Presto Recording of the Week
5th July 2019

Gramophone Magazine
August 2019
Editor's Choice

Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano)

Schumann, Clara: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7
Schumann, Clara: Romances (3), Op. 11
Schumann, Clara: Deuxieme Scherzo, Op. 14
Schumann, Clara: Romances (3), Op. 22
Schumann, Clara: Piano Sonata in G minor

Rising pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason illuminates the world of her musical heroine, Clara Schumann, in her 200th anniversary year

Big sister to superstar cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 22-year-old Isata is a postgraduate student at The Royal Academy of Music, where 4 of the Kanneh-Mason siblings are currently studying! As an undergraduate, she held the prestigious Elton John Scholarship, performing with Sir Elton John in Los Angeles in 2013. Isata reached the final of the Piano Category in the 2014 BBC Young Musician competition, and has gone on to develop a substantial live career a solo artist, with concerto appearances, recitals and chamber concerts throughout the UK and internationally. When not performing in her own right, Isata makes up a third of The Kanneh-Mason Piano Trio with her brothers Sheku and Braimah.

"It ranks among the most charming engaging debuts I can recall…She brings weight and emotional heft to this uneven work [the Concerto] that are entirely convincing, and is well matched in the exuberant finale by Holly Mathieson and the RLPO…but it is the performances of the two song transcriptions that show what a gifted musician Kanneh-Mason is." - Gramophone Magazine, August 2019.