Review: Schaffhauser Nachrichten original(gsw)

The concert surpassed even the highest expectations
The musical community of Shaffhausen made no mistake when inviting the young Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova to perform. What happened on Friday night at the city theater blew away all expectations.

The difficult with ease
The program presented by Anna Fedorova was elevated to the highest professional standard. At the same time she played with incredible ease, demonstrating a strong artistic will and vivid imagery. She opened the concert with Beethoven’s Appassionata, a piece marking the apex of the composer’s body of work. As if from a mystical darkness, sprung her pianistic fireworks. With steadfast energy and a wide gamut of emotions, she played all three movements without false pathos, very genuinely, and with optimal pedaling and timbrel variety. Her attention to detail fused with intelligent self-restraint, resulting in large and coherent ideas.

No superficial chase for sensationalism
Chopin's Three mazurkas Op. 50 always pose a significant challenge for any pianist. Fedorova accomplished the task, demonstrating a virtuoso sound, fine taste, and soft and elegant phrasing. Every sound was thought out and compelling! The Poetry of Petrarch Sonnet 104 was embodied in Liszt’s music. Once more, Fedorova showed an outstanding technique along with romantic determination. She then performed the Sixth Hungarian Rhapsody with dignity and without overloading the pedal, but nonetheless displaying a genuine passion. It is here especially that her phenomenal technique was apparent yet she showed little effort. The famous octaves were performed with an unbelievable grip of a lion.

The most difficult piano work
After the break we heard Ravel’s impressionistic fantasies, the Gaspard de la Nuit. Almost as if she were unfolding a unique carpet of sound, Fedorova astounded the audience with enchanting colors and displayed breathtaking technique, her fingers fluttering accross the keyboard in brilliant repetitions. When Ravel wrote the last peace of the cycle, Scarbo, he sought to create the most difficult piano work, and this young Ukrainian pianist easily stood up to the challenge of performing it, at the same time demonstrating the broad capacity of her intellect. The end of the concert saw five preludes by Rachmaninoff, which are essentially romantic etudes due to their virtuosity. Ensuing after the refined elegance of the preceding works, the bright and passionate outburst served as a brilliant finale of the concert

- Gisela Zweifel-Fehlmann
Schaffhauser Nachrichten 2011
Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Anna Fedorova...exhibits an exemplary talent – she interprets the works of Chopin across the entire scale of expression: from the lyrical whisper of the Mazurka in G minor, Op 24, to the heroism and drama of the Fantaisie in F minor. We haven’t heard such mazurkas in quite a while, there hasn’t been such an engaging performance of the Fantaisie in a long time.

- Jan Popis
Chopin Express 2010
Warsaw, Poland

"Anna Fedorova deserves the Great Hall of the Concertgebouw filled with people...

...At a mere 19 years of age, the Ukrainian Anna Fedorova is seen as one of the major piano talents of today. Her numerous performances in the Netherlands have already worked up a sizeable and devout audience...

...Characteristic of her playing is a solid technique, a tone that is powerful but not harsh, impeccable rhythm, and an adept feel for a composition’s form...

...Her fiery interpretation of Bartok’s Suite and breathtaking rendition of Prokofiev’s Toccata made clear Fedorova’s immense power, something her slender appearance would never suggest...

...Fedorova’s deeply personal performance touched the hearts of her audience…Her exceptional playing made it clear that she deserves a greater audience: The Grotte Zaal [Amsterdam Concertgebouw] filled with people."

- Christo Lelie
Trouw 2010
Netherlands

The spirit of Mickiewicz
[Anna Fedorova] was commanding in the bigger pieces: a thoughtful Fantaisie in F minor, an exciting Polonaise in F sharp minor and an A flat Ballade that seemed to go straight to the spirit of Mickiewicz’s Romanticism.

- John Allison
Chopin Express 2010
Warsaw, Poland

Mature Qualities
The performer to remember is Anna Fedorova from Ukraine. To me, she was the best competitor yet, with the qualities of a fully matured performer, exquisite musical conception and narrative, and looks to match.

- Jose Tobar Pratt
Chopin Express 2010
Warsaw, Poland

“… Rachmaninoff-Warenberg piano concerto was led by the superb Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova who calmly, without the usual debut nervousness demonstrated wonderful taste and refined pianism.”

- Juan Carlos Montero
La Nación 2009
Buenos Aires

"Magical performance of Beethoven's "Apassionata" and "Carnival" by Schumann…"

- Evening News 2008
Ukraine

"It is inconceivable what the 17-year-old pianist ‘Anna Fedorova' can produce in 90 minutes of musicality, virtuosity... You are completely taken by surprise, compelled and astonished…

…In Schumann's Carnaval Op. 9 this sparkling vitality is ever-prominent, but here we are surprised by sweet modesty, wild expression, striking accents and divine, youthful exuberance…

…The Ukrainian teenager creates new silvery jewels with every facet [of the five Chopin Waltzes] surprising, attention sharpened, fabulously and transparently.

- Leidsch Dagblad 2007
Netherlands

"Anna Fedorova is a diversified musician with a lyrical bias. Her tone has depth, warmth and her legato is superb…”

- Culture 2004
Russia