Film, Video, Music, Theatre
Siberian sets fire to Castlebar
By Bowser
Oct 22, 2002, 20:23

At the Linenhall last night (21 Octo 2002) Alexei Nabioulin, winner of the 2000 Axa Dublin International Piano Competition, set fire to the piano playing Russian music primarily - but also Beethoven and a study by Kevin O'Connell, a living Irish composer, of whom more anon. The Beethoven Sonatas (No 13 and 30) he played are not the mainstream chocolate box choice but they showed Beethoven's genius perhaps more clearly than some of his more famous such as the Moonlight, which is a companion piece to Sonata No. 13.

Having played two Beethoven sonatas, Nabioulin launched into the Kevin O'Connell piece, which was commissioned for the 2000 Axa competition. The composer described it as a short hectic car journey with many gear changes and so it was! Demanding for the piano never mind the pianist!

Then came the surprise of the night that got people talking. The bould Alexei stood up and announced that he was not permitted to play the next piece - billed in the printed programme as a world premiere of "Fuga a 4 voci" - again by Kevin O'Connell. In a Russian (or even a Siberian) accent he said that the composer did not like the way he played it and would not let him perform it. So instead he played Tchaikovsky's "Invitation to the Dance". Kevin O'Connell's loss was our gain!

This invitation gave us a preview of Nabioulin's obvious affinity with and for Russian composers. What made this little incident or change of programme in the middle of the concert even more interesting was the fact that Kevin O'Connell is the author of the Music Network tour programme notes. Presumably the same announcement will be made at every other venue where Alexei Nabioulin plays this programme!

After the interval we were treated to a feast of Russian music from Rach, Prok and Muss. Three of the Rachmaninov Preludes from Op 23 were first after the interval with the No 10 really showing the sheer technical brilliance of this pianist. The final programmed piece was Prokofiev's Sonata No 8. This is a piece I had never heard before last night but as a result of hearing it played by this fine pianist I will definitely go and seek it out on CD. This was the real high point of the evening with echoes of the Prokofiev's own wonderful 3rd piano concerto, shades of Ravel and Poulenc but stronger and punchier than either of these - all in all wonderful, wonderful music. To cap the night off he was persuaded to play an encore - Mussorgsky's Gopak to tumultuous applause from the completely full Linenhall Theatre. The sold out signs had been outside the Linenhall from earlier in the day. The Linenhall theatre is a wonderful addition to Castlebar's artistic life and if you haven't experienced it get along to any of the many performances here.

My only minor reservation about the night was that it was simply too dark in the auditorium to read the excellent programme during the performance.

© Copyright 2003 by www.castlebar.ie and the author