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Classics Today reviews Debut Album Epilogues by Shtrykov-Tanaka Duo
Jed Distler I Classics Today I December 24, 2023
The title “Epilogues” refers to the fact that Brahms, Saint-Saëns, and Poulenc wrote clarinet sonatas at the end of their composing careers. More importantly, clarinetist Maksim Shtrykov and pianist Misuzu Tanaka serve up world-class performances of these works that yield nothing to competing catalog versions.
Read MoreMusicWeb International reviews album Epilogues
David McDade I MusicWeb International I July 6, 2023
It is a strange thing that three composers as different as Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Poulenc should each have turned to the clarinet late in their respective careers. It goes without saying almost that the sound of the clarinet provokes the idea of the autumnal shading into the wintry – or perhaps autumnal masterpieces such as the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Brahms have imprinted these associations in our minds? Either way, these ‘last thoughts’ are the theme of this lovely album. The title ‘Epilogues’ seems appropriate since all three works sit outside the main body of each composer’s work, reflecting on a life in a largely low key, somewhat nostalgic manner.
Read MoreThe WholeNote reviews Debut release Misuzu Tanaka in Concert. Music of Janáček and Bach
Alex Baran I The WholeNote I 28 November 2017
Misuzu Tanaka has, at first blush, twinned a pair of unlikely composers in her new release, Janáček, Bach - In concert. She admits, however, that in the process of the recording she discovered that both were having the same effect on her.
Read MoreFanfare Magazine reviews Debut Album Misuzu Tanaka in Concert. Music of Janáček and Bach
Huntley Dent I Fanfare Magazine I 2016
In a live 2014 recital from Wigmore Hall in London, Jonathan Biss wove together two sets of miniatures, Schumann’s Fantasiestücke op. 12 and selections from the first book of Janáček’s On an Overgrown Path. The two voices blended so smoothly that an unaware listener might not realize they weren’t the same. In my review I noted, “Janáček’s little sketches are Schumanneaque in their introversion, free-form musing, and sadness.” In this admirable debut disc, the London-born Japanese pianist Misuzu Tanaka plays both books of Janáček’s beautiful suites, which contain music that is pastoral and often meditative, as you’d except from a walk in the woods, but suddenly agitated and emotional—the overgrown path has become the path of a turbulent life.
Read MoreNorthumberland Echo I April, 24, 2019
Belarussian clarinetists and London-born Japanese pianists are not the sorts of musicians usually expected in Northumberland County, but such a pair charmed the audience at the Rappahannock Concert Association’s show in the Northumberland High School auditorium Saturday night. Pianist Misuzu Tanaka and clarinetist Maksim Shtrykov demonstrated how entertaining piano and clarinet duos can be.
Read MorePianist Misuzu Tanaka performs for Aptos Keyboard Series
Peninsula Reviews I May 6, 2019
Juilliard trained Tanaka had chosen a program that contained two seldom heard works by Leoš Janáček, and we are the richer for having heard them on this occasion. She performed two movements from Janáček’s Sonata No. 1 (1905), which turned out to be attractive and accessible, plus they sounded quite idiomatic for the piano. Tanaka caressed the opening motifs that established the tonal center of e-flat minor and held our attention throughout the work’s lovely melodic development tinged with moments of chromaticism. Not being familiar with traditional folk melodies from Bohemia, I was unable to relate to the specific melodic and folklore elements that inspired this work, but suffice it to say that Tanaka’s lovely sound and skill in shaping melodic elements captured our attention and held us spellbound throughout.
Read MoreShelter Island Friends of Music season kicks off with Tanaka and Shtrykov
Shelter Island Reporter I February, 22, 2019
The young duo of Maksim Shtrykov, a clarinetist from Belarus, and Misuzu Tanaka, a pianist from London, are yet another example of a new generation of exquisitely talented performers who elevate our understanding of the world’s music.
Read MorePianist Misuzu Tanaka concludes Distinguished Artists Series
Peninsula Reviews I April 22, 2016
On April 17, Misuzu Tanaka, concluding pianist in the always excellent Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series 31st season, presented an appreciative audience with a fine final recital, much of it in quick tempo, by way of early Schumann, late Beethoven (along with his previous “Rage Over a lost Penny),” young 20th century Prokofiev with “new” music, and Rachmaninoff with his aching for old Russia even years before he fled.
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