Winner of the 2023 "Heirs of Musical Romania" scholarship, pianist Nil Mladin will give a recital at the Sala Radio on Thursday the 6th of June. On the programme, Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata op. 53 "Waldstein", Johannes Brahms' 7 Fantasies op. 116 and Olivier Messiaen's "Le baiser de l'Enfant Jésus".

|The first episode of a larger discussion with Nil Mladin:

What did winning the 2023 edition of the Heirs of Musical Romania scholarship mean to you?

Of course, I was very happy to hear the news that I am the winner of the 2023 edition and it was a great encouragement and improvement in my artistic work. It was also a certain maturing and discipline that I need to prepare for the many concerts that I was about to perform, part of the prize I won.

You mentioned earlier that, for you, the Waldstein Sonata is music of the gods. Could you tell us more about it?

Of course. I chose to open the programme with this sonata which I feel is an Olympic music, a music of the gods and at the same time a work with which I bring a dose of optimism and energy. And the way I want to play it is as full of vitality and freshness as possible, which also involves a certain technical approach whereby I want to produce a fiery and fiery sound. But I chose to put it in the programme alongside Messiaen's music because it also has this divine atmosphere in its pure harmony. That's why I think it connects very well with Le baiser de l'Enfant Jésus, the last piece in my recital.

Do you see a kind of connection between the sacredness in Beethoven's music and that in Messiaen's music, then?

Yes. That's why, at the end of the recital, I will return to the spirituality with this piece very dear to me, "Le baiser de l'Enfant Jésus", with which I want to encourage the Romanian audience to taste a bit of Messiaen's music, and with which, at the same time, I feel I will bring this very special atmosphere to the recital, through the uniqueness of Messiaen's music. Here we have some specific elements, the theme of God, one of the four Christian themes, a leitmotif that animates the whole cycle and which will later overlap with another unique element, birdsong, which fascinated Messiaen. The whole work could easily represent the austerity and magnificence of a Gothic cathedral, but on the other hand the detail and rhythm of each piece owes much to the Hindu rhythms and the sound of the Balinese gamelan musical instrument, in fact very similar to the sound of bells in Enescu's 'Carillon nocturne'.

I really enjoy that these things give me the opportunity to create special effects and treat the piano in a different way, which I look forward to presenting in my recital.