Maxim Rysanov: Holywell Music Room (From The Oxford Times)

Maxim Rysanov: Holywell Music Room

9:12am Thursday 13th November 2008 in Search By Simon Collings

t’s not often I go to a concert which is so exceptional I’m lost for words. But Maxim Rysanov is such an impressive artist that mere prose cannot do justice to the experience of hearing him. He plays the viola with an assurance which is breathtaking. Why, oh why, is the repertoire for the viola so small? Rysanov’s Ukrainian roots no doubt contribute to the passion and expressiveness of his playing. His technique is amazingly accomplished and he has the presence of a master. Hearing him play is like hearing music for the first time – not a succession of notes but something close to poetry. Last Friday he was performing at the Holywell Music Room along with his regular accompanist Katya Apekisheva in a programme of Brahms, Britten and Bridge. The cellist Kristine Blaumane joined them at the end of the concert for Brahms’s trio Op 114. Much of the music had a plaintive and melancholy lyricism to which the timbre of the viola is well suited. Rysanov played with great eloquence. He seemed almost to disregard the audience, as though performing only for himself. He is a striking figure in his frock coat appliquéd with brocade. ‘Charismatic’ and ‘Byronic’ are words others have used to describe him. There is something deeply attractive in such self-containment. After a stressful day at work in London I almost didn’t make the recital thanks to a signal failure south of Reading. I am so glad I got there. It was the high point of my concert-going this year. The music restored me, leaving me with a renewed sense of well-being and vitality. Stephen Spender dreaming of great men writes of those who “wore at their hearts the fire’s centre”. Rysanov fits the bill. There is no mistaking greatness. Both of the Brahms Op.120 sonatas, the trio Op.114 and other works are available on a double-CD released in September on the Onyx label. Buy it.