Sound Explorations. Pianist s latest Hyperion album offers fresh perspectives on Louis Couperin s keyboard works

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Sound Explorations Pavel Kolesnikov s 2017-18 schedule includes BBC Proms lunchtime recital, Edinburgh Festival debut, rare Bruch at the Barbican Centre, Debussy homage at Wigmore Hall, and UK tours

1 Sound Explorations Pavel Kolesnikov s schedule includes BBC Proms lunchtime recital, Edinburgh Festival debut, rare Bruch at the Barbican Centre, Debussy homage at Wigmore Hall, and UK tours of Beethoven piano concertos with Czech National Symphony Orchestra and Flanders Symphony Orchestra Pianist s latest Hyperion album offers fresh perspectives on Louis Couperin s keyboard works I know of no other pianist who combines attention to the smallest detail with such nobility of phrase and cohesive sweep of the dance. [F]or me these performances are the most beautiful and strikingly original I ve heard, review of Chopin s Mazurkas, Gramophone October 2016 Art s boundaries, for Pavel Kolesnikov, exist to be crossed. The London-based Russian pianist, described by the Guardian as a poet of the keyboard, is by nature an explorer, ever ready to probe music s inner emotional landscapes in search of personal meanings and perspectives. Kolesnikov s summer schedule and season landmarks reflect the striking depth of a creative imagination wide open to interests other than music from painting and photography to fashion and philosophy. Forthcoming highlights include a lunchtime recital at the BBC Proms, a rare London outing for Bruch s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, debuts at the Edinburgh International Festival and Vienna Konzerthaus, a multi-layered centenary homage to Debussy at Wigmore Hall, and Beethoven piano concertos on tour with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. Artistic daring belongs to the essence of Pavel Kolesnikov s latest recording. The album, set for international release on the label Hyperion in April 2018, comprises a selection of pièces de clavecin by Louis Couperin (c ), compositions created half a century before the invention of the piano. It presents several of the French composer s unmeasured Preludes together with allemandes, courantes and other pieces cast in a striking variety of styles and expressive moods. I discovered Louis Couperin while browsing repertoire, Kolesnikov recalls. His musical world is so particular and so individual within the frame of the French baroque. Following a period of total immersion in Couperin s music, he developed a deep feeling for the composer s soundworld. I believe this repertoire has never been recorded on the modern piano. I know there are risks here but I believe they re worth taking for this remarkable music. Couperin's style, in fact, is very much influenced by lute tradition, and at times is also wonderfully vocal. Playing it on modern piano certainly brings out some very special hidden qualities of his music. I wanted a piano with a luminous sonority and great intensity, and an audible sense of the connection between string and hammer, like the feeling of the finger plucking the string of a lute. Kolesnikov chose a Yamaha concert grand and, with experiment and exploration in mind, had it tuned to a modified version of equal temperament, bright in the instrument s upper register and richly sonorous in its bass. The piano was also set up for the recording sessions with two different actions, one lyrical and singing, the other more percussive and immediate. Both were used for different takes of several pieces, elements of which have been combined since during the editing process. I had in mind a very particular ambience in the sound - very expressive and slightly nasal sound that would combine tenderness and roughness, Amy Winehouse sort of sound. It might strike one at first, but I think it works well once you get attuned to it, the pianist comments. Couperin s music is so diverse and varied, including the incredibly complex and intense unmeasured Preludes with their free flow of musical narrative, more like prose than poetry. Listening is the only way to analyse music: do not believe what the rules tell us! Playing Couperin has made me more convinced of that than ever. Critical acclaim for Kolesnikov s previous Hyperion recording of Chopin s Mazurkas drew attention to the emotional honesty and expressive eloquence of his music-making. He returns to Chopin again on Monday 28 August for a lunchtime recital as part of BBC Proms Chamber Music at Cadogan Hall. I've chosen the pieces that are not as deeply romantic and melodramatic as some of Chopin's most loved works. I wanted to show Chopin as a composer who perfectly marries classical purity with romantic content - a paradox on its own - and manages to remain gracious even when he is boldly experimenting and innovative. We have a balance of pieces in 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures, opening with the Waltz in A flat major Op.69 No.1 and including a selection of the Mazurkas. The pianist s Proms

2 programme centres on the enigmatic Fantasy in F minor Op.49, one of Chopin s richest and most complex compositions. When people think about Chopin, they rarely consider him as a constructor of music. But the F minor Fantasy has a revolutionary structure and shows his deep interest in the architecture of music. The same goes for the recital s final piece, the Scherzo in E minor Op.54, which I think is one of the most daring and optimistic things Chopin ever created. Kolesnikov s choice of Chopin occupies the second half of his recitals at the Festival International de Piano La Roque d Anthéron (Wednesday 26 July) and the Duzniki International Chopin Piano Festival in southwest Poland (Monday 7 August). His programme opens with Schumann s Faschingsschwank aus Wien and Schubert s Fünf Walzer D145 and Piano Sonata No.4 in A minor D537. The pianist s summer also includes red-letter dates with former fellow BBC New Generation Artist Narek Hakhnazaryan, winner of the cello first prize at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011, and Gramophone Award-winning baritone Benjamin Appl. He will join Hakhnazaryan on Tuesday 11 July for a recital at the Kissinger Sommer festival. Their programme opens with Schumann s Fantasiestücke Op.73, and includes Brahms s formidable Sonata No.2 in F major Op.99 for cello and piano, Chopin s Sonata for cello and piano in G minor and Introduction Op.65 and Polonaise brillante Op.3. Working with Narek is a very good experience for me, notes Pavel Kolesnikov. He does not go into great detail when we rehearse, which is the opposite of what I would usually do. But it works because he targets the stage and completely comes to life when he performs. He has such a beautiful sound and natural way of playing, and is a wonderful chamber music partner. Cellist and pianist will be reunited on Sunday 10 December for a recital at Vienna s Konzerthaus, marking Kolesnikov s venue debut with a programme comprising Schumann s Adagio and Allegro, Brahms s Second Cello Sonata, works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich s Sonata in D minor Op.40 for cello and piano. Pavel Kolesnikov makes his Edinburgh International Festival debut on Thursday 17 August, appearing with Benjamin Appl at The Queen s Hall in a programme of songs by Schubert, Schumann, Grieg and Matthias Pintscher. I m very envious of singers, notes the pianist. If I could be someone else, singer would be very high on the list. The human voice has an unrivalled ability to elevate music. Very often people do not expect to feel the strong emotions that song touches in them. Music allows people to experience honesty, openness and sincerity in the safe space of the concert hall. The season contains other career milestones for Kolesnikov, beginning on Wednesday 4 October with his BBC Symphony Orchestra debut at the Barbican Centre. He will perform Max Bruch s Concerto for two pianos Op.88a in partnership with fellow pianist Samson Tsoy and conductor Alexander Vedernikov. I m delighted to be part of this project. Although Bruch s concerto dates from 1912, I suspect this will be the first time the BBC Symphony has performed it. The piece has been neglected in part because of its technical difficulties, in part because the Sutro sisters, for whom it was written, rewrote and cut the score without the composer s permission. We will play Bruch s original version which, like so many of his works, is wonderfully well written and genuinely exciting. This piece is a really great and refreshing addition to such narrow list of double piano concerti. Concertos by another German composer are set to occupy Kolesnikov throughout the forthcoming season. He will give performances of Beethoven s Piano Concerto No.5 Emperor Concerto at Exeter Cathedral with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Michael Seal (Monday 16 October), Piano Concerto No.4 at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Ilan Volkov (Tuesday 6 February 2018), and Piano Concerto No.3 at Nottingham s Royal Concert Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Vassily Sinaisky (Thursday 8 March). His encounter with Beethoven expands in the season s second half to include a concert in Prague followed by a sevendate UK tour with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, with seven performances of the Emperor Concerto and one of the Piano Concerto No.4 (Tuesday 10 Sunday 22 April 2018), followed by four performances in Belgium and two in the UK of the Piano Concerto No.1 with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and Jan Latham-Koenig (Saturday 28 April Thursday 17 May). I m looking forward to playing Beethoven s concertos, says Kolesnikov. It feels like one of my biggest dreams coming true! They are quite phenomenal pieces, among the most polished works in the repertoire yet also some of the freshest and most spontaneous. To play them on tour with two different orchestras and perform my absolute favourite, Beethoven Four, at the Royal Festival Hall with the superb Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will be a joy for me. Kolesnikov also intends to record an album of Beethoven solo piano works, the Moonlight Sonata and early Bagatelles among them, for his fourth Hyperion release. The album s programme will probe what Kolesnikov describes as the composer s mutually dependent sense of humour and terror. Cultivating fresh perceptions of familiar repertoire is central to Pavel Kolesnikov s next Wigmore Hall recital on Monday 30 April His programme commemorates the centenary of Debussy s death with a first half built around the French composer s Children s Corner interleaved with pieces by Helmut Lachenmann, Chopin and Louis Couperin. Its second half is devoted to Chopin s Nocturne Op.48 No.2 and Schumann s Fantasie in C major. I am fascinated by Debussy, he observes. He was an extraordinary composer who influenced the development of music in the last century, inspiring so many composers who have little else in common. I think that diversity of influence comes from the

3 way in which Debussy formed his art by borrowing ideas from unexpected places and making entirely new works from them. My homage to Debussy explores this diversity and, like his music, includes something that will touch every listener. He was able to look at the world very intensely and express his responses in music of great complexity. While the surface is always polished, it s not hard to go deeper into his compositions to find powerful emotions. Schumann s Fantasie, for me, is about the same thing: about listening very carefully, with all your being, to what the world around you has to say. For press enquiries, please contact: Valerie Barber PR Suite 2 9a St John s Wood High Street London NW8 7NG Tel: +44 (0) sabina@vbpr.co.uk Season Highlights Thurday 17 August 2017 Queens Hall, Edinburgh 11am Edinburgh International Festival Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Benjamin Appl Piano Lieder and songs by Schubert, Schumann, Grieg and Matthias Pintscher Monday 28 August 2017 Cadogan Hall London 1pm BBC PROMS Chopin Waltz in A flat major Op. 69 No. 1 Chopin Impromptu in A flat major, Op. 29 Chopin Waltz in C sharp minor. Op. 64 No. 2 Chopin Fantasy- Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66 Chopin Fantasy in F minor/ A flat major, Op. 49 Chopin Mazurkas- selection Chopin Scherzo in E major, Op. 54 Saturday, September Stratford on Avon Music Festival pm Tamsin Waley- Cohen Violin I Annalien van Wauwe Clarinet Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Schumann, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Bartok Wednesday 4 October 2017 Barbican Hall, 7.30pm Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Samson Tsoy Piano Alexander Vedernikov Conductor BBC Symphony Orchestra Bruch Concerto for Two pianos and Orchestra, Op. 88a

4 Tuesday 21 November 2017 LSO St. Luke s London 50 th birthday of the European Broadcasting Company Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Johannes Wildner Conductor BBC Concert Orchestra Thursday 23 November 2017 Musée de Louvre, Paris 12.30pm Chopin Mazurkas Op. 30 No. 4 Debussy Children s Corner Estampes Lachenmann Filter-Schaukel and Schattentanz extracts from Ein Kinderspiel Rameau L Enharmonique et L Eqytienne extraits de la Suite en Sol Sunday 10 December 2017 Schubert-Saal, Wiener Konzerthaus 7.30pm Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Narek Hakhnazaryan Cello Schumann Adagio and Allegro for Cello and Piano Op. 70 Brahms Sonata for Cello and Piano Nr. 2 F Major Op. 99 Ligeti Sonata for Cello Tchaikovsky Nocturne D minor Op 19 Tchaikovsky Pezzo Capriccioso B. minor Op. 62 Tuesday 6 February 2018 Royal Festival Hall 7.30pm Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Ilan Volkov Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 Thursday 8 March 2018 Theatre Royal, Nottingham 7.30pm Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Vassily Sinaisky Conductor BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Beethoven Piano Concerto No April April 2018 Czech National Symphony Orchestra Tour Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Petr Altricher Conductor Czech National Symphony Orchestra Thursday 10 April 2018 Municipal House, Smetana Hall, Prague 7.30pm Sunday 15 April 2018 Norwich Theatre Royal 7.30pm Monday 16 April 2018 Cadogan Hall 7.30pm Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4

5 Tuesday 17 April 2018 G Live, Guildford 7.30pm Thursday 19 April 2018 Middlesbrough Saturday 21 April 2018 The Sands Centre Carlisle 7.30pm Sunday 22 April 2018 Usher Hall Edinburgh, 3pm Saturday 28 th April th May 2018 Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen Tour Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Jan Latham-Koenig Conductor Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 Saturday 28 April 2018, Heist-op-den-Berg 8pm Sunday 29 April 2018, Oostende 5pm Thursday 3 May 2018, Bruges 8pm Friday 4 May 2018, Zaventem 8pm Sunday 6 May 2018, Antwerp 3pm 12 May 2018, Ghent 8pm 16 May 2018, Warwick Arts Centre 8pm 17 May 2018, Cadogan Hall 8pm 30 April 2018 Wigmore Hall Programme to be announced

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