It was very stimulating to be able to hear Jianing Kong in the Brahms F minor Sonata just a few days after hearing his mentor Dmitri Alexeev play it in his series of concerts dedicated to his own mentor Dmitri Bashkirov. Of course both are superb musicians and real artists with all the technical resources at their fingertips to be able to concentrate on the actual meaning behind the notes and the overall architectural shape of this monumental work. One cannot make comparisons between two such committed performances. Each one stands on it’s own and in that moment is totally convincing. But it is possible on reflection to make some comments and observations as one rethinks of the performances and of things that linger in ones mind and are to cherish for a long time after the sounds have died away. Let me say immediately that the comparison for me is between Alexeev at the helm of the Philadelphia under Ormandy and Jianing with the New York Philharmonic under Boulez.
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