No one would dream of disputing Alexander Malofeev's status as a transcendent virtuoso. However, far from confining himself to pyrotechnic displays, the young star likes to think outside the box, and the program for this recital proves it.

He takes us to the Scandinavian lands with Sibelius, whose Trees , delightful miniatures tinged with popular perfume, bring about a synthesis between Chopin and Liszt on the one hand, and French Impressionism on the other.

Grieg revisits Baroque dances in his homage to the great Danish writer, Ludvig Holberg (with a sublime Air looking towards Bach).

Finnish like Sibelius, Rautavaara alternates between breathtaking perpetual movement and suspended moment.

Alexander Malofeev then returned to his native Russian lands, with Scriabin and his Waltz , at first melancholic and then gradually adopting an ever more exalted lyricism; Prokofiev and his Sonata No. 2 , with its nervous energy; Stravinsky and the brilliant neo-classicism of the Symphony for Wind Instruments in a transcription by Arthur Lourié; and finally, precisely Lourié, perhaps the most French of Russian composers, whose Five Fragile Preludes reach peaks of melodic beauty and diaphanous harmony.