ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Jiali’s playing has grown in stature since her graduation recital at the Royal Academy last year ……..this is the third time I have heard her Dutilleux Prélude : ‘Le Jeu des Contraires’ and today she finally convinced me of a work of great value in which resonance and dissonance can live together only separated by transcendental brilliance. Jiali playing with great authority a score of obvious technical and intellectual complexity where it is already a ‘tour de force’ to be able to play such a work without the score. The point is, I believe, that it would be impossible to play it with the score and be able to convince and communicate the dynamic drive and kaleidoscope of colour that Jiali did today. Like Berio whose music plays with the reverberations of the notes even striking a chord and then replacing it silently again to allow the reverberations to continue after the initial shock. Streams of notes that acted as a bridge between these two ‘contrary ‘ worlds were played with a crystalline clarity and extraordinary precision.

This was followed by another French composer from the previous century with the Nocturne in D flat by Fauré. Jiali explained that she saw the work more as a landscape in mid afternoon ,Fauré’s ‘après midi ‘ ?, which she played with long flowing lines of chiselled beauty. I remember a masterclass with Vlado Perlemuter in 1968 when Imogen Cooper played this nocturne to him together with Ravel Valses ,both works that he had studied with the composers.I was later to become a close friend of Vlado as he made his Italian debut in my series in Rome in 1984. He was 81 and I took him all over Italy until he was 90, once he had been discovered ! I remember a recital in Rome where he wanted me to tell the public, before he played some Fauré nocturnes, that the composer, who was director of the Paris Conservatoire at the time, would send the music with the ink still wet on the page for the young prodigy of Cortot to try out ! Perlemuter would always play strictly in time never slowing down the ends of phrases but playing with a chiselled aristocratic nobility. It was exactly this that Jiali showed us today and it gave an emotional strength to her interpretation. I remember Perlemuter’s absolute faithfulness to the organ like legato between the right hand and the syncopated chords of the left. All things that come naturally to an organist but where pianists are tempted to join notes with the pedal. Absolute clarity too to the ‘Allegro moderato’ where the fluttering birds are serenaded with one of Fauré’s most beguiling melodies. Streams of jeux perlé notes just finished off phrases without ever changing the tempo. There was passion too but always of purity and cleanliness where the great architectural line was the guiding light that she followed.

I have heard Jiali play the second sonata of Brahms and today I was glad to be able to listen to her interpretation of the third, considered by many to be his masterpiece amongst his ‘veiled synphonies’ ( Schumann). The sonatas are all in four movements but the third sonata has an introduction to the finale that by many is considered to be a fifth movement. It is a monumental work and although it does not have the same amount of notes as Liszt, Chopin or Schumann Sonatas it is constructed in marble and requires a construction of architectural importance and absolute precision . It is written too, with more orchestral sounds in mind than just pianistically satisfying virtuosity and bel canto. Jiali paid scrupulous attention to the composers markings and especially to his rhythmic precision where rests become as important as the sounds. From the very opening Jiali played with absolute precision the monumental declaration of intent allowing it to die away to moments of sublime introspection ‘con espressione’. Of course slight fluctuations of tempo as the poetry flowed through her veins but always ready to bring the entire orchestra in with Toscanini like precision and nobility. There was a radiance to the ‘Andante’ that she allowed to flow with disarming simplicity where the voices were allowed to speak to each other with remarkable clarity as she arrived at the whispered beauty of ‘poco piú lento’ which she played with great poise and beauty .Again it was here that her clarity and attention to the rests carried the music forward on a magical ‘wing of song’ . Gradually Brahms writes in his own ritardando with notes and rests as we arrive at the heart of the work at the ‘Andante molto’ coda where Brahms reaches sublime heights of controlled passion.I would not have returned to the original tempo ‘con molto expressione’ final bars but would have stayed in the poignant Adagio and allowed the music to unwind with harp like radiance. However this was a remarkably mature performance of a real thinking musician and whatever her choices nothing was left to chance as this was a monument sculptured in stone. The Scherzo just swept from her fingers with Arrau type tenacity with a limpet touch where each note was played with unambiguous authority. The Trio was played with sumptuous full sounds where each note of the chords had a significance and an important part to play. The ‘Intermezzo’ or fifth movement ,was played with searing intensity and it was here, as at the beginning, where rests became of such terrifying importance. A rhythmic precision to the ‘Finale’ that in lesser hands can seem so fragmented allowed her to show us the great architectural line and a central chorale that became the climax of this remarkable work.Fearlessly played , the coda was the climax to a truly monumental performance

Jiali Wang is an accomplished pianist with extensive experience as a soloist and collaborative musician. She is currently based in London, where she is pursuing doctoral research at the Royal Academy of Music , alongside holding a fellowship at the International Piano Academy of Lake Como. Her performance work has taken her to major concert venues internationally, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Beijing, and the Temppeliaukio Rock Church in Helsinki. She was artist-in-residence at the Petworth Festival , presenting twelve performances across three days at the Petworth Proms. She has worked in concerto settings with conductors including Edward Gardner, Daniel Hogan, and José Luis López-Antón , and continues to perform regularly in recital and collaborative projects in the UK and abroad. 

Jiali has won a number of major international prizes. She is the winner of the Edna Bralesford Piano Prize , the Royal Academy of Music’s most prestigious award for instrumentalists graduating with the highest distinction. She has also won First Prizes at the Gershwin International Music Competition , the Málaga International Piano Competition , the Alion Baltic International Piano Competition , the Royal Academy of Music Piano Duo Competition , and the Harbin International Piano Festival Competition . In 2022, she won the Harriet Cohen Bach Competition Prize in England, together with the Harold Samuel Special Prize , recognising her interpretation of early music . 

Alongside her performance and research activity, Jiali has worked closely with a wide range of leading pianists and pedagogues. Her principal mentors include William Grant Naboré and Christopher Elton . She has also regularly worked with artists such as Yevgeny Sudbin , Steven Osborne , Pascal Rogé , and Adrian Brendel . She has participated in advanced international training programmes including the International Holland Music Session with Boris Berman , and was a full-scholarship student at the Dartington International Summer School , led by Rolf Hind and Mahan Esfahani . In masterclass settings, she has collaborated with distinguished artists including Arie Vardi , Alexander Toradze , Fabio Bidini , Ian Hobson , Hung-Kuan Chen , Jerome Lowenthal , and Oxana Yablonskaya . 

Jiali Wang at St Bride’s with visionary poetic mastery

Jiali Wang Graduation Recital of poetic sensibility and mastery

A last minute substitution at St James’s gave me a chance to listen to Bocheng’s artistry after some time. His playing has grown in stature and authority, as was evident with his choice of Scarlatti’s enigmatic F sharp major Sonata that opened the programme. A long bel canto that was well suited as an opening work to Chopin’s 24 Preludes op 28. A work I had remember hearing from Bocheng some time ago when he was still a student mentored by Christopher Elton and Ian Fountain at the Royal Academy.

A beautiful opening to K.318 , a long bel canto of strength and beauty – delicacy and nobility. A whole world was opened up with refined playing of great authority, where ornaments were like highly wounds springs just adding a ray of light to such a poignant outpouring. A sudden change of key to D flat added a momentary short lived breath of fresh air but returned secretly to the home key where Bocheng found even more intensity with delicacy of chiselled beauty.

Chopin’s 24 Preludes op 28 were rarely played together as they are now, as Chopin had conceived them to be played in groups. But played together by a musician such as Bocheng they reveal themselves as a unified whole with the 16th being the turning point that takes us to the final conclusion. Chopin always had a copy of Bach’s 48 on his piano so can it be a coincidence that the 16th variation of Bach’s Goldberg is just such an important turning point. Fou Ts’ong described them as 24 problems because each prelude is quite unique and explores a range of emotions and technical problems. There is however an architectural shape that can give strength and unity to one of Chopin’s greatest works. Bocheng has a technical mastery which allows him to delve deeply into the poetic meaning of each prelude whilst always vigilant that one grows out of the other , creating a unified whole. From the improvised freedom of the first to the technical brilliance of the sixteenth and the triumphant exhilaration and exoneration of the twenty fourth with its final three great ‘D’s’ deep in the depths of the piano, which Bocheng played with his fist! Not the fist of a butcher but that of a poet, I hasten to add!

The first was like someone swimming in sounds with Bocheng’s beautiful fluid horizontal movements just caressing the keys so naturally. The second was a real tone poem carved out with great character and poignant beauty with the ever present pulsating bass, a heartbeat adding elegiac beauty to such a harrowing tale. The third, like a breath air with the fluidity of the left hand that was to be mirrored in the penultimate prelude, that are both like water flowing on which Chopin adds a melodic line of disarming simplicity. This was followed by the intense poignancy of the ‘Largo’ where so few notes can mean so much, and the fifth just entering with its whispered Mazurka type knotty twine. The ‘Lento assai’ that follows showed Bocheng’s transcendental command of the keyboard where the gasps of the right hand could be played with intensity whilst the left carved out a beautiful cello elegy. The seventh is the shortest of the preludes, barely fifteen bars in length, but was played with simple elegance and refined sensibility. The ‘Molto agitato’ that follows just glided in as it built into a passionate outpouring of emotional turbulence, played with extraordinary mastery and dynamic control. A ‘Largo’ of nobility that was played with an aristocratic voice and almost religious fervour, followed by a cascade of jeux perlé of glistening fluidity. This was followed by a beautiful bel canto of flowing radiance played with a legato of perfect breath control. The ‘Presto’ was played with great solidity of almost militaristic authority with a rhythmic insistence of masterly control dissolving into a coda of impish good humour before the stomp of two very authoritarian footsteps. The thirteenth is for me one of the most beautiful of the preludes, and is a nocturne of bel canto freedom, similar to the Nocturne op 27 n. 2, where the flowing bass are the roots firmly embedded in the soil leaving the branches free to flow in the wind above. The ‘più lento’ is one of those magic moments of breathtaking beauty that Chopin can seduce us with and which Bocheng played with ravishing delicacy. Mystery and menace, thankfully short lived, as one of Chopin’s ‘craziest children’ is let loose with Bocheng failing to find a melodic line as it ends too quickly in a puff of smoke. The ‘Raindrop’ prelude was played with simplicity and disarming innocence before the deep brooding and tumultuous climax that is calmed by the even more innocent return of our ‘Raindrop’ .

‘Presto con fuoco’ that Bocheng played with fearless abandon and masterly control with a real ‘tour de force’ of a perpetuum mobile of unyielding brilliance. The ‘Allegretto’ that follows was like a breath of fresh air on which long melodic lines are allowed to flow with great emotional strength and poetic beauty. The deep A flat’s of the coda knowingly understated by Bocheng creating a poetic beauty of timeless wonder.The ‘Allegro molto’ – cadenza was played very sedately as it built in intensity with Chopin adding more and more notes as Liszt himself might have done. The nineteenth is one of the technical most difficult with an Aeolian Harp of awkward leaps but a melodic line that takes no heed of that, as Bocheng allowed it to it float so magically, rising above such difficulties.Two final chords played with the same authority that Bocheng gave to the C minor ‘Largo’ that followed A simple progression that has been used by many composers as the inspiration for variations. Bocheng played it with great authority gradually giving way to deeply felt emotions.Chopin marks the next prelude simply ‘Cantabile’ or singing which Bocheng played with great flexibility and resonance underlining its quite magical changes of harmony. There was a controlled passion of aristocratic nobility of exhilaration and excitement to the ‘Molto agitato’ ‘octave’ prelude and it contrasted with the disarming flowing radiance of glistening fluidity of the penultimate ‘au bord d’une source ‘ . The final twenty fourth prelude of nobility and aristocratic control was played with a wondrous sense of colour and with a sumptuous fullness in the climax. Playing of such intensity that the final three notes deep in the bass were played by Bocheng’s poetic fist.

A remarkably satisfying performance showing Bocheng’s artistry that has flowered over the past years into a maturity of commanding authority

Bocheng Wang has performed as a soloist with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Dulwich Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. He has toured across Europe including in the UK, Germany, Poland, Denmark, France and Spain. Following his debut recital at Wigmore Hall in 2023, Bocheng was described by The Arts Desk as ‘a force to be reckoned with’, playing passages ‘with mastery and drama’.

An artist with Kirckman Concert Society, Making Music UK, Keyboard Charitable Trust and Talent Unlimited, Bocheng has performed at festivals including PianoTexas International Festival & Academy, Ferrara Summer Festival, Dartington Music Summer School and Festival and The International Musical Artistry Goslar. He has taken masterclasses with the likes of Richard Goode, Stephen Kovacevich, Pavel Gililov, Arie Vardi, Imogen Cooper, Pascal Rogé and Steven Osborne. His important competition successes include First Prize at the Royal Overseas-League Piano Competition (2023), Second Prize at the Windsor International Piano Competition (2022), Semi-finalist Prize at the Santander International Piano Competition (2018), and the First & Grand Prize at the Croydon Performing Arts Festival Concerto Competition (2015).

Bocheng reached the highest level of achievement during his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, culminating in full marks from the Academy’s Advanced Diploma in Performance programme under Professor Ian Fountain. He also previously achieved a Master’s Degree with the highest performance award DipRAM and a Bachelor’s Degree with First Class Honours under Professor Ian Fountain and Professor Christopher Elton. Bocheng’s studies were supported by Sir Elton John.

Bocheng Wang at St Mary’s The clarity and refined intelligence of a true poet.

Andras Schiff with Chloe Mun transforming the Wigmore Hall into the intimate space where Schubert would have created his masterpieces for four hands to play with the lady of his choice . Chloe has been perfecting her studies with Schiff at the Barenboim Said Academy, having won both Geneva and Busoni International Competitions as a teenager. The only other person to have done that was Martha Argerich, so it was hardly surprising that he chose her to share in playing such masterpieces for his public that are happy to leave always the choice of music to him .

As he says the public trust him and know only the greatest music will flow from his hands.

And so it was today a sublime outpouring, with Schiff looking at Chloe in crucial moments, not playing the policeman, as they played as one, but sharing such intimacy not only with Chloe but with us all.

A Grand Rondò in A of refined delicacy and warmth was like greeting a long lost friend. There was a flexibility of tempo and with Schiff as an anchor moving the music on, showing us that the emotional strength was in the music, with no need or even scent of sentimentality. There was passion too with Andras suddenly going into fifth gear where Chloe’s exquisite finesse and refined phrasing suddenly were swept along on a wave of gentle persuasion from the bass until the return of the rondò was like seeing a friendly face on the horizon. Beckoning to us with scintillating streams of notes that glistened and glowed like rays of golden light as suddenly dotted rhythms provoked an outburst of notes from both players. Played not with Beethovenian impatience but with an internal agitation of refined mutual anticipation. Finally the melodic line passed to the tenor register which Andras played with refined insinuation as Chloe allowed her hands to shimmer with changing harmonies of ravishing beauty. A final few bars, where our old friend was revealed, as Chloe scaled the heights on a whispered trail ending with a glistening vibration of sublime beauty. A performance that I have rarely heard played so beautifully, as not only did they play as one, but they produced a unified sound through an extraordinary mastery of balance, as they were listening to the overall architectural shape that they were creating together. An amalgam of sound that all too often with four hands on one piano can sound too thick, but with two master musicians listening to themselves and both with a chameleonic technical mastery these sublime works written towards the end of the composers life can be recreated as he showed us a glimpse of the paradise that awaited him and was already so close.

One masterpiece followed another with the ‘Lebensstürme’ with Chloe playing ‘Primo’ and the ‘F minor Fantasie’ with Andras ‘Primo’, being the centre pieces of this Schubertiade. An architectural understanding of these two great works that were allied to a control of sound and with a palette of colours that could turn an electric shock of intensity into immediate sublime contrasts. In fact all through the performances it was this continual contrast between the sublime and the passionate that created a spiritual and emotional intensity that held us spellbound as we were allowed a glimpse of the paradise that the Genius of Schubert in his last days could transmit with such poetic and unearthly beauty.

Accompanied by ‘Deux Marches Caractéristiques’ and two of the ‘Grandes Marches et Trios’ that are rarely revealed as Schubert actually wrote them. Wigmore’s ‘Old Lady’ dressed in her ‘Sunday best’ by that magician Ulrich Gerhartz ,was persuaded to give up all her secrets under such sensitive hands.

The two Grandes Marches with Schiff at the top was where the dynamic drive of the march was contrasted with the beautiful timeless beauty of the trios. Playing of quite extraordinary brilliance but always with scrupulous attention to the composers very meticulous markings brought these two marches to life as rarely I have heard before. With Schubert’s extraordinary accent on the up beat in the second march creating an electric shock of propulsion that was then relieved by the simple elegance of the Trio. The left hand ‘fp’ accents from Chloe made the disarming simplicity of Andras’s entry in the March n. 3 even more full of tongue in cheek character. A trio played with the grace and charm of a ‘ländler’ that Andras played with an exquisite palette of colour and whispered elegance.

The two marches that ended the second half, after a harrowing performance of the great ‘F minor Fantasie’ was where Schubert could let his hair down and prove he also had an impish sense of humour. Andras was now at the bottom and Chloe played the top with scintillating brilliance riding on the buoyancy created in the bass. The second march was remarkable for the effect that sudden pianissimo had before bursting into joyous brilliance and each time this understated theme occurred it brought with it a smile of impish good humour.

It was the Andantino Varié in B minor that was a revelation as Sir Andras explained that Beethoven and Mozart were very wary of delving into this key of ‘death ‘. Schubert had no such fear as he could already see the paradise that was awaiting him at only 31, and B minor became a celebration and thanksgiving for the genius that had been bequeathed to him. Andras playing the ‘Primo’ with a wonderful sense of improvised freedom as the music was allowed to flow with natural elegance.Chloe this time in the bass as the simple whispered theme that opened and closed this remarkable work was played by Andras with understated importance. Streams of notes played with scrupulous attention to Schubert’s very precise indications created a knotty twine of refined brilliance.

A ravishing ‘lied ‘ by Schumann, the fourth of his ‘Bilder aus Osten’ with Chloe playing ‘Primo’ was offered as an encore. A page of music that the composer simply marks ‘Nicht Schnell.’ In fact it is a page of sublime simplicity full of the same reassuring warmth that had been the hallmark of two hours of sublime, civilised, music making.

An oasis of peace and beauty that we have such need of in these turbulent times.

Andras Schiff surprises and seduces in Rome

Chloe Mun Building Bridges in Perugia with the integrity and humility of a great artist

Chloe Jiyeong Mun in Florence-A musical feast of whispered secrets of ravishing beauty

Schubert is unique among great composers in having written almost as much piano music for four hands as for two. Piano duetting was a popular pastime in his day, and the prospects for having such pieces published were far healthier than they were for solo piano music, particularly when it came to works of the ambitious scope Schubert wanted to write. Several of his most significant four-hands works had their origins in his two protracted visits to Hungary, where he was employed as music-master to the daughters of Count Esterházy von Galánta at his summer residence in Zseliz (now Zveliezovce, in Slovakia). When Schubert first went there, in 1818, the younger countess, Karoline, was a girl of thirteen, but when he returned six years later she had blossomed into a young woman, and by all accounts he fell deeply in love with her. Schubert may have intended the piano duets he composed at Zseliz for his two pupils to play together, or he may have taken one of the parts himself, thereby from time to time allowing himself a degree of intimacy with Karoline. In all likelihood, the players would have assumed the primo and secondo parts by turns.

The so-called ‘Divertissement über Französische motive ‘ D 823 with it’s first movement ‘en forme d’une marche brillante et raisonnée , the adjective ‘raisonée’ was the publisher’s only hint that the piece was a rigorously argued sonata allegro. The work is seldom played in its complete form, but its slow movement, the Andantino varié in B minor, is one of the most perfect and beautiful of all Schubert’s duets. The inspiration behind it is likely to have been Mozart’s piano duet Variations in G major K501, which have a similar chamber-music intimacy, and in which—as in Schubert’s piece—the theme returns in all its original simplicity to round the music off. Among Schubert’s variations, the second, with its toy-trumpet fanfares, has a Mendelssohnian lightness and transparency; while the third presents a continuous pattern of semiquavers in seemingly effortless counterpoint between the players’ right hands. In the deeply expressive final variation the tempo slows, and the music undergoes a change into the radiant key of B major. Rather than offer a literal repeat of each half of the theme, as in the first three variations, Schubert now presents elaborately ornamented quasi-repeats, so that this is in effect two variations rolled into one. From here, the music dissolves into an abbreviated repeat of the original theme, its unadorned nature highlighted by the intricacy of the music that has preceded it.

The Allegro in A minor, D947 and the Rondo in A major, D951 were written in May and June 1828 ,the last year of Schubert’s life , and may well have been intended to form a two-movement sonata along the lines of Beethoven’s E minor Sonata Op 90. Schubert’s rondo is lovingly modelled on the lyrical finale of Beethoven’s sonata: his theme follows a similar harmonic pattern, and even the keyboard layout of its opening bars, with the melody’s initial phrase followed by a more assertive answer in octaves, echoes Beethoven’s. Schubert mirrors Beethoven’s procedure, too, by transferring the final reprise of the rondo theme to the sonorous tenor register, with a continuous pattern of semiquavers unfolding above it. Particularly beautiful is the manner in which one of the important subsidiary themes returns towards the end, surmounted by a shimmering pianissimo accompaniment in repeated chords from the primo player.

The A major Rondo was published in December 1828, less than a month after Schubert died, but its A minor companion-piece did not see the light of day until 1840, when Anton Diabelli issued it under the heading of Lebensstürme (‘The storms of life’) which is one of Schubert’s most imposing sonata movements. Its turbulent opening pages contrast with the serenity of a second subject.Making dramatic use of abrupt silences—nowhere more startling than at the end of the first part where the music breaks off in mid-stream, only to plunge into a wholly unexpected key for the start of the central development section.

Throughout his life, Schubert was fascinated by the challenge of welding the various movements of a sonata into a continuous and unified whole—much as Beethoven had done in the first of his two piano sonatas ‘quasi una fantasia’, Op 27. Schubert’s earliest surviving composition, written at the age of thirteen, is a Fantasie for piano duet, the famous piano duet Fantasie in F minor, D940, composed in the early months of 1828, was preceded by two important works of a similar kind, both in C major: the ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy for piano solo, D760, where virtually everything arises out of the repeated-note dactylic rhythm of the song-fragment that forms the basis of its slow second section; and the Fantasy for violin and piano, D934, which also makes use of a pre-existing song.The Fantasie’s opening melody is similar the theme from the slow movement of Schubert’s C major String Quintet, composed in the same year. When Schubert submitted a list of his available compositions to the publishers Schott & Sons in February 1828, he informed them that the Fantasie was to be dedicated to Karoline Esterházy! It is a masterpiece and one of the most sublime works ever written for piano duet.

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Julian is used to much headier, more intellectual programmes such as the 32 Beethoven Sonatas in one sitting, or providing ten or so different programmes as he is stranded on luxurious cruise ships headed to the Bahamas or Bermuda! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/08/26/julian-jacobson-and-cristian-sandrin-a-life-on-the-ocean-waves-liberally-speaking/

Today he could let his hair down with scintillating performance for two pianos of Saint- Saëns, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky and ending with Tchaikowsky’s ‘Nutcracker’. Enticed into playing less serious fare by Michael Corby ,at the helm of two magnificent Steinway ‘D’ pianos that stand proudly in the ‘Golden’ library at the Reform Club.

A fascinating concert devised by the eclectic Professor Jacobson, who also happens to be a virtuoso pianist as is Nikita Lukinov. A star shining brightly in an overcrowded sky, Nikita has long included in his solo programmes his own arrangement of Mussorgsky’s elusive early ‘Bald Mountain’, It is a youthful work that from an early age had haunted Mussorgsky and which he never actually heard performed, in any form, in his lifetime. It has also haunted Julian who wrote his arrangement for two pianos to play with Andrew Ball, the much missed head of piano at the Royal College of Music. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/02/14/a-celebration-of-the-life-of-andrew-ball-the-thinker-pianist-at-the-r-c-m-london/

Various revisions have now resulted in this latest one, even more faithful to the original intentions of the composer. May the composer now rest in peace with this faithful transcription of what had lain in his heart and mind for a lifetime. Two superb Steinways proudly showing their teeth and played by two pianists listening to each other as they follow the long architectural lines with utmost care and attention. A sense of balance that only two musicians could find, as one accompanied the other with mutual anticipation, united too in glorious outbursts of excitement and exhilaration.

The concert had begun with the ‘Dance Macabre’ , a harrowing tale of demonic sounds from Saint -Saëns, a great pianist who knew all the tricks of the trade, and which he used to diabolical effect in this work. Nikita working harder than Julian with scintillating playing of passionate intensity. Julian at the helm with the pulsating heart beat never wavering but encouraging his younger colleague to even greater heights of demonic exhilaration.

Two solo pieces played by Julian. Two ‘salon’ pieces of charm and fantasy. Glinka’s ‘Souvenir d’une Mazurka’ a rarity that I have never heard in the concert hall before, but that Julian had found in the archives and brought to life with beguiling insinuation and subtle charm. Balakirev made a ravishing transcription of Glinka’s well known song ‘The Lark’ that was played by many great pianists of the ‘Golden Age’ and is still to be found as an encore of many Russian virtuosi such as Kissin and Pletnev. It is a beautiful piece of great effect and Julian played it with a whispered cantabile and delicate accompaniment that was transformed as this Lark flew into action with a scintillating flight of notes before an even more embellished return of enchantment .

Nikita, in his turn, had played some solo pieces transcribed by that modern day virtuoso, Mikhail Pletnev. Two scenes from the Nutcracker and two from the Sleeping beauty were played with an extraordinary palette of colour and passionate dynamic drive. But it was the sumptuous arrangement of the ‘Adagio’ from the Sleeping Beauty that really prepared us for the ‘Grande Finale.’ Tchailkowsky’s ‘Valse des Fleurs’ transcribed for two pianos by another virtuoso pianist Nicolas Economou ,a protégé of Martha Argerich for whom he wrote this transcription ,but whose life was tragically cut short in a sports car accident.I had heard them both at his Festival at La Fenice in Venice in the ’80’s ,a very handsome couple indeed and what talent !

The first half of the programme had ended with Shostakovich’s one movement Concertino op 94, a very effective piece written for his son to play, as was his second piano concerto. Full of effects and moments of surprising beauty, from a proud father wanting to exult the mastery of his very talented son, Maxim.Julian and Nikita played it with dynamic drive of rugged nobility and meandering beauty.

A quick visit to Peter and the Wolf saw Julian and Nikita share the same keyboard, as Julian prefaced a few episodes, narrating the story as well as describing it in sounds on the keyboard!

A glorious final visit to the ballet, with Tchaikowsky’s ‘Valse des Fleurs’ , filled this beautiful ‘Sala Dorata’ with the sumptuous fullness that only two Steinway Concert Grands can offer from the hands of two master musicians.

Kapellmeister Julian Jacobson reveals the Debussy Préludes at the 1901 Arts Club with integrity and old style musicianship

Nikita Lukinov conquers the Bechstein Hall with masterly music making

Some superb piano playing of untainted natural talent and a distinguished jury ready to encourage and nurture young musicians who already show signs of artistry that will blossom, as they mature and gain experience on their journey in music

Four categories according to age : I have added my own personal comments on the impression they made to me and am sure the distinguished jury will have come to their own expert conclusions.

Category A, was won by Eileen Zhang who showed a remarkable natural talent of fluidity and quite considerable weight in the central melodic episode. She seemed to enjoy allowing her fingers to fly over the keys like swimming in sounds with horizontal movements allowing her agile fingers to shape the music with extraordinary facility . If she got impatient with the long expansive bel canto it was because she is a live wire who could not wait to allow her fingers full reign again.

Category B , was won by Gustaw Mazur who played the glorious Nocturne op 55 n. 2 . He showed great independence of voices in the knotty counterpoints that he shaped with a sense of style and intricately played detail .Of course he did not understand at his age the pure outpouring of ecstasy that this nocturne is, and consequently his rather slow tempo did not allow for an expansive improvised freedom but rather a considered and detailed contemplation.

Category C , the winner was Julian Zhu , a revelation, as this young English born Chinese student at Chethams, revealed a natural talent that cannot be taught. Breaking all the rules, but creating his own as he had the gift of listening to himself and creating music with quite considerable artistry. The Andante Spianato immediately revealed a wonderful arch to his left hand as flat fingers chiselled out Chopin’s youthful bel canto with the freedom that Chopin himself described to his pupils of a tree firmly planted in the ground but with the branches free to move naturally above. A Grande Polonaise that was truly ‘Grand’. Note picking accuracy is not for him, as he needed to communicate what he found within the notes, the external details which were pretty good, will be easy to perfect as he matures and his playing gains in weight.

I was not surprised that he won not only the category prize, but also the Jury special prize and shared the Audience prize with Ameli- Sakai -Ivanova winner of Category D.

Category D, was won by Ameli Sakai-Ivanova who also shared the Audience prize with Julian Zhu. A distinguished performance of fluidity and natural musicality.Playing of real weight and a mature style of sumptuous rich sounds and beguiling flexibility. The infamous octaves of the advancing cavalry in the Polonaise Héroique were played at an incredible pace which she was able to maintain with masterly control .Her sense of balance even allowed the advancing cries to be heard with extraordinary clarity over this wind of advancing octaves! An ending of exhilaration and excitement to which as she matures she will add aristocratic nobility and timeless wonder.

Genius to be or not to be that is the question Artur Haftman and Jennie Lee look for an answer – Chopin may well be the clue

Debussy: Images Book 1, Faure: Barcarolle in G flat Op 42 no 3, Chopin: Barcarolle Op 60, Debussy : Etude ‘pour les agrements’ Selections from ‘22 nocturnes for Chopin by Women Composers’,Katie Jenkins-Nicole Di Paolo-Zoe Rahman , Chopin: Ballade no 1 in G minor Op 23

A slightly different order to the programme that showed the poetic path that Rose wanted to share with us today. A musical intelligence where her kaleidoscopic palette of sounds were used to illuminate the poetic vision that pervades all that she plays. Including three Nocturnes inspired by Chopin and commissioned by Rose in 2022 from 22 women composers. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/09/18/rose-mclachlan-inspires-and-performs-22-nocturnes-for-chopin-by-women-composers/

Of course the French repertoire has long been Rose’s great love and it was with Debussy Images that she opened her programme. The three tone poems from the first book opened with a magical account of ‘Reflets dans l’ eau’ which she played with luminosity and fluidity. Notes became streams of wondrous sounds on which Debussy floats a melody of glistening beauty. The final bars in particular were played with delicacy and strength where Rose could combine the musical meaning with an architectural line of refined poetic beauty. ‘Hommage à Rameau’ was played with aristocratic authority and a refined sensibility where even the climax was of controlled elegance. A very sedate tempo for Mouvement allowed Rose to maintain the same tempo throughout with control and relentless forward movement. Never loosing sight of the musical line no matter how many hurdles Debussy adds to this spellbinding journey.

Two Barcarolle’s were next on this wondrous journey that Rose had organised for us today.

Fauré’s Barcarolle in G flat , a work all too rarely heard in the concert hall, but that Rose imbued with a melancholic beauty of timeless mellifluous outpourings in which her ravishing jeux perlé added to the sumptuous rich harmonic sounds creating a tone poem of great delicacy and style.

Chopin’s Barcarolle op 60 is one of the composer’s greatest works, written towards the end of his life, it is one long song from the first to the last note. Rose played it with glowing beauty where the melodic line was allowed to sing thanks to her wondrous sense of balance. Never disturbing the poetic beauty that Chopin is carving out but finding within the accompaniment, sounds that appeared like lights shining on a prism creating moments of wondrous beauty. An aristocratic control that gave nobility to the climax that she played with sumptuous rich sounds that were always covered in velvet never hard or ungrateful but ever more intense.

Prefacing three nocturnes for Chopin with one of Debussy’s Études, that were written late in life after he had been editing the works of Chopin to whom they are dedicated. They are considered to be late masterpieces and his finest most original works for piano. Debussy like Chopin hides the quite considerable technical difficulties as he creates a magic world of subtle sounds of great poetic significance just as Chopin had done with his second set of studies written a century earlier. Rose had chosen two, playing ‘pour les Agréments’ which prefaced a group of three ‘Nocturnes’ for Chopin by Katie Jenkins,Nicole DiPaolo and Zoe Rahman. She played ‘pour les Notes répétées’ as an encore after playing another great work of Chopin ,the Ballade in G minor op 23.

This first étude, the longest, was the last to be completed and is also the most elaborate; originally placed at the end of the set, Debussy said: “it borrows the form of barcarolle on a somewhat Italian sea”. Debussy was also a sensitive pianist, enriching the tradition of Chopin and advancing the integral soul of the sustaining pedal; he apparently played with penetrating softness and a flexible, caressing depth of touch, creating extraordinary expressive power. Rose brought just such sensitivity to this étude that she played with mysterious sounds of subtle glistening beauty, a mastery of the pedal that could create a ravishing atmosphere without ever loosing the clarity despite the most intricate stream of notes. A technical mastery that could allow her to play with scrupulous attention to the minute details that litter the score in which Debussy incorporates fantasy with transcendental difficulties, creating a sound world of extraordinary poetic imagination. The ‘Notes répétées’ that she played as an encore immediately follows this étude in Debussy’s own set of twelve Études following in the footsteps of Chopin. This is a capricious play with repeated notes that requires great agility, as Debussy creates a perpetuum mobile of knotty repetitions of every conceivable combination. Rose played with crystalline clarity with very little pedal, where her extraordinary sensitive dexterity could bring this work to life with impish delight. Even the tongue in cheek ending was with the final three chords of dry sarcastic humour that Rose played with playful glee. Debussy obviously had a great sense of humour despite the enormous difficulties he encountered throughout his life, and he had added at the top of the score a witty introduction to his fingering-free etudes: “Absence of fingering is an excellent exercise, negating musicians’ perverse desire to completely dismiss the composer’s (and editor’s), and thereby vindicating words of eternal wisdom: ‘If you want something done well, do it yourself’. Let us devise our own fingering!”

Debussy and Chopin were combined with Nocturnes commissioned in 2022 for new piano works by women composers inspired by Chopin’s Nocturnes .Each nocturne speaks with its own authentic voice as it stirs emotions and reveals the composers own cultural influence. The first ‘Cerddorieth i Bronwyn’ was by Katie Jenkins and was a work of whispered beauty that Rose played with subtle colour, creating a magical world of suggestive sounds.The second by Nicole DiPaolo was a beautiful bel canto with a flowing bass on which was etched a melody of chiselled beauty that Rose played with a poetic weight of beguiling sensitivity. The final Nocturne by Zoe Rahman was an elusive mazurka of great chromaticism and sombre beauty in which a subtle jazz influence pervaded as it reached for the sky with whispered beauty.

Rose restored Chopin’s First Ballade to its rightful place as a masterpiece of poetic beauty and passionate romantic fervour. Paying scrupulous attention to Chopin’s indications she managed to recreate a work, much tainted by the so called Chopin tradition, and restore it to the genius that the composer had bequeathed with his very precise indications written in the score. The opening I have rarely heard played with such simple beauty as she allowed the melodic line to flower with delicacy and poignant beauty. Cascades of notes were played with aristocratic authority where every note had a significance and meaning and was never an empty display of virtuosity. It was interesting how Rose gave such significance to the bass, especially the left hand thumb which acted as an anchor to the exhilarating outpouring of romantic effusions that poured so naturally from her well oiled fingers.The climax was played with aristocratic control and sumptuous full sounds always from the bass upwards.A coda that was shaped with controlled excitement where even the most transcendentally difficult passages were given and architectural shape and burning significance.

Rose McLachlan comes from a family of musicians and began piano lessons with her father at the age of seven. She studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Helen Krizos before entering the Royal Northern College of Music in 2020, and now continues her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Charles Owen, Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora.

Rose performs regularly as a soloist with orchestra. She made her debut aged 13 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has since appeared with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth, broadcast twice on BBC Radio 3, and with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as winner of the PianoTexas Festival concerto competition. Recent highlights include Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Hallé at the Bridgewater Hall, and a 2024 performance of Mozart’s Triple Concerto alongside Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Andrea Nemecz, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and to be released on the Chandos label.

A prizewinner at numerous national and international competitions, Rose has received major awards including the Scottish International Youth Prize, the Yamaha Prize (EPTA UK), the RNCM Chopin Prize and the Musicians’ Company Silver Medal. Her recordings appear on Divine Art and Naxos, and she is supported by The Caird Trust, the Leverhulme Trust and Talent Unlimited.

Rose McLachlan -radiance and beauty of a true artist

Graduation Recitals Rose McLachlan and Donglai Shi ‘Two artists painting in colour :Pointillism and Abstract expressionism – perfume for the senses’

There was magic in the air as Manzù’s imposing sculptures suddenly came to life with the sound of music .

Thanks to the Domus Danae festival, Alfredo Conte, an aspiring young multi celebrated pianist, could fill this ex studio of Manzù with works by Bach, Schumann, Scriabin and Rota.

Beginning and ending with a fantasy as the world of Manzù, now transformed into a museum, was filled with noble sounds that much suited the genial sculptures that fill this vast space in Ardea, just thirty kilometres south of the eternal city .

Alfredo had flown in especially from London where he is perfecting his studies at the Guildhall with Ronan o’Hora. On the 13th March he will give his final recital at the S. Cecilia Conservatory in Rome where he had completed his studies with the late Prof.ssa Maura Pansini https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/11/08/professor-maura-pansini-r-i-p-renowned-advocate-of-the-neapolitan-school-of-piano-playing/

His final recital in her absence is being mentored by Prof. Pesce, who was present today to hear their young prodigy give his first performance of Scriabin’s Fantasy Sonata. A performance full of ‘viola’ coloured sounds, which was the colour that the composer had chosen for G sharp minor from his palette of colours that each key inspired in his own fantasmagorical sound world .

A work much inspired by the music of Chopin whose 216th birthday it would have been today.

A programme that had begun with the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue by Bach, that Alfredo played with the improvised Fantasy realised by Busoni. Alfredo played with aristocratic authority, as like the statues that surrounded us, there was an inner strength to the disarming simplicity of the architectural line. This was Busoni not the composer of transcriptions of the great organ works or the Chaconne for solo violin for which Bach/Busoni signifies almost shared responsibility. This was Busoni who with great respect for the genius of Bach could realise the improvised chordal progressions that Bach would have expected from the kappellmeisters of his day. An elaboration that Guido Agosti, whose total respect for the composers wishes was much respected and revered, also admired this edition as being a faithful realisation of Bach’s figured bass. Alfredo played it with fluidity and clarity as the shifting harmonies were interrupted by imposing recitativi before the simple lone voice of the Fugue emerged. Bach’s knotty twine was allowed to unwind with a dynamic drive as the voices entered one by one leading to the final imposing climax and simple majestic ending.

The eighteen scenes that make up Schumann’s ‘Davidsbündlertänze’ were played with great strength, as Alfredo showed us the architectural line of this early pre-nuptual work op 6 .It was to lead to a continuous outpouring of masterpieces as Schumann found the marital bliss with Clara Wieck that had been denied them by her father, who did not want his child prodigy daughter to be distracted. She bore her husband,Robert, eight children but also became the first woman virtuoso of her age. Her husband who was also a pupil of her father, Friedrich Wieck, had to abandon a performing career having damaged his fingers trying to strengthen them with a mechanical aid! They were a formidable team until Robert’s duel artistic personality of Florestan and Eusebius was to lead to an asylum and death at only 46 , having tried to commit suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine . Alfredo played this difficult work with great understanding and considerable technical mastery but more of Florestan than Eusebius. A more horizontal approach would have allowed the slower episodes to be inbued with more fluidity and natural freedom. However his architectural understanding of a work made up of eighteen fragments showed his intelligence and musicianship as he managed to unite them into one unified whole, from the capricious, fleetingly elusive opening, to the striking of midnight as the final dance turns into a dream. The fourteenth dance is one of the most beautiful melodic outpourings that Schumann, the poet, was to write and pointed to the Lieder that he was to pen immediately after he found marital bliss. Alfredo played it with a glowing radiance and poetic understanding allowing an oasis of Eusebian beauty to beguile us in-between the impish antics and passionate outbursts of Florestan.

The Scriabin Fantasy Sonata is a new addition to Alfredo’s repertoire, and it was here that he caressed the keys and found a fluidity and kaleidoscope of colours that had eluded him in Schumann. A beautiful opening played with great sensitivity where a web of glistening sounds was born, as the melodic line was allowed to shine in its midst with radiance and glowing beauty. A dynamic drive to the second movement was played with passionate intensity as it burst into a flame of melodic outpouring of unashamed romantic ardour which Alfredo played with masterly control and exhilarating brilliance.

An ovation from an audience that filled every corner of this magnificent space allowed Alfredo a moment of peace and calm to share with us a final delicate Prelude by Nino Rota

Lya De Barberiis, a celebration of a great, much loved pianist who above all was a musician, a humble servant always at the service of the composer . An important figure for so many people for her warmth and humanity but above all for her strong personality which helped to shape and inform so many lives as we were reminded today. Everyone came armed with a story to tell about this remarkable woman who was such a dominant force in our lives. Her integrity, honesty and total dedication to music was an example to us all. A warmth from a woman who never ceased to learn, as she would come often with her students to worship at the feet of Guido Agosti as she would Rosalyn Tureck who she discovered in 1991 in ‘our’ theatre. ‘Ours’ because Lya so admired this Cultural Centre of Excellence that my wife and I had created in the 80’s and 90’s that she frequented not only to discover many great musicians who had been neglected in Rome but that she would join playing in duo with Ruggiero Ricci or giving many important solo recitals ( including the Beethoven Trilogy). Agosti would often be in the audience as would Arrigo Tassinari (Toscanini’s first flute ) who lived next door.

Finally when she heard me play with my wife she decided that we should play together which we did for nearly twenty years. The last time in 2012 a year before her death, when she invited Gianni Letta to the theatre to listen to us as he became honorary President of the Lya De Barberiis Association that was founded by her student Massimiliano Negri. Letta was very surprised to see the man who had moved the piano, worked the lights, show people to their seats ( including Valeria Valeri in the front row) and then sit next to Lya as they made music together ! Lya and I played all over Italy for many years, as she had so many contacts and admirers, but she preferred later in life not to be always alone on stage. I remember in Racconigi, a very imposing castle with Herons that slept on the chimney pots, and an entrance hall that was transformed into a concert hall for Lya. A Sunday morning concert and my wife when she was free would love to come with us too. After Lya and I had played and were much applauded, the Mayor appeared with a special prize which he proceeded to award to Ileana the much loved Piemontese actress. Lya and I looked on amused that we who had performed got nothing !!!!! Lya was part of our family and was very much part of our theatre,which was our life blood and it became hers too.She would arrive every year in her car, armed with three bottles of Tignanello because she knew it was my favourite wine. She even appeared one year with a cover for our Fabbrini Steinway,which she had ordered from Hamburg, because she did not consider our improvised cover to be sufficiently up to scratch for all that we were offering Rome!

Lya was like that, she was of a warmth and intelligence and a guiding light for us all.

It was good today to hear her students play works by Petrassi and Casella who had been friends and admirers of Lya, as had so many other illustrious composers who she tireless championed all her long life. Marco Scolastra who had studied with Lya in Masterclasses but whose main teacher was Aldo Ciccolini, played with the same clarity and precision of a ‘healthy musician’ who could carve out an architectural line with beauty and weight and above all total respect for the composer’s wishes. Lya took me to hear Aldo Ciccolini when he played Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto in an open air concert at the Campidoglio. After the wonderful performance Lya and he embraced each other and with a tear in his eye Aldo exclaimed :”But you are so faithful always Lya”.

Claudio Curti Gialdini had studied with Lya since his early teens and is now a Professor at the S. Cecilia Conservatory and he too played with chiselled beauty and authority the Eleven Children’s pieces op 35 by Casella. His student Milena Del Bene played the Casella Toccata and one could appreciate the same discipline handed down to her from her teacher and the school of De Barberiis

A room with a view and a standing ovation for Kasparas Mikužis with a recital of Beethoven Ravel and fellow Lithuanian Leopold Godowsky

In the beautiful Harold Acton Library and with the mellow tones of an 1890 Bechstein Kasparas carved out Beethoven’s late ‘Pastoral’ sonata where poetry and dynamic drive were united with a scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s very intricate detail.

It was in the Ravel Miroirs that sumptuous refined sounds and technical mastery united to create the images of these five miniature tone poems with a magical palette of sounds.

Godowsky’s rarely played Java suite was the ideal partner to Ravel not only for it’s transcendental difficulty, but because Kasparas imbued it with the same fantasy and kaleidoscope of sounds which were of poetic beauty and scintillating brilliance.

Greeted by an ovation and cries for more ,Kasparas was happy to thank them with a beautiful gentle work by a fellow Lithuanian composer before we were all invited to taste the sumptuous wines of the Tenuta Bossi Marchesi Gondi.

The recital opened with Beethoven’s most Pastoral of his last sonatas full of fantasy and ‘joie de vivre’. Coming after the Schubertian op 90 but before the cataclysmic ‘Hammerklavier’ this is a breath of fresh air as Beethoven comes to terms with his deafness and taking the piano to task for its limitations, looking upwards to the glimpse of paradise that awaits.

The extraordinary thing of his Genius is that he could write down exactly the sounds he had in his ears with a precision far more than in his earlier sonatas which he would often play himself. I have noticed with the Lithuanian school of playing that there is a fluidity and purity to the sound they make, similar in many ways to the Hungarian school. Most probably not a school at all but growing up in a homeland where they pick up certain sounds which comes across in their playing and that is enviable for its relaxed fluidity and naturalness.

The opening of op 101 was played with beautiful glowing sounds of luminosity and pastoral beauty. Long languid lines allowed to unwind with commanding authority combined with great sensitivity always with aristocratic good taste of simplicity and sincerity. The ‘Vivace’ had a knife edge precision to its rhythmic impulsiveness and was also given an architectural shape with its continuous question and answer that Kasparas played with masterly control. Beethoven’s long held pedal was beautiful incorporated into this seemingly tight framework and was the same music box effect of Papà Haydn’s sonata n. 50, an effect that was to be used in Beethoven’s last works for piano op 126. Beethoven living in his own world with a sense of fantasy between the percussive, abrasive piano and the seemingly perfect legato that the pedal could now offer. Kasparas managed to combine the rhythmic impulse of Beethoven with the poetic fantasy that was always hidden deep within the composer’s inner soul. Even the ‘Trio’ was played with the fluidity of Beethoven at his most pastoral, but not one to linger or wonder, always very direct emotions on a wave of inner energy. Kasparas caressed the keys with beautiful natural movements never hitting the keys but always feeling the weight he had in his sensitive fingers .He brought sombre respectful beauty to the ‘Adagio’ that he played with poignant significance as he dug deeply into the keys with emotional weight finding great nobility and a refined beauty of marble like solidity. There was an etherial question and answer between the hands where a magical cadenza ignited the beauty of the opening phrases that miraculously reappeared in this wondrous landscape. Of course with Beethoven this is short lived as his impatience is manifested with short sharp chords before the bucolic bubbling energy of the last movement. This is not the tempestuous knotty twine of the ‘Hammerklavier’ but a pastoral vision of a bubbling brook that Kasparas played with poetic mastery as he allowed the music to speak in a relaxed conversation of exhilarating brilliance. Again Beethoven puts a stop to such frivolity with two fortissimo chords out of which evolves a fugato of truly knotty twine with unresolved trills that are incisive ornaments that Kasparas played with remarkable authority only occasionally missing a step on a slippery rock but never letting the tension wane . This is Beethoven in bucolic mood and where Kasparas gave great character to his tongue in cheek fugato of one hand chasing the other, until the composer’s patience runs out as he slams the door shut with three very final bars.

A completely different world was opened up by Kasparas with Ravel’s evocative ‘Miroirs.’ Kasparas’s glowing fluidity of fleeting sounds were full of a prismatic sense of colour glowing with wondrous jeux perlé brilliance as the moths fluttered over the keys with lightweight precision. A languid melody opens to reveal a desolate landscape of infinite space with the moths trying to invade this humid atmosphere with a battle between the sensual and an invasion of fleetingly impish goings on. The moths flying off into the distance with masterly ease as Kasparas barely brushed the keys and then with one stroke, the genius of Ravel who could reinstall such atmosphere with just one simple chord , of course played with poetic understanding by the performer.

It was beautiful to see the caressing movement of Kasparas’s fingers as the lone song of the bird sang out with glowing resonant purity. Kasparas once again creating this lonesome atmosphere with poetic imagination and masterly use of the pedals. Streams of notes but always the song of the bird with piercing penetration of desolation and ravishment.

Beautiful fluidity again to depict the ocean in which a tenor melody is heard in its midst amongst the sound of the waves. The atmosphere created by Ravel with an insistent melodic accompaniment of quite complicated rhythmic precision that pushes the sounds forward. Gradually a storm is brewing and Kasparas with extraordinary technical brilliance could portray this scene with excitement and mastery as notes covered the entire keyboard. Playing of scintillating brilliance and poetic fantasy in which the pedal could add a sumptuous range of colours.Suddenly the storm passes and the waves are calmed as they are played with relentless whispered precision by the right hand, the left intoning a hymn of thanksgiving as calm is restored and this masterly tone poem finishes with wistful washes of sound.

A complete contrast with the spiky brilliance and clarity of precision in ‘Alborada.’ Enticing dance rhythms end explosions of passionate cries as the music builds in excitement with washes of sound and vibrations that are in fact transcendentally difficult repeated notes and double glissandi that only the most flexible of hands can manage. They were played with seemingly poetic ease as Kasparas always delved deep into the music rather than seeing only the superficial tinsel . There was a great outcry of passionate intensity played with sumptuous eroticism but always with the menacing undercurrent of frenzy that brought us to the brilliant ending of the burning Spanish temperament.And spontaneous applause of great admiration for such an exhilarating ending.

Glowing bells were heard as the magic atmosphere of this valley is revealed with a kaleidoscope of colours enriched by poetic fantasy and masterly use of the pedals. A melodic line of disarming delicacy and simplicity with bells tolling, adding pure magic to this beautiful creation, played with ravishing beauty by this young Lithuanian poet of the keyboard .

I must confess that I have known of the existence of the Java Suite for some time but have never had the opportunity of hearing it until today. Of course it is the complete opposite of the refined genius of the piano who so entranced me when I heard a historic piano role of his at the Brentford Piano Museum. A performance of Liszt’s ‘La leggerezza’ that I had never heard such sounds of whispered perfection before. Rubinstein simply declared that even if he lived five hundred years he would never be able to play with the same technical perfection as Godowsky. I hunted out his 53 studies based on Chopin’s , where he combines the two G flat studies together ,one in the right hand and the other in the left ,at the same time, with the title ‘Badinage’ ! I found them eventually in the archive of London University Library but they have now been published and are readily available for all those fearless enough to try to play them! Cherkassky played the study for the left hand alone of Godowsky’s magical transcription of op 10 n. 6 where the simple melodic outline is embellished with a web of magical sounds played with featherlight jeux perlé of another age.

So it was a surprise to research a little about this suite and Godowsky and it became apparent why Kasparas had chosen to play it, because Godowsky was of Lithuanian origin too! Debussy had been much influenced by Oriental sounds and the Gamelan in particular when Indonesia came to the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Godowsky, on the other hand, went to Indonesia to see for himself.

‘Gamelan’ a work of oriental sounds of great luminosity and much use of the pedals adding extraordinary colour but not the refinement that I was expecting of Godowsky the greatest pianist the world has ever known . Kasparas gave a dynamic drive and burning conviction to this piece with a kaleidoscope of magic sounds.The ‘Puppet Shadow Plays’ had a melodic line that flowed with simplicity and meandering insistence. The ‘Great Day’ was celebrated with rousing brilliance and the joyous outpouring of insistent bell like sounds .Indian dance rhythms abound reaching a passionate climax of brilliance and technical mastery.

After concert wine tasting to meet and talk to the artist

Kasparas Mikužis is a Lithuanian-born pianist based in London. Named as one of Classic FM’s ‘Rising Stars’ for 2025, he has taken the stages of various highly respected venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Lithuanian National Philharmonic. In May 2025, Kasparas was one of the winners of the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) international auditions. Highlights include recitals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, UK, the Krzysztof Penderecki Centre in Luslawice, Poland and his debut at Wigmore Hall in London. Kasparas has also performed at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva on multiple occasions. Other notable appearances include performances the season-opening concert of the Kharkiv Philharmonic Hall with the Kharkiv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under conductor Yuri Yanko. He also performed as a solo artist at the Eudon Choi show during London Fashion Week 2023. 

In 2023, he made his debut with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra at the Lithuanian Philharmonic in Vilnius. Later that year, he was invited to perform for the Lithuanian and Polish presidents on Lithuanian Statehood Day at the Presidential Palace. In recognition of his representation of Lithuania on the international stage, Kasparas was honoured with a letter of gratitude from the President of the Republic of Lithuania. The 25/26 season sees Kasparas perform Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Basingstoke Symphony Orchestra, as well as working on a new CD with the Royal Academy of Music. He will collaborate with fellow YCAT artist Nathan Amaral for a series of concerts in early 2026, as well as performing solo recitals across the UK and at the Norsjø Chamber Music Festival in Norway. 

Kasparas completed his undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Diana Ketler, and his postgraduate studies under Professor Christopher Elton. Since 2023, he has also worked closely with Gabriela Montero through ‘O’ Academy. 

Kasparas Mikužis at La Mortella creating magic sounds in Walton’s paradise on Ischia

Kasparas Mikuzis at the Wigmore Hall Masterly playing of fluidity and ravishing beauty

Hollywood comes to the Royal Academy Lun,Wu,Daunoraite and Mikužis stars shining brightly.

Leopold Mordkhelovich Godowsky Sr. 13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher born in what is now Lithuania  to Jewish parents, who became an American  citizen in 1891. He was one of the most highly regarded performers of his time, and was heralded among musical giants as the “Buddha of the Piano”. Ferruccio Busoni claimed that he and Godowsky were “the only composers to have added anything of significance to keyboard writing since Franz Liszt “.As a composer, he is best known for his  Java Suite,Triakontameron,Passacaglia  and Walzermasken, alongside his transcriptions of works by other composers; the best-known of these works are the 53 Studies on Chopin’s Études (1894–1914).

The Java Suite (originally published as Phonoramas. Tonal journeys for the pianoforte) is a suite  for solo piano by Leopold Godowsky composed between 1924 and 1925. It consists of twelve movements and is influenced by the gamelan  music of Java ,Indonesia extensively utilizing pentatonic harmonies throughout.

Godowsky remarked in the work’s preface:

“Having travelled extensively in many lands, some near and familiar, others remote and strange, it occurred to me that a musical portrayal of some of the interesting things I had been privileged to see, a tonal description of the impressions and emotions they had awakened, would interest those who are attracted by adventure and picturesqueness and inspired by their poetic reactions.

Who is not at heart a globe-trotter? Are we not all fascinated by distant countries and strange people? And so the thought gradually matured in me to recreate my roaming experiences. This cycle of musical travelogues-tonal journeys-which i have name collectively “Phonoramas”, begins with a series of twelve descriptive scenes in java.”

The suite consists of twelve movements, divided into four parts. Godowsky composed the work under the influence of gamelan music after a visit to java  

Although the Java suite is published as a whole, it wasn’t meant to be performed in its entirety. The suite is divided into four equal parts, each containing three pieces whose tonal schemes correlate, creating a unified whole. Furthermore, each book is structured in the same manner: each book starts with a character piece, followed by a slow movement and ending with a brilliant showstopper.

The first book starts in A minor. The second piece too, continues in A minor, though it ends on an E major-chord, creating an imperfect cadence which resolves into the third and final piece.

Godowsky added detailed descriptions of each of the scenes, elaborately describing what each of them is inspired by. 

Part One

1. Gamelan (A minor )

Native music, played by the Javanese on their indigenous instruments, is called Gamelan. The Javanese ensemble is a kind of exotic orchestra, con- sisting mainly of diversely shaped and constructed percussive instruments of metal, wood and bamboo, comprising various kinds and sizes of bells, chimes, gongs, sounding boards, bowls, pans, drums. (some barrel-like), tom – toms, native xylophones, sonorous alang-alang (zephyr-like, aeolian harp- like) and other unique music implements. The only stringed instrument I could discern was the ancient, guitar-shaped reéaé, which is held by the leader in a position similar to that of the lute.

Both rulers of the two Sultanates of central Java: the Sushunan of Solo and the Sultan of Djokja, and the two independent princes, Manku Negoro of Solo  and Paku Alam of Djokja have the best, largest and most complete native orchestras (Gumelan). They own old instruments of inestimable value, the enchanting sonority of which is attributable to the mellowing process of time.

The sonority of the Gamelan is so weird, spectral, fantastic and bewitching, the native music so elusive, vague, shimmering and singular, that on listening to this new world of sound I lost my sense of reality, imagining myself in a realm of enchantment. Nothing seen or experienced in Java conveyed so strongly the mysterious and strange character of the island and its inhabitants.

The Gamelan produces most ethereal pianissimos, particularly entrancing when heard from a distance. It is like a perfume of sound, like a musical breeze. Usually the music, beginning very softly and languidly, becomes faster and louder as the movement progresses, rising, at last, to a barbaric climax.

In this, the first of the descriptive scenes, I have endeavored to recreate a Gamelan sonority~ a typically Javanese atmosphere. Except for the one chromatic variation(pages 9-10),which is intentionally Occidental,the movement is almost exclusively diatonic and decidedly Oriental (Far Eastern).

2. Wayang – Purwa , Puppet Shadow Plays (A minor)

‘This ancient, characteristically Javanese quasi -histrionic entertainment, produced on festive occasions, is very popular in Java. It symbolises to the Javanese their past historical greatness; their hopes, aspirations and national solidarity. To the subdued accompaniment of the Gamelan, the Dalang, manager, actor, musician, singer, reciter and improvisator, all in one,-recites classic Hindu epics, or modernized and localized versions of them, or other mythical or historical tales and East Indian legends, while grotesque, flat leather puppets throw shadows on a white screen to interpret and illustrate the reciter’s stories. These puppets the Dalang manipulates by means of bamboo rods. Wayang-Purwa is somewhat of a combination of Punch and Judy and Chinese shadows.^[1]

3. Hari Besaar, The Great Day (A minor → C major)

The Kermess – the Country Fair – is here.

From plantations and hamlets natives flock to the town that is the center of the bright, joyous celebrations, naive, harmless amusements. They throw themselves. eagerly into the whirl ‘of festivities, enjoying the excitement and animation.

Actors, musicians, dancers and fakirs contribute to the pleasures of the people and to the picturesqueness of the scene.

The Great Day – Hari Besaar! 

Miroirs is a five-movement suite for solo piano  written by Ravel  between 1904 and 1905. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French avant-garde artist group Les Apaches.

Around 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians referred to as Les Apaches or “hooligans”, a term coined by Ricardo Viñes to refer to his band of “artistic outcasts”. To pay tribute to his fellow artists, Ravel began composing Miroirs in 1904 and finished it the following year. It was first published by Eugène Demets in 1906. The third and fourth movements were subsequently orchestrated by Ravel, while the fifth was orchestrated by Percy Grainger among others.

“Noctuelles” (“Night Moths”). D♭ major. Dedicated to Léon-Paul Farque,  french poet and essayist

“Oiseaux tristes” (“Sad Birds”). E♭ minor. Dedicated to Ricardo Viñes 

“Une barque sur l’océan” (“A Boat on the Ocean”). F♯ minor.Dedicated to  Paul Sordes,painter and set designer

“Alborada del gracioso” (Spanish: “The Jester’s Aubade / Morning Song of the Jester”). D minor — D major. Dedicated to Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, critic and musicologist .

“La vallée des cloches” (“The Valley of Bells”). C♯ minor. Dedicated to Maurice Delage ,composer and pianist

The Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major,op 101, by Beethoven  was composed in 1816 and published in 1817 and dedicated to the pianist Baroness Dorothea Ertmann,née Graumen , it is considered the first of the composer’s late piano sonatasl and marks the beginning of what is generally regarded as Beethoven’s final period, where the forms are more complex, ideas more wide-ranging, textures more polyphonic, and the treatment of the themes and motifs even more sophisticated than before. Op. 101 well exemplified this new style, and Beethoven exploits the newly expanded keyboard compass of the day.

As with the previous sonata, it is unclear why Beethoven wrote Op. 101. The earliest known sketches are on leaves that once formed the parts of the Scheide Sketchbook of 1815–16. It shows the first movement already well developed and notated as an extended draft in score, and there are also a few preliminary ideas for the final Allegro. Beethoven himself described this sonata, composed in the town of Baden , just south of Vienna , during the summer of 1816, as “a series of impressions and reveries.” The more intimate nature of the late sonatas probably has some connection with his deafness, which by this stage was almost total, isolating him from society so completely that his only means of communicating with friends and visitors was via notebooks.It is the only one of his 32 sonatas that Beethoven ever saw played publicly; this was in 1816, and the performer was a bank official and musical dilettante.

The sonata is in four movements :

Etwas lebhaft, und mit der innigsten Empfindung(Somewhat lively, and with innermost sensibility). Allegretto, ma non troppo

Lebhaft, marschmäßig (Lively, march-like). Vivace alla marcia

Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll (Slow and longingly). Adagio, ma non troppo, con affetto

Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr, und mit Entschlossenheit (Swiftly, but not overly, and with determination). Allegro

Quite a coincidence that two of the most introverted players of dedicated humility and a wondrous gift for communication should both be playing in the same city at the same time Kyle is a great admirer of Christian Blackshaw that Sir David Scholey has been trying to introduce to one another.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/02/24/miracles-at-the-wigmore-hall-the-return-of-christian-blackshaw-the-supreme-poet-of-the-piano/

Kyle had played for the Keyboard Trust in the Harold Acton Series and Sir David was so moved by his playing he wanted to introduce him to a kindred spirit. It is playing that may on first acquaintance seem introverted but it is of exquisite making. The music does not roar as a Lion but has a much greater strength that is undemonstratively within the very notes themselves. Artists that delve deeply into the notes and find sounds that can speak louder than words . It is concentrated playing that requires the same concentration from the listener, with the pianist who does not project out but draws us in to the very heart of the creation.
The centre of their repertoire lays with the Viennese Classics of Schubert, Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart. The Russian militaristic or heart on sleeve showy repertoire is not for them. Liszt, of course, but more the later works or the poetical rather than the ‘sturm und drang’ of the passionate showpieces inspired by Paganini.

The Adagio by Mozart is a late work of a composer who could say so much with so little. Kyle played with a timeless beauty of refined good taste with exquisite phrasing where notes spoke louder than words. There was an aristocratic nobility of simplicity and poignant chiselled beauty to his playing . Always looking at the keys with extreme concentration as he directed the sounds with masterly assurance and extraordinary control of sound. There was no wasted energy or outward signs of struggle, because the energy was in the notes themselves and was revealed in the deep meaning he could find in Mozart’s few but essential notes. Heartrendingly essential, going right to the centre of the message hidden in the notes by this Universal Genius. There was exquisite phrasing but never denying the power behind the notes which he played with an inner searching intensity.

Three Petrarch Sonnets were poetic outpourings of delicacy and nobility. N. 47 was beautifully sung with a flowing sense of freedom and a balance that allowed the melodic line to glow with radiance and beauty. There was passion too, but dissolving almost immediately into moments of deep introspection and poetic intensity as magical sounds of improvised beauty hovered over the keyboard.

An impetuous opening to 104 dissolving into an outpouring of a single melody accompanied by imposing chords of gentle persuasion. There was a purity to the long melodic line accompanied by florid harmonies leading to a passionate outpouring of scintillating playing of searing intensity, always played with remarkable control and elegance.

N. 123 had a luminosity of sound building in intensity, with a poetic outpouring as a trill was unravelled to reveal a cascade of notes of ravishing beauty. This is the world that Kyle inhabits, that of whispered beauty where every note is given a weight and meaning that is rare to encounter when played with such control and aristocratic refined good taste.

I thought that Rachmaninov might show us another side to Kyle’s personality but he had chosen two of the most intensely beautiful in n. 3 and 5. Rachmaninov’s deep brooding nostalgia and nobility were ever present and played with restrained passion, but with the composers unmistakeable sumptuous Romantic sounds. Tone poems of searing intensity. N. 5 was rather slow and could have had more sweep and be less measured but this is the choice that Kyle’s poetic soul always searches for. There were moments of wondrous colour as the melodic line is accompanied by magical comments, bathed in pedal but always with a clarity and strong highly personal poetic personality. And last but not least N 6 was a passionate outpouring where Kyle’s quite considerable technical command allowed him to play with fearless passion and dynamic drive. Always beautiful sounds even in this sumptuous passionate outpouring of changing harmonies that Kyle played with searing intensity.

Kyle Hutchings is a British pianist who, after just twelve months of self-taught playing, won a scholarship to study in London with internationally acclaimed pianist Richard Meyrick on the Pianoman Scholarships Scheme, supported by Sir and Lady Harvey McGrath. Subsequently, he made his London debut with the Arch Sinfonia, playing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto. 

Critically acclaimed by International Piano Magazine as “a poet of the piano”, he has performed in venues such as London’s prestigious St. John’s Smith Square, Kings Place, St. James’s Piccadilly, St. Mary’s Perivale, London’s BT Tower, The Lansdowne Club in Mayfair, as part of the Blüthner Recital Series, and many others up and down the country. In addition to this, he is in high demand internationally, having received accolades throughout Europe.  

During his studies at Trinity Laban, supported by a scholarship from Trinity College London, he was a recipient of the Conservatoire’s most important prizes, including the Nancy Thomas Prize for Piano as well as the Director’s Prize for Excellence; he was also nominated for the Conservatoire’s coveted Gold Medal. 

Kyle is supported by The Keyboard Charitable Trust and has received support from the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation as well as the Zetland Foundation. 

Kyle Hutchings The troubadour of the piano illuminates St Mary Le Strand

Kyle Hutchings A poetic troubadour of the piano reveals the heart of Mozart,Schubert and Franck the Keyboard Trust Concert Tour of Adbaston ,Ischia,Florence and Milan