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Piano Talks

Piano Talks is a TV series hosted by celebrated pianist Janara Khassenova, the artistic

advisor and jury member of NTD's International Piano Competition.

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Piano Talks presents an intimate experience with classical music while offering erudite yet accessible insights into the greatest composers, alongside exclusive repertoires from the NTD's International Piano Competition. Its mission is to promote traditional arts of pure authenticity, goodness, and beauty with piano masterpieces from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods.

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Vladimir Feltsman: Classical Music in a Modern World
20:39

Vladimir Feltsman: Classical Music in a Modern World

We are delighted to share with you Piano Talks’ special episode featuring major Russian-born pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman. In the last 30 years, Vladimir Feltsman has been performing and educating many young musicians around the world. In this episode of Piano Talks, Feltsman invites us into his home for a broad discussion about music and life.
Special Episode: Hermitage Piano Trio
24:07

Special Episode: Hermitage Piano Trio

Repertoires: Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 Sergei Rachmaninoff (Arr. J. Conus for Piano Trio) Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101 (IV.Allegro molto) Johannes Brahms
Ep.1 - Becoming Beethoven
49:09

Ep.1 - Becoming Beethoven

Beethoven's music is anything but static, and neither was the composer's mind. We begin the series by meeting a young Beethoven, with a rarely heard piece that he used to introduce himself back in the day, soon to develop into the image of the genius we all remember. Repertoires : 24 Variations on "Venni Amore" by Righini Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, No. 3 "Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, 'Appassionata' Op. 57.
Ep.2 - Master Class with Victor Rosenbaum
55:19

Ep.2 - Master Class with Victor Rosenbaum

Late Beethoven is unique and groundbreaking, and Victor Rosenbaum explicates on Beethoven’s Sonata No.31 in A-flat Major, one of his last sonatas. "Our inner struggle, our inner striving and that voice is moving up one half step.That’s the smallest interval that exists in piano. And in music as in life, sometimes the smallest step is the most difficult." Repertoires: Beethoven Sonata No.31 in A-flat Major
Ep.3 - Bach’s Chaconne
42:32

Ep.3 - Bach’s Chaconne

The Chaconne movement of Bach's Partita No. 2 for solo violin is iconic, and has been adapted and arranged many times throughout musical history. Violinist Jaram Kim performs the movement and sits down with our host for a discussion about the work before we hear the romantic Bach-Busoni transcription of the Chaconne for piano. Repertoires: Bach: Partita for Violin Solo No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne Bach-Busoni: Chaconne
Ep.4 - Master Class with Vladimir Feltsman
56:42

Ep.4 - Master Class with Vladimir Feltsman

Bach always presents an interesting challenge for pianists, as he wrote for a completely different keyboard instrument. Vladimir Feltsman teaches works by JS Bach: a prelude and fugue from The Well Tempered Clavier, as well as the Bach-Busoni Chaconne. "To have, let’s say beauty of the tone, or whatever sound colors, it's not a technical matter. You have to have it, when you have it it will come out through your hands." Repertoires: JS Bach: a prelude and fugue from The Well Tempered Clavier Bach-Busoni Chaconne
Ep.5 - Chopin : Poland’s Poet of the Piano
48:02

Ep.5 - Chopin : Poland’s Poet of the Piano

Chopin was the most pianistic of composers, hardly writing for any other instrument. He took small pieces and movements like the scherzo, ballade, etude, and turned them into full masterworks for piano. Some say that if the piano did not exist, the poetic Frederic Chopin would have invented it. Repertoires: Etudes Op.10 No.10 Etudes Op.10 No.2 Etudes Op.10 No.8 Etudes Op.25 No.11 Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante op.22 Scherzo no.1 Sonata No. 2 B-flat minor, Op.357 (4th movement)
Ep.6 - Rachmaninoff’s Lost Russia
41:46

Ep.6 - Rachmaninoff’s Lost Russia

Just the mention of Russian music conjures up sounds of Rachmaninoff's piano works. But despite this iconic imagery, Rachmaninoff was a man out of place and out of time, writing about a memory of Russia that no longer existed from across the world, in a Romantic style that was already lost. Repertoires: Lilac, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 2nd Symphony played by Sergei Dreznin
Ep.7 - Triumph of Goodness
28:49

Ep.7 - Triumph of Goodness

Classical music is truly a universal language, capable of encompassing the depth, breadth, and color of any culture within its forms. Composer Susan Liu sits down to discuss two of her works and how she blends traditional Chinese music with the language of the classical piano. Repertoires: Glorious Realm Triumph of Goodness
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