Mese: marzo 2017

Ashley Fripp at St Bartholomew the Great for the City Music Society. Mozart K.311,Liszt Sposalizio,Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit

Quite a surprise to find this church in London by Smithfield Market in the shadow of the Barbican.

The oldest church in London dating back to the 11th Century.

Even the more surprising though was the wonderful acoustic for the lunchtime recital by Ashley Fripp for the City Music Society Young Artists Series .

A wonderful sounding Steinway “D” at the foot of the altar created the ideal situation for some remarkable music making .

Ashley  Fripp Gold Prize Winner from the Guildhall and now completing his studies in Florence with Elisso Virsaladze has already been admired in many important venues throughout the world .

I well remember a remarkably poetic performance of the Chopin D flat nocturne op 27 from Warsaw even the more remarkable as it was on a Kawai Shigeru piano!

Unfortunately arriving late for his recital as I had mistakenly made for St Lawrence Jewry the usual venue for the City Music Society concerts not having fully understood this change of venue.

But what a change!

Whereas in St Lawrence the resonant acoustic was not helped by an over brilliant Fazioli piano instead of Sir Thomas Beecham’s old piano that is resident there .

Dinara Klintons remarkably subtle piano playing last year was completely lost in this “church” acoustic .

The change to St Bartholomew the Great was a revelation in that every note could be savoured to the full with just the right amount of resonance that can help an artist create real intimacy in such a large space.

The wonderful sounding Steinway Concert Grand sitting so nobly in the middle of this remarkably ancient building.

Arriving for the second movement of the Mozart D major Sonata K.311 I was completely seduced by the sublime melodic invention of one of Mozart’s most simple and touching slow movements.

In Ashley’s very sensitive hands this movement was allowed to sing and be shaped with such ravishing sounds that filled every crevice of this noble edifice .The very subtle use of rubato and the exquisite ornaments completely won over a very full hall where not a pin could be heard such was the atmosphere and concentration that Ashley was able to capture .

The charm and wit of the Rondeau was played with all the style and virtuosity that one could expect from a disciple of Elisso Virsaladze . But there was more to it than that for there was a personal involvement and sense of character that totally contrasted with the sublime slow movement and that showed a great musical personality that allowed the music to talk so directly with such conviction .

Introducing Liszt Sposalizio – The Marriage of the Virgin – Ashley demonstrated his intellectual involvement that got to the very core of the music and allowed him to interpret it with such meaningfulness.

Some very subtle colours in this very suggestive piece where the terrific technical demands were never allowed to overpower the real musical line.

Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel ended the programme and as Ashley told his audience it was written by Ravel with the intent of outdoing even Liszt’s Transcendental Studies with the technical demands required by all those that dare tread its waters.

The poems of Bertrand eloquently read by Ashley before each of the three movements to his attentive audience.

The water nymph Ondine can never before have sounded so happy to bathe in these subtle waters created on this occasion

The tolling bell of Le Gibet played with such understatement that it became even more insistent and sinister that usual .

Scarbo played at an almost impossible pace but held together with such breathtaking virtuosity that made one realise how Ravel had indeed succeeded in his mission to out do Liszt.

Some amazing feats of virtuosity from Ashley but always with the most subtle colours and sense of the real character of each piece to the fore as he had so courageously described in the poems read before each performance .

Hin-Yat Tsang at Steinway Hall in London tonight. Some wonderful performances from Albeniz to Bizet taking in Scriabin,Barber and Schumann.

It was fifty years ago that as a first year student at the Royal Academy I would practise there in the evenings hardly able to believe my luck to be there  too and to be surrounded by people that loved music as much as I did.

There were some regulars who used to practise almost as much as me and one of these was Eleanor Wong who together with her sister Linda would be there every evening too.

Eleanor a final year student of that remarkable and versatile musician Freddie Jackson who some years later died whilst conducting the Verdi Requiem in the Dukes Hall……what a way to go for a wonderfully dedicated musician.

Eleanor would often knock on my door and ask if she could try out her programmes for up and coming performances in concert and competitions (she won the silver medal at Vercelli) Having just started at the RAM and not used to hearing such fine playing I was bowled over with just the right enthusiasm that helped her in her quest to prepare .

Linda her sister too,a student of another very fine sensitive musician , Max Pirani ,would often play too .

Two Wongs don’t make a right Gordon Green would affectionately quip!

Not in this case for sure .For both were remarkably talented with that inner energy that only comes from real passionate involvement and dedication

All this to say that Eleanor is now founder of the prestigious Hong Kong International Piano Competition with musicians of the calibre of Peter Frankl,Bryce Morrison,Vladimir Ashkenazy and Peter Donohoe on the jury.

She herself is often to be seen on the juries of International Competitions and was last seen on the Leeds Competition of Dame Fanny Waterman (who coincidentally had her 97th birthday today too)

Eleanor Wong has built up an enviable reputation for spotting and training great young talent some of whom then go on from Hong Kong to perfect their considerable talent at colleges in London as she herself had done all those years ago.

Just such a case is Hin-Yat Tsang who has just graduated with honours from the class of Dmitri Alexeev (coincidentally winner of the Leeds Piano Competition in the 70’s)at the Royal College of Music. Now continuing his studies in Berlin with Klaus Hellwig this youngman ,only in his early twenties, will be flying off, after his recital for the Keyboard Charitable Trust , to Barcellona to compete in an International Piano Competition himself.

I could not help but notice many traits of his teacher who had so impressed a young student fifty years ago.

The same inner fire that seems when he is at the piano to exclude all else with his total concentration and involvement with the music.

Even the way he holds his hands and the stillness of his body whilst expressing with discrete facial expressions the varying moods that he is experiencing in the music.

The very complex Humoreske by Schumann `was given a totally convincing performance held strictly under a tight reign but allowing at the same time the music to move and breathe naturally.

Andras Schiff had noted just this in the masterclasses at the RAM where he was very impressed and inspired by Hin Yats interpretation as indeed the audience including some very distinguished musicians at Steinway Hall were witness today.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdqiQ9VQxrE.)

A nocturne “Homage to John Field” op.33 by Samuel Barber together with his encore of a “Song without words” by Bizet just showed what an inquisitive and informed musician  Hin-Yat Tsang is.

The Barber full of the “fioriture ” as in Chopin or Field but translated into the twentieth century sound world of Barber of some quite transcendental difficulty.Thrown off with all the colour and seeming simplicity of art that belies art.

The Bizet was given an aristocratically suave typically french nobility with all the charm that could have been almost of a Chaminade or Poulenc.

Bryce Morrison tells me that Glen Gould, that inquisitive genius ,was the last person that surprisingly he had heard treading these waters.

El Puerto by Albeniz that opened the programme again was given a musicians performance with strong rhythms and sense of line that did not allow these spanish folk idioms to descend into sentimentality.

On the contrary as Alicia De Larrocha has taught us over the years the real passion and tension lies in the rhythm and colours that need only to be played with a simplicity that allows the story within to be revealed in all it moving majesty.

Scriabin’s Sonata Fantasy played with some real technical mastery where the musical line was always allowed to appear and disappear in between the typically virtuosistic spider like figurations that are so much part of this early Scriabin .

All the youthful preparation that had been lain so solidly by Eleanor were now at the service of the music from this remarkable young pianist who we wish well in his undoubted successes on the International circuit.

Present in the hall were the founders of the Keyboard Trust Noretta Conci-Leech and her husband John Leech.

Hats off to them for founding this Trust whose sole aim is to help remarkable young talents such as on display tonight to find a public with which to share their exceptional performances.

For they know that it is only by playing regularly in public that these young musicians that have dedicated their youth to studying the piano can progress and learn to fly to heights that not even they could imagine.

JamalAliyev and Maria Tarasewicz at St James`s Piccadilly for the Concordia Foundation series of Gillian Humphreys.

Having heard Jamal over the past few years it was splendid to hear how this promising and exceptionally talented young student has blossomed into the great artist that overwhelmed a very attentive audience in St James`s Piccadilly today. Right from the opening work with the Paganini Variations on a theme by Rossini one was immediately aware of being part of a very special occasion. The subtle phrasing,the total involvement and a transcendental control of the instrument where the music was allowed to speak directly to a public completely mesmerised.

Paul Tortelier,who would have been 103 yesterday played it in my theatre with just the same communication and showmanship that it so much part of this encore piece. Jamal playing with just the same weight on a Gabrielli cello of 1752. After such a performance one wondered how he could play anything else afterwards. Helped also by the resonant acoustic and the exquisite playing of Maria Tarasewicz who was with him every inch of the way.

Some beautiful sounds on this very fine concert Fazioli and with the lid fully open such was her musicianship she never overpowered the cello. In fact in the Arpeggione Sonata there was some very fine duo playing in which each of these young artists were listening attentively to each other in a real musical conversation.The seemingly endless melodic invention of Schubert only equalled by Mozart,was given a performance of such eloquence and musicality each player replying to the other in a totally convincing performance. Some exquisite sounds from the piano totally matched the passionate commitment from the cellist.

This same passionate commitment was in evidence in a remarkable performance of the first movement of Dvorak`s cello concerto. The same commitment and nobility that was so much part of Jaqueline Du Pre`s historic performance with Daniel Barenboim in the Albert Hall during the political upheaval forty years ago. Such was the participation of public and performers that the cut in the orchestral part although understandable nevertheless came as a surprise . I am sure that it will be only a question of time before we hear Jamal play this work with the greatest orchestras worldwide.

A transcendental performance from both players of Chopin’s Polonaise Brillante played with great flair and sense of style and colour which characterised this very passionate performance that brought this magnificent concert to a rousing conclusion. Present to share in his success were two remarkable ladies:Gillian Humphreys of Concordia and

Canan Maxton who have followed and helped the progress of Jamal in his journey from an exceptionally talented young cellist to the mature great artist that kept this packed lunchtime audience so enthralled.

JamalAliyev and Maria Tarasewicz at St James`s Piccadilly for the Concordia Foundation series of Gillian Humphreys.

Having heard Jamal over the past few years it was splendid to hear how this promising and exceptionally talented young student has blossomed into the great artist that overwhelmed a very attentive audience in St James`s Piccadilly today. Right from the opening work with the Paganini Variations on a theme by Rossini one was immediately aware of being part of a very special occasion. The subtle phrasing,the total involvement and a transcendental control of the instrument where the music was allowed to speak directly to a public completely mesmerised.

Paul Tortelier,who would have been 103 yesterday played it in my theatre with just the same communication and showmanship that it so much part of this encore piece. Jamal playing with just the same weight on a Gabrielli cello of 1752. After such a performance one wondered how he could play anything else afterwards. Helped also by the resonant acoustic and the exquisite playing of Maria Tarasewicz who was with him every inch of the way.

Some beautiful sounds on this very fine concert Fazioli and with the lid fully open such was her musicianship she never overpowered the cello. In fact in the Arpeggione Sonata there was some very fine duo playing in which each of these young artists were listening attentively to each other in a real musical conversation.The seemingly endless melodic invention of Schubert only equalled by Mozart,was given a performance of such eloquence and musicality each player replying to the other in a totally convincing performance. Some exquisite sounds from the piano totally matched the passionate commitment from the cellist.

This same passionate commitment was in evidence in a remarkable performance of the first movement of Dvorak`s cello concerto. The same commitment and nobility that was so much part of Jaqueline Du Pre`s historic performance with Daniel Barenboim in the Albert Hall during the political upheaval forty years ago. Such was the participation of public and performers that the cut in the orchestral part although understandable nevertheless came as a surprise . I am sure that it will be only a question of time before we hear Jamal play this work with the greatest orchestras worldwide.

A transcendental performance from both players of Chopin’s Polonaise Brillante played with great flair and sense of style and colour which characterised this very passionate performance that brought this magnificent concert to a rousing conclusion. Present to share in his success were two remarkable ladies:Gillian Humphreys of Concordia and

Canan Maxton who have followed and helped the progress of Jamal in his journey from an exceptionally talented young cellist to the mature great artist that kept this packed lunchtime audience so enthralled.

Kyung-Mi Lee,violoncello Michelangelo Carbonara,pianoforte at Tuscia University in Viterbo for the Saturday Series of Prof.Franco Carlo Ricci

A last minute cancellation led to an improvised concert of great music making from a duo in life as on stage . Michelangelo Carbonara used to play quite regularly in my theatre in Rome as did many other fine students from the Piano Academy of William Nabore in Como. Now a highly respected professional musician he is fast making a name for himself as a fine pianist of unusually refined musicianship. Kyung- Mi Lee a kindred spirit on the cello gave a programme together with Michelangelo of works by Beethoven and Rachmaninov .

Michelangelo completing this improvised concert with a Mozart Sonata for piano solo K.311.Some very refined playing especially in the slow movement where his sense of balance allowed the melodic line to sing with such a beautiful unforced sound that it was hard to believe that this was the same piano that we have heard so many times before in lesser hands.

With his superb ornamentation and sense of line one more than forgave his lack of time in preparing this very intricate work This was a real musician’s work in progress that he chose to share with us and with only a little more time to prepare will become a very special performance indeed.Especially fine was not only his sense of real identification with the character and spirit of this deceptively simple work but above all his real understanding of the style.

The two G minor Sonatas for Cello and Piano ( or should it be Piano and cello?) by Beethoven op 5 n.2 and Rachmaninov op 19 showed off all their innate musicianship. A duo which signifies, as Menuhin would say, of mutual anticipation A musical conversation in which the two performers listen to each other and are more interested in the whole than in their own very difficult parts. A real case in point was the slow movement of the Rachmaninov where the sumptuous opening on the piano was totally incorporated and intertwined with the cello . Rarely have I heard such an integrated performance of the Allegro scherzando where the two instruments were united as one .

The intricate piano figurations in the first moment like silver to the wonderful sumptuous sounds from Kyung- Mi’s cello . The Beethoven was a real lesson in style from the opening dotted rhythms on the piano to the wonderful melodic lines that followed.The last movement at an irresistibly right tempo to bring this early masterpiece to a brilliant conclusion . An encore of the beautiful slow movement from Chopin’s cello sonata brought an evening of rare music making to a close.

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Paavo Jarvi and Leonidas Kavakos with the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia at the Parco della Musica. Bartok Dance Suite Sz77 and 2nd Violin Concerto Sz122 and Brahms second symphony op73

Ovation not only from the public but above all from the orchestra What more can one say?

A pleasure to see that great cellist Luigi Piovano savouring every note as he led the cellist into the sumptuous world of Brahms.

A hard driven performance of the Second Symphony by a real kapellmeister along the lines of a Bohm or Jochum in which a real sense of line gave all the necessary time to allow Brahms’ music to speak for itself without any sentimentality or exaggeration.

Great sense of balance too in which the magnificent brass section were always part of the great line being created before our eyes. The exchange between the woodwinds and strings was pure chamber music .

Missing the spiritual magic and some of the real warmth of a Walter or Pappano.It was,however, a remarkable performance always kept on a tight reign that allowed the orchestra to ride so naturally on these long lines and play with all the warmth and mutual anticipation that has been so much part of the Pappano era .

A difficult first half of Bartok . The Dance Suite amazingly written in 1923 where all the dance rhythms were fully characterised by this highly professional and esteemed conductor taking us into this extraordinarily revolutionary sound world.

Kavakos ,quite rightly taking the world by storm with his seemingly effortless perfect violin playing .Musicianship to the fore and amazing feats of concentration between violinist,orchestra and conductor in the second violin concerto of 1939.

Missing some of the savage naked emotion of the Hungarian gypsy tradition nevertheless was given an amazingly assured performance from all concerned .where again the musical line was paramount . No mean feat for such a complex work .

An exemplary performance missing the warmth and soul of a Menuhin who was one of the very first to realise and help the suffering genius of this still rarely played composer.

An encore for Kavakos of a movement from a Bach solo suite on his wonderfully rich sounding “Abergavenny”Stradivari violin.

Played almost without vibrato in the true baroque tradition but with a sense of shade and colour that showed all the transcendental virtuosity and real musicianship of who must be today one of the finest violinists before the public.