Last month I attended a Seattle Symphony performance highlighted by Alexander Melnikov, a Russian pianist. His playing was very animated and played with a musicality that was not very common amongst my previous experiences listening to Russian musicians. He even gave the audience a little finger waggle when they began to applaud between movements.
My first recollection of a Russian-origin performer was when I was growing up and had the opportunity to see the Russian National Orchestra in performance. The orchestra was the perfect definition of technical soundness, almost as if the orchestra was a well-oiled museum. What was particularly striking was that all the violinists played in the exact same style-they were virtually indistinguishable other than their personal appearances. Their postures were the exact same, and each would use their bows in an identical manner. We would joke at the time that most of the violinists were former students of the concertmaster, though I wouldn't be too surprised if that was true. Last year I did write about a performance of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto by Daniil Trifonov, where he seemed to be a nervous mess combined with technical abilities. His lack of stage presence took away from the live performance, and almost turned it into a recording studio type of session.
It seems most curious that the Russian school of training seems to be technical brilliance at the expense of stage presence, whereas for many western soloists it seems to be great stage presence combined with some sloppy passages throughout the performance.
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