“Beyond her limpid legato playing, heard in the climactic cadenza, Batiashvili’s incisive, fierce tone cut through the massed orchestral sound.”

Washington Classical Review

“Composed in 1957, revised and premiered in 1963, Schnittke’s concerto omits its original second-movement presto and is often played, as on Thursday night, as a three-movement work. Batiashvili opened with a long angular solo that intensified over waking strings and interjections of brass, harp and flute. A committed, animated player, she darted with fluid ease in her first cadenza between grainy, sawing double stops and needle-thin highs. I loved the little blinks of xylophone that punctuate the movement’s slow vanishing.

The gently rocking bed of strings in the “Andante” was beautifully played and Batiashvili, her soft, sentimental melody seamlessly handing off to the flutes, leading to enthralling dialogue with the bassoons. She lit up the hard-charging “Allegro scherzando” with electric playing and quicksilver solos and a combative back-and-forth with the orchestra. Its thunderous finish was matched by a long, standing ovation.”

The Washington Post

“Batiashvili’s ravishing tone found its most grateful outlet in the andante, where she was both seductive and dramatic.”

The Times