Tuesday 8 March 3.00 pm
Bach-Marcello: Concerto in D minor
Andante / Adagio / Presto
Franck-Bauer: Prelude, Fugue and Variation Op 18
Liszt: Three Petrarch Sonnets (from Années de pèlerinage- Italie)
Sonnet 47 in D flat
Sonnet 104 in E
Sonnet 123 in A flat
Prokofiev: Sonata no 1 Op 1 in F minor
Ilya Kondratiev at St Mary’s with a continuous outpouring of mellifluous sounds.From the clarity of the Bach-Marcello Concerto in D minor where the famous Adagio was played with a luminosity and purity of sound that was the hallmark of the entire recital.
The haunting melody of the Franck – Bauer Prelude,Fugue and Variation pervaded the whole work like a yearning lament – the very sentiment that I know Ilya has been suffering so far away from the horror that is being played out in his homeland.
Liszt’s three Petrarch Sonnets were played with sumptuous ravishing sounds and a subtle rubato of great artistry.
Prokofiev’s youthful first Sonata was full of romantic fervour that he was to distill in his later works leading up to his great trilogy of the War sonatas before finding peace in the last of his nine Sonatas for piano.
It was played with all the technical prowess and romantic fervour that we have come to expect from this artist who has recently been appointed Professor at the Royal College of Music.
A critically acclaimed pianist, Ilya Kondratiev is the prize-winner of several renowned international music competitions, including Franz Liszt Budapest 2011, Franz Liszt Weimar 2011, the Fifth Tbilisi 2013, Brant Birmingham 2015 and Chappell Gold Medal in 2016. Born in Russia, he studied from the age of seven in Samara with the distinguished teacher Victoria Soifer and, from the age of 16, at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the People’s Artist of Russia Zinaida Ignatieva. In 2014 he moved to London in order to further his studies at the Royal College of Music under Vanessa Latarche and Sofia Gulyak, graduating with a Master of Performance and an Artist Diploma. Ilya performs extensively as a soloist and chamber music player at venues such as the Great Hall of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Gasteig Munich, Weimarhalle, Palacio de Festivales de Santander, the Palaceof Arts in Budapest and the Great Hall of the Tbilisi Conservatoire. In 2011 Ilya was invited to work with Elisabeth Leonskaya at the Franz Liszt Piano Academy in Schilllingfurst, Germany and with Pavel Gililov at the Eppan Piano Academy in Italy. He has also performed in the masterclasses of Dina Yoffe, Konstantin Shcherbakov, Willem Brons, Dmitry Bashkirov, Jerome Rose, Leslie Howard, Lang Lang and Arie Vardi. In 2015 and 2017 Ilya was invited to the ‘Encuentro’ Festival in Santander and in 2016 appeared as a guest artist in the Gumusluk Festival in Turkey, and the Beethoven Music Festival and Academy in Altaussee in Austria. He is now a piano professor at the Royal College of Music.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/ilya-kondratiev-in-germany/
Thank you Christopher as always. A very moving recital by a wonderful pianist, in difficult circumstances. Here is the link. We had our new camera from the left of the piano, giving a new view but I will have to be careful not to nod off in future recitals ! https://youtu.be/s54H4sn_d9A
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 
Una risposta a "Ilya Kondratiev moving testimony at St Mary’s"