A complete audio-visual experience
A complete audio-visual experience was delivered by the Terwey sisters on Saturday in the Lausitzhalle – a delight.
There are classical concerts in their purest form: the solemnly dressed musician routinely plays on a discretely designed stage. This image was stirred up a good quarter of a century ago by Nigel Kennedy and others. A
brilliant musician does not need to stand on the stage dressed ultra-conservatively ...
The music critic Jon Landau once wrote: “I have seen the future of rock’ n’ roll. And its name is Bruce Springsteen.”
The Hoyerswerdaer audience probably saw the future of classical concerts as part of the 50th Hoyerswerdaer Music Festival on Saturday. And its name in this particular case was “Terweys’ Visual Classic” – a complete audio-visual experience.
Berenice Christin Terwey ... is gifted. You can hear it, see it, feel it. Her sister Philomela Eva Terwey matches her on the grand piano in every way. The sisters both completed master classes during their musical education and now travel the world with individual commitments, but also together with their collaborative work.
For this, they have picked out six pieces and an encore that they could play quite simply on any stage in the world and would reap praise. But the choreographer Nici Grandison and the lighting designer Günter Jäckle have provided matching video animations to the pieces that can be seen on large screens in the background, the paper balloons on the stage always shine in a different light and the wardrobe of the two artists is adapted to each of the pieces.
Chopin’s raindrop prelude is played in rain capes, red costumes fit perfectly to the tango world of Astor Piazzolla. And the, well, robot costume including LED belt of the violinist has long been the critics’ favourite. The actor Robert Schupp is in turn ideally cast for the stories he tells before each piece - from the first-person perspective of the respective musician, whether Mozart, Ravel or Sarasate.
So there’s something to ponder, something to listen to and something to look at. And sometimes also something to marvel at. The complete show seemed just perfect: from the virtuosity of the musicians to the narrative style of the actor right up to the choreography of the images and the stage lighting. All in all a delight. The applause from the audience was long. But if something is perfect, and there is no room left for spontaneity, what comes next? Well, only time will tell.
By Uwe Schulz
Sächsische Zeitung (Germany)
Mit viel Feuer gestaltet
von zarten naturhaften Bildern bis hin zu ekstatischen Farbrausch-Videos ... Terwey-Schwestern begeistern in der Beverunger Stadthalle ... herausragende Geigerin Berenice Terwey überzeugte mit einem großen und dennoch zart singenden Geigenton.
Neue Westfälische Bielefeld
Fusion of stage performance evokes emotions
The artistic conception of the Terwey sisters‘ multiple art show had something new and innovative in it which we had not expected and which we need in vmajor concert halls and venues to welcome younger people. The multi-disciplinary project joins classical music repertoire for violin and piano, animated stage set visuals, lighting design, and dramaturgy to an amazing stage performance, a synthesis of picture and sound. The Terwey sisters led us through a surreal atmosphere and unbelievable stage sets to their expressive music. …
First part of the program were excerpts of Bach‘s partita no3 for violin solo. It‘s noticeable how Berenice Terwey allowed smoothness and beauty of tone to take second place to her sense of the music‘s dynamic and expressive demands. Her interpretation of the Loure and Gavotte en rondeau were elegan, delicately sensuous and remarkable for her sheer musicality.
In the following sonata no 2 by Johannes Brahms, the animated stage set invited the audience to a walk through a colourful dream of romantic gardens. The sisters were showing emotional maturity as well as lyrical intensity. Their amazing interpretation demonstrated the unbelievable balance between the pianist and the violinist that bordered on telepathy, as well as natural affinity with Brahms‘ musical language. A sophisticated elaboration of this lyric master piece.
Philomela Terwey ... performed the Grande Valse brillante and the Mazurka op 34/1, two master pieces by Frederic Chopin, with a range of expression, a total unique soundworld which showed the essence of Chopin‘s creative thoughts.The grace and beauty of her impeccable perfomance lied in the finesse of execution and the fluid movements.
... Of all the parts of the Suite Italienne by Igor Stravinski, the Tarantella and the Gavotte most explicitly require the pianist and the violinist to act together, as partners in a magic act. The sisters‘ musicianship was everywhere in evidence. In this work, Stravinski is playful, massive, melodious, and sweet by turn. The audience could discover all these aspects. Clean, crisp lines and easy-going charm lent to this music from the 18th century re-imagined by Stravinsky. Love, passion, regret, and humour dotted their emotional landscape. They set emotions in motion.
A gipsy whirlwind was the virtuoso piece „Zigeunerweisen“ by Pablo de Sarasate which brought both virtuosity and lyrical passion to fine performance. Berenice Terwey‘s brilliant technique, warm, glowing tone quality and dramatic intensity led this piece to a fiery highpoint.
Berenice and Philomela Terwey earned a standing ovation for an evening of complete delight. The artists thanked the audience with two encores. (kh)
Mexico City
Back to the Future
by Dario Agazzi
The future of chamber music is called Berenice (violin) and Philomela (piano) Terwey. […]
They offered the 1st movement of the Sonata op. 100 by Brahms: pianissimi caressed with bashfulness; the Prelude op. 28 no 15 ["Raindrop"] by Chopin: virile measured pianism by Philomela with Berenice reciting the mélancholie; Piazzolla's Oblivión and Libertango: so precise to show us the Argentine's debts to César Franck; Ravel's Second Sonata: trade-jazz from the goldsmith, Monet's water lilies and Middle Ages-of-fantasy performed sublimely.
FilmTV Italia 2024