MusicWeb International has praised pianist Illia Ovcharenko’s debut concerto recording, Manu Sinistra, with critic Paul RW Jackson writing of his Ravel cadenzas that he can think of no one who makes the final one seem so sad.
The album brings together three concertos written for the left hand alone, all commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein after he lost his right arm in the First World War: Bortkiewicz’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D major, and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Jackson calls the Bortkiewicz “absolutely gorgeous” despite its unfashionable Late Romanticism, and singles out Ovcharenko’s virtuosic passage in the Ravel as faster than even Yuja Wang’s, to thrilling effect. He praises Ovcharenko’s ability to draw out lyrical lines in the Prokofiev where other performers have stabbed.
Ovcharenko, winner of the 2022 Honens International Piano Competition, is joined by conductor Oksana Lyniv and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester. Jackson also commends the recorded sound and the stylish, informative booklet.
Manu Sinistra is out now on PENTATONE.
