Volodos In Vienna (2010)

"The programme opens with two preludes by Alexander Scriabin friendly, almost a little stolid in tone. But all of a sudden, we find ourselves in sinister dimensions when Volodos makes the music almost give its last gasp by means of extreme pauses, or when a frightening level of aggression comes to the fore. [...] When a pianist has proven his merits as a master of the most subtle colouring as Volodos has with Scriabin, he naturally wants to demonstrate [...] his technical skills all the more in transcriptions. Thus he unleashes a musical thunderstorm in this case that no-one can escape. Franz Liszt had already raised the bar of technical challenge about as far as it would go, but Volodos still has to outdo him. And he succeeds not a single note is smudged! The listener, at any rate, gets the impression of flawless precision. After all, no human ear can really check. [...] Volodos is an exceptional pianist. His skill and his passion cause any possible objections to pale into insignificance." (NDR Kultur)