«Not everyone is gifted enough to play all of Chopin’s etudes in such seemingly careless succession. Not even Arthur Rubinstein, who had astonishing technical ease, dared to do so. For Zlata Chochieva, however, it seems like child’s play.
Read More“… Completely void of artificial affectations, and negotiating Chopin’s filigree passagework with effortless, liquid finesse, her performance was a triumph of natural expression and unswerving musicality.
Read MoreEver since the release of her Piano Classics discs of Chopin and Rachmaninoff, Zlata Chochieva has moved strongly into the spotlight; Gramophone named her Chopin Etudes among the Top 50 Chopin recordings ever. Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. She made her Moscow concert debut when she was eight years old, received inspired guidance from Mikhail Pletnev and has previously won ten international piano competitions.
Read More«The Berlin Piano Festival essentially took place within a few days at the end of May. Yet, as in other businesses, in concert management one needs to stretch to the limit—and since Zlata Chochieva, who was considered a much-preferred guest even before, had been unavailable earlier, there was an addendum on Wednesday.
Read MoreIt has been roughly 180 years since Frederic Chopin composed his piano etudes. In proficient hands, these brief musical exercises sound as fresh and poignant as the time when Chopin first created them. On the fingertips of a fearless and imaginative master, they become individual masterpieces in their own right.
Read More“… Chochieva, though, is the real discovery; her account of the two sets of Études-Tableaux, performances of huge emotional scope and intense drama, are as fine as any on disc, while she revels in the dark textures of the First Sonata and makes the Chopin Variations seem a much more convincing work than it can often seem.”
“Études-Tableaux – Rachmaninov
Over faltering, metrically bumpy marching steps: as though chiseled, a syncopated melody full of internal tension. As soon as the first bars of the F minor Etude op. 33 No. 1 begin, it becomes clear that an extraordinary pianistic personality is at work here.
“… Anyone tackling these works needs a virtuoso technique, and that she clearly has. But with so many excellent pianists out there these days, it’s hard to be awed by that sort of thing, even though it represents world-class talent and years of hard work. What really distinguished her playing was an extraordinary richness of tone, a sensitivity to the musical phrase and the way she used her first-class technical skills to serve the music.
Read More“A famous pianist (I shan’t say who) to whom I was speaking recently said I really should hear this young Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva in the Chopin Etudes. ‘It is,’ averred my informant, ‘the greatest I’ve ever heard.’ Quite a claim.
Read More“Zlata Chochieva is a young, Moscow-born pianist who has been making the rounds of international competitions. She studied with Mikhail Pletnev, among others. Like most young Russian pianists recording today, excellent technique is a given with her. But more importantly, Chochieva is a Chopin player of style and charm.
Read More“Among myriads of brilliantly performed studies by Chopin, there are just few performances which, apart from virtuoso form, highlight the whole might of lyrics and ardent thrust of his “songs without words” so strongly that technical excellence becomes unimportant.
Read More“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.
Read More“In 1995, newspapers were writing a lot about an 8-years old girl with a phenomenal manner of performing Mozart in Moscow concerts. Wonder kids often suffer unlucky fate but Zlata Chochieva managed to build a career of world class artist through continuing learning, seeking and receiving consultations from the world’s great pianists, and consistent efforts of doing away with flaws.
Read More“Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva (b. 1985, Moscow), a student of Mikhail Pletnev and graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory in 2012, has won numerous international piano competitions. Despite her youth, her keyboard style divulges a sense of maturity in the Chopin etudes, a maturity supported by an arsenal of natural talent, good instincts and superior intelligence.
Read More“The young Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva belongs to the group “highly promising”, and is even above that. At least judging from the recording of two rarely played works by Rachmaninoff, which were once premiered in the same concert: the Chopin Variations and the First Sonata.
Read MoreReview of Rachmaninov album (Chopin Variations Op. 22, Piano Sonata No. 1 / Piano Classics / 2012)
“London recording label “Piano Classics” presents two virtuoso and
rarely sounding works by Rachmaninoff in his “golden age” performed by
the young Zlata Chochieva.
“The young pianist Zlata Chochieva could have found more popular works for her debut album for Piano Classics label. Courageously and powerfully she dashes for Rachmaninoff’s Chopin Variations op. 22.
Read More“Zlata Chochieva is a pianist’s pianist and the booklet quotes glowing comments from Stephen Kovacevich and Pascal Devoyon about her playing with Kovacevich remarking that he would be “interested to hear anything she does … and that is rare”. This disc fully justifies their opinions. The disc is highly enjoyable and I never felt that the works were over-long or of dubious value; on the contrary I found them thrilling in the extreme and couldn’t wait to play them again and again.”
Steve Arloff
“… 28 year old Zlata Chochieva, the possessor of a comprehensive technique who brings an inner glow to every bar. Her playing is indelibly Russian in its fullness and warmth, backed by dauntless and easy command.
Read More“Notwithstanding the intense romantic passion Zlata Chochieva approaches the radiant inner world of Mozart’s concerto no.27 with the aid of Wallonie Chamber Orchestra, apparently charmed by her introspective performance and assisting her in terms of tense, passionate and effervescent musicality.
Read More“The performance of Zlata Chochieva has become a real revelation. Nothing distracted in this neat silhouette bent over the piano. Her playing impresses by lightness and unordinary inwardness.
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