ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Gabrielé Sutkuté for the the 700 year old Worship Company of Glaziers presenting an evening of French Music on a voyage of ‘Discovery’ organised by Yisha Xue and Lisa Peacock

Master of the Glaziers , Alderman Tim Mc Nally CC, former chairman of the National Liberal Club dedicated the concert to his wife Claire entitling the evening ‘Claire de lune’ which of course had to include Debussy’s much loved piano piece ‘Clair de lune’.

A piece that Gabrielé had relearned from her childhood piano lessons and which she played with exquisite finesse and ravishing moonlit beauty. But now a distinguished artist celebrated in many International competitions she decided to learn the entire early suite by Debussy of four miniature tone poems of beguiling charm and beauty that make up his ‘Suite Bergamasque.’ The opening flourish of the Prélude was enacted with gentle authority and was enough to catch our attention and open a mellifluous flood gate of delicacy and atmospheric beauty. There was an impish capriciousness to the Minuet but that blossomed into a melody intoned with sumptuous luxuriant beauty and after such an unashamedly romantic outburst there was a cheeky ending thrown off with a lightweight glissando and two final short notes in the bass sure to catch an enthusiastic audience unawares as Debussy has the last laugh. Gabrielé brilliantly living every moment and communicating this wonderful youthful ‘joie de vivre’ of early Debussy. ‘Clair de lune’ was played with ravishing sounds and an intense freedom as if an improvised song inspired by the beautiful lines of ‘Verlaine’. Obviously lines that were dedicated on this occasion to Claire Mayne, Tim McNally’s wonderful consort : ‘ Your soul is like a landscape fantasy, where mask and bergamasques, in charming wise, strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be hidden beneath their fanciful disguise ‘. The final ‘Passepied’ was played with an infectious rhythmic vitality. The other work by Debussy was his first book of ‘Images’ which is mentioned below.

Adding them to four pieces by Rameau written a century earlier and possessing the same painting in sound. From the heart rending ‘Les Tendres Plaintes’ to the terrifying ‘Les Cyclopes’ with one hand chasing the other over the keyboard from the revolutionally descriptive ‘Pièces de clavecin.’ As the programme notes say ‘Les Tendres Plaintes’ is a deeply expressive, melancholic miniature that bridges the formal French court elegance with operatic drama. Gabrielé played it with beauty and disarming simplicity of radiance and glowing fluidity. The chattering of the voices in ‘La joyeuse’ were played with vibrant clarity as she brought a wistful radiance to ‘La Follette’ with ornaments of knotty twine and etherial sounds of poetic beauty. A masterly performance of ‘Les Cyclopes’ as Gabrielé’s well oiled fingers chased each other up and down the keyboard with hypnotic insistence.

An evening of French music that are pictures painted in sound, opened with the magic imagery of Debussy.

‘Reflections in water’ played by Gabrielé with ravishing jeux perlé and a subtle palette of sounds that allowed this magnificent Steinway Concert Grand to sing with a glowing fluidity and golden beauty of rarified radiance . Debussy’s ‘Hommage à Rameau’ was every bit as descriptive as the four pieces that followed by this much overlooked master. Aristocratic potency gave way to whispered beauty in Gabrielé’s sensitive hands and made one marvel as to how a box of hammers and strings could be transformed into a wondrous casket of jewels. From her ten magic fingers she was able to create an orchestra with a palette of colours as descriptive as any of the pointilless painters of the neo impressionistic school. A continuous stream of notes in the busy round of ‘Movement’ played with masterly clarity as washes of whispered sounds swept across the keyboard with gossamer lightness and poetic intensity, disappearing into the stratosphere with ethereal sounds thrown off with masterly ease .

All pieces of refreshing radiance and beauty until Gabrielé took us into the depths of descriptive decadence with Ravel’s ‘La Valse.’ With the menacing rumblings and troubling boiling waters bursting into flames and all played with fearless virtuosity and frenetic impetuosity. Gone was the refined good manners of a poetess of the keyboard as now she appeared as the devil in disguise throwing herself into the keys whilst shooting off glissandi in all directions. The music all the time reaching a boiling point where the burning intensity of the music was matched by the passionate mastery of the performer. At certain points she was even on her feet reaching ever deeper into the keys, extracting demonic sounds that ignited the atmosphere resulting in cheers and a standing ovation from an up to now very sedate audience .

Covered in flowers Gabrielé calmed the waters with an exquisite trifle of early Beethoven. Written when all was still well in his world but that was later to be a trial and torment of ‘sturm und drang’ in a tormented life cut short at only 57 and whose bicentenary, coincidentally, falls next year in 2027

Flowers for the pianist from Paul Vesper CEO of the NLC, but also a very touching bouquet for Yisha from her Club, happy to welcome her back after a two month long illness, where her enthusiasm and expertise were much missed.

Chopin in Paradise with Diana Cooper in Provence .

Diana bringing Chopin to this corner of France near Avignon and Marseilles ahead of her new recording of Chopin where she will present in particular the Four Scherzi by Chopin. In the beautifully secluded village of Eygalières nearby is where Imogen Cooper holds her masterclasses twice a year, Mary Orr with her newly created trust ‘Promote Our Pianists’ had invited Diana to give a House Concert in the area where for many years she too lived. Mary living permanently now in London has instigated a collaboration with the historic Kettner Concerts at the National Liberal Club which she adds to a list of venues that she personally overseas with the idea of giving a platform to artists at the start of their career.

Mary Orr’s ‘POP’ rides on wings of song at the National Liberal Club

The concert last Friday at the Liberal Club demonstrated Mary’s belief that chamber music is of fundamental importance to young musicians.

The beautiful wooden church of St Mary’s Twickenham has long been the seat for her chamber concerts and judging by the success at the NLC it will be promoted in central London more often . https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/05/25/viola-virtuoso-jaren-ziegler-and-kasparas-mikuzis-a-cat-and-mouse-game-of-masterly-music-making/

Having overseen the concert on Friday Mary was seen in Provence the next day ready to receive Diana and help her prepare for her Sunday afternoon try out performance before a select group of music connoisseurs.

Diana was first brought to prominence at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw last year and has since been making her way in an overcrowded profession because of her playing of refreshing elegance and intelligence. They combine to make her playing of Chopin in particular shorn of any rhetoric or adhesion to the so called Chopin tradition, with playing of radiance, beauty and simplicity. After her early technical preparation from Jean-Francois Heisser and Rena Shereshevskaya she has since been mentored by Pascal Amoyal , Norma Fisher and Philippe Giusiano and is now ready to forge her own way with a lifetime ahead of delving ever more deeply into the scores of the Great masters.

Diana looks deeply into the score with poetic intensity and follows scrupulously the ground map left by the composer as she takes us on a voyage of discovery to a wondrous land of poetry and beauty.

Opening on a not easy piano with the First Scherzo with its exposed passages of dynamic drive and a fingerfertigkeit of devilish intensity. After just two chords, a veritable call to arms, she threw herself into the fray with fearless abandon. A musical intelligence though that could show us that these notes are merely washes of moving colour with sounds of burning intensity. The central episode, where Chopin quotes a Polish Christmas Carol, was played with disarming innocence and a beauty anchored in the bass that gave great depth and radiance to the simple folk tune that was allowed to unfold with such simplicity. A coda that erupted with breathtaking brilliance and drive brought this first Scherzo to an exhilarating end.

There was a dramatic contrast to the question and answer of the Second Scherzo overtaken by a mellifluous bel canto of radiance and a glowing poignant beauty. A great sense of nostalgia imbues these melodic outbursts which Diana played with a palette of sounds of extraordinary range, from passionate outbursts to whispered insinuations. She brought great clarity to the coda building the tension with a burning intensity and extraordinary virtuosity. No matter the brilliance and excitement there was a musical mind that was shaping the music and creating an architectural whole of poetic intelligence.

The Third Scherzo opened with mysterious rich whispered sounds bursting into octaves hidden under a cloud of sounds where Diana could miraculously play with horizontal beauty rather than vertical brutality. A chorale of rich full sounds was allowed to pave its way forward answered by the glistening embellishments that Diana added with radiant clarity. A mysterious journey of repeated bass pedal notes were bathed in pedal like a Cathédrale engloutie emerging from the depths to be overtaken by a coda of fearless brilliance and breathtaking mastery.

The Fourth Scherzo op 54 we are nearing the final works of Chopin that Diana was to share with us in the second half of her recital. It is the most pastoral of the scherzi with its fleeting flight of jeux perlé that are thrown off like streams of gold and silver bursting into song as only Schubert seemed to know how. Chopin;s seemingly impishly capricious comments always tempered with poetic significance. A central episode which was played with the weight and subtle beauty that she was to find in the Polonaise- Fantaisie later, and was a sumptuous oasis of ravishing bewitchment. A coda that grew from a whisper, building to a sumptuous climax and a stream of sounds from the bottom to the top of the keyboard with the final two chords played with aristocratic poise and finality.The second half of the concert was dedicated to the last works that Chopin wrote before his death at the age of only 39 .

The three Mazurkas op 59 truly deserve Schumann’s description of ‘Canons covered in flowers ‘ and Diana played them with exquisite finesse. The first with its poetic hesitations of poignant significance with the beautiful passage to the sumptuous central episode of fleeting beauty. There was passion and persuasion to the second dissolving into etherial fragments of great beauty as the tension rose and the melody appeared so robustly in the tenor register where the beautiful etherial ending Diana threw off with timeless ease. The third was a robust dance of great elan and a spontaneous ‘joie de vivre’.

The Barcarolle is one of Chopin’s last works , a great song and a highly original form of beauty and freedom. It was here that Diana could demonstrate her complete mastery with a continual flowing movement of passion and mellifluous beauty. Simplicity and radiance combined with style and mastery, an intoxicating mix for one of Chopin’s greatest creations.

A Polonaise – Fantaisie played with strength and passion with a superb use of the pedals that allowed Chopin to create this new form in the last year of his life, where the Polonaise and fantasy were inextricable interwound. A very noble opening but I would think twice before splitting the long vibrations between the hands as it ruins the impression of an artist making one stroke with his brush. Diana however could create of this extraordinary work one great architectural shape, that took us to the beautiful central episode with such inevitability and a sense of riding on a wave of sounds always moving forward. Leading to the return of the opening declamation and with dynamic drive to the sumptuous climax of glorious exultation and aristocratic nobility.

Two encores for and audience visibly moved by such refine playing : The Berceuse op 57 and the waltz in A flat op 42

I have never forgotten a performance of the Chopin ‘Berceuse’ that I had heard from Norma Fisher in the London Piano Series at the Wigmore Hall in the sixties. I had been taken by ‘our’ teacher Sidney Harrison, who had taken me under his wing as a schoolboy and wanted to introduce the winner of the Liszt Scholarship at the Royal Academy to his prize student, now and established artist worldwide. It is Norma Fisher who has been mentoring Diana and it was this rich aristocratic sound that I was reminded of today. A refined simplicity almost a classical style ( Mozart A minor rondo comes to mind) as the variations evolved glistening and shimmering with silvery sounds of glowing beauty. The beauty of C flat floating with subtle beauty into the atmosphere creating a magic aura of sublime beauty taking us to the whispered ending.

An second encore of Chopin’s teasingly brilliant Waltz op 42 was played to the manner born. Some things cannot be taught but are recreations of an artist blessed by the Gods.

Diana Cooper in Florence Gala Concert in the Harold Acton Library Beauty and mastery revealed ‘On wings of song’

Diana Cooper ‘Miracles at Bechstein Hall’

The joy of music making at the National Liberal Club.

Three star pianists with three star string players from the London Mozart Players held us spellbound in an evening of music making where the audience and players were united in moments of sublime poetic effusions when time stood still.

Piano Quartets by Schumann op 47 with Milda Daunoraité, Fauré op15 with Dominic Degavino and Brahms op 25 with William Bracken, were played with searing intensity and subtle poetic collaboration with Sarah Butcher’s sumptuous cello playing and the driving intensity of Ruth Roger’s violin and Judith Busbridge’s viola .

A sumptuous outpouring of passion, drama and ethereal beauty transformed the National Liberal Club into an intimate haven of ravishing beauty sealing the collaboration between Promote Our Pianist concerts of the indomitable Mary Orr and the historic Kettner music society chaired by Peter Whyte.

A collaboration born on wings of song with Cristian Sandrin and Ben Westlake artistic directors joined now by Mary Orr

Dazzling Milda Daunoraité takes the Wigmore Hall by storm

William Bracken at the Guildhall ‘ Intelligence and genial mastery combine’

Dominic Degavino at St Mary’s

Tomos Boyles is a Welsh pianist supported by Kirckman Concerts. He comes to Kings Place to present a programme centred around memory and dreaming, weaving a psychological thread that connects music spanning two centuries.

The London debut of Tomos Boyles at Kings Place for the Kirckman Young Artists Series. A young artist already an Oxford graduate but now having time to dedicate himself totally to making music where his true poetic soul is revealed with playing of horizontal beauty and radiance. In fact all that he played was a long song with never a hard or ungrateful sound, squeezing the very essence out of each note, producing even in the most demanding passages, a sound that was anchored from the bass opening up this magic box of jewels.

From the opening four Schubert songs transformed by Liszt into miniature tone poems every bit as significant as Schubert’s genial poetic inspiration. To the Schumann Fantasie and the outpouring of love for his future wife and mother of their eight children. The mellifluous beauty of Ravel’s Ondine and the desolation of Le Gibet were overtaken by the impish antics of the devilish Scarbo.

Fun and games with Kurtag in his centenary year were followed by Shostakovich’s monumental 24th Prelude and Fugue.

A poet speaks in all that he shared with us with masterly playing of intelligence beauty and poignant intensity. The extraordinary thing about the concert was that it was all under a cloud of poetic beauty. Tomos never overstepped or trespassed outside a sound world that was a musical language of extraordinary eloquence and subtlety with a palette of sounds that mirrored the chameleonic changes of mood and character that were the shadow of a heart beating with intense poetic potency.

And what better way to begin than with the mysterious intensity of Heine’s ‘Die Stadt’ with an extraordinarily atmospheric rumbling bass and the fearful screams played with an extraordinary range of sounds. The scene was now set as we entered with Tomos a magic world where sounds could speak louder than words. Liszt could transform these songs into moments of harrowing emotions of grief and radiance with a technical mastery not of a showman but of a true magician who could make a black box of hammers and strings sing with more eloquence that the human voice. It is an illusion and one that Tomos fully understands as he transformed these four songs into miniature tone poems. Rückert’s ‘Du bist di Ruh’ was a mellifluous outpouring with the melodic line in the tenor register with the left hand singing with such subtle beauty and delicacy. Heine’s ‘Der Doppelgänger’ was played with sombre whispered beauty and intense weight with great gasping phrases of harrowing recognition. ‘Erlkönig’ from Goethe’s famous poem has long been a show piece for ‘ pianists’ in Liszt’s reworking, with repeated octaves ,as in his his sixth Hungarian rhapsody, that have become a workout for the muscle and resilience of athletic pianists.This was not the case with Tomas as we were not aware of the technical difficulties such was the story that he was telling with sumptuous full sounds that were never hard or ungrateful but full of meaning as each of the four characters was given a voice of startling differing colour.

Schumann ‘Fantasie’ as Tomos said is the great love of his life and it was evident that here was a labour of love. The preface by Schlegel sums up the performance from the very first ‘G’ deep in the bass. “Resounding through all the notes In the earth’s colourful dream There sounds a faint long-drawn note For the one who listens in secret.” It was here that Tomos’s kaleidoscopic palette created the world of Schumann with sounds always from the bass, giving the possibility of opening up the colours within the piano for the world of song that this work inhabits. Even quoting Beethoven’s song cycle ‘An die ferne Geliebte ‘ To the distant beloved’ in the coda of the first movement with the lines ‘Accept then these songs beloved, which I sang for you alone‘. Schumann wrote to Clara: The first movement may well be the most passionate I have ever composed – a deep lament for you. Robert and Clara still had to suffer separation before they finally married four years later. All this was beautifully illustrated by Tomos with playing of great sweep but also scrupulous attention to Schumann’s markings and in particular to a sense of balance where the left hand could create waves of sound on which Schumann’s passion could ride. The ‘Adagio’ marking before retaking the tempo was beautifully managed , where in lesser hands one can loose the musical line but Tomos had us straining to hear the resolution before passion overtook once again. There was a luminosity to the ‘Im Legendenton’ which followed from a silence that is not actually in the score but Tomos considered as a deep breath before this sumptuous central episode.Keeping the line too in the final ‘Adagio’ where the Beethoven quote shaped the music with such subtle sounds, each chord played with a different colour but all under the same roof as Schumann had so clearly written to be played in one long pedal.

The second movement too was played not in the dry rhythmic way it can seem on the page ( some have likened it to Beethoven’s op 101 sonata which is in many ways purely rhythmic) but Tomos played it under the same cloud of sound and the rather repetitive dotted rhythms became songs without words.It gave an overall architectural shape to this rather jagged writing that became more melodic than rhythmic.Fearlessly playing the treacherous leaps as this first part reaches a climax just showed us that he was thinking more of the music than the technical challenges involved . It makes Tureck’s remark that she does not play wrong notes even more actual as this is always a musical conversation of great poetic portent and not an athletic exercise! The central episode ‘Etwas langsamer’ was played with deep wondrous sounds ( as he had found in ‘Du bis die Ruh’ ) as the music gradually took wing leading to the coda that he had mentioned in his introduction but that he played shaping the music and fearlessly allowing full reign to his heart rather than his mind ! There was magic in the air with the final movement where Agosti had written in my score Cla- ra above the opening long ‘A’ and ‘G’ . Again the deep bass notes added an anchor on which wondrous sounds could open up within the piano with tender intensity and poignant beauty. The melodic line shadowed by the inner voices creating a depth of sound of intense vibrant emotions. Gradually allowing the music to expand without any percussive sounds but sumptuous full meaningful expressions of poetic beauty. Ravishing whispered beauty as the final page opens and the melodic line passes from the soprano to the bass with the music moving inexorably forward as the heart beats faster only to lie exhausted barely able to arrive at the final three chords. Miraculously played in diminuendo leading to a silence that was truly golden as we shared moments of peace together in one of those magic moments where music can unite strangers caught in the spell that only music can create.

‘Gaspard de la nuit’ has long been a show piece for the piano. Ravel deliberately set out to write a piece technically harder than Balakirev’s ‘Islamey’ resulting in the final movement ,’Scarbo’, of transcendental difficulty. But these are poems by Aloysius Bertrand depicting the water nymph ‘Ondine’ and the desolation of the gallows swinging in the distance with ‘Le Gibet’ and finally the devilish antics of ‘Scarbo’. Tomos produced ravishing washes of sounds as ‘Ondine’ was heard with glowing radiance splashing in and out of the water. A miracle of writing for the piano where Tomos could create wonderful sounds with etherial glissandi and thunderous passionate outbursts. A lone ‘ Ondine’ stranded on her own was played with barely whispered sounds before erupting into a cadenza of glowing fluidity. Tomos brought his mastery of sound to ‘Le Gibet’ where the tolling bell was to be heard throughout with chordal atmospheres magically evoked. Ravel marks the melodic line ‘un peu en dehors mais sans expression’ and it was here that the glowing luminosity and ravishing beauty of Tomos’s playing created a truly magical atmosphere. The bare opening notes of ‘Scarbo’ deep in the bass breaking the spell with chords that were vibrant repeated notes.Tomos played, as far as I could see, with one pointed finger and obviously a wrist of rubber which is an amazing tour de force. Bursting into passionate cries of romantic effusions with a dynamic drive of irrepressible energy. There was a moment of reflection with deep bass notes and swirling mysterious sounds until the impish Scarbo appears with even more tricks up his sleeve which Tomos played with masterly control and driving intensity.

Three of Kurtag’s ‘Games’ were played with refreshing brilliance and prepared the scene for Shostakovich’s 24th Prelude and Fugue that Tomos played with fantasy and monumental brilliance.

No encores were possible after such a feast of music but I am quite sure that we will be hearing a great deal more of this young Welsh poet of the keyboard in the not too distant future.

Tomos described as possessing a ‘romantic flair and passion that only comes from intense involvement’ (Carol Nixon, LMC), rising Welsh musician Tomos Boyles is rapidly carving out a career as a young and exciting concert pianist with a distinctive voice. Having won the 2025 Dudley International Piano Competition, Tomos has been engaged for a number of recitals and concertos, which include performances of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Tomos has performed at numerous prestigious venues throughout the UK. Having given his debut solo recital at Wigmore Hall in 2025, has also performed at Smith Square Hall; Steinway Hall, London; Kings Place; St George’s Bristol; the Barber Institute; St Martin-in-the-Fields; the Holywell Music Room; St David’s Hall; and the Wales Millennium Centre. Forthcoming engagements include solo recitals for Barber Concerts and the Petworth Festival, as well as a tour of Italy supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust.

Further to the Dudley International Piano Competition, Tomos’s competition successes include the first prize at Wales International Piano Festival, the prestigious Blue Ribband at the National Eisteddfod, and first place in the EPTA competition. His interviews have been published by the Cross-Eyed Pianist’s ‘Meet the Artist’ series and broadcast by S4C and BBC Wales, and he recently featured on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ with oboist Ewan Millar.

Tomos graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University in 2022 with a first-class degree in music. Now studying for an Advanced Artist Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he works under Professor Joanna MacGregor, having previously studied with Rustem Hayroudinoff and Alison Bowring. This year, he was awarded the Royal Academy’s prestigious Bicentenary Scholarship in support of both his studies and the release of his debut CD for Linn Records featuring Beethoven and John Corigliano later this year.

Tomos Boyles in Italy, Florence, Forlì,Venice,Padua and Abano Terme ‘A Welshman Abroad’ demonstrating his poetic mastery and intelligence

Tomos Boyles at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust Intelligence and poetic artistry combine

Tomos Boyles at St Marys Perivale ‘Intelligence and masterly control combine with poetic sensibility’

Two Preludes and Fugues by Bach in G minor Bk 1 n 16 and in E flat from Bk 2 n 7.

Her Bach playing was the highlight of the concert as she allowed the music to flow, imbuing the mellifluous outpouring of the preludes with poetic beauty adding great character without disturbing the beautiful flowing radiance of Bach’s genial pen. The knotty twine of the fugues were played with nobility and clarity. The G minor was where the subject was always underlined with a great architectural shape in mind and the E flat played with great weight and dignitas.

I think for reasons of time Claudia could only present the first movement of Beethoven’s penultimate Sonata op 110 . It was here that Claudia’s temperament betrayed her as there was too sharp a contrast between the opening that she played with beautiful lyricism and the development where the intensity of the left hand broke the overall spell of a movement that is more pastoral that dramatic.

It was her temperament that betrayed her in Chopin too, where her rather exaggerated rubato did not allow her to trace the overall architectural shape, as she moved in beautiful small phrases rather than showing us the full picture. The posthumous first study was beautifully played but she lost the overall pulse as her emotional commitment took over.

It was in Liszt’s Liebestraum that she found the right balance between her head and her heart as she gave a passionately balanced performance of ravishing beauty

Two nocturnes by Thalberg followed, where in the first op 51 bis, the accompaniment rather overpowered the melodic line. Op 21 n 1 on the other hand was played with radiance and restrained beauty and was a courageous choice from a composer more known for his three handed opera paraphrases than for exquisite salon pieces .

Finishing with the fourth of Ravel’s Miroirs : ‘Alborada de gracioso’ which is a show piece for pianists with the high jinx of the morning song of the jester of spiky brilliance contrasting with sultry pulsating insistence. Some remarkable double glissandi from Claudia and scintillating repeated notes but this was more a performance of beauty and charm than sarcasm and daring.

It was nice to meet Claudia’s mother and teacher at the Conservatory in Catania named after Bellini their illustrious son. A colleague of Epifanio Comis and it was nice to know that she was on the commission that gave top honours to graduating students Giovanni Bertolazzi and Alberto Ferro now flying high on the world concert circuit. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/02/20/giovanni-bertolazzi-at-the-pharos-arts-foundation-cyprus-power-and-poetry-combine-with-mastery/ https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/10/alberto-ferro-a-master-speaks-in-tolentino/

Aquiles delle Vigne una vita per la musica

Just a month on from his previous recital at St James’s Piccadilly there has been a transformation of a pianist from a promising student to a mature artist. Winning a scholarship to continue his studies with Norma Fisher at the RCM together with a confirmation of his talent with an award from the Weir Trust via the Keyboard Trust, are all things that have given this young man a sense of authority and conviction that is apparent from his interpretation of the Beethoven Bagatelles op 126.

Max Walsh at St James’s Piccadilly with youthful passion, authority and fearless mastery

Over the past month they have grown in stature and with a maturity that is quite astonishing. A trip to France to play in the En blanc e noir Festival seems to have ignited in this young artist a burning sense of conviction that before seemed more on the surface. Playing now with real weight and having acquired a considerable technical mastery from his studies with Jan Loefller his recital today in St James’s was a revelation of how talent of promise can flower. I am sure that with the guidance of Norma Fisher it will blossom into an artist of considerable stature.

Alessio Masi and Max Walsh in France for the Keyboard Trust

Very mature and deeply felt introductions to the works he played were mirrored in performances of great depth and profundity. His playing of Messiaen I had noted at the beginning of last month with a deeply moving account of ‘Le Baiser.’ Today he played an early Prelude by Messiaen : ‘La Colombe’ with the same luminosity and questioning dialogue of etherial mystery. It was played with a knowing weight and authority with a kaleidoscopic range of sounds of radiance and beauty.

Liszt’s ‘La lugubre gondola’ was given a deep brooding intensity of continual uncertainty. Played with a sensitivity of balance as this is a young musician who listens to himself playing with a poetic soul that delves deeply into the mood of the piece and it’s significance. Technical considerations are not questioned as we are propelled into a world of a burning insistence of passionate innermost intensity that ends in a state of oblivion that is shocking as its is harrowing.

It was an orchestral colour that he brought to ‘Bénédiction’ as his whole body was moving with the music as though riding on a continuous natural wave of musical sounds. I have often been amazed by Arcadi Volodos of how the physical shape of his movements mirror the sounds and shapes that he is conjuring in music. It is rare to see a young artist free to move in such an undemonstrative way because it is so natural and unaffected. A natural impulse like trees rooted in the ground but with the branches free to move as the wind catches them. Poetic playing of radiance and flowing beauty with washes of sound on which the melodic line floated with passionate intensity. Always a deep anchor in the bass that gives such strength to the structure and architectural shape of a work that can sometimes appear so fragmented. There was an aristocratic control at the climax that was really of great maturity. Rarely have I heard this beautiful work played as one as this young man showed us today.

The clapping had stopped but Max with a burning desire to communicate came back on stage determined to share with us Ravel’s ‘Pavane’ that was part of his overall conception of a programme that he had envisaged as ‘virtuality and transcendence’. A performance of glowing beauty but above all of simplicity and poetic complicity.

Winner of The Liszt Society International Piano Competition and the Junior Wales International Piano Festival 2025, Max Walsh has completed his studies at Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Head of Keyboard Jan Loefller.

Max has been awarded a full scholarship to study Piano and Composition at the Royal College of Music, studying piano with Norma Fisher. Christopher Axworthy praised his “youthful burning passion,” describing him as “a young man born to play the piano… at only 18, his potential is enormous and may know no bounds.” Max is funded with the generous support of Dr K.R. Weir’s legacy through the Keyboard Charitable Trust, where he is a new artist. He is also supported by Talent Unlimited. Max has performed as a soloist at London’s Regent Hall, St Mary’s Perivale, and Montpellier’s Un piano sous les arbres festival. He has benefitted from masterclasses with Boris Giltburg, Joanna MacGregor, and Julian Lloyd Webber. Max was also one of five finalists of the 2025 BBC Young Composer competition. Presented in association with Liszt Society

Messiaen Préludes (Preludes) are a 1928–1929 set of eight pieces by French composer Olivier Messiaen , which were written when the composer was 20 years old and studying at the Conservatoire de Paris. He considered it to be his first work of any value. The compositions are based on Messiaen’s  modes of limited transposition that are modes or scales  that fulfill specific criteria relating to their symmetry  and the repetition of their interval  groups. They also betray an influence of Debussy’s preludes

They were premiered by the composer in a private performance at the Concerts Durand in Paris on 28 January 1930.

Liszt La lugubre gondola S 220/1

Liszt’s idea for the work came from seeing the funeral processions on Venice’s Grand Canal from his window at the Palazzo Vendramin, where he stayed as Richard Wagner’s guest during the winter of 1882/83. Wagner was already ill at the time and would die from a heart attack that coming February, and as Liszt noted himself his musical preoccupation with the funeral gondolas during his stay was as if in premonition of Wagner’s own journey on the canal only six weeks later. As with many of Liszt’s compositions from the 1880s it’s written in a harsh, barren musical language, which in of itself seems to be born out of death and decay. It differs from the mighty Funérailles for instance from 35 years before in that the music is descriptive rather than expressive, and has an unbroken narrative arch. Liszt’s vision is clearly given, yet personally I fail to see a worldly event in the piece. It seems to take place in a misty dreamworld, and the scope of it is such that it rather brings the thoughts to Hades than Venice.

Ravel Jeux d’eau

In 1901, Maurice Ravel  was aged 26 and had yet to make an impression on the French musical scene. He had failed to win any prizes as a student at the Paris Conservatoire  and was expelled on that account. As a former student he was permitted to attend the classes of his teacher Gabriel Fauré, who thought highly of him and encouraged him. Ravel dedicated Jeux d’eau and his String Quartet  “à mon cher maître Gabriel Fauré” Perlemuter commented that the piece “opens up new horizons in piano technique, especially if one remembers that Debussy’s Jardins sous la pluie was not written until two years later, in 1903”. The first public performance was given by the pianist Ricardo Viñesi n a concert presented by the Société nationale de musique on 5 April 1902, at which Ravel’s ‘Pavane pour une infante défunte’ was also premieredRavel’s biographer Arbie Orenstein comments that among the other critics and the public the Pavane was found elegant and charming, but Jeux d’eau was thought to be cacophonic and excessively complicated. “It now appears that the Pavaneis a minor work, as the composer himself acknowledged, while Jeux d’eau is firmly established as an important landmark in the literature of the piano”.

Franz Liszt Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude—the third piece from his 1853 piano cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses—is considered to be one of his most significant works for solo piano, but its roots in the eponymous poem by Alphonse de Lamartine have yet to receive full consideration. Scholarship on the Bénédiction and the Harmonies as a whole has tended to focus more on the cycle’s convoluted twenty-year genesis than on the poetic cycle that inspired it. This omission is consistent with the persistent belief that Liszt was haphazard in his application of programmatic titles. However, Liszt’s Bénédiction closely corresponds to Lamartine’s poem in its content and form, showing the composer’s indebtedness to French Romanticism. This article reveals connections between sacred and pastoral tropes in Lamartine’s poetry and Liszt’s music, as well as between long-breathed poetic and musical phrases. In its sensitive interpretation of Lamartine’s poem, Liszt’s Benediction stands as his most successful meditation on the poet’s work as a whole. The broader ramifications of these findings suggest a reevaluation of Liszt’s approach to program music, and of program music in general.

https://youtu.be/sasqnk33qps

The festival was really beautifully organized. I think it has been one of the best experiences of my career so far. Not only because of the quality of the instrument I played and the fantastic venue, but especially because of the warmth and hospitality of the entire festival team, from Fabrice and Zoe to every single volunteer I met.

Un Piano Sous les Arbres really feels like a big family, and I’m very happy to have been part of it for a few days. I enjoyed myself so much that I actually changed my plans and decided to stay an extra night yesterday to attend Charlie Winston’s concert instead of returning to Marseille!

It was also wonderful to see the different venues and stages, all concentrated within the same space, with such a rich and diverse programme. I think it’s especially beautiful that the audience can experience the piano through so many different genres, from classical music, in our case, to singer-songwriters, jazz, and much more. I also made friends with several people from the audience and stayed in touch with them after the concerts: I even met a family originally from my own town in Sicily, and we may actually be distant relatives! 

I also really appreciated having plenty of time for rehearsals, both for my solo recital and the duet recital. The team was always incredibly flexible and accommodating, doing their best to meet us and support us with any needs or requests we had. And I got along extremely well with Max: I’m very happy we had the chance to play together!! It was a wonderful experience, and we had a lot of fun! I think the format of having both solo recitals followed by the duet recital worked really well, and it would be great to repeat it in the future!

Overall, it was a truly fantastic experience from every point of view. Thank you again for everything! I’m leaving today for Greece, where I’ll be performing next week, followed by concerts in Sicily and then New York. I can’t wait!

Alessio Masi

Pianist & Composer 

info@alessiomasi.com. http://alessiomasi.com

Un piano sous les arbres was my debut international recital and I couldn’t have wished for a better experience. It was set in the most stunning park, and was meticulously organised. Zoe and Fabrice made us feel at home immediately, giving us ample time to rehearse and enjoy the event.

Performing with Alessio was an absolute joy. Our interpretive visions diverged more than we had imagined on our phone calls, which sparked some wonderful discussions. We realised that we prioritised different musical elements, whether sonic clarity or gesture. Instantly, this told us how to listen to each other more effectively. I learned so much from Alessio, both musically and about the wider artistic world.

The audience was wonderfully receptive. Even the lesser-known pieces on the program, such as the Messiaen and Ligeti, were welcomed by all. The Mozart garnered a particularly enthusiastic response: thank you, Leslie!

It seemed that a huge number of Lunel residents attend the festival: there was sense of community which we felt part of. It was very special speaking to audience members with the same passion for music, many of whom we saw again throughout the festival, as well as the organisers, volunteers, and fellow artists. I particularly enjoyed Charlie Wood’s late-night jazz recital on the final evening: he is quite something!

The hotel was also fantastic. The staff were very generous in providing a huge welcome dinner, past the official closing time.

I want to personally thank everyone: the Artistic Directors for selecting me, Sarah for her ongoing support, and of course, the festival organisers. Un piano sous les arbres was a beautiful experience, and one I will never forget.

Max Walsh

Alessio Masi: Duet Recital

Mozart: Sonata in F major K. 497
Poulenc: Sonata for Piano 4 hands
Ligeti: Five Pieces for Piano 4 hands
Liszt: Prometheus (arr. Liszt)

Alessio Masi: Solo recital

Frédéric Chopin — Nocturne in G minor, Op. 37 No. 1
Frédéric Chopin — Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15 No. 3
Franz Schubert — Piano Sonata No.19 in C minor, D. 958
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Menuetto: Allegro
IV. Allegro

Maurice Ravel — Valses nobles et sentimentales
Modéré — très franc
Assez lent — avec une expression intense
Modéré
Assez animé
Presque lent — dans un sentiment intime
Vif
Moins vif
Épilogue: Lent

Franz Liszt — Invocation from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses1 di 14

Max Walsh solo programme

A. Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53

L. van Beethoven: Six Bagatelles, Op. 126
I. Andante con moto (Cantabile e compiacevole)
II. Allegro
III. Andante (Cantabile e grazioso)
IV. Presto
V. Quasi allegretto
VI. Presto — Andante amabile e con moto

F. Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, S. 173/3

M. Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte, M. 19

M. Ravel: Jeux d’eau, M. 30

O. Messiaen: Préludes pour piano, No. 1 “La colombe”

O. Messiaen: Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus [11’]

Liszt at his most profound… A meditation on solitude and beauty.F. Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, S. 173/3

Parc de l’Orangerie, Lunel-Viel, France. Un piano sous les arbres

A quiet moment of reflection, a memory of what once was…M. Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte, M. 19

Parc de l’Orangerie, Lunel-Viel, France Un piano sous les arbres

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FvOVSKSTke97_isYOu2uhUJN63VqndH8

A young Sicilian who had to come to New York to be aware of what poetry he has in his soul. Bequeathed to him from a childhood surrounded by love integrity and feelings that transcend any rhetoric but go straight from the heart to the heart. A sensibility of poetic beauty of refreshing simplicity and innocence and a musician who has a transcendental mastery that allows him to share with us emotions and sentiments of heartrending sensibility where words are just not enough.

Miraggio with etherial sounds of two voices communing with each other – the present and the past- a resonance in which Alessio captures that ‘fragile space’ with fluidity and glowing beauty. Sumptuous rich sounds as the memory becomes more vivid with the waves of the ever more unreachable sea of his childhood and a musical outpouring that owes much to the poetic sound world of Debussy.

La Nebbia nel Piletto weighted chords played with gleaming resonance like a clock chiming and time passing, with deep bass glowing sounds reaching out to us on high.

La Forest dei Desideri, back to reality with music with a wonderful forward lilting melodic line .Wafts of sounds pass over the keys as the music carries on it’s inevitable course disappearing into the distance as it finds it’s own way forward.

Due volpi nella neve, after pieces in 12/8 and 4/2 a simple down to earth Waltz time as the childhood complicity with his brother Giorgio brings warmth and emotion to his playing with a rich palette of sounds and a continual forward movement . Cascades of notes, unexpected, clear the air taking us back again to that cocoon of sounds of a submerged ‘engloutie’ ever ready to resurface.

Un’ultima volta in common time as Alessio recaptures his childhood tunes. Played with poignant beauty as a haunting echo is heard throughout with remarkable poetic fantasy. A life affirming declamation as Alessio’s mastery of balance and sound create such extraordinary vivid pictures in sound.

Acchiappasogni, marked ‘lento fluttuante’ with a magic atmosphere created by mirrored images . A single note shines, ever present pervading the whole atmosphere evoking the silence of the night. A central episode of beguiling insistence opens up as night is now suggested by a chorale of sumptuous fullness with the tension rising only to dissolve with the relief of a re-found peaceful existence. Calm is restored but not before a mighty chordal climax played with a remarkable lack of vertical hardness as Alessio’s playing resonated within and without, as his beautifully whispered coda evoked the re-found etherial peace of resonating beauty.

Servilismo with a deep brooding and a luminosity of meandering uncertainty played with searing intimate intensity and questioning.

Altalena liquida. ‘Sbilenco flessibile ‘. A quixotic juxtaposition and a continual change of mood and character played with sumptuous chameleonic sounds with even the last chord played with ‘martellato’ impatience . It is marked ‘piano’ in the score signifying that music like emotions and memories are continually evolving within the depths of this young Sicilian poet of the keyboard. One of the shortest of these miniature tone poems

Due Amanti del Sud ‘Polemico-contrito’ with it’s continual chattering and bickering rhythmic changes but sweeping all aside with a wash of sounds across the keys as a seemingly peaceful coda of appeasement is heard with glowing beauty but with its inconclusive final comment growling deep in the bass.

Fantoccio A grotesque march played with bewitching rhythmic elan as this young man shows us with elusive changes of character, trying to walk before he can run, realising with an ending just thrown off with the ease and nonchalance of what love and expectation can really mean .

La razza di rimanere a terra ‘Calmo’. A beautiful evocation of the sea that shaped Alessio’s life from an early age but that always, with fear and respect, he could portray the washes of sound with the constant lapping present in a piece of searing beauty and turbulent uncertainty .

Abisso. Rhapsodic, a long drawn out barcarolle of sensual beauty with a wonderful sense of balance where the melodic line was revealed with a ‘poco meno mosso’ of poignant beauty somewhat reminiscent of the early works of Chopin.

Lasciari Epilogue. Golden sounds of repetitive radiance and expansive luxuriant beauty with the regularity of a heart that is beating with constancy and is a love letter of untarnishable significance inspired by his childhood in Sicily.

L. V. Beethoven: Sonata Op.31 No.1
I. Allegro vivace
II. Adagio grazioso
III. Rondo. Allegretto

A. Scriabin:

Mazurka Op.25 No.3
Sonata No.5 Op.53

S. Rachmaninoff: Variations on a theme of Corelli Op.42

The first of Beethoven’s set of three sonatas op 31 opened the recital today. Three Sonatas each of great character and pointing the way to the ‘Waldstein’ and ‘Appassionata’ that are to follow . The ‘Tempest’ and The ‘Hunt’ are the names given to last two, but the first does not fit into any set pattern. A slow movement that owes more to Bellini than Haydn and a first movement that in many ways anticipates the rhythmic impatience of the ‘Appassionata’.

There is a great harmonic sense to all that Lin plays and it was noticeable from the first notes of this G major Sonata with Beethoven’s quixotic rhythmic character always anchored from the bass. A luminosity and brilliance but above all a scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s dynamic markings and a dynamic drive of intoxicating rhythmic elan. The second subject sprang to life with its pastoral freshness as it passed to the bass with more intensity. Remarkable playing of great clarity and a refined palette of colour as Beethoven prepares us for the surprise return of the opening, this time fortissimo. The coda too with its unexpected ending was just thrown off with ease.

It was the ‘Adagio grazioso’ that showed Lin’s masterly control of sound and touch. I have never heard this movement played with such beauty and strength. A bel canto on a relentless staccato left hand accompaniment and a bass voice that enters with radiant beauty answered by the embellishments of the soprano in a true operatic duet, never allowing the tempo sag or drag. The music seemed to ride on waves of continual motion, on wings of song indeed! The Rondo was played with a sense of improvised fantasy of brilliance and exhilaration as the music unwound with grace and charm in a whirlwind of ebullience. The coda that took us by surprise as Lin went into fifth gear where Beethoven’s genial return to the opening quixotic rhythmic playfulness was matched by Lin’s precision and scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s capricious dynamics.

A complete change to the mysterious world of Scriabin with his kaleidoscope of colours and shapes as he reaches for the ‘star’. An early Mazurka op 25 obviously influenced by Chopin but already a unique world of sensual perfumed sounds of fluidity and radiance. Lin playing with magical sounds but always allowing the musical line to show us the way forward.

The Fifth Sonata is prefaced by the Poem of Ecstasy :’I summon you to life , secret yearnings!You who have been drowned in dark depths ,Of the creative spirit, you timorous ,Embryos of life , its is to you that I bring daring’ .A score filled with the markings of a composer on a mission : Impetuoso, con stravaganza, Accarezzevole, Allegro fantastico, giocoso, leggierissimo volando, and finally con luminosità, vertiginoso con furia and estatico! Lin played with masterly control with these continual changes of character from the furious wash of sound over the entire keyboard that opens and closes the Sonata to the radiant whispered beauty before regaining flight. A remarkable technical mastery with his playing always anchored in the bass allowed him to give an architectural shape to this sonata in one movement. Lasting barely twelve minutes but spanning a range of emotions with chameleonic changes of character that Lin was able to combine under one great roof.

The final work on Lin’s programme was the Corelli Variations by Rachmaninov. Twenty variations on the theme ‘La Folia’ attributed mistakenly to Corelli. Rachmaninov dedicated the work to his friend the violinist Fritz Kreisler who was in fact renowned for discovering baroque pieces that were actually his own compositions! Writing to another friend, the composer Nikolai Medtner , on 21 December 1931,the year it was completed:

‘I’ve played the Variations about fifteen times, but of these fifteen performances only one was good. The others were sloppy. I can’t play my own compositions! And it’s so boring! Not once have I played these all in continuity. I was guided by the coughing of the audience. Whenever the coughing would increase, I would skip the next variation. Whenever there was no coughing, I would play them in proper order. In one concert, I don’t remember where – some small town – the coughing was so violent that I played only ten variations (out of 20). My best record was set in New York, where I played 18 variations. However, I hope that you will play all of them, and won’t “cough”.’

Lin played all of them today with crystalline beauty of purity and radiance. Sumptuous sounds helped by the deep bass anchor that marks all Lin’s playing for its masterly intelligent musicianship. The simplicity of the theme taken up by the flowing variations of knotty twine before the rather serious ‘Tempo di Menuetto’.It was played with capricious good humour before the sublime sounds of the ‘Andante’ where the theme is stated with etherial comments. A dynamic drive interrupting this moment of tranquility with playing of technical brilliance and sumptuous full sounds. I am not sure why Lin had to split the left hand chords in the ninth variation that distracted from the ponderous seriousness of the rich elaboration of the theme. Springing to life with the scintillating ‘Allegro Scherzando’ where a crescendo led up into the ‘Allegro vivace’, eleventh variation.This winding scale is marked piano in the score and the unasked for crescendo took away the surprise of the driving forte of the following variation. He brought great character to the twelfth ‘molto marcato’ that he played with pompous authority before the driving intensity of the thirteenth leading to the improvised character of the ‘Intermezzo’, Great beauty to the theme in D flat major was echoed by the glowing fantasy of the ‘dolcissimo’ fifteenth variation . Taking wing with the ‘Allegro vivace’, sixteenth variation (that always reminds me of an orchestra tuning up) and it led to the tumultuous build up to the mighty octave declamation of the twentieth.The pedal note deep in the bass creating the cloud of ‘D’ on which Lin could float the magical return of ‘La Folia.’

An audience on their feet at the end of this remarkable recital but they would have to get their skates on to hear more just down the road less than an hour later at Regent Hall!

From Taiwan with love ……welcome back Joy.

Artist Bio

Taiwanese pianist Yu-Chieh Lin has won top prizes at numerous international competitions, including the 9th International Competition of Slavic Music (Moscow), the 5th Wanda Landowska International Harpsichord Competition (Italy), the Moscow Scriabin Scholar Competition (2016), and Third Prize at the 7th Riga International Piano Competition.

He has competed in several prestigious World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC), including the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona (2022 & 2023), the Jaén International Piano Competition in Spain (2024), the Las Rozas International Piano Competition in Madrid (2022), and the Viotti International Piano Competition in Italy (2023). He was also a semi-finalist in the Birmingham International Piano Competition (2024) and was awarded Second Prize at the Bromsgrove International Musicians Competition (UK, 2023).

At the age of ten, Yu-Chieh decided to pursue a professional musical career and moved to Russia to study with Mikhail Khokhlov at the Gnessin Special School of Music in Moscow, where he studied from 2009 to 2017.

He graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2021, studying with Norma Fisher. He then completed a Master’s degree with Distinction at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2023 and has since completed the Artist Diploma, studying with Ronan O’Hora, Noriko Ogawa, and Charles Owen.

Yu-Chieh is generously supported by the Franby Scholarship, the Guildhall School Trust, and The Longbao Co., Ltd. (Taiwan).

Since the age of twelve, he has performed extensively across Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland, Latvia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Russia, and China. His appearances have taken him to renowned venues including Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Rachmaninoff Hall at the Moscow Conservatory, Mozarteum Solitär Hall (Salzburg), Milton Court Concert Hall, Bechstein Hall, Steinway Hall (London), and Teatro Civico in Vercelli, Italy.

He has performed as a soloist with the Academy of Ancient Music (UK), Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra (UK), RCM Symphony Orchestra (UK), and the Gnessin School Symphony Orchestra (Russia), collaborating with conductors including Mikhail Khokhlov, Neil Thomson, Leo Duarte, Michael Rosewell, Jac van Steen, and Natalia Luis-Bassa.

In February 2026, Yu-Chieh was invited to perform with the Harbin Conservatory of Music China–Russia Symphony Orchestra in China, presenting both Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Schumann’s Piano Concerto in the same evening.

Following his recital at Milton Court Concert Hall in May 2025, British music critic Christopher Axworthy described him as “an artist with refined keyboard control and deeply cultivated musicianship.”

Yu-Chieh has received invaluable artistic guidance from distinguished pianists including Norma Fisher, Ronan O’Hora, Noriko Ogawa, Charles Owen, Mikhail Khokhlov, and Sofya Gulyak, and has worked with internationally renowned artists such as Dmitri Alexeev, Michel Béroff, Alexander Romanovsky, Vanessa Latarche, Milana Chernyavska, Dina Parakhina, Gabriel Kwok, and Kyoko Hashimoto.

He has also been invited to participate in leading international music festivals, including the London Masterclasses (2016 & 2017), the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum University Salzburg (2018), the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein (2024), and the 15th International Chamber Music Festival of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Just two works on Kenny Fu’s programme by Beethoven and Schumann that were enough to demonstrate the mastery and intelligence of this young musician. An early Sonata by Beethoven in three movements that was championed by Glenn Gould and was one of three op 10 where Beethoven is breaking away from his mentor Haydn and taking the sonata model to new heights. The Fantasie op 17 by Schumann is one of the pinnacles of the romantic piano repertoire and was dedicated by the composer to Liszt, where the rights were his contribution to Liszt’s efforts to build a monument to Beethoven in his birthplace of Bonn.

Beethoven op 10 n. 2 in three movements, the second an Allegretto and Trio where one would normally expect a slow movement like in op 10 n. 1. The following Sonata op 10 n. 3 already has four movements of which the slow movement becomes of unusually poignant significance and intensity.This Sonata op 10. n. 2 is full of vitality and drive where Beethoven’s contrast in dynamics are of such fundamental importance. Kenny playing with remarkable clarity tended to play down these indications of Beethoven as he started the sonata ‘forte’ where it is marked ‘piano’ and ended ‘mezzo forte’ where it is marked ‘fortissimo!’ Although playing of brilliance and beauty it was this even out of dynamics that robbed the music of its Beethovenian irascibility. The ‘Allegretto’ was played with grace but would have flowed more in one rather than three.It was the Trio that Kenny played in one that flowed so magically with the comments that Beethoven adds to this lilting dance. It was in the ‘Presto’ finale that Kenny played with dynamic drive and a sense of bucolic character even playing both repeats as he was swept on by the brilliance of his playing. Some musicianly playing of intelligence and style but a better look at Beethoven’s very precise instructions would add even more character to the clarity and brilliance of his playing.

The Schumann Fantasie op 17 is an outpouring of love for his future wife and mother of their eight children : ‘The first movement may well be the most passionate I have ever composed – a deep lament for you.’ They still had many tribulations to suffer before they finally married four years later. The first movement is also prefaced by a quote from the poet Schlegel ‘Resounding through all the notes, In the earth’s colourful dream , There sounds a faint long-drawn note ,For the one who listens in secret.’ The end of this first movement has a direct quote from Beethoven’s ‘An die ferne Geliebte’ – ‘To the distant beloved -‘ Accept then these songs beloved, which I sang for you alone‘. A work in three movements with originally the titles of ‘Ruins, Triumphal Arch, and Constellation’ which were removed altogether before Breitkopf & Härtel eventually issued the Fantasie in May 1839. It was here that Kenny’s scrupulous attention to Schumann’s instructions allied to his technical mastery and intelligent musicianship gave an architectural shape to a work that in lesser hands can sound very fragmented. Opening with playing of great sweep and of passionate intensity but also of intimate beauty. An alternation of character that Kenny played with sumptuous full sounds contrasting with whispered glowing beauty. A superb sense of balance that could allow the melodic line to be revealed floating over a sumptuous harmonic accompaniment. The central episode of the first movement :’Im Legendenton’ was played with expansive beauty allied to a passionate intensity . Always scrupulously controlled there was an aristocratic weight to his playing of extraordinary maturity. The ending of the first movement was played with great beauty and subtlety but never loosing sight of the overall musical line. There was a dynamic drive to the second movement played with control and shape and sense of musical line. Always moving forward even in the ‘etwas langsamer’ with the ‘scherzando’ passage played with gossamer lightness . The coda was a tour de force of mastery and control as he shaped the music with precision and nobility. A beautiful flowing tempo to the last movement allowed the music to flow with beauty combined with strength. Some playing of ravishing beauty as he played with an inner sentiment but never sentimentally, allowing the music to unfold so naturally. A very fine performance of a very complex work to hold together as one unified whole.

From his early solo debut at the Wigmore Hall to his attainment of the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship, Kenny Fu holds much potential and promise for a bright future. He has given concerts on three continents and has already performed extensively throughout UK’s distinguished halls including St Martin-in-the-Fields, Kings Place, Worthing’s Assembly Hall, St James’s Sussex Gardens. He regularly appears in London, Oxford, Brighton and the South of England for more private concert engagements.

His repertoire choices gravitate toward the late Classical and Romantic Eras where he brings an intense and captivating temperament to the works of Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov.

Recently, Kenny has been awarded First Prize at the Norah Sande International Awards, Second Prize in the Croatian Piano Loop Competition and Third prize at the Fifth Vigo International Piano Competition where Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire and Cyprien Katsaris were on the panel of judges. During his earlier years, he was the winner of the Solihull Young Musician of the Year, Silver medalist at the Cyprus International Piano Competition, semi finalist at the Sussex International Piano competition and a quarter finalist at the BBC young musician of the year.

He has received guidance from numerous esteemed musicians such as Dimitri Alexeev, Evgeny Sudbin, Natalia Trull, Pascal Devoyon, Richard Goode, Tim Horton, Imogen Cooper and Angela Hewitt during his studies at the Purcell School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.

Kenny was born in Leamington Spa and is currently in the Advanced Diploma program at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Tatiana Sarkissova and Ian Fountain. He is generously sponsored by the Countess of Munster Trust, Warwick Arts Fund ,Keyboard Trust and Talent Unlimited.

Kenny Fu at Steinway & Sons for the Keyboard Trust

Kenny Fu the making of an artist with poetry and intelligence at St Mary’s

Kenny Fu at St James’s Lancaster Gate ‘clarity and intelligence of refined brilliance’