Concerto finale corso di Elisso Virsaladze and as you would expect some remarkable playing that included some of her students that had followed her from Moscow.Under the eagle eye of the ever present Elisa Cerocchi the concert included nine of the students from the course.A fine musicianly performance of the first movement of the Schumann Fantasie played by Alvam Baltanas Meliveo with great intelligence and feeling …..no easy task . A very fine Barcarolle from Ashley Fripp hardly surprising for this Gold Medalist from the Guildhall already much admired for his performances heard worldwide on streaming from the Chopin Competition. in Warsaw.

A 22 year old Portughese student of Elisso for the past five years in Moscow:joao Xavier .A very secure and well tempered Prokofiev 3rd Sonata . Sachiko Eto also a student from Moscow playing two Scarlatti Sonatas and a very precise and passionate L’Isle joyeuse by Debussy .A fine performance of Scriabin fourth Sonata by Moeko Ezaki and a very fine disciplined performance of Liszt 12 Rhapsody from Alessandro Romagnoli. Schubert Landler and a Scriabin Study op.8 n.9 from another student from Moscow Hiroo Sato and a good performance of the very complex ” White mass” of Scriabin from Luc Redor.

But I think there can be no doubt that Franck Laurent Grandpre stole the show with his own amazing Salsa Lipsa .A truly virtuoso performance that brought the house down.Elisso enjoying every minute from the back row and refusing to share in the applause that was rightly for her adoring students that she had spent so much care and preparation on , allowing each one to stand before the public on their own .Drinks for all and a party until curfew time in the little square with Elisso at the centre,of course.

And the end of another wonderfully successful course here in Sermoneta where only musicians of the very highest calibre have dared venture before her . They include : Magaloff,Kempff,Schiff,Canino,Ciccolini,Rosen to name only a few…..No mean feat for the Cerocchi Family to maintain the highest possible standards on this little hillside village in the middle of the wilderness that are the Pontine Hills.But then that is why.with all the difficulties that surround our resent day lives,we all flock back every year to recharge our batteries and remind ourselves of some true values .

Corso Virsaladze al Castello Caetani Sermoneta yesterday . Looking closely at the piano the seeming Steinway & Sons of the first piano on closer inspection was infact Chang Wang……the second one a rather harsh Schimmel . Such are our times. Interesting to hear the original Liszt Paganini studies ……sounded a bit like Liszt on a drunken binge but as Elisso said in her very down to earth way ” it is interesting at least to know”…………..a brave student from the RNCM who assume was Russian but living in Manchester fro some years ……….followed by a very involved performance of Prokofiev 3rd sonata by Franck Laurent Grandpre ,who was to take the student concert by storm with a piece of his own..A musicianly performance of Chopin Fantasie op 49 from an ex student of Yale and a well prepared performance of Schumann G minor Sonata op.22 played by a young Korean boy ……….a very busy afternoon with a seemingly tireless task master listening to every note …nothing escapes her eagle ears.