press / commentary voices

Media response 2017–2023

Rezension, Pizzicato

25 April 2017

Meilensteine für Solovioline

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Neue Musikzeitung

2016

Outstanding

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Kölner Stadtanzeiger

Juni 2016

„Betörend (...) wie bei Midori (...) Und besonders die Kadenz im ersten Satz ließ aufhorchen: Kaunzner leitete sie ein mit jener Version von Joseph Joachim, Brahms´ Freund und Wegbegleiter, ging mit zeitgenössischen Klängenüber in eigene kompositorische Variationen, kostete das Vibrato in den luziden Tönen bis in die Tiefen voll aus, bevor sie über einen gerade noch erkennbaren ungarischen Tanz Brahms und Beethoven miteinander verband und spielerisch überleitete in die Orchesterbegleitung.

Berliner Kulturnotizen

Februar 2016

"Canzona" ist der erste Satz überschrieben. Sanglich und selig klingt er, insbesondere vom charakteristischen Klang der historischen Violine getragen. das Klavier liefert leichtgefasste Kommentare. Der Violinklang ist von eigentümlicher Süße, gemahnt bisweilen an französisches Kolorit. Er kann verträumt dahingleiten und ebenso mit Leidenschaft davonstürmen. Mit Sordino wird dieser Klang noch gewissermaßen miniaturisiert und reizvoll abgetönt. (nach einem Konzert mit Sonaten Nikolaj Medtner in der UdK Berlin, 2016)

The Absolute Sound

December 2015

Kaunzner’s own Korean Drip Cather has some poetic melodies and creative harp writing Jacques Ibert’s Spanish-tinged “Entr’acte” is fun and over-caffeinated, as his music often is. Song of Sackcloth, by Ja Young Choi, is a beautiful lament (…) the musicians are unbeatable; I’d listen to anything they played. © 2015 (about Duo 47/4)

American Record Guide

2015

Stunning (...) excellent (...) an album of the year

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The Strad

2015

A violinist with a questing mind

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Naxos

2015

unique (...) one must listen to!

NMZ critique

March 2016

Viktoria Kaunzner: Ja(zz)smine Rice Violin Mysteries

Solo Musica SM 220 Von dem leicht prätentiösen Titel und der entsprechenden Cover-Art sollte man sich nicht irritieren lassen: Hier liegt eine originelle, hervorragend musizierte Violin-CD vor. Viktoria Kaunzner, die seit einigen Jahren in Südkorea lehrt, macht ihr Wandeln zwischen den Kulturen zum Thema und spürt diesem in begleiteten und unbegleiteten Werken Daniel Schnyders („The Four Winds"), Krzysztof Meyers („Misterioso") oder Violeta Dinescus („Måtram") nach. Von den eigenen Stücken überzeugen die Haiku-Miniaturen Wintersonnenwende" eher als das titelgebende „Jasmine Rice". Und als wäre das und das unkonventionelle Booklet noch nicht genug, liefert die Geigerin noch eine äußerst anregende, den historischen und den zeitgenössischen Blick gleichermaßen bewahrende Interpretation der Bach'schen Solo-Chaconne ab. Respekt!

Süddeutsche Zeitung

September 2011

Her violin artistry is brilliant […], her musical capability is enormous.

Your playing of Paganini was brilliant!

Lord Yehudi Menuhin1998

El Mercurio (Chile)

2005

The young violinist — for many their favourite — was applauded rapturously with stamping of feet by members of the orchestra after playing Mozart’s 5th violin concerto.

Your sound is mesmerizing!

Radha Krishnan, violinist of an Indian
musical dynasty2009

Passauer Neue Presse

2008

The limits of normality were then exceeded by a piece entitled “A chaque épée de lumière” by Violeta Dinescu. […] Viktoria Kaunzner created associations to a story reminiscent of Albert Camus’ novel “L’Étranger” (“The stranger”). Quarter-tone sounds of Arabian music with glissandi combining harmonics, martellati, rushing pizzicati, rapidly circulating melodies, grinding clusters produced by heavy bowing, finely chiselled figures floating off into pianissimo. Finally the sonata for violin and piano op.100 by Brahms. […] Soft and beguiling tone in the violin’s upper register. Then in the andante a simple folksong tune with a dance-like middle section. In the final allegretto a heavenly inner cumulation was evidence of the typical Brahmsian bliss. Most original the recently completed composition by Viktoria Kaunzner herself, and also a piece by Fritz Kreisler as encore. Long continuing applause and occasional bravo calls — a wonderful musical evening.

A wonderful player

Ivry GitlisParis 2008

Mittelbayerische Zeitung

5/ 2011

Viktoria Kaunzner’s […] more than usual vitality of playing was very convincing. She played Beethoven’s E flat sonata op. 12/3 briskly business-like and with powerful bowing […] In her rendering of J.S.Bach’s famous chaconne […] there was no slackening of tension. […] Kaunzner in her performance of “The Four Winds” by the Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder resident in New York […] sometimes reached the upper limit in expression […]. In the Valse Scherzo op. 34, penned by Tchaikovsky, dashed off with verve in one go, the watchword was pining at all costs. It sounded amazingly like those paragons Heifetz and Kreisler.

The recording of the Kaunzner composition (Gartenvulkanwolke) for violin and piano was a piece of immense violence with the gentlest, softest
nuances.

Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now

Aachener Nachrichten

2009

A rising star in the virtuoso firmament of young violinists […] enthused the spellbound and committed audience.

an insider tip

Zakhar BronKöln / Zürich / Madrid 2011

Passauer Neue Presse

2006

Viktoria Kaunzner […] is an extraordinary phenomenon in the young generation of musicians: in her natural and modest manner far removed from airs and graces or dramatic gestures she wins over her public from the first note. Her playing is full of sensibility and expressive power, her tone wonderfully velvet.

We felt really warm and kind for your wonderful playing. It was like sweet rain into our heart, so helpful for our members' emotion.

Sarangbat Mental Health Rehabilitation Institutions, Korea, HyoJoong Yong, Directorafter a concert given by the violin class and Viktoria, 2011

Den Tikwa (Wetscherujaja, Odessa)

2008

Classical avant-garde was also represented. Xenakis’ stochastic system, Philip Glass’ minimalism, the electronic studies by Kagel or John Cage’s aleatoric music were all in their time considered daring experiments, which shook the foundations of music. Today the best musicians vie with one another in interpreting these works. […] The duo Viktoria Kaunzner / Ulrich Murtfeld with their presentation of Mauricio Kagel’s Klangwölfen belongs also to these.

The precision and attention to detail go hand in hand with a sense of the overarching shape. They are musicians at the forefront of traditional and new music, at home in both genres, which today in a specialised music business is something of a rarity.

Walter ZimmermannBerlin 2007

Passauer Neue Presse

February 2012

To begin with: the sonata for violin solo no. 2 in A minor […] by J. S. Bach — a sublime mental exercise in music. Viktoria Kaunzner’s performance of this work was highly concentrated and second to none.

a fantastic violinist […] a musical philosopher

Violeta DinescuBukarest / Oldenburg

Nordseezeitung (Bremerhaven)

2005

Gently and softly they created a tension-filled power in which the young violinist used the dark timbre of her instrument to the full — with a broad and wonderfully resonant sound that reached into the lower register and carried well.

You know, Haiku … says simply everything: the music, the words!

Yehudi Menuhin, Live Music Nowon “Wintersonnenwende” for violin and viola, 2008

Passauer Neue Presse

2/ 2013

Viktoria Kaunzner and Sorin Creciun are especially in their element when playing their own compositions. Kaunzner’s “Jasmine Rice” for violin and piano has the effect of an extended musical meditation, in which elements of greatly differing styles intermingle. […] In this respect the young performers display an affinity with musicians of earlier ages when a division between performers and composers was unknown. Even their encores are not without certain flamboyance.

Playing like a gitano singer from heaven … a strong piece (on “Gartenvulkanwolke”), … you are a great artist!

Miguel Angel ZottoTango maestro, Buneos Aires, 2012

Bayernkurier (München)

1999

Sensibility, depth of feeling and serious musicianship, make Viktoria Kaunzner an artist with a great future.

an extremely fine violinist

Ida HaendelLondon / Miami, 2002

Passauer Neue Presse

1/ 2013

With […] suspense-charged reflection and a flair for dashed-off, playful witticism […] the audience experience […] the violinist’s poetical improvisations. Where is the high point of the evening? It is certainly not a particular piece, but rather the intensity of the duo, that appears to be so well-adjusted to one another in elevated regions of sound and complex rhythmical structures. […] The eponymous “Wild Bird” fluttered in breathtaking harmonic runs, double stops, bow-bouncing, sumptuous sound textures and piercingly sharp accents. The music whipped around the audience bursting with energy. […] A wealth of applause for a duo that manifestly has pleasure in deciphering contemporary musical codes.

after a concert of Duo 47 / 4 with Anna Viechtl, harp

Vicco von Bülow and violin soloist in one person

Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Köln2008

Kölner Rundschau

December 2010

In the second half of the concert the student ensemble 20/21 of the Cologne Musikhochschule under David Smeyers with the excellent solo violinist Viktoria Kaunzner gave a mature rendering of Earl Brown’s late work “Centering”.

a wonderful musician

Justus FrantzHamburg 2012

Straubinger Tagblatt

2006

equally matched duo players

Her composition (“Der koreanische Tropfenfänger” for violin and harp) was … most subtle and moving.

Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now2010

Passauer Neue Presse

2006

In Maurice Ravel’s sonata the violinist strolled back and forth between nobly mellow tones embedded in a wonderfully soft vibrato, and technically demanding playing.

I have known the violinist Frau Viktoria Kaunzner for several years. During this time I have heard her play in numerous concerts both as a soloist and chamber musician, and have become convinced of her extraordinary abilities. As an instrumentalist she has at her disposal not only enormous technical resources, that allow her an especially rich spectrum of sound, but she is also a serious performer with a highly developed sense of style. Her interpretations are characterised by attention to detail, great accuracy and sensitivity, are always tasteful and offer opportunity for spontaneity. Every concert thus becomes an exciting experience. In many interesting personal discussions I have learnt to appreciate Frau Kaunzner as an intelligent conversationalist. She has knowledge of a wide-ranging repertoire which goes beyond violin literature and she is fundamentally open and inquisitive about new ideas.

Prof. Krzysztof Meyer3. Juli 2011

Mittelbayerische Zeitung (Regensburg)

2005

She attacked the Paganini caprice with youthful abandon and a willingness to take risks. With her passion, technical brilliance and faultless accuracy this work took on a most poetical form.

I have known Viktoria Kaunzner since April 2008. At that time we were working on my early sonata for violin and piano in preparation for a forthcoming duo recital tour in the Ukraine. Since then I have often worked with her, i.a. on solo violin literature and chamber music with harp. It gives me great pleasure to find Viktoria Kaunzner such an appreciative interpreter of my works. And so I have asked her to premier my music entitled Mâtram, for solo violin. The young violinist is distinguished by an enormous willingness to experiment both musically and technically, and an inquisitiveness to explore new regions of sound. Her performing style is compounded from a large portion of spiritedness, imagination, the subtly improvisational, together with an inner depth, and always a serious, responsible approach to the music. I am always pleased to meet Viktoria Kaunzner, whom one can describe as a creative interpreter, and I give her my sincerest regards for her artistic career.

Prof. Violeta Dinescu29. August 2009

Kitzinger Zeitung

2000

Highly concentrated, yet with ease, she gave splendid expression to the pressing and dominant passages of the melodious theme.

Viktoria has developed into a most promising musician with a broad range of ideas and perspectives. Her potential as a violinist, an especially vibrant depth and wide range of sonorities, together with her intelligent, energetic and serious approach to playing music reveal a particularly interesting character among young violinists. Her distinctive feeling for style and her outstanding intuition in many different musical contexts ensure a wide expressive versatility. At the age of only 28 the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt at Weimar appointed her to a professorship at the German School of Music Weimar in South Korea, an indication of her extraordinary pedagogical talent, and something which pleases me immensely. Viktoria has my warmest recommendation.

Prof. Zakhar Bron25. Mai 2012

Passauer Neue Presse

3/ 2012

[…] Instinctive sureness […] and a breathtaking alternation of moods […] led to an inspiring rendering.

about Beethoven's violin concerto