Concert Elisabeth Leonskaja

Do you still remember the winner of the 1968 Queen Elisabeth Competition? And a certain Yekatarina Novitskaya, who at the age of 17 was the competition’s youngest and first female winner. Afterwards, we barely heard any more about her. However, two other finalists from the same year - Mitsuko Uchida and Elisabeth Leonskaja - enjoyed greater success, with both now having thriving concert careers. The latter performer combines the best of both worlds. The Russianschool is deeply rooted in her - Sviatoslav Richter was largely responsible for teaching her. And since choosing Vienna as her ‘Wahlheimat’, she is also infused with ‘Wiener Blut’. With her unrivalled sense of space and freedom, she strips away any kind of superficial glamour from every score and penetrates to its deepest core. Her big, clear sound does credit to the sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert. She also lends the appropriate power or delicacy, warmth and colour to the many changes of mood in Schumann’s ‘Sonata in F sharp’.