Maryna Mazhukhova is a pianist from Belarus. When you think of Belarus, you think of the Chernobyl disaster, and in her career, you can see her performing at the United Nations' 10th anniversary concert for Chernobyl. After Belarus, she studied at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and has been active all over the country. David Dubal, author of "Evenings with Horowitz," praised her, saying, "Maryna Mazhukhova is a very talented and sincere pianist, and her performances are full of emotion, poetry, and depth," so I decided to go and listen to her.
Although the hall is called Carnegie, it is the small hall called "Weill Recital Hall" on the third floor.
The first thing I noticed was that the crowds in the main hall were completely different. I wonder why that is? Maybe it's because the tickets are cheap at $20?
Secondly, the performance was "???". If this is the case, surely a music college student around here would be better? The pedaling is poor, so the sound is muddy, and conversely, there are also many places where the sound cuts off abruptly. Therefore, there is no connection to the music. The melody doesn't sing, it's no good. The first song, Scriabin 1 I felt uncomfortable with the first few notes (the sound is not dense), but this changed to certainty when I got to Chopin's Sonata No. 3. In short, it's recital level. Frankly speaking, even Japanese high school students can do better.
So, that's the conclusion.
In Japan, performances at Carnegie Hall are often mentioned in the resume, but I don't trust it at all because it can be done if you have money. Also, critics' reviews are unreliable.
The program for the day is as follows:
Maryna Mazhukhova, pianist
Weill Redital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, May 2, 2004 5:30pmAlexander Scriabin
Sonata No.0 Op.68
Sonata No.10 Op.70
Two poems, Op.32F
Sonata No.3 in Bminor, Op. 58Claude Debussy
from Douze Etudes (1915)Franz Liszt
Paraphrase on Theme from Verdi's “Rigoletto”