Blog | Maria Razumovskaya

Apr 24, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - Y

When things get tough one of our strongest reactions is that to cling onto something of the past. Yearning for something that used to bring warmth and smiles becomes our comfort. With it inevitable perhaps that tinge of frustration of something that might be gone forever? Yearning for something just out of reach is bread and butter of creative artists. Knowing it can never be achieved, that the horizon moves away from us the closer we think we approach it, also gives that

11 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 24, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - X

Sometimes the signs are all around us. Distractions, convenience of ‘ready-processed’ information, laziness, denial, closed-minds and self-isolation can blind us to what is happening around us. X is a tribute to the cryptic but extraordinary games that #music can play... #COVID19 #workingfromhome #piano #lockdown

9 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 22, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - W

Has anyone else noticed the wonderful new #lockdown phenomenon where people walk out of the front door timidly, then gathering more and more confidence start looking alive as they launch into their once-daily permitted ration of stepping out into the world? Then, returning back they disappear - not to be seen until a new, clear day beckons again... Sounds familiar? Of course - it must be that #magician #Debussy capturing the #music of the legendary submerged isle of Ys! #COVI

7 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 20, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - U

To say that 2020 has thrown an #unexpected spanner in the works is probably one of the biggest #understatements I can make. Oh well, in the spirit of the unexpected here is a tribute to those moments in our lives that go by largely unknown... #COVID19 #workingfromhome #music #piano #houseconcerts

13 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 19, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - T

Today is Russian Orthodox Easter, so it’s a lively and joyful toe-tapping musical offering for the Lockdown PIano Alphabet. It’s a set of Romanian Folk Dances, or Tanze, by Bartok - from Transylvania... I won’t tell if you jump around it to as an extra to your allowable ‘one daily exercise’. #COVID19 #workingfromhome #dance #music #share

8 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 16, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - Q

I never thought I’d think, let alone say this, but - as the Government has officially extended #Lockdown by 3 more weeks - when will we finally be able to experience the chaotic hustle and bustle of non #SocialDistancing #queues? For now, here is what feels like a distant memory with Mussorgsky’s bustling Limoges #Market. Enjoy! #COVID19 #workingfromhome #piano #music #share #together

14 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 15, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - P

When that a cetain absurd air of pompous self-importance lingers around, it’s only a matter of seconds before eyes roll. For #Debussy it was an invitation to unleash his acerbic wit and indulge in some #musical #Parody! Here the hallowed #Wagner is not only in the #Children’s #Corner, but thrown out in the street amidst a the #moonwalk or perhaps boogie-woogie of its day - the #Cake #Walk. Go on, have a snigger... #COVID19 #workingfromhome #piano #music #humour

7 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 14, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - O

Contorting fingers in quite a popular #pastime at the #piano. Virtuoso pianists in the twentieth century were especially fond of what they called #organist fingering - where you make a silent, sneaky substitution. It lets you layer the music underneath and over a melodic line in a way that makes it seem like it flows opulently in all directions. The effect is of hypnotic yet deceptive simplicity. See if you agree! #COVID19 #workingfromhome #yoga #piano #relaxing #music #sha

8 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 13, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - N

#Words usually dictate - that is their downfall. Too often we see or hear words and act according to their instuction, or repeat them, without pausing to think about what they mean to us; what they might mean to someone else; and what the consequences might be of them being undestood differently, or taken out of context . #Music has the distinct position of being able to narrate where words fail to capture a nuance or suggestion. Music can #evoke. It doesn’t carry a prescri

9 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 12, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Piano Alphabet - M

#Meditation has somehow been adopted into #trend. Social media is flooded with meditation tutorials, books give us a run down of the #essential #mindfulness and #creative #visualisation #techniques, and companies are selling hours upon hours of mind-numbing noise marketed as #music for meditation. #Retreat #weekends and #meditation #holidays in Nepalese monasteries for those affluent enough entice punters with promises of #remote #isolation. Well, we are in #lockdown... ye

11 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 10, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Piano Alphabet - J

#Smiling is good for us. I’ve been assured it’s a fact that has been backed up with plenty of science. So why are classical concerts full of such serious faces even when the music is trying its best to make you #giggle? I wonder if it’s because like all good #jokes, a musical joke needs #context. It’s only funny if we appreciate what is being parodied. A few weeks ago we would not have found it funny to see memes playing with the idea of #SocialDistancing. So, J is for jo

13 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 8, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - I

Art is an #illusion. I feel very strongly that the #comfort that art brings must in some ways be linked to its ability to give a chance for people not simply to #believe, but to actually sense that something which seems #impossible is actually #possible. Scriabin’s Prelude for the Left Hand alone is one of those works where melancholy somehow - unnoticed by us - melts away into calm. #COVID19 #lockdown #WorkingFromHome #music #PushingTheLimits

8 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 5, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - F

As society the unquestioning trust for the written word, and the weight collectively given to common opinion (or the ‘normal way’ of doing things), can transcend all sense of logic. Art thrives when it is free to question. So, F is for #fabrication and #fantasy, as well as a little #faith... #COVID19 #lockdown #music #fact #fiction #fantasy #fabrication #Beethoven #Bach #piano

8 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 5, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - E

We’ve heard a lot recently about what people consider ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’. I can’t help feeling that the opinions, statements and arguments from different people about what should be #essential in these #extraordinary times have brought out a complete mix of the #best, #selfless, #compassionate, #touching, as well as the downright #ridiculous and #unsettling in our #society. I am putting out another ‘essential’ into the mix - Bach. #COVID19 #lockdown #essential #

11 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 3, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet - D

Turning to letter D I reflected on the idea that in times of difficulty perhaps the most important thing we can dare to do is to #dream. That is to say: to stay awake to reality, but rather than fall into despair, to #dig deep to unearth those resources that to all cold logic seem unlikely, or indeed impossible. To me, nothing captures this better than #Schumann’s ‘Dreaming’ (Traumerei) from Kinderszenen Opus 15. #COVID19 #lockdown #music #dream #piano

11 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 2, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet: C

The letter C conjures up a whole wealth of associations, both musical and not. After thinking about many contenders for this post I decided to share with you #Chopin, and his masterful #command and #control of #chiaroscuro (the art of contrasting #light with dark). In Chopin’s so-called ‘Raindrop’ Prelude the sound-world seems to change so dramatically when the ominous chorale casts its shadow. It is, however, nothing more than that - a passing shadow. It melts away and t

17 views0 comments

@MariaPianist

Apr 1, 2020
1 min

Lockdown Pianist Alphabet: B

B is for Bonnie, my half-Siamese cat, insisted on being a #lockdown co-worker to help me make this video. In all seriousness though, B is for #Beethoven, as well as for Blitz and Blockade. Listen to my short introduction to see how Beethoven unites my two cities, Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) and London, via two formidable pianists, Myra Hess and Maria Yudina. Enjoy and please share! #COVID19 #workingfromhome #unity #concert #music #together

25 views0 comments

Don't let COVID-19 destroy our compassion, empathy and solidarity

@MariaPianist

Mar 23, 2020
1 min

Don't let COVID-19 destroy our compassion, empathy and solidarity

How surreal everything feels. How divisive and hostile parts of society have become to age, profession, race, lifestyle in just a matter of days, if not hours. For most of us this is the first time in our lives (and perhaps the lives of our parents and elder friends and colleagues) that our sense of liberty is under impending infringement. Musicians live to communicate. They live to speak through #music to bring together a group of people - who may have little in common as

41 views0 comments

Recharge and Reboot: A Musician's Perspective

@MariaPianist

Mar 4, 2020
3 min

Recharge and Reboot: A Musician's Perspective

Music depends on routine. Applied to one of the highest creative activities of humankind that statement feels like sacrilege - or at least it feels like debasing something that seeks to be inspired and ephemeral into the framework of a repetitive exercise. Yet, routine and repetition are the most irreplaceable pillars that must first be in place to enable the musician to negotiate the creative facets of their art. Simply put: to be a musical artist, one must also be prepar

51 views0 comments

Narcissus's Fall: Russia's Reimagining the Rose & Nightingale

@MariaPianist

Mar 4, 2020
5 min

Narcissus's Fall: Russia's Reimagining the Rose & Nightingale

The image of the rose and nightingale is deeply intertwined with Russia’s cultural identity. Look only to Russian fine art in the nineteenth century, and the nightingale, or those gathering to admire it, appears as an inseparable part of the epoch’s complex narrative of identity. It is, of course, a borrowed and appropriated inspiration. Neither the heady fragrance of the rose, nor this unassuming brown little bird are natives of Russia - especially not its cultural melting-p

19 views0 comments