News

Great review in Svenska Dagbladet by Erik Wallrup of Beethoven vol. 2″Sometimes perfection is an obstacle. Not in the case of Sivelöv. It is true that his extreme sense of touch and inventive mobility can be given more room without an orchestra, but he definitely also has the power and direction of the soloist. Attack is found in his entrance to the C minor concerto on the new record, poetic power in the slow movement and rhythmic life in the finale. A second concerto is on the disc, number 2 in B flat major, and there both soloist and orchestra show how musicianship can have freedom even in a work that has ended up in the shadows of the three grander ones, numbers 3–5.Just in the second concert, it is clear how everything is falling into place between the conductor and the orchestra. If any element is peculiar to the Bogotá Philharmonic, it is the rhythmic vigor. Sure, sonorously it’s just as it should be, and there’s a clear sense of the big form, but the vitality of the rhythm is so palpable. (The fact that the inserted Egmont overture becomes more melancholic than tragic must be placed in parentheses.)

Six heartsin Politiken for my Beethoven opus 2 on AMC/Amchara Classical!  “The professor, who has previously shown that he can interpret with the great romantic schwung, captures the essence of Beethoven by understanding and conveying how already in these sonatas strong l forces press on the music from within and push it forward with a hellish ferocity that is new and wild. A devilish madness that precisely makes the Viennese classic Beethoven point towards the following romanticism” Thomas MichelsenPolitiken 

This is the second volume in a series of three recordings from AMC with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá and Joachim Gustafsson conducting, which will be the first recording made in Latin America of all of Beethoven’s concertos for piano and orchestra, including the piano version of the violin concerto. On this recording the wonderful and dramatic Egmont Overture is also included.The 24-year-old Beethoven likely gave the first performance of the sparkling Second Concerto at a concert of Prince Lobkowitz, where his playing “touched everybody”. The young musician had the honour of performing the concerto later that same year with the esteemed Haydn conducting. It is a charming and delightful work, with a beautiful slow movement that must have shown off Beethoven’s noted cantabile style of playing, as well as a light-hearted, comic finale.The cadenza in the first movement is by Niklas Sivelöv.The Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op.37 was generally thought to have been composed in 1800, although the year of its composition has recently been revised to 1803. It was first performed on 5 April of that year, with the composer as soloist, in a concert where the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also premiered. The concerto was published in 1804, and was dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia.When the pianist–composer Beethoven moved to Vienna to study with Haydn, he confined his appearances for the first three years to soirees for the aristocracy, until he was satisfied he would make a spectacular debut both as virtuoso pianist and composer. At last, in 1795, he burst into Viennese musical life with his Piano Trios, Op.1 and his three Piano Sonatas, Op.2, the first works he considered worthy of an opus number. His shrewd judgement paid off: the young piano tiger and his compositions made an enormous impression.The Op.2 piano sonatas, the first of 32, are grounded in the Viennese Classical tradition of Mozart and Haydn, but already display Beethoven’s original voice. They move beyond eighteenth-century conventions in their key relationships, unusual modulations, dynamic contrasts, dramatic gestures and quasi-orchestral sweep. The first sonata is sometimes known as the ‘Little Appassionata’ for its key signature and the passionate Sturm und Drang mood of its outer movements. The second sonata, wide-ranging in its emotional content, moves further away from the eighteenth century in its plentiful unusual modulations, and the thirdsonata is virtuosic and grand in scale, unmistakably pointing towardsRomanticism.These three sonatas, which range over the entire keyboard, often with hands widely spaced, seem to strain at the confines of the fortepiano Beethoven owned at the time. Indeed the demands Beethoven placed on keyboard instruments with his 32 piano sonatas led to its substantial development already in his lifetime. At the end of his life Beethoven owned two much more advanced pianos, aBroadwood and a Graf, and in this recording Niklas Sivelöv plays a modern replica of a Graf piano.

Live recording from October  2023.The Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra and Joachim Gustafsson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s54IPV_tESwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LfKSqwygls&t=1291s

Niklas played recently two recitals in Solbjerg Kirke in Copenhagen and in Annedalskyrkan i Götbeborg.Both events were very well attended and had great atmosphere.In Gothenburg it was an inauguration concert of the newly renovated Steinway B. A performance which generated standing ovations!Music by Bach, Beethoven, Stenhammar and Skrjabin.

Re-issue of the recording from 2011 of the wonderful Sonatas for piano by Robert Schumann!Niklas Sivelöv: Schumann: Piano Sonatas AMC/Amchara Classsical 4 stars The piano professor Niklas Sivelöv has compared the music soloist to an enormous antenna which with sound waves seeks its receiver. Maybe you could also talk about a sonorous ebb and flow. At least when we are talking about his interpretations of Robert Schumanns three piano sonatas from the 1830’s which deals with the manic-depressive musical tendencies of the 200-years jubilee. Schumanns romantic piano music prefers to follow the logic of poetry and reflects the composers alter egos Florestan (a lively character) and Eusebius (a dreamer). Schizofrenic moods which Sivelöv controls on the limit between restlessness and reflection. Especially when the time signature in the second sonata builds up to a lightning speed with the first movement in evanescently and thoughtful haste. Best track: The finale of sonata no. 3 and no. 1. Dagens Nyheter – Johanna Paulsson“Niklas Sivelöv Masters The Poetic Logic “ 5 starsNiklas Sivelöv has specialised in Schumann and hails him with strong interpretations of the three sonatas from the 1830’s. Pure piano romance closer to Beethoven than Chopin – and closest to the composer himself in the splintered flow of ideas and melodies which was Schumann’s sorcerer’s brew. A classic analyst of form fdoes not find convincing regularity in Schumann. Here it is the poetic logic in the centre: the playing in contrasts, the abrupt change of feelings. Sivelöv masters this. The tones cascade forward or rest in meditating depths. A fairy tale, a bath in beauty, new views and pleasure awaits the alert listener. Sydsvenskan- Carlhåkan LarsénThe three piano sonatas become great raids on temperamentsforever changing. Powerful outbursts with long stretched lines are succeeded by simple miniatures to change into delicate chor or straightforward manifestations.Sivelov is obviously never afraid of drawing  the knife fully through,and the consistent thinking makes the cd a small master piece amidstthe grand portrayal of feelingsHenrik Friis, Politiken 5 starshttps://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9599960–schumann-piano-sonatas