Selected Reviews
Recitals
Review title: “Sedmara (Zakarian) Rutstein Excels at Piano” --New York Times
“Pianist Sedmara [Zakarian] Rutstein…proved to be a superb master of music as diverse as Bach and Scriabin.” --Washington Post
“There was an extra edge of pleasure at Sedmara [Zakarian] Rutstein’s radiant success at Alice Tully Hall…she played with uncommon clarity and a lovely, melting piano sound…there was temperament more than sufficient.” --New York Times
“Zakarian [Rutstein] shine in the brilliant, flashy passagework…And she sang the big tunes…with clear and appropriate feeling. She is a strong pianist.” --Grand Rapids Press
“…Miss [Zakarian] Rutstein not only demonstrated her exceptional technique, but also showed a feeling for phrase and continuity bringing to mind Richter and Gilels.” --Musical America
“Sedmara Zakarian [Rutstein] gives us a luminous performance of [the Shostakovish Sonata No.2]…[She] brings out every shift in mood with a seemingly effortless insight.” --Keyboard
“Sedmara Zakarian [Rutstein] captures every nuance…of the defiant brashness of the piano works of Prokofiev’s student days.” -- New York Times
“Many who heard…Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein in recital at the Cleveland Museum of Art…seemed greatly impressed with her technique, artistry, and musicality-and rightly so.” --The Plain Dealer Cleveland, OH
Discography
“These two imposing sonatas gain immeasurably from Sedmara Rutstein’s bravura playing.” --Lehman, American Record Guide
“Her [Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein’s] playing certainly is assured and idiomatic. Anyone who can make the Slonimsky flow and navigate Tishchenko has my admiration. The latter’s second movement has more musical minefields than any mere human should have to encounter.” --Paul Rapoport, Fanfare
“…I feel he [Tishchenko] is one of the most important of all living composers…This [Sonata No 5] is a difficult work that requires many listenings…It is worth the effort, particularly given pianist Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein sensitive and sometimes heroic rendition of it. Superhuman concentration seems called for here…Rutstein…more than meets the sonata’s many challenges…”
“…since I consider Tishchenko to be one of the world’s greatest living composers, and since the work [Sonata No 5] has been exceptionally well recorded and performed, I conclude my [1995] Want List with it…”
[Tishchenko’s] “style…obviously speaks to both the fingers and the soul of Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein. Throughout the Ninth Sonata…she maintains an absolute clarity of texture…”
“…when ultra-prestissimo passagework…pops up, Rutstein more than rises to the occasion…”
“…she totally captures the spirit of both the Tchaikovsky Nocturne and the lush but harmonically arcane Guirlandes, op. 73…”
“Albany should reissue the three [Tishchenko] sonatas already recorded by Rutstein on a single CD and then get about the business of having her record the rest of them.” --Royal S. Brown, Fanfare
“Sedmara Zakarian…captures every nuance of this varied collection.” --Edward Schneider, New York Times
“Zakarian shows both her brilliant technique and her insight in mounting this stunning interpretation.” --Frank Retzel, Musical Heritage Review
“Semara Zakarian…is excellent…” --Paul Turok, Ovation
“Sedmara Zakarian gives us a luminous performance…brings out every shift in mood with a seemingly effortless insight.” --Jim AIkin, Keyboard
“Sedmara Zakarian is a first-class artist…technically impeccable…This is piano playing of the highest sort; not even Richter or Horowitz excels her in this Russian music…Her work…is far superior to that of many of the most highly publicized pianists today.” --H. Frank Thornton, The New Records