"Natalia Andreeva gives [the music] more spiritual than acoustical weight ... it is understatement and melancholy that characterizes the interpretation. The interpretation and playing is consistently insightful."
Lars Hedblad - Swedish Daily
"You can hear [the Preludes] as a mid-point in Ustvolskaya's stylistic evolution, paring back the harmony (what remains is often generated by the counterpoint) and reducing melodies to angular, often repeated, shapes. It may be too hard-edged to be spellbinding, but its incantatory patterns and relentless repetitions do have a hypnotic effect. It says much for Natalia Andreeva that she gets such variety of expression from such self-contained material. Most importantly, Andreeva gives us more to listen to than had struck me in this seemingly rebarbative music."
Martin Anderson - Fanfare
"Russian pianist Natalia Andreeva, who now lectures in Australia, has studied Ustvolskaya in depth and captures the sound the composer wanted. We like Ustvolskaya because she asked people not to analyse her music, just listen, and it is music that should be taken as it is. In a nutshell this is the opposite of romantic: it's the melancholy of Russia, where happiness is probably laced with vodka and life is hard."
Jeremy Condliffe - The Chronicle
"I can detect no shortcomings in Andreeva's interpretations. Her playing is technically proficient, and she is scrupulous in matters of weighting and dynamics. The sound of this recording is spacious, vivid, and clear. This release has persuaded me that Galina Ustvolskaya is a very interesting composer, one whose music is well worth exploring, and I recommend it."
Daniel Morrison - Fanfare
"Even the briefest of introductions to this music divulges a sound-world that is far removed from anything we have come to expect of Soviet Russian music. I recognise its huge importance and its massive contribution to Russian music. Ustvolskaya has been given the soubriquet as ‘The Lady with the Hammer' and this is sometimes appropriate. However, much of this music sounds tentative rather than violent or abrasive. The first-rate liner notes by the present pianist Natalia Andreeva set out detailed information about all these pieces as well as some interpretive commentary. The present pianist contributes well to the bleakness, the barbarity and the abstraction of this music. She exhibits superb technical mastery of the music."
John France - MusicWeb-International.com
"Skilled and totally committed readings. Galina Ustvolskaya was a significant figure even when the concert public barely knew of her. We are drawn lucidly into an output for the piano that can sound like ... the evolution of an original artist who rigorously controlled the process of change. Personally, I found it liberating to listen to this release; it added a dimension to Soviet music culture that I barely suspected, besides introducing one of the most intriguing Modernist imaginations one could ever imagine surviving under such hostile conditions."
Huntley Dent - Fanfare
"[Ustvolskaya's] music is completely original, yet quintessentially Russian. Ms Andreeva is most impressive. This is astonishing music (Shostakovich thought so as well). A welcome release."
Allen Gimbel - American Record Guide
"Breath-taking ... for the breadth of insight Natalia Andreeva brings to these scores. Ustvolskaya has a voice all of her own. There is a Webernian concision to her expressive means; nothing is wasted, nothing is frivolous. Strongly recommended as a reminder of the sheer power music can wield."
Colin Clarke - Fanfare
My Wish List
