Search - Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninov :: Twelfth Van Cilburn International Piano Competition: Alexander Kobrin, Gold Medalist

Kobrin is a young genius, and the proof is on this disc.

Jennifer E. Spreng | Owensboro, Kentucky | 12/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Twenty-five-year-old Russian, Alexander Kobrin, was the run-away-with-it gold medalist of the prestigious, 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. This disc of some of his best solo performances at the competition is mind-blowing, recorded in stressful, live competition conditions, and though his brilliant concerto performances that are sadly not available on disc, are if anything more so, so much of what makes Kobrin special is right here, ready to enchant a serious music lover.



Unlike many young musicians, Kobrin comes to music as a "thinking man," a reader, an athlete, a social being, someone who wants to understand, interact with, and conceptualize life and its meaning at a deep level, constantly questioning and connecting ideas. These lead him to pieces of music, inform musical ideas, and feed his emotional connection to the works he plays that simply differentiate him from other young pianists. Nowhere was that more evident at the Cliburn than his semifinal recital, represented on this disc by the lead off Etudes-Tableaux, opus 33 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, in which each etude was both sensitive to the context in which Rachmaninoff wrote it, but also informed by Kobrin's own experience and insight. His extremely stretched and emotive performance the same composer's second sonata will surprise those used to readings by Horowitz and the composer himself, but Kobrin's performance argues that perhaps there was more in Rachmaninoff's composition than was seen and accepted fifty years ago. Not many young pianists are doing that.



Despite all the Rachmaninoff, Kobrin is a bit of a Chopin specialist, and that interest is represented here with a short Nocturne, but Kobrin has an all-Chopin CD that includes all 24 Preludes that is well worth anyone's attention. Kobrin is also a particular fan of Schumann and Brahms, and although one will have to purchase the unedited Cliburn CD or DVD (or watch the streaming webcast) to hear his personal view of Schumann's Symphonic Etudes -- well worth the effort as Schumann is Kobrin's current passion -- the other treat on this disc are both books of Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Paganini, which, as one friend of mine put it quite aptly, was one of the few performances by a young artist of the piece that presented it as music, not an athletic event.



Not every emotion Kobrin expresses is "pretty." He is not entertainment. His work is art in its richest sense. Kobrin's recordings and performances should not be missed. This is a worthy addition to any collection."

A Master of the piano

Maris V. Lidaka Sr. | Oak Park, IL USA | 12/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was introduced to Alexander Kobrin by Maestro Paul Freeman of the Chicago Sinfonietta - Mr. Kobrin was a featured performer at their last concert. He was amazing.



I bought this CD immediately, and his performance as a pianist IMHO equals or exceeds that of Vladimir Horowitz and all other pianists of today or of the past. I speak as a musician, a former violinist. The tone he teases out of the piano, and the clarity, is something I have not heard before."