Brahms & Clara Schumann: Violin Concerto, Romances

�Even before Lisa Batiashvili makes her entrance, we can sense this will be an outstanding performance of the Brahms. Finely balanced, spacious recording, with woodwind and horns well placed, highlights the fine orchestral playing...Batiashvili, too, finds a wholly convincing equilibrium between her bold, passionate entry and the more reflective music that follows...Batiashvili and Alice Sara Ott are splendid advocates for the Clara Schumann Romances.� --Gramophone Magazine, April 2013

 

�Batiashvili�s Brahms is beautifully played and makes rewarding listening but this is a most crowded catalogue...the Staatskapelle Dresden under Christian Thielemann provide the finest imaginable support. In the Clara Schumann Romances Alice Sara Ott demonstrates what a fine recital pianist she has become.� --MusicWeb International, 15th May 2013

�this performance is lively and warm, partly thanks to Batiashvili, who sets the dominant tone in her darkly sensuous opening line...And throughout Batiashvili remains herself: less showy than some but deeply responsive to the music�s inner workings and its colours.� --The Times, 18th January 2013 ****

�Batiashvili can always justify revisiting a popular work such as the Brahms Violin Concerto. Her reading of this tough masterpiece is more lyrical than combative, but there is a tensile quality throughout. Speeds are well judged and the Dresden band play winningly.� --Sunday Times, 27th January 2013

�The concerto is engrossingly done, with the first movement majestically shaped and

 the finale sensibly paced so that we appreciate its logic as well as her panache. And she does indeed play the Adagio like a declaration of love.� --The Guardian, 7th February 2013 ****