Moonlight Sonata and Other Piano Work

Description

Pavel Kolesnikov does nothing like others. A Beethoven record, yes, but without lining up three or four sonatas; two will suffice. And what a choice! The little "Sonata in G major Op. 14 No. 2," a pure piece of mood and fantasy, allows the young pianist to distill colors in soft shades and to make use of a virtuosic pedal. One must hear how he composes the sound images of the finale, this almost nothing where Haydn seems to have been invited. Surprising in the "Moonlight" seems more improbable, yet he succeeds: he interprets the sostenuto noted by Beethoven for the "Adagio" as a rhythmic sostenuto, a fast tempo like that of a distant star spinning on itself, all murmured in the felt of the hammers, a theater of shadow for an almond-colored moon, pale and wintry. What a vision in this almost silence, if not that of a magician, that sound! The "Allegretto," poised, looks at itself in the mirror, mysterious with its rallentandos, strange! While the Presto agitato is a gallop in the mist. The album opens with four brief pieces, punctuations delivered with a sort of reserve, distance, even in the two rather deadpan Allegrettos. The shadow of Haydn again? At its center, the "Bagatelles Op. 33" astonish with their playful tone, their cloudless fantasy, something smooth that places them a hundred leagues away from the fantasies of a Stephen Bishop. Strange again, but fascinating, while the "Variations on an Original Theme" suddenly lack embodiment: one should not have Gilels in mind. A minor flaw for a major record, which makes me want to hear Kolesnikov play Haydn (Discophilia - Artalinna.com). (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)