Textura.Org
“Mozart. Post Scriptum”
CD Review
His musicality, refined touch, and command of phrasing are evident throughout… Kvitko captivates with the delicacy and charm of his playing… dazzles with devilishly difficult runs… staggers in virtuosity… entrances with languor and untainted beauty… breathtaking piano cadenza…”
EarRelevant
The three hats of Sergei Kvitko
I have to confess: I was ready to destroy the man with a bazooka right from the beginning. Changing Mozart? How dare he? He is not even Stravinsky playing with Pergolesi.
But after a while, I found myself giggling with my earplugs on, to some discomfort of my wife and my cat.
This man is simply incredible. It is Mozart after Mozart.
City Pulse
Mozart in Madrid
As the snow flies in December, Sergei Kvitko’s thoughts are drifting back to summer 2021, and not just because of the weather.
A sparkling new CD, released in November, documents a high point in the musical life of the Lansing-based pianist and recording engineer.
“At the time it was a dream come true,” Kvitko said. “Now it just feels like a dream.”
Audiophile Audition
Mozart Post Scriptum: Concerto and Rondos – Sergei Kvitko, Tigran Shiganyan
“…elan and spontaneous interplay of solo and orchestra…”
“Kvitko plays with a refined clarity”
Art’s Desire on KWMR Radio
Interview with Julie Motz
Listen to Sergei Kvitko’s interview with Julie Motz, host of Art’s Desire on KWMR radio station in California, discussing “MOZART. Post Scriptum” album
The Whole Note Magazine
Sergei Kvitko’s Blue Griffin
Boasting over 200 titles to date, Blue Griffin Recording celebrated its 20th anniversary on June 1, 2020. Fresh off the heels of a Latin Grammy Award nomination and the unveiling of a new website, label founder Sergei Kvitko recalls the early days when he found his way into a recording studio, before the label’s birth in 2000.
CMUSE
A Fascinating Piano Transcription of Ysaÿe’s Solo Violin Sonata No. 3 “Ballade”
Now Ysaÿe’s six violin sonatas are themselves classics, better known than some of the composers they celebrate. The bold and versatile Sergei Kvitko has transcribed Ysaÿe’s third violin sonata to the piano—an instrument that is obviously very different from the violin, and is not going to convey the intricacies of Ysaÿe’s approach to the violin. Does the work have one author, two authors, or three?
WKAR Current State
Pianist Sergei Kvitko recounts recent Carnegie performance
For 15 years, Lansing-based Sergei Kvitko has been playing the organ at Lansing’s First Presbyterian Church. He also fills the roles of critically acclaimed pianist, composer, audio engineer and producer.
He's wrapped up a tour that ended with a Carnegie Hall appearance on May 23.
Kvitko joins Current State to talk about his career, his work in the studio and the accomplishment of performing at Carnegie Hall.
New York Concert Review
Sergei Kvitko at Carnegie Hall Review
The solo piano debut of Sergei Kvitko at Weill Hall was a heartwarming occasion – even a love-fest – for many reasons that became clear throughout the evening. As a bit of background, the Russian-born resident of Lansing, Michigan is no average pianist. Having come to the U.S. to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University under the tutelage of Ralph Votapek, he has become a highly successful recording engineer and producer, with accolades for his work from numerous musical reviewers and a loyal following of musicians whom he has helped in their career paths. Beyond this, he is a composer and transcriber, as evidenced by several remarkable contributions on the evening’s program. He gives one hundred percent when he performs, and his energy is inspiring. In addition, he has an engaging personality, full of humor, something that showed in his commentary throughout the evening.
Lansing State Journal
“Renaissance Man”
Somehow, calling Sergei Kvitko a musician is limiting. Yes, he’s playing a solo piano recital Tuesday at Cook Recital Hall at the Michigan State University’s College of Music where his earned his DMA. And that concert precedes his recital in New York’s Carnegie Hall in May. But despite his proven virtuosity at the keyboard, Kvitko is so much more than a piano player.
Ken Beachler, actor and director, says, “He’s endlessly talented.”
Audiophile Audition
“Ad Libitum” Review
Russian pianist and record producer Sergei Kvitko, a protégé of Ralph Votapek, offers a program (rec. 26-27 December 2012) of improvisations and variations, a celebration of the power of fantasy and musical imagination to inform and expand upon a series of his personal favorites among keyboard compositions. Among the more adventurous of the transcriptions lies the Mussorgsky Trepak from Songs and Dances of Death and the Ysaye “Ballade” Solo Sonata, originally conceived for Georges Enescu
Click on the cover to go to Blue Griffin’s website to buy and listen to this CD
Lansing City Pulse
“A particular genius”
by Lawrence Cosentino
Sergei Kvitko strangled his water bottle and looked at the clock. It was just before 7 p.m. on April 30, and he was due on stage at 7:30 for a grueling solo piano concert at Michigan State University’s Cook Recital Hall.
That night, the hall was sold out and people were turned away. (A second concert, a week later, was added.) But Kvitko wasn’t smiling. Before a concert, when no one is around, he often addresses the floor thus: “Why the fuck do I do this to myself?”
Racing the biological clock, Kvitko was marking his 45th birthday by training for a debut recital on Thursday at Carnegie Hall. He was hustling down his self-imposed “road to Carnegie” Midwest tour, with 14 stops in two months, with typical Kvitko overkill.
American Record Guide
Review “Of Lands and People Far Away”
In a comparative review of recordings of Pictures at an Exhibition by Enrique Graf and Sergei Kvitko, Donald Vroon, Editor of the magazine, writes:
[Kvitko’s] Mousorgsky is strong and heavy, with slow tempos and powerful crashes of sound. ‘Bydlo’ is very slow – almost too slow, but these are lumbering oxen – and makes Graf sound like children playing (wrong movement!). ‘The Old Castle’ is dark and shrouded in mystery. The last note of “Catacombs” really makes you sit up straight. Much of what he does is startling and dramatic, and all of it sounds natural and very Russian. There is nothing delicate about it and it is impossible to enjoy Mr Graf’s delicacy after hearing Mr Kvitko. Moussorgsky is simply more vivid played by Kvitko. ‘Baba Yaga’ is so much wilder – and here the tempo is faster than Graf’s. All his playing is pictorial – more descriptive. You can visualize the pictures from what he is playing. Graf is just playing notes; it’s just music to him – and he is actually very musical and never distorts anything. ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ is a majestic structure when Mr. Kvitko plays it for us – a culmination of all we have “seen”, causing us to gasp.
I think I have to add Mr Kvitko’s Pictures to my collection; it belongs among the best ever made, and the sound is simply thrilling. — D. Vroon
Click on the cover image to go to Blue Griffin’s website to buy and listen to this recording
Fanfare Magazine
Review of Dracula
As befits the puissant Count of the Undead, Dracula periodically rises to haunt theaters, as well as the dark Transylvanian chambers of the mind that are his true home. His nocturnal visitations acquire an even greater power when combined with evocative music. Sergei Kvitko, recruited by actor/director Ken Beachler to write music for a production of the vampire epic, rose to the challenge, bringing us and the play’s audience a well conceived, executed, and imaginative score. I have to say I loved it. Kvitko’s music is entertaining, powerful, witty, even a bit cheesy (in his own words), or tongue-in-cheek, while dramatically illustrating the familiar story. The music ranges over an array of styles, touching on everything from Russian symphonic, contrapuntal Baroque, James Bond guitar riffs and textures, rock, pop, jazz, and funk.
Click on the cover image to go Blue Griffin’s website to buy and listen to this CD
WKAR Current State
Lansing-based musician Sergei Kvitko prepares for Carnegie Hall debut
Lansing-based classical pianist Sergei Kvitko continues preparing for a performance milestone: his Carnegie Hall debut on May 23. Tonight, Kvitko performs some pieces from his upcoming New York City date at Lansing’s Absolute Gallery. He’ll also accompany several other established Lansing-based artists. Host Mark Bashore paid Kvitko a visit earlier this week at his studio.
Fanfare Magazine
Blue Griffin: Sergei Kvitko Discusses His Independent Label
Sergei Kvitko started his recording business because as a pianist entering competitions he needed to submit audition tapes, but he couldn’t find a satisfactory recording setup in his adopted home of Lansing, Michigan. Five years later, Kvitko no longer performs regularly in public (aside from his job as a church organist), and he hasn’t seen fit to release a recording of himself, even though his little business on the side has developed into an independent label. Blue Griffin Records features musicians you probably haven’t heard of, an injustice Kvitko is determined to rectify. At age 37, Kvitko remains, to his mind, very much a performer on these CDs, even if you never hear him play a note. He considers himself a full collaborator in his dual role as producer and engineer, seeking both quality and personality from musicians and microphones alike.
Lansing City Pulse
Sessions and Obsessions
Sergei Kvitko puts Lansing on the music map
When Kvitko makes commercial recordings for his Blue Griffin label or others, it’s a different story. He spends intense hours with fellow perfectionists like Sherman, MSU virtuosos Bagratuni and Ralph Votapek playing Beethoven, or the Verdehr Trio, with its thorny world premiere commissions.
“Sometimes I come out of here needing a nap or a drink,” Kvitko said. But they trust him, and not only because of his engineering skills.
“I’ve learned to defer to him, because most of the time, on musical matters, he’s on target,” Sherman said. “He has impeccable sensibilities about what matters in music, everything from sonority to nuance.”
