{"id":36721,"date":"2016-05-06T12:10:16","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T16:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=36721"},"modified":"2016-05-06T12:10:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T16:10:50","slug":"scrutiny-pavel-kolesnikov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/05\/06\/scrutiny-pavel-kolesnikov\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Pavel Kolesnikov Gives Superb WMCT Recital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honens Laureate impresses with a surfeit of musicality and poetic imagination.<\/h3>\n
\"Honens
Honens Laureate Pavel Kolesnikov impresses with a surfeit of musicality and poetic imagination at Walter Hall. (Photo: Joseph So)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Women\u2019s Musical Club of Toronto: Pavel Kolesnikov at Walter Hall. Thursday, May 5.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For Toronto piano fans, the cup truly runneth over these days.\u00a0 Last week, we had \u201cThe Battle of the Lucases\u201d \u2014 I\u2019m of course referring to Frenchman Lucas Debargue and Russian-Lithuanian Lukas Geniu\u0161as in a duo recital at Koerner Hall. This week we have two more fantastic young pianists in the person of Russian Pavel Kolesnikov and Chinese Haochen Zhang. Today was Kolesnikov\u2019s turn. He gave a scintillating recital at Walter Hall that closed the 2015-16 season of the Women\u2019s Musical Club of Toronto.<\/p>\n

Born in Novosibirsk, Siberia in 1989, Kolesnikov started piano and violin lessons at the age of six. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory in 2007 and later at the Royal College of Music in London. He won the first prize in the Gilels International Piano Competition and the Jury Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition. In 2012, he won first prize at the Honens Competition in Calgary, with the extraordinarily rich prize of $100,000. He has since won critical and audience accolades for his playing at important venues the likes of Wigmore Hall and Carneige (Zankel) Hall. In Canada, he has performed at the Vancouver Chamber Society, Ottawa Chamber Festival, Banff Summer Festival, as well as with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n

Kolesnikov played an interesting program this afternoon of CPE Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy. Not only is he a terrific pianist, he\u2019s also very well spoken. Addressing the audience before the recital, his little speech combining gentle humour with sincerity drew gales of laughter from the large crowd at Walter Hall. He explained that the seemingly disparate pieces on the program were chosen with a specific purpose in mind \u2014 to trace chronologically the development of coloristic writing for the piano. He began with the Sonata in A Major by CPE Bach, playing with enviable fluidity and clarity, fleetness of fingers and lightness of touch.<\/p>\n

That initial impression was confirmed with the Beethoven Sonata No. 10 in G Major. Very impressive was the Scherzo, dispatched with a felicitous combination of technical virtuosity, elegant phrasing and quixotic playfulness. His interesting and rather unique hand and arm movements were positively mesmerising. If there was a fly in the ointment, it was the overly enthusiastic audience, with a few people breaking out in premature applause on several occasions. Unfortunately, it was also a rather sickly audience, with a surfeit of coughing and other extraneous noises. But I was determined to stay focused \u2014 nothing was going to deter me from hearing this extraordinary pianist.<\/p>\n

He followed the Beethoven with Scherzo No. 4 in E major by Chopin, perhaps the composer whose work for which Kolesnikov is best known. I was really struck by his uncommon authority, vivid expression, and a genuine sense of poetic imagination. But I was not prepared for the second half, which turned out to be the centerpiece\u00a0\u2014 the Debussy Preludes Book 1. I was not expecting to be blown away by his Debussy. For forty minutes, he held the audience spellbound with marvellously evocative and imaginative playing. His way with \u201cLa fille aux cheveux de lin\u201d and \u201cLa cath\u00e9drale engloutie\u201d was magical. Here I was, sitting there, hearing the sounds coming from the stage, and all I could see in my mind\u2019s eye were Monet\u2019s paintings, particularly the Rouen Cathedral and the Sunrise canvases.\u00a0 The audience was ecstatic. It was a recital that I won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n

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

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