Prokofiev
Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14
First release on CD
Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84
First release on CD
Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75 - excerpts

Shostakovich
Preludes for piano (24), Op. 34: excerpts
First release on CD

Fanfare (Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet)
“one is awestruck by Berman’s monumental pianism. His touch is alternately light and tender and then thundering as the needs of the music vary … He seems to instil more insight into the performance of this music than do orchestras, something that seems impossible.”

Fanfare (Prokofiev: Sonata No. 2)
“The Allegro and Andante movements seem almost neo-Romantic in his hands and yet are not distorted. The final Vivace becomes a real tour de force that leaves one breathless”

Gramophone Magazine (Prokofiev: Sonata No. 2)
“I warm to this [version] in particular for the way Berman seeks out the freshness of colour and the lyricism … His refusal to gabble the quick movements or to ginger them up with an excess of virtuoso agitation, as so many pianists do, is indeed refreshing. I need hardly add that his performance is nothing if not a virtuoso one all the same.”

BBC Music Magazine Christmas 2014 ****
“Lazar Berman's Prokofiev has a penetrating focus and crisp articulation, The Russian pianist's Romeo and Juliet pieces are superbly characterised and the playing is beautifully delicate.”