Mikhail Bouzine playing for the Keyboard Trust

Extraordinary goings on at Steinways last night and a wonderful advertisement for the resilience of their magnificent instruments .This was for me especially poignant having heard the most poetic of all pianists ,Steven Osborne suddenly turning into a violent maniac as he attacked another magnificent Steinway at the Wigmore Hall with a performance of Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.

Steven Osborne at the Wigmore Hall – A poet speaks.

But then tonight this young Russian trained pianist,living in exile in Germany, opened a window to a new world.’Breaking Barriers’ might well have been the title instead of ‘The Happier Eden’.Mikhail tonight reminded me of another pianist with a gigantic technique who was much promoted and lauded by the most ‘established’ of ‘establishment’ figures ,William Glock.Head of music at the BBC for several decades and having studied at Oxford and later with Schnabel he broke down all the conventional concert programming rules of the usual Overture,Concerto Symphony formula.

Roger Woodward was a character larger than life – as was his piano playing – from down under he would appear on stage as if going to work in a factory.A long ponytail and whiskers to boot.He would appear at the Proms playing Takemitsu,late Scriabin and even the Hammerklavier (which turned out to be a very apposite title).He would appear at Glock’s famous Dartington Summer School where masterclasses and concerts would be held over a month long period.Glock’s teacher ,Schnabel, was the first to be invited but also favourites like Vlado Perlemuter,Andrea Tchaikowsky,Sandor Vegh side by side with Peter Maxwell Davies ,Harrison Birtwistle and later Oliver Knussen and many other young composers.

I will never forget a recital by Roger Woodwood that lasted for much longer than the more traditional 90 minutes with inerval .Infact there were two intervals in a programme that spanned from Byrd through Takemitsu,Messiaen and of course Barraqué .

Our pianist asked for the light to be off when he played the Barraqué sonata because little did we suspect that he carried in his hands a chain and hammer as he approached the piano.
Well after a few minutes of ‘minimalist’ noises there was a great crash and the lights were immediately back and the concert cancelled because the sound board of the piano had been damaged!
Glock was a great innovator and insisted on having Boulez at the helm of the BBC Symphony Orchestra after Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcom Sargent . Glock’s programmes would regularly include works where the ink was still wet on the page or plumbing was carried on by the ‘performers’ for an unsuspecting public.

Tonight with Mikhail it was a fascinating view of a world of minimalist experimentalists searching for a path but above all breaking down conventions and opening up our ears.The scratching of spoons on mugs ,a pen dropped on the floor are all sounds and Music after all IS SOUND.

Breaking Barriers as Mikhail carried on stage a mirror that he hid behind and gradually abandoned as the sounds began.

A series of ten works most of which even Leslie Howard had never heard or heard of before?! Infact Leslie one of the Artistic Directors who had invited Mikhail to London to play for the Trust asked Mikhail if he would like to introduce each piece.It was obvious that this would not have been ‘minimally’ possible as Mikhail was so involved in playing with such vehemence ,total involvement and dynamic drive that neither he nor we could really appreciate where one piece finished and another began! Our distinguished recording engineer who had recorded Boulez many times in his illustrious career said that he would not even attempt to add captions to the video recording that the KT will make available on their website before long.

At last we recognised the opening of Beethoven’s G major Sonata op 31 n. 1.We recognised it but it was seen with the eyes of a composer and minimalist breaker of barriers .Mikhail playing or recreating Beethoven like Roger Woodwood with a technique larger than life.Mikhail played like a man possessed – surely Beethoven must have been the same – and if there were moments when the pedal created overwhelming sonorities and the difference between loud,louder and loudest was indeed ‘minimal’ it did lead to a rethinking of our values for better or worse rather that a passive acceptance of yet another performance of a classical sonata.

Breaking Barriers the piano survived and so did we and with a drink in our hands we had the courage to face this heroic young man and demand to know what it was all about.

Of course he has no idea either and that is the whole point. The search is on.Provocative – yes ….passive it certainly is not.

Cherchez la femme but above all VIVA la Musica .

George Brecht Mirror
Lee Heflin Fall
Peter Phillips Amarilli di Julio Romano
Michael Finnissy Poor Stuff
Dvořák Otázka
Alkan En rythme molossique
Dvořák Dumka op.35
Mitropoulos Béatrice
Christophe Bertrand Haïku
Cornelius Cardew Memories of you

Beethoven Piano Sonata No.16 in G major
Rued Langgaard Vanvidsfantasi

Steinway Hall
44 Marylebone Lane, London W1U 2DB

Wednesday, 13 March 2024, 6.30pm

Mikhail Bouzine is a pianist and composer based in Nuremberg, Germany. He is an alumnus of the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart where he studied with Nicolas Hodges. Mikhail also attended the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he studied piano with Andrey Shibko, composition with Vladimir Tarnopolski and harpsichord withTatiana Zenaïshvili.
Mikhail is the author and performer of numerous conceptual solo piano recitals with repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to Fluxus. He won First Prize at the 14th Orléans International Piano Competition and was a finalist at the 64th Busoni International Piano Competition.
Among his ensemble work are the LIMINALITY project with the Kymatic Ensemble and Thimk Collective (piano, keyboards, harpsichord). He has also participated in piano masterclasses with Alexeï Lubimov, Peter Donohoe and Maria Grazia Bellocchio, the Play&Direct Academy with Lars Vogt and Mark Stringer; and composition masterclasses with Leif Segerstam and Vyacheslav Artyomov.
Mikhail is currently working on a major meta-cycle composition inspired by the pan-Slavic alphabet.