ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Simo Sisevic Graduation recital at the Royal Academy of Music, London

A fascinating recital of Shostakovich, Mokranjak and Bartòk presented with poetic words whose significance was made even more evident in the music that this young Montenegrin pianist presented today

‘ Shostakovich grieves privately in a world at war, Mokranjac confides in a world that was not always listening and Bartòk collides with a world that pushed back hard . Three composers, three languages , three nations but with shared understanding that what we carry inside us is just as real, just as urgent as anything that happens in the world outside ‘.

Some very assured, committed playing and if ever a falling third could have such poignant meaning it was in the deep ominous bass and tenor registers and following echos throughout this remarkable work. Simo’s superb sense of balance just added to the tumultuous decadence of despair and perseverance as he carved out an architectural line of great clarity and potency.

A second movement that is a true ‘Valse de l’adieu’ with grief ridden rhythmic bass palpitations on which the melodic line was floated with a glowing luminosity of hope. An extraordinary palette of colours as the crystalline clarity was accommodated by a whispered growling bass with an extraordinary control of balance and use of the pedal. Playing of subtle intensity contrasted with the plaintive cry of the naked insistence of the theme as the variations of the last movement unfolded with growing intensity. the tempo increasing with burning insistence. After pointed declamations of ragged interjections a heart is left beating with poignant significance and Messiaenic, grating dissonances of heart rending intensity, despair mixed with hope .

Simo made me realise today what a masterpiece this work is and how lucky we were years ago in London to hear Gilels in a half empty Festival Hall as Schubert and Shostakovich were not considered box office! Gilels had come unstuck in the knotty twine of the last movement as Simo had very professionally covered a very understandable momentary lapse.

As Simo says if Shostakovich shows us grief held under pressure , Mokranjac opens a door and simply lets us in.

‘ Intimacies’ are eight short pieces of a composer that Simo considers the most distinguished Serbian composer of his generation (1923-1984) and is relatively unknown outside his home country. He says the composers’s creative act is one of intense confrontation with tradition , context and one’s own inner drama.

Remarkable playing of luminosity and glowing beauty . Whispered confessions suddenly awoken with startling violence and grief ridden constancy .Chiselled declamations fearlessly played and allowed to freely reverberate . Whispered chorale passages and the beauty of Simo’s horizontal movements creating a sheen of golden beauty growing forever in intensity.

Bartók’s Sonata was like a breath of fresh air in comparison, as the unambiguous clarity and rhythmic drive were fearlessly played with barbaric insistence. As Simo says it is percussive, propulsive , full of brutal punctuations that feels like the pressure of the outside world hammering against something internal. Masterly playing of breathtaking daring as the chattering folk music was but a bickering intrusion to such a brutally callous world.

A slow movement of isolation and etched sounds played with searing authority and burning intensity as Simo says, a devastating stillness ,a single pitch,a single chord ,repeated in a kind of ritual – grief or prayer?

A final movement of dynamic drive and relentless insistence until interrupted like the sudden drop of a bomb. Bartòk had even added notes on the piano in the second movement that Bösendorfer added to their pianos (97 to the Imperial piano, 11 more than the standard 88) to placate the genius of Bartòk who was to die in relative misery far from his homeland .

A remarkable and unexpected journey from a poet of the piano. A musician with a technique at the service of his searching musicianship .

The indomitable Canan Maxton’s Talent Unlimited comes to the rescue with Sisevic and Zheleznov at St Mary’s

Simo Šiševic is a distinguished Montenegrin pianist a Master degree student at the Royal Academy of Music in the class of the renowned `Tatiana Sarkissova.
Šišević graduated from `the Royal College of Music with First Class Honours where he studied with Gordon Fergus-Thompson and John Byrne. Furthermore, he currently studies with Boris Berman at the Accademia del Riddoto here he undertakes his master’s degree. During his undergraduate studies he studied the harpsichord with Jane Chapman and fortepiano with Geoffrey Govier.
His recent concerts with Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra and the Festival Orchestra of KotorArt with whom he performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto have had great reviews and standing ovations.
Šišević performs extensively in the UK and Europe.He gave recitals at festivals such as KotorArt, Grad Teatar Budva, Barski Ljetopis, Dani muzike Herceg Novi, Skopsko leto, and halls such as Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Europe House, Duke’s Hall, St James’s Church Piccadilly, St Mary’s Perivale Church, St Mary Abbots Church, University Women’s Club, English-Speaking Union, Austrian Cultural Forum, Museum of Macedonian Struggle, KIC Budo Tomovic. In 2016, Šišević represented his country and its musical heritage in the “Monténégro au coeur de l’Europe” concert at the Festival ‘Weekend de Clavier Contemporain’ at the Frédéric Chopin Conservatoire in Paris. At the age of 17, he had his debut with an orchestra when he played Mozart’s D-major concerto.
Šišević’s competition successes include: Third Prize at the Carles and Sofia Piano Competition in Spain (2021), Second Prize at the Orbetello Piano Competition in Orbetello, Italy (2021), First Prize in the Pieter Gaci Competition in Shkoder, Albania. (2017), First Prize at the International Piano Competition in Tivat, Montenegro (2016), Special Prize at the Windsor Piano Competition (2015), Absolute Prize in the Academy Award Competition in Rome (2013).
In 2019 he formed a trio with Luka Perazić and Kosta Popović that gave lots of concerts so far. During the same year he took part in the “Made in New York” festival and played alongside Randy Brecker, Bobby Sanabria, and Edsel Gomez. On numerous occasions, he has collaborated with a famous soprano Tamara Radjenovic.
The famous Milos Karadaglic Foundation selected Šišević as their scholar for the 2024/25 season and award him with a scholarship.
Šišević has been generously supported by the Salomon Family, The Kathleen Trust, The Zetland Foundation, Talent Unlimited, Petrovic-Njegos foundation, The Henry Wood Trust, St Marylebone Educational Foundation, PAM Montenegro, Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, Municipality of City of Bar and Capital City of Podgorica, Global Ports Holding. He was awarded a scholarship by Montenegrin Ministry of Education and Culture.
Since 2021, he is a Global Talent Visa holder, a visa endowed by the Arts Council England for exceptional achievements and contribution to arts.
Humanitarian work and volunteering is an important part of his life, as he has taken part in multiple actions by the UNICEF, Save the Children, Njegos Foundation, the Lifeline and the Royal Family of Yugoslavia in raising funds for orphanages, hospital equipment and the less fortunate.
Simo Šišević was born in Montenegro. Received first piano lesson at the “Njegos” school in Bar with Mr Maja Basarab. He is a graduate of the Art School of Music and Ballet in Podgorica, where he studied with the famous Anka Asanović. Later he was one of the last students of Vladimir Bochkaryov.
Important masterclasses that shaped his artistry were with Dmitry Alexeev, Norma Fisher, Mikhail Voskresensky, Ian Jones, Andrew Zolinsky, Vanessa Latarche.

Presented in association with Talent Unlimited

To say silence is golden in the territories of oblivion that Dominika Mak created today is to underestimate the power of music in a true artists hands

Morton Feldman’s ‘Six Intermissions’ were the mainstay of her recital in Dukes Hall marking the culmination of her Professional Diploma course at the Royal Academy. Silence that was so many different things depending on how it is approached and how it is left . With Dominika’s quite extraordinary palette of sounds each silence left us in a different place. An atmosphere at 10am that I have rarely witnessed as we the audience were left stranded, astonished, disturbed but above all never indifferent and active rather than passive receivers of sound .

She had begun with Dutilleux’s Trois Préludes that were of fluidity and luminosity as she created ‘Shadows and Silence’ of whispered secrets. It was truly touch and go with ‘On the same chord’ in which the silences were an integral part of this extraordinary world of chattering insistence and quite an extraordinary kaleidoscope of sounds. Energetic explosions as the ‘ Game of opposites’ was played out with reverberations and violent declarations.

Dominika had created a special atmosphere that even she closed her I pad and tip toed off the stage so as not to disturb the world of sound that she had created.

Returning without the I pad to play Ravel’s ‘ Le Tombeau de Couperin’ which are the six movements dedicated to friends who had fallen in the First World War.

Our ears were now so finely tuned that the subtlety and ravishing beauty of Dominika’s masterly playing swept over us as I personally listened to what was a recreation of a work that until today has never convinced me .

Vlado Perlemuter was my teacher but became more of a friend as this disciple of Ravel made his Italian debut at the age of 81. I accompanied him all over Italy until he was 90 and was with him when he made his last concert appearance at the Wigmore Hall aged 91. His last public appearance was at the Victoria Hall in Geneva , a few months later, where he had made his concert debut 70 years earlier!

All this to say that listening to Dominika today I heard one of the finest performance I have ever experienced . Her scrupulous attention to the composer’s intentions and her subtle palette of sounds was allied to the crystalline clarity of a perfectly manufactured Swiss clock . There was nothing mechanical about her playing, but there was on the other hand something quite magical.

From the whispered meanderings of velvety sounds to the purity of the ‘Fugue’ that follows . A ‘Forlane’ bathed in pedal with a knowing lilt of refreshing beauty and a will o’ the wisp glow to sounds of great delicacy . A dynamic drive to the ‘Rigaudon’ played with brilliance and quixotic fantasy with the Trio played with a crystalline French bel canto .Magic was in the air with a quasi religious intensity filling the rarified atmosphere. A mellifluous ‘Menuet ‘ clad in velvet where the Trio was a quasi religious chant whispered so magically as the ‘Menuet’ floated above before disintegrating and ending in pieces . The final ‘Toccata’ had more of Mendelssohn than Prokofiev as Dominika played with poetic brilliance rather than brute force. Bursting into almost unstoppable Schubertian mellifluous invention Dominika built up the tension with masterly playing of burning intensity and quite overwhelming mastery.

Dominika Mak plays Schumann with the Kensington Chamber Orchestra

Dominika Mak at the Matthiesen Gallery – Young Artists Concert Series ‘Dreaming of Utopia with playing of refined finesse’

Dominka Mak ‘If music be the food of love…..please play on ‘

POSK Chopin Festival 2024 Mak – Dubiel-Pawlak- Swigut A feast of music and full immersion with Lady Rose Cholmondeley and Prof John Rink

María Linares playing an eclectic programme of Brahms, Rameau and Debussy for the final recital of her Artist diploma at the Royal College of Music.

Being mentored whilst a Constant and Kit Lambert Junior Fellow by Norma Fischer and Danny Driver, she opened her final recital with the 6 pieces that make up Brahms op 118. Anchored in the bass the opening intermezzo was one long outpouring of sumptuous sounds played with a sweep and the beauty of interwoven counterpoints of refined musicianship. If the second intermezzo was rather slow it was imbued with poignant beauty and a palette of colour as it gradually took flight in the central episode with gently persuasive chords. Regaining its wings as Brahms miraculously adds more voices until dissolving to a mere whispered radiance. There was a gentle lilt to the ‘Allegro energico Ballade’ that was played as a true fantasy with orchestral colouring in which the melodic line was always present .Moving to the major key where the magical colours that Maria found just added to the flowing beauty of this etherial interlude. A pianist with a kaleidoscopic palette of colours added to a musicianship that can always follow the architectural line with bass notes that are the very anchor on which these ‘lullabies of grief ‘ are allowed to blossom . Maria brought a shimmering beauty to the ‘Allegretto un poco agitato’ of the 4th Intermezzo with its beautiful languid central episode. Passion and anguish were mixed with sumptuous full sounds only to be dissolved back into the dream they had come from. A poignant nobility to the ‘Romanze’ where the central ‘allegretto grazioso’ was floated on magic sounds of gossamer beauty.The final Intermezzo in E flat minor is a true tone poem of mystery and desolation and was played with extraordinary sensitivity as she built the tension to a great climax of poetic significance and burning intensity until like all these miniature masterpieces it dissolved into the dream world from where it had been conceived .

Rameau was played with a crystalline clarity that did not deny a subtle palette of colour and was a perfect way to add a refreshing contrast on this journey of poetic fantasy.

Debussy’s two books of ‘Images’ were played with great sensitivity but also great solidity, where the architectural shape of each piece was etched with colours that ranged from the glowing brilliance of ‘Reflets dans l’eau’ to the fleeting precision of ‘Poissons d’or.’ Whatever she played there was a rhythmic drive and sense of line allied to a fantasy world of colour and subtle refined beauty. ‘Hommage a Rameau’ was played very slowly but shaped so poetically and with such nobility that it contrasted with the web of continuous sounds of ‘Mouvements’ .Her technical mastery allowed her to maintain the tempo and the architectural line throughout as she played with a natural fluidity and beauty of movement that allow the music to flow always with horizontal fluidity. There was whispered magic in the air as sounds of glowing radiance filled the piano for ‘Cloches à travers les feuilles’ and it was the same beauty of subtle sounds that she imbued the desolate Temple with, as it was seen in the moonlight, lit with delicacy and refined beauty. The fleetingly wistful ‘Poisson d’or’ was a lesson in style as she could bring this impish image to life with the same poetic imagination as perceived by the composer. Performances of poetic beauty and mastery of picture postcards covered in flowers.

Hers is a technical mastery that does not draw attention to itself but is at the service of her imagination as she delves deeply into the scores with intelligence and masterly musicianship.

Constant & Kit Lambert Junior Fellow

Maria Linares, piano

23-year-old Spanish pianist María Linares has performed in consolidated Festivals and venues including CBSO Centre, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Steinway Hall in London and London Festival in the UK; II Iturbi Prize Festival, and Serenates Festival in Spain; Rossini Theatre in Gioia del Colle in Italy; and Vaduz Town Hall in Liechtenstein, among others.

At the age of 12, she performed her first solo piano recital, later followed by playing as a soloist with orchestras such as the Valencian Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of Generalitat Valenciana, Youth Orchestra of Leon and Orchestra of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, in venues such as the Palau de Les Arts, Teatro Principal and Palau de la Música in Valencia, Palau Altea in Alicante, Palau de Congressos in Castellon and the Ciudad de León Auditorium, with conductors Manuel Hernández Silva, Roberto Forés, and Daniel Gil de Tejada.

In addition to being named Music Ambassador for Spain by the Lang Lang Music Foundation, she is being supported by the Munster Trust, Craxton Memorial Trust, The Musicians’ Company, and in 2023 she was given the ‘Myra Hess’ award by Help Musicians UK. Furthermore, she has been the main prize-winner in the most distinguished competitions in her home country, part of them being VIPA 2022, Ciutat de Carlet 2022, XXVI Ruperto Chapí, XXXIV Marisa Montiel or XXVII Jacinto Guerrero. In the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, she has also received the First Prize in competitions such as the Dennis Matthews, Renna Kellaway, and Beryl Chempin Beethoven Competition.

Meanwhile, she has been selected to participate in several Masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Kirill Gerstein, Cyprien Katsaris, Michel Beroff and Claudio Martínez-Mehner. In addition to this, she has received scholarships from Liechtenstein Intensive Weeks, Chetham’s International Piano Summer School and WSL Masterclasses.

Maria is currently coursing an Artist Diploma in the Royal College of Music under a full scholarship while being a Constant Kit and Lambert Junior Fellow, studying with Professors Norma Fischer and Danny Driver. Prior to this, she finished her bachelor’s and master’s Degrees with Distinction at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under full scholarships with Professor Pascal Nemirovski.

Regarding future projects, she is set to release a CD with the label Naxos, performing a set of pieces by the composer Anton Urspruch in January 2026. 

The Constant & Kit Lambert Junior Fellow receives an award that makes a substantial contribution to their course fees and living costs. Holders of this award are considered members of the team of junior fellows and will be expected to participate fully in RCM life.

The Constant & Kit Lambert Junior Fellowship is held for one year and is only available to students on the Artist Diploma (ArtDip) in performance programme. This fellowship offers a bespoke, tailored programme of performance and artistic development opportunities to help launch the most talented instrumental students as soloists and chamber musicians. All fellows are expected to develop musical and communication skills by undertaking further intensive study, working with students internally and doing all they can to raise the profile of the RCM externally. They play a full and active part in the musical life of the RCM as well as functioning as RCM ambassadors. They have full use of the RCM Library with its wealth of material and work in close contact with the Creative Careers Centre, the RCM’s centre for professional skills and publicity services.

A ‘pop’ concert on the riverside in Twickenham just a stone’s throw from Eel Pie Island . In beautiful St Mary’s church whose refined wooden interior guarantees a perfect acoustic for Rising Stars

A genial collaboration with Cristian Sandrin and the Kettner Concert society brings Jaren Ziegler and Kasparas Mikuzis to this cool oasis on one of the hottest days of the year.

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

Kasparas I had accompanied to the Walton Foundation on Ischia in a happy collaboration with the Keyboard Trust that has been helping this exceptionally talented young Lithuanian pianist.

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

Jaren I had heard two years ago playing the Walton viola concerto at St John’s Smith Square . Playing of such mastery I was surprised to learn that he still had to enter the Royal Academy of Music! I met Jaren backstage at Kasparas’s RAM Wigmore debut and suggested they play together, certain that sparks would surely fly.

Albion Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square Miracles in Berlin and Wonders in London

So I was happy to see that my prediction was right and sparks were certainly flying in St Mary’s as a cat and mouse game of superb music making was enacted .

Brahms first sonata originally written for the clarinet and which the composer thought ‘clumsy and unsatisfying’ on the viola, only agreeing in order to placate Simrock his publisher. It has long been considered one of the most important works in the viola repertoire and the passion and poetic mastery we heard from these two young musicians today just proved Brahms wrong. It was however the Hindemith Sonata n 4 that was astonishing that this one movement work could have such a powerful impact as it spanned so many different emotions. A duo that played as one with an emotional and cerebral intent that was quite overwhelming .

Of course I remembered Jaren telling me of his love for the music of Walton and it was no coincidence that Hindemith had given the first performance of Walton’s concerto when Lionel Tertis the dedicatee turned it down!

Letting their hair down with De Falla’s seven Spanish Folksongs that they played with such fire and sultry beauty that we came away clicking our heels and stamping our feet .

Ready for the ice cold Champagne with Mary looking on at her ‘boys’ with pride and tender warmth knowing she has provided a stepping stone of a Gradus ad Parnassum

Comparative performances are really not for me . A performance stands of falls for what it can communicate in the moment it is born. There are so many wonderfully trained pianists, more than there have ever been, that in order to offer a helping hand it is necessary to go through an elimination process. It is like being in the circus arena where the daring young man on the flying trapeze gets the jackpot.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2016/05/16/piano-competitions-a-consideration/The International Competition Circuit may give a list of precious opportunities to the top prize winner but it also gives a platform to so many young artists who can be seen worldwide via the live streaming. There are artists who do not have the necessary experience but do in fact have enormous talent, and like good wine just need time to mature. Eric Lu and Kevin Chen have both won many top prizes in prestigious competitions and the final duel at the Chopin Competition was always going to be between the Leeds winner and the Rubinstein winner. The scale tipped in Eric’s favour on this occasion but there were many memorable performances from artists that in that very moment did not have the ingredients that experience in the Circus arena can bring. I am thinking of Jacky Zhang who I had heard a week before he went to Warsaw and I really thought it was a bit premature but that it would be a stepping stone and first experience of the world that awaits outside his student refuge . My God when he stepped onto the platform in Warsaw I and many others were completely bowled over by such masterly performances that I would have given him the Gold medal, as I am sure Chopin himself would have. A career though is made up of so many factors which in the following round he demostrated his inexperience to cope with an International jet setting career. Diana Cooper, Ruben Micieli and Gabriele Strata were denied a place in the final even though they had given some truly memorable performances. I did not intentionally follow the competition, as comparative performance is not for me, but I did hear voices raised over the exclusion of David Khrikhuli from the final. Since that exclusion he has been offered many engagements one of which was today on the doorstep of Chopin’s birthplace and his career is surely secured even though the jackpot had been denied him and it might take longer to gain the place that his talent truly deserves.

Today I listened for the first time to this young pianist who had become a topic for discussion and the gossip that abounds in all competitive fields. Today I heard a great artist with playing of mastery and a poetic understanding where a scrupulous attention to Chopin’s indications was filled with the unique personality of a great artist. Playing on Chopin’s doorstep filling the rarified air with aristocratic sounds of ravishing beauty and good taste. The refined good taste that Chopin had acquired having left his homeland with a heavy heart, but a heart that is always present in his music and that after his untimely death at only 39 was returned to where it had always belonged.

Today’s concert may have been short but it showed a pianist who had completely mastered Chopin’s unique originality. A genius who had created with the advent of the sustaining pedal a completely new sound world where the piano could become an orchestra. Bach’s ’48 were always on Chopin’s piano and were the anchor on which Chopin’s genius could flourish and grow.

Opening with Chopin’s mightly F sharp minor Polonaise that precedes only in number his Polonaise Héroique. A dramatic drive of passion mixed with lyricism always with artistocratic authority. Resolving the central episode with remarkable musicianship as the polonaise lived with the subtlety of a ‘canon covered in flowers.’

The G flat Impromptu surely one of Chopin’s most refined outpourings of French elegance. Sentiment without sentimentality where the beautiful tenor melody unwound with a beguiling sense of freedom and refined elegance.

The waltz in A flat op 42 with its teasing rhythmic syncopation and the brilliant outpouring of jeu perlé. Playing of weight as he delved deep into the keys with poetic curiosity. An exhilarating ending of grandeur and showmanship ending with the question mark of a genius.

The Mazurka in A minor op 39 n. 1 was played with quite extraordinary sensitivity and a kaleidoscopic palette of colour with its magical whispered ending.

The B flat Scherzo was played with great fantasy and remarkable artistry and a technical mastery always at the service of the music. A beauty to the central episode that gradually grew in intensity and brilliance but was always part of an architectural whole. Such was the vision of a musician that this well worn warhorse could appear as newly minted with a dynamic drive of burning intensity and a bel canto of glowing radiance.

A beautiful simple flourish to the opening of one of Chopin’s most poignant creations. The Nocturne in B op 62 , full of chromatic counterpoints but always with a bel canto of subtle radiance and beauty. Trills that were merely vibrations of sound and streams of notes that were explosions of poetic meaning.

There was.a clarity and beauty to the quixotic elegance of the Fourth Scherzo. A subtle brilliance of jeu perlé and a sense of architectural shape played with a dynamic drive only relieved by the exquisite beauty of the central episode. Played with a bel canto of glowing radiance before taking flight again to the grandiose final page of exhilaration and excitement.

An unexpected encore was really the highlight of an exceptional recital .

The last movement of the B minor Sonata is a ‘tour de force’ technically for any pianist, but when it is played by a superb musician it becomes a quite extraordinary build up of tension bursting only on the last page with the triumphant declamation in the left hand, with the right hand involved in a intricate web of notes. Such was the mastery of this artist that he even gave a knowing smile as he drew this ‘tour de force’ to a breathtaking conclusion .

Anelise Gamulescu graduation recital at the Royal Academy of Music was a discovery for the mastery she brought to three Rumanian composers with playing of a fluidity and authority that was a true revelation

Hats off to her professor Florian Mitrea for sharing such a discovery with us on graduation day.

Mozart Sonata in A minor written on hearing of the death of his mother and is full of masterly invention of poignant poetry and whispered anxiety that Anelise played with luminosity and fluidity.

Missing the weight within the notes that need to marry simplicity with maturity . It was in Mozart’s masterpiece of the A minor rondo that her musicianship and poignant understanding came together in work of searing intensity that she played with masterly understanding .

It was after the interval that Anelise revealed her true colour with performances of breathtaking mastery as the notes seemed to belong to her very being and flowed through her with astonishing ease .

Dressed in a beautiful Rumanian costume she certainly did her country proud as I am sure she will continue to do once passed through the doors of this illustrious institution that has known how to nurture her natural gifts and allow them to grow and mature with such mastery. Florian I have long admired as a pianist and hats off now as a genial mentor of great talent.

Florian Mitrea – born free at St Mary’s

Bridget Yee graduation recital at the Royal Academy London

An eclectic programme played with intelligence, musicianship and mastery .

It takes some doing for Christopher Elton to be astonished by a Liszt sonata shorne of its bombastic prepotence and restoring this much maligned work to the pinnacle of the Romantic repertoire where it truly belongs. Musicianship in place of muscle indeed .

This charming young lady certainly had the resources to astonish and take us by storm but she chose to reserve those moments for the climax of a poetic outpouring of genial invention . Nowhere more was this evident than after the notorious final octave blast and atomic explosion, the final page was revealed as one of the most prophetic in all music . Bridget exulted the genius of Liszt not just the greatest showman that he and Paganini were, but a musical genius looking to the future. As she progresses into her final year she will acquire more weight as her musicianship will allow her to delve even more deeply into the keys and unlock the secrets that lay within as she starts her lifelong journey into a world of sounds that are more potent than words

A remarkable first half was played without a break as Wagner’s Liebestod was allowed to unravel not with rhetoric but with ravishing streams of golden strands woven into one of the most remarkable works in all music .

Allowing this extraordinary work to open a Pandora’s box of jewels where Barber’s excursions n 1 and 3 could live happily with Haydn’s astonishing Fantasy world . Closing with the world première of Laila Arafah’s quite remarkable ‘shadow undulations of a bellflower.’ A young composer present in the audience and in the programme notes that she had provided for a pianist who played by heart and with a heart of dedicated mastery

Bridget Yee at Steinway’s for the Keyboard Trust ‘Effervescence of youth with a heart of gold’

Bridget Yee at St James’s Sussex Gardens ‘Intellect and keyboard command of breathtaking audacity’

An eclectic programme from Paul Lewis last night who after dancing with Piaf was immediately plunged into the depths of despair of Mozart’s most dramatic piano Sonata, one of only two in the minor key .

Opening with radiance and light where Mozart transforms the key of C major into the refined simplicity and genial outpouring of a Genius .

Playing of simplicity and mastery from a pianist who as a young man was playing a virtuoso repertoire. Persuaded by his mentor Alfred Brendel to leave that to others, as a lifetime is not enough to delve deeply into the Viennese Classics without any diversions into the virtuoso school.

Paul Lewis’s playing allows the notes to speak for themselves without any superficial glitter of self indulgence but delving deeply into the genial notes and searching for the meaning behind and within them.

Of course with the personality of an artist of intelligence and good taste and with a technical mastery that allows him to be on equal terms with the composer.

I was intrigued to see Poulenc ‘s 15 improvisations on the programme that I had heard about from a memorable performance he gave for the Keyboard Trust at Steinways 33 years ago.

A revisitation from an artist who since those early days has been for many years much admired on the world stage .

Bringing a wonderful sense of colour and style to these ‘trifles’ of French elegance and impish good humour . If he did not have quite the twinkle in his eye of the composer himself or the sophisticated French elegance of Rubinstein but he brought his own classical restraint and beauty to works each dedicated to friends of the composer.

He was able to turn these charming baubles into gems. In between he give us Debussy’s birds-eye view of Jersey with a magical performance of the ‘Joyous Island ‘ as seen from a deckchair in Eastbourne ! Poulenc would have relished that !

A fascinating programme not least for the resonant sound of a piano, unusually sitting on the extreme right of the platform leaving the pianist centre stage which I am sure was the last of this dedicated pianists thoughts .

This is a pianist who thinks more of the composer than himself but with a personality that as Rubinstein said was inherited from the bees , leaving the birds to fly high on wings of song

And song there was with the Allegretto quasi Andantino of Schubert ‘s Sonata in Aminor K537 . Encore is not the word for an artist of such self effacing dedication but it was the performance we had been waiting for.

Masterly subtle playing and a glowing beauty to the song that was to fill Schubert’s heart as it was revisited in the penultimate sonata of his trilogy of farewell to the world at only 31

Dix improvisations (from French, Ten Improvisations), FP 63, is the first set of improvisations by  Francis Poulenc . Written for solo piano, it was finished in 1934.

Poulenc did not set out to compose the ten improvisations as a set from the start. He lamented in a letter to Marie-Blanche de Polignac that, due to a lack of commissions, he would be compelled to compose piano pieces to satisfy his publishers: “I understand that one must create for the love of art, yet there are times when one must think as much about coal as about a pork chop.”^[1] The first six improvisations were composed between November and December 1932 at Noizay, merely one month after writing the letter, and were initially published together as a set of six improvisation by Rouart, Lerolle & Cie in 1933. The seventh improvisation was written in November 1933, whereas the remaining three improvisations were completed in 1934. Rouart & Lerolle published these remaining four improvisations in 1934 as stand-alone, separate items. The whole set of ten improvisations was eventually republished by Salabert in 1990. The set was also republished in Les quinze improvisations, a compilation published in 1960 that also included Deux improvisations, FP 113 (1941), Deux improvisations, FP 170 (1958), and Improvisation No. 15 en ut mineur, FP 176 (1959). The compilation was issued to coincide with the publication of the final improvisation in 1960.

Since many of these little pieces were not initially expected to be published one way or another, each of the Dix improvisations is assigned a distinct dedicatee. Improvisation No. 1 is dedicated to Madame Long de Marliave, followed by dedications to Louis Duffey (No. 2), Brigitte Manceaux(No. 3), Claude Popelin (No. 4), Georges Auric (No. 5), Jacques Février  (No. 6), the Comtesse A.J.de Noailles (No. 7), Nora Auric (No. 8), Thérèse Dorny  (No. 9), and Jacques Lerolle (No. 10). The improvisations never received a formal premiere, though “seven” of them were performed at the sixth La Sérénade concert in on February 4, 1933, several months before the seventh improvisation was formally completed. He continued to tour around Europe and North Africa from 1933 to 1935 and performed these pieces relatively frequently.

Poulenc was particularly fond of these works,and he recorded four of them, Nos. 2, 5, 9, and 10, for Columbia Records on November 20, 1934, in Paris.

1. à Madame Long de Marliave
2. à Louis Duffey
3. à Brigitte Manceaux
4. à Claude Popelin
5. à Georges Auric
6. à Jacques Février
7. à la Comtesse A. J. de Noailles
8. à Nora Georges Auric
9. à Thérèse Dorny
10. à Jacques Lerolle
11. à Claude Betaincourt
12. à Edwige Feuillere
13. à Madame Auguste Lambiotte
14. à Henri Hell

XV^ème Improvisation en ut mineur, “Hommage à Édith Piaf”. Très vite (C minor)

1. Improvisation in B minor. Presto ritmico
2. Improvisation in A-flat major. Assez animé
3. Improvisation in B minor. Presto très sec
4. Improvisation in A-flar major. Presto con fuoco
5. Improvisation in A minor. Modéré mais sans lenteur
6. Improvisation in B-flat major. A toute vitesse
7. Improvisation in C major. Modéré sans lenteur
8. Improvisation in A minor. Presto (très sec et ironique)
9. Improvisation in D major. Presto possibile (très sec et très net)
10. Improvisation in F major. Éloge des gammes. Modéré, sans traîner

Paul Lewis at the Guildhall on a wondrous voyage of discovery to find the heart and soul of Schubert

Paul Lewis at 50 …….celebration of a Poet and Musician

Paul Lewis crowns Beethoven 250 at the Wigmore Hall

The sublime fantasy of Paul Lewis live at the Wigmore Hall

Mariamna Sherling making her debut recital for the Keyboard Trust last night with a programme played with fearless brilliance and burning authority.

From Bach to Liszt whatever she played it was imbued with crystalline clarity and the remarkable musicianship that has been bequeathed to her by Vanessa Latarche as she perfects her studies here in London at the Royal College . A technical mastery that she earned at the Gnessin School and Moscow Conservatory that allows her temperament to imbue all she does with great authority.

Before the recital Sir Geoffrey Nice chairman of the Keyboard Trust talking about the legacy that John and Noretta have left us

The KT created by John Leech for his wife Noretta Conci will continue to help aspiring young musicians well into the future. Noretta who joined John just a month ago at the age of 95 must both be looking on happily tonight as this beautiful young artist joins in the celebration of two extraordinary people whose dream has come true.

Bach’s First Partita opened the recital with playing of etched beauty and aristocratic authority . An ‘Allemande’ that was of grace and charm anchored by a bass that added weight and strength. A beautifully fluid ‘Corrente’ was followed by the ‘Sarabande’ etched in golden tones of poignant potency . To the timeless charm of the Menuet she discreetly added ornaments that just gave an extra sheen to the simplicity and beauty before the exhilaration and brilliance of the Giga.

Beethoven’s 32 variations in C minor are rarely heard in concert these days and was played with remarkable authority as the variations took wing with burning drive and with moments of whispered beauty that were a momentary oasis from the endless outpouring of a work that Beethoven was not happy with and was published only after his death. With memories of Emil Gilels and Annie Fischer in mind it was refreshing to hear this work played with such youthful passion and total commitment. What can seem a series of technical exercises were transformed into a work of burning Beethovenian intensity of genial invention .

Two Chopin Scherzi were played with remarkable authority . Gone was the freedom of the so called Chopin tradition and here was a young artist who could look at the scores afresh and follow the composers very precise instructions rather than the indulgence of pianists of a past age . Rubinstein was the first to show us the true strength of Chopin and his genial mastery of form, and it is a tradition that was continued by Pollini. Rubinstein was on the jury of the Competition in Warsaw when 18 year old Pollini was awarded the Gold medal with Rubinstein’s famous remark that he plays better than any of us on the jury.It launched a 60 year career of a pianist and close friend of John and Noretta. It is playing of great strength not denying beauty especially the bel canto but exulting more the genius of the composer than themselves . Mariamna played with fearless brilliance and passionate intensity not allowing indulgent rhetoric to diminish the genial construction of a pianistic innovator. Breathtaking passages of excitement and exhilaration were contrasted with subtle refined beauty nowhere more than in the central outpouring of the fourth scherzo .

Choosing to finish her recital with the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt that had long been a warhorse of great pianists from the Golden age of piano playing. I remember Frederick Jackson of the Royal Academy telling me how as a student they would cheer Rubinstein at the end of his recitals such was the rhythmic excitement he could solicit.

Mariamna like Rubinstein could find so much radiance and beauty in this rhapsody where the beguiling and teasingly beautiful Hungarian folk songs were allowed to wallow with knowing indulgence and seduction before the final ‘tour de force’ of the coda of burning intensity and remarkable funambulistic showmanship .

Elena Vorotko, an artistic director of the KT, was almost lost for words after such breathtaking performances . Not for long, though, as she did manage to have a very interesting public conversation with Mariamna revealing an artist of great sensibility and intelligence where her music making had simply preceded her spoken words .

Mariamna can be heard at the Royal College of Music on the 7th of June at 4 o’clock as she presents her Graduation recital to an audience where public is welcomed free of charge

Mariamna Sherling at Bechstein Hall Kissed by the Gods with beauty and poetic artistry

Last night was the return to Leighton House of Magdalene Ho bringing her same extraordinary passion that comes from within the very notes themselves. Playing now with even more authority, as she has gained in experience and acceptance from a music world hungry for humility, intelligence and mastery. This is music making that comes from deep within and reminds me of Serkin. No seeking to find colour of outward tinsel or searching for beautiful sounds as these are the sounds that come from an artist who thinks more of the composer than herself. As Serkin said to Richard Goode on listening to the young Perahia : ‘ you told me he was good but you did not tell me HOW good!’

With her musical family gathered around the peacocks that abound in these parts last night, Patsy Fou and the Alexeev’ s were joined by some of the finest young talents at the RCM to listen and learn from an artist who has been blessed by the Gods.

Beginning her recital with a rarity that is one of the four fugues op 72 that Schumann writing to Mendelssohn described: “Even for me it is a strange and wonderful fact that almost every motif which forms within me bears the characteristics for multiple contrapuntal combinations”. 1845 was the year in which Schumann discovered his passion for composing fugues – a passion which he shared with his wife Clara. In joint creative sessions, Schumann composed his works for the pedal piano and his four piano fugues op. 72, which he wanted to be seen as “Character pieces but with a stricter form”, while Clara wrote her “Six Preludes and Fugues”. Even true connoisseurs of Schumann discover a new side to the composer in these works. Magdalene brought a simplicity of fluidity and a certain sense of improvisation as the fugue was shaped with great beauty. Schumann’s knotty twine immediately stamped with the voice of a composer who might be limiting his fantasy but not his poetic voice as Magdalene allowed this short work to unfold with such disarming innocence.

Leading straight into Beethoven’s early sonata op 10 n. 3. It is one of the first sonatas where Beethoven had expanded the ‘slow’ movement into an epitaph of grief and searching. The opening Presto was played with remarkable clarity and a dynamic drive of burning intensity. Even the beautiful second subject was not allowed a moment’s rest as it was incorporated into the continual forward movement. Magdalene’s clarity and precision were always with scrupulous attention to the composer’s very precise instructions. A development section that was a dizzying tour de force as notes were spread over the entire keyboard in an unrelenting chase, finally and dramatically coming to a halt before the innocent return of the opening moving towards a coda of brilliance and exultation. Magdalene waiting until she had collected her strength to embrace the ‘Largo e mesto’ that is a declamation of masterly invention. Pondering over every note with poignant fervour and almost convincing us that to play the movement in six instead of two was the only way forward! Some memorable moments not least the chorale with the melodic line doubled at the octave as it burst into a passionate cry out of which golden strands of reverberations were released . Deeply concentrated playing of tender authority as the opening Largo returned. Wonderful swirling sounds that accompanied the deep almost operatic beauty of the bass before the coda. But it was here in the coda that the slow tempo seemed rather exaggerated. The sighing syncopations that Beethoven writes lost something of its sense of line as the beat seemed to be missing in a too free recitative of deep significance. But Magdalene is a great artist and whatever she does is mesmerising because so convincing. As a famous stage director said to my wife when she apologised for not follow completely his instructions, ‘there is no such thing as right and wrong – just convince me!’ The famous slow tempi of Richter were convincing because they were of a musical genius who had pondered and suffered before uttering a single sound. Magdalene has this same inner integrity and it is a God given gift that can only be guided by people who truly understand but it cannot be taught. As Rubinstein was to exclaim ,’ You have to be born with talent ,you cannot teach it.’

https://youtu.be/gex0sOR7XZ0?si=798bjpruQBl2-e6t

An equally slow ‘Menuetto’ was where Magdalene seemed to be looking for something deeper than just a flowing mellifluous melodic line of simple innocence. It was in the Trio, though, that one could understand Magdalene wanting to underline the contrast, as she brought and infectious ‘joie de vivre’ bubbling over with wit and exhilaration as one voice replied playfully to the other. The same teasing brilliance to the ‘Rondo’ where the question and answer sprang to life with masterly brilliance and a remarkable technical control of Beethoven’s really quite scintillating jeu perlé. A dynamic drive and Beethoven’s absolute seriousness even when out to play with such ebullience and irresistible dynamism.

A refreshing interlude from Beethoven and Schumann was with Unsuk Chin’s Étude ‘Scherzo ad Libitum’ . Remarkable playful virtuosity of stopping and starting with inquisitive questioning. A continuous perpetuum mobile on which appeared skeletons rattling over the keys. As with all Magdalene’s performances it was totally convincing and just refreshed the atmosphere ready for Schumann’s magnificent Humoresque op op 21.

A work for long overlooked until both Horowitz and Richter showed the world what it had been missing for too long! Nowhere more are the duel personalities of the composer more in evidence than here. Eusebius living side by side with Florestan in an outpouring of breathtaking beauty and passionate intensity. Nobility and grandeur living side by side with poetic beauty and ravishment. An opening of beauty as Magdalene allowed the melody to unfold with beguiling simplicity before bursting into life ‘sehr rasch und leicht’.Playing of burning quixotic intensity before the return of the opening as if seen from afar. Turning into a wistful episode that Schumann writes on three staves showing us a musical line that is to erupt into scintillating brilliance and dynamic drive. A beautiful sense of nostalgia to the dance of ‘ Einfach und zart’ that follows, leading to an ‘Intermezzo’ with its notoriously busy double octaves. In Magdalene’s knowing hands we were not aware of the transcendental difficulties as it was the music that flowed without interruption just fading into the distance as the final episode is heard with rhapsodic beauty. An extraordinary outpouring of passionate intensity and virtuosistic brilliance leading to a final imperious march where Schumann miraculously incorporates a distant melody from within. A beautifully rhapsodic coda was played with an almost improvised freedom before the final call to arms of the ending. A remarkable performance not only for the technical mastery but for the architectural shape she could bring to a work that can seem so episodic.

A simple encore from a musician who hides behind the music and is such a humble servant that the idea to ingratiate herself is totally alien to her credo. However having said that she astonished us all with a most overwhelming performance of Saint- Saens’s old warhorse of ‘Étude en form de Valse.’ Of course with the historic performance of Cortot in our hearts Magdalene took us by storm with an equally breathtaking performance of mastery and beguiling charm.It brought us back to the salons of the Golden Age of piano playing when pianists at the end of a recital would let their hair down and seduce their audience with pianistic acrobatics and jewel like mastery . https://youtu.be/QJot3tfsUBM?si=ve4Iz7k_qer4RvR4

Magdalene already belongs to an elite class of pianists who listen to what they are playing and it is as if she is recreating the works as the composer would have imagined with the ink still wet on the page.

Hats off dear Magdalene ‘ je sens, je joue , je trasmet has never been so actual as in your hands today.

Magdalene Ho in Germany In memoriam Alfred Brendel a report by Moritz von Bredow

Daniel Müller-Schott and Magdalene Ho with mindful music making of prophetic beauty

Magdalene Ho A musical genius in Paradise

Magdalene Ho ‘A star is born on the rising sun of inspired mastery’

Chopin reigns at the National Liberal Club and St Mary’s Perivale The triumph of Misha Kaploukhii and Magdalene Ho