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“Claire Huangci plays the two sets of Rachmaninov's Preludes with tremendous concentration and control, thus not only differentiating the pieces one from another but also the music of each of the works, finding the special atmosphere and colour. So, she admirably gives us the whole picture. Her playing is enhanced by an excellent recording.”

“Claire Huangci plays Rachmaninov with an almost purist simplicity. Much of it sounds light and elegant in her hands, without short-changing the complex part-writing and harmony. Her elegant shaping, filigree virtuosity and balanced emotionality let these multi-layered piano gems shine in an Apollonian, bright sonority. One rarely hears Rachmaninov this empathetic and lucid at the same time.”

“What attracts Claire Huangci to Rachmaninov is the unpredictable, the nervous brilliance of dry, pedal-sparing playing, a twitching spontaneity. Wherever it is less a matter of balance and broad disposition, where it is about the spectral and unforeseeable, the moody side of Rachmaninov's music, it is refreshing to follow Claire Huangci.”

“With the elastic strength of her well-trained hands she chisels and shapes dense, concentrated interpretations — not seeking extremes or breaking boundaries (least of all those of good taste), but with a considerable expressive range. In this she follows Rachmaninoff closely: recordings document that as a concert pianist he interpreted his own and others' works closer to the score, and thus more 'modern', than his contemporaries. Claire Huangci's stupendous virtuosity never runs dry.”

“Huangci succeeds in letting a tenderly shaded prelude like Op. 32 No. 5 emerge from a delicately nuanced texture, and in making the fragile impressionism of the Op. 32 pieces shimmer like songs without words. The Presto of Op. 23 No. 9 is by no means etude-like piano-tinkering; it becomes a narrative flow that perfectly captures Rachmaninov's creative being and intent. Atmospherically dense, with a closeness to Liszt — and the Prélude in B flat minor from the Op. 3 Morceaux de Fantaisie is absolutely worth hearing.”

“Claire Huangci has delivered an extremely detail-loving and controlled interpretation of all the Préludes by Rachmaninov. Especially among the thirteen Préludes Op. 32, there is indeed a handful in which Claire Huangci makes a truly strong impression, and that has much to do with her extremely careful articulation. Staccato, not at all rare in Rachmaninov's score but seldom audibly realised by performers, she really takes seriously and brings to light many a surprising detail in repertoire that is, after all, quite well-known.”

“In the G major dream of Op. 32 No. 5 this aesthetic finds its ideal object. You cannot hold the melody in more tender, more disembodied pastel tones. This art stands very far from kitsch. It bears witness to considerable pianistic finesse to breathe the upper voice with so little pressure and so high in the keys.”

“A symbiosis of modest purity and the most filigreed virtuosity — that is how the pianist Claire Huangci describes Rachmaninov's Préludes. She has now recorded these pieces and proven that small hands are no obstacle.”

“What a textbook career! Starting at the piano at six, winning her first competition at eight, with many more to follow. The Chinese-American pianist Claire Huangci is now 28 and has just presented her fourth solo album, with Préludes by Rachmaninov — letting Rachmaninov bloom.”