Pianist Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev – a member of the subscription with the self-explanatory name “Stars of the XXI Century”. For many years, the Moscow Philharmonic has been gathering Russian musicians, triumphants of prestigious international competitions, young, but already famous, under its banner. Many of them appear together in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on November 30 and will give a concert dedicated to the anniversary of their teacher – the 90th anniversary of the birth of the professor of the Moscow Conservatory Sergei Dorensky… Tarasevich-Nikolaev spoke about his great teacher, the mysterious Japanese public and the “branded” Moroccan soup in an interview FAN…

– Have you already chosen the work that you perform at the dedication evening to Sergei Leonidovich Dorensky?

– Initially, it was determined that all the participants in the concert would play with the orchestra (Moscow Conservatory, conductor) Vyacheslav Valeev… – Approx. ed.), so the repertoire capabilities of the orchestra had to be correlated with my choice. In the end, we agreed that we would perform the Second Piano Concerto Brahms… Only the first part will sound. The first time this concert I was after the death of Sergei Leonidovich (Dorensky, died on February 26, 2020. – Ed.) In September. But we discussed this composition with the professor, as I dreamed of performing it for the last ten years. I think this composition is more than worthy to dedicate to the memory of my teacher. It is a pity that Dorensky did not manage to play this brilliant music. It would be very valuable to hear his comments on this most difficult work in all respects.

– One gets the impression that foreign publications and the media give our pianists more compliments than their music lovers and journalists. Why is that?

– As they say, there is no prophet in his own country. This is less reverence than foreign ones. Everywhere people are looking for a miracle from the outside, which is somewhat paradoxical given the current globalization, unification of public, cultural and media space. It would seem that everything about everyone is written in social networks. But nevertheless, why does a visiting guest attract a lot of attention, they say, if he was invited with so many excellent pianists of his own, then it means that he is special (laughs), and you need to go to his concert. But seriously, in Europe they still believe that a Russian pianist is a sign of quality, and such an assessment has been unshakable for over 100 years. And other things being equal, our performers often gather more audience there.

– It is known that Russian artists are idolized in Japan. Tell us about your impressions of the tour in this country.

– When you play in Japan, you rarely hear an open emotional reaction from the audience. I, perhaps, have never met such tremendous silence during my speech as in this country, it is amazing that people listen to music with such concentration and discipline in a good sense of the word. You play three pianos in a hall for 2.5 thousand people, and it seems that even a fly will not fly unnoticed. But the silence is not dead, but alive. All the people in this room are listening to your game. They seem to be applauding in decibels not as loudly as in Russia, but at the same time the Japanese may not let you leave the stage for a long time. But in Russia, somewhere in the outback, they will explode with applause, but as soon as the artist is about to go backstage, they do not interfere with this and let him go. That’s it, the concert is over for them. And also in Russia during a concert there is a “background pool” in the hall: people either whisper, or rustle, the phone may ring …

photo from the personal archive of Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev /

– And what is the publication in the USA?

– In America, a very emotional publication. They react very loudly to the performance, shout and whistle from the audience (laughs)… But the number of exclamations of “bravo!” – not an indicator of successful for me, I like to play everywhere and for everyone.

– You have a repertoire on your website, and it contains a work by your colleague, pianist Daniil Trifonov. Why did they start playing it?

– This is an old story. I met Dania (Daniil Trifonov… – Approx. ed.) ten years ago. We were at the same time at master classes in Israel, we talked closely. At that moment he composed a lot under the local Medtner, Rachmaninov, something like neo-romanticism. I liked some of his plays then. Dedication to Manuel de Falla (“Dedication to Manuel de Falla”) I decided to take in the program of one of the competitions in which I planned to participate, written sometime after 1985, that is, a completely modern score. The music is wonderful and bright. Danya is generally a very prolific creative person …

– Have you tried composing?

– My last composing experience was, as far as I remember, at the age of eight, then I gave up this business (laughs)… Now I live by the principle: if you can not compose, do not compose. And since the pianist is so lucky with a huge genius repertoire, I should have time to replay it as much as possible. Is there something to him? I will start writing music only when I feel that I cannot live without it. However, during last year’s quarantine, when there were no concerts, I began to make arrangements for the piano of several romances Prokofiev… This lesson helped me to better understand the music I love.

photo from the personal archive of Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev /

– Are you planning to perform these transcriptions somewhere?

– No, I haven’t done it yet. Maybe their time to be heard in public will come someday.

– Several years ago in one of your interviews you said: “Classical music is my life.” Probably not everything is so literal?

– I meant that everything that happens to me is then translated into music. Music evokes the highest emotional response in my life. I, of course, have other interests, I am not at all a monastic person in relation to life. I love, for example, auteur cinema, cooking. This occupation became a full-fledged hobby about three years ago. I perceive it as a wonderful opportunity to take a break from the main profession.

– Do you have any author’s recipes?

– Yes, in the kitchen I improvise a lot, experiment, come up with unusual combinations of products. I’m not into desserts. I like to cook soups, meat, stews more.

– What are your specialties?

– There is in my cookbook, for example, Moroccan soup. There is also roast beef with vegetables, which I am not ashamed to present to the general public for a sample. I have many guests at home. I have already fed almost all of my close acquaintances with my concoction. They liked it, but I make allowances for the fact that they are all educated and cultured people.

– Did Sergey Leonidovich Dorensky taste your dishes?

– No. Before the pandemic, there was a busy touring schedule, and I cook, of course, when I’m at home. I didn’t have time to offer him my culinary skills, or rather, I didn’t risk waiting for his creative experiments in the kitchen. It was much more important for me to find out his opinion on my piano playing. Therefore, the concert on November 30 in honor of his anniversary is a very important and exciting event for me.

DOSSIER. Born in 1993 in Moscow into a family of hereditary musicians. Graduated from the Central School of Music at the Moscow Conservatory (2011) in the class of a professor A. A. Mndoyants and the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky (2016) in the professor’s class S. L. Dorenskiy… At the age of 19, he won a brilliant victory at the International Piano Competition named after A. N. Skryabin in Moscow, and later became a laureate of international competitions in Cleveland (USA, 2013), named after E. Grieg (Norway, 2014) and the Sydney Piano Competition (Australia, 2016). The competitive success was followed by the signing of a five-year contract with the record companies Decca Classics and Universal Music. In 2017, the musician was awarded the prestigious international Premio Chigiana award. Today it plays in the halls of Moscow and other Russian cities. Tours in Europe and Asia (including Italy, Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Lithuania, Israel, China, Japan), as well as in the USA, where his concerts were held at Carnegie Hall in New York, Sevens Hall in Cleveland and other famous stages.

photo from the personal archive of Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev /