Next Concerts

May 30, 2022

In Classica Festival – Recital

Dubai, UAE - Opera House Dubai

Schumann – Kinderszenen op. 15
Shor – Childhood memories
Debussy – Children’s corner
Tchaikovsky – Album for the Youth

Jun 02, 2022

Kristiansand Symphony

Kristiansand, Norway - Kristiansand Concert Hall

Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 3

w/ Kristiansand Symphony
Ken-David Masur, conductor

News

A powerful Kozhukhin for a brilliant Rachmaninov festival

March 15, 2022

“The Russian pianist, mentored by Dmitri Bashkirov, presented from the very first moment what his interpretative basis would be. On one hand, a bright, shimmering, majestic sound, overflowing with energy and with the power to solve the chords and octave passages so characteristic of this Second Piano Concerto. On the other hand, an expressive elegance that allowed him to delve into the slow passage of the second movement of the Concerto with a contemplative romantic poetry, beautiful in diction and elegant in the line.”

“Kozhukhin’s temperamental pianism could be reminiscent of Ashkenazy’s, express the magic surrounding Eliso Virsaladze’s versions and even bring us closer to that majestic vision that pianists like Trifonov, Berezowsky, Toradze and Yuja Wang have presented us.”

“Memorable reading of Piano Concerot No. 4 –with the very well-measured orchestral balance–, this interpretative courage and the technical complexities required by this orchestral page came together in a version full of fervor and energy. From Kozhukhin we are captivated by the roundness of sound – a fact closely linked to Bashkirov – but also by the romantic conception and not at all sweetened when facing the slow passages. His articulation has an exact precision (brilliant the last movement) and the vigorous, emboldened conception of this Fourth Piano Concerto, which seduced us by a wide range of sound dynamics achieved with a notorious synchronization with the Barcelona Symphony (conducted by Matthias Pintscher).”

“The Piano Concerto No.1, a seductive work that has a final movement of great technical demand, was brilliant, with a Kozhukhin of millimetric precision in the attacks, very elegant in the phrasing and posing a Rachmaninoff of a great strength, but never overwhelming. His pianism went through a multitude of registers, although the colours he obtained in the third movement seduced us by the explosiveness in the attacks and a volume that transported us to some of his Preludes or Tableaux-Etudes.”

“Fantastic the Barcelona Symphony, as it was on Sunday morning the passionate version that Kozhukhin offered us of the famous and much feared (with permission from the fourth in the series) Piano Concerto No. 3.The Russian pianist was eloquent, determined to continue a vigorous reading and with solo passages full of jumps, octave sequences and chords drums rising grandly throughout the room of the Auditorium. A very powerful version -which reminded us of the legendary Arcadi Volodos – and which maintained a constant magnetism throughout the performance. Kozhukhin never gave up on his momentum, with a good orchestral ensemble, conducted by Kazushi Ono, offering beautiful dialogues with the musicians of the orchestra.”

Read Full Review On RevistaMusical.cat

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Video

Brahms: Fantasies No. 1 in D minor

In the Press

“Which is the most challenging of all piano concertos? Is it the one with the most notes, the fastest tempi, the most outrageous leaps for both hands or simply the longest in duration? Obvious candidates spring to mind, but irrespective of the criteria applied Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor is surely a major contender.

Leaving aside the feats of prestidigitation from Denis Kozhukhin, accompanied here by the BBC Symphony Orchestra directed by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, I think it was the multitude of moods the soloist conjured up, more than the myriads of cascading notes, that was the standout factor in this performance. Kozhukhin began almost dreamily, tip-toeing from the shadows into early-morning shafts of sunlight radiated by the softly shimmering strings, with astonishing pre-echoes of what Ravel was later to do in his G major concerto.

Then, with one of those touches of legerdemain which Prokofiev in particular displays so frequently, we were into a sardonic march, elements of piquancy giving colour and edge to the textures. Although the orchestra as a unit scarcely detracts from the role of the soloist as a narrator – the composer marks these passages narrante – it is important that conductor and soloist maintain unanimity of purpose. Saraste and his players worked hand-in-glove with Kozhukhin throughout.

The first movement cadenza, which takes up all of four minutes, is like the opening Allegro of a grand piano sonata. It had all the ferocious energy which the colossalemarking suggests, but Kozhukhin also stressed the rhapsodic in his hushed control of the dynamics, like pure mountain water trickling over the scree. He resisted the temptation to take the Scherzo, a Vivace with a vengeance, if ever there was one, as fast as possible, maintaining instead rock-solid solidity in the succession of semi-quavers, the octave leaps cast off as dizzyingly as any high-wire act.

The third movement brought those moments of grotesque elegance, or elegant grotesquerie, which reminded me of Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre. Here too the emotional colouring shifted almost imperceptibly, from dark and angry to cheery and remorseful, from the resentful to the resolute. In the Finale, where the composer’s marking is Allegro tempestoso, there was a quite eerie awareness of the tradition of full-blooded Russian romanticism from which Prokofiev had emerged, Rachmaninov and Scriabin shining through the textures, not least in the beautifully voiced half-tones. After all this enthralling pianism, it was an additional treat to hear the crystalline purity of Kozhukhin’s encore, Grieg’s To Spring.”

Read Full Review On BachTrack.com