“

The objective and dispassionate approach feels very much in tune with Ustvolskaya’s uncompromising aesthetic. The performers rarely exaggerate the dynamic extremes and seem as concerned with maintaining tight ensemble and careful balances as with exploiting the music’s Expressionist drama. Sorkin plays with a controlled vibrato, which adds color, but without tipping the music over into overtly Romantic expression. And the fact that Andreeva is the guiding force behind the project is apparent from the amount of detail and commitment in the piano playing.

” —Gavin Dixon

“

Both of these works demand much from the listener, and should not be taken lightly. [The Sonata] is a harrowing work, but still a human one. The Duet [is] even more fragmented and confrontational… Tone clusters, extreme dynamics, extreme registers, and violent gestures converge to create an alienating environment. I like Sorkin’s wiry sound in the sonata, and also the way both players work to ex¬tract expressivity from the music’s frequent cul-de-sacs.

” —Raymond Tuttle

“

The passion for this music is evident in the performances of the sonata and duet.

” —Michael Beek

“

The approach feels very much in tune with Ustvolskaya’s uncompromising aesthetic. The performers rarely exaggerate the dynamic extremes—and there are plenty of dynamic extremes notated in the scores—and seem as concerned with maintaining tight ensemble and careful balances as with exploiting the music’s Expressionist drama. The fact that Andreeva is the guiding force behind the project is apparent from the amount of detail and commitment in the piano playing.

” —Gavin Dixon

“

Anyone who finds the music of Shostakovich oppressive must listen to that of his eccentric student Ustvolskaya. Pianist Natalia Andreeva has researched and played the scores of Ustvolskaya for more than ten years. Every choice she makes here with violinist Evgeny Sorkin is well thought out.

” —AVB

“

[Ustvolskaya] composed using unusual combinations of instruments, and often used piano or percussion to beat out regular rhythms. [The music] is atmospheric. It’s harsh in the sense of not being romantic but it’s not strident; it’s thoughtful and sad more than anything. Music reflecting on the harshness of life.

” —Jeremy Condliffe

“

The performances of these typically unsmiling works are exceptional. They reveal commitment and understanding from both soloists which transcends the bleakness of the music. Amongst this dark music there are the occasional flashes of light and even beauty. The sound quality is excellent.

” —John France

“

A brilliantly executed centenary tribute. A style one can fancy as at once an expression of suffering under Stalin and defiance of his rule.

” —Paul Driver

“

Natalia Andreeva is a Russian pianist of consummate skill who can express the music’s power and beauty of this music. She is joined here by the exceptionally talented Russian-born violinist Evgeny Sorkin to mark the centenary of Ustvolskaya’s birth on June 17 with these assured recordings.

” —John Pitt

“

Fine accounts of music – well played and recorded – that has little time for conventional sheen or veneer. Ustvolskaya confides in you, but with an unwaveringly intimidating gaze and towering concentration. Performances demand and here receive such qualities.

” —Rob Barnett