Oranienstein Review Rhein-Lahn-Zeitung Rhein-Hunsrück newspaper Diez: Keyboard magician pulls the audience along

Diez: Keyboard magician pulls the audience along Disbelieving looks, stunned shaking of the head. This is how some of the listeners in the Oranienstein Castle chapel reacted to Sandro Nebieridze's indescribably virtuoso piano playing.
By Andreas E. Mueller
Apr 4, 2022 at 6:32 p.m  

"What do nine-year-old boys like to do best?" the organizers ask in the afternoon program. For the young Georgian Sandro Nebieridze, the case was absolutely clear: play the piano and compose. A child prodigy, you might say. Now the exceptional young pianist has literally ripped the Diez audience off their feet - pardon me, from the pews. Of course, the introspective pianist also brought along his own composition, his Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor. Completely concentrated, he sits down on the piano stool, wipes the keyboard with a cloth, pauses for a moment, and then after just a few bars unleashes a veritable thunderstorm of sound. Nebieridze hit the keys, loud, fast, dissonant. Then there is an enormous contrast. Nebieridze plays slowly and quietly. Another change: Nebieridze bounces, tears across the keyboard, powerful and wild. It's almost impossible to follow his game with your eyes. The end of his sonata with dance-like melodies is more forgiving. He composed the piece when he was 14. Hard to believe it's so ripe. 

The Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 by Frédéric Chopin begins with "Grave - Agitato" full of expectation and longing. Here Nebieridze shows how sensitive he can play. In the "Scherzo" he once again shows his brilliant technique. and once again unleashes a storm of sound. The funeral march, "Marche funebre" in the third movement, seems almost like a foreign body in Chopin's composition. Chopin noted "Lento", i.e. slow, as the tempo designation. Nebieridze plays the movement very
slowly and devoutly. One might think that the pallbearers would hardly move. Subtle, now sitting bolt upright, the pianist savors every note. Incredible runs then in the "Finale - Presto". Nebieridze really deserved the break.