Dmitri Alexeev

“Alexeev delivers impressively muscular playing in the faster Rachmaninov Preludes.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ***

“For Dmitri Alexeev the First Concerto is Medtner's masterpiece, an argument he sustains in a performance of superb eloquence and discretion.
Even the sort of gestures later vulgarised and traduced by Tinseltown are given with an aristocratic quality, a feel for a love of musical intricacy that takes on an almost symbolic force, but also for Medtner's dislike of display. Time and again Alexeev makes you pause to reconsider Medtner's quality, and his reserve brings distinctive reward.
The early Abbandonamente ma non troppo has a haunting improvisatory inwardness and later, as the storm clouds gather ominously at 11'55", his playing generates all the necessary electricity.
How thankful one is, too, for Alexeev's advocacy of the Piano Quintet where, together with his fully committed colleagues, the New Budapest Quartet, he recreates music of the strangest, most unworldly exultance and introspection. Instructions such as poco tranquillo (sereno) and QuasiHymn take us far away from the turbulence of the First Concerto (composed in the shadow of the First World War) and the finale's conclusion is wonderfully uplifting. The recordings are judiciously balanced in both works, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Lazarev are fully sympathetic.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Phenomenal … transcendental” BBC Music Magazine Top 1000 CDs Guide

“I would happily recommend all Russophiles buy this disc for the stunning Medtner performances alone” CD Review

“Shostakovich's piano concertos were written under very different circumstances, yet together they contain some of the composer's most cheerful and enlivening music. The First, with its wealth of perky, memorable tunes, has the addition of a brilliantly conceived solo trumpet part (delightfully done here by Philip Jones) that also contributes to the work's characteristic stamp.
The Second Concerto was written not long after Shostakovich had released a number of the intense works he had concealed during the depths of the Stalin era. It came as a sharp contrast, reflecting as it did the optimism and sense of freedom that followed the death of the Russian dictator. The beauty of the slow movement is ideally balanced by the vigour of the first, and the madcap high spirits of the last. The poignant movement for piano and orchestra from the Suite from the 1951 film The Unforgettable Year 1919, 'The assault on beautiful Gorky', provides an excellent addition to this disc of perceptive and zestful performances by Alexeev. He's most capably supported by the ECO under Maksymiuk, and the engineers have done them proud with a recording of great clarity and finesse. A joyous issue.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The digital recording is in every way excellent and score over most of its competitors in clarity and presence. Artistically, Alexeev has more personality than his rivals, and he has the advantage of sensitive and idiomatic support from the ECO and Maksymiuk.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition