Wie Denis Matsuev (1975) het Tweede Pianoconcert van Sergei Prokofjev hoort spelen weet het zeker: dit is een meesterwerk. Het gaat misschien wat ver om te beweren dat Prokofjev dit werk speciaal voor Matsuev heeft geschreven – hij schreef de eerste drie van zijn vijf concerten in eerste instantie voor eigen gebruik. Maar voor elke uitvoering van het tweede concert deed de pianist Prokofjev toch wel even een schietgebedje. ...

Tie yourself and your valuables down. Denis Matsuev and Valery Gergiev take a dangerous, open-top sports car approach to Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. The sharpness of the attack, the delight in clashing sonorities, and the sheer raciness of the approach make the music so exciting it’s almost exhausting to listen to. Matsuev’s command is astonishing, in a performance that unflinchingly aligns the piece to the daunting world of the composer’s Second Concerto. ...

Recording of the Month. Gramophone 5-Star Review ...

Classics Today: Matsuev and Gergiev Offer Impressive Prokofiev ...

Here is 20th-century Russian music at its most charismatic. The two piano concertos of Shostakovich contrast the expansive grin of a 27-year-old composer in the flush of his first fame with the jaded smile of a 51-year-old. Young Russian pianist Denis Matsuev is masterful at overcoming the works’ many technical demands. He lends the piano forward-moving power while giving his overall interpretation smoothly rounded corners. Conductor Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra are magnificent in achieving the same kind of balance, giving the music weight without ever making it ponderous. The slow movements in both concertos are magical as they waft gently by. ...

Wie bei fast allen originaren Kunstlern spaltet Mikhail Pletnev die Kritikerzunft: Die einen bewundern seine hochindividuellen Interpretationen, die anderen lehnen ihn als radikal-manierirten Musiker ab.  ...

The British magazine “International record review” has marked the album “Matsuev. Liszt” as outstanding. ...