Denis Matsuev

"The Fruits of Herculean Labours"

“Virtuosic Hercules at the Steinway”. Pianist Denis Matsuev conquers D?sseldorf

D?sseldorf. How beautiful, that the organizers from the Klavier-Festival Ruhr continuously more often reserve for the highlights of their concert series the venues of D?sseldorf. With the 1975 in Irkutsk born pianist Denis Matsuev in any case a real phenomenon leaped onto the podium of the Robert-Schumann Hall. Liszt’s “Mephisto”-Walz, Horowitz’ “Carmen”-Variations, Stravinsky’s “Petruchka”, no “warhorse” is safe from this man.

• Liszt
• Stravinsky

Matsuev: “Muscle and Mind”, Beyond the Torrents of Notes, True Sensitivity When It's Needed

Denis Matsuev's Saturday afternoon recital at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, part of the Washington Performing Arts Society's Hayes Piano Series, proved an exhilarating affair.

Matsuev seems to be the very real thing — an absolute powerhouse of a pianist, capable of vanquishing the most technically demanding music in the repertory. The second half of the program contained both Franz Liszt's “Mephisto Waltz” No. 1 and Igor Stravinsky's Three Movements From “Petrushka,” back to back; and if Matsuev had only added Maurice Ravel's “Gaspard de la Nuit” into the mix, he might have won the world record for cramming thousands upon thousands of hammered, torrential, hyperkinetic notes into a single afternoon.

• Liszt
• Stravinsky
• Tchikovsky
• Schumann