Roman Borisov Really Is That Good!

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Chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) in art is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects and figures.

Similar effects in cinema and photography also are called chiaroscuro. 

So what does all this have to do with Roman Borisov’s album, Chiaroscuro: Godowsky, Franck & Rachmaninoff, aside from the mild use of chiaroscuro lighting in the picture of the young pianist on the cover? 

I’m guessing, but I suspect Borisov is equating the light and shadow of chiaroscuro with how the three composers were inspired by earlier styles and composers– just as the how light and shadow bring out the drama and character of Vermeer’s Girl With the Pearl Earring (1665), and Arthur Edeson’s lighting and camera angles bring out the character and strength of Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon (1941, directed by John Huston)

But with all that aside, what I really want to talk about is how much I particularly enjoyed Roman Borisov’s rendition of Rachmaninoff’s final composition for solo piano, Variations on a Theme of Corelli (1930). While the original “theme” was from a much earlier time, the Russian Giant gives his variations a 20^th Century feeling. I’ve come to believe that Rachmaninoff’s later works are more modern than people really understood at the time– especially the Corelli Variations and the Symphonic Dances.

Roman Borisov was born in the 21^st Century. He brings a huge amount of honesty and talented playing to Rachmaninoff’s music, but I think he also shows us how the Corelli Variations anticipated what was to come. Late Romantic? Yes, and yet the more you listen, the less easy it is to categorize Rachmaninoff that easily.

The album is very well recorded with the piano given more of a stage presence, as opposed to a more intimate drawing-room feeling. The world will be listening to Roman Borisov’s piano for decades to come. He really is that good!