Mario-Felix Vogt, Pianist Magazine, 2022/Nr.3
“Chochieva offered interpretations at the highest pianistic level that delved into the depths of the music […] drew out the grotesque elements in Scriabin’s sonatas in particular with exquisite sound, for example in No. 6.”
Mario-Felix Vogt, Rondo
Listening to the album, it becomes clear after a few bars that Chochieva’s Mozart can stand comparison with the best and does not have to hide from greats like Maria João Pires or Mitsuko Uchida. (…) Chochieva never repeats phrases in exactly the same way, there are always new nuances and shadings, without this sounding precious. (…) In Scriabin’s Tenth (and last) Sonata she achieves brilliant climaxes over the shortest distance without becoming hectic, supported in her efforts by the wonderfully balanced-sounding Bechstein concert grand.
Andrew Eales, Pianodao
Chochieva’s Mozart playing has elegance and élan aplenty, her gracious sense of phrasing matched by sparkling passage work in the faster variations on melodies by Duport and Gluck. (…) Chochieva plays with weight and emotional intelligence, but is still able to make the virtuosic passages of the tenth Sonata take flight. This is a tremendous and revelatory disc.
Tagesspiegel
Zlata Chochieva offers up an irresistible combination. On her album “Chiaroscuro” she combines Mozart Variations with Sonatas by Scriabin. And suddenly a lot of things become easier and clearer.
James Harrington, American Record Guide
This release continues her well-thought-out and fascinating recordings as well as her world-class piano playing.
Gramophone
In the two sonatas especially, one hears an extraordinary ebb and flow, a clarity of thought and feeling that progresses with a logical inevitability and cohesion unusual in even the finest Scriabin-playing.
Critic’s Choice, B. Morrison, International Piano Magazine
[HJer overall mastery is unbounded. She is entirely at home in the dark, opalescent world of Scriabin’s Tenth Sonata [.]”
Sächsische Zeitung Dresden
What Chochieva presents over 77 minutes is of such clarity, lightness and depth of soul that the kinship becomes compelling. (…) She does not temper contrasts but her fluid, delicate style is here unmistakable. Wonderfully sensitive piano artistry.
Five-star, Peter Quantrill, PIANIST magazine
Her fingerwork in a late, brief and searching Mozart Gigue is pure fortepiano fantasy, and she opens the glorious Unser dummer Pöbel meint Variations with a perfectly straight face before the expression breaks into laughter and smiles, with a superbly articulated cross-hand Variation 8 to recall the remarkable caprice of her Chopin Etudes(on Piano Classics). As a one-time pupil of Pletnev. Zlata explores shade after shade of pianissimo dynamics in Scriabin’s Tenth Sonata. No reservations.
Frank Cooper, Lecturer in Residence, Miami International Festival 05/05/2022
“Bowled over” and “knocked out” come to mind as I think about the impression made on me by Zlata Chochieva’s recital for the Miami International Piano Festival on May Day of this year. […] Ms. Chochieva achieved identification with Schumann [Davidsbündler Tänze] that, in my experience, has eluded earlier interpreters of this complex work. So, affecting was that identity that the suite’s longueurs simply vanished. After the quiet ending, I wished for more. Can there be a greater compliment? […] Few pianists of recent generations come close to playing as considerate of composers’ intentions and as masterly of their demands as Zlata Chochieva. Read more…