- “the sharpest Australian intellect at the keyboard” The Age
CD recording of the complete piano music of David Lumsdaine to be released by Tall Poppies in 2008.
Mark Knoop will perform with ELISION in Australia and 175 East in New Zealand in August 2008.
Reviews
Chris Reid, RealTime, June 2007Mark Knoop’s rendition is scintillating … the coherence of the work emerges from Knoop’s precise conducting. [Young’s Val Camonica Pieces]
Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers, 31 March 2005Mark Knoop is a fine, fluent pianist and was a tower of strength throughout a demanding evening; his account of Boulez’s aphoristic Notations was scrupulously executed.
Guntram Zürn, Leonberger Kreiszeitung, 8 Apr 2004The lyrical lecture developed a responding suction, supported by the texts, which shone through as if embossed under the music. In the centre section he presented chaotic fragments with rapid, severe keystrokes, with enormous leaps over all seven octaves of the piano. To the end Mark Knoop kindled a virtuoso conflagration of sound. [Ferneyhough’s Opus Contra Naturam]
Clive O’Connell, The Age, 22 Aug 2002… one’s admiration for the brilliant Melbourne musician’s persistence and sheer energy level has redoubled. [Finnissy’s The History of Photography in Sound]
Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 2002The most impressive work, for me, was Radulescu’s Piano Sonata No 2, brilliantly performed by Knoop. Despite being limited to the finite temperament of the piano keyboard, it came across as a structure of infinite possibilities sensual and intellectual.
Clive O’Connell, The Age, 21 Aug 2001the central exhibition of the evening came with Knoop’s performance of the concert’s focal work, Tract by Richard Barrett. … In fact, it seemed to me that the concert could well have stopped after Knoop’s formidable account of this gesture-heavy and emotionally draining tour-de-force.
Patricia Kelly, The Courier Mail, 21 Aug 2000[a] transformation of the accordion, that humble instrument of peasant musicians much despised by the establishment, into a multifaceted vehicle of human expression - funereal, romantic, jocular, ominous.
Jeff Pressing, The Age, 10 Jul 2000… Knoop’s inspired rendition of Pierre Boulez’ Premiere Sonate. He deftly laid out the crisp lines and gorgeous intervallic structures of this early work, showing a highly developed sense of phrasing and pace.
Clive OConnell, The Age, 4 Aug 1998Mark Knoop played the piano part [of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire] with intelligence and flair, as well as unobtrusively conducting.
Clive OConnell, The Age, 21 Jan 1997Scelsi’s Piano Suite No 9, ‘Ttai’, played by Mark Knoop with the control and aplomb that the composer regarded as essential … obvious expertise and sympathetic performance.
Gordon Kerry, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 Sept 1996[Adam Yee’s] short piano piece Lot is also beautifully crafted, and there was a hint of brimstone - if no pillars of salt - in Mark Knoop’s reading.
Jeremy Vincent, The Australian, 22 Dec 1995Knoop judged the diverse rhythms of the piece [Dench’s into the wormworks] with superb skill. … one could not fault Knoop’s emotional impact. Janacek’s Sonata 1.X.1905 was a triumph … strong individuality.
Michael J Easton, The Age, 26 Sept 1995a fine player … unorthodox but convincing.
first class playing from a gifted musician.
