Alexander Malofeev, pianist (3)

I am feeling lazy today, so just a couple of videos, of a young pianist whom a friend referenced on FB and whom I'd like to keep track of. The first piece is Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, ор. 43; conductor Myung-Whun Chung with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino (2018). Malofeev was sixteen. (He is now twenty.)

The second one is Saint-Saens's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22. Here Malofeev is twelve. This performance won him a gold medal in the 8th Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (2014). The State Symphony Orchestra "New Russia" is conducted by Yuri Tkachenko.

 

And finally, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466, from 2019. En Shao conducting the Orchestra Academia China.

I took piano lessons when I was a kid, with Mrs. Josephine Siple. I was never any good at it, and the lessons didn't last all that long—though I enjoyed going to Mrs. Siple's big river-rock house up Mandeville Canyon in LA. As I recall, there were cookies. However, the piano is one of my favorite instruments to listen to. And this kid is amazing! As one of the YouTube commenters says, quite rightly, of the third piece here: "This is the first Mozart I have heard Alexander play. He does with Mozart what he does with every other composer he plays: he raises him from the dead. His flawless technique and deep understanding of the melodic line allows his listener to forget him and encounter the author. He is a truly humble virtuoso. He doesn’t have to prove himself, he lets himself go. And in this case, Mozart soars."