Artist Interview: Pianist Olga Pashchenko on album ‘Guess Who?’

We recently had the pleasure to interview pianist Olga Pashchenko about her latest album ‘Guess Who?’

Thank you to Olga for your time, and for your amazing musical gifts.

You mention the centrality of poetry to these pieces. Can you talk a bit about the relationship between poetry and music in these works?

Since the genre of the pieces is “Lieder ohne Worte” or “Lieder für das Pianoforte” it is very fair to say that there could have been a poetic text (even if non-verbal) meant for these songs, just as the ‘normal’ Lieder were composed on poems by different authors. Text or no text, the most important characteristics of poetry are very vivid in these pieces: to attempt to stir the listener’s imagination or emotions and the intensity of this expression is being helped by a certain style and rhythm. Thus they are musical poems narrating different stories or ideas, also with music sometimes having the privilege of being able to express things that words cannot. 

How did you choose the particular works heard on this album?

It was a pure blessing and struggle in one – so difficult to choose from the waterfall of beautiful pieces. I decided to make a compilation of those which were so dear to me that I definitely could not part with them, but also of course to make a bigger-scale narration: as a pearl necklace where every pearl is different, but altogether forms a gorgeous piece of art. 

What are the relationships between these pieces?

The pieces tell us different stories and when they are combined together, they start emphasizing various angles of each other. Like a horror story becomes a blurry nightmare between two lovely landscape depictions. In such a way I would say they create a dialogue with each other and that’s why shuffling them can create a different ‘novel’.

Is there a structure to the order of the pieces on the album?

Indeed there is a certain dramaturgical order to them – in several bigger blocks. There is a big A major arch from the so-called ‘Hunting’ Lied to the ‘Thalberg-style’ “La Fuite” (a nickname not by the composer). What happens in between I would like to leave to the listeners’ imagination. Just as an example, I have always heard a little cycle starting with Gondellied MWV U 136 – an amorous duo that Felix presumably composed for his future wife Cécile shortly before their wedding, then Op.38, No.5, Agitato in A minor, a tragic ballade very much resembling Erlkönig (Mendelssohn himself used to accompany Schubert’s Erlkönig) where one can almost hear “In seinen Armen das Kind war tot” at the very end. Again, I truly encourage everyone to try to follow different paths (just like in Cortazar’s book “Hopscotch”!) and to surprise oneself with an unexpected turn of events. 

Can you talk about the instrument you chose for this album, and why?

The gorgeous Graf 1836 is from the Geelvinck collection (NL) and is one of my favorite instruments. It was also much loved and played on by the Mendelssohns siblings. The piano has beautiful diverse registers and colors, but what also attracts me so much in the Viennese mechanics and this piano particularly, is the rhetorical aspect – the possibility to not only sing, but also ‘speak’ with notes, which for me supports not only the poetic foundation of the pieces, but also the style and way they used to sing back in the time during the salon evenings. It reminds of the declamation of the melodrama genre and very often in these pieces it allows to make a real “recitando”. 

What are your upcoming concert and recording projects?

There are quite a few concerts with the “Guess Who?” program coming up, and also related projects such as “Reimagining ‘Das Jahr’ by Fanny Hensel” with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment featuring also new commissions by great women composers for example by Roxanna Panufnik. I am very much looking forward to continuing the Mozart-‘saga’ with Il Gardellino – touring and recordings included. As well as the new Schubert project and recording with Georg Nigl! And a special place in my heart – the Cineconcerts project with Jed Wentz and in 2026 we are aiming to celebrate 100’s anniversary of Murnau’s genius “Faust” movie, with which I am entering in a dialogue with a tailor-made (by Jed) soundtrack of most exciting romantic piano masterpieces. 

We have heard about your Cineconcerts project. Can you tell us a bit more about them?

To add to the above  –  the idea of this project is to intensify the experience of perceiving art by combining two types of art. The “moving pictures” (the silent movies) become even more “moving” (in the figurative sense) when combined with music that could have just been played in  a normal solo piano recital and which boosts one’s imagination and emotions. Compiling the score with pieces that suit exactly the story on the screen and syncing them live on stage together with all the tears, laughter, love and hatred, but also closing door accents and winks – makes it a really special art immersion.