{"id":1856,"date":"2017-01-24T21:39:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T21:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2017-03-15T21:56:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T21:56:25","slug":"ian-maksin-at-le-poisson-rouge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=1856","title":{"rendered":"Ian Maksin at Le Poisson Rouge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Page from The Aquarian<\/p><\/div>\n

Ian Maksin
\nLe Poisson Rouge<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jan. 4 2016<\/p>\n

By Doktor John<\/p>\n

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Internationally acclaimed cellist, Ian Maksin brought his unique and eclectic style before a packed audience at popular nightclub and performance space LPR on Bleeker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village on a Wednesday night following New Years Day. Now at the height of his life-long virtuosity, Russian\u2013born Maksin started mastering string instruments at the age of three, introduced by his father in his native St. Petersburg, known as Leningrad at the time.<\/p>\n

Although clearly classically trained, he has hearkened to the siren\u2019s call of blues, rock, jazz and world music, incorporating unique and personalized elements of these and more into his musical creations.
\n Thus the adoring, all-ages audience was thrilled when he opened with his dazzling version of Bach\u2019s Suite No.3 for Unaccompanied Cello, interlaced with the Beatles\u2019 \u201cCome Together\u201d and with bluesy, bent-note phrases which he self-described as \u201cBach meets BB King.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next followed several pieces off Maksin\u2019s album, \u201cSoul Companion<\/a>,\u201d including a tribute to Sting, whom he admires and for whom he had previously opened; and he made the hearts of listeners soar with his interpretation of \u201cFields of Gold\u201d and quotes from \u201cShape of My Heart.\u201d After introducing Korean-American modern composer Paul Yeon Lee on stage, Maksin performed Lee\u2019s atonal \u201cLost in the Echo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Maksin turned to variations on a traditional Russian love-song\/lullaby, which soon evolved into an excursion through a world of folk musical themes that spanned from the Caucasus and Armenia, through Eastern Europe, and winding even through Celtic strains of Appalachia., all masterfully expressed by an unaccompanied cello. The halfway point in the event was reached with variations on a Russian theme from his \u201cSoul Companion\u201d and a new work called \u201cTemptation of the Firebird,\u201d an obvious reference to Stravinsky.<\/p>\n

Maksin sang and accompanied himself of cello during the next segment, proving he has a really nice and well developed voice, tackling songs of longing composed by a Russian \u00e9migr\u00e9 in Paris during the so-called Soviet-induced Diaspora of Russians into Western Europe. These were mainly sung in Russian but included some French.
\n Maksin\u2019s s version of \u201cBefore You Accuse Me\u201d was inspired by Eric Clapton\u2019s 1989 version, but sounded as down-home and authentic as Bo Diddley\u2019s original. His treatment of the Bill Withers\u2019 \u201cAin\u2019t No Sunshine\u201d was enhanced by his classical style treatment, as was Jacques Brel\u2019s \u201cAmsterdam,\u201d recognizable by its familiar folk melody \u201cGreensleeves,\u201d on which it is based.<\/p>\n

Maksin\u2019s attempt to end the show and leave the stage sparked a near riot of devoted fans, so he returned and delighted them with an unexpected rendition of the theme from \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d but that didn\u2019t end the matter. A second attempt to leave the stage had to be postponed for yet another encore, this time the huge international and universally recognized hit \u201cCaruso\u201d by the late singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla from Bologna.
\n Finally \u2013 and now more than satisfied \u2013 the audience of classical music, jazz, ethnic Russian, blues, rock and world music fans released the artist to retire for the evening. He ended with a session of meeting fans, posing for photos and signing autographs by the exit from the auditorium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ian Maksin Le Poisson Rouge Jan. 4 2016 By Doktor John Internationally acclaimed cellist, Ian Maksin brought his unique and eclectic style before a packed audience at popular nightclub and performance space LPR on Bleeker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village on a Wednesday night following New Years Day. Now at the height of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1943,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/1943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}