Pianist keys in to rhapsody and innovation

More than five years since the last album, Maksim released his 14th album Segmenti at the end of September, announcing the start of a new classical crossover concert world tour of the same name from China a few days later.

The new album consists of eight tracks, including two covers, three originals and three classics, which showcase as always a refreshing blend of different musical segments, genres and styles, explains the artist.

Among the eight tracks is The Show Must Go On, a notable rock hit from the legendary band Queen.

"This is one of the songs which I always wanted to do. I like Queen and I did Bohemian Rhapsody before. The songs from Queen are so powerful. It was round the time of the pandemic and the end of it (when making this song), a period when the world stopped for two years. And I thought it's a perfect song to do as we need to continue with our lives," says Maksim.

Although different from the original version, Maksim's covers are never about making them easier to play. In addition to the piano as the main instrument, he usually infuses the songs with rich symphonic sounds from the orchestra, as well as difficult and complex arrangement and techniques to interpret the themes with no less power.

Maksim is crossing his own boundaries too, with the challenging classical piece Prokofiev Fantasy presented on the album.

"It is one of the most technically complex and difficult pieces I ever had to record for my crossover albums. It comes in three parts, including the famous Romeo and Juliet Ballet and the coda from the Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No 3. This concerto is one of my favorites since I was a child. I've heard it a million times, and I want to keep the coda as it is, without changing any note. It's so difficult and complex, literally, to play 20 pages in one minute. I was laughing to myself when learning it, but it was so much joy and fun in the end," he says, laughing.

The original track Glorietta on the album, written by Croatian composer Tonci Huljic, is highlighted for its traditional Asian instruments and Oriental melodies, such as the pipa (a four-stringed Chinese lute) and Chinese bamboo flute.

This is not the first time that Maksim and Huljic absorbed Chinese and oriental elements into their creation. In his last album released in 2018, they made a majestic piece named New Silk Road, which integrated musical elements from China, Russia, India and Central Europe, and is well-received by Asian audiences.

Jake Zeng, a trade manager in Hangzhou, spoke highly of such elements.

"My favorite piece used to be the Croatian Rhapsody, but later, I like New Silk Road more. In his previous albums, he made the arrangements more on Western classical pieces. So the Chinese elements in New Silk Road are refreshing, and we as Chinese people are more connected and excited about such arrangements," says Zeng after the Segmenti world tour premiere in the city.