While the last Russian pianist in this series played no Russian music, he illustrated just how extraordinary these artists can be. Like the others, Nikolai Demidenko exhibited a gargantuan technique which he was loath to suppress.
His range of emotions went from the tenderest poetry to the stormiest agitation. Demidenko could play the densest textures with clarity, while taking the simplest lines and shaping them with lapidary finesse.
Only three works were on the programme (besides the Schubert and Chopin encores), written within six years and 20 kilometres of each other. Yet the Brahms and Schumann works still stand at the apex of the grand Romantic tradition, and Demidenko never stinted on his passion.
In the longest piece, Brahms' Third Sonata, Demidenko never had to reach to make his effects. The opening was never rushed, nor did Demidenko linger over the opening. By the time of those demanding octaves in the development, he had achieved a real authority. The second movement was perhaps more simple than purely poetic, but this itself gave room for the great crescendo near the end. Both the scherzo and finale were controlled, dynamic and muscular.
The opening Schumann A-B-E-G-G Variations did not exactly suffer from Demidenko's power, but his brilliance was more muscular then exuberant. One likes to think that Schumann was almost improvising, showing off his skill.
Demidenko showed all too well how difficult the piece is. But the fingerwork glistened, and the all-important vigor was plainly visceral.