Benedetto Lupo at the Royal Festival Hall LPO Juanjo Mena conductor
Ravel Concerto for Left Hand
Great performance of the concerto from Benedetto Lupo who although being left handed says quite rightly that that does not make this concerto any easier to play!
Fantastic sense of colour replying to Ravel’s very large orchestra full of the most wondrous sounds.
Amazing bass notes from the piano as he literally launched himself at the keyboard .
Meltingly beautiful the second subject,the same exotic beauty that lead into the most sensuous of cadenzas building up to a lush full orchestral participation almost” alla russe” before the final explosive ending .
Glad to see Umberto Jacopo Laureti a student of Benedetto’s at the Accademia in Rome and now completing his studies for a doctorate in Busoni at the RAM .
He was recently accepted for help by the Keyboard Charitable Trust and is one of the superb musicians coming from Benedetto’s class in Rome.Beatrice Rana is perhaps the best known so far.A BBC young artist is rapidly making a great name for herself.
No encores expected in the UK although Benedetto received a real ovation from a very full RFH.
The series Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey included tonight The Rite of Spring in which Juanjo Mena lived and acted every minute to great effect.
Chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic he conducted two little known very early works by Debussy:Printemps:Symphonic Suite and Delius Idylle de Printemps.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 