ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Muzio Clementi Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 10

Allegro con spirito

Menuetto allegretto

Prestissimo

Robert Schumann Kreisleriana, Op. 16. In eight movements subtitled Phantasien für das Pianoforte. Schumann claimed to have written it in only four days in April 1838 and a revised version appeared in 1850. The work was dedicated to Chopin , but when a copy was sent to the Polish composer, he commented favourably only on the design of the title page!

Äußerst bewegt (Extremely animated)

Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch (Very inwardly and not too quickly),

Sehr aufgeregt (Very agitated),

Sehr langsam (Very slowly),

Sehr lebhaft (Very lively),

Sehr langsam (Very slowly),

Sehr rasch (Very fast),

Schnell und spielend (Fast and playful)

In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it in a letter “my favourite work”, remarking that “The title conveys nothing to any but Germans. Kreisler is one of E.T. A. Hoffmann’s creations, an eccentric, wild, and witty conductor. Like the kaleidoscopic Kreisler, each number has multiple contrasting sections, resembling the imaginary musician’s manic depression and recalling Schumann’s own “Florestan” and “Eusebius”, the two characters Schumann used to indica, Schumann reveals that she figured prominently in the composition of Kreisleriana:

“I’m overflowing with music and beautiful melodies now – imagine, since my last letter I’ve finished another whole notebook of new pieces. I intend to call it Kreisleriana. You and one of your ideas play the main role in it, and I want to dedicate it to you – yes, to you and nobody else – and then you will smile so sweetly when you discover yourself in it.”

— interval —

Bach/Siloti Prelude in B Minor, BWV 855a is a transcription for piano by Alexander Siloti of the Prelude in E minor BWV 855a by Johann Sebastian Bach from his Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach reused the piece in a slightly different way as the tenth prelude in the first volume of his The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Alexander Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. He made more than 200 piano transcriptions, as well as orchestral arrangements, of the music of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi

Claude Debussy 2 Preludes: ‘Des pas sur la neige’ & ‘Les collines d’Anacapri’Des pas sur la neige is the sixth piece in the composer’s first book of Préludes written between late 1909 and early 1910. The title translates as “Footprints in the Snow”Debussy dated this prelude December 27, 1909, a day after he wrote Les collines d’Anacapri inspired by the town of Anacapri, on the island of Capriin the Gulf of Naples, which the composer never visited,

Franz Liszt Wilde Jagd — Scherzo, S. 176a

Leslie Howard writes : ‘The MS of Wilde Jagd: Scherzo is dated Eilsen, second week of January 1851. Although it is clearly an earlier version of the Scherzo und Marsch, it is a rather longer piece. The MS shows a number of later alterations in preparation for the published work, but these have been ignored here in order to present the complete original text. In any case, there must have been a definitive MS of the Scherzo und Marsch (whereabouts presently unknown) containing all of the alterations merely commenced in the present work. The first part of the title (‘Wild Hunt’) was, of course, transferred by Liszt later in 1851 to the eighth of the Études d’exécution transcendante. It is not clear when the few extra bars at the coda (the final flourish) were added—they are not the same as those in the later version, so they are included here. The piece was published for the first time in the Liszt Society Journal in 2009.’

Nicolò Giuliano Tuccia is considered by Leslie Howard as one of the most sensitive and interesting musicians of his generation. Born in 1999, he began studying piano at a young age under the guidance of Maestro Giancarlo Peroni. He graduated with honors from the “B. Maderna” Conservatory in Cesena in 2022, winning a scholarship offered by the Rotary Club. He is currently attending the “Incontri col Maestro” Piano Academy in Imola, studying with maestros André Gallo, Alessandro Taverna, and Igor Roma, and pursuing a second-level Master’s at the “Francesco Venezze” Conservatory in Rovigo with maestros Federico Nicoletta and Roberto Prosseda.

He has also refined his studies at summer festivals, masterclasses, seminars, and conferences with internationally renowned maestros such as Edith Fischer, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Riccardo Risaliti, and Sergio Tiempo

Nicolò Giuliano Tuccia boasts over 50 awards in major national and international piano competitions, including the “Sergio Fiorentino International Piano Competition” (Honorable Mention), “Elevato Piano Competition” (Honorable Mention), “Vigo International Piano Competition” (Semifinalist), MAP International Music Competition in Los Angeles (First Prize), “Kings Peak International Music Competition” (Second Prize and Special Prize), London International Music Competition (Special Mention), Nota Music (Chamber Duo) finalist prize, and many others. He has performed in prestigious venues across Europe and Italy. Giuliano has performed with the Bruno Maderna Conservatory Chamber Orchestra of Cesena, the “Circle Symphony Orchestra” of Padua, the “Rimini Classica” Symphony Orchestra, the “Musici Malatestiani” Ensemble, the “Marco Allegri” Symphony Orchestra, the “Fontana Mix Ensemble” Orchestra, the “Antiqva Metropoli” Orchestra, and the Bergisch Gladbach Symphony Orchestra He has collaborated with conductors Jacopo Rivani, Parvi Shejazi, Antonio Raspanti, Stefano Pecci, Bernardo Lo Sterzo, and Roman Salyutov.

He has recorded for the following record labels: “Doppio Movimento”, “Movimento Classical”, IMD Music & Web, and Halidon.

In 2024, he toured in Poland (Gdansk, Warsaw, and Krakow) with the “Bellini Project” in duo with Clara La Licata, and recording with the prestigious Naxos label with music by Franz Liszt and Julius Benedict. His recitals and CDs have been reviewed by the German journal Piano News, critic Christopher Axworthy, Eero Tarasti on Ampfion, Luca Ciammarughi on Amadeus Magazine, Gisela Schwarz in the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger”, and Robert Matthew Walker in “Musical Opinion.”

He is currently the president of the Forlì Cultura Association and artistic director of the Guido Agosti Festival in Forlì, where he annually invites prestigious pianists from around the world.

Antonio Morabito playing Chopin for Alberto Portugheis’s Opus Musica . Antonio is not only a graduate from the Conservatory of Reggio Calabria but also holds a Masters from the Royal College in London.

A degree in philosophy too, but his real passion is music which held his audience spellbound on this freezing winters day.

Some of Chopin’s best loved works including the first Ballade, played with aristocratic good taste, where technical hurdles became an integral part of the overall structure that Antonio played with remarkable control and beauty of sound. The second Scherzo was played with fearless abandon where poetry and brilliance could live together combining to lead to the coda that he played with fearless mastery and exhilaration . The concert concluded with the magical Andante Spianato, played with heartrending simplicity , leading to the Grande Polonaise Brillante of extraordinary jeu perlé brilliance and which brought this very enjoyable recital to an exhilarating end.

Having played two Chopin Nocturnes and two waltzes with a great sense of style. The ecstatic outpouring of op 27 n. 2 played with passionate intensity and whispered beauty. The Nocturne op 62 n 1 is one of Chopin’s last works and is full of intricate counterpoints of poignant significance which Antonio played with a radiance and beauty of subtle understanding. The ‘minute’ waltz op 64 n 1 was played with streams of sound that rose and fell as the melodic outpouring of the central episode was allowed to float on a wave of charm and grace. He gave a great architectural shape to the waltz op 64 n. 2 that was one of Rubinstein’s favourite encores and which Antonio played with delicacy and stylistic beauty. He dedicated his encore to Enrico Franceschini , a distinguished journalist from La Repubblica newspaper, playing one of Chopin’s Mazurkas that Schumann had described as ‘canons covered in flowers ‘ .

Opus Musica is a concert series devised by Alberto Portugheis who could not be present today because he had been invited to address a meeting of the Peace Conference in Bangkok . This Renaissance man now in his 86th year is not only a colleague and childhood friend of Martha Argerich but an untiring campaigner for Peace having been nominated twice for a Nobel. A lifetime dedicated to trying to cover the lucrative canons of governments, with flowers to create peace rather than conflict in a turbulent world kept at unrest by an inexplicable arms race

Antonio Morabito with stars shining brightly at St Peter’s Acton Green

London salutes a legend Maurizio Pollini The story of a miracle by Antonio Morabito. ’One of the most remarkable descriptions of the humanity and courageous playing of a great artist I have ever read …. required reading for any musician and listener who values untouchable integrity in music and life itself …. an astonishing and creatively constructive piece of assessment …’Michael Moran (distinguished Australian critic and musicologist in Warsaw)

Antonio Morabito in London celebrating Italy ‘The Land of Dreams’ and ‘Museum of the World’

The remarkable sisters Hina and Fiona with just two years difference between them as indeed their Guadagnini violins of 1753 and 1755.

The two sisters in their early twenties were both mentored from an early age by Pressler and Perleman .They are indeed two jewels, one in blue and one in red, but with one voice.

A series of transcriptions commissioned by them of Mendelssohn and Schubert were played as one .

When Maximilian Maisky added his ethereal playing to Schubert there was magic in the air as the music took wing with three young musicians listening to each other and recreating the F minor Fantasy as I am sure the composer in the last year of his life would have envisaged it.

But it was the Andante and Rondo capriccioso of Mendelssohn which opened the recital that was so remarkable. The two sisters passing the musical line from one to another with an intensity and mastery that made one wonder why Mendelssohn wrote it for the piano instead of for this extraordinary combination. Each listening to the other with a sense of balance that through all the intricacies the musical line was paramount . Mendelssohn’s beautiful Andante found its true voice with the violin that could penetrate the very soul of the music with wings of song . An extraordinary transcription that mirrored the original but adding more colour and impish good humour to the Rondo, and the final octave coda found a voice that was more horizontal than the more usual verticality of most pianists.

I had no idea that we were to hear the Mendelssohn without the piano but Maximilian was waiting in the wings like an archangel ready to add his refined voice to that of the two sisters.

Zarzycki’s Mazurka is a virtuosistic piece that Fiona played with great style. Maximilian playing with the piano lid fully opened as he is a young man with a unique musical pedigree who knows how to drive, watching and listening with the same sensitivity as that of the two sisters.

Wagner’ s Metternich was played by Hina with searing intensity and ravishing beauty.

The centre of the programme though was the Schubert Fantasy in their commissioned transcription by Madeline Barrett. The beauty of the opening from Max gave the two sisters a magic bed on which to float Schubert’s yearning melody with whispered sensitivity as Schubert’s mellifluous outpouring passed from one to the other with simplicity and glowing beauty. Even the piano was allowed to add its voice to this most beautiful of melodies. Maximiliano adding the nobility of the bass as an anchor to the flights of poetic fantasy from above . The final fugue took wing with dynamic drive and clarity but it was only here that this transcription seemed to have neglected the harmonic implications, with all three giving voice to the subject but missing the very substance that is supporting them . This was a small price to pay for all the other beautiful things such as the imperious authority and flights of radiance in the Largo. The grace and charm of the Scherzo which they imbued with an inner energy that made the return of the opening in Maximilian’s hands seem even more like a celestial vision . But the stillness and magical atmosphere that the violins could captivate after the tumultuous climax of the fugue was one of those magic moments when the artists and audience are united in a spell of sublime recreation.

The Rózsa Sonata is an original work written in1933 before the composer found fame in Hollywood. It is a work full of dynamic drive and biting folkloristic rhythmic energy played by these two young ladies scaling this mountain with an Olympian strength. Hina then created an oasis of muffled sounds in the Lento assai ,where Fiona could enter with poignant beauty and absolute stillness before the savage dance rhythms of the Vivo e giocoso.

Now was time for a musical duel between these two sisters playing with unbridled passion and brilliance . The ‘Zigeunerweisen’ has long been a showpiece for violin and here in the arrangement by Michi Wiancko it was doubly so. Joined by Maximilian who provided the foil for these two sparing partners playing with red hot intensity and breathtaking daring.

The encore was of a piece written for them by John Corigliano ‘The Red Violin’, no place for Maximilian here as these two girls put on their dancing shoes and astonished us with their breathtaking dexterity and daring.

Violinists and sisters Hina & Fiona share a unique artistic bond that brings together their distinctly individual voices. Shaped by lifelong collaboration, the New York-born duo has been praised by BBC Music Magazine, which notes that “their playing in unison could almost fool you into thinking that you were listening to a single player”, in response to the release of their debut album with Pentatone, Dear to Us.

In 2026, Hina & Fiona gave the world premiere of John Corigliano’s The Red Violin: Suite for Two Violins and Orchestra with the Pacific Symphony under Alexander Shelley at Festival Napa Valley. Reimagined by Corigliano especially for Hina & Fiona, the work was praised by BroadwayWorld for their “breathtaking technical command and a telepathic musical connection,” adding that “fast, virtuosic passages dazzled with precision while the lyrical moments revealed exceptional maturity and emotional depth.”
Recent and upcoming performance highlights include Wigmore Hall, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival, North Shore Chamber Music Festival with the Avant Symphony Orchestra under Mina Zikri, and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra with Keitaro Harada.

Endlessly supporting one another through their significant solo milestones and careers, Hina won first prize at the 2023 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, and Fiona made her New York Philharmonic debut at age 16 with Thomas Wilkins, performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Fiona Khuong- Huu
Having debuted with the NYPhil in David Geffen Hall at 16, Fiona has also performed as soloist at the Kulturpalast in Dresden with the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, in Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra, the ProMusica chamber orchestra, and most recently made her Severance Hall debut in April 2026. She currently studies with Professor Ilya Kaler at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was previously a student of Itzhak Perlman in the Juilliard Pre-College Division.

Hina Khuong – Huu . Her most recent orchestral engagements include debuts of a range of repertoire from Beethoven to Korngold concertos with the  Binghamton Philharmonic, Atlantic Classical Orchestra, the Savannah Philharmonic, the Brevard Symphony, and the Greensboro Symphony, to name a few.  She performs on the 1722 Stradivari “Lord Wandsworth” violin, generously on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation. A recent Economics graduate of Columbia University, she continues her studies at the Juilliard school with Midori Goto and Itzhak Perlman.

Yifan Wu the 21 year old winner of the 2025 Busoni Competition making his London debut at Steinway & Sons in an agreement sealed many years ago with the founders of the Keyboard Trust.

A competition that Noretta Conci had frequented since the first edition in 1949 when her lifelong friend and eventual trustee of the Trust , Alfred Brendel, was awarded fourth prize and Bela Siki fifth.

This young Chinese pianist demonstrated much more than his twenty one years as he showed himself to be immersed in a world of a different age .

Speaking perfect English which he learnt via his passion for the great British cinema of the 40’s and 50’s . The Ealing comedies and especially keen on Margaret Lockwood whose daughter Julia I can just about remember as Peter Pan on the stage of the Scala Theatre that was demolished at least fifty years ago.

‘ Kind Hearts and Coronets’, ‘In which we Serve’ , ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ and many others with actors that Yifan identifies himself with. It is the same passion that he has for the performing practices of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, that informs his own playing .

A knowledge of the very earliest studio recordings and even those of the piano roles of the time. It was this complete immersion in the past that inspired his playing as he improvised between pieces that as if by magic became Beethoven’s Rondo in C op 51, Mozart’s Sonata also in C or the eight fantasies that make up Schumann’s Kreisleriana.

He showed us his own very personal but informed interpretations in this hour long presentation recital.

He even chose to play as an encore a Scarlatti Sonata but from the hands of Tausig. I have not heard Scarlatti played in this way since Cherkassky who would delight with his multicoloured playing of another era when Scarlatti would occasionally appear on programmes of showpieces and transcriptions under the titles such as ‘ Pastorale and Capriccio’. Much frowned on in this era of authenticity and absolute fidelity to the scores handed down to us directly from the composers hand.

Playing from the score to alleviate a sense of panic and allow himself total dedication to the recreation of the music as it might have been played by the pianists of the so called Golden era of piano playing or even in the actual period in which the ink was still wet on the page.

The pianists Lucas Debargue and Sergio Tiempo ( both on the jury of the 2025 Busoni Competition ) have even created their own movement in which they claim that in an age when there is a uniformity of performance we need to free ourselves from the printed score and bring a new life to well worn works. Looking into the meaning behind the notes and the performing practices of the antique even if limited instruments of the day.

Andras Schiff , on the other hand declares that he only plays a limited repertoire of great works because a lifetime is not enough to delve ever deeper into the scores to find the meaning of the composers indications on the printed page . Gone are the performing practices that people like Robert Levin or Richard Goode have enlightened us with from scores that have been overburdened by the personal freedom of performers of the past who were more entertainers than interpreters.

Yifan is a passionate and dedicated young man extraordinarily well informed and ready to share his passion as he did with us via his music making. Also in the very interesting discussion he had with Elena Vorotko, who apart from being co artistic director of the KT, is a fellow of Historic Instruments at the Royal Academy .

Yifan’s performances were always of commanding authority and a deep concentration as he delved into the music recreating many moments with inspired intuition contrasted with other moments of what would seem wilful distortion .They were performances that did not leave you indifferent but evoked feelings that ranged from complete ravishment to anger.

There was a continual arpeggiating of chords especially in the left hand and adding deep bass notes sometimes with such surprise that we jumped in our seats. A wake up call indeed but in the end this continual adding and arpeggiating became predictable and in the end boring.

Many of Alfred Cortot’s recorded legacy of a poetic genius can only be listened to for a limited amount because of the mannerisms of his age. Moments of enlightened poetic inspiration in Cortot’s case inspired by a deep knowledge and respect for the text. This was the basis for the inspirational performances of Rubinstein , Pollini or Perahia where the mannerisms of a past age were put aside with instruments that no longer needed help to resonate or to project.

This was a recital by a dedicated young man which provoked and made us rethink our values . Masterly piano playing and a chameleonic sense of colour from a passionate advocate of all he does.

The one thing that is sure is his undying love for the sounds of this black box of hammers and strings that can be made to sound like the Philadelphia or Caballe .

The problem is as Karl Ulrich Schnabel once said to a student, who has since become a celebrated artist on the world stage, ‘ so you are a composer but with the notes that are not your own!’

Fou Ts’ong listened to Cherkassky having listened to a pianist riding on the fame of a clamorous dissent in the Chopin Competition. I suggested that they both were rather free with the printed score . Tsong who was the most inspired and passionate man I have ever known , shrieked : ‘But Shura loved the piano, this man hates it !’

There is no doubt that Yifan is a master pianist who loves the piano but whose performances may always provoke but will never leave you indifferent .

Indifference is the death to any relationship and I am sure that we will all be convinced by Yifan’s love for music as he gains more experience sharing his music making on the world stage.

‘Chapeau’ Maestro Yifan Wu.

Winner of the 2025 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition

Mozart Sonata No. 10 in C major K.330 Beethoven Rondo in C major Op.51 No. 1 Schumann Kreisleriana Op. 16 Wednesday 11 November at 6.30pm Steinway Hall This one-hour recital will be followed by a short, informal interview with Yifan to talk about his life and choice of music. . Yifan Wu was born in 2005 into a non-musical family, and began his piano studies at the age of 14 with Prof. Yunlin Yang. He is currently studying with Prof. Ioudenitch at Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain.His has won top prizes in the Singapore International Piano Competition and Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition. His performances have taken him to many prestigious venues in China: Shenzhen Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Shanghai Conservatory Opera House, He Luting Concert Hall (Shanghai), Qintai Concert Hall (Wuhan), Tianjin Juilliard Recital Hall, SOTA Concert Hall (Singapore) as well as Carnegie Hall (New York). He has also performed concertos with renowned conductors including Daye Lin, Yifan Sun, Stefan Vladar, Peng Liu, and Xiao’ou Zhao, appearing with orchestras such as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra.In November 2024, Yifan was named a Young Steinway Artist by Steinway & Sons Asia Pacific Headquarters, joining the international community of Steinway Artists. In 2025 he won 1st Prize in the Ferrucio Busoni International Piano Competition.Besides piano playing, he is also a keen photographer, winning several international awards including the 2022 Architecture Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards. His work has been exhibited in New York, Shanghai, and Budapest.

Yifan Wu ‘on the road to El Dorado’ Marco Scolastra presenting the 2026 Concert Season

Busoni 2025 The final lap

On Sunday 29th November 2026 at 11 am , the city of Trento will celebrate this great much loved lady, Noretta Conci, at ‘her’ Filarmonica .
Surrounded by eight wonderful musicians who have come together to celebrate and thank her for her unstinting dedication of helping young musicians.
Gradus ad Parnassum.
Together with her husband ,John Leech ,they created the Keyboard Trust, an invaluable friend to all aspiring young musicians.
Performances by Evgeny Kissin and his colleagues Francesco Libetta , Alessandro Taverna , Stefano Greco , Vitaly Pisarenko , Sasha Grynyuk , Elena Vorotko and Giovanni Bertolazzi.
Together with just a few heartfelt words from her friends, Marco Gambino, Valentina Lo Surdo and Moritz von Bredow
It will be a memorable occasion celebrating a great lady in her own much loved city .

Simone Tavoni launches his Festival in Spain this summer at ‘Grand Passions Piano’ showroom of Muzz Shah in Newham Street Oxford Circus .

Paisajes Piano Festival will see its 4th edition next August from 12-16th when Diana Cooper will be performing as part of a collaboration with the Keyboard Trust of which Simone is an Emeritus artist.

Diana Cooper in Provence ‘Chopin playing of refined elegance and poetic mastery’

This unique intimate and bucolic Piano Festival was launched in 2021. It was held in the gardens of the Casa Rural Las Fuentes de Agata in Hoyos, Caceres, Extremadura, Spain from the 12-15 of August 2021. Four extremely gifted international young musicians gave four evening concerts over the four days of the Festival. Admission was free, concerts started at 8.30 pm and finished by 10.15 pm with an interval mid-concert.

Simone Alessandro Tavoni, the festival’s founder and artistic director, explains:

“I have been inspired by the successful model of the late Robert Turnbull’s piano festival En Blanc et Noir held in Lagrasse, near Carcassonne, France. I wanted to bring to this part of Spain a festival that is very close to his vision of a piano festival in an atmosphere of calm, freshness and peace.”

The goals of Paisajes Festival

We offer a festival that: is free to the public – supports pianists by inviting them to perform in a nurturing, appreciative and non-competitive environment that encourages close connection with audiences – provides an educative festival programme that aims to enrich the culture of Sierra de Gata.

12/08/2025

Pedro Lopez Salas

A Chopin evening

F.Chopin: Barcarolle op 60

F.Chopin: Mazurkas op 33

F.Chopin: Etude op 25 no 10

F.Chopin:  Waltz op. 34

F. Chopin: Scherzo no 2 op 31

F.Chopin: Nocturne no 1 and 2 op. 9

F.Chopin: Preludes op 28 ( 7-12)

F.Chopin: Polonaise and Fantaisie

F.Chopin: Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise Brillante op. 22

8.30pm https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/09/27/pedro-lopez-salas-chopin-recreated-with-poetic-beauty-and-romantic-fire/

Supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust https://keyboardtrust.org

15/08/2025

Jose Navarro Silberstein

Piano solo recital

CPE Bach – Fantasy in F-Sharp minor, Wq. 67
Chopin – Ballade No. 4, Op. 52
Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody S. 244/9
Busoni – Indian Diary Book 1
Villa-Lobos – Ciclo Brasileiro, W. 374 https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/08/jose-navarro-silberstein-masterly-performances-of-red-hot-intensity/

8.30 pm

Supported by the Robert Turnbull Foundation https://rtpianofoundation.com

Simone Tavoni in the shadow of Eros seduces and excites the senses in Thalberg’s nuptial Church

Simone Tavoni triumphs on the Italian tour for the Keyboard Trust – part 1 Florence – part 2 Venice and Padua

Mariam Batsashvili entices with jewel like brilliance in Haydn’s D major sonata and astonishes in Liszt as she conquered Olympian heights with fearless abandon at the limit of what only Liszt himself would have made possible.

Haydn played with wit and charm as Liszt spoke with demonic seduction. A perfectly equilibrated Haydn of jewel like precision, where the composers restrained brilliance of his age was a marvel of characterisation.

Liszt on the other hand was played without the restraint of bar lines as this is a personal interpretation of a great artist with a vision of monumental proportions. Freedom and luminosity with a fearless drive at the limit of the possible. Mariam is a stylist not an intellectual with a dedication to finding the very meaning behind the notes that she interprets with passionate conviction and poetic beauty.

Mozart’s innocuous D minor Fantasia was given an operatic performance where the characters entered with larger than life declamations . The simple chiselled opening melody was played with extraordinary luminosity as Mariam played with sounds like icicles on a bed of barren desolation. Whispered palpitations were played with quite extraordinary sensitivity as the Allegretto opened like a breath of fresh air on such a torrid scene.

The genesis of Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor, is still shrouded in darkness. Even Mozart’s sister, who came across the work in 1807 through the first edition, was astounded to have discovered a previously unknown composition of such quality. In its original form the Fantasia was in all probability a fragment. The closing bars that are most frequently performed today originated from an unauthorized print from 1806 and are by Maximilian Stadler.

Schubert’s F minor Impromptu was also given a platform on this operatic stage . With the commanding opening flourishes giving way to a heart rending duet between soprano and tenor.Her extraordinary sensitivity to balance and colour turned this musical conversation into a heartrending message of sublime beauty.

Of course this was just the preparation for Liszt’s rarely heard Fantasy on Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni S.697.

Here I must admit that I thought I was going to hear something like the Don Giovanni paraphrase which is a recognised masterpiece of this genre much lauded by Busoni, Arrau, Rosen and many others . Alas this was certainly not the case today and one can understand why it has been abandoned so long to oblivion . A hotch potch of melodies pinched from Mozart and joined together by string where it was only the ‘tour de force’ of this ‘Piaf of the Piano’ that it managed to survive its over lengthy outing.

This though was a rare performance by a pianist who is also an eclectic searching musician ready to bring forgotten scores to our notice with performances of conviction and mastery.

As an antidote Mariam offered a magical account of Chopin’s Nocturne op posth in C sharp minor where her extraordinary sense of balance created a sound world that is quite unique. She and Vikingur Ólafsson have both created extraordinary sound worlds with a sense of touch and balance, above all listening and moulding so sensitively every sound they create.

La Campanella that followed showed off Mariam’s refined tonal palette and the same mastery of the great pianists of a Golden era, when pianists were not afraid of having something to say and stamping their unique personality and mastery on performances that became legendary.

Mariam Batsashvili and Martin James Bartlett a dream team of wondrous music making

Mariam Batsashvili The Piaf of the Piano ravishes and seduces at the Wigmore Hall

A star is born …Mariam Batsashvili

The Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni
Liszt composed the work by the end of 1842 or early 1843, as he performed it at the latest in Berlin on 11 January 1843, when Mozart would have been 86, had he lived. Left as an unfinished manuscript upon Liszt’s death, it was both completed and recorded by the Lelsie Howard in 1993 and published in 1997. Earlier, Busoni had published a much shorter performing version, the Fantasy on Two Motives from W. A. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, in 1912.Busoni’s version, which does not include the music based on Don Giovanni, is often nicknamed the “Figaro Fantasy”.

Liszt’s incomplete manuscript contains no title, no tempo indications, and very few dynamics and articulation marks. The ending is some few bars from complete, and there is another lacuna towards the return of the Figaro theme. Liszt probably tried out an improvised solution in performance, judging by the rather insignificant gaps. At some point, Busoni , became aware of the unpublished manuscript and prepared a performing version which he first played in 1911 in Berlin . Busoni gave a series of six all-Liszt recitals in mid-October of that year, playing nearly all of the major piano works, and these are the concerts at which his version, the “Figaro Fantasy”, most likely received its first performance.As the title suggests, Busoni did not include the music from Don Giovanni, shortening the currently known manuscript of more than 597 bars by 245 bars. It is not certain that Liszt intended to perform the music from the two operas together and since the manuscript pages are unnumbered, it is possible that pages from two separate works were at some point in time placed together in the Weimar holdings. Since the transition to and from the Don Giovanni music is in C major, the 15 pages of manuscript can be played or omitted without any damage to the harmonic scheme. The Don Giovanniparaphrase begins on a fresh page and at no time are motives from both operas seen on the same page of Liszt’s manuscript.

Leslie Howard reconstructed the work as he believed Liszt intended, recording, and in 1997 publishing, the newly-recast work. His intention was to “publish… the whole of Liszt’s Fantasy with an authenticity of text, supplying and clearly indicating the few bars… which are necessary to render the work performable.The Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni is very rarely performed in either version, mostly due to its duration (much longer than that of his other showpieces ) and the dexterity and technique required for a successful performance.Leslie Howard recorded his own version in 1993 as a part of his complete piano music recordings of Liszt, and later occasionally included it in his recitals. Mariam , the first prize winner of the 10th International Franz Liszt Competition in Utrecht and the Chinese pianist Chiyan Wong have also made their recordings of Howard’s reconstruction.

As Dr Mather said there was some remarkably moving playing from this young American pianist now studying as a fellow at the Royal Academy in London. Jed Distler in New York had told me that he found him a very interesting player ……he just did not tell me how interesting!

Standing in at fairly short notice for an indisposed Shunta Morimoto, Gold medal winner of the 2022 Hastings Competition, he played three major works that immediately showed his remarkable musical pedigree. It is a masterly musicianship that does not draw attention to itself with histrionics or self indulgence as this is a musicianship that is hidden in the very notes themselves that he played with masterly authority and technical control. Almost note perfect performances not of note picking accuracy but the perfection of a musician where every note has a meaning and a place in a big architectural line.

He is more a Pollini than a Serkin. His seeming lack of showmanship or visible signs of passion or fearless bravura can be deceptive to all but those with ears like his that can follow a musical conversation of such coherence and simplicity that there can be no disagreement or turbulent argumentation. I have rarely heard the treacherous coda of the second movement of the Schumann played with such control or accuracy because his building up from the bass automatically meant the notes above sorted themselves into order! That is, if you are a master of your craft. The final bars of the ‘Langsam’ were played with ravishing beauty where all Schumann’s indications were there but within a framework of beauty and radiance where the slight crescendo and more movement just gave wing to one of the most wondrous moments in this work that Schumann had dedicated to Liszt . Liszt in turn had dedicated his Sonata to Schumann and in both works it is the final page of genius that marks them both as the pinnacle of the Romantic piano repertoire.

Beethoven’s Eleven Bagatelles are jewels that reveal that Beethoven was not only the monumental genius of the Symphony or Sonata but could etch miniature images to appease his publisher who thought they would be more saleable to a larger public. Beethoven eventually managed to have the entire set published by Clementi in London in 1823. They are models of perfection where each one has a voice and character of quite remarkable poetic invention. From the opening ‘Allegretto’ with its staccato and legato contrast of innocence and simplicity to the rambling question and answer of the second with its genial ending pointing eventually to the etherial meanderings of op 111, all played with crystalline clarity and disarming simplicity. The Schubertian charm and grace of the third ‘à l’Allemande’ with its surprise nonchalant ending contrasted with the flowing story that is being told of the ‘Andante cantabile’ that follows .Seth brought an infectious lilt to the ‘Risoluto’ of the fifth. An imposing almost improvised introduction to the sixth allowed the ‘Allegretto’ to take wing with beguiling charm before the trills of the seventh. At first just ornamental but building to Beethoven’s masterly use of the trill in his mature years that brought this little bagatelle to a monumental close.The eighth was almost too serious with counterpoints chasing each other before the flight of the waltz of the ninth . Seth had told us that some of the Bagatelle’s would last only a few seconds and if you blinked you would not have even noticed the tenth that Seth played with impish good humour. The last was played with a glowing radiance, a beautiful flowing ‘Andante’ leading to the final hymn like chords echoed with poignant significance after a moment of a silence that with Beethoven is indeed always golden.

There was a beautiful flowing tempo to the Impromptu in B flat by Schubert, as is indicated by the composer, which allowed the variations to evolve with such natural simplicity, Seth’s finger legato meant that he could achieve a remarkable clarity without any blurring of the edges. He brought charm and refined good taste to the variations with a superb balance between the hands and a jeu perlé that was of crystalline clarity. If there was charm in the second variation there was a subdued passion in the third, before the lilting grace of the fourth and the exquisite jeu perlé of the fifth with the final lento of a coda of poignant significance. Played with a simplicity and beauty where the composer was allowed to speak through the notes for himself, without any exaggeration or interference from unnecessary personal effusions.

A Schumann Fantasy that reminded me of the young Pollini who gave two presentation recitals in London in the QEH including Prokofiev 7, Petrushka and the Schumann Fantasy all works included in a career that spanned three decades and which was concluded with this very Fantasy on a moving occasion described by a fellow Italian with such poetic understanding:

.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/26/london-salutes-a-legend-maurizio-pollini-the-story-of-a-miracle-by-antonio-morabito/

Seth played the first movement with architectural understanding, what it missed in passion and sweep it gained in intelligence and poetic understanding . A second movement of such musical mastery that Schumann’s dotted rhythms were turned into phrases of extraordinary shape and drive . The last movement was played with refined ravishing beauty. Sometimes the hands not synchronised in a search for the magical colours of Schumann ‘s love letter to his distant beloved, Clara.

No encore was possible after such a feast of music even though Hugh did try!

Seth Schultheis is an American pianist based in London who recently won First Prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn. Fluent in a wide range of styles and composers, Seth is also a dedicated performer of contemporary music. After his success in the TBC, Seth performed Beethoven Concerto No. 2 with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under the direction of Dirk Kaftan for the Beethovenhalle New Year’s Concert, where his playing was described as “brilliant”, imbued with “clarity and precision”, “refined sensitivity”, and “rhythmic vitality” (General Anzeiger Bonn). Since the beginning of 2026, Seth has been invited to the 30th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, where he performed Beethoven Concerto No. 3 with Sinfonia Iuventus and Alexander Humala at the National Philharmonic. He subsequently embarked on an 8-concert tour throughout Germany with the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and conductors Rafaël Merlin and Julien Leroy, performing Beethoven Concerto No. 4 in such venues as Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg. Over this summer, Seth continued his fellowship with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and will perform solo recitals at Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival and Wigmore Hall.

He received the majority of his training at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was twice awarded the Harold Bauer Prize. He attended Precollege and earned a Bachelor’s Degree under the tutelage of Phillip Kawin, before completing a Master’s Degree with Solomon Mikowsky, with additional lessons from Wael Farouk and Jiayin Li. Most recently, he earned a Professional Diploma with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music with Mei-Ting Sun, and was selected as an Aud Jebsen Fellow for the following year.

http://www.seth.schultheis.com

I stumbled purely by chance on the Fidelio Café some years ago. I had heard about this café opposite the Italian Church in Camberwell and ventured in to meet the founder and guiding light of a place where culture reigns. Pages from scores adorned the walls. The Hammerklavier adorning the walls of the rest room as great pianists of the past and original programmes filled the spaces on the walls to the most sumptuous green room I have ever seen. I offered to move in immediately ! I have since heard miracles from Fillipo Gorini, hardly known in the UK but revered like Richard Goode elsewhere. Jonathan Ferrucci launching his masterly Bach CD’s and his mentor Angela Hewitt playing Brahms with the café’s resident orchestra. Imogen Cooper is regularly seen as is Steven Isserlis both also heard in this shrine of culture that is a true oasis of the senses. Refined menus adorn the programmes that include Beethoven Diabelli, Schubert Impromptus, Bach Goldbergs etc etc ……….For this is a place where quality counts more than quantity and is a rarity indeed where the box office reigns supreme over any other consideration. Raffaello has left his career with Morgan Chase and with a PhD in Mathematics he has hung up this hat and follows his passion.He is indeed a Renaissance Man. ‘Chapeau’

Culminating last night in a fearless performance of Mahler’s 6th not only rehearsing but also minutes before the actual performance conducting a conversation with two renowned experts about the order of the movements and that great hammer that Mahler uses in the last movement and much of the deep significance of Mahler. A conversation entitled : ‘ Dealing with the Tragic in life : Mahler,Judaism and beyond ‘ with Edward Seckerson ,Anthony Freud and Raffaello himself – conducting the conversation as he did his performance without the score, the ninety minutes of this monumental work that is locked deep in his soul.

No idea where Raffaello’s burning passion will lead him next but I will follow blindly knowing that it is a very rare wind that is blowing through London at the moment.

Fidelio Mahler 2 ‘The Resurrection of a Renaissance Man’

Death of Stalin – ‘Come all ye faithful’ Fidelio calls the tune

Catherina Lee ignites the Fidelio Orchestra and out of the cinders the message of Victor Ullman unites Art with the meaning of Life ‘O come all ye Faithful”

Angela Hewitt plays Bach and Brahms with the Fidelio Orchestra of Raffaello Morales

Diabelli is box office at Fidelio where Genius meets Genius -Filippo Gorini and Raffaello Morales breaking barriers

Jonathan Ferrucci plays Bach for Fidelio ‘A Giant for a Genius calling the English to account’

Samson Tsoy: Mastery and restless conviction reaching for the skies with Fidelian courage

Mihai Ritivoiu at Fidelio The Poet speaks in an oasis of elegance and eloquence.

A private fundraising concert for the London International Chopin competition with just forty minutes of Chopin from the winner of the last edition. A young man from Chethams in Manchester studying with Benjamin Powell , a name new to me but judging from the artistry of this young man he must be a remarkable mentor.

https://www.ll-cc.org.

Julian Zhu is the 15 year old winner of the Grand Prize 2026.

One of Chopin’s last performances was in Manchester just a year before his untimely death at the age of thirty nine. Sir Charles Hallé wrote an effusive and exhaustive report of his performance which is one of the few objective accounts of Chopins playing from a fellow musician. His description of the ‘Aeolian Harp’ study op 25 n 1 epitomises the artistry of a unique musician who was the innovator of today’s pianistic technique and also a composer of quite extraordinary originality .

A technique that is like swimming in sounds with natural horizontal movements of which the anchor is like a tree planted in the ground with the branches free to move as freely as they can within a certain radius.

All this to say that this young man has found the same secret that allows Argerich and Rubinstein to continue into their Indian Summer just adding to their mastery a depth and authority together with an intimate knowledge of the scores that allows them to discover new secrets as they share a spontaneity with an audience on a voyage of discovery together.

It is immediately apparent listening to this young man that his simple natural musicianship flows from fingers that are anchored in an arch of the hand with fingers often pointed or directed by an arm or wrist movement much like a painter before his canvas . Arcadi Volodos is in my opinion the perfect pianist because the sounds he makes are shaped by the beauty of the way he caresses the keys.

Chopin’s first published Polonaise in C sharp minor op 26 n 1 opened this showcase recital and it was immediately apparent that here was a young man with a very big natural talent. Everything I had noticed at the competition was on display, the only difference was that he could find even more sumptuous colours on this very fine Steinway piano. Playing in this intimate salon which is similar to where the teenage Chopin himself would have astonished his audiences, eliciting from Schumann :’ Hats off ,a Genius’.

It was the totally committed ‘Allegro appassionato’ opening that was immediately arresting, playing of chiselled beauty with fingers sculpting the sounds with pointillist precision and beauty. He brought a rare sensitivity to the ‘meno mosso’ where he could have been even more generous with the beautiful tenor exhortations. But this was a young man who plays with authority and was able to lead us to places of poetic intensity with a simplicity and total commitment of remarkable maturity for a young man barely fifteen years of age. Playing of great temperament with a masterly use of the pedal which did not take away from the crystalline clarity of his playing but just added more colours to his palette of sounds.

Four Mazurkas of op 17 revealed a natural feeling for the Polish idioms as he opened with the ‘vivo e risoluto’ of the first in B flat that he played with fervent passion and crystalline clarity with note picking of masterly relish.The beautiful central episode was played like the drone of a bagpipe with subdued etherial freedom. The E minor, a mellifluous outpouring of masterly flexibility contrasting with the A flat meanderings of extraordinary nostalgia and insinuating rubato with a teasing jeux perlé just thrown off with masterly nonchalance. What aristocratic beauty he brought to the A minor , final Mazurka, as Chopin’s bel canto was allowed to sing with refined beauty. Embellishments that were a magic web of sounds with touches of golden strands adorning this most poignant of Chopin’s early Mazurkas. Schumann described the Mazurkas as ‘canons covered in flowers’ but there were no canons here except for the deep yearning within the notes which this young man could portray with poetic intensity and simplicity.

The final work was the one that had won this young man the top award at the Chopin competition with a masterly performance of the ‘Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante op 22.’ I wonder why he began the accompaniment with two hands because it continued with one with masterly control as the fingers in the right hand played with extraordinary chiselled beauty. Fingers that were noticeably independent brush strokes with a technique that I have only ever noticed so apparently from Alexander Romanovsky. A way of pointing to jewels hidden within the keys with a sensitivity but allowing glowing luminosity that was quite extraordinary. The Polonaise was played with masterly command with a technical perfection that was part of the music and never used to his own advantage. Chordal playing, though, that he played more vertically and that held up the natural flow of his wonderful horizontal vision of the music. His playing is like washes of paint on a canvas with one natural masterly stroke from a pianist who is a musician who listens to himself with poetic intensity.

What a discovery similar to when I too discovered Artur Haftman when he first came as a teenager to begin his studies with Alexeev at the Royal College . A lunchtime recital in St James’s Piccadilly that will go down in history for the record number of encores that the public insisted on lasting until it was almost time for tea. Hats off to him and Jenny Lee for providing a platform for the next generation of musicians who have, like him, been blessed by the Gods.

Chopin Competition London International for Young Pianists Artur Haftman, Jenny Lee and Piotr Michalik create a showcase for the pianists of tomorrow.

This is what I wrote earlier this year when he ran away with the LICC:

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

Misha Kaploukhii plays Brahms in the historic St Alfege in Greenwich where Thomas Tallis was organist and is buried.

The Greenwich Chamber Orchestra founded and conducted by David Cutts has been presenting concerts in this noble edifice since 2019.

A young pianist on the crest of a wave, now in his final year of study with Ian Jones at the Royal College of Music, has played with this orchestra many times.Having already played Brahms ‘tiny’ Second Concerto with them he returned tonight to play the First. The Second Concerto is very much a concerto where the piano becomes part of the orchestra but the youthful first concerto is one where the piano and orchestra fight it out to the end. This, in many ways, is a piano struggling to dominate the orchestra.

There are many assertive passages where the piano battles to dominate the orchestra and lead the way, but there are many others where the piano plays with an eloquence and the sounds of the ‘lullabies of Brahms’s grief’ that are of poignant beauty. Nowhere more than in the etherial and noble ‘Adagio’ with its gradual elation and passionate outpouring etched in marble. It was here that Misha’s poetic understanding was able to create an atmosphere where piano, orchestra and audience became involved in one of those seances that only music can create. A magic cadenza unwound in Misha’s sensitive hands as it brought the final benediction from the orchestra with a whispered intensity of remarkable poignancy. Brahms and Misha ,the same age, were here united in a benediction of extraordinary poetic potency with the glistening sounds from the piano not struggling against the orchestra but in this movement united with a poetic fantasy of profundity. Misha had also brought the same poetic intensity to the two solo ‘cadenzas’ in the first movement. Here Brahms, like the central episode of Schubert’s B flat sonata, allows a chorale to bring a moment of calm and solemnity as it gradually takes wing with a melodic line floated on etherial sounds contained within its very being. There were moments too where Misha could outdo the orchestra as the mighty orchestral opening of the ‘wailing of hell’ is mirrored on the piano in a duel of intensity and overwhelming power.

The last movement ‘Allegro non troppo’ just shot from Misha’s hands barely giving us time to wallow in the intense atmosphere created by the dying breath of the ‘Adagio’. Bursting with youthful energy it has been said that Beethoven’s third concert was Brahms’s model. This is, though, a movement of great originality and whereas Beethoven is full of youthful energy and ‘joie de vivre’ this is full of ominous clouds of turbulence and dynamic drive. A climax to this Rondo theme that explodes with scales across the keyboard as one of Brahms’s most noble of mellifluous outpourings opens with aristocratic poise and dignity. Exhilaration and youthful excitement are played out to the final cadenza where the piano, certainly in Misha’s hands, could outdo the orchestra for the full sumptuous sounds that brought this youthful but extraordinarily mature work to a glorious ending.

The concert had started with Beethoven’s ever green Egmont Overture and the much lesser known Eighth Symphony ,written in 1812, was his penultimate and shortest symphony that he fondly referred to it as “my little Symphony in F”.

The premiere took place on 27 February 1814, at a concert in the Redoutensaal, Vienna, at which the Seventh Symphony (which had been premiered two months earlier) was also played. The concert also included Wellington’s Victory and the premiere of Beethoven’s song “Tremate, empi, tremate.” Beethoven was growing increasingly deaf at the time, but nevertheless insisted on leading the premiere. Reportedly, “the orchestra largely ignored his ungainly gestures and followed the principal violinist instead.”

When asked by his pupil Carl Czerny why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven is said to have replied, “because the Eighth is so much better.”

A valiant performance conducted by the orchestra’s founder David Cutts, in which his daughter and Misha’s girlfriend shared the lead second violin desk adding a personal note to a joyous occasion in this Grade 1a edifice, where Tallis’s shadow still reigns.

Misha Kaploukhii plays Brahms 2 igniting with Martyn Brabbins the RCM Philharmonic

Misha Kaploukhii in Florence and Milan for the Keyboard Trust and Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation

Misha Kaploukhii and Magdalene Ho at Perivale ‘Friendship and mastery go hand in hand: ‘Notre amitié est invariable’