice is definitely one to experience. All the performances here are excellent. Martin Malmgren's extensive liner notes […] are fascinating and detailed."

Keith Bramich, Classical Music Daily

“Bearing in mind that Pergament began composing before the First World War, his style can be described as eclectically modern. In the piano concerto, this means Bartók-like themes in the first movement, a Scriabin-like vision in the slow movement and Jewish themes in the finale […]. Martin Malmgren is a steely-fingered soloist in the demanding piano part, but the orchestral part is also symphonically weighty. […] In all of these works, one hears the voice of an original composer […].”

Antti Häyrynen, Rondo Classic

“I was immediately captivated by the piano concerto, and that interest remained throughout the work during subsequent listenings – I have returned to listen specifically to the piano concerto and will continue to do so. […] There’s a lot of personal commitment in this.”

David Saulesco, Sveriges Radio

“I feel like I can hardly breathe because I don’t know where [the piano concerto] is going to go next, that these ideas are jostling for space and…it’s so personal, it’s so idiosyncratic, and I will definitely come back to this music many times. […] It’s an incredibly comprehensive booklet, and it’s needed – everything that is written there is interesting.”

Boel Adler, Sveriges Radio

“Swedish-Finnish composer of Lithuanian descent, the Jewish Pergament—one of the pioneers of modernism in Sweden—has not been particularly well served by the recording industry. Hence the interest in this miscellany, which includes a major work, the Piano Concerto (1952), five chamber pieces—four of them featuring the cello—and seven miniatures for piano. Notable versions.”

Juan Manuel Viana, Scherzo

Concerts

Rachmaninoff First Piano Concerto

"Malmgren’s interpretation was masterly and I particularly liked the second and third movement’s shimmerringly fresh expression. The long piano solo at the beginning of the Andante was absolutely delicious, played more in the vein of a jazz ballad than of Slavic melancholy.” - Hannu Hirvelä, Kaleva.

Prokofiev Fifth Piano Concerto

"A winner of numerous competitions and accolades, Martin Malmgren appeared as soloist in Prokofiev’s 5th piano concerto. [...] The concerto speaks of the technical skill of its performers: if one can master this level of complication, neither the soloist nor the orchestra need to prove themselves any further.” - Petri Poutiainen, Etälä-Suomen Sanomat.

“The big offer of the evening was the Swedish pianist Martin Malmgren’s interpretation of Prokofiev’s 5th piano concerto, a work he won the Ilmari Hannikainen competition with in Jyväskylä this spring. And it should be said that Malmgren’s interpretation feels thought-out and empathetic….In the Toccata movement Malmgren and the gang emphasized the boldness and in the Larghetto-movement, the sublime qualities became particularly prominent. One would certainly like to hear Martin Malmgren in all Prokofiev’s piano concerti.” - Wilhelm Kvist, Hufvudstadsbladet.

“The rarely heard concerto has five movements, and it suited its performer perfectly and accentuated his personal style. Out of all the finalists Malmgren had the broadest interpretative and dynamic scale, which vibrantly emphasized the musical extremes. The phrase “piano is a percussion instrument” was often accurate about the nature of the concerto, and the accuracy of intensity, length, and timing of Malmgren’s accents was astounding. He was just as at home during the quieter and more peaceful parts of the concerto.” - Santeri Kaipiainen, Keskisuomalainen

Doreen Carwithen Piano Concerto

“The piano concerto presents us with extremely well-written, albeit somewhat impersonally crafted, eclectic neoclassicism with a demanding solo part, which Martin Malmgren performed with virtuoso extroversion and empathetic lyricism.” - Mats Liljeroos, Hufvudstadsbladet

Bartok Third Piano Concerto

“Martin Malmgren was secure and comfortable in his playing. With big musicality, a firm touch and skillful technique he played [Bartok’s 3rd piano concerto].” - Henrik Halvarson, Helsingborgs Dagblad

* * *

"[Paavo Heininen's Etudes are] a quite monumental achievement of the incorruptible avant-garde. A vast work that demands a great deal to hear, let alone perform. […] Malmgren thus brought this rather monumental work of Finnish piano literature to the stage in a very convincing manner. He is able to modify his pianistic approach, touch and technique as necessary, so that he can easily accommodate both delicate romanticism and fierce avant-garde in the same evening. It is quite clear that this premiere was a major event in our musical life. […]

The concert was amusingly titled Planetarium. Yes, indeed, at least Heininen took us to another planet entirely!" - Eero Tarasti, Amfion

“Everything seems so effortless in Martin Malmgren's piano playing that one sometimes almost wishes to experience more resistance from the material. Not even Galina Ustvolskaya's (1919–2006) well-structured Sonata No. 1, “the lady with the hammer,” seemed to require any significant physical effort. Malmgren also has an ability to adapt completely to the room in which he is playing. I have never considered Temppeliaukio to be an ideal venue for a piano recital (the sound tends to spread), but Malmgren transformed the church into a shoebox-shaped, acoustically optimized concert hall. […]

The concert's opening number, Nikolai Medner's (1880–1951) Prologue, Op. 1, led the listener into a lyrical and romantic island on the discovery voyage. The Prologue sounded rich and transparent at the same time, even though it served as a warm-up for Feinberg's Piano Sonata No. 2. Feinberg's sonatas, which Veijo Murtomäki, for example, considers to be second only to Beethoven's as ‘the most revolutionary’ in music history, test the limits of the piano's tonal and technical possibilities as well as the pianist's mastery of the keyboard, at least when it comes to someone with less capacity than Malmgren. […]

Väinö Raitio's fragile miniatures and Henning Mankell's (1868–1930; grandfather of the author of the same name) expressive Vision op. 70 No. 1 were, alongside Ustvolskaya's sonata, my favorites in the program. These were also examples of Malmgren's wide range of touch. Had I been in the habit of shouting “bravo” during the applause, I would have done so.” - Heidi Korhonen-Björkman, Hufvudstadsbladet

“Nine composers and some twenty piano pieces was what the pianist Martin Malmgren conjured up from his piano-hat on his recital. A few well-known works got company with many less known and relatively modern works…. Malmgren truly challenges the audience with his wonderfully rich playing! One highlight of the recital were the two Skazkas by Medtner. Here Malmgren showed his lions paw, which impressed greatly….Martins touch, formidable technique and subtle feeling for diversity in nuances gives us a new big name among pianists.” - Dag Lundin, Eskilstunakuriren

“Malmgren is a young but experienced pianist. His pianistic technique enables him to tackle even the most challenging works with ease. His program included music by Sibelius and Nielsen, two composers often compared with one another, as well as a number of lesser-known works. […] Malmgren started with the Sibelius Sonatinas. In these works the casual sound of the Schimmel grand piano worked well, and the pianist captured their unpretentious, easy-going style.
Nielsen’s, in it’s originally Lucifer-named misunderstood and very rarely played Suite op.45 is in it’s exciting eccentricity far away from Sibelius’s clearly defined feelings. Malmgren highlighted strongly the characters of the movements and captured for example the fourth movement’s innocence aptly. […] The main work of the evening was Ravel’s mystical Gaspard de la nuit. Malmgren […] managed to bring forth a respectable amount of colours from this one the most challenging pieces of the standard repertoire.” - Sakari Hildén, Hämeen Sanomat

“Martin Malmgren sits unusually far from the grand piano, which brings certain extra objectivity to the sound control. Alban Bergs Sonata was far from the paleness that is easily affiliated with fin de siecle, and he managed to insert impressive sparks into his Lindberg pieces. […] Ravels Gaspard de la nuit took the listener to a whole different wave lenghts. […] Colourful sound, fine dynamics and indescribably intensive rythm swept one away.” - Matti Asikainen, Keskisuomalainen