Concert Reviews

... The concert given by the duo :nota bene: was a particularly pleasant surprise. Eva Steinschaden and Alexander Vavtar are two exceptionally endearing performers, completely without vanity and all the more committed to their art.
One could feel how well Mozart's music ­ here the Sonata in B flat major KV 454 ­ suits these musicians, and Eva Steinschaden's warm, subtle yet powerful tone harmonised splendidly with her partner's sensitive, fine-toned playing. The duo allowed the music its natural flow, so that its indescribable charm and elegance, and especially its deeply moving melody and warmth, were conveyed to full advantage.
In Cesar Bresgen's fascinating and richly varied "Rumanian Suite", the musicians showed a further aspect of their expertise: tonal differentiation and virtuosity, together with an unerring sense of rhythm.
Ludwig Nussbichler's "Traumbildfragment III" (Dream Fragment III) was a real discovery; here densely packed atmosphere and beauty of tone were skilfully combined.
Then Schubert's Duo in A major D 574 ­ this music breathed and affected, and one wondered whether perhaps it is only Austrians who can truly bring out its inherent sensitivity and lyricism, its melancholy charm.
As an encore, they played Arvo Pärt's "Spiegel im Spiegel" (Mirror in the mirror); thanks to the performance of the duo :nota bene: the inner warmth and radiance of this piece was displayed to the full ­ music hovering, suspended, experienced as a trance.
(Kulturissimo/Luxembourg, November 2003)

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