In Beijing, Vladimir Putin Plays Two Piano Tunes From His Childhood
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By IVAN NECHEPURENKO MAY 14, 2017
MOSCOW — He has ridden shirtless on a horse in Siberia, piloted a hang glider with migratory birds, swum with dolphins, tossed judo opponents, and dived into the depths of Lake Baikal and the Black Sea.
He is Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and he added to his public repertoire of feats on Sunday by showing off his skills as a pianist.
He was in Beijing for the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, a $1 trillion plan for infrastructure and economic development in some 60 countries. And while waiting at a state guesthouse for China’s president, Xi Jinping, Mr. Putin sat down at a grand piano and played two tunes: “Evening Song,” by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi, and “Moscow Windows,” by Tikhon Khrennikov.
Both songs are from the late 1950s, when Mr. Putin, 64, was a child and the Soviet Union was emerging from the shadow of Stalin, who died in 1953.
The performance seemed casual, but it was clearly not spontaneous — a cameraman was on hand, and video of the impromptu recital quickly circulated on the Russian state news media.
The recital showed perhaps a softer side of Mr. Putin, an authoritarian leader who has been in power since 1999 and has often appeared eager to be seen as manly.
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“Evening Song,” usually performed with lyrics by Aleksandr Churkin, was written in 1957 and is considered an unofficial anthem of St. Petersburg, Mr. Putin’s hometown, formerly known as Leningrad.
Here are some of the lyrics:
“The city over the free Neva, the city of our glorious labor, listen Leningrad, I am singing to you my heartfelt song.”
In the 1980s, fans of the St. Petersburg soccer team Zenit turned it into an unofficial anthem for the team.
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