Víctor and Luis del Valle Piano duo

NAIZ. Musika-Música Festival: The healing power of nature in times of war

Amaia Eregaña
05/03/2022

11 in the morning, Saturday, in one of the rooms of Bilbo's Euskalduna palace, Mozart is played (Quartet number 17, 'The hunt'), interpreted -how beautiful, how subtle...- by the Modigliani Quartet. Shortly after, this French formation 'transmuted' into something else: an orchestra of ten top-level musicians -among them, the brothers Víctor and Luis del Valle from Málaga; an impressive piano duo - playing from the stage and the stalls with the audience in 'The Carnival of the Animals', by C. Saint-Saëns.

This is Musika-Música, the classical music festival that is held until this Sunday in Bilbao.

ABC de Sevilla. Teatro de la Maestranza / Fantastic and poignant whirlwinds

Carlos Tarín
January 25 / 2022

"The pianist brothers Víctor and Luis del Valle offered a splendid recital at the Maestranza Theater, where at times they were a single pianist with four hands.

If it had been one, it would have been an amazing performance for us; but being two pianists, they bordered on the unheard of: it is not only that they are brothers, but that they have been playing almost their entire artistic life together and, thus, the impulses, the sudden stops, the nuances and even the gesticulations of one were on the other... They began demonstrating it with the Schubert who opened the program...

... Ravel's sonorous and orchestral richness went very well with music for two pianos (Schubert had been for piano four hands)... 'Ma mère l'oye' and 'La Valse' could still resonate in the  subscribers' symphony memory while not long ago (last season) we heard both works in their orchestral version; now, the complementary hands of the Del Valle brothers reminded us of them, trying to bring out the colors in the black and white of the piano, with all the instrumental nuances and extracting the sometimes plastic nature (the stories), sometimes mordacious (the waltz) of both works."

El Correo de Andalucía. Teatro de la Maestranza / Del Valle brothers, four-handed magic

Juan José Roldán
January 25 / 2022

"The pianists from Malaga returned to the Maestranza Theater to offer a recital in which they masterfully combined sleight of hand with exquisite expressiveness.

The del Valle brothers started with a circumstantial work by Schubert, a sonata allegro of high flying and considerable sophistication in which they were able to show off agility combined with a remarkable sense of lyricism and expressiveness. From the same year... the Fantasy D940... Víctor and Luis performed a generous interpretation of the piece, with an extremely stylized articulation, with frequent retardandi and eloquent and lengthy silences each time the main theme was re-exposed, and a global sense of the aesthetic and the melancholy that is truly overwhelming.

With the work of John Corigliano, Claroscuro, they alternated the performance of two pianos with a piano for four hands... they managed to transmit that sensation of light, its shadows and sparkles in a pure display of virtuosity and with an extraordinary coordination, also visible in the glances of complicity and harmony that were uttered. Already at two pianos they displayed a deep emotion in Mother Goose... the brothers adapted to its different characters, combining delicate and dazzling tones in a moving vision with all the colors and characters treated without affectation or artifice, until reaching the climax with a sweet and at the same time passionate end in the Enchanted Garden. The waltz afterwards was quite a cathartic experience, in its original version... A sumptuous and tremendous whirlwind, advancing in volatile episodes and culminating in pure destruction of the very essence of quintessential Viennese dance."

Diario de Sevilla. Teatro de la Maestranza / Choreography for two pianists

Pablo J.Vayón
January 24 / 2022

"They could act as if they were playing without lowering a key and the show would already be fascinating. The brothers Víctor and Luis del Valle create authentic choreographies with their movements, whether in the physical intimacy that sharing the same piano gives or in the distance of using two at the same time... their rapport, coordination and coupling in both the visual and sound part of their work is completely stunning... I don't remember anything at this point...

...the Fantasia in F minor, perhaps the most famous work ever written for four hands, was a true celebration of melody, embellished with phrasing details (some curious retentions, lengthened silences, rubatos...) that played to delay the harmonic resolutions, with what is always expressive about it...

...presenting in Mother Goose (Ma mère l'oye) a sound fragility that reached its limits in the Enchanted Garden, with pianissimi that seemed truly played by the fairies (as if Mendelssohn were behind them blowing)..."

VALLADOLID / The 30th anniversary of the OSCyL, a musical party

Ritmo
José M. Morate Moyano
27.09.2021

"...Mozart came with his demanding score from all points of view. But this time with a Duo that was splendid. Already in their 1st entry after the cheerful orchestral presentation, they showed finesse in sound, total coupling at the level of union and continuity demanded by the score that does not pose I and II, but rather an authentic couple; the double cadence was perfect, graceful and musical.

...the oboes sang their very expressive lament, an omen of the Duo's enormous sensitivity in taking up the theme and later alternating it with the orchestra in magical moments. The Rondo, so rich and brilliant, showed the precision of the Duo, sounding the 4 hands as only 2, with a lively and perfect last cadence as in the initial Allegro. The reception was explosive in long and repeated applause for everyone."