Gusto 3/06/2018: A crashing, dramatic end to the BPO's Classics season
….The piano soloist in the Rachmaninoff, Benedetto Lupo, performed with the Philharmonic some years ago and impressed Buffalo then with his virtuosity and quiet command. On this occasion, too, he strode out with confidence. You knew the Rachmaninoff would be in good hands, and it was. …. The performance was full of dash and fire. From the start, the "Rhapsody" was full of nervous energy and, when the time came for it, stomping momentum. Timing was exquisite. Mary Kunz Goldman - Article
Washingtonpost.com 26/03/2018 : Pianist Lupo celebrates Debussy with thoughtful performance
…Lupo has two key attributes shared by outstanding Debussy interpreters: a seemingly infinite variety of touch and dynamics and a full to overflowing imagination. These, coupled with an infallible Italian instinct for the perfectly balanced singing line, are what make Lupo’s Debussy both authoritative and compelling.
Following “Images oubliées” ,came a richly atmospheric reading of “Estampes.” “La soirée dans Grenade” stood out for its almost cinematic evocation of the swelteringly sensual nights of southern Spain, while “Jardins sous la pluie” exhibited Lupo’s uncommonly fine ear for detail.
“Hommage à Rameau,” Debussy - … Both “Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut,” abundant with sensitively voiced chords, and “Cloches à travers le feuilles” showcased Lupo’s uncanny ability to suggest discrete planes of aural activity simultaneously.
The concert ended with “L’isle joyeuse” in a performance as conceptually original as it was viscerally exciting. Lupo’s interpretations, free of anything predictable or routine, are entirely his own, thoughtful and fresh. Throughout, the audience listened in that rapt silence reserved for the best music-making. Patrick Rucker - Article
Le Devoir 23/03/2018 :«Journées Debussy»: Lupo et la voûte étoilée
…, dimanche, au Ladies' Morning, le récital Debussy de Benedetto Lupo, jeudi, a été une expérience musicale, sensuelle et sonore tout à fait exceptionnelle.
… Après le superbe concert de Philippe Cassard et en attendant Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Benedetto Lupo est allé mettre la barre à une hauteur où ne l’attendait pas. … La différence avec Benedetto Lupo, qui a opté pour le Steinway pendant tout le concert, en le faisant sonner comme très peu de pianistes (Babayan ou Cassard, justement), c’est que chez Lupo tout était suprême, alors que Cassard avait eu des hauts et quelques bas.
…Les deux maîtres mots du Debussy de Lupo sont « mouvement » et « résonance ». Le mouvement chez Debussy peut être une énigme a priori. … Benedetto Lupo recherche cet esprit à tout moment pour donner une respiration aux pièces.
Cette dimension est enchâssée dans un canvas sonore très étudié. Par un usage aussi savant que généreux de la pédale, Benedetto Lupo fait sonner Debussy avec des résonances longues qui font se tuiler des sonorités ( Pagodes !) au point pour l’auditeur, dans les Images, de ne pas pouvoir définir la fin des notes, puisque le son perdure. On en vient à imaginer une voûte étoilée, une constellation sonore, notamment dans la 2e série d’ Images. Quelle ironie d’évoquer l’air et le ciel dans le Debussy le plus liquide qui soit.
Dernier niveau : les touches, innombrables, puisque le Debussy de Lupo n’est en rien prévisible. Les fusées de Poissons d’or, la légèreté des arabesques de la main droite et violence solaire de certains Reflets dans l’eau, la sensualité embrasée de L’Isle joyeuse. Christophe Huss - Article
Bachtrack 23/02/2018: Lupo’s Ravel with Mena & the LPO steals the show from The Rite of Spring
Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand, the most well-known and oft-performed of a number of works for the left hand commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein, was composed nearly twenty years after The Rite of Spring. … Pianist Benedetto Lupo’s opening statement was energetically emphatic yet heavily pedalled, and throughout he balanced the virtuosic challenges, covering the full extent of the keyboard with Ravel’s skilfully lyrical writing for the piano. The offbeat rhythmic orchestral accents in the march-like section gave us a hint of The Rite of Spring’s heavy rhythms to come later in the evening, as did the impressive command of the bassoonist (Jonathan Davies) in the extended blues- infused solo passage. Lupo’s combination of power and control was highly impressive. In the final cadenza, Ravel demands smooth lyricism, combining the central section’s bluesy theme with rippling accompaniment – an extreme challenge for the one hand, and one which Lupo made seem effortlessly natural, making this the stand out performance of the evening.
So great programming and strong performances all round, with stunning Ravel from Lupo, ... Nick Boston - Article
SeenAndHeardInternational 22/02/2018: Outstanding Stravinsky from Mena and the LPO
…The Italian pianist Benedetto Lupo is not well-known in the UK, but his skill in the Ravel Left-Hand Concerto must have made itself known previously to either Mena or the LPO, for his was an outstanding performance, with delicacy and power wonderfully combined. Some of the tempi in the later part of the work were as fast as one had ever heard, but pianist and conductor combined to produce a most brilliant and pungently expressive performance. Alan Sanders - Article
Le Devoir 12/09/2016: L’oeil du maître
…Comme il nous l’a encore une fois montré dimanche, les récitals de Benedetto Lupo sont des fontaines de jouvence. On est quasiment sûr de pouvoir s’y abreuver, d’y apprendre ou de voir s’ouvrir des perspectives. … Benedetto Lupo est un vrai interprète qui souligne avec raison le poids de la désillusion et de la douleur qui pèse sur la Polonaise-Fantaisie de Chopin. Lupo nous donne bien plus que du grand piano. Il nous ouvre les portes d’une expérience musicale.
… Le pianiste italien donne au second volet de Scriabine un aspect furioso assez fascinant. Le pianiste italien n’interrompt jamais le flux de la 3e Sonate de Chopin, dont il organise les phrases, par un usage généreux de la pédale, en vagues sonores. Son Finale est aussi impatient et fougueux …Dans Rachmaninov, Lupo choisi la mouture la plus dense de la partition, et en fait une lecture démiurgique, absolument maîtrisée dans ses emportements les plus exaltés. Pendant tout ce récital, Benedetto Lupo ne lâche rien. Il nous tient en haleine, éblouis. Quel pianiste, quel artiste ! - Christophe Huss - Full article
www.lapresse.ca 19/07/2015: Lanaudière en 28 minutes
Seul élément à retenir de la soirée d'hier à Lanaudière: Benedetto Lupo dans le Concerto pour piano de Scriabine. …Le Scriabine était l'un des moments attendus de la programmation 2015 du Festival, centrée sur le centenaire de la mort du compositeur russe. …
Deux mouvements rapides y encadrent un mouvement lent formé de quatre variations. Le tout s'écoute bien, surtout dans l'interprétation à la fois brillante et raffinée de Benedetto Lupo, … - Claude Gingras
www.lapresse.ca 9/02/2015: Lupo: plus loin que le programme
…Petit, effacé, le crâne rasé, on dirait un moine. Mais l'homme a vite fait de nous étonner par la puissance de sa sonorité et la virtuosité de son jeu. L'étonnement est double puisque le musicien racé, davantage identifié à Mozart, par exemple, a choisi comme pièce de résistance la rare Sonate de Tchaïkovsky. …L'oeuvre en quatre mouvements totalisait cette fois 31 minutes. On admire le pianiste d'avoir mémorisé ce déluge de notes et d'avoir conféré le maximum d'expression à cette musique …
...son interprétation reste celle d'un maître. Phrasé, respiration, naturel du discours: on n'imagine pas cette musique traduite avec plus de conviction. La même remarque s'applique aux pièces carrément inférieures jouées au tout début, ….Merci donc à M. Lupo d'avoir, pour une fois, regardé ailleurs que chez Beethoven et quelques autres. - Claude Gringas
www.ledevoir.com 9/02/2015: Benedetto Lupo réhabilite Tchaïkovski
…Le grand moment du récital fut la Sonate op 37 de Tchaikovsky, dite « Grande Sonate ». …Dans la partition, Tchaikovksy demande au pianiste de souligner la mélodie, alors qu’il n’y a même plus de mélodie, juste ces appels. Benedetto Lupo a donc opéré une réhabilitation majeure majeur d’une œuvre balayée en général du revers de la main. ….Techniquement, Lupo a été souverain, dans les difficultés tortueuses de la partition. Dans la gestion des résonances aussi, chose primordiale dans une partition baignée dès le début par le son du glas.
..Dans le œuvres de Schumann aussi, Lupo a géré la pédale et la rémanence sonore avec grand arts…- Christophe Huss
National Post Toronto 19/01/2015: Benedetto Lupo & Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Before intermission we heard the Italian Benedetto Lupo in the Piano Concerto No. 23. The second theme of the first movement was more curvaceous and interesting when he played it than it had been in the orchestral exposition. His solo work in the Adagio projected a firm sort of melancholy. - Arthur Kaptainis
Toronto-Star 16/01/2015: TSO offers full Mozart meal deal
…The main course consisted of the Piano Concerto No. 23, performed at breakneck speed by pianist Benedetto Lupo, with Matthew Halls conducting. It began with a very clean, almost dainty first movement and led towards the Menuetto, which was played with a tenderness that made it seem as if Wolfgang himself was sitting at the piano. The finalAllegretto was whipped up into a super-vivid phantasmagoria but left the orchestra struggling to keep up. - Michael Vincent
The Globe and Mail Toronto 16/01/2015: This year’s Mozart Festival brings light in trying times
The TSO is trying to get things right. Conductor Matthew Halls and pianist Benedetto Lupo did manage to let the depth of Mozart’s despair float toward us on Wednesday night in a sublime middle movement of the A Major Concerto, K. 488. - Robert Harris
www.art snash.com 26/04/2014: Nashville Symphony scores big in a program of Mozart masterpieces.
The terrific Italian pianist Benedetto Lupo joined Seaman and the NSO in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major. Lupo boasts a commanding technique, and on Friday he gave a bracing account of the Mozart. He played the concerto’s dramatic sections with fire, performing quicksilver scales and arpeggios with pearl-like perfection. …Standing ovations are fairly commonplace in Nashville, but the thunderous cheers that greeted Lupo at the end of his perf ormance seemed to surprise even the veteran members of the NSO. - John Pitcher
www.radioeco.it 13/03/2014 : Intimité et puissance, tous les couleurs du piano de Bendetto Lupo
Images de Debussy… La remarquable maîtrise de Benedetto Lupo se confronte ensuite avec un discours un peu plus agressif en Masques … L’île joyeuse ouvre de grandes espaces dans l’imagination des auditeurs.
Grande Sonate de Tchaikovsky :…la structure complexe ,vaste, avec de nombreux passages virtuoses, met en évidence la polyvalence de Lupo, qui alterne magistralement des touchers de velours et fées, avec des gestes puissants, tout en valorisant aussi le caractère percussif du mouvement finale .
Le concert se termine avec deux cadeaux au public, une page de Brahms et une de Debussy… bien merités les applaudissement du public à Lupo. Tenez-le bien ce cher pianiste italien, et ouvrez lui plus que jamais les portes des théâtres car il le mérite … - Giuseppe F. Pagano
www.kdhx.org 2/03/2014: Dramatic themes and variations with Juanjo Mena and the symphony
Rachmaninov "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" - …The soloist for the Rachmaninoff was Benedetto Lupo, making his second appearance with the symphony. When he was competing in the final round of the 1989 Van Cliburn Competition (in which he took the bronze medal), Lupo was described by critic Joseph Horowitz as a performer whose "musicianship, taste, and tenderness make him impossible not to like." I'd add that he also has a powerful technique that served him well Friday night in Mr. Mena's dynamic and sometimes hair raisingly brisk approach to this piece. The introduction and final six variations—difficult enough at any tempo—were especially speedy, which made Mr. Lupo's performance all the more impressive.
That's not to say he lacked delicacy and lyricism when it was called for. The famous 18th variation was as warm and romantic as one would wish. This was, in short, a totally engrossing performance, delivered with minimum of flash and maximum of musicianship. - Chuck Lavazzi
St Louis Post-Dispatch 1/03/2014: Benedetto Lupo & St. Louis Symphony Orchestra/ Juanjo Mena - Themes and variations work well together for SLSO
Sergei Rachmaninov “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” - …Lupo’s music-making is consistently meticulous and precise, as odd as that might seem in so Romantic a work as Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody;” the drama is purely in his hands, and in the score, with no histrionics. His playing was intelligent, expressive, never sloppy, and built to a crescendo of excitement. Lupo hasn’t been here since 2006; it is to be hoped that his schedule and that of the SLSO will coincide again soon. - Sarah Bryan Miller
Music and Arts 4/11/2013: Benedetto Lupo
Pianist Benedetto Lupo made his Vancouver recital debut yesterday in a daring programme of Brahms and Tchaikovsky. …Benedetto Lupo certainly set himself a challenge when he programmed both the three pieces in Op. 117 and the seven pieces in Op. 116 (Brahms) in the first half of his recital programme. …Lupo lavished each of these pieces with a beautiful sound at the piano, and exhibited a fine sense of direction in the music. He managed to highlight the many layers within the music, while never making the music sound heavy or lacking in forward motion. The near-capacity audience rewarded the pianist with the greatest gift a musician could ask for – silence.
Tchaikovsky’s Grand Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 - …From the march-like first subject in the first movement, to the ferociously difficult final movement, the sonata could not have found a greater champion than Lupo. …The young pianist played the entire work with an incredible sense of purpose and unity, and with an utter neglect for the fearsome pianistic challenges lay down by the composer. Under his hands, the logic as well as originality of this unfamiliar (to me) work by a very familiar composer became quite apparent. In this already crowded field of outstanding pianists, Benedetto Lupo is an artist that has much to offer, and one that I would love to hear again.
www.straight.com 4/11/2013: Pianist Benedetto Lupo delivers an emotional performance in Vancouver
If there’s one thing you can count on an Italian musician for, it’s feeling. And that’s just what pianist Benedetto Lupo delivered in his Vancouver Recital Society performance at the Chan Centre. …Lupo gave an unabashedly emotional performance of works by Johannes Brahms and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, …
Lupo gently caressed the lullabylike first movement, “Andante moderato”, …The last of the three movements, “Andante con moto”, Lupo imbued with a dark, brooding character. Then, with scarcely a pause, he launched dramatically into the composer’s Fantasien Op. 116 with a sudden fury.
Tchaikovsky Grand Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 - Before sitting down to play, Lupo took time to explain the work, noting that it was composed during a time in which Tchaikovsky was gripped by depression, …The “Andante non troppo quasi moderato”, with its persistent repeated note was full of pathos, while the “Scherzo” was a blur of notes and false levity, farcical and mocking in character. When the last resolute notes of the “Finale” came, with its echo of the “Dies Irae” theme again, all thoughts of the sunshine outside had been extinguished. Lupo lightened the mood a little with his two encores. - Jessica Werb
Le Devoir 5/08/2013: L’énergie du poète
Fascinante, la lecture polyphonique osée de ce Schumann articulé à coups de pattes, puissant dans les entrailles du clavier. Tout le monde schumannien était convié. Celui de la fôret, celui de la nuit, avec des apparitions de spectres, par exemple dans les ultimes mesures de l’Ad libitum, dernière pièce du cycle nocturne opus 23.
Aprés la pause, voici les opus 116 et 117 de Brahms - …Sans mimiques inutiles, sans effets de manches ni affection, Benedetto Lupo pénètre l’univers intime de Brahms, don’t il accentue les contratstes avec une immense concentration, par exemple dans l’Opus 117 nr 1, berceuse d’une désarmante simplicité, ou l’Opus 116 nr 2. Là aussi les phrases s’aspirent l’une l’autre avec une grâce absolue…mais aussi, ici et là, un coup de patte, un accent, un chant mis en exergue comme rarement.
Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Schumann et Brahms: décidement, Benedetto Lupo est un pianist éminent de notre temps. On ne demande, ici, qu’à découvir davantrage encore sa polyvalence. - Christophe Huss
Baltimore Symphony 20/10/2012: Classy music-making from Benedetto Lupo & Juanjo Mena
Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 also delivered intense rewards. The soloist was the excellent Benedetto Lupo. It has been a long while since I heard the Italian pianist, who took the bronze at the 1989 Van Cliburn Competition. The qualities I admired back in the 1990s were very much in evidence Friday -- unfailing beauty of tone matched with solid technique and refined musicality. Lupo brought clarity of articulation and piquant phrasing to the outer movements, and achieved poetic warmth in the richly atmospheric Adagio. - Tim Smith
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