Acclaim for Sachiko Kato’s new CD release
J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (Centaur Records)
Review excerpts:
“It’s a disc you should have purely for the velvet smoothness and silken beauty of Sachiko Kato’s tone as captured by the One Soul Studios engineers in New York’s Klavierhaus Hall. This is simply one of the most gorgeous reproductions of piano sound I’ve heard on disc.”
“… In many of the variations’ first halves, she adds some of her own embellishments that tickled me with delight. Kato is an extremely imaginative player …”
“Kato’s readings of the variations are so perfectly realized in terms of tempos, phrasing, and discovery of detail, particularly in the left hand, that one marvels at the utter naturalness and fluency of the music … she plays with such a sense of effortlessness and ease that it’s as if the piano is having its own joyous conversation with Bach.
“Listen to the happy mordents and smiling trill-and-mordents in the second half of Variation 5, executed with such perfection that even at Kato’s rapid velocity, not only can you hear the difference between them, your ear can discern the number of squiggles.”
“I’ve long admired Angela Hewitt, Murray Perahia, Andras Schiff, and Craig Sheppard in this music, but Sachiko Kato’s performance is truly special, and for piano versions, I think it may now be my favorite.”
– Jerry Dubins, Fanfare, Jan/Feb 2013
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“Japanese-American pianist Sachiko Kato shows an extraordinarily light touch on the keys that serves JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations very well.”
“So lightly do her hands move across the keyboard that she recalls the original instrument for which Bach wrote this set of variations, the harpsichord …”
“Under her hands, what often appears in other recordings to be ponderous and labored soars toward heaven and plunges to the depths.”
“When we get to Var. 25, an Adagio in two parts … we listen to the thoughtful way Kato approaches this solid synthesis of deep beauty and dark passion, and especially in the way we almost gasp when the second part occurs so unexpectedly (and so rightly), we are in the presence of one of music’s great treasures.”
– Phil’s Classical Review (Audio Video Club of Atlanta)
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Performance Testimonials
“Japanese-born, Los Angeles-raised, and Juilliard-trained Sachiko Kato displayed strong emotional content in her program consisting of the familiar Waltz No. 3 in A minor (“Grand Waltz Brilliante”), two other waltzes, and particularly in two nocturnes, which were exquisitely played.”
– Diana Barth, Epoch Times, June 2016
Weaving Japanese Sounds concert
“Impressively crisp fingerwork and consistent energy.”
“Kato’s performance brought interpretive clarity to the music’s density, and she performed with eloquence.” “Kato plays ‘with finesse and a lovely, delicate touch.’”
– Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review, Summer 2004
In recital performing the works of Lois. V. Vierk
Seldom in all my years as a composer have I had the rewarding experience of working with a performer like Sachiko Kato, who so deeply understands the aesthetic of my music. In need of no verbal suggestions from me, she easily keyed into the essence of the music, into what the music is about. With a beautiful naturalness she brought the music across to the audience. She performed with clarity, power and grace.”
– Lois V. Vierk, composer
In recital featuring Scriabin, Mozart, Takemistu and at KlavierHaus
New York City on Friday, November 17, 2006
“Kato brought such force of intent, presence and conceptual rigor to her recital that she provided new insights into many of the warhorses of the piano repertoire.”
“Her performance gave credence to the stories of the sheer intensity that Debussy’s music had on the salons of Paris and his reputation as a sought-after lover.
“The Takemitsu was a study in the craft of how a pianist can use touch and pedal to control a piano’s overtones to create a musical painting. Even the tried-and-true Rachmaninoff pieces were new explorations of harmony and color.”
“Kato with technique, passion, and blinding intent pushes the envelope, once again reminding us that this music was once the province of the furthest edge of the avant-garde.”
– Stuart Diamond, Producer/Writer/Composer/Musician