In stylistic terms, pianist Melnyk comes from the school of American minimalists, but on top of that he has added extraordinary virtuosity. He has thus significantly pushed the limits of the piano and the aesthetics and perception of his music, which has a trans-genre scope. The breakneck pace of his playing and the mesmerizing sonic colors are a brutal shock to classical audiences, but decades of hard work are behind his artistic success. The 74-year-old Melnyk's road to popularity has been surprisingly long, with independent labels making records since 1979, but he didn't release Illirion, his first album for Sony, until he was 68 in 2016.
Melnyk is originally Ukrainian and lives in Canada. A unique pioneer, he created a new language for the piano, which he calls “continuous music.” It is a revolutionary method he began developing after hearing Terry Riley’s In C in 1968. This way allows for fascinating mental and finger dexterity and the creation of complex figures on the keyboard. The result is sometimes reminiscent of the sound of a full orchestra, sometimes an organic counterpart to the structures that groups like Tangerine Dream and Ashra created on synthesizers in the 1970s.
In interviews, Melnyk expresses some disappointment that his playing is too unusual for classical audiences and too traditional for listeners of experimental music. Moreover, Melnyk has become the subject of sensationalist slogans such as “the fastest pianist in the world” or “the tempo of 19 notes per second with both hands”. The tabloid superlatives thus obscure the real heart of the matter, namely that the pianist can tell stories with his instrument that develop from a subtle sketch into a vivid painting and move towards a stormy climax.
A critic writes of Melnyk: “We have no shortage of fine pianists, but rare are those who can hold the interest of listeners over a long period. Melnyk develops his compositions slowly, the blocks containing multiple movements, melodies encapsulated in melodies and harmonies in harmonies. As the piece picks up pace, Melnyk speeds up and repeats the figures, the notes and figures turning into cycles.”
Inspired by the work of American minimalists like Steve Reich and Terry Riley, Melnyk’s music does indeed draw on repetition and also works in part with improvisation. But it must be taken into account that Riley used natural tunings generating strong harmonies that distinguished his compositions from Western classical music. Melnyk’s music, while similarly expansive, is more conservative in its approach to harmony. Sometimes it even sounds romantic, as if it swings on an axis between Chopin and Philip Glass.
