Míċeál O’Rourke: Piano
Míċeál O’Rourke’s lifelong commitment to music-making and his extensive repertoire have earned him great critical acclaim. His highly distinctive sound, presence, and ability to communicate musically have gripped public and critics alike. “A tremendous virtuoso, playing with the simplicity of a child singing” commented the Boston Globe on his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto.
Reviewing his recitals at the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, and the Philips Collection, Washington Post critics referred to his “singular poise and velvet cat’s paw touch”, his “most wonderfully quiet hands”, and his being “a pianist with the kind of musical presence that commands, who reinvents the standards of the past”.
“As good as it gets” is how the American Record Guide described Míċeál’s survey on Chandos Records of the seven John Field piano concertos with London Mozart Players. His other recordings on the Chandos label include CDs of Debussy, Chopin, Schumann and Michele Esposito. His world première CD of piano music by George Frederick Pinto was elected “Recording of the Year 2000” by the critics of Le Monde de la Musique (France). Míċeál has since then championed Field’s concertos in public performances in Amsterdam, Bratislava, Dublin, Hannover, Krakow, London, Metz, Moscow, New York, Novosibirsk, Rotterdam and Saint Petersburg.
Míċeál has established a close bond with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, frequently performing as their concerto soloist in repertory ranging from Mozart and Chopin to Szymanowski and Lutoslawski. He regularly performs solo recitals and chamber music at the Philharmonia, and in 2015, he will be returning to play Chopin concerto No 2 and Mozart concerto no.23, as well as chamber music with the Stravinsky String Quartet, and piano and violin sonata programs.
For “outstanding performances of Chopin” Míċeál O’Rourke was awarded the Fréderic Chopin Medal by the Polish Artists Guild. His televised recordings of the complete nocturnes by Chopin have been screened in Australia, Greece, Ireland, Sweden, and by PBS in the United States.
In recent seasons Míċeál O’Rourke has given début performances in Spain, Chile and Argentina as well as making return visits to Belarus, China, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, the United States and to his home base in Paris. In 2015, he will tour a new program of ‘Night Music’ encapsulating the many moods of the night, from the quiet of Schumann’s Traumerei to the drama of Ravel and Samuel Barber.
Míċeál O’Rourke has lectured and given master-classes at Juilliard School, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Hong Kong College of Fine Arts, Beijing and Nanjing Music Academies, State Academy of Music in Vilnius, Chopin Academy of Music, State Music Academy in Minsk and the Novosibirsk Conservatory.
In a vast concerto repertoire of more than fifty works ranging from Bach to Lutoslawski, Míċeál O’Rourke has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the State Philharmonic of Belarus, Boston Pops, Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, Irish National Symphony, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Nice-Côte d’Azur, Norddeutscher Runfunk Orchester, Philharmonie de Lorraine, Royal Philharmonic, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Ukraine and others.
- Field – Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (1995)
- Field – Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 (1996)
- Field – Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 6 (1996)
- Field – Piano Concerto No. 7, Divertissement Nos. 1 & 2, Rondeau, Nocturne No.16, Quintetto (1997)
- Schumann – Kreisleriana and Carnaval (1995)
- Chopin – Four ballades, Grandes polonaise brillante, Polonaise-fantasie (1995)
- Chopin – Les Grandes Polonaises
- Debussy – Preludes and Estampes (1992)
- Pinto – Piano Music (2000)
- Field – The Complete Nocturnes (1992)
- Field – 4 Sonatas (1992)
- Field – 16 Piano Pieces (1994)
United States
“With singular poise and velvet cat’s paw touch, Irish pianist Míċeál O’Rourke inaugurated the Washington Performing Arts Society’s spanking new Steinway concert grand at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater…O’Rourke pulls the afterlife from a note, unfurling a thread then winding it back. The Chopin ‘Polonaise-Fantasie’ Op. 61, featured graceful open chord ascents using residual tone, then launched into a deceptively placid exploration of a recurring waltz motif. Deceptive, because of the ensuing showy cadenza.”
– L. Peat O’Neil for The Washington Post on a solo concert at the Kennedy Center (read full review here)
“One had no sense of O’Rourke as a tremendous virtuoso because he avoided all the usual show-off effects…But a tremendous virtuoso O’Rourke must be, for he was able to make even the larger first movement cadenza, the one Rachmaninoff himself avoided, sound like music and not like an air hammer at work on the street.”
– Richard Dyer for The Boston Globe on Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra with the headline ‘Impressive Rachmaninoff’ (read full review here)
”He puts the music across with wondrous efficiency and he balances the piano texture impeccably…first rate.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
England
“There are times when one grieves to see no microphones, to realize that the performance one is experiencing is vanishing into the blue only to recaptured in the mind…Another shining work followed, Mozart’s E flat piano concerto No. 9, K 271 with the soloist Míċeál o’ Rourke. Bejewelled with trills, it sparkled and flowed with exquisite delicacy and sensitivity of touch.”
– Daily Telegraph on the New Irish Chamber Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
“…this pianist has the easy fluency which Mozart needs, and the show movement was played with finesse and a real sense of poetry.”
– Hugo Cole for The Guardian on Mozart’s E flat piano concerto No. 9, K 271 with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
“When conductor, soloist, and orchestra combine so beautifully as on Sunday did the London Mozart Players under Matthias Bamert with pianist Míċeál O’Rourke, it is a true joy. O’Rourke gave a calm yet dazzling performance.”
– Adam Fords for the Basingstoke Gazette on John Field’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in E flat major with the London Mozart Players
Ireland
“Internationally recognized as one of the leading Chopin interpreters of the present, O’Rourke gave us a display of musicianship that will remain in my mind for many a year. I have not heard such wonderfully thought through interpretations of Chopin since the much lamented Dinu Lipatti died. Listening to O’Rourke’s recordings, I have frequently marveled at their depth of feeling. Hearing him play live was even better. O’Rourke is an artist of rare sensibility.”
– Declan Townsend for the Irish Examiner on an all-Chopin solo concert at the Cork School of Music, Ireland (read full review here)
“Míċeál O’Rourke played Chopin Ballade No.1 with easy mastery: it was as if he had written it himself and could allow himself a welcome fluidity in the interpretation, making the narrative move now fast, now slow, according to the need of the moment.”
– Douglas Sealy for The Irish Times on a solo concert at Coach House, Dublin Castle
Amsterdam
“Wondrous touch…O’Rourke is alone among the present generation of pianists in giving such refined gloss to the sound…a master.”
– Luister
Germany
“Michael O’Rourke is a predestined interpreter…one can only repeat what has already been said of him in Paris and London. His ‘exquisite delicacy and sensitivity of touch’ were outstanding.”
– Lahrer Zeitung
Recordings
“From the first note to the last we are in the presence of a pianist of very impressive technique and affinity for Debussy’s elusive idiom, who can summon from the piano the manifold tone colors and sonorities required in each of these pieces. His use of the pedal, intrinsic to Debussy, is exemplary. One hears a clarity in his playing, a cleanness, and a musical intensity, all of which keep the interest from drifting.”
– David Mulbury for American Record Guide on Debussy: Preludes Book 1, Estampes on Chandos (read full review here)
“O’Rourke’s unfussy, unselfish playing is the heart of the matter. He combines a full emotional weight – where necessary – with a beautiful limpidity of performance; in the long outer movements of the Second concerto the runs flow with an easy virtuosity. Yet he’s quite happy to articulate – without advertising his own technical excellence – to good effect. His playing in the quieter, melodic moments has a marvelous singing quality; he can also combine mellifluous runs in one hand with carefully articulated touches in the other. The whole effect is set by the typically excellent Chandos sound – spacious, with not a touch of piano clatter that seems to be the hallmark of many modern recordings.”
– Jeremy Beadle on John Field’s Piano Concerto 1 and Piano Concerto 2
“Míċeál O’Rourke’s survey on Chandos of the seven John Field Piano Concertos is as good as it gets.”
– American Record Guide
“Chopin worth waiting for…a master pianist.”
– BBC Music Magazine
“Genial, neatly turned performances of John Field Concertos…O’Rourke delicate touch is ideal.”
– The Times, London
Photos
Reviews
“With singular poise and velvet cat’s paw touch, Irish pianist Miceal O’Rourke…pulls the afterlife from a note, unfurling a thread then winding it back.”
“There are times when one grieves to see no microphones, to realize that the performance one is experiencing is vanishing into the blue only to recaptured in the mind…Another shining work followed, Mozart’s E flat piano concerto No. 9, K 271 with the soloist Miceal O’ Rourke. Bejewelled with trills, it sparkled and flowed with exquisite delicacy and sensitivity of touch.”
”He puts the music across with wondrous efficiency and he balances the piano texture impeccably…first rate.”
“Miceal O’Rourke is a predestined interpreter…one can only repeat what has already been said of him in Paris and London. His ‘exquisite delicacy and sensitivity of touch’ were outstanding.”
“Wondrous touch…O’Rourke is alone among the present generation of pianists in giving such refined gloss to the sound…a master.”
“Míċeál O’Rourke’s survey on Chandos of the seven John Field Piano Concertos is as good as it gets.”
“Chopin worth waiting for…a master pianist.”
Audio
Baldassare Galuppi: Piano Sonata No.5
in C major
