A night of nocturnes

“His extraordinary intimacy with the piano, which withholds no secrets of keyboard brilliance or expressive colouring from him, maximises the potential in the scoring, however modest or extravagant, of whatever he chooses to play.” Gerald Larner, The Times.

A complex description of the gifted pianist Nikolai Demidenko, who performs in Sydney for just one night in late September. 

Sydney audiences will have the privilege of hearing a selection of Chopin’s Nocturnes, alongside Nocturnes by three composers, compatriots of the Russian born Demidenko – Mikhail Glinka (1804 -1857), Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) and Felix Blumenfeld (1863-1931). 

Demidenko has recorded some of the works of Chopin for  Hyperion, and in February 2010 performed in Warsaw’s Philharmonic Hall with fellow pianist Evgeny Kissin and the Warsaw Philharmonic, conducted by Antoni Wit, in commemoration of Chopin’s birthday.  For the two pianists it must have seemed like a return to their childhood when they both learnt from the same piano teacher, Anna Kantor, at Moscow’s Gnesin State Music College.

It is reassuring to know that as a child Demidenko apparently disliked scales and technical exercises. Nonetheless, he went on to perform with the best orchestras and conductors including the St Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov, Accademia Nazionale de Santa Cecilia and Charles Dutoit, Philharmonia Orchestra with Tughan Sokhiev

On the evening’s programme:

GLINKA: Notturno in F minor La Separation
KALINNIKOV: Notturno in F sharp minor
BLUMENFELD: Notturno – Fantasia in E major Op.20
CHOPIN: Nocturne in C minor Op.48 No.1
CHOPIN: Nocturne in F sharp minor Op.48 No.2
CHOPIN: Nocturne in E flat major Op.55 No.2
CHOPIN: Nocturne in C# minor Op post
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition

Tickets: $65/ $59, CRH VIP $52 (additional fees may apply). Book online www.cityrecitalhall.com.  or by phone on (02) 8256 2222 or in person at City Recital Hall Angel Place.