David Cotter

7 reviews for David Cotter

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Dr Hector Sequera, Performance Lecturer, Early Music Specialist – May 31, 2016

   …highlight of the recital was the Villa-Lobos with excellent dynamic range and absolutely lovely melodic playing…

   Durham University – Music Department

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Professor Jeremy Dibble – May 31, 2016

   …expressive and competent playing, with a nice variety of styles…

   Durham University – Music Department -Head of Department

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Daniele Bergonzi – July 29, 2016

   …we enjoyed your performance of the Lennox Berkeley Four Pieces…looking forward to your next recital…

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Clare Thomas, Plympton Rotary Club – President – April 16, 2017

   …it was such a privilege to be with you last evening…we were enchanted by the versatility of you both and the imaginative programme…you are a most talented duo…

   Duo Palatino Concert

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mercedes Sarabia – April 16, 2017

   …it was a real pleasure to be there and to be treated to such a delightful programme…looking forward to next year…

   Duo Palatino Concert

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Margaret Bowhay – April 16, 2017

   …congratulations to David and Sophie on their debut concert…a beautiful evening…

   Duo Palatino Concert

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Jonathan Lewsey, Actor, author, director, lecturer, and singer – March 24, 2018

   The festival commenced on Saturday lunchtime with a guitar recital given by David Cotter in the relaxed surroundings of the Eliot House Hotel. David launched his recital with a Prelude from one of Bach’s cello suites and concluded with a performance of the mighty D minor Chaconne from the 2nd Partita for solo violin. The chaconne has gained something of the status of an icon of western art comparable with Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel roof. So what a rare opportunity to experience it in the intimate setting of Liskeard’s Eliot House Hotel! Between these two icons of the Bach canon David included an eclectic range of pieces most of which had something of an interior monologue about them ‘La huida de los amantes’ by the contemporary Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, the Prelude No3 by Heitor Villa Lobos, the renowned, though anonymous, Spanish Romance and most notably Sofia Gubaidulina’s Serenade, an early piece from 1960. David sounded almost apologetic for including this modernist piece but actually I found it to be a highlight of the programme and the piece that most justified the title of the programme ‘Bach to the Future’…. David informed us that Gubaidulina has been quoted as saying ‘Bach is my constant devotion in life’ and this was clear if not from the tonal universe of the music from its extreme introspection. In the Serenade one can hear the influence of Shostakovich, the sparseness (in his chamber music) and the use of extreme registers (surely inherited from late Beethoven) growling almost exclusively in the lower registers at the outset before progressing quite suddenly via a simple scale to an ethereal ending in the stratosphere. There could not be a clearer representation of spiritual ascent than this step by step climbing up a ladder into the heights, beautifully executed in this performance. This composer is not just communing with herself but with her God in precisely the same way as did JS Bach throughout his life & career. The rest of the programme was taken up with Fernando Sor’s Magic Flute Variations and the Polka Dance of Johan Kaspar Mertz. David owned to the Sor being his favourite piece in the programme – and it showed! He played with great verve, particularly in the last 3 variations. David Cotter has an impeccable academic pedigree and plays with assiduous attention to nuance and detail. His understanding of the works he plays compels us to listen. There is something profoundly meditative about his playing.

   East Cornwall Bach Festival