'Paganini of the trumpet' thrills Shanghai audiences

Sergei Nakariakov, dubbed "the Paganini of the trumpet" since the age of 13, still inspires contemporary composers to write incredibly demanding pieces especially for him.

Recently, the Israeli musician brought a diverse program to Shanghai and Chengdu, collaborating with pianist Maria Meerovitch, with a promise to return again next year.

"Together with Maria, we tried to select a variety of pieces to form a diverse program, which includes Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn and also more contemporary pieces," he told Shanghai Daily before a weekend performance called "No Limit."

"The program also includes a piece by female French composer Jeanine Rueff, 'Four Miniatures' by Giya Kancheli, and a piece famous with trumpet audiences, 'Fantaisie Brillante.' The recital program is mostly romantic, with a whole variety of different things, not only for trumpet, but also for flugelhorn, which is not often played on the classical stage."

His return comes 12 years after his first visit, which also included Shanghai and Chengdu, while the musician hopes to bring a more challenging repertoire in the future.

He is famed for circular breathing, which enables the player to continue the sound and breathe at the same time, an unusual technique especially key to playing pieces re-arranged from string instruments.

Born into a family of musicians in the former Soviet Union, Nakariakov's career started with the piano at a young age, under the guidance of his father, a very strict piano teacher. He still loves piano as a listener, but had no fun playing the instrument.

So when he suffered a serious spinal injury that made it impossible to sit down for six months, young Nakariakov was rather happy to escape the piano and turn to the trumpet.

"It was a lot of fun to try something new," he said as he recalled instantly falling in love with the instrument he says "has its special voice."

One piece the musician has performed often and hopes to bring back to China is "Ad Absurdum" written for him by famed German composer Jorg Widmann, with an extremely crazy tempo that is almost unplayable.

"A crazy piece, not only for the soloist, but also for the orchestra," Nakariakov said.

"It's a very special composition, extremely technically demanding, and very different from the music that we played in the recital."

Nakariakov enjoys such a challenge, but he doesn't always understand what some contemporary composers try to do with different instruments, especially the trumpet. He gave the example of one composer who asked the player not to blow into the trumpet, and instead, make a squeaking sound.

"They like to find something very unusual. The main idea is to be original rather than making the best music possible," he said. "I think that's wrong. Rather than trying to make out of the trumpet something that is not the trumpet, I would prefer them to try using the tone of the trumpet as it is, because it has a special sound."