Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Field Marshall from Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death

Death's triumphant ride over the battlefield, chillingly performed by Dmitri Hvorostovsky. [Hallowe'en hive call: who is the pianist in this video? He is awesome, but unnamed in the video's description.] Update: A huge thanks goes to Pamela for the positive ID on the pianist: he is none other than Ivari Ilja, a long-time collaborator with Hvorostovsky and head of the piano department at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

4 comments:

  1. I believe it is Ivari Ilja; he has been Hvorostovsky's pianist of choie and is indeed amazing!!!

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  2. Also, this looks like it is the same concert from Moscow 2005. There is more on youtube.

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  3. It infuriates me that the pianist isn't even named. Which means you must hyperventilate in exasperation. This pianist was indeed awesome. So much so, I was even distracted away from Dima's inherent hotness!

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  4. Thanks, Pamela - he's definitely Ivari Ilja.

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