Boris Berezovsky

This article may require copy-editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. (September 2008)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

Boris Vadimovich Berezovsky (Russian: Бори́с Вади́мович Березо́вский; born January 4, 1969, in Moscow) is a Russian pianist.

Biography

Berezovsky studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz. Following his London début at the Wigmore Hall in 1988, The Times described him as "an artist of exceptional promise, a player of dazzling virtuosity and formidable power."^{[citation needed]} Two years later that promise was fulfilled when he won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.^{[citation needed]}

Berezovsky has admitted to struggling with an addiction to gambling as of 2007.^{[citation needed]} He has one daughter, Evelyne Berezovsky (born 1991), who is also a pianist. He currently lives in Brussels.

Performances and recordings

Boris Berezovsky works regularly as a soloist with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Monnaie, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Hamburg, the Hessischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev, Dmitri Kitajenko, Antonio Pappano, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit.

Boris Berezovsky’s recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard have been greeted with high critical acclaim. He has also made a considerable number of records for Teldec including solo discs of works by Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Medtner, Ravel and the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes.

In May 2005 he had his first solo recital in Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and played in the same venue in January 2006 with the Orchestre National de France. In January 2007 he played seven recitals "Carte Blanche" in Louvre.

He has a noted partnership with violinist Vadim Repin and has also worked with other distinguished colleagues including Julian Rachlin, Michael Collins, Ralph Kirshbaum, Boris Pergamenschikov, Brigitte Engerer, Hamish Milne, Akiko Suwanai, Dmitri Makhtin and Alexander Kniazev.

With the Mirare Label, he has recorded the Rachmaninov Préludes (May 2005) as well as the complete Rachmaninov Piano concertos with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitri Liss (August 2005). The latter were criticized as being "interpretively lightweight" with a piano tone that "turns ugly above mezzo-forte, which accounts for about 75 percent of the time".^[1] His album Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Khachaturian Piano Сoncerto (Ural Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry Liss) was released on April 2006 in the UK.

The most recent recordings are Medtner Tales & Poems with Yana Ivanilova (soprano), Vassily Savenko (baritone) (Mirare 2008), Medtner Two pieces for two pianos, Op. 58, with Hamish Milne (piano) in: Nikolai Medtner Complete Piano Sonatas; Piano Works — Vol. 7 (Brilliant Classics 2008), Rachmaninov Suite No. 1 for two pianos, Op. 5 & Suite No. 2 for two pianos, Op. 17, with Brigitte Engerer (piano) (Mirare 2008).

He has initiated and organized International Medtner-Festival that took place 2006 and 2007 in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Vladimir.

Awarded CDs (selected)

• A trio consisting of Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Makhtin, Alexander Kniazev recorded a DVD of Tchaikovsky pieces for piano, violin and cello and Rachmaninoff's Trio élégiaque “A la mémoire d’un grand artiste” presented on ARTE TV Channel and NHK in Japan. They received for this DVD the 4 stars Diapason d'Or.
• For Warner Classics International Boris Berezovsky recorded with the same trio the Shostakovitch Trio No. 2 and Rachmaninoff Trio élégiaque No. 2 which were awarded Choc de la Musique in France, Gramophone in England, ECHO Klassik^[2] and Deutsche Schallplattenkritik^[3] in Germany.
• His solo live recording Chopin/Godowsky Etudes was released in January 2006 and got several awards such as the Diapason d'Or, RTL d'Or and BBC Music Magazine^[4].
• His album of Paul Hindemith Ludus Tonalis and Suite 1922 (Warner Classics) was awarded ECHO Klassik^[5] as the best solo recording of "Music of the 20th — 21st Century".

DVDs

• Boris Berezovsky — "Les Pianos de la Nuit". Liszt Transcendental Etudes, S. 139. Director: Andy Sommer. Filming: 04.08.2002 (Naïve 2003)
• Bois Berezovsky / Dmitri Makhtin / Alexander Kniazev — "Les Pianos De La Nuit". Tschaikovsky Seasons (No. 6); Nocturne d-moll, Op. 19, № 4; Trio a-moll "A la mémoire d’un grand artiste", Op. 50; Serenade melancholique. Director: Andy Sommer. Filming: 10.08.2004 (Naïve 2006)
• Boris Berezovsky — "Change of Plans": Interview & Performance. Beethoven 33 Variationen C-Dur on Theme Antonio Diabelli, Op. 120; Medtner Tales, Op. 14, 20, 26, 34, 35, 48, 51; Llywelyn Improvisation on "Change of Plans"; Godovsky Altes Wien; Lyadov Preludes d-moll, Op. 40, No. 3 and G-Dur, Op. 46, No. 3, Bagatel As-Dur, Op. 53, No. 3. In: "Legato — The World Of Piano", Vol. 1. Director: Jan Schmidt-Garre. Filming: 14.07.2006 (Naxos 2007)

References

1. ^ http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=9856
2. ^ ECHO Klassik, 2005.
3. ^ Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, 2005.
4. ^ BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2006.
5. ^ ECHO Klassik, 2007.

External links

• Biography from Warner Classics
• Michael Church about Boris Berezovsky for The Independent (1997)
• Peter Culshaw about Boris Berezovsky for Telegraph (2006)
• Mariko Kato about Boris Berezovsky for The Japan Times (2007)

See also

• Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati: Boris Berezovsky
• A video of Berezovsky playing Liszt's Mazeppa
• Liszt's Wilde Jagd by Boris Berezovsky