From the liner notes of his new album Robert Schumann: Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra (Lev Vinocour, Johannes Wildner & ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra): The Russian pianist is a rare species: an intellectual virtuoso.
His playing combines brilliant keyboard acrobatics, a highly developed 'sound culture' and a curiosity nothing short of the philosophical.
The piano prodigy from St. Petersburg made his professional concert début at the age of 13 with the Leningrad Philharmonic and Yevgeny Mravinsky.
He went on to conquer the concert halls of his native Russia and, later, those of the Western world in a career that has developed serenely.
He is held in particularly high esteem by piano experts, who continually praise his ability to discover new things in familiar material.Vinocour became German citizen in 2002.