https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nghe-sy-piano-goc-viet-gianh-giai-vang-giai-thuong-am-nhac-toan-cau/886910.vnp

Recently, the latest recording by Vietnamese-American pianist Quynh Nguyen titled 'The Flower of France' was awarded the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards in the US.

The piano album was curated by artist Quynh Nguyen from solo piano pieces as well as transcriptions and excerpts from ballets and film scores, including some rarely played or recorded pieces. This recording showcases the emotional, poetic playing of artist Quynh Nguyen.
Quynh Nguyen (full name is Nguyen Thuy Quynh) was born into a family rich in musical tradition. She started studying piano at the age of 4, and at the age of 6 she entered the Hanoi Conservatory of Music.

At the age of 9, she went on stage to perform for the first time. At the age of 13, she won a scholarship to study at the Gnessin Conservatory in Moscow (Russia), a prestigious international school for students with special talents. After that, Quynh followed her family to settle in the US at the age of 15.

Looking ahead, pianist Quynh Nguyen releases the album The Complete Works by Paul Chihara, which will be released on the Naxos American Classics Series this Fall.

Quynh Nguyen's performance of the concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra will be included in the upcoming Naxos recording, and she will make her US debut with the Seattle Symphony in January 2024.

Although she has performed many places in the US as well as European countries such as Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France, her  return to perform in Vietnam in 2007 in a fundraising event for disabled children was the most memorable and emotional performance for the artist.
he shared: “I met children at a special music school who are visually impaired but still play music with passion and happiness. I was very moved to see how music changed and enriched the lives of these children.

My charity performance raised funds for the Hanoi Association for the Protection of Disabled Children and I am very happy that I was able to contribute a small part to the education and physical care of the children."

In 2010, Quynh Nguyen had her first performance with violinist Tang Thanh Nam in a program organized by the Vietnamese Institute of Culture and Education in New York. She was also chosen as one of the 19 young stars of tomorrow by Musical America.

Quynh Nguyen was also praised by many famous newspapers in the US such as The Boston Globe, The New York Concert Review... as a talented artist, capable of controlling sound, luxurious, sensitive and rich musicality. Poetry and performance have great inspirational power, demonstrating intellectual height and sophistication.

She graduated with a doctorate in Musical Arts from New York University in 2008, currently teaching at Hunter College, New York; Participated in performances in many places around the world and received many awards.


Bản thu âm mới nhất của nghệ sỹ piano người Mỹ gốc Việt Quỳnh Nguyễn mang tên “The Flower of France” đã được trao Huy chương Vàng Giải thưởng Âm nhạc Toàn cầu tại Mỹ vào ngày 12/7.
Album Piano do nghệ sỹ Quỳnh Nguyễn tuyển chọn từ các bản piano độc tấu cũng như các bản chuyển soạn và trích đoạn từ các vở ballet và nhạc phim, bao gồm một số bản nhạc hiếm khi được chơi hoặc thu âm.
Bản thu âm này thể hiện "cách chơi xuyên suốt đầy cảm xúc, thơ mộng, mang tính giao tiếp" của nghệ sỹ Quỳnh Nguyễn.
Nghệ sỹ Nguyễn Thúy Quỳnh sinh ra trong một gia đình giàu truyền thống âm nhạc. Cô bắt đầu học piano từ năm 4 tuổi, 6 tuổi cô vào học tại Nhạc viện Hà Nội.
Năm lên 9 tuổi, cô đã lên sân khấu trình diễn lần đầu tiên. Đến năm 13 tuổi, cô giành được học bổng theo học tại Nhạc viện Gnessin ở Moscow (Nga), một trường quốc tế danh tiếng dành cho các em học sinh có tài năng đặc biệt. Sau đó, Quỳnh theo gia đình sang định cư ở Mỹ năm 15 tuổi.
[Hòa nhạc kỷ niệm ngày thiết lập Quan hệ Ngoại giao Việt Nam-Hoa Kỳ]
Sắp tới, nghệ sỹ Piano Quỳnh Nguyễn ra mắt album "The Complete Works" của Paul Chihara, sẽ được phát hành trên Naxos American Classics Series vào mùa Thu này.
Phần trình diễn bản concerto của Quỳnh Nguyễn với Dàn nhạc giao hưởng London sẽ được đưa vào bản thu âm Naxos sắp tới và cô sẽ có buổi biểu diễn ra mắt tại Mỹ với Dàn nhạc giao hưởng Seattle vào tháng 1/2024.
Dù đã đi biểu diễn nhiều nơi trên đất Mỹ cũng như các nước châu Âu như Hungary, Đức, Thụy Sĩ, Áo và Pháp, nhưng chuyến trở về Việt Nam năm 2007 trong một buổi gây quỹ cho trẻ em tàn tật lại là chuyến biểu diễn gây cho nghệ sỹ Quỳnh Nguyễn nhiều cảm xúc nhất.
“Tôi đã gặp những em nhỏ ở trường âm nhạc đặc biệt, các em bị khiếm thị nhưng vẫn chơi nhạc với một niềm đam mê và hạnh phúc. Tôi đã rất cảm động khi thấy âm nhạc đã làm thay đổi và làm phong phú thêm cho cuộc đời các em như thế nào. Buổi biểu diễn từ thiện của tôi đã gây được ngân quỹ cho Hội Bảo trợ Trẻ em Tàn tật Hà Nội và tôi rất hạnh phúc vì đã có thể đóng góp một phần nhỏ vào việc giáo dục và chăm sóc thể chất cho các em," nghệ sỹ Quỳnh Nguyễn chia sẻ.
Năm 2010, nghệ sỹ piano Quỳnh Nguyễn đã có buổi trình diễn đầu tiên với nghệ sỹ violin Tăng Thành Nam. Chương trình do Viện Văn hóa và Giáo dục Việt Nam tại New York tổ chức.
Quỳnh Nguyễn còn được chọn là một trong 19 "ngôi sao của ngày mai” (19 young stars of tomorrow) của tổ chức Musical America.
Cô được nhiều tờ báo danh tiếng tại Mỹ như The Boston Globe, Tạp chí The New York Concert Review... ca ngợi là một nghệ sỹ tài năng, có khả năng tiết chế âm thanh, nét nhạc sang trọng, nhạy cảm và giàu chất thơ, biểu diễn có sức truyền cảm tuyệt vời, thể hiện tầm cao trí tuệ và sự tinh tế.
Cô tốt nghiệp tiến sỹ khoa Nghệ thuật Âm nhạc tại Trường Đại học New York năm 2008, hiện đang dạy tại Hunter College, New York.
Cô đã tham gia biểu diễn ở nhiều nơi trên thế giới và nhận được nhiều giải thưởng danh giá./.
Kiều Trang (TTXVN/Vietnam+)
Kieu Trang https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nghe-sy-piano-goc-viet-gianh-giai-vang-giai-thuong-am-nhac-toan-cau/88691
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Le dernier enregistrement de la pianiste vietnamienne américaine Quynh Nguyen (pron. Quin Nwen), The Flower of France, Germaine Tailleferre, Works for Piano [MA-1306], récemment récompensé par la médaille d'or des Global Music Awards, est désormais disponible sur le Label Musique & Arts. L'album comprend des œuvres, organisées par Nguyen, à l'origine pour piano seul, ainsi que des transcriptions et des extraits des ballets de Tailleferre et des musiques de films représentant certaines des meilleures et des plus importantes œuvres du compositeur, y compris un certain nombre de morceaux rarement joués ou enregistrés. Les premières critiques de l'enregistrement l'ont qualifié de "musique séduisante d'un compositeur merveilleux interprétée par un artiste merveilleux" et de "jeu sensible, poétique et communicatif tout au long".

Les œuvres de cet album couvrent 60 ans, du lyrique Impromptu – la première œuvre publiée de Tailleferre, composée en 1912 à l’âge de 20 ans, à Singeries (Monkey Business), qui a été écrit en 1975, vers la fin de sa carrière. Le titre est dérivé de la suite pour piano solo Fleurs De France, un ensemble de courtes pièces de caractère que Tailleferre a composées en 1930, chacune dédiée à une fleur évoquant des paysages de régions distinctes de France.

Nommée l'une des "19 jeunes stars de demain" par Musical America, Quynh Nguyen s'est produite à travers les États-Unis, l'Asie et l'Europe, y compris la Hongrie, l'Allemagne, la Suisse, l'Autriche et la France, dans des salles de concert remarquables telles que Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center , la Freer Gallery, le Konzerthause de Berlin et l'Opéra de Hanoï, au Vietnam. Le Boston Globe l'a saluée comme "une joueuse musicale et expressive" qui est "sensible et poétique, et excelle dans tout ce qui requiert élégance, proportion, équilibre, goût et esprit". Pour ses débuts au Carnegie Recital Hall, le critique Harris Goldsmith a qualifié le pianisme et la création musicale de Nguyen de « agrémentés de beauté et d'exubérance », la saluant « une vraie artiste ; un interprète merveilleusement communicatif.

Nguyen, qui a grandi à Hanoï entouré d'une ville remplie d'architecture et d'influences françaises et vit maintenant à New York, est tombé amoureux du romantisme, de la couleur et de l'inventivité harmonique de la musique de Tailleferre tout en étudiant à Paris grâce à une bourse Fulbright. Dans les notes de l'album, Nguyen dit que les premières compositions de Tailleferre "me rappellent Chopin et ont été fortement influencées par Debussy et Ravel, avec une fraîcheur de mélodies et des modulations inattendues incroyablement séduisantes. La musique qu'elle a écrite plus tard dans la vie combine les caractéristiques et les formes baroques trouvées dans les œuvres de Bach et le style néoclassique de Stravinsky avec l'influence de l'impressionnisme.

La Fleur de France est parrainée par Sorel Organisation et marque les débuts de Nguyen sur le label Music & Arts. Ses trois premiers enregistrements sur le label Arabesque incluent des œuvres de Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel, Schubert et Messiaen. En passant en revue l'enregistrement de Schubert et Chopin, International Piano Magazine a déclaré à propos de Nguyen: "On entend rarement un jeune artiste avec un sens de la ligne mélodique aussi fluide - vif et non forcé - qui permet à la musique de respirer sans inhibition."

Ses prochains enregistrements incluent un album en première mondiale de The Complete Works of Paul Chihara, qui sortira cet automne dans la série Naxos American Classics. Nguyen a interprété la première mondiale du Concerto-Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre de Chihara, qui a été écrit pour elle, en octobre 2022 avec l'Orchestre symphonique national du Vietnam sous la direction de la chef d'orchestre Honna Tetsuji à l'Opéra de Hanoï. Le concert a commémoré la normalisation des relations diplomatiques américano-vietnamiennes. Son interprétation du concerto avec le London Symphony sera incluse dans son prochain enregistrement à Naxos et elle interprétera la première américaine avec le Seattle Symphony en janvier 2024. Parmi les autres faits saillants récents, citons une performance en avril dernier lors de la cérémonie du prix Fulbright à Washington DC. honorant le Dr Fauci, qui a également présenté une performance de Renee Fleming.

Le Dr Nguyen est diplômé de la Juilliard School, du Mannes College of Music et du Graduate Center de CUNY. Elle est récipiendaire de plusieurs bourses et récompenses très prestigieuses, dont le United States Presidential Academic Fitness Award, le American Prize et une bourse Fulbright.


Pour plus d'informations, visitez www.quynhpiano.com
Images haute résolution de https://www.quynhpiano.com/#photos

English Translation:
CD Chronicle: Piano parts by Germaine Tailleferre
Compositrice : Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
Album title: The Flower of France
Works: 40 pieces for solo piano
Quynh Nguyen, piano https://www.quynhpiano.com/
Label : Music & Arts MA-1306 www.musicandarts.com
Registration: October 2021 and January 2023
Total time: 78 min. 38
Booklet: 20 pages (English only)
This magnificent selection by Vietnamese-born pianist Quynh Nguyen offers a very representative panorama of French composer Germaine Tailleferre’s solo piano work. It covers a little over 60 years of the career of this underrated member of the Group of Six founded in 1920 including Poulenc, Milhaud, Honegger, Auric and Durey. This anthology has been carefully planned in chronological order, from Impromptu 1912 (her first published work) to one of her latest, Singeries dated 1975, that is, near the end of his professional career.
Facing a number of obstacles to her career as a musician (a stubborn father, two jealous husbands, WWII, two temporary stays in the United States), this child prodigy has still managed to write a corpus of 178 works including a remarkable amount of chamber music and symphonic music; her production for media such as cinema, radio and television arouses curiosity.
Undoubtedly due to the social climate where "if it is clear that a woman [from the small bourgeoisie] has an artistic hobby, it is not possible to make a career out of it" (Anne-Charlotte Rémond), Germaine Tailleferre may have resigned from writing unambitious solo piano pieces when compared to his male colleagues, Debussy and Ravel for example. Yet she doesn't seem to regret anything, saying, "I make music because it makes me happy, it's not great music, I know." It's gay, light music that sometimes compares me to the 18th century grand masters, which I'm very proud of. »
After listening to the record, I came to the same conclusion as two of her friends who defended her, the first, Jean Cocteau, who said she was "a Marie Laurencin for the ear"; the second, Darius Milhaud, added: "Her music has immense merit to be unpretentious, this is because of sincerity of the most attaching. »
So it is in this spirit that I think that this beautiful recording is necessary to be listened to to to appreciate the stylization of an all-Parisian elegance and the soft harmonic hues flowing between impressionism and neo-classicism, as you can hear in the Lullaby of 1936 [ https://www.dropbox.com/t/CGvUIX5Jcbd3laqX ]
After three albums previously released on the Arabesque label (Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Ravel, Messiaen) and obtaining a doctorate, Quynh Nguyen has a lasting commitment to French music culture. Having won a scholarship (Fulbright Fellowship) to improve herself in Paris, it is where she discovered all the inspiration needed to carry out her new record project: to delight the melomaniacs of the unknown repertoire of a woman with subtle and irresistible creativity.
Thanks to her immense talent and interpretive finesse, Quynh Nguyen clearly won her bet. Well-served by a natural and balanced take, this splendid pianist has just gained a reputation as a “wonderfully communicative” performer, according to US critic Harris Goldsmith, who heard her during his Carnegie Hall debut. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Mannes College of Music and City University of New York, she is already in demand for other record projects, including one to be released in early September (The Complete Works of Paul Chihara) and another the Concerto-Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra of the United States. Same composer expected to be released early 2024.
Guy Sauve
July 2023
Guy SauvePassion-Musique-et-Culture-100064738864320/
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Quynh plays with great dexterity and technique, but also with artistry and sensitivity –and a very personal touch of romance in her interpretations. There is poetry in her every phrase and great emotion (often painful sadness and at other times joyful and playful exuberance). Ms. Nguyen is a consummate artist, with an excellent ear (she has perfect pitch), and very traditional music training, excelling in Baroque as well as classical styles. But her very special forte is the music of passion and youthful expression, which makes her every performance an adventure!Paul Chihara - March 2023Paul Chihara - March 2023

She is exquisitely trained as a pianist, pedagogue and scholar. She is a beautiful and exciting performer, a dedicated teacher and a profound writer on music. She exhibits this through her great experience on stage and accomplishments in the classroom. She is a most successful recording artist, adding to her artistic profile.
Jerome Rose - May 2023Founder and Director, International Keyboard Institute & Festival

Germaine Tailleferre: Klavierwerke; Partita für Klavier; Fleurs de France + L'Aigle des rues + Impromptu + Romance + Pas trop vite + Pastorale D-Dur + Hommage à Debussy; + Très vite + Sicilienne + Pastorale As-Dur + Chiens + Pastorale Inca + Menuett B-Dur + Berceuse + Au Pavillon d'Alsace + Fugue du Parapluie + Chant chinois + Pas de Deux & Pastourelle aus Parisiana + Larghetto + Valse Lente + Sonata alla Scarlatti + Rêverie + Barbizon + Escarpolette + Singeries; Quynh Nguyen, Klavier; 1 CD Music & Arts MA-1306; Aufnahmen 1.2021 + 01.2023, Veröffentlichung 07.07.2023 (78'38) - Rezension von Remy Franck

Die vietnamesisch-amerikanische Pianistin Quynh Nguyen spielt ein ganzes Programm mit Miniaturen von Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), der einzigen Frau, die Mitglied der Komponistengruppe Groupe des Six war.
Tailleferre komponierte in nahezu allen musikalischen Gattungen, mehrere Opern, Ballettmusiken, Konzerte, Klavier- und Kammermusik sowie Musik für Film und Fernsehen.
Madame Tailleferre war auch eine angesehene Pianistin, die im Duett mit Eric Satie oder Igor Stravinsky spielte, und daher komponierte sie ganz natürlich für das Klavier. Ihre Klavierstücke sind neoklassisch und immer atmosphärisch. Sie sind ruhig, verträumt, charmant, rhythmisch energetisch, ernst oder witzig, pastoral oder tänzerisch, einige gehören auch zur Gattung des Pasticcio.
Quynh Nguyen lässt der Musik ihre Natürlichkeit und ihre französische Eleganz. Sie hat ein gutes Gespür für Rhythmik, sowie dynamische und farbliche Nuancen, spielt mit einer brillanten Leichtigkeit und einer bildhaften Raffinesse. Man hört sich dieses Programm daher mit echtem Vergnügen an.
Vietnamese-American pianist Quynh Nguyen performs an entire program of miniatures by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), the only woman who was a member of the Groupe des Six group of composers.
Tailleferre composed in nearly every musical genre, several operas, ballet music, concertos, piano and chamber music, and music for film and television.
Madame Tailleferre was also a respected pianist, playing duets with Eric Satie or Igor Stravinsky, so she naturally composed for the piano. Her piano pieces are neoclassical and always atmospheric. They are calm, dreamy, charming, rhythmically energetic, serious or witty, pastoral or dance-like, and some belong to the genre of pastiche.
Quynh Nguyen allows the music to retain its naturalness and French elegance. She has a good sense of rhythm, as well as dynamic and color nuances, plays with a brilliant lightness and a pictorial refinement. One therefore listens to this program with real pleasure.Remy Franck https://www.pizzicato.lu
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CD Chronicle: Piano compositions by Germaine Tailleferre
Compositrice : Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
Album title: The Flower of France
Works: 40 pieces for solo piano
Quynh Nguyen, piano https://www.quynhpiano.com/
Label : Music & Arts MA-1306 www.musicandarts.com
Registration: October 2021 and January 2023
Total time: 78 min. 38
Booklet: 20 pages (English only)

This magnificent selection by Vietnamese-born pianist Quynh Nguyen offers a very representative panorama of French composer Germaine Tailleferre’s solo piano work. It covers a little over 60 years of the career of this underrated member of the Group of Six founded in 1920 including Poulenc, Milhaud, Honegger, Auric and Durey. This anthology has been carefully planned in chronological order, from Impromptu 1912 (her first published work) to one of her latest, Singeries dated 1975, that is, near the end of his professional career.
Facing a number of obstacles to her career as a musician (a stubborn father, two jealous husbands, WWII, two temporary stays in the United States), this child prodigy has still managed to write a corpus of 178 works including a remarkable amount of chamber music and symphonic music; her production for media such as cinema, radio and television arouses curiosity.
Undoubtedly due to the social climate where "if it is clear that a woman [from the small bourgeoisie] has an artistic hobby, it is not possible to make a career out of it" (Anne-Charlotte Rémond), Germaine Tailleferre may have resigned from writing unambitious solo piano pieces when compared to his male colleagues, Debussy and Ravel for example. Yet she doesn't seem to regret anything, saying, "I make music because it makes me happy, it's not great music, I know." It's gay, light music that sometimes compares me to the 18th century grand masters, which I'm very proud of. »
After listening to the record, I came to the same conclusion as two of her friends who defended her, the first, Jean Cocteau, who said she was "a Marie Laurencin for the ear"; the second, Darius Milhaud, added: "Her music has immense merit to be unpretentious, this is because of sincerity of the most attaching. »
So it is in this spirit that I think that this beautiful recording is necessary to be listened to to to appreciate the stylization of an all-Parisian elegance and the soft harmonic hues flowing between impressionism and neo-classicism, as you can hear in the Lullaby of 1936 [ https://www.dropbox.com/t/CGvUIX5Jcbd3laqX ]
After three albums previously released on the Arabesque label (Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Ravel, Messiaen) and obtaining a doctorate, Quynh Nguyen has a lasting commitment to French music culture. Having won a scholarship (Fulbright Fellowship) to improve herself in Paris, it is where she discovered all the inspiration needed to carry out her new record project: to delight the melomaniacs of the unknown repertoire of a woman with subtle and irresistible creativity.
Thanks to her immense talent and interpretive finesse, Quynh Nguyen clearly won her bet. Well-served by a natural and balanced take, this splendid pianist has just gained a reputation as a “wonderfully communicative” performer, according to US critic Harris Goldsmith, who heard her during his Carnegie Hall debut. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Mannes College of Music and City University of New York, she is already in demand for other record projects, including one to be released in early September (The Complete Works of Paul Chihara) and another the Concerto-Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra of the United States. Same composer expected to be released early 2024.
Guy Sauve
July 2023Guy Sauvehttps://www.facebook.com/p/Passion-Musique-et-Culture-100064738864320/
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There is much musical wit and elegance, from the lyric opening Impromptu to the hilarious – and surely unique – playfulness of Chiens and the love of the absurd, even surreal, in the ‘umbrella fugue’ (Fugue du Parapluie) from 1950. The 1952 suite L’aigle des rues is by turns sun-drenched, tender, humorous, learned and spiritual. The Berceuse from 1936 is simply gorgeous. Nguyen has produced a valuable document of Germaine Tailleferre’s piano worksNatasha Loges Tailleferre – The Flower of France - Instrumental - Reviews - Classical Music BBC Music Magazine

Paul Chihara: Concerto-Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra + Bagatelles + 4 Reveries on Beethoven + Ami, Quynh Nguyen, Rieko Aizawa, Klavier, London Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Barlow; 1 CD Naxos 8.559894; Aufnahme 01 + 08.2022, Veröffentlichung 08.09.2023 (65'43) - Rezension von Norbert Tischer

Der 1938 geborene Amerikaner Paul Chihara ist ein bekannter Komponist von symphonischer Musik, Kammermusik, Vokalmusik sowie Film- und Fernsehmusik. Die Konzert-Fantasie für Klavier und Orchester ist der Pianistin Quynh Nguyen gewidmet und von traditioneller vietnamesischer Musik inspiriert.
Der erste der vier Sätze ist weitgehend lyrisch und im Ausdruck neoklassisch. Der zweite Satz ist vom Jazz beeinflusst, während das Scherzo zunächst dramatischer klingt. Der Komponist sagt: « Der Krieg ist nach Hanoi gekommen, und die prächtige traditionelle und natürliche Welt wird durch Chaos und Gewalt zerstört. Die Musik dieses Scherzos ist keine beschreibende Kriegssymphonie, sondern eine Art musikalischer Albtraum aus Gewalt, Verwirrung und Schrecken. »
Der vierte Satz ist wiederum sehr ruhig und lyrisch und beendet das Konzert sehr versöhnlich.
Die Bagatellen Twice Seven Haiku for Piano, also zwei Gruppen von je sieben kleinen Stücken, die der Komponist mit japanischen Wurzeln Haiku nennt, widerspiegeln laut ihm « die stilistische Dichotomie von japanischen und amerikanischen musikalischen und poetischen Einflüssen ».
Einige dieser Haikus wurden von populären Liedern sowie von Filmthemen Chiharas inspiriert, beinhalten aber auch eine Hommage an Bach, Brahms, und Prokofiev. Sie werden von Quynh Nguyen ebenso brillant gespielt wie die lieblich verspielten Vier Träumereien über Beethoven.
Ami ist ein Geschenk des Komponisten an seine Freunde Pascal Rogé und Ami Hakuno anlässlich ihrer Hochzeit: « Es steht in der Tradition von Fauré und Debussy, mit gelegentlichen Anklängen an Ellington und Gershwin. (…) Und natürlich ist auch das japanische Kinderlied enthalten: Aka Tombo. (…) Aber nur wenige wissen, dass dieses Lied, das 1927 von seinem Komponisten Kōsaku Yamada veröffentlicht wurde, eigentlich ein sehr trauriges Lied ist, in dem es um einen kleinen Jungen geht, der jeden Abend auf die Rückkehr seiner Mutter wartet, nachdem sie weggegangen ist, um einen Mann in einer anderen Stadt zu heiraten. Sie kehrte nie zurück. Die Melodie basiert auf einem eindringlichen Thema, das Robert Schumann 1853 für Johannes Brahms komponierte (aus seiner Introduktion und Konzert Allegro, op. 134 für Klavier und Orchester). » Das fast 13 Minuten lange Werk wird hier von Quynh Nguyen und ihrer japanischen Kollegin Rieko Aizawa gespielt.
Born in 1938, American Paul Chihara is a well-known composer of symphonic music, chamber music, vocal music, and film and television music.
The Concert Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra is dedicated to pianist Quynh Nguyen and inspired by traditional Vietnamese music.
The first of the four movements is largely lyrical and neoclassical in expression. The second movement is influenced by jazz, while the scherzo sounds more dramatic at first. The composer says, « War has come to Hanoi, and the gorgeous traditional and natural world is being destroyed by chaos and violence. The music of this Scherzo is not a descriptive war symphony, but a sort of musical nightmare of violence, confusion, and dread. »
The fourth movement is again very quiet and lyrical, ending the concerto on a very conciliatory note.
The Bagatelles Twice Seven Haiku for Piano comprise two groups of seven small pieces each, which the composer with Japanese roots calls haiku. He says that they « reflect the stylistic dichotomy of Japanese and American musical and poetic influences. »
Some of these haikus were inspired by popular songs as well as Chihara’s film themes, but also include homage to Bach, Brahms, and Prokofiev. They are played brilliantly by Quynh Nguyen, as are the sweetly playful Four Reveries on Beethoven.
Ami is a gift from the composer to his friends Pascal Rogé and Ami Hakuno on the occasion of their wedding: « It suggests the tradition of Fauré and Debussy, with an occasional nod to Ellington and Gershwin. (..). And there is the Japanese children’s song included: Aka Tombo. (…) … few people know that this song, published in 1927 by its composer Kōsaku Yamada, is actually a very sad song, of a young boy waiting every night for his mother to return home after she left to marry a man in another city. She never returned. The melody is based on a haunting theme composed by Robert Schumann (taken from his Introduction and Concert Allegro, Op. 134 for piano and orchestra) which he composed for Johannes Brahms in 1853. Three years later, Robert Schumann died in an asylum. The Japanese composer publicly acknowledged his use of Schumann’s theme in the original 1927 publication of Aka Tombo in Japan. » The nearly 13-minute work is performed here by Quynh Nguyen and her Japanese colleague Rieko Aizawa.Remy Franck Editor in chief, Pizzicato President of the International Classical Music Awards ICMAhttps://www.pizzicato.lu/musikalisches-portrat-von-paul-chihara/
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TAILLEFERRE Impromptu. Romance. Pas trop vite. Pastorales: in D; in A♭. Inca. Hommage à Debussy. Très vite. Sicilienne. Fleurs de France. Chiens. Minuet in B♭. Berceuse. Au pavillon d’Alsace. Fugue du parapluie. Chant chinois. L’aigle des rues. Parisiana: Pas de deux, Pastourelle. Larghetto. Valse lente. Partita. Sonata alla Scarlatti. Reverie. Barbizon. Escarpolète. Singeries • Quynh Nguyen (pn) • MUSIC & ARTS 1306 (78:38)

As recently as 46:3, reviewing a disc of piano works by Germaine Tailleferre, James Harrington predicted that there was more to come, though his expectation for the source of the “more” was Nicolas Horvath, the pianist whose album he was covering. The title of this new release from Music & Arts is The Flower of France—Germaine Tailleferre Works for Piano, and it does offer a very generous helping of pieces by Les Six’s only female composer, performed with striking beauty by pianist Quynh Nguyen.



I would be remiss, however, if I failed to mention that approximately half of Nguyen’s album duplicates selections on Horvath’s disc, which, unfortunately, I don’t have for comparison purposes. Nonetheless, but for a couple of exceptions, all of the pieces on both pianists’ programs play for between one and three minutes, leaving lots of room for each of them to offer a number of items that the other doesn’t.



It would be a mistake, however, to assume that Tailleferre was essentially a miniaturist. Her work catalog, numbering almost 200 entries, is larger than one might have imagined, and many of those entries are good-sized multi-movement works—a piano concerto, concertinos for harp and for flute, a couple of violin sonatas, a string quartet, a piano trio, an overture for orchestra, and a miscellany of other chamber, orchestral, and choral pieces. She even produced at least two full-scale comic operas (Zoulaïna and Il etait un petit navire) and several so-called “pocket” operas, plus ballets, film, and radio scores.



Yet to the extent that she is known today, it’s mainly for her epigrammatic vignettes for solo piano. It was a familiar and well-practiced mode of composition for her to turn to, not only because it was highly popular contemporaneously in her French milieu, but also because it had historic roots going back to the time of the French Baroque school of keyboardists and composers, a point I will come back to further on.



As previously noted, Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983) was the sole female member of the group of composers that came to be known as Les Six—Georges Auric (1899–1983), Louis Durey (1888–1979), Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Darius Milhaud (1892–1974), and Francis Poulenc (1899–1963). Interestingly, the two members whose music is probably least known—Durey and Tailleferre—happen to be the longest-surviving of the lot. Both lived to the ripe age of 91, and thus bore witness to the birth of Les Six and its demise.



The indirect brainchild of Les Six was Erik Satie, who gathered into his orbit a coterie of composers, artists, poets, and other self-proclaimed talents, a group which he dubbed Les nouveaux jeunes, giving those who pledged allegiance to the collective an important-sounding identity they could take pride in and a common cause to promote. What that cause was exactly was never spelled out in detail. The mercurial Satie soon lost interest in the project, and the group’s members drifted apart. Without Satie’s engagement, the now smaller, exclusively composer-centric group morphed into Les Six.



Nonetheless, it seems that Satie remained a significant influence when it came to Tailleferre’s pieces for solo piano, especially with regard to Satie’s absurdist, nonsensical titles and performance instructions. What stood out immediately to me among the numbers Nguyen chose for her Tailleferre program was the piece titled Fugue du parapluie, which, as best I can make sense of it, translates to Fugue of umbrellas. Digging a little deeper, it turns out that the piece is a transcription for piano of the Act I finale from Taillleferre’s opera, Il était un petit navire (It was a small ship). Nguyen describes its whimsical atmosphere as conjuring images of umbrellas in the rain. I can’t help wondering, though, if there’s not also some veiled, tongue-in-cheek poke in the piece at Satie and his umbrella fetish—he owned dozens of them, all identical and all neatly lined up and hanging in the same direction. Singeries is another such title, which Quynh Nguyen’s exceptionally articulate and informative album note translates as Monkey Business. The imagery here, according to Nguyen, evokes a troop of chattering simians about to break into a comedic dance.



Nguyen’s program spans the entirety of Tailleferre’s career, from the Impromptu, dated 1912, when the composer was 20, to Escarpolète and Singeries, dating from 1975, when she was 83, and advancing arthritis in her hands made it increasingly difficult for her to write and to play the piano.



Three of the titles listed in the above headnote are actually multi-movement suites. Fleurs de France: Children’s Suite of 8 Pieces might, at first, be taken to be Tailleferre’s homage to Schumann’s Kinderszenen, but it’s really nothing like the German composer’s Scenes from Childhood. In those pieces, one envisions the presence of a child, exposed to various situations and reacting to them. In Tailleferre’s suite, no children, as such, are depicted. Instead, each child—i.e., movement of the work—is personified by a flower native to France—Jasmin de Provence, Coquelicot de Guyenne, Rose d’Anjou, and so on. Gardening enthusiasts, get out your flowering plant encyclopedias and see if you can identify all eight of these beautiful blossoms representing the delicate beauty of children.



The second multi-movement work is L’aigle des rues (Street Hawk). It’s a five-movement suite drawn from the score of a documentary film: Valse, Berceuse, La dispute, Fugue, and Lent. The second number in the suite, Berceuse, is not the same unrelated, stand-alone Berceuse we hear on Track 20 of the disc.



The third multi-movement work, Partita for Piano, consists of three movements—Perpetuum mobile, Notturno, and Allegramente—and insofar as the present program goes, is the only abstract—as in non-representational—work on the disc, a piano sonata of sorts, albeit one that runs its course in seven and a half minutes.



Apart from Tailleferre being much in demand as a pianist and composer, a member of Les Six, and highly regarded by her peers both in and out of Les Six—among the latter, Jacques Ibert, Henri Sauget, Florent Schmitt, and Marguerite Long—as noted above, the short, epigrammatic, aphoristic piano pieces by which Tailleferre is represented on the present album establish a strong and continuing connection to the keyboard composers of the French Baroque—François Couperin (1668–1733), the most notable among them—who practiced and perfected the art of the pièce caractéristique, the short descriptive musical sketch intended to illustrate an actual known personage, a fabled figure from Greek or Roman history, a familiar place, and so on. Tailleferre’s Barbizon, a gathering place for 19th-century artists near Fontainebleau, is such a piece. Other numbers here, such as the aforementioned L’aigle des rues, are pieces extracted from film scores Tailleferre was commissioned to compose. Also in this category is Chiens (Dogs), taken from a film score to a 1929 documentary about the Inca civilization, titled Pastorale Incas.



While most modern-day listeners are not likely to relate to the subjects that inspired these pieces, it’s hard to imagine any listener who wouldn’t appreciate the music for its charm, elegance, sophisticated humor, and genuine beauty. In these performances by Quynh Nguyen, Tailleferre emerges as a distinct voice among her Les Six companions, and a composer whose output is deserving of more attention than it has received. Sensitive, poetic, communicative playing abounds throughout.



Vietnamese-born, Dr. Nguyen currently calls New York home, where she serves on the piano faculty of Hunter College and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. She made her New York debut in 2001, played Carnegie Hall, and has since toured widely throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia to critical acclaim. A Juilliard graduate, Nguyen is also a graduate of the Mannes College of Music, where her teachers, among others, included Bella Davidovich, Jerome Rose, Jacob Lateiner, and Yvonne Loriod. And, she has participated in master classes with artists including Tatiana Nikolaeva, Richard Goode, and András Schiff.



This is Quynh Nguyen’s Fanfare debut, though I note that she has previously recorded three albums for the Arabesque label, consisting of works by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Ravel, and Messiaen. To her discography can now be added this very beautiful and beguiling Music & Arts album of works by Germaine Tailleferre. Allow me to echo James Harrington’s hope for more of Tailleferre and in this case, more of Quynh Nguyen.

—Jerry Dubins

This article originally appeared in Issue 47:2 (Nov/Dec 2023) of Fanfare Magazine.

Jerry DubinsFanfare Magazine

We are indeed fortunate that women, so long relegated to a subservient position in a male dominated society, seem to be at the point of discovery and evaluation as to their true quality and craftsmanship in the creative aspects of composition. Under the title Flower of France (8 short children’s pieces), the only female member of “Le Six” one might think gets her due with 40 selections from her piano music. These join a relative paucity of material that has made an appearance from time to time.

All of these selections are quite short, but they do exude a considerable amount of charm in the context of a French and neobaroque sensibility. Any attempt at larger forms is limited to a grouping of movements such as the Partita for Piano (1957), consisting of 3 movements and 2 sections from the ballet Parisa (1953).

Based on what we have here we might assume that the composer is primarily a miniaturist, but a body of concertante works remains to be discovered, as does an opera. According to the pianist’s excellent notes the fly in the ointment might be a problem in the composer’s estate. Until the situation is settled we must be thankful for this treasurable body of music, lovingly and effectively played by Quynh Nguyen.

The pianist is a graduate of the Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music, where she was a student of Bella Davidovich, Jacob Lateiner, Martin Canin, and Jerome Rose. She is on the faculty of Hunter College and City University of New York. Needless to say, she does the music proud, and this can be unreservedly recommended.

—Alan Becker, American Record Guide, November 2023
Alan BeckerAmerican Record Guide, November 2023
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The concert was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the friendship between the United States and Vietnam through music and culture. Quynh Nguyen’s performance was a great example of how music can build bridges and strengthen ties between two countries.



Respectfully,



Kate Bartlett

Cultural Affairs Officer

U.S. Embassy Hanoi

Your performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K.453 was splendid virtually from beginning to end. Your artistic approach to the Allegro shared your fluid technique and understanding of performance practice. I sincerely enjoyed how you constructed each phrase and how carefully you listened to and dialogued with the JägerMeister Orchestra and Maestro Zilberkant. Your enthusiasm for Mozart was evident in the Andante and the Allegretto-Presto as well. Mozart sounds like a first musical language for you. There was a clear musical narrative shared throughout the performance.
Congratulations and thank you for sharing such a delightful rendering. _ Micheal BensonMichael BensonThe American Prize

"Her delightful Weill Hall recital offered renditions of Bach's G-minor English Suite (with a witty suggestion of a tambourine in the Gavotte), Schubert's D-major Sonata, D. 850, and vernal, lyrical accounts of Chopin's E-major Scherzo and late E-flat Nocturne (Op. 55, No. 2). Likewise memorable was her fleet, crystalline Ravel Tombeau de Couperin at a later Merkin Hall concert."Harris GoldsmithMusical America

Messiaen: Great feel, colors, phrasing all good. Excellent playing. Chopin: Very beautiful.Jeffrey BiegelThe American Prize

"[On] Saturday night, she made her local debut, and it was easy to understand why even people who are hard to please like her so much. She is a musical and expressive player who commands a flexible, singing sound. She is often sensitive and poetic, and when she should dazzle with lively rhythm, piquant inflexions, and dashing virtuosity -- as in Chopin's ''Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise brillante,'' or in the Chopin waltz she offered as an effervescent encore -- she knows how to. Quynh opened with an unusual Sonata in F Minor by Muzio Clementi, which she played in an operatic and romantic style. Her playing of Ravel's ''Tombeau de Couperin'' was marvelous: she excels in everything that requires elegance, proportion, balance, taste, and wit...Schumann's ''Kreisleriana'' was almost too beautifully played, with subtle interplay of inner voices... "Richard DyerThe Boston Globe

. . . her pianistic ability is beyond question; proven by her many concerts, reviews and recordings. She demonstrates in her performances a unique combination of virtuosity, poetry and passion. It is always a joy to be in the audience when she performs . . . [She is] a brilliant pianist . . . she has worked with me as well asBella Davidovich and is a truly wonderful artist . . . she is extraordinary in every way . . . there is a loveliness and strength to her playing and true qualities that make her a superb performer of Chopin.Jerome Rose,Faculty, Mannes College of Music

The Hanoi, Vietnam-born pianist Quynh Nguyen, now an American citizen, was born in 1976 and studied at the Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music, after debuts in Hanoi and some early training at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow, studying with Oleg Musorin. In New York her teachers have included Martin Canin, Jerome Rose, Jacob Lateiner, Bella Davidovich, and Robert Turner. She has concertised in Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the United States. She is gifted with a tender musicality, allied with a dazzlingly deft balance between the hands that make her performances of Schubert and Chopin, as heard on this new disc, irresistible. In Chopin's Nocturne in E flat, her trills have a poignancy that is entirely suited to the music, while she expresses the joyous dash needed for the same composer's showpiece: the Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise.

When Nguyen made her New York recital debut last year at Weill Hall, she was greeted by a rave notice from the usually judicious keyboard connoisseur Harris Goldsmith, who exclaimed, 'Ms. Nguyen's pianism and music-making are graced with beauty and exuberance. She is a real artist; a wonderfully communicative performer obviously intoxicated with the joy of living her music and sharing it with those lucky enough to hear it spring from her soul. What a compendium of intellect, sophistication and taste! True enough, Nguyen's Schubert is fresh and fleet, with a kind of poetic approach allied with digital dexterity in the tradition of the late Russian virtuoso Yuri Egorov, although more pliant and endearing than the splashy Egorov generally sounded...

Rarely does one hear a young artist with such a naturally flowing sense of melodic line - vivid and unforced - that permits the music to breath uninhibited. This flexible way of playing allows poetry and emotion to expand organically. Quynh Nguyen is already a major talent of the younger generation of keyboard artists, to be placed alongside Klara Wurtz and Irina Rees.Benjamin IvryInternational Piano Magazine

Take Vietnamese-American pianist Quynh Nguyen. Last year, she made her New York debut to a rave review from the dean of US piano critics, Harris Goldsmith. He cheered Ms. Nguyen's performance of Chopin, saying that she played more eloquently than such great keyboard heroes as "Ignaz Friedman, Perahia, Horowitz, Rubinstein – or anyone whose interpretations linger in the mind's ear.

This kind of reaction would, in other days, have guaranteed a recording contract, especially since she is young and photogenic. Instead, she has paid to publish two CDs, which are available on her website.

"... it would be better to have a recording contract with a big company," says Nguyen. But "I am happy that my music has reached a much wider audience...Benjamin IvryChristian Monitor Science Magazine

This young pianist, born in Vietnam and trained in Russia as well as in the United States, received high praise from reliable quarters for her New York debut recital last year. Now she offers an interesting and well-varied program of Clementi (Sonata Op. 13 No. 6), Schumann ("Kreislariana"), Ravel ("Le Tombeau de Couperin") and Corigliano ("Fantasia on an Ostinato").James OestreichThe New York Times

A New York debut of exceptional distinction was played by pianist Quynh Nguyen on March 3rd at Weill Hall as part of Artists International’s Debut Winners Series. Ms. Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam to a family of musicians, played her first recital at the age of nine, and at eleven made her orchestral debut performing Mozart’s Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. That same year she gave a recital in Moscow, and at 13, received a full scholarship to study at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow. She continued her studies as a scholarship student at the Juilliard School and at the Mannes College of Music, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees respectively. She is currently enrolled in the DMA program at CUNY. Her teachers include Oleg Mussorin, Robert Turner, Bella Davidovich, Alexander Paley, Jacob Lateiner and Jerome Rose. And, as her bio for the recital adds, “she has performed in master classes given by Tatiana Nicoleiva, Garrick Ohlsson, Bryce Morrison, Pavlina Dokovska, Peter Frankel, Richard Goode, and András Schiff”. Ms. Nguyen’s credentials are indeed impressive, and little wonder that she has distinguished herself in various piano competitions and gained extensive concert experience worldwide—in Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the United States.

But even my fondest hopes and expectations were gloriously sustained and surpassed by this dream of a recital. Ms. Nguyen’s pianism and music making are graced with beauty and exuberance. She is a real artist; a wonderfully communicative performer obviously intoxicated with the joy of living her music and sharing it with those lucky enough to hear it spring from her soul. What a compendium of intellect, sophistication and taste! And she is also (in her unobtrusive way) an accomplished virtuoso, equipped to dispatch even some of the most difficult and subtle compositions on her program (J.S. Bach’s English Suite in G minor BWV 808, Schubert’s Sonata in D major, Op. 53, D. 850; and three of Chopin’s most rarified masterworks, his Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54; his late Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2; and earlier but demanding Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op. 22).

The Bach Suite took wing with infectious brio. Her propulsive way with the opening Preludium may have initially seemed too dangerously precipitate but the rhythmic control was secure and admirable steady. The ensuing Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte and Gigue all likewise shared that same lustrous singing tone. The Sarabande was especially modest and eloquent, and she brought a delightful sense of humor to her fleet delivery of the Gavotte (with the tambourine-like repeated bass notes in its second strain deliciously and tastefully emphasized; and the almost Schumannesque maggiore central Trio poignantly savored).

The first movement of the Schubert Sonata took wing at an almost wicked clip. Here, if there is any room for reservation, Ms. Nguyen might have allowed for just a hairbreadth more tonal solidity and breathing space to make the most of this extremely Beethovenian writing. But, no matter, the potentially quirky crossing of hands and such were admirably under rhythmic control (no Schnabel-like desperation this time!). And how Ms. Nguyen’s spot-on sense of color and timing kept the potentially repetitious Con moto second movement airborne. (All of the myriad variations of filigree were splendidly creative and engaging and never once did interest flag). For once, there were no “editorializing” of rhythm in the Allegro vivace Scherzo (again that “Tradition” established almost reflexively by that famous old Schanbel recording), and in retrospect it was a pleasant and unpretentious departure from precedent. The Rondo: Allegro moderato, taken a bit more rapidly than usual, delectably recreated the nursery-rhyme “Sing a Song of Six Pence” quality in this fleet and lovely version.

And so it was with the Chopin group heard after intermission: the Fourth Scherzo had an almost Mendelssohn-like gossamer quality. Filigree was impishly tossed off, the octaves sonorously in place, and the central Trio section again achieved without fuss or contortion. The Nocturne was, if anything, even better: the absolute highpoint of the afternoon: I have never heard it played more eloquently, by Ignaz Friedman, Perahia, Horowitz, Rubinstein—or anyone whose interpretations linger in the mind’s ear. (Yes, this performance was truly sublime.) The Andante Spianato had a classical simplicity and proportion, and the following Grande Polonaise—a brilliance and swagger—with some effective left hand anticipations and octave amplifications making the proceedings all the more stylish and effective.

We will, no doubt, be regularly hearing much more from Quynh Nguyen: Remember her name!Harris GoldsmithNew York Concert Review

She was my student at The Juilliard School for four years during which time she showed herself to be a wonderful young artist. She has impressive technical and musical assets, along with discipline and desire to develop herself. She made wonderful progress while studying with me and I look forward to watching her life as professional pianist evolve.Bella DavidovichFaculty, The Juilliard School