Olivier Messiaen began composing his full-length piano cycle »Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus« in March 1944 during the occupation of Paris and completed it after the liberation. Elżbieta Sternlicht invited the public in the Kammermusiksaal. of the Philharmonie Berlin to the absorption appropriate to this work. The Messiaen-specialist challenged the 2nd part of the pianistic opus magnum with requirements on sparkling virtuosity and guarded concentration which she met brilliantly. Her colour balanced touch provided transparency in the tonally dense structures, and her concentrated articulation of even the shockingly rapid appoggiatura figures secured rhythmic clarity in spite of the complex structure. …This cultivated interpretation was not stingy with great moments of tonal delicacy: mystery was led to triumph.
Volker Straebel
Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin), November 2nd, 1997