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Piano fire
Man instead of machine
thirty-second notes and expressive weight where necessary, for example, in the despairingly stammering Arioso. Scheps carefully constructs the climax of the fugue, only to dismantle it note by note in the descending G minor chord. What follows possesses an almost otherworldly quality. And what makes her Beethoven interpretation so competent is also evident in Chopin. Scheps plays his four Ballades without false sentimentality. When she thunders demonically, as in Opus 38, it has its place. When she sings out the melody elastically in Opus 47, she never loses her voice.” near unmotivated rubatos."
Emotional depth
"Truly beautiful, enough to make you cry"
Brimming with energy
"...Scheps entered these breaks with clarity and decisiveness, whipping the octaves with power, full-throated and intense. She was clearly at ease in the passages brimming with energy, emphasizing the contrasts, the colossal. At times, the concentrated sound seemed poised to burst the Great Hall at the MIR."
"In the softer passages, the orchestra's homogeneous and brilliant sound was once again evident, a beguiling interplay that offered a congenial, equal partner to the piano's sparkling, dreamy interjections. Scheps demonstrated not only her excellent technical repertoire but also an intrinsic lyrical understanding."
Standing ovation for pianist Olga Scheps
Gestaltung ein
Creation is a poem
“She masters the technical hurdles seemingly effortlessly. She plays with minimal pedal use, her touch clear and pure. It's reminiscent of Alfred Brendel, one of Scheps's mentors.”
“Scheps's interpretation of the second movement of the E minor Concerto in Braunschweig is a poem: a delicate tapestry of melancholic impressions that sometimes dissipate into gossamer mist. Enchanting. In the final movement, she adopts a more boisterous tone, but rarely exceeds mezzo-forte. Scheps relies on the suggestive power of her gentle expressiveness…”
Intense and clear
"When the rhythmic drive in the Presto escalates into a dance on the edge of the abyss, where skeletons celebrate a party of death; when the Allegretto attempts timid folk-song gestures until the piano trills and grumbles darkly in response, forcing the movement into a gripping motoric force—with machine-like moments and unison passages. Likewise in the Largo, the heart of the work.
All of this is played with intensity and great clarity by Olga Scheps and the Kuss Quartet—making the brief moments of peace, with which the final movement concludes, all the more poignant. There, a faint glimmer of hope emerges at the end of a powerful plea for Mieczyslaw Weinberg, whose rediscovery is far from complete."
FonoForum, Marcus Stäbler
Sheer muscle to pull the grandest effects
Walterbitner.com
Surprising directions
Walterbitner.com
The gentle one with an edge
Braunschweiger Zeitung, Martin Jasper
Flying sparks
Beethoven particularly loved it and performed it himself. It was also why there was great anticipation at the Prinzregententheater for how the phenomenal Chopin player, but fiery Russian Olga Scheps, would approach Mozart. The work's 'romantic' drama was naturally her forte. It quickly became clear after the thematic exposition that she would ignite the pale gloom with passion and an underlying fire: magma with sparks flying. She swept the audience into a veritable D minor intoxication, without sacrificing structural sharpness and without lapsing into the luxuriance of the second movement's romantic tone."
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Klaus P. Richter
Subtle sense of sound
Mental resistance
Powerful without having to thunder
Breathtaking tension at the piano
Sheer enthusiasm for Olga Scheps and the new Philharmonic.
“Spontaneous shouts of ‘Bravo!’ and minutes of standing ovation greeted the
now world-renowned young pianist Ilga Scheps, who mastered the enormous challenge of this piano concerto, decisively contradicting the fiasco of its premiere in 1859 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, as Roland Vesper recounted in his introduction.
Her entrance came almost casually after the orchestra’s long, dramatic introduction, which began with a timpani roll and thunderous roar and unfolded into a poignant maestoso, allowing soloist and orchestra to engage in a bold dialogue. It was incredible how calmly Scheps initially entered into this exchange, then intensified it in her virtuosic cadenzas.”
Her entrance came almost casually after the orchestra’s long, dramatic introduction, which began with a timpani roll and thunderous roar and unfolded into a poignant maesto, setting soloist and orchestra in a bold dialogue. "The Adagio is captivatingly intense, a respectful exchange between the instrumental groups, especially the low strings, with the piano, which, alongside the most delicate sounds, sets full-bodied cadenzas and concludes with a fitting ritardand. Her mischievous glance at the audience at the beginning of the Rondo promises hearty and lively surprises, which she presents with aplomb at a rapid pace."
Anything but pianistic virtuoso fodder
A captivating blend of power and enchanting melody characterizes her electrifying performance, with vibrant trills in the first movement. She renders the Adagio, with its passages in thirds, eighth notes, and brilliant octave runs, with bravura elegance."
The piano poet in the Hercules Hall
"...when Olga Scheps unleashes the opening chords of the B-flat minor concerto through the Hercules Hall, one listens intently. She is already well-established as a 'new star in the Chopin firmament' (FAZ) and as a piano poet of Russian Romanticism. Therefore, there was great anticipation to see how she would handle this nervously dramatic work. The precise thunder of the opening chords was not only an overwhelming 'molto maestoso' but also an unexpected demonstration of the keyboard power once admired as the 'Russian piano hand.' This was something new from her. But the most impressive aspect was how power and 'Russian soul' were intertwined. The young pianist showed how, even in the Steinway's fortissimo force, one can maintain a noble tonal aura, thus doing justice to both pathos and sensitivity. The poetic aspects then blossomed in the melodic lyricism of the first movement and in the grand cadenza. In the last movement, Olga Scheps managed to shape the sprawling garland so cleverly that the focus was not on virtuosic showmanship, but on the passionate 'con fuoco' that Tchaikovsky means and prescribes: more 'speech of sound' than coquetry...“
A Discovery
"...Biographical references are more than just hinted at. The fourth movement, Largo, also begins with powerful unison sounds in a stark quartal-fifth melody: anyone expecting relaxation here will be quickly disappointed. Overall, the profound seriousness of this captivating, often shattering music is impressive. The Kuss Quartet with Olga Scheps does full justice to this seriousness through the power and intensity of their exemplary interpretation. A discovery!"
Merano Music Weeks: Olga Scheps masters the first "Matinée Classique"
"There is hardly anything more difficult on the piano than realizing that confident openness in which Chopin's music seems to spontaneously unfold anew and surprisingly time and again. Olga Scheps traversed these soundscapes not with the air of a connoisseur, but as if on a journey of discovery, which kept the listener breathless from bar to bar until the magnificent finale! Almost dreamlike, yet completely present."
Standing ovation for pianist Olga Scheps
"It is rare for a musician to elicit a collective standing ovation from the notoriously discerning audience at Wartburg Castle – but for the young Russian pianist Olga Scheps, this was clearly one of her easiest tasks. Engaged by Central German Radio for the opening concert of the Wartburg Music Summer, the virtuoso, born in Moscow in 1986 but living in Germany since early childhood, presented a blend of Russian and Austrian Romanticism that seemed tailor-made for the playful and delicate ambiance of the castle's ballroom. The exceptionally charming, almost shy-seeming, yet confidently self-assured artist began with a work by her compatriot Pyotr Tchaikovsky, whose cycle "Les Saisons – 12 Morceaux Caractéristiques," Op. 37, with its musical and poetic mood pieces for the months of January to December from 1876, formed the first part of the program." Not least through her enormous pianistic sensitivity, Olga Scheps succeeds with bravura and grace in consistently highlighting the inherent beauty of the twelve small soundscapes, each lasting about three and a half minutes...“
