Looking back… looking forward with Lukas Geniušas

di Nicola Giaquinto - 19 Settembre 2024

The focal point of this year’s Bartolomeo Cristofori International Piano Festival is the correlation between music and technology.

One could almost say that these two fundamental pillars of civilization have shared a common evolutionary track for as long as humans have been on earth, carrying their innate need to advance technologically to give better voice to their musical sensibility. With all the recent breakthroughs in the fields of automation and computing, this tight binomial is projected to reach unimaginable frontiers in the fast-paced 21st century.

Russian-Lithuanian pianist Lukas Geniušas is one of the leading artists of his generation and this year’s resident pianist at the Padova based festival. His week long tour de force will give him the opportunity to give his own voice to well known classical repertoire while also presenting something new to the audience with the help of British composer Gabriel Prokofiev, who will be performing alongside Geniušas in his newly commissioned Suite for Piano and Live Electronics. I had a short but meaningful conversation with Lukas, who was kind enough to virtually welcome me into his Berlin living room.

N G: As the resident pianist for the Cristofori festival this year, you will be performing three concerts. One with orchestra, a solo recital with added electronics, and one in piano duo formation. What aspects do you enjoy about each ensemble… and what do you find challenging?

L G: It is all very circumstantial!

There is no secret in the fact that most pianists – me included – enjoy playing alone, since the responsibility for a good performance is solely on them… no interference and no distraction, except for the occasional cellphone ringtone from the audience. I find this format to be the most rewarding and creatively fulfilling, since it gives me the most freedom of expression.

The orchestral performance can be super enthusiastic and energizing, if the pianist and the orchestra are matching in all aspects. Playing Prokofiev’s Concerto n.3 is going to be more of a challenge for me. It is a piece that never became part of my musical body as much as other concertos I have learnt before. Nevertheless, I think that the slight unfamiliarity with this piece is going to make the performance quite interesting.

The piano duo concert with my wife, Anna Geniushene, might be the most easy going event out of the three. We obviously understand each other very well music, despite the occasional disagreement! The program we came up with is something I am very much looking forward to.

N G: The Cristofori Festival 2024 is about the relation between music and technology. What’s your view on the topic? How much has technology impacted your musical career throughout the years?

L G: Every musician deals with a highly technological instrument on a daily basis.

Although the piano has not evolved much in the past hundred years, I think most pianists are unaware of how interesting and complicated this instrument is from a manufacturing point of view. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in emotions and interpretation, but getting in touch with the instrument (literally!) and its functionalities could bring a new level of awareness. Being good friends with many tuners also helped me understand this concept on a deeper level, and I believe the knowledge I gained significantly improved the quality of my playing.

Although the piano has not evolved much in the past hundred years, I think most pianists are unaware of how interesting and complicated this instrument is from a manufacturing point of view.

Lukas Geniušas

When it comes to a purely technological point of view, I found the evolution of recording technology to be quite remarkable, in my experience. Just think about how quickly we went from going to the store buying music cassettes and CDs to being able to record anything, anywhere we are and sharing it to everyone in a matter of mere seconds.

I am also a bit of a gadget junkie! I recently gifted my wife with a pair of glasses equipped with an incorporated camera and microphone… the fact that I can discretely wear this accessory, go on stage and capture a concert from the point of view of the artist is very unique.

N G: Included in the second concert is a live electronics performance alongside Mr. Prokofiev, what can you tell me about this piece and how you enjoy working with live electronics? 

L G: Gabriel Prokofiev is a highly educated and academic musician, it was very easy for the both of us to find a mutual language to create something interesting that the audience might enjoy and… dare I say, give our small contribution to the development of piano playing. I am quite sure everyone will appreciate the different soundscape created with this ensemble and its high rhythmical drive.

N G: How does it connect with the others you picked for your solo part? 

L G: I would say that it makes sense in the context of the program. The bridge connecting Debussy to Stravinsky and Prokofiev is well known, and on the surface Gabriel Prokofiev’s music obviously synergizes with his grandfather’s.

The theme of futurism mainly comes from Sergei Prokofiev’s Second Sonata, which – albeit a page from is youth – is very forward looking. I reckon his grandson really took the family legacy forward with his particular musical language.

N G: Have you ever had any prior experience with playing alongside live electronics? Do you think this kind of music should be presented more often to the big audience?

L G: I came across this genre about seven years ago, when I stumbled upon pieces for piano and interactive electronics by greek composer Minas Borbudakis and ever since then the thought of introducing electronics to my repertoire has always been in my mind… since there is only so much more that anyone of us can add to standard classical pieces.

It would be interesting to include more electronic music in a classical setting, although it is still technically considered a dangerous route to follow. Pianists of my generation were taught in a very traditional way… one almost skeptical of the idea of following potential new paths.

I did find myself growing up with two lines of consciousness: I was aware and highly respected the importance of traditional classical music, but also used to be a teenager obsessed with IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), Drum and Bass and Hip-Hop to a certain extent. Wrapping my head around this duality was hard at first, so in a way this concert with Gabriel is a medium to finally reconcile these two aspects of my life as a musician.

N G: The last concert is dedicated to American music and includes another world premiere. What can you tell me about the piece from Mr. Leonid Desyatnikov? 

L G: Leonid Desyatnikov is a very dear friend of mine and a composer who had considerable recognition worldwide… his status in Saint Petersburg is almost of mythological resonance! I grew up knowing his music very well and learning every piece he composed.

His style is very distinctive and is usually addressed to as post modernist, but outside of standard definitions the main quality I can point out about his music is his ability to be exceptionally sophisticated and multilayered while at the same time being accessible for the untrained listener. To me, this is a winning recipe to create an interesting piece of art which also sounds like a nice piece of music, without the need for unnecessary and overly brainy expedients.

There is also an ever present underlying commentary aspect in every piece by Mr. Desyatnikov; take for example his Du Côté de chez Swan, a piece that fundamentally puts Camille Saint-Saëns and Marcel Proust in the same room.

St. Petersburg, Florida is, in essence, a commentary on a piece by Reinhold Glière, a well known Russian composer who wrote a famous orchestral hymn to honor the great city of Saint Petersburg. The addition of a slight western tint to the title is a sort of obscure little detail, added to subtly and unexpectedly blend this nostalgic Russian canticle into the upbeat American program we are presenting.

We hope to be able to convey the rhythmical drive and lyrical depth of the piece in a way that the listeners will enjoy the sheer beauty of this music.