Work: Légende no. 2 "Saint François de Paule marchant sur les flots", S 175

Here's a winning formula to pack a concert hall for a Saturday night organ recital: book one of the country's best-known actor-managers to front the evening, invest in televisual effects, and write a good script. 

In a setting Liszt himself would have approved of – the grand hall, the plush red velvet swags and tails, the full nine feet of gleaming Steinway stretched across a stage bathed in a curious blue light, the eager Prommers craning in expectation – Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin celebrated the composer’s 200th birthday in a recital of coruscating virtuosity and extreme pianism.

Peu après Mikhaïl Pletnev et Alexander Malofeev, Nikolaï Lugansky est venu compléter le panorama de l'école russe du piano et montrer qu'il en était le patron, au fil d'un récital une nouvelle fois époustouflant.