Reviews
The music on this disc Hello Mr Paganini some of the most difficult ever written for violin, is not played easily, and even less played with conviction. Feng does both, and with a sort of insouciant arrogance that speaks not only of ability but of empathy with the composer as well. According to the notes, he wishes us to “sing along” and not simply be amazed by the wizardry that Paganini infused into this music, devilish or not. …I remain convinced that only a violinist who actually loves this music—aside from just being intimidated by it or finding it challenging—could put across the melodic emphasis with such grace and airiness without focusing so much on the difficulties of the formal technique involved.” Read the full article
Steven Ritter, in Audiophile Audition, 11 Feb 2008
"It's no surprise to learn that Feng Ning was the winner of the 2006 International Paganini Competition in Genoa; he's able to bring the great virtuoso's most extreme flights of fancy to life with exceptional beauxty and precision. The left hand pizzicati are uncommonly clear, even and rhythmic, and the notorious double harmonics are not only pure in tuning and tone quality, but sensitively and expressively phrased, too. Performed with this degree of finesse, Paganini's music takes on a surreal quality - a dreamlike extension of more normal ranges of expression. … it's an enthralling, exciting recital."
Duncan Druce writing in Gramophone (Jan 2008(?))
A Sorcerer's Apprentice as Warlock
It's not surprising that Feng Ning won the 2006 "Premio Paganini" in Genoa, when you hear him play "devil violinist" [Paganini's] "Le Streghe" Variations, as he did recently at a Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung summer matinee in the Musical Instruments Museum.
One is astounded not just by the rapid jumps, scales and pizzicato - but [Ning] makes an even more fascinating impression in the lyrical passages, with tenderly nuanced structures full of delicate protractions, promises and refusals. The young violinist, a student of Antje Weithaas at the Eisler-Hochschule, is able to change virtuosity into a pure desire for life.
With a phenomenal presence, particularly in his rhythmic sensibilities, he brings Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata" to a hurricane of tension and passion, almost overly trenchant. With his piano accompanist Thomas Hoppe he finds the perfect sound balance in Francis Poulenc's Sonata of 1938, fusing perfumed sweet-nothing salon themes with sharply conflicted and impassioned dissonant upswings.
Isabel Herzfeld, August 7, 2007,
epartment: Berlin Culture
With Michael Houstoun
"[Feng Ning and Michael Houstoun] gave a capacity audience a memorable example of what chamber music is all about.
"Phrase by phrase, against Houstoun's limpid keyboard, Ning was the soul of elegance...
"...for Richard Strauss' Sonata... Ning's violin soared in the outer movements and, with the sympathetic Houstoun, shaped the ebb and flow of its Andante cantabile to perfection.
"The Finale was a heroic stand, with Ning in full arpeggiando splendour and Houstoun's piano hinting at worlds yet to be fully revealed in the composer's tone poems and operas.
"Poulenc's Sonata shimmered like shot silk, a child of the salon and the jazz club in equal parts."
William Dart New Zealand Herald, June 27, 2007 See Full Review
"This was a performance that swept all before it. It was impossible not to be won over by the Andantino barcarolle [of the Saint-Saëns concerto], especially when Ning's airy harmonics shadowed the clarinet so immaculately. There was little point in resisting a Finale that catapulted us from tzigane passion to Wagnerian ecstasy."
William Dart New Zealand Herald, June 25, 2007
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...mit einem Capriccio von Paganini ... in einer sagenhaften Technik vorgeführt, die Orchestermusiker und Publikum geleichermaßen in Staunen versetzte. Badisches Tagblatt, November 2006 |
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Begeisterungsstürme wie kaum ein anderer Solist in jüngster Zeit löste der junge chinesische Geiger Feng Ning [aus] … Feng Ning ist nicht nur ein großer techniker, er spielt vor allem mit viel Seele und mit großer Musikalität. Badische Neueste Nachrichten, November 2006 |
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Una forte personalità, un'interpretazione molto partecipata e carica d'espressivatà, che non ha avuto cedimenti, anzi tratti di intensificazione crescente; cosìcome nel concerto di Paganinì, immediata è stata la sensazione di una peina padronanza dello strumento, che gli ha consentito una esecuzione controllollata anche nei passaggi più virtuosistica, non affatto frenetica, anzi con ampi respiri, efficaci contrasti dinamicici e bella sottolineatura in quei momenti " indugiati" , " a sorpresa", così tipici del diabolico compositore genovese. Il Giornale Genova e Riviere, October 2006 |
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Und immer erstaunte der reife musikalische Ausdruck, mit dem der junge Chinese durchgängig überzeugte. Gabi Zahn, Main Post, July 2006 |
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Der junge Mann hat alle, um zu einem großen Geiger zu werden. Saale Zeitung, July 2006 |
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"Paganini's 'Le Streghe' let Ning show off his stunning virtuosity and in this witches' dance he used his technical wizardry with bow and fingers to great effect." The Daily Post H.S.F 8 June, 2006 |
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The concert included the drawcard performer, Feng Ning, his glorious tone sadly wasted in Bruch's showy Scottish Fantasy. Then, as if to prove that he could quite easily play the impossible, he tossed off Paganini's Variations on God Save the Queen, which asks for a fantastic array of double-stops, pizzicato from both hands, trills and scales. Rod Biss in The Listener, June 17-23 2006 |
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"I can't remember when I last saw the Town Hall Concert Chamber filled to capacity as it was for Monday's outstanding recital by violinist Feng Ning and pianist Michael Houstoun." William Dart, The New Zealand Herald, 7 June, 06 |
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Was der 24-jährige Chinese Feng Ning auf der Geige vollbrachte, schien manchmal schon an Hexerei zu grenzen. ….Solche Virtuosität diente aber nicht eitler Selbstdarstellung, sondern schuf im lyrischen Gesangstrom auch strukturierende Kontraste. Badisches Tagblatt, July 2005 |
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Was der Geiger Feng Ning aus China am Schluss des Konzerts bot, das war einfach Weltklasse. Herausgekommen ist dabei ein Brahms, der stimmiger kaum sein könnte: Vielschichtig, getragen von einter Sehnsucht nach Harmonie, die bruchlos doch nicht möglich ist. Feng Nings Spiel ließ an keiner Stelle einen Zweifel daran aufkommen, daß er über eine souveräne Spieltechnik verfügt. Badische Neueste Nachrichten, August 2005 |
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A Star is Born "Feng Ning was a star from the beginning… His Mozart made you forget he had piano and not orchestra behind him; his unaccompanied Bach was a ripple of perfection… [His] performance of Brahms' Concerto could have stood proudly in any concert hall." William Dart, NZ Herald, June 2005 |
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Avec son rythme fluide qui fait "swinguer" la ligne, it gravit les échelons, l'air de rien. Le Soir, May 2001 |
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C'est une personnalité forte, aux allures de rebelle baigné dans un monde d'intériorité, qui allie de superbes moyens techniques à une impressionnante capacité de concentration. Personnalité forte qui a impressionné par son intériorité, sa sonorité et sa virtuosité. La Libre Belgique, May 2001 |
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Full article:
Magnificent Violin and Piano Recital
Last night's large audience at the Concert Chamber were treated to magnificent recital by violinist Feng Ning and pianist Michael Houston. Feng Ning, winner of the 2004 Michael Hill violin competition and numerous other prizes, astounded the audience with his formidable technique and assured playing. He had a partner of comparable distinction in Michael Houston whose accompaniment either gave buoyant support or was a well-judged foil.
In Schubert's Fantasy in C Major is a mixture of drama, gipsy bravado and Romantic melodies, but the violinist's silky and sensuous tone lent throughout the piece a touch of appealing tenderness.
Chausson's 'Poeme' has a prevailing sweet sadness and this too was marked by an individual identity when the duo's lyrical performance gave the piece a welcome sense of optimism and beauty.
After the interval refined playing of Faure's Sonata in A was more proof that the duo was a persuasive interpreter of French music.
Paganini's 'Le Streghe' let Ning show off his stunning virtuosity and in this witches' dance he used his technical wizardry with bow and fingers to great effect.
As if this wasn't enough, three delightful encores were added to show how easy such supreme skill can be made to appear.
The Daily Post H.S.F 8 June, 2006
Full article:
I can't remember when I last saw the Town Hall Concert Chamber filled to capacity as it was for Monday's outstanding recital by violinist Feng Ning and pianist Michael Houstoun.
Their opening Bach Sonata melted our hearts from the first phrase of its Siciliano. Perhaps the Back-to-Baroque brigade might sniff at Steinways and lashings of rubato but Ning's phrasing and tonal control were unimpeachable - at times his bow seemed to barely move on the string.
Ning's violin seemed to emerge out of Houstoun's zither-like tremolos for Schubert's Fantasy in C. This is late and eccentric Schubert, but the two men sailed through zesty Hungarian dancing and volatile harmonic shifts with ease.
Faure's A major Sonata revealed a partnership made in chamber music heaven; Ning's line certainly soared in that direction. The slow movement was a tremulous breath, the third a breathless game of tag, transformed by some musical alchemy into a vertiginous waltz.
Paganini's Le Streghe Variations might have been a built-in encore. Ning was certainly unsparing in his virtuosity and Houstoun no less so in the occasional flourish. In fact, three frothy encores came forth, the highlight being a trip to the land of Helmut Zacharias with a palpitating Hora staccato.
Such consummate artistry is rare in our concert halls. The pair play Rotorua tonight and Hamilton Thursday, with Chausson's Poeme standing in for the Bach. So ... there is still a chance to catch them
William Dart, The New Zealand Herald, 7 June, 06
Feng Ning
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