"Cancellations can be good news. When Lang Lang called in sick the day before his Barbican appearance, the search went out for someone else who happened to be touting Liszt’s First Piano Concerto around the world. And they found 22-year-old Alice Sara Ott, a German-Japanese pianist who had just played the work in San Francisco, and whose first orchestral recording (Liszt and Tchaikovsky) is hot off the press.

She more than filled the bill. With long black hair, long arms and long fingers, she bestrides the keyboard, and plays with a weight of resonance and authority which belies her years and her slender frame. There’s beauty, and mischief too, in her playing, which rings out with a freedom, fluidity and lack of contrivance which is entirely refreshing

Ott is a keen chamber musician too. This was revealed in her intimate duetting with the London Symphony Orchestra’s principal clarinet, Andrew Marriner - and later with the two leading violins. Dark-voiced diablerie danced out of the third movement wit its tingling triangle, and Ott’s fingers leapt from the keyboard as though scalded by the heat of hell. Little white feet pumped the pedals - Ott walks on and off barefoot. And the sheer joie de vivre of her playing ensured us an encore: an exquisitely turned performance of Chopin’s C sharp minor Nocturne.“

(…) The soloist, replacing Lang Lang at short notice, was Alice Sara Ott, who gave the kind of gawp-inducing bravura performance of which legends are made. The heft of her playing contrasts with the elegance of her platform manner (…)

"She was grand and rhetorical (without forcing), lyrical (without cloying), glittering (without bling), fiery (but not of the flamethrower variety) and loving (without smothering), exploiting an affecting range from dramatically potent to caressing. She’s a sensitive accompanist, too. It was that good, and an awful lot happened in nineteen minutes! If youthful exuberance (German-Japanese Ott is but 22) threatened to runaway with the closing bars, the LSO and Harding were with her all the way, and there was nothing stand-in about her playing (Deutsche Grammophon has just issued her recording of the work, made a year ago) – indeed she seemed to savour every moment – or the evident teamwork established in an instant, Andrew Marriner gracing the first movement with some liquid clarinet solos (…) She’ll be back!“

(…) Where the Liszt concerto was concerned, Heras-Casado and Ott were in clear agreement that clarity of all the voices (those of the orchestra as well as the soloist) was the paramount priority.  Ott could still jump through all of Liszt’s virtuosic hoops, never appearing to break a sweat.  However, this was one of those performances determined to present the concerto as a well-structured four-movement composition, even if there is only one real break between the Tempo giusto of the opening movement and the Quasi adagio of its successor.  I recently cited “Liszt’s fundamental precept that no good phrase should ever go unembellished;”  but this was a performance that firmly established the logic of what was being embellished, in order that the richness of embellishment could be played to full effect (…)               

"Having demonstrated her command of the delicate intimacies and melodious melancholy of Chopin on this year's recording of his Complete Waltzes, Alice Sara Ott here goes to the opposite extreme performing Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor", then riding its waves of emotion with a firm hand as it sails through the bittersweet Andantino semplice into the wistful but rousing final movement. (…)"

"The barefooted and elegantly dressed Alice Sara Ott graced the stage for Rachmaninov’s evergreen Paganini Rhapsody, which, in this performance, was anything but a tired old warhorse. Ott and Segerstam approached the music freshly, and the pianist’s slight build belied her ability to coax a full, strong sound from the instrument. Some of the faster variations were delightful in their mercurial quality, whilst weightier moments were given due gravitas, especially the finale with its doom-laden references to the ‘Dies Irae’ plainsong. Perhaps most refreshing – and surprising – of all was the interpretation of the famous Variation XVIII. The simplicity of Ott’s handling of the opening was quite moving and Segerstam encouraged restraint from the strings on their entry, so that the whole was genuinely touching rather than overwhelmingly and excessively indulgent (…)

"Having demonstrated her command of the delicate intimacies and melodious melancholy of Chopin on this year's recording of his Complete Waltzes, Alice Sara Ott here goes to the opposite extreme performing Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor", then riding its waves of emotion with a firm hand as it sails through the bittersweet Andantino semplice into the wistful but rousing final movement. (…)"

"Alice Sara Ott brings an endlessly varied range of touch, articulation and panache to her Deutsche Grammophon disc (Chopin Waltzes)".  

"...powerful & exceptional technique...“

"A splendid performance was given by young pianist Alice Sara Ott, who’s name is already widely recognised.“

"The playing is often flighty and graceful, and shows some moments of wonderful intimacy, as if Ott were breathing soft secrets into your ear." 

"Alice Sara Ott is a remarkable talent and her account is a significant achievement full of interest." 

"Her affinity with Liszt’s mode of expression is nowhere in doubt; her held-breath Paysage is every bit as impressive as the octave explosions of Mazeppa. Her expressive cantabile, too, is hypnotic, while the traceries of Feux follets and Ricordanza are simply delicious and contrast well with the diabolic Wilde Jagd. The recording is top flight and captures Ott’s huge variety of touch and sound perfectly.

"Already one senses she is searching for the depth within, and her aim seems to be to unearth the sheer diversity inherent in this music (...) Overall, Ott presents a superb, modern appendix to the great recordings of Cortot, Lipatti and Rubinstein.”

"The playing is often flighty and graceful, and shows some moments of wonderful intimacy, as if Ott were breathing soft secrets into your ear.”

"Her technique is ­dazzling, her tone ­wonderfully varied, from ­crystalline purity to powerfully raw, and the energy propelling her playing seems unstoppable.”

"Only out of her teens, she leaves you to marvel at her instinct for Chopin’s poetic ambiguity, his alternating melancholy and exuberance, his ultra-Slavonic hope and despair, her playing backed by the sheen of an immaculate technique and pianism. You will go a long way to hear the A minor Waltz confided with a greater sense of its intimacy or the following F major Waltz given with such contrasting brio and expressive freedom. Her D flat Waltz, op 63 is sufficiently stylish and elegant to make nonsens of its sobriquet, „Minute“ Waltz and she catches the B minor Waltz’s gentle but querulous mood to perfection.”

"Even at her young age, Ott is able to convey the sadness that lurks beneath the glitter (Chopin’s life was blighted by ill health and unrequited love). Her phrasing of the more light-hearted passages is also spot-on. Perhaps it takes one child prodigy to faithfully interpret another.”

"Ott displayed stunning technique in Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major. An immense talent who effortlessly tackled cascades of glittering runs and was able to summon beautiful sonorities as she did it.”

“Ott tore into the piano with a kind of controlled abandon.  Her long fingers travelled nimbly over the keys, and even when applying the softest touch at the lowest dynamic level, she achieved wonderful clarity and projection.”

"Performances are fresh, authoritative, lyrical and jaw-dropping.“

"Ott shaped the variations like random statements of truth seemingly led by a magic hand and which connected with the orchestra."

"The piano playing of 21 years old German-Japanese Alice Sara Ott was an occasion of delight. Even the enormous physical energy that Liszt's devil work "Totentanz" requires did not affect Alice and she did not lose her composure. Her playing sounds powerful and substantial, every details is worked out, where necessary forceful and where possible dreamlike and beautiful. She is a gorgeous virtuoso who above all serves the music."

„Alice Sara Ott keeps what the advertising promises – this is rarely enough.“

„The Orchestra’s new years concert was all Beethoven programme: Egmont Overture, Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’ and Symphony No. 7. Piano Concerto’s soloist was Alice-Sara Ott. Her ‘Emperor’ was fresh, cheerful. She performed the piece with well-balanced tempos and a solid musical structure.“

“...her performance is proving that the potential of classical music is still unlimited. 21st Century might not be so pessimistic after all.”

“Her performance of the Transcendental Etudes literally tore the audience from their seats. Her left hand moves over the keys with extreme nimbleness and lithe grace, while the right hand is constantly at work moulding and enhancing the melodic contours of the upper part with artistic phrasing enriched by a rubato that really breathes.”

“The young lady demonstrates complete mastery of technique and triumphs with perfect ease over each and every complexity, no matter how gruelling.”

“What the young virtuoso succeeded in achieving here can only be described as phenomenal! Her technique and precision is little short of a miracle. With perfect ease she explores the limits of the instrument without ever losing sight of the aesthetic, while continually out to respond with musical contrast… exquisite and magical!”

“The mature approach of this young executant to reading and interpreting the score is astounding, the same applying to the broad spread she applies to the Larghetto and with what ease and self-confidence she tackles the runs, imparting exquisite sparkle and making them twinkle like tiny stars in the night.”