Margaret Fingerhut reminding us of the rich heritage that is gradually being devoured by aggressive neighbours

Playing of ravishing beauty where even Silvestrov has turned to whispered beauty, as an antidote to his previous percussive style, when the bombs started dropping on his homeland

A fascinating journey through works that were much influenced by Liszt, Rachmaninov , Scriabin and even Prokofiev.

But it was Lysenko who closed the programme being the first composer to express Nationalistic pride in music with a Ukrainian Fantasy much in the style of those of Liszt .

Beauty, mastery and solidarity shone through playing of searing commitment and glowing beauty.

A grandiose opening with Bortkiewicz dissolving into a chorale with droplets of water just suggested as the music opened to an expansive Lisztian outpouring and a heartrending duet of sumptuous rich romantic sounds. A grandiloquent ending worthy of the grandest of Liszt’s creations and was a beautiful way to end this great romantic picture. ‘Sorrow and Loneliness’ indeed of great density for one of the rare pieces to survive the cancellation of his works by an intolerant regime .Folk indioms were woven into the mellifluous outpouring of two preludes by Lyatoshinsky and there was Rachmaninovian inspiration for the virtuosity and sumptuous sounds of Kosenko’s ‘Nocturne Fantasie’ op 4 .’Three Bagatelles’ by Silvestrov, whose music I had heard from the hands of Boris Berman in Cremona and was surprised at the complete change in style as the invasion of his homeland was taking place.
(https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/26/cremona-the-city-of-dreams-a-global-network-where-dreams-become-reality/)

Works of percussive prickly violence are now so quiet with indications in the score never to be louder than the quietest whisper.They were pieces of ravishing beauty of glowing fluidity and romantic insistence. Anna Fedorova had recently opened her recital in Florence with barely audible sounds that drew us in and made us listen with new ears at such childlike musings of simple radiance. (https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/03/02/anna-fedorova-in-florence-the-triumph-of-a-supreme-stylist-in-la-pergola-the-temple-of-music/) The final work in her recital, Liszt springs to mind again ,as she played Lysenko’s ‘Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes’ with romantic fervour and sumptuous bravura and he was the first Ukrainian composer of note with a strong National identity. An encore of exquisite beauty by a composer whose name I did not catch but obviously of the Ukrainian romantic tradition and just showed us what we have been missing all these years. Let us open up our ears and hearts and include some of these beautiful works into our rather standardised concert programmes.

Here is her choice of composers and descriptions in her own words