Review Excerpts
"The Malèdiction is excellent and one of the best recordings ever made of this piece; the performance succeeds in maintaining a dramatic argument for the whole 15 minute movement with admirable cooperation between the soloist and accompaniment, rather than a piece that maintains only for certain sections, as is common to recordings of the work",
All Music Guide
"an interesting and worthwhile recording...leaves me wanting to hear more",
Fanfare Magazine, Burton Rothleder, March-April 2010
"A collector would be hard pressed to obtain a tripling of more convincing performances of such rarities on one CD, and all played with a twinkle in the eye, a simultaneously wistly penetration (especially the Mendelssohn), and a self-effacing validity that carries these musical "Footnotes" into the realm of the absolutely listenable- and perhaps memorable, as well".
Amazon.com, Melvyn M. Sobel
"Entitled, "Flight and Fire", this disc offers a stimulating
fare of the piano music of the Russian composer, Lera Aurebach…Nosikova
plays with fingers of steel; yet she can turn her tone inwards at a moments'
notice, as in the quieter passages of the second movement. The elusive
nature of the fourth movement is particularly spellbinding, while the
concentration of the final Adagio religioso belies the studio conditions…
Fascinating listening. It is hard to imagine a disc that does greater
service to Auerbach's piano music."
Fanfare Magazine, Colin Clarke, February 2008
"The really first-rate pianist Ksenia Nosikova enters into a competition
with Lera Auerbach as an interpreter…It is not by chance that the
composer dedicated the first sonata to her. From the "Fantasia"
of the year 1986 to the "Il Segno" of 2006, the interpreter
crafts a focused insight into the piano creations of 1973-born Auerbach.
She clearly exemplifies the game with old forms of Russian precursors
(like toccata or sonata) by cutting to the character. She elucidates the
contrasts of introspect and "barbaro" expressions with large
dynamic broadness."
Fono Forum (Germany), Michael Stenger, October 2007
"Nosikova's final installment of The Years of Pilgrimage is a worthy
companion to her favorably reviewed Premiere Année (Mar/Apr 2005)
and Deuxieme Année (Nov/Dec 2001). Nosikova's expansive approach
(her total time for the set is 17 minutes longer than Leslie Howard's)
works well in these essentially elegiac late Liszt pieces. Jeux d'eau
a la Villa d'Este is the mystical center point, and Nosikova's reading
has all the muted shimmerings of the fountains as well as the big splashes
of water. She builds some huge climaxes in the bigger pieces, but there
is never any harshness or overplaying.. . .she has the full measure of
this work (Polonaise) as well as the entire Troisieme Année".
American Record Guide, Harrington, Nov/Dec 2006
"Nosikova's interpretations are instinctively straightforward, exuding
musical intelligence, honest integrity and a rock-solid technique. Her
sonority is full-bodied . . . Nosikova is at her best in a glowing account
of the Dante sonata, richly colourful and full of dramatic intensity.
Rounded off by a fine account of Venezia e Napoli, this is a super
disc.
From the recordings of the 'Italie' book of Années de pélerinage discussed above, there are six that are recommendable: Brendel (1972),
Berman, Bolet, Hatto, Nosikova and Hitzlberger.
International Piano, Tim Parry, London (UK), July/August, 2006
"In the third and least-performed book of Liszt's Années
de Pèlerinage, pianist Ksenia Nosikova upholds the excellent
standards she brought to the cycle's first two volumes …she keeps
sparse, austere selections like the two Thrénodies and the Marche funèbre aloft and fluid. She also is attuned to Liszt's
harmonic inventiveness: notice how tellingly she shades the odd major-to-minor
shifts in Angelus! Prière aux anges gardiens… no arpeggio
or tremolo is simply rattled off (Les jeux d'eau à la Villa
d'Este); every note is carefully voiced and well considered. I admire
the energy and sweep Nosikova brings to the E major Polonaise."
ClassicsToday, August, 2006
"Her (Ksenia Nosikova's) tone in Vallèe d'Obermann,
the keystone of this collection (Switzerland) is sensuous and singing.
Moreover, superb pacing and two marvelously constructed climaxes turn
this diffuse and difficult tone-poem into a tour de force. Les Cloches
de Genêve glows with luminous tonal shading and has real charm
and emotional power. Her Polonaise Melancolique is indeed revelatory.
Here she achieves extraordinary elasticity of rhythm, tasteful rubato,
and above all, spellbinding atmosphere. I don’t expect this unusual
work so remarkably played any time soon."
American Record Guide, March, 2004
"Pianist Ksenia Nosikova proves as idiomatic and convincing a Lisztian
in the first volume of the composer's (Liszt) Années de Pèlerinage as in her previous release to the second, Italian volume and its supplementary Venezia e Napoli triptych…Nosikova's perceptive and vibrant
performance makes a better case for the music (Polonaise Melancolique)
that Leslie Howard's relatively sober reading on Hyperion. I look forward
to this cycle's conclusion."
ClassicsToday, November, 2003
"Ms. Nosikova has recorded Liszt's work extensively in recent years,
and her evident absorption in her playing showed a truly personal appreciation
of his mysterious, imaginative quality… She communicated the tension
between frustration and delicacy in Liszt’s To the Cypresses
of the Villas d'Este with carefully conducted poise, drawing out the
simmering undercurrents of the piece… her interpretation of The
Fountains of the Villa d'Este poignantly captured the fluid, aquatic
beauty of the Hungarian’s composition."
The Saint Andrew's (Scotland) Saint,
January, 2003
"…it was in the rhapsodic playing that Nosikova's talents
showed to best advantage. Introspective, recitative-like declamations
got all the space they deserved, including silences. It was musically
very poetic. ...full of light, warmth, and joy."
Madison (WI) Music Review, October,
2002
"The Italian leg of Liszt's Années de Pèlerinage is frequently traversed on disc these days. Happily, Ksenia Nosikova proves
to be a worthy contender on every level, as her stylish, intelligent,
and technically rock-solid artistry bears out. Nosikova's laser-like projection
and lean yet never flinty tone are in keeping with her direct, straightforward
readings… Tempos are judged to perfection and even seemingly fragmented
works such as Tarantella from Venezia e Napoli ebb and flow
in judicious proportion… Nosikova's Dante Sonata is particularly
incisive, dramatic, and colorful and shines alongside excellent recent
versions..."
ClassicsToday, October, 2002
"...in her Weill Hall recital, the space bloomed with fresh colors
and supple pulse, an invigorating and pleasing effusion. ...refined sensibility
and exquisite pianism...fascinating to watch and hear..."
New York Concert Review, May, 2001
"Nosikova has a palette of musical expressions in her playing, allowing
her to tackle the greatest works for the solo piano with ease. Playing Années de Pèlerinage 2 in their entirety heightens
the achievement when someone like Ksenia Nosikova contributes just as
much energy as an expression. Her subtle and expressive playing moves
from a slow movement to a descending chromatic forte without changing
intensity, without loosing its substance…Her artistic choices offer
a serious rendering of the soccer with feeling, often deprived of depth
when it is played without feeling…This invirogating piece (Dante
Sonata) was broadly interpreted by the pianist who proposed a reading
of the work without any airs, clumsiness and exaggeration. A real talent
of interpereter."
Journal L'Alsace (France), June 18,
2000
"Her performance is brilliant, full of grace and the most astonishing
precision. Truly fascinated by the work of the master (Liszt), the completely
extroverted artist knew how to bring out and obtain different sound from
the instrument, by increasing the sonority, by multiplying the effects
and the means… If the playing of Ksenia Nosikova was only virtuoso
it would be fairly forgotten. It is nothing of the kind though. The audience
understood the extraordinary capacity of the artist to make this a lesson
in generosity and sharing of emotions."
Dernieres Nouvelles D'Alsace (France),
June 17, 2000
"Ksenia Nosikova . . . displayed authority and brilliant clarity
. . . had the verve of youth."
The Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune, June
12, 1996
"Ksenia Nosikova, a native of Russia . . . gave an outstanding account
of Liszt's Concerto #2 . . . "
The Flint (MI) Journal, March 4, 1994
"Ksenia Nosikova again displayed impressive musicianship that demonstrated
the iconoclastic musical ability of Alfred Schnitke."
The Boston (MA) Globe, March 11, 1988
" . . . an attractive piece by Akshin Alizade called Portrait,
which benefited from a very sensitive accompaniment by Ksenia Nosikova"
The Boston (MA) Globe, March 8, 1988