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On Saturday April 7th 2018 Marina left the earthly dimensions. In silence she remains connected alive forever with everybody.
07.04.2018

recent reviews

The Finale fulfilled the expectations …with Marina Horak who completely disarmed the audience by her powerful and passionate rendering of Chopin’s Polonaise Op. 26, then Mazurka Op. 50, Barcarolle Op. 60 and Nocturne Op. 48.

Glas Istre, Poreč-Pula, August 2010

 

Katja Konvalinka, soprano / Marina Horak, piano - In a musically purified interplay of voice and piano even the tiniest nuances of the lieder came to expression and in this the subtleties of human relationships were revealed: feelings of love, from yearning to pain, from passion to farewell. Both artists build their interpretation in continuous interweaving between melodic cantabile and expressive exuberance, with well thought-out response of the piano in its complete fullness of tone and harmonic color, whereby we wish to emphasize particularly the diction of the poetic text, which ennobled the intimately felt rendering with the desirable linguistic graciousness and persuasiveness. 

Tjaša Kranjc for Glasbeni utrip (Musical Pulse, cultural program of National Slovenian Radio), July 2010 


 In its care for the Slovenian heritage the Glasbena Matica Society acquired in Marina Horak a performer who tackles segments of musical matter with a certain special urgency, originating probably in her early proximity to the aristocracy of spirit, in her natural connections to art … the main part of the program opened up as a space of symbiotics and its vibrations between the performer and the pieces… Šturm's pre-war radicalism had, under the fingers of Marina Horak, nearly the effect of a cold shower; well, such shower refreshes. Also the other (different) texts sounded fresh … Škerl's Two Studies she shaped decisively, diacritically, the second one with its rapid pulsation with a sensual, somehow relentless gradation. Explanatory, integratory, impulsive.

Jure Dobovišek, Journal of Glasbena matica, 2008

 

The Northern flair as a surprise – The Summer in Old Town … An evening of Grieg, presented by a group of enthusiasts, by the way well-known musicians, with the initiator Marina Horak at the head. Marina Horak, a musician with the eros of experience, brings into the interpretations (to her co-musicians) the drive and the awareness of interaction, of dramatic  interlacing between equivalent musical

Jure Dobovišek za Delo, Ljubljana, September 2007

 

A unique and unrepeatable encounter with the music of Frederic Chopin... that was indelibly imprinted on our memory by Marina Horak as an example of a specifically intelligent reflection on music. Refined talent, musicianship and convincing wisdom, by which excels, among other things, the phenomenon Marina Horak… She presented Chopin cleaned of the frequently artificial and uninventive recycling, performing monotony of imposed pretentious interpretations, immodest and unaware exhibionistic models. Guided by a skeptically and studiously elaborated personal idea (both of emotive acceptance and of  the reserved distance necessary for analytical processes), yet with a high degree of concentration and convincing stability she without a doubt created  a truly powerful musical event.

Nuša Hauser for Glas Istre, Pula, Croatia, August 2007

 

Marina Horak who teaches in Ljubljana, played a wonderful evening with an exciting and dramatic, skillfully constructed program of Chopin. A compilation of Mazurkas, Fantaisie and Preludes was fascinatingly structured in such a flowing way, that one believed to discover new connections. Very soon her playing unveiled a high performing art in terms of the sound shaping, the wonderful tempo rubato, and the natural intuitive sense for the melancholy and for the narrative force en miniature. It is strange, that this much traveled pianist does not have a stronger presence in our awareness, for this Chopin evening showed true pianistic greatness. 
Carsten Dürer for Piano News magazine, Germany,  6/2007

 

The ensemble »Contempora« (Pija Brodnik, soprano, Alfonz Kodrič bass, Marina Horak & Zeqirja Ballata, piano) ...was compact in their performing and articulated excellently the semantics of interpretation and the renderings of contemporary music. The presentation of this ensemble … created the characteristic atmosphere of good music making…

Albana Beqiri za dnevnik »Zëri«, Prishtina, Kosova, November 2006       

 

Vasilij Meljnikov, violin / Marina Horak, piano –The collaboration of the two masters of their instruments was ideal beyond any doubt…Marina Horak in her performing style amalgamates French flexibility and objectivity of presenting a work with a visionary originality…the impression of lucidity of creative moments in the performance of Marina Horak, this European style pianist, a type rarely encountered in our parts of the world. Lightness and easy flow of performance characterized all interpretations, yet allowing clarity of each work’s structure to come to the fore.

Radovan Lorković for Slobodna Dalmacija, Hvar, Croatia, September 2006

 

A virtuoso dialogue of piano and violin. Creativeness of musical ideas and interwoven dialogues of piano and violin parts, alongside a deliberately chosen dynamics and agogics, came to full expression in a deeply lived performance which in an exquisite way outlined the identities of both artists. Marina Horak, a pianist of precise articulation and controlled touch, gave an exceptionally transparent image, constructing fine filigree architecture of sound in each single movement and in the work as a whole. The outstanding pianism of Marina Horak came to full effect in the Sonata K 570 (Mozart)…elegance and stylistic congeniality. Well thought-through and masterly rendering … warm and sincere interpretation of both artists.

Ljerka Žic for Novi List; Rijeka, Croatia, March 2006

An excellent and sunny artist, internationally renowned Slovenian pianist Marina Horak … enchanted the audience with a masterly concert and an interesting dialogue.

M Rustja za Primorski dnevnik, Trieste, May 2005

 

Marina Horak is an internationally established pianist … a few days ago she charmed with her virtuosity the Slovenians in Trieste at the Society of Slovenian Intellectuals.

»Trieste letter«, Večer, Maribor, May 2005

 

TECHNIQUE, TEMPERAMENT AND POLISHED TONE - In Mozart Sonata K 330 in C major, Ms. Horak displayed a well-founded and polished tone and an adequate stylistic approach together with a brilliant technique, whereas in the second movement she highlighted the expressiveness of the cantilena in the right hand…  excellent technique, talent and a lively temperament. Her rendering of Franck's work had the voluminous sound of an organ and the spiritual quality, at the same time being fully amalgamated in the impressive opulently sounding harmonies and choral build-ups.

Zeqirja Ballata for Večer, Maribor, May 2005

 

…an excellent piano recital. The pianist Marina Horak impressed us already with the first piece, the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach. We heard an energetically performed Fantasy and a subtly conducted in the Fugue. This incredible energy became even denser in the Mozart Sonata KV 330. The first Allegro took of at a wild pace, and yet the pianist skillfully colored each phrase so as to make the music keep its tender beauty…performed with exceptional drive and at the same time imbued with a sensitive breath of romantic poetry.  

Mihael Paš za Glasbeni utrip (Musical Pulse, program ARS, RTV Slovenia), March 2005

 

…the concert of the distinguished internationally renowned Slovene pianist and pedagogue Marina Horak, to commemorate the 90th birthday anniversary of her mother Hilda Horak, represented a most precious occasion…her s silken sound quality in Mozart was the pianist’s gift to the audience.  …an insightful performer, an artist with both a sensitive and a dramatic pianistic temperament, with exceptional technical expertise, inspired musicianship and excellent memory…our pianist drew yet again attention to the fact that she is a valuable member of the Slovene pianistic scene.

Dr. Franc Križnar for Glasbeni Utrip (Musical Pulse, program ARS, RTV Slovenia), December 2004