Mese: luglio 2016

The Festival Pontino di Musica in Sermoneta in these difficult times has dedicated this years festival to the young that are so in need of a platform .
And so the very opening concert in the magical atmosphere of the Caetani Castle was dedicated to the Orchestra of the Liceo Musicale Farnesina and on the 29th July in the beautiful Abbey of Valvisciolo it will be the turn of the Juni Orchestra of the Accademy of S.Cecilia .
What better way to turn these austere times to the advantage of the enormously talented young musicians that dedicate their youth to Art.
Hats off the Elisa Cerocchi( daughter of the now retired founder Riccardo Cerocchi)Tiziana Cherubini and the ever present neo presidente Luigi Giannini.
However the Pontine Festival does not lack in illustrious names with a faithful following from artists such as Elisso Virsaladze,Alessandro Carbonare,Franco Petracchi and Mariana Sirbu all dedicating their time to the masterclasses that since the time of Menuhin and Szigeti have been so much part of the music making on the Pontine Hills during the summer months.

So it was last night with the return of Elisso Virsaladze,who has been an annual appointment for for many years .
Missing last year due to illness and now returning to give a recital in the courtyard of the castle of Mozart.Schubert and Schumann.

And what a return it was .Could there now be another dimension to her playing or have we just been starved of her great artistry for too long
The little Mozart Rondo in A minor KV511 given a really operatic performance such was the freedom she found within the strict framework where very note seemed to talk directly in a fascinating and very subtle way.
Beautiful and unexpected jeux perle’ and wonderful sense of balance allowed the music to speak for itself with a surprising intensity .It was as though we were hearing this well known piece for the first time.
Following with Schubert’s great G major Sonata Fantasia .
A difficult work to bring off in the concert hall so here in the open air it was a real challenge.
It was obvious from the magical opening that she had perfectly judged the accoustic as she held the public in her hands for the next half an hour . Not missing the drama of the development section in the first movement but always in the context of the fantasy that she was recounting .Some beautifully projected cantabile in the andante and some very subtle shading in the Menuet leading to an impish opening of the Allegretto ,played with such obvious enjoyment that when it burst into one of the most beautiful melodies that Schubert has penned we were reminded of that other wonderful last movement that is Mozart’s Cmajor concerto K503 where the overwhelming invention pours out in a seemingly limitless way.

Schnabel once said that Mozart was too easy for children and too difficult for adults but in the Sonata in F K.533 that followed after the interval this amazingly complete artist found just the right simplicity and character that can be so difficult to balance .

Richter was a great admirer of Elisso Virsaladze’s Schumann from when she won the competition in Zwickau and so it was no surprise to find an impeccable performance of his Carnaval op 9.
Restored to the original with all the traditional idiosyncracies eliminated as she purveyed in a microscopic way the original intentions of Schumann as shown  so clearly in the score .
Not to say it lacked colour,passion,charm and style for this is one of the great artists of our time and how lucky all the young pianists are that flock to her masterclasses to be able to share in her seemingly direct contact with the composers.Students that have included Beatrice Rana,Emanuel Rimoldi,Alexander Ullman,Pablo Rossi and Evelyne Beresowsky to name but a few.

Ever generous with three encores (Mozart and Chopin Mazurka op30 n.4 and the Waltz op 42 ) and an enthusiastic audience glad to be able to demonstrate how pleased they are to have her back again.

Some really exceptional piano playing this morning from Mihai Ritivoiu andEvgeny Genchev.
Both with the Keyboard Charitable Trust and both presenting their Artists Diploma Graduation Recital at Milton Court today.
I had already heard great things about Mihai from a KCT concert in Frankfurt recently and was actually present in the USA when Evgeny greatly impressed the public in New York and Philadelphia on a KCT tour.
It was left to Mihai to start at 10 am with a Prelude and Fugue not by Bach but unusually these days by Mendelssohn.Not since Serkin have we seen Mendelssohn in the first part of a recital.
Very rare even to hear this one in Fminor op 35 .
The prelude showed off all the poetry and beautiful sound world of Mihais extremely assured playing it was a pity that the Fugue and the Variations serieuses that followed suffered a bit from this early morning start where a more leisurly would have give more time for the music to unfold naturally .Some very fast tempo played with complete clarity and assurance …..here indeed was a young virtuoso of the first order enjoying every minute of his prowess gained in the class of the magnificent teacher that is the renowned Joan Havill .
And so it was having shown us the virtuoso now it was the time of the poet.
And so it was with the Schumann Fantasie an outpouring of love for Clara ,dedicated to Franz Liszt.
So a formidable challenge and a work that needs a real musician to be able to share its inner secrets.
A beautiful performance unfolded with all the passion but also innermost feelings all held together in a very precise framework.
No mean feat for the greatest of pianists but here was totally understood and transmitted with some really beautiful sounds on the magnificent Steinway that allowed all the varied emotions that Schumann wanted to include.
Fine rhythmic second movement led to the yearning lament for Schumann’s beloved Clara .The famous skips in in the coda of the second movement well judged indeed.
If the ending of the last movement could have been less accentuated it would have been an even more beautiful ending that Schumann indicates in crescendo with accents but surely in the context of a sumptuous string chamber orchestra.
Following on with a magical but also very precise performance of Debussy Images book 1 he ended the eighty minute recital with De Falla Fantasia Baetica .Written for the virtuoso that was Rubinstein here Mihai was in his element showing all the colours , virtuosity but also eloquence and elegance that its dedicatee was renowned for even in 1919 .
Evgeny Genchev presenting a very assured performance of the Overture in the French style BWV 831 .Particularly suited to this magnificent opening work were his taught rhythmic control but also a non legato touch , reminiscent of Glenn Gould ,that totally suited this work.
Following with a poetic performance of Beethoven’s op110.
A performance in which we could admire not only the intelligence of this problematic work but also his superb control of balance that allowed the melodic line to sing in one of Beethoven’s last trilogy that is the most lyrical and serene of all his last utterings for piano.
The return of the fugue was ushered in an almost inaudible whisper that allowed the tumultuous final passionate outpouring to be even more impressive.
Liszt’s transcription of Wagners Liebestod found the ideal interpreter here for all the subtle colours but above all the clarity and projection that showed a rare capacity to listen and adjust immediately to the piano,hall and us the audience.
So it was the extreme delicacy of the the first of the two Poemes op 32 by Scriabin that particularly impressed although the virtuosity and passion in the second Poeme and the Fantasie in B minor op 28 that followed were very impressive indeed.
So it was with great expectation that we awaited the Dante Sonata of Liszt .All the virtuosity,temperament and poetry beautifully realised but with a sense of overall line and direction of a real thinking musician.
Infact Artists Diploma is exactly the title that the lucky people present ,which included the renowned critic Bryce Morrison ,were able to confirm with these very impressive performances from the splendid stable of the Guildhall so ably presided over by Ronan o Hara with artists of the calibre of Martin Roscoe ,Joan Havill  and Peter Bithell at his side.

Peter Feuchtwanger funeral today in the beautiful Brompton Cemetery in the centre of London.Much loved and esteemed musician.
Moving words from Michael Garady,Haydn Dickenson,Ben Bryant….of course the wonderful playing of Clara Haskil that he loved so much filled the air with Abschied from Waldszenen as did the wonderful voice of Kathleen Ferrier.True magic in the air.What a wonderful way to go …..paradise surely awaits