~ Critical Acclaim ~
Antonin Kubalek has become a best-selling international recording artist. His awarded and Juno nominated CD recordings on the prestigious Dorian label have won him extraordinary praise in such publications as the American Record Guide, Fanfare Magazine, CD Review, and Gramophone Magazine:
...his readings of Schumann and Brahms provide a rare mix of improvisatory freedom and structural control: with such rare playing, one's grasp of the musical architecture is enhanced precisely because of the rare spontaneity through which it is realized... (Glenn Gould)ed... (Glenn Gould)
...some of the most enjoyable moments in recent piano-recital memory...
...his wonderful Chopin interpretation of the F Minor Ballade alone was worth the price of admission...
...here was the essence of subtlety and refinement with those rare glimpses into the inner message of the music... (Toronto Star)
...this music sounded like it had been wrought from pure gold... (The Globe & Mail)
...the concert also proved once again the incalculable benefits this country received when the Russian tanks invaded Czechoslovakia. We have in Kubalek one of the finest interpreters of this century right in our midst... (The Globe & Mail)
Grieg, The Three Violin Sonatas... Kubalek's playing is in the grand style; he has a virtuoso technique coupled with exquisite control over keyboard color and dynamics, as well as the musical intelligence to give coherent shape to the music... (Fanfare, USA)
My Gift to You... this is a magnificent performance by the Czech pianist. He consistently displays a warm tone, a singing line and extraordinary sensitivity... (Timothy McDonald, Chair of the Communication and Fine Arts Department at Rockhurst College)
Brahms, Piano Music Vol II ... The music making is ravishing. The sound he achieves is mellow and haunting in many places. The performance is one of profound maturity and confidence, and deserves to be heard many times over... (Maureen Lennon, Toronto Music Magazine, April/93)
Czech Miniature Masterpieces... Imagine a box of miniature Czech pastries - tiny and dense, some dark and bittersweet, some light and sugary, some laced with liqueur, all beguiling and ultimately delicious - and you have a vague impression of the exotic delicacies that Antonin Kubalek has fashioned into a most entertaining program on his third Dorian CD... (Robert McAtear)

Antonin Kubalek at the Prague
Spring Music Festival
May 23, 2002

Every Prague appearance of Czech-Canadian Antonin Kubalek is looked forward to with the anticipation afforded only to extraordinary events.

This is an understandable response when such a distinguished individual has been absent from our concert stages for over 20 years. His 2.5 hour-long recital at the Rudolfinum had everything a performance from such a technically and stylishly equipped personality should have … and more; specifically, Kubalek’s sense of humor averted a potential catastrophe. In the middle of Suk’s cycle "Things Lived and Dreamed", the piano bench started to fall apart.

Beforehand, the pianist dazzled with both Prokofiev (Visions Fugitives) and with an unusually ‘Bachian’ Stravinsky's sonata, written in 1924. After a new bench was brought in, Kubalek completed the Suk and continued with a selection of Smetana’s Czech Dances (robust, yet with controlled sensitivity). The audience requested, in addition, three encores.

Jiri Tluchor and Vladimir Riha

Translated from Czech newspaper “Pravo” 27.5.2002

 

Prague Spring International Music Festival
Dvorak Hall, Rudolfinum
May 23, 2002

Antonin Kubalek a 1968 emigrant and a long time Canadian has, according to his own words, appeared since 1989 on Prague's concert stages three times: in 1991, six years ago, and now (23.5.) at the Prague Spring.

He is sixty seven years old, appears somewhat tired, skeptical and passive; and similarly, at first impression, so too is his stage manner. He doesn't seem to have an inner spark or charisma, doesn't communicate with his audience very much, plays without moving, without gestures, indeed, only with his fingers, bent over and looking at the keyboard. Seemingly nothing pompous, exaggerated or curious.

However, this introverted approach conveys both an inconspicuous and yet an all-important depth. Above all, Suk's piano cycle "Things Lived and Dreamed" - which is not heard very often and which at first seems to be quite a modest work - culminates into a creation of deep introspection. Kubalek feels this fundamental mood with complete confidence immersing himself in the music without having to be preoccupied with technical difficulties. He disappears into a world and more than simply describing it lets it shine through him. A pity, for him, and for his audience, that a noisy piano-bench forced him to interrupt the continuity of the cycle while having to ask for a different seat....

Kubalek's playing, outwardly so undemonstrative, is inwardly rich and most of all meticulous; with attentive listening, one comes to realize that he possesses a consistently refined touch, so that any polyphonic writing sounds wonderfully vivid.

Prokofiev's "Visions Fugitives" were gentle, Stravinsky's "Sonata" objectively perfect, Smetana's "Czech Dances" important ... Suk was, without argument, the highlight. Kubalek's recital was not an ostensibly personal presentation. It was a rather humble and quiet homage.

Petr Veber

Translated from the Czech magazine "Hudebni Rozhledy", (Musical observer) July 2002