CD of the Week: "Leschenko proves here that she is cut from the wood of the greatest!"
– Stefaan Moens, De Morgen, , 11/07/2007
Polina Leschenko is rapidly gaining an international following for her stunning, original approach to the great staples of the romantic and 20th century piano repertoire. Leschenko studied with Leon Fleisher and Alexander Rabinovitch Barakovsky during the 1990s when she was in her teens. Her performances at the Lugano Festival's Progetto Martha Argerich five years ago -- and the recordings that followed -- created a major sensation in the international music press. Last year, her first recordings in the high-definition SACD format on the avanticlassic label -- in partnership with Argerich, violinists Dora Schwarzberg and Roby Lakatos, and cellist Christian Poltera (with whom she made her Carnegie Hall debut) -- added to the press buzz and the size of her fan base. Critics were particularly amazed by her highly original, blazingly virtuosic and daring rethinking of Sergei Prokofiev's notoriously difficult Piano Sonata No.7 (AVC-1021).
Her latest release for avanticlassic is without question her most significant to date. For the first time, Polina records solo warhorses of the romantic repertory: the Liszt Sonata in b minor, Busoni's transcription of Bach's Chaconne from Partita II, Liszt's transcription of Gounod's Waltz from Faust and Bach's marvellous Prelude and Fugue in A minor (arr. Liszt).
Polina's virtuosity is again displayed at its very best. Her interpretive vision of the works will undoubtedly provoke many reactions. Polina Leschenko is no "consensus" interpreter but a highly individual voice among today's greatest pianists. For those who consider the art of interpretation as a quest for a musical truth that is not cast in stone but, on the contrary, is a domain for imagination, respect and above all an unequalled means to communicate the deepest feelings, this record is simply unmissable.
Her incredible involvement in these works, her absolute command of counterpoint and structural totality, her total musical command, her true poetic moments as well as her virtuosic flourishes will certainly not leave any listenerunmoved.
avanticlassic AVC-1027