Mari Kodama – Press

“It continues in a lively manner and to great effect with a piece that to most listeners will probably have been a new discovery: Bohuslav Martinu’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra. This composer is still not recognized and played enough, perhaps because he is hard to classify due to his poly-stylistics and because he demands a lot from both orchestra and soloist.”

“… Together with her sister Momo Kodama she masters it brilliantly, navigating through the turmoil of the opening movement, letting the melody give consolation in the second movement and speeding with great effect through the finale. With their encore the Kodama sisters show that there lies a little drama even in a ballet piece (‘Danse des mirlitons’ from Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker’)”

“When the Japanese Mari and Momo Kodama entered the stage it was already obvious from their distinctively patterned dresses that the performance would be beyond normal concert routine. Bohuslav Martinu’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra might have been new to the majority of the audience. The first and last movement ran at full speed. Not less demanding the Adagio in the middle, precisely because it asks for containment – to play gently is often the most difficult challenge, which was mastered by the Kodama sisters in the most convincing manner.”

“Using the symphonic scores to understand and subsequently extract the transcriptions from their original context, they add another dimension. A dimension of fairytale through suggestive, but elegant and refined playing, with a judiciously coloured palette of make believe, with even some interspersed ‘mystique’ elements, making these wonderfully ‘transduced’ performances, which many are at best familiar with in their orchestral versions, so intimately and irresistibly enjoyable.”

“She produced a fine performance, pearly in tone but somehow assertive, notably in the cadenzas, despite the leisurely tempos and ubiquitous rhetoric of elegance.”