Music of poetic tenderness
Cornelia Sonnek with works by Robert and Clara Schumann
"... Cornelia Sonnek... not only proved herself to be an outstanding interpreter on the grand piano, but also endeavoured to sketch a double portrait of the lovers and spouses Robert and Clara Schumann in the form of a musical conversation. As knowledgeable as she was eloquent, the pianist avoided drawing up romanticising legends, and preferred to present psychograms of these two so contrasting artists and their relationship, which was so difficult despite all their affection... Clara Schumann's composing clearly distinguished itself from the dreamy, meditative style of Robert that can be seen in the variations from Sonata op. 14: for instance, in the Pièce fugitive, op. 15/1 and the Variations, op. 20 on a theme by her husband, which feature powerful, virtuoso passages accompanied by a wealth of poetic tenderness."
Mittelbayerische Zeitung

Passionate promenades on the fingertips
"... The transient, the nascent hint of something new is her metier - and her strength is to pluck the notes briefly out of the ether and then to let them gradually fade away again... The second part of Bach's English Suite in D minor and dances by Schubert and Brahms also demonstrated a strong, individualistic flair. The waltzes, in particular, were raised far above any down-to-earth roots - until the triple time itself almost dissolved away. The dance became a forlorn yearning for the essence of dancing. As pugnacious as it was, this idiosyncratic interpretation demonstrated the personality of a pianist from whom we can expect great things in the future."
Badische Zeitung

With deeply heartfelt sentiment
"... The artist also produced a wonderful interpretation of Beethoven's late Sonata in E major, op. 109. The lively vivace ma non troppo was powerful and yet played apparently objectively; yet the prestissimo was highly focused, leading to a final movement - which the composer described as "thoughtful, with deeply heartfelt sentiment" - that was dreamily introverted. Compared to the other forms such as the rondo or the fugue, the variation andante of the finale, in particular, left great freedom for the imagination of the interpreter, and Sonnek exploited this to the full: after the six different variations, the initial melody in its original form seemed to be completely transformed..."
Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz

Climax exactly where the music itself asks the questions
"... Cornelia Sonnek, who was born in Mainz and is currently a lecturer in piano at the University of Music in Würzburg, played a home concert ... in which she combined clever phrasing and self-confident agogics with serene technique... With her expressive musical idiom, Sonnek was able to create an almost orchestral atmosphere... At the points where the work itself asked the questions, such as in Schumann's Kreisleriana, the pianist was in her element. A highlight of this long concert afternoon was the Fantasia No. 2, where romantic shades of colour coupled with archaically child-like, pentatonic melodies..."
Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung

Noble dignity for the Sarabande
"All who attended the chamber-music auditorium at Haus Sollbrüggen... were rewarded with an outstanding performance of piano music... Stupendous technique on the keyboard was even surpassed by an eminent musicality, sensitive perception and a well-rounded artistic interpretation... At the grand pause in the finale of the assai allegro, the audience really did hold its breath. Mozart played with such strikingly contemporary flair - nothing whatsoever remained of any alleged rococo tones... "Difficult to play," (J. S. Bach's English Suite No. 6) admitted the pianist. Yet Cornelia Sonnek let her slender hands whirl across the whole keyboard for the exquisite dance movements. However, she gave the Sarabande a touch of noble dignity... After the interval, the sound of Brahms (op. 18, 1-4), one of the great piano composers of the 18th century, filled the auditorium. For the performance of his piano works, he demands the ultimate in virtuosity. And Cornelia Sonnek lived up to the challenge! Racing to a crescendo of fire and passion, then sinking into tender melodiousness: the themes in this piano performance blossomed richly... An overwhelming concert experience."
Westdeutsche Zeitung

Encores add the perfect finishing touch to a demanding piano recital...
"... Cornelia Sonnek successfully conveyed both the melancholy and softness that is typical of Schubert and his bubbling vivacity, and the audience were particularly thrilled by the second movement... Particularly impressive was the maturity with which this young pianist - she is only 25 - approached this late work (op. 116-119) of the great Brahms and created the impression among the audience that she was not only "playing" this tragedy, but was also truly "living" it at the same time. The composition presented as the first encore, written by Alberto Ginastera in 1952, provided contemporary sounds from a different world, coupled with a great deal of youthful momentum. However, the auditorium was filled with "shining eyes and open hearts" when the artist, caught up herself in the special atmosphere created by her performance, played the prelude and the allemande from Johann Sebastian Bach's English Suite as a "special treat", and performed the pieces with such total inner abandon that the polyphonic musicality spread almost tangibly throughout the hall..."
Die Kitzinger

Dialogue of voices
"The opening Sonata in C minor, KV 457 by Mozart revealed immediately the great formal flair with which the pianist would approach this performance. Her playing was meticulous but never lost its awareness of the "bigger picture", and it conveyed the inner structure of the work in an extremely vivid manner. In the following three movements from the Sonata in D major, D 959 by Franz Schubert, she also showed great sensitivity... Cornelia Sonnek was also able to demonstrate how sensitively trained her keyboard technique is. This gives her playing a cantabile expression - exactly what Schubert's melodies require. The third movement was then full of conflict: having been put through the compositional mincer, the dance-like structures become grotesque, but demand the courage to be sarcastic: the pianist provided this sarcasm with real vehemence. Cornelia Sonnek performed the first four of Brahms' passionate Six Pieces for Piano (op. 118) here, and presented them with emotional power and the highest level of expression.
As an encore, the pianist played the first movement of Alberto Ginastera's Sonata, op. 1, in which brutal rhythms alternate with floating, ethereal tones. Sonnek's enormous stylistic versatility allowed her to convey this work as well as the two movements of the English Suite No. 6 by J. S. Bach. In the prelude in particular, the audience could follow the crystal-clear interlacing of the counterpoints, as the exciting dialogue of voices was revealed."
Mainpost

Romantic elements can even be found in Mozart
"... Sonnek's skills of musical presentation and her highly honed piano culture unfolded impressively in the works of Schubert and Brahms... Three movements from Schubert's Sonata in A major, D 959 were performed with real success, demonstrating colourful play, great discipline and a keyboard culture of surprising variety, particularly in terms of Mozart.
Sonnek presented the andantino wonderfully well, where the enigmatic style reminds one of the slow movement from the Symphony in C major... A richly rhythmical encore from Alberto Ginastera pleasingly affirmed once again Sonnek's great virtuosity."
Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz

Transferring feelings between rage and grief to the keyboard
"Cornelia Sonnek has never fitted into the squad of young competitive athletes among piano players. However, she is hard-working and quick enough and at the same time has enough stamina to easily be able to compete in piano guru Kämmerling's camps. However, Sonnek stands out from any standard preconceptions when you try to apply terms such as "gifted" or "talented" to her, because the 25-year-old pianist from Mainz has already gained a level of maturity far beyond anything that one would normally expect from this age group... Cornelia Sonnek demonstrates in an almost irritating way the fact that "enlightened" and "cool and detached" do not necessarily work harmoniously together. Even the allegro (Haydn's Sonata in E flat major, XVI/52) vibrated with latent tension. Delicate tenderness and drama collide dangerously with each other in the slow movement. All hell often breaks loose, but always in a remarkably inspiring way. The breathless final movement then proved definitively that Sonnek is a player of the highest quality in the truest sense of the word. More than in other sections, the emotions seemed to be reined in here, subordinated to reason, which pushes them backwards and forwards on an imaginary board like chess pieces. Normally, beautiful simplicity (or simple beauty) beats everything, but the term "normal-ly" does not apply to Cornelia Sonnek, and so the thrill of subtlety triumphs over simplicity. That also applies to the Sonata in C minor, KV 457, a work that is almost untypically multi-layered for Mozart, and so seems to have been virtually made for Sonnek. Fierce rage and grief build up here (opening and final movements), and almost smother the child-like naivety of the thoughtful adagio intermezzo. However, Sonnek does not take these expressions as definitive statements, but rather as part of a three-act opera that stimulates and moves... With Ginastera's thunderous Sonata in A minor, the pianist from Mainz proved that she possesses not only sophistication but also exemplary versatility. Although her contrasts remained vividly clear, they aimed at simplification - in contrast to the pieces by Haydn and Mozart. In spite of the lasting complexity, the rhythmically presented tempest between the allegro marcato and the ruvido ed ostinato remained admirably transparent."
Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung

Mozart's sonatas "created" anew
"... A celebrated guest at the evening was the Mainz-based pianist, Cornelia Sonnek, whose performance thrilled and enchanted not only the fans of classical works: when the 24-year-old professional musician found out about the purpose of the benefit concert, she discarded her planned programme at short notice and chose compositions that "would take away the pupils' reservations about this demanding music"... However, this technique did not become an end in itself, but rather served the interests of the music, of the work itself and so ultimately of its new, vivacious expression. This young pianist showed a remarkable depth of maturity as she created the work of Mozart anew and did not merely reproduce it as an interpreter... Cornelia Sonnek really shook her audience up. And she continued to do so with the four works for the piano, op. 118, by the late Romantic, Brahms. They also lived and breathed this spirit as the pianist successfully covered the wide array of the cantilenas and depicted the rich colour tones of Brahms in a multifaceted and new way. However, the highlight of the concert was then the Sonata in A minor, op. 1, by the Argentinian composer Ginastera: the fourth and final movement of the piano sonata from 1952 in the style of the bossa nova drew a spectacular conclusion to the evening...
This evening was simply unforgettable!"
General-Anzeiger Bad Honnef

Great young prospect caused a sensation
The pianist Cornelia Sonnek dragged the audience from their seats.
"... In part, the great atmosphere in the Kursaal hall... was due to the performance of the just 24-year-old pianist from Mainz, Cornelia Sonnek, an artist who can already be considered one of the most promising young talents for the coming decades. Her "musical conversation" was not only fascinating because of its musical interpretation, but also thanks to the clever and gripping introductions to the presented works and the lives of their composers. The pianist said about herself that it was her particular passion to play music like someone possessed, but also that she loved to talk about it, and she promptly proved both points in an ideal way. This format meant that even uninformed listeners and laymen were given the keys to understanding the programme on offer... With great power, she unlocked the tonal language of Johannes Brahms in four of his Six Pieces for Piano (op. 118) and she demonstrated a serene, masterly virtuosity in the first and last movements of the Ginastera sonata. This performance dragged the audience from their seats for a standing ovation that could hardly be surpassed. After two encores, this great, pleasant, young artist finally left the stage..."
Honnefer Volkszeitung

Dusky and aromatic
"... Cornelia Sonnek introduced herself - a now well-established young pianist, whose successes seem to be just the beginning of a long and successful career... The following performance proved to be both sensitive and resolute in equal parts, conveying Bach's chromatic style and figural language (Prelude and Fugue in D minor, WTK II) with astonishing interpretative confidence to the piano. The pedal was only used discreetly and the pianist's calm and upright upper-body posture produced - or so it seemed - a sense of judicious power that was transformed by the movements of the fingers into surprising, fluid transitions, striking bass tones, dancing flourishes and driving dynamism. The evening gradually became duskier and the music more aromatic. With 'Le Tombeau de Couperin', baroque gestures were given an impressionistic flair as Cornelia Sonnek linked together Ravel's weightless but highly complex ornamentation with deft and nimble movements..."
Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung