PRESS
“Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello was the most demanding item, for listeners and performers alike. Fong and Presler played with astonishing rapport, and took the audience through a wide range of musical experience, from the exultant to the elegiac to the intensely still... For all of these delights, it would have been worth coming out simply to hear Presler and Zivian play two short pieces (the Deux Morceaux: Nocturne & Cortège) by Lili Boulanger. What a rare gift for communication this violinist has. From the first phrase onward the directness and eloquence of what she had to say were in evidence. I cannot remember the last time I experienced so much sheer joy from hearing live music.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
"The Dvorák performance was hearty and sublime in turn. Presler (a most impressive violinist), Zivian, and cellist Tanya Tomkins lived and transmitted the drama of the first movement (justifiably called “Brahmsian” in the program); evoked deep emotion with the highly operatic Poco Adagio; and then blazed to glory with the Finale.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
"They ended the programme with an effusive, exploratory reading of the Schumann Op.47 piano quartet, proving that intelligent music-making is, indeed, timeless. "
Financial Times of London
"Presler and Zivian saved the best for last, though. Closing the program with Robert Schumann’s late-life Violin Sonata in A Minor, these two artists summoned an enveloping atmosphere of turbulence and rapture. The first movement sounded lush and gorgeous; the central Allegretto lacked nothing in wit and charm. The whirling finale seemed the essence of Schumann’s restless, mercurial spirit; this was a deeply felt performance from Schumann, with love.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
"This led seamlessly to another piece by Rohde, his …maestoso…misterioso… for amplified violin and viola and assorted objects. Presler joined with the composer to play the mesmerizing piece with a devotion and loving lyricism rarely heard in contemporary music.”
San Francisco Classical Voice