Very pleased to be invited back to hear Paul Mnatsakanov again having heard his remarkable Mussorgsky Pictures a few months ago where his magnificent performance was just a curtain raiser for the full Symphonic transcription by Ravel.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/02/09/paul-mnatsakanov-s-monumental-mussorgsky-pictures/

A wonderful hall full of memories for me who as a schoolboy who had discovered music ,but was from a barren background so far as my unbounded passion for music was concerned, I could replenish my insatiable thirst for music with free concerts timed perfectly to fit in with after school hours.
Here I had heard Sir Adrian Boult and the debut of John Lill in Rachmaninov third and a Mendelssohn double with him and Gwyneth Pryor.Many other pianists who later went on to great careers including George Barber who found fame in America as Rostal and Schaefer the true heirs to Gold and Fitzdale but who I had known in Brahms two with Boult and a Wigmore debut of Beethoven op 126,111 and 120!
The late Dennis Lee playing Brahms 2 with Boult too and Enloc Wu in Liszt n. 1 not to mention unforgettable lecture recitals by Menuhin and Tureck.
Still with that insatiable schoolboy appetite for music I recently discovered Thomas Kelly and Magdalene Ho whilst they were competing for the Joan Chissell Schumann prize in this hall.
It was nice to be present at the final recital today and see what a feast of music it was but also his colleagues joining in the fun of superlative music making with him.

A Mozart sonata in F K 332 of impeccable style and discreet ornamentation that just highlighted the beauty of the Allegro played with refined good taste and character.Not the colours of Horowitz but much more restrained and classically orientated but nevertheless spoke with the same operatic voice.Ravishing beauty of the Adagio where his superb sense of balance allowed the bel canto to sing but also the audacious accompaniment to be an equal partner.An Allegro assai that just burst onto the scene with scintillating energy and high spirits and where Mozart’s surprise ending was judged to perfection without ever giving the game away.
The Saint Saens I must confess I have only heard in Horowitz’s bewitching transcritption of Liszt.But Paul today showed me a tone poem of subtle architectural shape and meaning and the added glistening baubles that Horowitz adds really take away from the overall structure that Paul as with his Mussorgsky is absolute master.
At this point the party began and Paul was joined by the ravishing Amber Reeves in a subtle rendition of ‘June Twilight’ but it was the showgirl in the show stopper ‘I too beneath your moon’ that unleashed a pianist who could let his hair down ( metaphorically of course ) and really let rip with sumptuous full sounds of a real showman.Nadia Chaichenko had added some wonderfully deep seductive tones to Tchaikowsky’s Frenzied Nights and a piano solo by Babajanian in this group of ‘Songs from the shows’ was played with insinuating seductive tones.

Two pianos with Thomas Luke ,a former winner of the BBC young artist of the year competition,played an Armenian Rhapsody where their consummate musicianship and superb technical control allowed them to play as one.
It will be for the commission comprising Vanessa Latarche and Sofya Gulyak to comment far better that I in detail on his performances but am glad to give my own personal impressions at the end of a happy period of study for this remarkable young artist.

I am very happy to invite you to my final Historical Keyboard recital, happening at 10:40am to 11:30am in the Performance Hall of the Royal College of Music in London.
I will be presenting a program on three (!) different historical keyboard instruments showcasing the classical period.
The program will include C.P.E. Bach’s 12 Variations on the Spanish Folia played on the clavichord and J. Haydn’s Keyboard Sonata in D major, Hob. XVI:37 played on the harpsichord. Matthew Millkey, Taisia Sandetcaia, Elena Accogli and Alex Boyd-Bench will then join me for a rendition of W. A. Mozart’s Keyboard Concerto in C major, K. 415 on fortepiano with string quartet.

Paul Mnatsakanov’s Historical Keyboard Graduation recital .Strange to see an artist who had filled the vast concert hall with the explosive sounds of Mussorgsky just a few months ago now playing with refined delicacy three historic instruments one of which was barely audible to the human ear!

Artistry is what it is called and the Royal College has certainly formed a remarkable artist of great versatility who only a few days ago gave his graduation recital on a magnificent Steinway D.

Today in a smaller but no less beautiful hall he showed us how Haydn had conceived his D major Sonata for the harpsichord on a beautiful Kennedy Harpsichord after Mietke

La Folia was a long way off from Liszt’s Spanish Rhapsody or the last piece that Rachmaninov was to write for the piano as we strained to hear the whispered jewel like perfection of C.P.E Bach’s variations played on an Adlam Hubert clavichord .

He was joined by Matthew Millkey,Taisia Sandetcaia,Elena Accogli and Alex Boyd-Bench in a performance of Mozart’s C major concert K415 on a NcNulty Walter fortepiano. Superb playing of refined good taste and dynamic drive for one of the trio of concertos that really benefit from being played in a chamber format. What a treat to be able to enjoy such selfless music making in the intimate performance hall away from the trials and tribulations of Lisztian showmanship upstairs!