{"id":34368,"date":"2016-02-21T12:25:33","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T17:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=34368"},"modified":"2016-03-26T17:53:19","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T21:53:19","slug":"34368","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/02\/21\/34368\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | TSO\/Pavel Kolesnikov: A Fine Night At The Symphony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pavel
Pavel Kolesnikov (Photo: Malcolm Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Mozart to Rachmaninoff, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Pavel Kolesnikov (piano), Earl Lee (conductor) at Roy Thomson Hall, Saturday, Feb. 20.<\/h3>\n

[Originally published in the Toronto Star<\/a>]<\/p>\n

It was a banquet of blurry fingers at Roy Thomson Hall Saturday night, as pianist Pavel Kolesnikov stopped by to lend his musical finesse to Rachmaninoff’s \u201cRhapsody on a Theme of Paganini\u201d. Despite a wonderful concert, his appearance was brief, and left the audience wondering why he wasn’t performing more than just a 25-minute work. It seemed hardly worth the trip from his home in London, England, but it was.<\/p>\n

Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Kolesnikov’s career has been on an astonishing rise after winning Calgary\u2019s 2012 Honens Piano Competition. The Siberian pianist has been slinking around the world, with stops at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Konzerthaus Berlin. The next push came from BBC Radio 3\u2019s New Generation Artist, which provides young promising artists with performance opportunities and live broadcasts.<\/p>\n

Slightly underexposed against TSO’s gang of strings at his back, Kolesnikov’s not so much played Rachmaninoff’s 24 Paganini variations, but rather, painted them. With one of the silkiest runs in the business, his technique was elegant and trim. While skirting concerto territory, its Russian romanticism was strongest at its most hushed moments. Each of the variations was played upside down, sideways and occasionally upright. Kolesnikov’s pedalling was noticeably sparse and tempered with plumes of electric flourishes.<\/p>\n

The carry-over of the rest of program was a kind of classical music mixtape led by RBC Resident Conductor, Earl Lee. In matters of musical balance and character, Lee brought a refreshing take to the opening overture \u201cLe corsaire\u201d by Berlioz. The piece’s tumultuous nature comes as the antithesis to the lovesick \u201cSymphonie fantastique\u201d, which he wrote for Harriet Smithson. The relationship turned bitter, and Berlioz retreated into \u201cLe corsaire\u201d while on vacation in Nice to lick his wounds. Lee carried the music through its many thrilling moments, which often felt like witnessing a scornful marital spat between Berlioz and his muse.<\/p>\n

\"Pavel
Pavel Kolesnikov, Earl Lee (Photo: Malcolm Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The highlight of the evening was Bizet’s suite from Carmen, which Lee challenged the audience not to recognize. The suite was posthumously compiled and drawn from Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen. The tapping tambourine lined each of the seven movements, and the audience patted along with it.<\/p>\n

It is not often you see the TSO grinning away, simply enjoying the musical moments. Perhaps it was the unusually warm Saturday evening. Perhaps is was the chance to hear the unusually warm playing by Kolesnikov. Perhaps it was the drop-the-needle program of favourite works selected by Lee. At any rate, it was a fine night at the symphony. Put a T-shirt on. Open the windows. Spring is coming.<\/p>\n

The program repeats Sunday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. For tickets see www.tso.ca<\/a> or call 416-598-3375.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It was a banquet of blurry fingers at Roy Thomson Hall Saturday night, as pianist Pavel Kolesnikov stopped by to lend his musical finesse to Rachmaninoff’s \u201cRhapsody on a Theme of Paganini\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,76,19,52],"tags":[5587,2583,3360],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/02\/Pavel-Kolesnikov-Malcolm-Cook-photo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9bakr-34368","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34371,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368\/revisions\/34371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34368"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=34368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}