The flair and the magisterial piano playing from the 26 year old Volodos notwithstanding, what amuses me more than anything about this paraphrase is the baritone voices he's introduced almost as a supporting character through the piece. Generally wallowing in the music while he plays, sometimes providing simple voices, such as at 0.09, at other times humming along almost imperceptibly in the background, such as at 0.40 and 0.45. A small stroke of genius which evokes the opera feel, and which adds to making the piece - as so often with paraphrases when they come from great musicians - invested with more artistic talent than it's given credit for.
And yes, the elephant in the room, for it's near impossible to enter a piece like this without spending a moment on the pianist. Let's forget the dexterity for a moment however and ask yourself as you listen to this, like I did, how many pianists in the history of the instrument have played with such confidence, such authority, and such complete command over even the most convoluted secrets of piano playing already in their 20s. Nothing could have prepared me for when I first heard Volodos in person and I found myself listening to a musician who not only played with an unusually rich dynamic register and a full tone, as we tend to think when comparing the characteristics of that musician to another, but who sat there with a serious look on his face and made that house Steinway, which I have heard so many times across so many years, behave like a piece of equipment from a fairy tale! If you've kept an eye on this channel for a while you'll know that he had brought a thing or two with him in terms of interpretation as well.
No party without reason: summer holiday here over the next few weeks. There will probably be some intermission music, but research posts continue in August. Have a nice summer!
Arcadi Volodos
00:00 - Concert Paraphrase on Farlaf's Rondo from Glinka's opera 'Ruslan & Lyudmila'
Arcadi Volodos, piano
Source: Audience Recording
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3 окт 2024
