'This is Bristol' Website - Recital at Colston Hall
Beginning with Schumann's Kinderszenen, in the most famous of the pieces, Dreaming, the soloist showed a perfect touch and feeling for this particular theme. In the last of the sections, The Poet Speaks, he went through all the emotions before coming to a quiet ending. This was a classic, purposeful account in which he showed a profound understanding of the composer's meaning.
Busoni was renowned for his transcriptions and in the famous Chaconne he states the theme with great force. John Paul had the many vagaries of the piece completely in control with some brilliant playing.
Uxbridge Gazette - Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto
"The sombre opening chords from the piano were as powerful as the music that followed, which ran the whole gamut of the emotions. There was a huge cheer from the audience after the stirring finale, and a well-deserved ovation for the young soloist. If this first-class performance was anything to go by, he has a glittering future ahead of him."
Petersfield Post - Recital for Harting Music Club
"John Paul’s interpretation of Scarlatti displayed a variety of expression and thought, while Beethoven’s sonata which followed showed a depth of understanding and control. The Brahms was demanding, exciting and required a depth of knowledge of the range, power and light touch in the composition, while the stunning, absorbing and rich Chopin Scherzo brought the afternoon to a happy close for the delighted audience."
David Winsor - Recital for Woking Concert Society
There was an above average audience for the return of this accomplished young trio who won plaudits in the romantic repertoire of their first Woking concert in November 2008. It is a delight to report that they play the classical works with sparkling skill and commitment. The opening Haydn trio received a full-blooded performance appropriate to its 1790s composition, with details of wit and grace picked out for our enjoyment. The Andante was given surprising depth, and the chase was spirited in the scintillating finale.
The performance of Schubert's E flat Major trio was quite overwhelming. The slow movement, ominous and profound, is one of the great pieces of chamber music. The Erato players were beautifully co-ordinated in their delivery here. The playing in the remaining movements had many felicities and the balancing of the parts was highly pleasing and harmonious.
Overall, pianist John Paul Ekins delivered accomplished, often shimmering, playing throughout, and the strings took their opportunities to please with some brilliant technique and well-tuned work. Mastery of classical period performance is theirs, and I hope we shall see them again in the future. A performance for the Society of Beethoven's Archduke Trio heads my wish list, and the trios of Haydn an excellent choice for the Erato's CD debut.
Woking News and Mail - Gershwin's Piano Concerto
"A memorable performance. John Paul Ekins is the winner of this year’s Woking Young Musician Competition and the talent that enabled him to win that contest shone clearly through. His verve, energy and sheer musical talent communicated itself to the orchestra and the overall result was superb, bringing cheers from the audience. Such a performance should establish John Paul in the minds of all those attending as a rising star who has every right to expect a glittering future."
Cagliari Chronicle - Recital in Cagliari, Sardinia
" A Trio made up of very young, but extremely skilled, musicians. In front of an attentive and impressed audience, the musicians presented an hour of polished 19th century music, interpreting piano trios by Mendelssohn and Brahms. The artists, who are well known in London, regaled the audience with a crisp, fresh and deeply heartfelt performance, in perfect harmony."
Theydon Bois Village Website - Recital for Theydon Bois Music Society
"A major success from the Erato Piano Trio. In the Mendelssohn Piano Trio in D Minor, the players really excelled themselves and delighted their audience. Ilya Movchan (violin) and Julia Morneweg ('cello) gave excellent and sensitive performances but it was the brilliant and lively piano playing of John Paul Ekins, which give the essential background to their wonderful music."
Recital in Zakopane, Poland (Marek Skocza)
"John Paul Ekins gave an extraordinary performance. He played Scarlatti's Sonata in A Major with virtuosity, producing a wonderful, pearly sound. In Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque and Chopin’s Scherzo in B Flat Minor he showed how well he can strike a balance between impressionism and romanticism. Such was his wonderful interpretation of Chopin’s music, the enraptured audience were delighted when John Paul played one of his famous Mazurkas as an encore."
South Wales Argus WebSite - Recital for Lower Machen Festival
"What youth confers is a capacity for freshness of view and zest for playing, as in this recital by the Erato Piano Trio. In three of the four works chosen, dance or folk-inspired melody serve as respites from seriousness and reflection, and it was in this department that the trio was refreshingly uninhibited.
The final 'Gypsy Rondo' movement of Haydn's Piano Trio in G Major was a no-holds-barred performance, but its preamble had style and attraction, some portamento touches by the strings harking back to older ways. The more youthful, yet less frolicsome, Haydn Trio in E Major was relayed tastefully, a world away from the 'Gypsy rondo', which was repeated as an encore at a slightly faster lick. And why not?"
'This is Wiltshire' Website (Bernard Cooper) - Recital at Warminster Athenaum
An enthusiastic audience at the Athenaeum last Saturday evening were vigorously alerted by the first few crisp chords of Haydn's Piano Trio in C major from The Erato Piano Trio, establishing the fact that here was a chamber group of musicians to be reckoned with: the timing was tense, the rhythms were absolutely firm and the melodic outlines clearly and lyrically established and the air of purpose was palpable. The piano part was clearly virtuosic and John Paul Ekins took on the role of underwriting the musical foundations of this exciting opening and his keyboard work made Haydn's technical demands look easy.
In Faure's Op. 120 Trio in D minor, skilful pedalling by the piano, managed to keep the chordal accompaniment in a clear line, making a foundation for the cello's countermelody, while Yuri Kalnits' firm lyrical lines kept the cello's song of sorrow from falling into a chasm of gloom.
Ravel', Piano Trio in A minor was in ravishing, Debussy-like,
whole tone bravura harmonies, with harp-like arpeggios of piano. Each movement seemed to merge into the next, and the theme seemed to pervade throughout. The lyrical "Postlude" of the Violin was punctuated with colossal slabs of piano sound, bringing the piece to a dramatic climactic end.
Petersfield Post (Ann Pinhey) - Recital for Harting Music Club
"Harting Music Club's June concert introduced us to two very talented young musicians - James Toll, violin, and John Paul Ekins, piano. The Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major was warm and thought-provoking. This work represents Brahms at his most lyrical, and it unfurled naturally with eloquence from the beginning of the work. There was a seductive sureness and a flawless confidence about the playing from these young musicians. The pianist contributed many delicate touches, and there was great depth of phrasing from both players, using a wide dynamic palette.
Beethoven's Sonata for Piano and Violin in G Major Op.96 again demonstrated the flexible approach, musicianship, and skill of both players. The work had moments of intense passion and sudden bursts of energy, which provided a vivid contrast to the overall tranquil mood. This was a wonderful afternoon of chamber music played by two consummate musicians in delightful surroundings."
Warminster Journal & Wiltshire Times - Recital at Warminster Athenaum
"A capacity audience at the Athenaeum in Warminster on Sunday were treated to a splendid concert given by the duo partnership of John Paul Ekins (piano) and Michal Cwizewicz (violin).
Schubert’s Sonatina in G minor for piano and violin received an assured performance which brought out many messages indicative of the more mature master. The dazzling Scherzo in C minor by Brahms then sent the audience happily away to the interval.
There were two works in the second half of the concert, the first of these being Busoni’s 1892 reworking for piano of the Bach D minor Chaconne for violin. The marvellous percussive sonorities of the modern grand piano enable us to consider the Chaconne from a different viewpoint, and John Paul Ekins gave a highly persuasive and sensitive performance of what must be one of the finest of Busoni’s many Bach transcriptions.
The programme was completed with the Violin Sonata by the Polish composer Szymanowski (1882 - 1937). The duo’s partnership was here shown at its best in a wonderfully committed performance."
'Music Web International' Website (Glyn Pursglove) - Recital at Cardiff National Gallery
In the opening movement of Faure's D Minor Piano Trio, Julia Morneweg played the long, lyrical first theme with plenty of feeling as trio communicated the movement’s complex structure. The long andantino was studded with beautiful moments, especially towards its close, the shot-silk textures with their ambiguities of self-reflection and memory and their unexpected harmonic resolutions were well realized. The closing allegro began with a good sense of drama (or at least as near to the dramatic as this subtlest of works ever comes). The playing here had an assured and natural sense of interplay and musical dialogue.
In Ravel’s trio, the opening movement danced persuasively, the music revolving around Ravel’s pedal-points with commendable clarity. The Basque inflections of the opening theme were painted with a light touch and the second theme had a pleasing suavity to it. The second movement, the Pantoum, got sprightly treatment, the whole both engaged and engaging. The chorale-like melody in F major was played with particular beauty, and the alternations of thematic materials handled with a clear sense of form and purpose. In the third movement, John Paul Ekins’ initial statement of the theme in the lower register of the piano created a feeling of spaciousness which was sustained throughout, as Ravel constantly changes the patterns of duet and trio. There was an edge of melancholy to the reading, but any temptation to wallow in this was avoided, and there was real beauty in the movement’s close. In the Finale the Erato Trio were particularly satisfying, their precision of ensemble and their unity of purpose particularly striking; the considerable technical demands of the music left them altogether unfazed and the alternations between 5/4 and 7/4 time were integrated into a unified approach to the larger shape of the movement; without inappropriate inflation of effect, the decidedly orchestral nature of Ravel’s writing in this last movement was given powerful expression.
The Erato Trio is already an accomplished ensemble, and there is every reason to imagine that, as they mature further, they will be capable of even more in future years.