The Russian pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy share a home in London nowadays, where they also co-founded the Ragged Music Festival, making ‘room for honest and adventurous music amidst the noise of everyday life’. Bach's Chaconne could be programmed next to John Tavener's Akhmatova Songs and Brahms next to Schnittke. Kolesnikov and Tsoy performed a touring version of their brainchild in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam in 2023. A world tour followed in 2024 including their debut at Carnegie Hall and the first-ever Classical Pride Concert at Barbican Centre London. The pianist couple share more than just a travel schedule and love of music, which they say is not without its occasional difficulties.
When it comes to piano duets, things get even trickier as they are bringing an eminently domestic genre to the stage. From intimate to extrovert, from intense to ecstatic, the two thirty-somethings are following in the footsteps of Robert & Clara Schumann, Edvard & Nina Grieg and Maurice Ravel & Ricardo Viñes. “Because of the nature of the instrument, we are truly inseparable on stage,” Tsoy explains.
Sharing a piano with four hands presupposes thinking together, breathing together. It’s a form of closeness, but on an exceptional level. You can’t reach that level without being incredibly close.
We will discover proof of their unity in their programme on 1 November. Even without the battery of percussion or controversial choreography, Stravinsky’s piano duet version of Le Sacre du Printemps remains an expressionist masterpiece. Stravinsky may have asked Debussy for help with the piano reduction. The Russian agent provocateur and French melody surfer together at the piano: it’s a striking image! Two contrasting icons as examples for Kolesnikov and Tsoy? In the second half, the piano duo synchronises their love for Franz Schubert with his Divertissement à la hongroise and the Fantasie in f. Schubert not only left behind a huge output of compositions for piano duo, but also explored and exploited all the possibilities of the genre. It is now up to Kolesnikov and Tsoy to translate that true treasure of musical ideas to our concert hall exactly 200 years later.
That their years of experience are paying off is proven by their international tours and recently their first album as a duo – out on Harmonia Mundi. However, their characters are reportedly very different, while their distinct playing styles are hardly comparable. But instead of meeting in the middle, they greet each other from the extremes. And it is precisely that, according to Fiona Maddocks of the British newspaper The Observer, that makes them so unique: “The mix — to oversimplify — of Kolesnikov’s more inward, poetic exploration and Tsoy’s tendency to more extravagant expressivity makes them ideal duo partners.”
Pavel Kolesnikov & Samson Tsoy play the Henry Le Bœuf Hall on 1 November. Book your tickets here.
