Maxim Kinasov at Steinway Hall
From the very first notes of Bauer’s transcription of Franck’s Prelude Fugue and Variation it was obvious that here was an artist painting in colours and sounds. A transcendental technique at the service of allowing the music to speak with such subtle beauty and colour. It was a lesson in itself to see this Sokolov type figure hovering over the keys just as the great master himself does. Imperceptible continuous circular movements like a bee hovering around the hive waiting to bring home the nectar to make their unique honey. This was just as Rubinstein had likened style and personality in trying to explain the unexplainable to the very first young musicians competing in his competition. It is a God given gift – the search for beauty and to be able to tell a story in all its forms from the tempest, through inferno to paradise and sublime love. And it was all here in Maxim’s extraordinary performances.
