“The Études by Frédéric Chopin, Opus 10 and 25, composed between 1828 and 1836, prove various challenges in terms of technique of their playing. Yet they are full of refinement, expressiveness and feeling. Any pianist is tempted to make his own attempt at rendering their sentiments.

The Études should make imagination draw pictures of beauty and music, with all the technical difficulties fading away. This is the impression created by Zlata Chochieva, a young pianist from Russia, who had made her remarkable debut with less known piano pieces written by Rachmaninov. Some records of the Études may sound like exercises for fingers, but they revive like a book whose chapters are made of music pieces, as soon as the whole set is performed in one joining context. That is what we hear in Zlata Chochieva’s playing: in each piece, she seems to be telling a story which words are unable to express (op.25 no.7). Even though in fast Études – and generally – she opts for rather vivid tempo, she never robs the transparency of their contents. Technically, her playing is of good quality, seemingly effortless, and not too overburden with effects. Natural, sensual, powerful flow of music comes straight into soul. The pleasure she feels during playing turns into the pleasure one feels during listening. All in all, her playing can surely rival recordings of the famous pianists.”

Isabel Fedrizzi