Victor merzhanov scriabin biography

Victor Karpovich Merzhanov (Russian: Ви́ктор Ка́рпович Мержа́нов) (15 August 1919 – 20 December 2012) was a Russian pianist and People's Artist of the USSR (1990).
Merzhanov was Tambov's most famous citizen and although he lived in Moscow, he had a class of students at the Institute and spent many years.
Victor Merzhanov (Piano, Arranger).

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This is the first post in a new series on my blog: Pianists From The Past.

We all have our ‘favourite’ pianists; no doubt a smorgasbord of current performers intermingled with some who are, sadly, no longer with us. But how often have you searched on YouTube, or elsewhere, only to ‘discover’ a pianist you may have never heard before? A pianist who plays with such incredible depth and musicianship, that you wonder why you haven’t been made aware of them earlier. Pianists From The Past will focus on these often- extraordinary players, many of whom have had superlative careers, but, for various reasons, are now no longer remembered. A guest writer will pen each post, spotlighting their chosen ‘Past’ pianist.

My guest writer for this first post is concert pianist and piano professor James Kirby. James, who teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, London University (Royal Holloway) and Eton College, studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, and when I asked which pianist he might like to feature in my new series, he immedia

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THE RUSSIAN PIANO TRADITION–VIKTOR MERZHANOV

Born in 1919 and still musically active as of this writing (2009), pianist Viktor Merzhanov may best be known as an international juror and teacher. But he also made a handful of recordings for the Russian Melodiya label in the 1950s that reveal him to have been a pianist no less gifted and individual than many of his better-known contemporaries. His 1955 Chopin Preludes are on the highest level, abetted by the recording’s ambient “concert-hall” perspective that gives a good idea of Merzhanov’s sense of projection and color. While Merzhanov plays with a great deal of freedom, his innate musicality and sense of proportion dominate.

Listen, for example, to No. 2, where the pianist brings the accompaniments’ jarring dissonances to the fore, parking the treble melody in neutral, so to speak; or notice No. 3’s rock-steady 16th-note runs and the little rhythmic kick in the right-hand upbeats. No. 5’s cross-rhythmic effects rarely have been articulated so well. Ditto for the final prelude’

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“Everything (Horowitz) did had his own individual and unmistakable stamp, which is not only desirable, but is an absolute must for an artist.”

This interview had its beginnings in an email that I received last month from Lola Astanova, as one of many who registered at her website, lolaastanova.com. The email introduced a video of Lola playing Chopin’s magnificent étude Op. 25 No. 12, together with a short message from Lola about supporting the arts during difficult economic times. I was crazy about her Chopin, and shared her conviction about the arts, and wrote back to tell her so.

A few days later I received another email, thanking me for introducing Lola to readers of this blog through her videos of Rachmaninoff’s second sonata, and pointing out that the year of her birth as given in my comments (1981) made her a little older than she really is. I did a little more research and found a different source that listed her year of birth as 1982, and updated my blog accordingly. I also wrote back to suggest an interview with Lola that would address this