Pianist

I have played the piano nearly all my life. My repertoire is based on the classical master pieces from Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninoff to Debussy, Ravel and Scriabin. My favourite concerto is the Rachmaninoff 2nd which I myself learned to play at adultage and which in my opinion is some of the most beautiful music written for piano and often brings tears to my eyes, especially the 2nd movement.

This little movie about me playing the famous "Ocean" etude by F. Chopin was actually captured with a pocket camera and was originally made for the purpose of a playful talent show organized by the company where I was working by that time. It is by no means a perfect take but I like the way how my playing look so easy and relaxed here although the composition asks for high virtuosity from the pianist. In terms of technique there are two kind of pianists, those who play with their fingers and others who use the whole body to produce the right kind of tone. I belong to the latter. I believe that fingers should only be used to finish the touch while the arm weight should be somewhere between the shoulders and fingertips depending on the articulation. This composition is best played in a concert hall setting and with a concert grand, something I could not offer here.

This composition by S. Rachmaninoff which is part of a larger collection of small piano compositions called Moments Musicaux was written by Rachmaninoff in his early adulthood. The composition has very much an improvised character and really feels like being created in a "moment" as the name says. I believe that Rachmaninoff wrote this composition quickly following the ideas and inspiration he had in his mind that time. The left hand here creates a color bed on top of which the right hand emotionally paints tones and melodies with a wide brush. Rachmaninoff himself said that his music came straight from the heart and listening to it it is easy to believe him. His music is often characterised by melancholy typical for a slavic mind which may be one of the reasons why I like his music so much.