PROKOFIEV & SHOSTAKOVICH: VIOLIN CONCERTOS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

"...Ning proves once again that he is one of the best violinists in the world....With the Bochumer Symphoniker led by the orchestra's Taiwanese chief conductor Tung-Chieh Chuang, he recorded Shostakovich and Prokofiev's First Violin Concertos. The result creeps mercilessly under your skin. Like that seemingly endless cadenza in Shostakovich's third movement; Ning's piercing tone is like a hypnotic mantra....In the finale, wild, folksy and rousing, Chuang lets the woodwinds dominate shrilly and the passacaglia theme is highlighted for a moment, but then Ning, rising far above technique, hammers things up in a blazing accelerando to the final notes."

PROKOFIEV & SHOSTAKOVICH : VIOLIN CONCERTOS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

“Ning Feng plays the opening melody of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto with veiled, mournful tone, before demonstrating gleaming, beautifully focused sound in the heights of the E string… The Scherzo snaps and sparkles, surging along on a wave of impeccable technique.  Ning Feng is supple in the long-breathed melodies of the third movement, which he moulds with magisterial control, variously sinuous, caustic and luminous. This is an altogether winning performance.”

ELGAR VIOLIN CONCERTO / ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, COND. VASILY PETRENKO 

"The Chinese violinist Ning Feng gave a rich-toned and muscular account [of Elgar's violin concerto]. It may not have been in what one might call the English tradition, but the scope of the Elgar concerto can take it and there was real musical depth to the performance. As always, in its final bars, there was an overwhelming sense that soloist and orchestra were returning from a very distant place after a long journey. Ning Feng’s encore, Paganini’s variations on God Save the King, was absolutely dazzling."

RECORDING : PAGANINI / VIEUXTEMPS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

“His silvery tonal purity, immaculate intonation and gently beguiling musicality have a way of making most other players sound decidedly effortful by comparison, however.

Feng’s playing is so commanding throughout – the tricky first movement cadenza and third movement scherzo are almost impossibly silky-smooth – that one is left in absolutely no doubt who the real star of the show is. It sets the seal on arguably Feng’s finest release to date, captured in alluringly natural sound.”

RECORDING : PAGANINI / VIEUXTEMPS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

"His empathy and sovereign technique guarantee magical moments."

RECORDING : PAGANINI / VIEUXTEMPS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

"The Chinese violinist’s distinctive, honey-sweet timbre suits these two contrasting showcases by virtuoso violinist-composers to perfection: Feng wears their often fearsome technical demands disarmingly lightly, and is fully alive to the operatic qualities of the Paganini in particular, phrasing bel canto melodies and filigree passagework like a nineteenth-century diva at the top of her game."

RECORDING: PAGANINI / VIEUXTEMPS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

“He seems to have time and technique to spare, so much so that I found myself wondering if it robbed Paganini."

“An absolute delight to hear a violinist so at ease with Paganini. So beautifully equipped to deal elegantly with any demand that he makes."

RECORDING: PAGANINI / VIEUXTEMPS (CHANNEL CLASSICS) 

"a wonderful player with a creamy, easy tone and an emotional honesty….The Tchaikovsky concerto showcased an ability to bring flair and warmth beyond the virtuosity, and to take risks. I hope the NSO is bringing him back."

MENDELSSOHN VIOLIN CONCERTO / NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. DIMA SLOBODENIOUK 

"His podium presence is understated: thoughtful, expressive but not flamboyant bowing--he lets the music speak for itself…Feng was fearless. He handled the fast scales, the arpeggios, all of the technical hurdles with skill."

MENDELSSOHN VIOLIN CONCERTO / NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. DIMA SLOBODENIOUK 

"Feng dug in with vigor plumbing the nuances of virtually every passage…he also delivered the most tender passages in a bright and spirited pace - providing some of his most lyrical playing of the evening.

The famous third movement was something to truly behold"

BERNSTEIN SERENADE / BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. JOHN WILSON 

"Chinese violinist Ning Feng… made his SSO debut as soloist here with a precise and passionate account of fascinating virtuoso work in which the composer uses a very particular palette of sounds."

BRUCH SCOTTISH FANTASY & BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO / CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. MIRGA GRAŽINYTĖ-TYLA 

"The remarkable soloist Ning Feng, his tone so sweet and pure, believed in every note, and as a result so did we … like a skater turning exquisite pirouettes on the thinnest ice, Feng etched out the music’s shivering tremolos and fragile melody with immaculate intonation and bow control."

BRUCH SCOTTISH FANTASY & BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO / CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. MIRGA GRAŽINYTĖ-TYLA 

"Blessed with an impeccable left-hand technique and silken tone, [Ning] transformed this interminably windy work [Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy] … into an almost exhilarating breeze ... For a piece on my “never again” list, that’s some tribute."

BRUCH SCOTTISH FANTASY & BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO / CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. MIRGA GRAŽINYTĖ-TYLA 

"Ning Feng … proved to be everything a concert-goer could ask for in terms of style, virtuosity and the charisma and personality which set apart the few from the many ... Brahms’ Violin Concerto ... moves from the tranquil to the polar opposite and, while asking a great deal, also allows a soloist room to put his stamp on the work. Ning, full of energy and commitment, relished all these challenges."

BRUCH SCOTTISH FANTASY & BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO / CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. MIRGA GRAŽINYTĖ-TYLA 

"The last piece before the interval was perhaps the evening’s highlight. Featuring soloist Ning Feng on violin, Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy was romantic, elegiac and performed with such virtuosity and beauty that it swept by in its swell of strings and rush of emotions … one of the most memorable that I have experienced in the three seasons that I have been coming to the Classical Concert Series."

BRUCH SCOTTISH FANTASY & BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO / CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, COND. MIRGA GRAŽINYTĖ-TYLA 

"Gražinytė-Tyla and Feng handled the frequent mood changes very deftly, slipping smoothly from raw power in the solo line and driving passion from the orchestra into moments of intimacy, Feng drawing us in with some extraordinary quiet playing. The cadenza was particularly beautiful; Feng was delicate and precise, and I felt as if I were listening to a Bach partita rather than a big, Romantic concerto"