Piano magic with a techno touch

The name is Maksim. If known by his full name, it will be Maximillian like the Emperor from South America. If he were French, it would be Maxim, like the famous restaurant in Paris. If he were Spanish or Filipino, it will be Maximo. But since he comes from Croatia, one of those countries in the old Yugoslavia, he spells his name as Maksim. And as simply Maxim is how he is getting to be known in these parts of the world although people here balk at coming up with a pronounciable sound that approximates his family name of Mrvica.

Maksim is a pianist. His single release is that new version of the Rimsky-Korsakov classic Flight of the Bumble Bee with a techno touch. The tune should give you a very good idea of the sort of piano playing that Maksim does. He is a pop pianist just like Vanessa Mae is a pop violinist. It is very easy to put these two young artists in the same category but the one the 28-year-old Maksim brings to my mind is Yanni. I do not know what has happened to him but there was a time when the Greek music stylist was the global sensation of the moment.

I think of Yanni because Maksim has the same combination of good looks. He can nicely fill up an Armani ad. Music talent, not all pianists can get away with The Flight of the Bumble Bee and audience savvy. He has a feel for what will sell. In this marketing-obsessed world of ours, all these mean that Maksim has all the qualities that make a pop star. Take note of how his album titled Maksim: The Piano Player mixes dexterous reinvented takes on classic favorites with new works that echo melodrama soundtrack scores. Ka-emote-emote. The better to provide listeners with their background music while the Maksim CD plays.

The Piano Player indeed has something for everybody. The Flight of the Bumble Bee and Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude in C Minor amazes. The theme from the movie Exodus inspires. Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini tells us that Maksim started out as a classical pianist and has not lost his touch. And then there are the new originals all composed by Tonci Huljic, which range from the elegiac Claudine, the romantic Hana’s Eyes, the anthemic Croatian Rhapsody and mad Latin, Cubana. The other tracks in the album are Huljic’s Wonderland, Handel’s Sarabande, Dance of the Baroness by fRano Parac and another version of Cubana Cubana presented as a bonus cut.

More Piano Sounds

Still on piano sounds. This time around the title of the album is Some Things from Home and the pianist is Olga Konkova who is from Russia, land of Rachmaninoff, Tschaikovsky, and other music greats. It is considered mandatory for children in the former Soviet Union to get trained in the arts at a very young age and Olga was no different. She studied music since she was six at the Russian Academy and her extensive training equipped her for what she wanted to do, which is play jazz.

So here is Russian Olga with her first album, Some Things from Home which she recorded in Oslo, Norway for the British label Candid. Olga composed and produced eight cuts in the album, No Doubt, Three Words, A Part of the Deal, Waltzing with J.C., You Name It, Sad Song in F, Some Things from Home and Stania. Two tracks are the American jazz classics composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Take the ‘A’ Train and Star Crossed Lovers.

It felt good to hear her new originals and the two standards blending so well together. Konkova melds old and new into one with her unique style, which can only be described as timeless. And surprise! She does not call attention to her technique or expertise or whatever with unnecessary flourishes. There are bravura moments but only when required. And neither does she lose track of the melodies with overimprovisation. Judging from this album, I can honestly say that Konkova is one of the best exponents of jazz piano music today. I have no intention of putting her alongside Ellington. That would be sacrilegeous. Not yet anyway. But you can already expect big things to happen to this girl.