BBC Music Magazine

ROMAN RABINOVICH pianist

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Due to my work recording Haydn’s sonatas, I’ve been listening to a lot of his symphonies, string quartets and vocal works to delve into his style and figure out how I want to perform it. Haydn’s music is full of surprise, spiritual depth and humour and yet completely unpretenti­ous. I’ve been inspired by Sir Roger Norrington’s approach to the symphonies. He brings a wonderful sense of gesture, shape and transparen­cy that brings the music to life.

I’m a big Radiohead fan and I’ve enjoyed Jonny Greenwood’s music in PT Anderson films. So when I heard that Greenwood collaborat­ed with an Israeli composer living in India,

Shye Ben Tzur, and a band of musicians called The Rajasthan Express, I had to get my hands on the disc! The album, Junun,

is fascinatin­g. It’s a mix of Indian devotional music with electronic sounds and Hebrew lyrics.

I’ve been studying Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire

in the last few weeks and have been listening to Christine Schäfer’s recording with Pierre Boulez conducting the Ensemble Interconte­mporain. Pierrot

is an incredible musical experience and is one of the most complicate­d pieces of that time. It is a challenge to communicat­e the extreme theatrical gestures in a comprehens­ive way, but this recording is so convincing. Boulez creates perfect balance, nuance and colour, and a clarity of expression.

Just a few days ago I came across a recording of a live concert from Verbier of Sergei Babayan playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, with Joshua Weilerstei­n conducting the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

It’s an inspiring performanc­e. Babayan plays with such elegance, spontaneit­y and rhythmic crispness. There was so much imaginatio­n and colour. Though Mozart concertos are notoriousl­y difficult – the pianist is so exposed and every note matters – for me, there is nothing in the world like this music.

Roman Rabinovich gives six UK concerts in October, including dates at the Wigmore, Usher and Glasgow Royal concert halls

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