Here is a review by Bertrand Boissard from Diapason magazine about my recital at the La Roque-d’Anthéron Music Festival in August 2025:
“A Gourmet Tasting of Études — Marcel Tadokoro’s Daring and Delectable Recital
In a sharp contrast to the immersive program heard earlier in the week, pianist Marcel Tadokoro, 32, returned to the same hall just two days later with a recital as intellectually curated as it was sensually satisfying — a ‘tasting menu’ of études (and études in disguise) from all periods, styles, and corners of the globe.
Opening with Czerny — an excerpt from The Art of Finger Dexterity — Tadokoro quickly turned the tables with Debussy’s Étude pour les cinq doigts, a witty parody of the very same Austrian pedagogue. A special prize winner at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition, the Franco-Japanese pianist showed a connoisseur’s taste with rarities like Henselt’s feather-light If I Were a Bird (he has recently recorded the complete études), a brief yet biting piece by Bartók, and the underappreciated but exquisite Études in the Form of Variations on a Theme by Beethoven by Schumann — built on the Allegretto from the Seventh Symphony.
Tadokoro played with style and surprise, seamlessly shifting gears between the radical and the playful — one moment diving into Messiaen’s Mode de valeurs et d’intensités, the next swinging into Gulda’s jazzy Play Piano Play No. 4. Everywhere, he brought an irresistible mix of ease, joy of playing, and panache — from a bravura-filled La Campanellato the sculptural lyricism of Rachmaninov’s Étude-tableau Op. 33 No. 3.
The program closed with a dazzling flourish: Dohnányi’s Capriccio, a piece often championed by Rachmaninov himself, delivered here with boldness and charm.
A fearless and refined pianist to watch — Tadokoro doesn’t just perform études; he redefines them.”