Nikita Mndoyants first came to my attention as a finalist in the 2013 Van Cliburn Competition, and subsequently as the 2016 Cleveland International Competition’s first prize winner. I annotated his solo debut CD for Steinway & Sons, which contained a particularly imaginative rendition of Prokofiev’s Sarcasms. The pianist continues to imbue Prokofiev’s music with both technical aplomb and intuitive musicality.
In the opening pages of the Fourth sonata’s first movement, Mndoyants’ attention to balance and line gives uncommon clarity to the low-register writing, while the main theme’s wistful character sings forth by way of the pianist’s well-defined finger legato. His superbly varied detaché articulation gives an extra kick and bristling joy to the Finale.
Mndoyants’ transcription of the Fifth symphony Scherzo loses nothing in translation, so to speak, by virtue of the pianist’s canny “pianistration” of registers, plus his own pianism’s prism-like transparency. He keeps the Eighth sonata’s long first movement alive and afloat with sustained mobility and assiduously built-up climaxes. One can actually dance to the dreamy lilt of Mndoyants’ Andante sognando. His measured tempos allow the rising and falling triplet phrases to communicate character, and for virtuoso passages (scales in contrary motion, for example) to convey maximum dynamic impact. In other words, you hear more orchestrating at the keyboard than mere piano playing.
Mndoyants’ own Nocturne makes much use of gestural outbursts sustained for long stretches with pedal resonance, sounding like a cross between Henry Cowell’s clusters and Olivier Messiaen’s stained-glass chords. How such a composition fits within an otherwise all-Prokofiev recital is anyone’s guess, yet it’s an effective and appealing work on its own terms. If he hasn’t yet done so, I challenge Mndoyants to transcribe and perform the Prokofiev Fifth Symphony’s remaining three movements!
