Blog #108

I’d like to say a few words about this European tour with Maestro Jansons and the Bavarian radio orchestra. Every time I see this man and this orchestra, I remember the day in 2004, when Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin introduced me to Mariss here in Munich. At that concert we performed Shchedrin's Fifth Concerto with the orchestra of the Bavarian radio. Maestro struck me with his amazing magic at first sight: he is an absolutely fantastic conductor and a person.

Jansons' rehearsals are an ideal guidebook for young conductors, so all the world's most famous young conductors visited Mariss's rehearsals and studied this "creative cuisine". It's a miracle when we witness ourselves as "the water begins to boil" in the process of rehearsal. The Maestro has an amazing contact with the musicians, the atmosphere in the orchestra is absolutely amazing and the result is outstanding. The Bavarian radio orchestra is a unique ensemble with a brilliant sound and a rich repertoire.

Today we perform the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini by S. Rachmaninoff, the program also includes Symphony No. 1 by R. Schumann and Divertimento by Leonard Bernstein. You can hear live broadcast of the concert at 22.05 on Moscow here: https://www.br-klassik.de/programm/radio/ausstrahlung-1335432.html.

Today we play in the Herculessaal in Munich, then together we will go to the famous Lucerne Music Festival and then to Paris, where we will perform at the Theatre of the Champs-elysées. I have very special and dear memories associated with each of these halls – historical performances. In The Lucerne concert hall I performed Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto on his personal grand piano, which had never left Villa Senar before. I am glad that in due time I recorded this historical event on video for my Youtube channel to let you here Rachmaninoff's grand piano sounding in acoustics of a concert hall. It was a historical moment. And as for the Theatre of the Champs elysées in Paris, it cherishes me with a memory of acquaintance with Rachmaninoff's grandson Alexander Borisovich, who presented me with the right to record Rachmaninoff’s previously unknown works on the composer's grand piano.

In this tour there are a lot of connections and intersections not only with the halls, but also with the music that we perform together. The Maestro has very special relationship with this Rhapsody, and his interpretation is very different from that of other conductors. It's a personal story. The unique match of his soul’s vibrations with music, if I may say so. At the same time, when we rehearse, he is always open to my proposals, but as a rule, without this, we agree on the vision and approach to interpretation. Five years ago we played this Rhapsody with another unique team of the world level – the Concertgebouw orchestra. And next year we will perform it with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra in Vienna. And it will be very interesting to compare how this great music sounds differently with each of these great orchestras.

Meanwhile we are approaching the 145th birth anniversary of S. V. Rachmaninov, which will be celebrated in Moscow in April this year. Thank you for your reaction to the fact that I invited those, who won’t be able to attend the concerts on April 1 and 2, to come to the Opening and Closing concerts of the Grand Piano Competition. And I remind those, who want to see my concerts on 1st and 2nd April without leaving home, sitting in a warm chair, that we will have live broadcast on the websites of Medici.TV, Meloman.ru and Matsuev.ru.

Please, join!