Reviews

I appreciate above all the thoughtfulness, the tenderness that is moving in many places, as well as the contrast between passionate drama and restraint or meditation that characterizes the very personal and expressive interpretation of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor. This distribution of forces then allows Boomsma sufficient reserves to shape the hymnic élan at the end in a gripping manner and then to plunge into an almost ethereal calm.

Pizzicato

December 2023

Camiel Boomsma plays this music very sympathetically showing it off in its best light.

Musicweb International about ‘Rediscovered’

October 2021

Boomsma plays with great depth and expressiveness

Luister Magazine about ‘Rediscovered’

23-7-2021

Boomsma’s playing of these charming miniatures is never overstated. He wisely allows their straightforward simplicity to speak without affectation. His interpretations are abetted by use of a 2017 Chris Maene Concert Grand, a straight-strung instrument with a clear, characterful sound.

Gramophone about ‘Rediscovered’

10-9-2021

Boomsma, with his sensitive and balanced playing, is the ideal interpreter of this outspoken romantic music by Hamm.

PianoBulletin

7-9-2021

Boomsma’s superb pianism and musicianship makes them come alive, and he gives vivid character to each selection. His deliberate articulation causes the phrases to sing off the page gently and musically. Boomsma has found a rich treasure in this Dutch music, and we are fortunate he has presented it to us in such high authority.

5 finger review about ‘Rediscovered’

8-6-2021

The poetry of these five compositions, whose individual numbers Boomsma has interwoven, is wonderfully expressed in the Dutch pianist’s interpretations. Nevertheless, he does not sin with pure reverie but enriches his playing with dynamic and colorful nuances, so that his performance, for all its poetry, is also very lively and attractive throughout. A beautiful, recommendable piano disc.

Pizzicato

18-6-2021

Boomsma is the right man for this Schumannesque repertoire, with his thoughtful phrasing, delicate touch and poetic nature that gives body to these stories by filling the space between the notes with sehnsucht. (4/5 stars)

De Standaard

9-6-2021

Beautiful phrasing and timbre. Camiel Boomsma is known for his velvet touch. He once again reveals himself as a sensitive pianist. (4/5 stars)

De Gelderlander

9-6-2021

So familiar and yet so new, these tonal fabrics that immediately appeal and move you. What a wonderful pianist this Camiel Boomsma is who knows how to apply such an incredible palette of shades to his playing.”

Muziekkring Enkhuizen

October 2020

‘Einer sehr schön tempertierten pianistischen Diskretion’

Neuss-Grevenbroicher Zeitung

‘He can compete in depth with pianists such as Radu Lupu and Maria Joao Pires’

De Nieuwe Muze

‘Quel toucher!’

Artamag

‘Considered Holland’s most outstanding piano talent’

Schloss Elmau

‘One feels a connection with the artistic attitude of Arthur Rubinstein [..] disarming patience [..] His Chopin has the relaxed, serious substance of an insider’

De Groene Amsterdammer

February 2019

‘You continuesly hold your breath with this romantic magician, waiting for the next note to come…’

Haarlems Dagblad, Noord Hollands Dagblad, Leidsch Dagblad, Gooi en Eemlander

September 2019

‘Listening to the interpretations of Camiel Boomsma, a 27-year-old Dutch musician, one has the impression of being faced with accomplished piano art and remarkable maturity’

‘The Nocturnes are of Apollonian beauty and reveal the dreamy and meditative nature of the artist who carefully varies and refines the colors and moods, while avoiding all nonsense or nonchalance’

Resmusica

February 2018

‘There is more than one musical truth. But there is only one musical essence. to posit a truth takes conviction, to ‘release’ the essence takes patience and insight. Camiel Boomsma possesses a rare gift for this’

Pianowereld/Muze

December 2017

…‘What strikes is the timing of the rubato, when the pianist plays a subtle game with the forcing mesure of the metre. This CD is one of the Musical Surprises of the year…’

Klassieke Zaken

November 2017

‘Every harmonic turn, subtle or completely unexpected, is emphasized by Boomsma in a completely natural way [..] the music comes to life through these color changes’

Luister Magazine

December 2017

‘Very reflective and poetic performances which dig deep into the soul both of Chopin and Schubert and move the listener deeply’

Pizzicato

November 2017

‘with Boomsma the notes flow philosophically […] Boomsma has got velvet attached to his fingers. […] the Dutchman speaks of acquiescence and death.’

Click here for the full review in Dutch.

De Volkskrant

October 2017

‘Boomsma brought the music to it’s origin. So self evident yet so mysterious…’

Elger Niels, recital review

Pianowereld/Muze

‘Boomsma knows how to express the melodic, the virtuosic, and the orchestral in Wagners music. The whole range of expression that is so typical to Wagners music comes to light’

Pianonews Magazine

July/August 2016

‘Boomsma plays with enormous concentration and really puls us into the music. I am convinced!…’

Pianist Magazine

September 2016

‘The mystical spheres and elegiac tone paintings are elaborated with a high degree of transparency’

Luister Magazine

July 2016

‘Wagner on the piano is thoughtful’ [..] ‘The musical lines are very clear [..]”Boomsma shows that these transcriptions have a value of their own’

NRC Handelsblad – Joep Christenhusz

May 2016

‘Very intriguing and very beautiful‘ ‘Boomsma plays with great empathy’

Trouw

May 2016

‘Boomsma makes the music swarm and sing mildly[..]Impressive, the way the CD is concluded.. .A fever vision on Wagner’s deathbed’

De Volkskrant

April 2016

‘What Boomsma does is profound and mature’ [..] ‘In one word: beautiful’

Klassieke Zaken

March 2016

‘No pathos, simply extraordinary, magnificent virtuosity by the young Dutch pianist Camiel Boomsma. This disc is a pure masterpiece’

Péché de Classique

September 2015

‘Now comes the young Dutch pianist with a smashing album. [..] Sometimes it seems as if he has 15 fingers’

Neuss-Grevenbroicher Zeitung

June 2015

‘This young Dutch pianist plays, very beautifully, 6 versions [..] which honor the majesty of the operas’ (5/5 stars)

BBC Music Magazine

July 2015

‘Esprit et puissance imprègnent Parsifal. Impressionnantes ou subtilement présentes…’ (4/5 stars)

Diapson D'Or

July 2015

‘Truly remarkable is the interpretation of the young Dutch pianist Camiel Boomsma, able to highlight a great stylistic maturity.’

Andrea Bedetti, cdclassico.com, Italy

March 2014

‘Boomsma emphasizes the purity en profundity of this music, which is suddenly much closer related to Mozart and Beethoven. A penetrating recital’

Luister Magazine, René Seghers

June 2016

‘It was not only the chosen repertoire that touched us deeply but above all, the very special readings […]

‘He approaches the music with great feeling, deep poetic insight and certainly, very good taste […] Summing up, Boomsma is a true artist with excellent technique. He knows how to illuminate the inner sanctum of the music he performs in a way that delights the listener’

Point Online Music Magazine, Greece

August 2014

‘With this Wagner album he proofs he is a huge talent’

Henri Dost, platomania.eu

January 2014

‘in the Liebestod, he skillfully translates the veiled shivers to piano sounds and he can deal very well with the enduring lyric in ‘O du mein Holder Abendstern’ in which he draws the mood from the very first note’ (4/5 stars)

Biella Lutmer, De Volkskrant

January 2014

‘He posseses a strong developed feeling for colour of sound, besides a substantial dose of technic. A worthy, well recorded debut’.

Reformatorisch Dagblad

May, 2014

‘[He] made Gretchens spinningwheel snore in a subtle [and] transparent way. [..] The youthful pianist concluded his recital with a charming and dramatic Isoldes Liebestod. [..]. A wonderful performance!’

Dutch Liszt Society

May 2012

‘An irresistible CD. Camiel Boomsma is averse of the terrifying thunder in Wagner’s music’

Opus Klassiek, Tjako Fennema

‘[…] As soon as Camiel commences Franz Liszt’s ‘Waldesrauschen’ it is as if one can [hear] the subtle sound of waving trees.’

Haarlems Dagblad

March 2009

‘With this Wagner album he proofs he is a huge talent’

Henri Dost, platomania.eu

January 2014

‘A very daring debut CD by Camiel Boomsma without virtuosic thunder but highly musical and profound’

‘Youri Egorov wasn’t very fond of Liszt. he considered the composer insincere, not honest. Camiel Boomsma’s CD contains two Wagner transcriptions by Franz Liszt. Tannhauser: Recitativ und Romance en Tristan und Isolde: Isoldes Liebestod. It seems as if Camiel discretely wants to contradict Youri: Both transcriptions are free of false effects and are remarkably pure. That is maybe also because of Boomsma’s restrained and subtle playing. One can make Wagner thunder, also in transcriptions, but Boomsma does not do this. The CD also contains a transcription by Zoltan Kocsis, Tristan und Ioslde Einleitung: Impressive. A funny coincidence is that Zoltan Kocsis regularly visited Egorov residence at the Brouwersgracht in Amsterdam. A very daring debut CD by Camiel Boomsma without virtuosic thunder but highly musical and profound – entirely in the style of Egorov’

Jan Brokken, writer

September 2013