“….There were surprises, too, in the evening's solo work, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, which featured the Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa, who is making her first appearances with the orchestra this week. Whereas most pianists underline the brittle, satiric character of this concerto, Ogawa took a warmer, more lyrical approach, as if to place the music squarely in the grand Russian romantic line of descent.

Though there was ample momentum and fire in the work's flashier moments, especially in the finale, the lingering impression of Ogawa's performance came in its sonorous breadth and unforced elegance, the kind of playing that made one curious about what this gifted pianist's Rachmaninoff would sound like…..(continue)”

(Michael Anthony, MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, January 6, 2007)