If you think that big, unfettered, golden-toned Romantic pianism is the exclusive property of the dead, then you’ve yet to hear Polina Leschenko. Her flamboyant technique and ardent temperament revel in rolling virtuosic paragraphs and bass lines that haven’t soared so elegantly since Benno Moiseiwitsch’s prime. Sample the Bach A minor Fugue’s rhapsodic dynamism, or the Chaconne’s fiery passagework, and you’ll agree. On the other hand, Leschenko proves almost too freewheeling as she speeds up and slows down sections of the Faust Waltz, dissipating Liszt’s carefully orchestrated keyboard textures. However, a similarly energetic, improvisatory, yet more forward-moving profile rivets your attention throughout the B minor Sonata. Anyone who can take total, incisive charge of the treacherous octaves and danger-packed leaps without the slightest banging has my admiration. On the basis of this disc, Polina Leschenko is a real virtuoso pianist, and an exciting one too. Recommended.
