ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

The return of Martha Noguera to the Eternal city and at the age of 85 she still manages to surprise her audience, more than ever, with her technical mastery and the overwhelming authority of her performances.

Presenting three great works in a new hall especially created for her, just a stone’s throw from the Ghione theatre which had seen her performances in the ‘90’s of cycles of the 32 Sonatas of Beethoven and the complete works of Chopin.

Today she presented just one Beethoven Sonata op 13, Ravel ‘Gaspard de La Nuit’ and the ‘Four Ballades’ of Chopin.

Concluding a short Italian tour that has included Forlì, Sorrento and Capri after which she will return to Buenos Aires where her Festival Chopiniana awaits in the historic Teatro Colon.

In the shadow of the basilica of San Pietro the concert was presented by Angelo Filippo Jannoni Sebastianini with verses by Eugenio Montale and his own very poetic introduction to the programme we were about to hear.

Martha striking fear into the imperious opening of Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’ with playing of great authority. Bursting into the dynamic drive of the ‘Allegro di molto e con brio’ with a ‘joie de vivre’ as she dialogued with the bass, seemingly chasing each other across the keys before bursting into a unified vibration of burning energy.

The famous ‘Adagio cantabile’ was allowed to flow naturally with simplicity and poignancy finding more depth to the central episode before the return of the opening which she played with even more expression, as Beethoven’s heartbeat becomes ever more fervent. The ‘Rondo’ was played with a driving energy bursting into song with Schubertian lyricism tinged with irascible Beethovenian drive. A very pointed central episode was played almost too seriously bursting with even more energy into streams of notes that were allowed to unwind with burning conviction.

Ravel’s ‘Gaspard de La Nuit’ is a ‘tour de force’ for any pianist where the composer had intentionally written a piece that out shone Balakirev’s notorious Islamey .

It was again Martha’s aristocratic authority and her ability to see the architectural line, no matter how complex the writing that gave such clarity to all she did. From the water nymph ‘Ondine’ where the melodic line was played with chiselled beauty no matter how complex the streams of sound that are being woven into a fluidity of luxuriant waves . There was a freedom as Ravel allows ‘Ondine’ to flutter with splashing delight where the ingenious piano writing could create such flowing beauty. A tumultuous climax anchored to deep bass notes allowed for a sumptuous fullness without hardness as Martha played with ever more passionate intensity. With the water nymph resting on the bank, a lone voice was allowed to echo with a long held pedal that Martha could control with mastery, creating an atmosphere but without clouding the melodic line or shape. A final plunge into these magic waters and ‘ Ondine’ drifted into the distance. ‘Le Gibet’ was played with a relentless tolling of the bell as Martha unveiled this harrowing scene with timeless desolation. Arpeggiating the massive chords adding even more atmosphere to this torrid scene . The bell always tolling, played with masterly control and relentless precision as Martha could combine two sound worlds into one disturbing whole. ‘Scarbo’ ,the impish being that flits from one end of the piano to another and which Ravel purposely penned for only the most accomplished of virtuosi. Martha played with fearless abandon and mastery as the opening repeated notes she played with the left hand as they were merely vibrations of the chord that she played with limpet like menace with the right. Streams of alternate notes between the hands followed in a knotty twine of diabolical invention with driving left hand rhythms creating a pulsating energy before exploding into monumental declamations of romantic outbursts . Coming slowly to rest in the central episode where swirling sounds were played with whispers of beauty but with devilish interruptions striking terror into the cauldron of vibrating energy that Martha was stirring up. Building in intensity with masterly control as Martha launched a fearlessly savage attack on the keys to overwhelming effect, before the impish Scarbo, depleted, was lain breathless before us, with just one glowing whispered chord, as his tail was curtailed in mid air. A remarkable performance of mastery and musical intuition allied to a technical command that would have been the envy of a pianist even half Martha’s age.

An Indian Summer of burning intensity indeed!

Martha has long been a great advocate of the works of Chopin, playing his complete works in a memorable series of recitals a few years ago in Rome and elsewhere.

Today she was happy to present the Four Ballades in performances that demonstrated her aristocratic authority and understanding of Chopin. Not the sickly, effeminate composer of the so called Chopin tradition, but the man of great conviction with the poetic nostalgia of his homeland always in his soul. A genial composer who could create new forms with innovative technical mastery of a piano that now had a sustaining pedal or ‘soul’ as Anton Rubinstein would say.

From the opening notes of the G minor Ballade op 23 there was a scrupulous attention to Chopin’s indications with long lines fearlessly played of etched beauty. Strength, passion and poetic beauty were combined in a miniature tone poem of searing intensity.

Martha brought a flowing beauty of simplicity to the second Ballade op 38, the extraordinary passionate outbursts played with brilliance and astonishing vehemence as a cauldron of sounds was created in a coda of burning intensity. Finishing in a wave of smoke out of which was heard, in the distance, an echo of the simple lilting opening melody. A real Florestan and Eusebius contrast which may be why Chopin dedicated it to his friend and great admirer Robert Schumann.

The third Ballade op 47 is the most pastoral of all four ballades and Martha played it with a flowing simplicity of mellifluous beauty. A continual outpouring even when bursting into flourishes of golden arabesques or bursting into momentary flames of burning intensity. A masterly whispered build up to the final outpouring of joyous exhilaration was concluded with a scale from one end of the keyboard to the other with one fell swoop of Martha’s masterly hand ,with a natural arm movement of a painter drawing his brush over the canvas.

There was a beautifully sedate opening to the fourth Ballade op 52 which together with the Liszt Sonata and Schumann Fantasy are pinnacles of the Romantic piano repertoire. Martha again had seen the long architectural line of what is a theme and variations, but could also see the poetic invention and ravishing beauty of Chopjn’s masterly invention. The last variation, a florid outpouring was played with extraordinary control and musical authority as she built the music to its inevitable climax of brilliance and sumptuous beauty. Five whispered chords were enough to defuse the exhilaration of this triumphant Romantic outpouring before Chopin adds a coda of astonishing difficulty, but also of genial invention, that Martha unravelled with mastery and poetic conviction.

Schumann described Chopin’s Mazurkas as ‘Canons covered in flowers’.

There were no Mazurkas today but there were certainly showers of flowers for Martha, to thank this remarkable artist for her selflessly dedicated performances. By request from an audience member Martha was only too happy to play a piece by a composer she had known and worked with.

Ginastera’s ‘Danza de la Moza Donosa’ was a touching way of concluding a memorable evening of wonderful music making.

Martha Noguera with heroism and artistry igniting the balmy nights of the Eternal City

Martha Noguera in Rome and Sorrento ‘The authority and passionate conviction of a great artist.’

An evening of great music at the National Liberal Club .

Three great works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, all in the minor key, which had a great significance as Cristian Sandrin was to show us with humility, simplicity and mastery

It was a concert, all too rare these days, where the performer thought more of the composer than himself.

Arrau springs to mind where three great statements were enough and there was no need for more. A sumptuous feast of music relished by a full hall with an audience who follow their young hero knowing that he can be trusted .

Andras Schiff announces his programmes on the day, as his audience know that he can be trusted to illuminate a repertoire mainly of Viennese classics leaving other repertoire choices to his colleagues.

They both know that a lifetime is not enough to delve into the genius of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert.

They say that simplicity is next to godliness and it was just this simplicity that Cristian brought to the sonata in A minor K 310, written when Mozart had heard of his mother’s death. One of only two in minor keys, the other being in C minor K 457, a key that Beethoven and also Schubert used as an attention call for something of imperious authority.
Cristian brought a rather brisk tempo to the ‘ Allegro Maestoso’ which allowed the music to unwind with a natural fluidity. His crystalline agility could allow for an undulation of sounds, not of porcelain, but of notes imbued with subtle meaning, as Mozart’s intricate weaving had a story to tell. Beautifully shaped, where even the daringly clashing harmonies of the development were played with whispered insistence of burning intensity. A sound world of purity and of subdued brilliance where the meaning behind the outward glitter was of revelatory insistence. A contrast in dynamics that was never exaggerated but played with intense conviction that gave an overall architectural shape of great significance and was where the presence of Mozart’s mother was always palpable.
A beautifully shaped ‘Andante cantabile’ with simplicity and delicate phrasing, the ornaments played with a crystalline clarity full of expressive meaning. A sense of touch between legato and a tip toed non legato was of quite ravishing refined beauty. The intense ‘sturm und drang’ of the central episode with its declarative phrases that were replied to with beseeching simplicity. A bass melodic line with a heart beating intensely above, but all this dissolved in two bars that Cristian played with subtle knowing style as the ‘Andante’ returned with ever more disarmingly chiselled simplicity.The ‘Presto’ was a whirlwind of whispered sounds – could it be the wind over the grave- the simple entry of the bass on this ocean of intense emotion brought a moment of terror into our lives. All short lived as like Schubert the cloud lifted, and we were transported into the heavenly sounds of the major key that Cristian played without any undue underlining, but allowed the music to speak for itself and was where the Genius of Mozart had written with pain in his heart. Schnabel’s famous saying of Mozart being too difficult for adults but too easy for children was exemplified here as Cristian had found simplicity and innocent purity but with the intelligence and wisdom of a searching musician.

A beautifully mysterious opening to the ‘Tempest’ Sonata where Beethoven’s very precise pedal markings showed the innovative genius of a student of Papà Haydn. Beethoven had inherited the form from his mentor and had continued the evolution not only of adding much more expression, as exemplified by the slow movements of his early sonatas op 3 n.2, op 7 and op 10 n. 3, but also experimenting with sounds that could be produced by the pedal, that was to revolutionise the keyboard instruments of the day. This opening pedal created a magical effect as it was to do later in this movement in the recitativi that interrupt the recapitulation. Cristian’s scrupulous attention to the composer’s indications created an effect of echoing reverberations that truly sent a chill down the spine. These moments were contrasted by the absolute clarity in the first bars of duplets played with scrupulous precision as were the menacing chords after the two recitativi. It was these contrasts and driving energy that created a tension of continual surprise. The coda a simple rumble to the final two chords, as the ‘Adagio’ entered, as indeed the first movement had started, with a flowering chord. This time though there was a poignant outpouring of ominous opulence with a menacing rumble in the bass ever present. Even an innocent outpouring of refreshing simplicity had the undercurrent of menace before the final drift into oblivion. The final note a simple quaver that in Cristian’s hands has never seemed so poignant an ending to such a harrowing tale. There was a driving insistence to the flowing ‘Allegretto’ that Cristian at times allowed to burst into flames of burning intensity. But it was the gentle flowering of this movement that like the last movement of Chopin B minor Sonata has the hypnotic effect of genial mastery. Whereas Chopin closes in a blaze of glory Beethoven chooses to disappear more discretely into the whispered depths of the piano from where his ‘Tempest’ had been born.

Schubert’s late A minor Sonata was full of the same mystery and majesty entwined within an ominous pulsating energy. Bathed in pedal with glowing fluidity as the opening gives way to a build up of intensity. The melodic line whispered in the bass with Schubert’s deep breathing above, but dissolving into a whispered echo of the opening motif. Building in intensity as the melody is echoed and almost hounded between the hands before arriving at the devilish pulsating now openly manifested, as it burst into a final desperate plea. An ‘Andante’ with its whispered, tentative and gentle insinuations leading to an outpouring of meandering beauty bursting into life with beguiling simplicity. A haunting ending bathed in pedal with ethereal horn calls overheard with whispered insistence, and the intuitive mastery of Cristian who dared to play the whole of this coda in a haze of poetic radiance and beauty. A heart rending ending was of pure magic. Out of which burst the ‘Scherzo’ with Beethovenian insistence relieved by its ‘Trio’ of simplistic ländler beauty. The final Rondo was a florid outpouring with its contrasting episodes that Cristian played with meticulous precision and a chameleonic range of sounds. A coda of great exhilaration and excitement brought this extraordinary work to a timely close.

No amount of persuasion from Ben Westlake, his co artistic director of Kettner Concerts, could persuade Cristian to add a single note to the three remarkable performances that he had just offered. Like Arrau, Cristian is at the service of the composer of whom he is but a humble servant.

Je sens, je joue, je trasmets Q.E.D.

Cristian moves on now to the last stop of his tour, where accompanied by the indefatigable Mary Orr on Saturday, he will knock on Beethoven’s door in Bonn.

Cristian Sandrin plays Mozart ‘elegance and intelligence combine with radiant simplicity’

Cristian Sandrin in Perivale Mastery and intelligence illuminate Beethoven Sonatas op 2

There are never two without three is an Italian saying, and so it turned out this afternoon that two pianist whose playing I know were preceded by one I had never heard play, although I had met him many times at concerts with his colleagues. Three pianists with graduation recitals, and three established artists there to add their comments on their performances as they come of age with many friends and family to cheer them on !

Bach, Beethoven and Liszt was the programme for Radu who immediately showed his artistry and musicality with a performance of luminosity and glowing delicacy with a poignant ending of great nobility to Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor Book 1 .

The main work on the programme was Beethoven’s penultimate sonata which as there were no programmes I was told was to be op 31 but what a wonderful surprise that it turned out to be the 31st sonata! A pleasant surprise to hear the opening especially when played with the radiance and beauty of sensitive playing maintaining always scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s very precise indications . There were beautiful caressing hand movements that allowed for a natural flow without any percussiveness of one of Beethoven’s most pastoral creations . It was the same natural fluidity that he brought to the ‘Scherzo’ where the notorious leaps in the ‘Trio’ held no terror for someone who was so involved in making music . A beauty of sound to the ‘Adagio’ where Beethoven’s pedalling was understood and incorporated into a performance of poignant significance. This was one long song played with great sensitivity and if Beethoven’s heart missed a beat or two it was because of the intensity with which Radu was involved .The ‘Fugue’ too was played with great intensity and very telling contrasts in dynamics with a heart that beat almost too passionately as he allowed the final pages to finish with the triumph of a fervent believer . Radu at this point adding a few pianistic tricks to the final exhilarating flourish .

Two pieces by Liszt showed off Radu’s sense of style and quite considerable pianistic mastery . ‘ La Leggerezza’ was played with ravishing whispered sounds with a sense of colour and phrasing of beguiling delicacy. A great fluidity and anchored by a bass that gave a great sense of architectural shape to his ravishing jeu perlé playing .

‘ Don Juan ‘paraphrase by Liszt is one of the most notorious of all his paraphrases . Liszt the greatest showman the piano world has ever known would seduce the sedate ladies of the Parisian salons and turn them into a hysterical mob grabbing souvenirs of their idol to take home, perchance to dream . This is also a paraphrase much admired by great intellectuals like Busoni and Rosen for its ingenious construction . Radu rose to the challenge with remarkable mastery, a sense of balance and style that he sometimes obscured unnecessarily with too much pedal . However it was a fearless performance from a true stylist.

I have heard Mariamna play many times but never in a big concert hall. She is a player who finds it easier to be intimate in a big space ( as Fou Ts’ong would often say). And today in this hall which I used to frequent as a school boy and even heard the much vaunted debut of John Lill playing Rachmaninov third concerto with Sir Adrian Boult which had been the basis for the film ‘Shine’. In those days very few or any students could play Rach 3 or Prokofiev 2 but now since Ashkenazy made his London debut with both in the same programme they have become standard fare. All this to say that there is a standard of piano playing, thanks also to the influx of foreign students, that is much higher than ever before.

Nowhere more was this evident than in Mariamna’s recital where her control and mastery were allied to a musical understanding that could even turn Scriabin’s Black mass into a scintillating voyage of discovery.

Bach’s C minor Toccata was opened with great authority, beautifully shaped with clarity and improvised freedom. The entry of the toccata was played with radiance and light and her continual change of touch brought a chameleonic sense of character as layers of sound were continually changing colour but without ever sacrificing the undercurrent of energy that she generated.

There were etherial sounds of whispered confessions in Scriabin with trills like jewels shining brightly with ever more intensity as the temperature rose with a cauldron of sounds bursting at the seams. Brilliant playing of great fantasy with a range of colours that would have put a smile even on Scriabin’s face as he approached his ‘Magisterium’.

Beethoven’s 32 variations that in Mariamna’s masterly hands I am sure the composer too might have changed his mind about a work he was never happy with. Playing with a rhythmic drive and continual change of touch and colour where washes of sound live with variations of knife edge precision. Mariamna managed to turn a series of variations each with differing technical problems into a series of miniature tone poems and gems, arriving at the glorious triumphant ending and Beethoven’s nonchalant impish dismissal . She gave the same architectural shape that I remember from Emil Gilels or Annie Fischer who would often programme this work in their recitals, too rarely heard in concert these days.

The final work in this recital was Schumann’s G minor Sonata op. 22 where Mariamna’s grandeur, nobility and mastery combined to overwhelming effect. Opening with fearless passion and poetic beauty where sumptuous richness was combined with refined whispered outpourings of searing intensity. The ‘Andantino,getragen,’ was played with ravishing whispered beauty of refined poetic playing of great sensitivity building in pulsating intensity with a magical change of harmony as the melody returns floating on a cushion of undulating velvet sounds. The Scherzo was played with a driving rhythmic intensity contrasted with quixotic changes of character . The last movement entered on a whispered murmuring of burning intensity contrasting with sudden radiance as the sun appears with ravishing beauty followed by a coda of animalistic exhilaration and excitement.

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

Mariamna Sherling at Steinway & Sons for the Keyboard Trust playing of fearless brilliance and burning authority

Refined playing of an artist who is not afraid to shout but chooses not to, and prefers to inhabit a world that only the most sensitive of artists can enter, as they think more of the music than they do of themselves. A tone palette of sounds that could make the music speak with a voice and sense of communication that is rare indeed. A programme of music that rarely reached above forte and mostly stayed between pianissimo e mezzo piano.

But this shy young man has the means to play with astonishing virtuosity as he showed us with Debussy’s ‘Toccata.’ But even here, notes just disappeared as streams of sounds swept across the keyboard just as the glissandi in the Debussy ‘Prelude’ also from ‘Pour Le Piano’ was not empty showmanship but dedicated musicianship.

Prokofiev’s Twenty Visions Fugitives op.22 may have been difficult to take in all together but it was probably the only occasion that I have seen them played together as a suite. Like Chopin mazurkas they are miniature tone poems of remarkable subtlety and differing character and require a special concentration from an audience in the concert hall. Rubinstein chose just ten of varying character in his memorable performance from his ten historic Carnegie Hall recitals. Richter and Gilels would choose just a few. However Tin-Lam played them all with incredible concentration and a refined palette of sounds that one could listen over and over again and find subtle different things each time.

Haydn’s C minor Sonata is one of the most beautiful of over sixty from a genial composer where there are still many works to discover, such was the prolific output of Papà Haydn, the mentor of Beethoven. Tin – Lam played it with refined musicianship with a kaleidoscope of colours of rare delicacy not denying its rhythmic intensity . An exquisite ‘Andante con moto’ was followed by an ‘Allegro’ of great character played with refined artistry of a continuous natural fluidity.

Ravel’s ‘Minuet Antique’ is another rarity in the concert hall and the colours and clashing harmonies were played with a remarkable control of the pedal where clarity and luminosity could live happily together.

Ending with Debussy ‘Pour Le Piano’ where Tin- Lam could show us his remarkable technical mastery and control, but also a passionate intensity when needed, with playing that does not call attention to itself but is a true mastery of sound that is at the service of the composer.

Alexander Doronin and Tin Lam Ng take Regent Hall unexpectedly by storm

Lukas Sternath at the Wigmore Hall on the final day of the 125 Celebrations and a star is born.This is no ordinary star but one born on wings of song for which this hallowed much loved hall is famous. A pianist who is above all a musician where every note he plays is pregnant with meaning and with his searching musical intelligence can find the hidden secrets in the score that are there only for the very few. Living and brought up in Vienna where he was a member of the Vienna Boys Choir he has since been mentored by Igor Levit and Paul Lewis.

Just two works on his programme linked by the motif of death, with Liszt’s Funérailles transformed into Schubert’s last Sonata, written just months before his untimely death. There was no break between the two works which were linked by so many things, not least the rumble in the bass as Schubert announces the repeat of the opening of his B flat Sonata. This was no ordinary rumble but the death rattle before the reappearance of the heavenly opening of this last sonata.

Cloudy mystery had opened the concert with the opening of Funérailles as if from afar as as it grew in imperative intensity. There was throughout, the death toll played with absolute neutrality like the forbidding thud of something ominous. The melody that opens in the bass was played with whispered luminosity whilst the death toll was menacing above. Opening to a melody of radiance and beauty played with a glowing luminosity and timelessness, disappearing to a whisper and then ……….’deathly’ silence. In fact all through the recital silence had been as eloquent as the actual sounds. The entrance of the military from afar was played almost without pedal with a clarity that allowed the call to arms above to speak with military precision and insistence. Building to a climax that was even more alarming for the build up of volume and sumptuous sound and then……. silence. A burning silence out of which a lone voice was heard of purity and beseeching innocence.The military are heard in the distance in a cloud of smoke before the final chords played with a whispered deathly precision .It was here that the lone voice of Schubert was allowed to stray with it’s calming balm of simplicity and radiant unearthly beauty. A quite remarkable achievement for a young artist on his Wigmore Hall debut to be able to capture the audience from the very first note. Not a sound was heard from the audience from the first to the last note, Silence in every sense was Golden like the beautiful fresco that has looked on from above for the past 125 years.

The Schubert Sonata was played with simplicity and beauty with marvels of accompaniment that were washes of sound on which Schubert’s seemingly endless mellifluous inspiration could float. Everything had been a haze of unearthly beauty until the menacing interruption of the ritornello and the explosion, completely unexpected and played with startling violence. It made the reappearance of the opening of the Sonata even more unearthly, just as it had been coming after Funérailles. Everything that Lukas played was without accents, singing with a natural fluidity and glowing beauty. Simple playful passages denied the ominous cloud that was to erupt with such passionate vehemence in the development. Schubert’s continual heart beat was interrupted only by wondrously played bass counterpoints of great clarity, but that took us to a different level of intensity each time. There was magic in the air as the ‘pianississimo’ that Schubert rarely marks in his works, was allowed to speak for itself with breathtaking beauty. Always projecting the sound but with a sense of balance and scrupulous attention to the score, in a strange way it drew us in even more to him, as the tension in the air was palpable with strangers united on wings of celestial beauty. Again unearthly silence after the beautifully placed final chords and the appearance of a new voice, that of a deep benediction of rapt contemplation. A control of sound that revealed a true mastery and sensitivity of touch where the melodic line could sing with a unique voice as the accompaniments were just wafts of stray sounds blowing in this torrid breeze. The return of the opening after a quasi religious outpouring of rapt chorale like intensity, was played with ever more mastery, where this box of hammers and strings was truly turned into a celestial harp of sounds wafted on wings of song. Suddenly the ‘Scherzo’ opened with a completely different sound that was of freshness and light with the question and answer of the phrases played with simple joyous enticement. A beautiful simple whispered legato to the ‘Trio’ was interspersed discretely with Schubert’s unsettling bass interjections. The ominous ‘G’ of the last movement was played with the terror that Schubert intended, as it interrupted the mellifluous flow of the simple länder. An interruption indeed just as that trill had been and as the following thunderous interruptions were to signify. Masterly playing from these Beethovenian irascible outbursts, but that Lukas immediately dissolved into a magic lilting dance that seemed to disappear into the distance with extraordinary sensitivity, allowing his hands to glide to the top of the keys barely able to reach that far . This was a performance that will long reverberate in this hall for the searching musicianship and simplicity allied to a technical mastery and beauty of sound where I could envisage the shadow of Alfred Brendel looking on with a knowing smile of recognition.

The Intermezzo in A major op 118 n.2 by Brahms was a fitting benediction for the experience we had received on this final Sunday morning of Wigmore celebrations. A performance of ravishing beauty but also of architectural strength as he allowed himself a moment of sumptuous orchestral richness which gave even more poignant meaning to the tender return of the opening. He had created in a few minutes a miraculous tone poem of searing beauty with many of the audience not wanting to rush out of the hall, wishing to wallow a little longer in the magic atmosphere of a rising star who has found a home for his extraordinary gifts.

It had no importance that we that lingered found the promised coffee pot and sherry glasses empty, because for us merry few Music is the Food of Love especially when served on Wings of Song as this morning.

Gatti and Sternath on a wondrous voyage of discovery

A night of stars at St Peter’s Acton Green where the new Parish priest has brought music and much else to a church I have known all my life but until last night had never crossed it’s hallowed threshold

Antonio Morabito had gathered many of his illustrious colleagues to listen to a recital of music that started with Mozart and finished by much demand with the Rakoczy March .

Mark Viner an International piano star living around the corner in Bedford Park, https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/12/20/mark-viners-christmas-concert-2025-intelligence-scholarship-and-mastery-a-scintillating-cocktail-shaken-not-stirred/

Alberto Portugheis the veteran concert pianist, close friend of Martha Argerich who celebrates her 85th year today. Simonetta Allder, ballet critic and PR for the newly born Spoleto Festival of Daniele Cipriani and Marco Gambino International stage and screen star who was with a fellow Palermitano, founder with her late husband of the Ian Bostridge fan club. And last but not least Roger Nellist of the historic St Mary’s Perivale live stream concerts for great young talents .

And what a feast of music Antonio served us with his charming Italian accent explaining with passionate commitment the dishes he had prepared for his Cordon Bleu feast of music.

Fourteen dishes each one with a different flavour and prepared to perfection .

An imposing Fantasy by Mozart opened the concert and was an Hors d’oeuvres of refined brilliance, beautifully controlled with playing of intelligence that immediately showed Antonio’s pedigree from the hallowed temple of the Royal College of Music .The final work on the programme was Liszt’s concert paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto, and it was here that Antonio’s Italian heritage was given full reign with a brilliant and scintillating performance of seductive beauty and style.

Four Scarlatti sonatas had shown Antonio’s chameleonic capacity to shape each one with beguiling beauty, turning these baubles into the gems in a crown containing over five hundred such marvels.

Four early works by Scriabin showed the influence that Chopin had on this eclectic composer whose ‘Mysterium’ theory later in life was aimed at transcending all earthly experience as he reached for the star.

Twinkle twinkle indeed but there was nothing vaguely twinkly with Antonio’s dramatic and virtuosistic rendition of his study in D sharp minor. It was on the palpitating tones of Scriabin’s ‘Revolutionary’ study that we were bade to adjourn for a ‘sorbet’ to whet our appetite for more.

After an extra long convivial, our genial host bade us take our places for a feast of Chopin and Liszt. In cockney slang it has a significance that would have been out of place in such wondrous company as this evening in Acton.

Two Nocturnes by Chopin and the Liszt Petrarch Sonnet 104 unfolded with radiance and beauty as Antonio’s innate love for music touched us all deeply.

No where more than in Chopin’s First Ballade op. 23 which is a tone poem that may have been inspired by the story line of a poem by Adam Mickiewicz .

‘Wretched am I amid the spiteful herd:

I weep—they jeer at me;

I speak—they cannot understand a word;

I see – they do not see!’

This poem by Adam Mickiewicz expresses intense and disturbing emotions—alienation, powerlessness, and morbid anxiety— that may be associated with the ideology of the Polish emigration in Paris in the 1830s. Only recently has this complex of ideas been linked to Chopin’s narrative works—by Karol Berger in “Chopin’s Ballade Op. 23 and the Revolution of the Intellectuals.”

Our host in thanking Antonio for his inspired performances, and the audience for turning out in such numbers on a Friday night. He asked timidly if Antonio might like to offer us a ‘limoncello ‘ after such a sumptuous feast.

Wonderful to see Tristan Vermeulen surrounded by so many friends and family at his Graduation Recital today. I have known Tristan and his friends for sometime but had no idea he could play so beautifully until today. Bach’s mighty Fantasia and Fugue in A minor was played with authority and flowing beauty. There were magical sounds in the Mazurka by Ades and astonishing mastery in Unsuk Chin’s squabbling Toccata. Debussy’s West Wind was allowed to blow across the keys with terrifying brilliance. And if Tristan chose to bathe Kreisleriana in sumptuous sounds it was because his natural musicianship could see more the architectural shape than the intricacy of Schumann’s extraordinary fantasy world.

Opening with the Bach Fantasia with its series of descending notes in the bass, dominating the entire Fantasia that Tristan played with fluidity and an architectural shape of great authority . The Fugue building up with a four-part web of harmonies and a chromatically descending line with a second theme, which takes the idea of the descending bass of the Fantasia one step further. Tristan wove a continuous outpouring from which the voices emerged in a context of a great architectural shape of nobility and authority with Bach weaving both themes together to form a rich harmonic whole. A glowing beauty to the sound as Tristan was not afraid to use the pedal without blurring the lines but adding extra colour and shape to this extraordinary work.

There were magical sounds to the Ades Mazurka n. 1 in which Tristan found a kaleidoscope of sounds out of which emerged the unmistakeable Mazurka rhythm. It was indeed a canon covered in multicoloured blossoms played with a dynamic drive and searing conviction. The second contemporary work, also played with the score, was a Toccata by Unsuk Chin with its hesitant opening played with simple radiance. Bursting into a squabbling chatter of extraordinary technical complexity that Tristan played with remarkable clarity allowing this perpetuum mobile to be anchored by a lower line of pivotal importance.

Debussy’s ‘Ce qu’a vu le Vent d’Ouest’ was the link between the two contemporary works and the return to the main line repertoire. Tristan had a kaleidoscope of colour as he swept fearlessly across the keys creating sounds of extraordinary fantasy as thunder and lightening struck with such startling clarity above this haze of swirling sounds.

The main work on the programme was Schumann’s ‘Kreisleriana’ where he held the eight fantasy pieces together with a remarkable architectural shape but where an excessive use of the pedal did not always allow Schumann’s subtle poetic fantasy to be revealed with clarity and refined beauty. He maintained the tempo of the first fantasy not allowing the tempo to change for the beautiful central episode that he played with undulating beauty, but outer episodes could have been more clearly played as contrast. The second fantasy, the longest, was played with real poetic feeling ,with long bass notes helping the etherial beauty of the melodic line to float on this wave of sound. The first Intermezzo was played very beautifully but lacked the contrast that Schumann indicates with its spiky left hand intrusion.He brought clarity to the third fantasy and the ‘etwas langsamer’ floated on a cloud of pedal making a beautiful romantic contrast.The fourth was played with beauty and simplicity with its poignant outpouring of great poise and flowing beauty. He brought an impish whispered urgency to the fifth with great sweep to the central episode of romantic fervour.A beautiful sense of improvisation to sixth taking wing like a subtle reawakening with the ‘etwas bewegter’.The seventh was fearlessly played with no rearranging of the hands and if there was too much pedal for the ‘noch schneller’ it was played with a burning intensity before the beautiful coda of nostalgic reflection. The final fantasy was where he managed to maintain the same tempo throughout as the impish almost clumsy roaming around the keyboard was interrupted by two Intermezzi .Although he maintained the same tempo they lacked the contrast and intensity especially as Schumann writes specifically ‘Mit aller Kraft’ on the second. However hats off to a young man of only 21 who can shape these eight contrasting fantasies into one coherent whole with such maturity and artistry.

Flowers and cat calls from Tristan’s many friends and family gathered to celebrate this final concert of four long years of serious work with his dedicated teacher Dina Parakhina present in the hall to celebrate Tristan’s coming of age.

Anastasia Barabanova I had heard play in Trapani a few years ago and have heard her since play in London . A student of Ilya Kondratiev an emeritus Keyboard Trust artist and now distinguished Professor at the RCM .

It has alway astonished me that such a big talent could be hidden in such a small frame. Today coming to the end of her studies she has grown even more in stature as she gave masterly performances of all she played .

One of Mendelssohn’s all too rarely heard Preludes and Fugues was allowed to flow from her fingers with a fluidity not only of sound but with natural arm movements just like swimming in sound . A sense of balance to the Prelude that allowed the melodic line to inhabit a sumptuous wave of romantic fervour. Not melody and accompaniment but something that only a true musician could understand. A beautiful finger legato to the fugue was like a breath of fresh air as her sensitivity to sound allowed each note to have a voice of its own . Building in intensity with passion and dynamic drive before the beautiful resolution on high of a chorale allowed to sing with a detached accompaniment of whispered beauty.

Beethoven opened with the same refined beauty of fluidity and delicacy. It is one of Beethoven’s most pastoral outpourings that she allowed to blossom with a chameleonic tone palette . Extraordinary sensitivity and sense of balance allowed the music to flow with a beautiful interweaving of voices. By contrast a fullness to the chords of the Lebhaft ‘Scherzo’ was followed by a kaleidoscope of colour. Always following Beethoven’s very precise indications with scrupulous respect and that were incorporated and shaped in her overall vision. The ‘Langsam’ was played with a range of sounds and the natural beauty of a true musician who could allow one of Beethoven’s most poignant outpourings to grow with great meaning and poetic shape . The last movement erupted with a rhythmic drive and burning intensity, not the usual demonstrative technical proficiency, but this is a technique that does not draw attention to itself . It is a mastery of sound where her prolific proficiency is at the service of music .Her extraordinary range of dynamics produced a continuous movement of pulsating notes on which Beethoven floats his sometimes impish sense of humour. Bursting into flourishes too, that Anastasia played with great vigour in a performance where everything she played sang with a voice of glowing beauty and musical persuasion .

The work by G Connesson was new to me but with her technical mastery and musical persuasion she turned a bauble into a gem of clarity, technical mastery but above all of shape and colour .

Ravel’s ‘Le Tombeau’ are a series of pieces dedicated to friends of the composer who were killed in the first world war . Ravel as an ambulance driver in the field saw many horrors that strangely in these pieces are given a serenity and radiant glow as he obviously contemplates the very meaning of life. The ‘Prelude’ was played with washes of undulating sounds of subtle refined beauty. There was a purity and simplicity to the lone voice of the ‘Fugue’ with its pastoral feel of newly born freshness. The ‘Rigaudon’ was a controlled explosion of dynamic drive but with a ‘Trio’ of pointed beauty with quite extraordinarily eloquent phrasing written in the score, but rarely observed . A beautifully flowing ‘Menuet’ with left hand counterpoints adding a depth and sense of flowing beauty . The beautifully played final vibrating chord was indeed a technical feat where mastery was concealed with poetic significance . The ‘Toccata’ was played with a subtle whispered clarity of masterly control bursting into moments of glowing mellifluous beauty of ravishing radiance . All the time the pulsating of the toccata increased in intensity until bursting into breathtaking glorious effusions of triumph. Playing of such passionate intensity after a journey of refined mastery that any little slips were due to her driving passion and overwhelming conviction where true technical mastery was at the service of the music.

This is another rare pianist ( I am thinking of Firoze Madon yesterday )who listens to the music and thinks more of the composer than herself. She is but a humble servant endowed with a real technical mastery that can do justice to the music bequeathed to us by the composer.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/06/04/firoze-madon-an-artist-who-thinks-more-of-the-music-than-himself-graduation-recital-at-the-royal-college-of-music/

Anastasia Barabanova at St James’s Piccadilly ‘Music making of purity and masterly simplicity’

Trapani a diamond shining brightly for the 3rd International Piano Competition ‘Domenico Scarlatti’ Part 1 and 2

An eclectic programme from this young dedicated artist. Beginning with Bach and ending with Aznavour and taking in works from his Armenian background as well as Spanish,Argentinian and Finnish composers. Playing of intelligent musicianship allied to a sense of style and colour that could bring to life this multi faceted programme.

Even joined by a colleague violinist Polina Sharafyan for his own arrangement of folk songs for violin and guitar. His Bach was also tinged with his own very strong personality and given the teasingly enticing name of ‘Sebastia’ . It is a well known Prelude by J.S. Bach given a personal view by a musician who is also a great communicator and eclectic entertainer.

Rondeña was written in 1962 and was the only Spanish piece in his programme. Written by a composer and guitarist whose last concert was in Italy in 1979 aged 80. Here was all the traditional use of the guitar, from the land where it was really reborn, with playing of dynamic drive ,searing rhythmic intensity and strumming of the sound board . This was to give way to Arie’s own Mediterrations where I could hear influences of French chansonnier and much else in a piece of enticing and embraceable charm. A fascinating study by Sibelius transcribed in such a subtle way alla Tárrega seemed made for the subtle delicate intricacy of Arie’s agile fingers

We were to experience more French charm with the final piece in his programme that was a song by Charles Aznavour in Arie’s own arrangement. ‘Viens pleurer au creux de mon epaule’ which found a very sensitive interpreter with an insinuating outpouring of sentiment and charm. Of course Tango was never far away and Piazzolla’s Four Season of Buenos Aires and Azarashvili’s Sentimental Tango were grouped together in a sumptuous feast or red hot traditional Tango rhythms.

The surprise of this short recital was the appearance of the violinist Polina Sharafyan for duo arrangements of Traditional Armenian Miniatures. An almost improvised freedom as these two players intoned the traditional Armenian folk melodies with passionate intensity and extraordinary freedom .

Couple things to know about me: you might say I share many of my hobbies with a pensioner! I love reading, taking walks, cooking, and also very much into table tennis which I like to think I’m good at. I adore the simple pleasures in life, and enjoy being as much as I enjoy doing. The reason why I do what I do is simply because sharing my music is the best way I’ve found for me to be of service to others. I don’t particularly wish on playing in the biggest halls with the greatest musicians and orchestras; I focus on sharing my music with as many people as possible, and if that means playing in large venues alongside great artists, sounds great!

The most complicated question you can ask me is where I’m from. That’s because I’m ethnically Armenian although I was born and raised in Lebanon, so there is simply no right answer. It all started in the capital city of Beirut in a densely populated Armenian town called Bourj Hammoud; that’s also where I bought my first guitar and had my first ever guitar lesson at the local Parsegh Ganatchian Music School at the age of six. Time there went by very quickly, and before I knew it I was graduating in 2019 as the first ever guitarist to complete the 10-year programme in nearly two decades. During my teenage years, I used to perform quite a lot both as a solo artist and a chamber musician across Lebanon, which included a wide variety of classical repertoire, as well as an exploration of Armenian as well as Eastern folk music.

I then went on to pursue my higher eduction in Armenia, and was even enrolled at the Yerevan State Conservatory for a short period of time, having lessons with Hakob Jaghatspanyan for a little shy of a year. There, I had a wider access and to and really fell in love with the music of Komitas, who is considered the father of Armenian folk music. I naturally took a deeper interest in the world of Armenian folklore and the vast artistic wealth it had to offer.

With a strong desire to immerse myself into the music industry, I wanted to travel abroad to study. With the pandemic at its peak and the utter collapse of the Lebanese economy, this didn’t seem like a feasible decision. After long months of intense emails in search of support to fund my studies, I finally gathered enough funds with the help of the honorary Houston Family Scholarship from the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London, two weeks before the start of term in September 2020.

Having recently completed my undergraduate studies, I have now dived even deeper into everything performance-related as I pursue my Masters of Music in Performance at the Royal College of Music. Supporting my studies are the RCM Houston Family Scholarship, Ouzounian Trust, the Julian Bream Trust, the Kathleen Trust, and the St Marylebone Educational Trust. I have the joy of meeting with and learning from Gary Ryan and Christopher Stell on a weekly basis. Since moving to London, I’ve had the immense pleasure of working with the stars of the industry: among them are are Sergio Assad, Antigoni Goni, Gabriel Bianco, Judicael Perroy, Sean Shibe, Dušan Bogdanovic, Carlos Bonell, Mark Eden, Laura Snowden, Steve Goss, and Xuefei Yang.

Recent notable performances include the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Kew Gardens, Kings Place, Royal Albert Hall, and Wigmore Hall.

With a busy concert schedule for the 2024/25 season, I’m currently preparing for concerts in collaboration with the Tillett Trust. I was fortunate enough to be selected for the highly prestigious Tillett Debut Scheme 2024, which allows a two-year collaboration and a wide range of performances; it gives me great joy to say this makes me the fifth guitarist to ever be awarded since the scheme emerged in 1995. With this comes great responsibility to be a good ambassador of the instrument, but more importantly the great honour of sharing my music with lots of new audiences. Debut for the Tillett Trust scheduled for November 2025 at Kings Place.

At 18, he performed at his first concert at the Teatro Arriaga  of Bilbao.

He later moved to Barcelona where he worked as a concert musician. There, he befriended Miguel Llobet and Andrés Segovia. In 1920, he played for the first time in Madrid. A year later, he toured South America, giving 90 concerts. On 20 May 1920, he was awarded a Golden Medal by the University of Buenos Aires , where he became friends with composer Antonio José Martinez Palacios, who dedicated some guitar compositions to Sainz de la Maza.

He toured Europe, giving concerts in France in 1926, in Germany in 1927 and Great Britain  in 1928. Five years later, he toured South America for the second time, with concerts in Uraguay,Argentina and Brazil.Sainz de la Maza performed for the last time at the Church of San Nicola di Bari in Italy, on 9 July 1979, aged 82. He died in Madrid two years later.