Pianist Bertrand Chamayou performs the Skrjabin KlavierKonzert/Piano Concerto with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andris Poga in the Köhler Philharmonie of Cologne, Deutschland.

I enjoyed Bertrand’s playing  very much.   His playing is very clean with light pedal and he plays without any needless theatrics, unlike some of today’s circuit pianists.  He sits up tall and supports his back — again, unlike some of today’s circuit pianists — who are all hunched over/bent over with their nose practically on the keyboard.  They make my back hurt just watching them.  Where did they train to play like that where their piano professor did not correct their posture at the keyboard?  Posture is pretty basic stuff (sit up tall with shoulders down; support your back – think Artur Rubinstein), and they will likely have back problems later in life, if they’re not already (“I can’t understand why my back is hurting?  It makes playing the piano much less pleasurable for me”).  I was trained privately and then at the Conservatory the same way Bertrand was trained.  He’s also with HarrisonParrott.  Their artist management represent only the finest artists:

HarrisonParrott is an international artist and project management agency working in the field of classical music and the arts, with offices in London, Munich and Paris. It was founded in 1969 by Jasper Parrott and Terry Harrison.

Bertrand is playing a Steinway Model D Concert Grand widely used throughout the EU.  It’s why some artists much prefer to perform in the EU as opposed to the US, where the New York Steinway is used.  One might think that the two pianos are manufactured the same, but quite the contrary, which is odd when you think about it.  If I were to own a Steinway, I would order a piano from the Hamburg factory and not the New York factory.  I plan to write about the differences between the Hamburg Steinway and New York Steinway pianos at a later date.

I should also mention that this performance was superbly recorded by their excellent production crew.  The camera crew knows the piece and the camera was on Bertrand or the appropriate section or principal when they were playing.  And because of this, it makes the performance much more enjoyable to watch.

The last two chords of the piece in the piano are supposed to ring/be sustained, so the pianist uses the damper pedal to hold them/make them ring.  He also does so by holding those chords on the keyboard.