Ivan Gusev Chopin Recital in Review
House Concert, New York, NY
November 13, 2025
It may be rare for a reviewer to be asked to write up a concert in a private home (as opposed to one in a traditional concert hall), but “house concerts” have long been a way of sharing classical piano music, and they appear to be enjoying an increase in popularity. Nearly two hundred years ago, composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin was one example of a musician who preferred to share his music this way, in fact giving relatively few public performances in standard concert venues. (Such a fact seems hard for many to process, given the scope of the composer’s renown during his life and beyond, but it was the case.) It thus seems rather appropriate that, for a recent house concert given by pianist Ivan Gusev, the works presented were by none other than Chopin.
Mr. Gusev is a native of Kazakhstan who, after relocating to Russia at age four, started piano studies at age six and went on to distinguish himself at the Moscow Conservatory, where he received Bachelor’s, Master’s and DMA degrees with highest honors, having studied with Mikhail Voskresensky and Eliso Virsaladze. He has received prizes in Italy (the Mauro Monopoli Prize International Piano Competition), Russia (the Benditsky Russian Piano Competition and the Third International Neuhaus Piano Competition), and here in the United States (the 3rd Gershwin International Music Competition, the Dorothy MacKenzie Artist Recognition Scholarship Award from the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, the Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, and the New York Piano Festival and Competition). He also completed a Master’s degree at Mannes with Jerome Rose. Mr. Gusev has been reviewed by New York Concert Review on several occasions, quite favorably by this reviewer in a Mannes concerto prizewinner’s concert in 2017 and in his solo debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2018.
In this evening of all Chopin, he played a program that was thoughtfully constructed, with the largest work and finale being the Sonata No. 3 in B minor. Leading up to it were two Ballades (No. 1 in G minor and No 2 in F major), two Nocturnes (Op. 48. No. 1 in C minor and the Op. 37, No. 2 in G major, the latter opening the second half before the sonata), the Waltz in A minor, Op. 34, No. 2, the Mazurka in B minor, Op. 33, No. 4, the Étude in C-sharp minor, Op. 10, No. 4, and the Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39. All were arranged with care in regard to either key relationships, continuity, or contrast. Though the word “curate” sends many cringing from its overuse, there is definitely an art to curating a musical experience, and Mr. Gusev excels at it. The audience was rapt.
The Ballade in G minor opened the program, inviting us into a world in which Mr. Gusev is clearly comfortable. One had the sense that this pianist has lived inside this piece and knows and loves every corner of it. The only real glitch (aside from minor smudges in the coda) was a missing phrase on the opening page shortly following the pitter-patter of a family pet who decided to enter, crossing between the audience and the piano to curl up right near the piano (only to be removed after the piece concluded). Mr. Gusev continued the musical poetry without the slightest interruption.
While house concerts can be among the most memorable and intimate experiences of shared music, they can also bring the sorts of issues that concert halls largely eliminate – whether crying babies, delays, clinking wine glasses, or even a sense of obligation to socialize before playing. Thanks to Mr. Gusev’s considerate hosts, there seemed few of these here, though this listener wondered whether another concomitant of such concerts might have been affecting the sound – and that is the nagging compulsion an artist can feel to politely subdue the music’s greater storms for such a gemütlich environment. Often during Mr. Gusev’s excellent performances – and they were, as one has come to expect, marked by special sensitivity and care – one had a sense that he was holding back in the more dramatic sections and that he could have projected more contrast. Mr. Gusev has on several occasions struck this reviewer as a special artist, closer in understated spirit to, say, Richard Goode than to the flashy firebrands who abound these days; still, he may need to watch the tendency to be so self-effacing that some drama is lost. Sometimes an actual concert stage offers not merely physical elevation but the kind of elevation that encourages a separation from the realm of the everyday.
The Ballade No. 2 which followed enjoyed a beautifully conceived opening. Where the piano tone did not always sustain fully in longer notes (possibly due to the instrument itself needing a bit of voicing work), the pianist’s own sense of line and pacing sustained the life of the phrases. The left-hand “E” in the final chord resounded prominently in a way that pointed up the continuity to the opening of the subsequent Waltz Op. 34 in A minor, and in this waltz the pianist cast a musical spell of sorts. The audience refrained from applause afterwards, as they did following the beguiling Mazurka in B minor, the noble C-minor Nocturne, and even the brilliant C-sharp minor Étude. This latter piece was given an impressive ride, with exceptionally dry pedal for extra clarity. The first half then closed with the Scherzo in C-sharp minor, which found the pianist reveling more in Chopin’s full range of emotions and sonorities.
After a brief intermission, Mr. Gusev played the Nocturne in G major, Op. 37, No. 2, one of the most deceptively difficult of the Nocturnes to hold together. It was a joy to hear this pianist’s silken double-notes, particularly as he eased them gracefully into the piece’s Barcarolle-type flow, rather than heralding their entry as one hears all too often. He put the music first – a quality one would think should be a fairly obvious prerequisite for performing, though it isn’t always the case. There were moments when one wondered about various readings or editions (once in the F Major Ballade just before the stormy A-minor entry, once in this Nocturne before the second theme, and later in the Sonata’s second movement, trio section), but these questions became almost negligible within the overall experience.
One could predict that such a thoughtful pianist would handle the large Sonata in B minor well, and he did just that, managing to hold the sprawling first movement together quite convincingly. The second movement had the right leggiero touch and the Largo movement was extremely moving. The last movement was particularly successful and carefully planned from its measured start to its more impassioned finish. While one felt that there was still more power to unleash, one holds out hope that Mr. Gusev will bring this program to a larger venue with a concert grand soon. He will undoubtedly have a growing number of connoisseurs to appreciate it.
Meanwhile this audience was visibly thrilled and offered a standing ovation. He kindly obliged with an encore of Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 68, No. 2 in A minor – played with grace.
