Nadia Shpachenko’s Woman at the New Piano American Music of 2013 gets Five Stars across the board from Amazon critics:
“This is a beautiful and exciting album, with pieces that represent the wide range of contemporary classical piano repertoire. The pieces range from thoughtful to silly-grin-inducing to chaotic, thunderous, and dramatic. I can picture a number of these pieces becoming part of the standard repertoire. The performance is beautiful, and at times seemingly impossible – especially the Kandinsky movement of Picture Etudes, with not only a truly fiendish piano part, but with the pianist playing a drum and gong at the same time. The disc sounds great, and really captures the wide range of piano sound well, from the quiet resonances and overtones of some pieces, to the thunderous chaos of others, and the drums and gongs, and the electronic sounds of Airdancing. Highly recommended!” —Ullanta
“The music and performances in this CD are just fantastic. … The music is well-written, forward-looking, interesting, and accessible. This album would be valuable to any composer, pianist, or listener who wants to get an insight into current compositional styles. Besides, it’s also fun to listen to…!” —Charisse Baldoria
“The album is full of surprises, a modern and unique collection of textured and engaging music. The pieces are dynamic and thoughtfully composed. The album has many personalities with works that range from unsettling and mysterious to playful, exciting and full of energy. A thought provoking masterpiece!” —Lael Mac
“I really enjoyed the vivacity and joyfulness of the pieces, especially the virtuosity of the performances. What an amazing album. Nadia Shpachenko is a very gifted artist and daring proponent of new music. Highly recommended.” —Teresa McWilliams
“After hearing the live concert, I was excited to hear the recorded version. The quality of the CD is excellent and the performances are outstanding. Nadia Shpachenko once again shows her technical skills and expressive gifts in the realm of new music for the piano bringing enthusiasm and thought to the composers’ creations.” —Susan Burns
“Excellent album with great programming and recording quality. Really enjoyed all the new pieces! Fantastic and imaginative performance on these interesting pieces!” —“pianogirl”