Biography

Since winning the Honens International Piano Competition in 2012, Pavel Kolesnikov has performed extensively around the world as soloist with orchestras, in chamber music, and in recitals. Among other venues where he has performed are Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Konzert-haus, London’s Wigmore Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, Tokyo’s Saitama Theater and the Louvre Auditorium in Paris. Following his Wigmore Hall debut in January 2014, The Daily Telegraph gave Kolesnikov’s recital a rare five-star review. Born in Novosibirsk, Russia, Kolesnikov now lives in London. He believes strongly in the cross-fertilization of the arts, and holds strong interests in painting, photography, and fashion. He is also renowned for his collection of fine perfumes, some of which date back nearly a century. First LMMC appearance.

https://pavelkolesnikov.co.uk/

Notes

No less an authority than Schumann considered Schubert’s Sonata D. 894 to be his “most perfect work, both in form and spirit.” Each movement opens and ends quietly, except for the opening of the Menuetto.  There is nothing here for the pianistic showman; just another superb example of Schubert’s idiomatic writing, marked by a spacious unfolding of each movement’s structure, lilting rhythms, engaging melodies and a fondness for hovering between major and minor tonalities.

Vienna’s musical life left its imprint on Chopin in the form of the waltz, though most of his waltzes were composed years later, including the endearing little Waltz in A minor, one of his last, that serves as a prelude to Mozart’s sonata in the same key.

In Mozart’s day, a composer’s decision to write a piece in the minor mode usually signified that the music would feature unusual dramatic content and emotional depth. Such is the case with his Sonata in A minor, considered by many to be one of his greatest. Some believe that the death of his mother accounts for the darkly dramatic mood.

Aside from Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier, Chopin’s Preludes Op. 28 are surely the most famous group of pieces conceived as an orderly traversal of the 24 major and minor keys. No. 15 (the famous “Raindrop” Prelude) is by far the longest of them, and could easily qualify as a nocturne. The strangely-named Polonaise-Fantaisie is widely regarded as one of Chopin’s finest works. This enigmatic composition can be seen as a large-scale ternary structure, but it is so full of digressions, transitions and episodes that “ternary” becomes only a superstructure on which to hang the work’s many parts.

Robert Markow