"Everything about his playing breathes this unheard-of naturalness of musical expression without pressure, without compulsion, with a somnambulistic ease and certainty of doing the right thing. In tone quality, dexterity, phrasing, dynamics and even in the delicate use of the pedal, which one has rarely heard more accomplished. In spite of the changeable, erratic and atmospheric composition, Kantorov managed to hold the Rachmaninov concerto together as an overall oeuvre. The young Frenchman was particularly impressive in his interpretation of the intricate syncopated theme of the third movement with irrepressible joy, always sensitive to perfect synchronicity with the spirited Philharmonic.
As an encore, Kantorow elicited from the well-balanced concert grand the Sonetto 104 del Petrarca from Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième Année - Italie by Franz Liszt: sensitive and cultivated virtuosity, always mindful of the great melodic arcs that Liszt chiselled so incomparably into his scores alongside the display of daring finger art. What mature piano art, performed by one who has already arrived on the Olympus of the piano gods."
- Benedikt Zacher, Bachtrack, October 27 2022 - https://bachtrack.com/fr_FR/kritik-muenchner-philharmoniker-thomas-hengelbrock-alexandre-kantorow-muenchen-oktober-2022
"Alexandre Kantorow played this concerto with stupendous ease. Wonderfully balanced in tone quality with sensitive phrasing. He was able to develop these qualities in the calm middle movement with a soft approach. In the dynamics he played well-considered and never allowed himself to be seduced by simple keyboard thunder. The highly virtuosic finale benefited from this, which Kantorow developed with great enthusiasm. With the devoted Munich Philharmonic, the interplay was sensitive. Here, too, Thomas Hengelbrock went his own way in his interpretation. With the Philharmonic's fabulous strings, he beautifully played out the yearning cantabile at the beginning, which was immediately taken up by Kantorow. Hengelbrock took Rachmaninoff seriously, avoiding kitsch and too much sugar. The result was a compact sound that was easy to hear through and gave the concerto a lot of freshness and spontaneity."
- Dirk Schauß, Online Merker, 31 October 2022 - https://onlinemerker.com/frankfurt-alte-oper-konzert-muenchner-philharmoniker-hengelbrock-kantorov-wagner-rachmaninow-brahms/
"From the very beginning, soloist Alexandre Kantorow left no doubt that Sergei Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, op. 1, with its dense, highly demanding solo part, is a virtuoso concerto par excellence. The French pianist, who won first prize at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition and was performing at the Alte Oper for the first time, mastered the full and wide-ranging chordal playing as well as the horrendous passages with all bravura, powerfully pithy and clear, without keyboard thunder in the sense of dull droning. He also gave much expression to the tender elegiac and lyrical parts in perfect coordination and balance with the orchestra. His solo encore was an extreme example of how powerful sound masses on the piano can imitate the great orchestral surge: It was Guido Agosti's arrangement of the finale from Igor Stravinsky's ballet "The Firebird".
- Guido Holze, Die Frankfurter Allgemeine, 31 October 2022 - https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/kultur/die-muenchner-philharmoniker-unter-hengelbrock-in-der-alten-oper-eine-hymne-an-die-freiheit-18427699.html
