“Mäkelä’s choices in contemporary fare have been discerning ones, and Zinovjev’s Batteria is the most rewarding new music he has brought to date… Written in 2016 – 17, Batteria was Zinovjev’s first major work for orchestra and it is an astonishingly assured debut, scored with panache and coursing with vitality.”

“Amidst the sounds of destruction and crumbling structures, achingly wistful memories of a beautiful past occasionally stood out. Zinovjev’s new work is a powerful story with a dramatic rhythm.”

“Zinoviev (born 1988) has established a highly personal relationship to the tonality, which in combination with an unfailing dramaturgical mind and a flawlessness for orchestral music makes him a rather odd bird in today’s domestic composer heaven.”

“Zinoviev’s music is characterized by an intensity that is unusually strong, here there is also a developed melodic dimension that is almost as rare among colleagues. As for the pitches, Zinoviev in no way shuns the tonality, rather it is as if he was approaching it again. It is crowded with triads, which are often beautifully expanded and as far as the harmonious construction is concerned, you often hear deep undercurrents. In terms of form, Zinoviev’s compositions sometimes seem like amoebas — very flexible and to some extent indefinite.”