Mese: dicembre 2019

The Sublime Simplicity of Angela Hewitt

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentaryLascia un commento
The sublime simplicity of Angela Hewitt.
A crystal clear purity where every voice was allowed to be heard and shaped with such subtle beauty and shading.

The tower of the Basilica of S.Pietro as seen from afar
It was only fitting that it should have resounded in one of the most beautiful of churches in central Italy. Caravaggio,Tintoretto,Sassoferrato ,Reni and many other masterpieces only added to the sheer joy that Angela was sharing with us in the name of the Red Cross.
The gradual crescendo in ‘Jesu Joy of Man`s Desiring’ made the whispered final phrase even more poignant.
The minutes of total silence followed by a spontaneous standing ovation made for the greatest Christmas present that one could ever desire indeed.
In the Basilica of San Pietro in Perugia that Karajan considered had the finest of acoustics.
How could I ever forget as a student in Florence in 1972 Martha Argerich opening what was to be one of her last solo recitals with such an ecstatic performance of the Bach C minor Toccata followed by the grandest of Liszt sonatas.
But it was the Toccata today in hands of Angela Hewitt that will remain with me until my dying day.

The magnificengt interior of the Basilica di S.Pietro in Perugia
After the opening speeches in perfect Italian replying to her hostess and thanking all the people that had flocked with tangible effect to support the Red Cross as she herself had done with such obvious joy.
It was this joy of sharing her music with us that was so evident to all present on this very cold winter`s evening.
It was that same joy that William Pleeth would describe of the young Jaqueline Du Pre bouncing down the corridor in a competition when she was not yet the renowned cellist she was to become.
They thought she must have played well.
“No” she exclaimed”I have not played yet but it fills me with joy the thought that it will be my turn soon.”

The very poignant story of my wife’s last performance and the fact of her wedding ring being found on the pavement outside our theatre the day after that tragic last performance of Hecuba.The whole of Florence was talking about this beautiful true story,that I had not seen.It was published two weeks later when I had gone to Florence to hear Angela playing at La Pergola .I remember what fun we had in the interval remembering our adored Sidney Harrison and much to everyone’s astonishment intoning the words to Bach’s fugues that his teacher Ebener Prout had set to words.
It was just this joy that poured from the hands of Angela the moment she sat down at her adored Fazioli concert grand.(4 pedals Angela?Yes Fazioli.sometimes have four and I sometimes use the fourth too……a sign of a true love affaire indeed!)
After the opening flourish of the C minor Toccata, Bach immediately follows with an Adagio played with such sublime stillness and profundity that an unforgettable atmosphere was created.
A bond that drew us all together in a spiritual rite that was indeed a coming together where words are just not enough.
I had come early to see this famous Basilica.

Angela happily posing before the recital
Angela too had arrived early and found me lighting a candle for my wife whom she had known well.
“So Ileana will be with us too tonight” I told her as she happily posed for a photo for her old student friend.
In fact it was.Angela who was the first to telephone me 14 years ago,when she read in the Italian press of Ileana being struck down so unexpectedly on stage in Rome whilst playing the terrifying Hecuba.
It was in this poignant stillness that I knew that she too was thinking of her mother for whom she had given a memorial concert a few years back in Toronto Cathedral where her father had been organist for many years.
Parents I had met years ago when they accompanied the winner of the one and only Glenn Gould competition to Rome to make her debut in our theatre in the shadow of that other St.Peters – the very centre of Christendom.
After the very poignant Adagio the theme of theToccata was stated very quietly which allowed the comments of the counter melodies to answer one another in a continuous musical conversation rather than the usual battle that takes place in lesser hands.
When the theme came in the left hand it was like an old friend joining in an absorbing musical conversation that bubbled along like water flowing in a sparkling br0ok.
The cadenza type interruption only gave a chance to the counter melodies to gather arms and become even more vociferous on the very gentle restatement of the theme in the alto register.
Ever more intricate this “knotty twine” in Angela’s hands became a joyous burst of energy of such clarity but at the same time with such changes of colours and always with the sumptuous velvety tones of this obviously very new Fazioli.
The bubble finally burst into the Adagio recitativo with a final meandering scale Presto from the top of the keyboard to the very bottom.The last note judged to absolute perfection just added to the nobility of this opening work in one of the most beautifully shaped programmes I have heard for a very long time.
As Angela confided afterwards a very tiring programme that she had only played in Hampstead last november whilst she is still touring the world with the final two programmes of her Bach Odyssey.
A series comprising all the major keyboard works that she had been persuaded to embark on by John Gilhooly of the Wigmore Hall in London.
She will be awarded in 2020 the “ Bach Medal” in Bach’s home city of Leipzig of which she is rightly very proud.
Most other musicians would be happy if they only played all the works of Bach but Angela has also almost completed her recording of the 32 Sonatas of Beethoven.So I was surprised when she told me that she was just about to record also the variations of Beethoven.
I would not be surprised if likeFilippo Gorini recently she brought out the Diabelli followed by the Hammerklavier too!

The four pedals on the Fazioli concert grand
Today we were treated to the six variations op 34 in F followed by the mighty 15 variations and Fugue op 35 “Eroica Variations.“
It was good to see the 32 Variations in C minor too that has been missing from concert programmes for far too long.
Angela laughingly told me Beethoven described them as trash!
It was as though Angela was playing a different instrument such was the luminosity of sound as she shaped the Adagio cantabile so beautifully.A sense of grace and charm for these rarely heard variations that I have only heard in the concert hall years ago from Richter.
There was such extreme delicacy in the first variation as Angela spun a magic web of intricate embellishments.
It contrasted so well with the rhythmic energy of the second and the beautiful legato of the Allegretto third or Beethoven’s almost too serious Tempo di Menuetto of the fourth.
The dotted rhythms of the fifth were very subdued with magic horns leading into the cantabile of the sixth.
Joyous and playful and very reminiscent of the bubbling energy of the early cello sonatas.The simplicity of the return of the theme was transformed with Beethoven’s magical embellishments that in Angela’s sensitive hands seemed to be spread over the keyboard like seemless streams of gold.
The very simple playful ending was rudely interrupted by Beethoven’s call to arms with the ‘Eroica Variations’ that followed on immediately.
The Eroica theme was played so simply that Beethoven’s three note interruption came even more as a suprise.
What fun Angela seemed to be having as she played these variations with a quiet mastery that was quite mesmerising.
The beautiful legato of ‘a due’ and ‘a tre’ was suddenly interrupted with the rhythmic energy of ‘a quattro’.
A bewitching lilt to the first variation was immediately trasformed into the second of swirling virtuosity.
The left hand in the fourth variation was played so smoothly that the almost cheeky comments from the right hand gave it great character before the sublime legato of the fifth.
The same beauty with more intricate crossing of hands that she found in the eighth.This led into the more playful variations with the left hand sforzandi of the ninth and the dizzingly busy tenth.
The almost Mozartian charm she brought to the eleventh contrasted so well with the octaves dashing up and down the keyboard in the question and answer session that followed.
The acciaccaturas of the thirteenth magnificently insistent were a perfect contrast for the minor version of the theme that led into the most profound last variation.The longest of all the variations it was played with a rare understanding of the complex almost Floristan and Eusebius character of Beethoven.Disappearing in a puff of smoke a left hand murmur played so magically and leading the way to the final great fugue.
Here as in Bach the clarity of Angela’s playing was quite astonishing as she played with all the energy and contrasts that the composer demands.
A transcendental control and rhythmic drive that was maintained with an almost military precision until the final explosion of three chords before the momentarily defusing adagio led to the ever mellifluous statement of the theme.
Beethoven’s invention seemingly endless until he decides to draw things to a conclusion with a short question and answer coda and a final slam of the door.
This was indeed a remarkable performance of one of Beethoven’s greatest works for the keyboard.
Angela’s interpretations of the First Partita and the Italian Concerto are well known from her performances worldwide over the past forty years.
There was all the clarity and purity in the Prelude and a mellifluously flowing Allemande of such fexibility with some very subtle phrasing that made this well known work speak so enchantingly.Especially at the ending which seemed as though hearing it for the first time.
A Corrente that bounced along with some very delicate ornamentation.A Sarabande that seemed more flowing than usual but with such a flexible melodic line that allowed for such delicate ornamentation in the ritornelli. A lovely melodic shape to a fast flowing Menuet I and a subdued Menuet II that contrasted so well before the repeat.
There was sheer joy in her crystal clear Gigue of absolute perfection.
A brightly polished jewel indeed.
The Beethoven C minor variations were played with great authority.
Beethoven’s indications were scrupulously observed allowing the first three variations to be shaped so delicately instead of the usual pistol shots in lesser hands.The thirteenth was teasingly thrown off with great elan before the more virtuosistic variations took over.
The wonderful pianissimo cloud created in the left hand made the swirling shapes above it even more exciting.
It led to the delicate phrasing of almost Mozartian contrast and the gradual question and answer crescendo to the final octaves of great power only to be answered by the final two almost tongue in cheek quiet chords.
Interesting the broken chords in the left hand of the Italian Concerto like Beethoven four that we had discussed a while back.
There was a great sense of driving rhythmic energy with some very subtle changes of dynamics.The sublime simplicity of the Andante was faster than most but with such a subtle almost unnoticeable pause before the coda that was absolute magic. The last movement was played at a real Presto with an infectious interplay of voices.
What better choice for a final farewell than ‘Jesu,Joy of Man’s Desiring’ from the Cantata n.147 in the arrangement of another great woman pianist Dame Myra Hess.
A strange coincidence that my old copy from Squires in Ealing is stamped Red Cross Competition.
Angela’s performance tonight for the Red Cross too was absolutely sublime as I had mentioned at the beginning with my first impressions jotted down enthusiastically immediately after the concert.
Greeted by a standing ovation she was happy to share in the joy she had so generously created surrounded by friends and admirers from her adopted home town in the Italy- ‘the museum of the world’- that she adores and  that has enriched her life so much.
We look forward now to her annual summer festival in her home town on Lake Trasimeno
https://trasimenomusicfestival.com/festival/programme/tmf-2020/?fbclid=IwAR06ZMQXlzWlCh4LAEnWvs1bdFXZrh_kXwhguHwnZZrAZ51HllpfmhYlgvA
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/happy-birthday-canada-trasimeno-music-festival/10154853607847309/

O Come all ye Faithful – A Songmakers’ Christmas Carol +++++

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentaryLascia un commento
O Come all ye Faithful -A Songmakers’ Christmas Carol  +++++
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/on-wings-of-song-the-songmakers-almanac-40-years-on/10156087942437309/
Reading again this piece (and please please do)that was as much as I could remember of Graham’s own words last November there is very little to add. ………….beauty,integrity,loyalty,commitment,faithfulness and above all friendship are wonderful things to be reminded of particularly in this Christmas period .Words that are fast becoming obselete ……for many….far too many………I cherish those for whom these values still have some meaning and are a guiding beacon in life …..Graham for me and many others is just such a shining light.
A Winter Birthday to cherish

The ever elegant Janet Suzman toasting the wonderful journey they had just shared with us
“But Graham you don`t have to play every note as though someone was sticking a knife into you” exhorted John Streets to the seventeen year old boy from South Africa at our Chamber Music Lessons that we shared as freshers at the RAM.
“But you do ,you do!! ” shrieked the 80 year old Janet Suzman “It makes all the difference”
……and it certainly does as the last note in a magical Christmas Songmakers`Almanac proved today.
Graham kept us spellbound as we waited for him to place a last note of pure gold.
“Don’t put your daughter on the stage” they all sang ……
………….but just you try to keep `em off it!
No logistics or music 360 degrees but pure jewels showered onto an audience seduced,ravished and even a little bewildered that such an evening could still exist in a world where vulgarity and speed seem to have taken the place of beauty and timelessness.

Graham with a musician admirer and next door neighbour backstage
How could I not exclaim to Janet Suzman how wonderful it was to see her back on stage?
It has been too long !
I enthusiastically told her how wonderfully elegant she was with her ruby red velvet ‘spolverino’ over a very ‘slinky’ black evening dress.

Teatro Ghione St Peters Rome
Red and black – just like my theatre in Rome ….it is the most elegant combination of colours as I have learnt over the years since asking the great set designer Eugenio Guglielminetti what colour we should paint the the ceilings and woodwork of our theatre in Rome.
The walls we had covered with ruby red velvet that had been passed through a machine to make it look antique and warm.My wife the distinguished actress Ileana Ghione trusted her childhood friend ………..but when he said “black” we spent many sleepless nights with the seed of doubt!
There was no doubt once seen.
And as proven today it is of an elegance which suited the refined artistry of one of England’s greatest actresses.

On stage at the Wigmore Hall
How could I not exclaim to my student friend that he looks ever more like his mentor Gerald Moore.
An elegant dinner jacket and bow tie so rare these days when artists arrive before the public in a black shirt or even worse a white polo neck!
My old piano teacher Sidney Harrison well known for his informed and intelligent radio and TV broadcasts would always put on a tie and jacket when the red light came on.
There is a sense of occasion that is so often missing these days.
The feeling that when the curtain goes up – or that famous door opens in the Wigmore Hall – there should be something magic that happens.
A tingle of something that is unique to a performance shared with people who have travelled far and wide to experience what cannot be experienced at home with a CD or video player.
As Gilels used to say it is the difference between fresh or canned food!
And so it was tonight that in this hall where we are so often treated to all the Sonatas or Quartets of Beethoven or Schubert.The 48 Preludes and Fugues or complete works of Bach.Complete song cycles etc etc .
All marvellously played by artists with an extraordinary genial capacity to be able to play entire cycles and then repeat them a few days or even hours later in the same hall or on the other side of the globe.
It is rare though to find a programme pieced together with the loving care and attention that Graham has treated us to with his Songmakers’ Almanac over the past forty years.

Linn Rothstein with Ailish Tynan and Theodore Platt
But within these evenings we are treated to some sumptuous performances of music, poetry and song.
How could one not be ravished by the beauty of Graham’s playing in the Strauss “Three Kings.”Or moved by “The Birds” of Benjamin Britten.
The truly ravishing voices of Ailish Tynan,Anna Huntley or Theodre Platt (making his Wigmore debut!) .
The refined authority of Janet Suzman and a Graham Johnson who can at last take the stage as actor and not be upstaged by one of our greatest living actresses.

The company with William Lyne sitting so comfortably on the head of John Gilhooly
I well remember Gerald Moore in his farewell performance at the RFH where not only the music will be cherished for ever but also his very witty speech given with the timing and inflection of a great actor.
Exhorting us not to come back stage as there were so many friends wishing to say farewell that it might mean that Elisabeth, Victoria and Dieter might miss their last buses home!
His final performance poignantly on his own on the vast stage of the Festival Hall will never be forgotten by those lucky enough to be present.
No video exists Thank God!
How could we forget “The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole” or “Christmas Presents “ where grown ups we are told need Father Christmas more that children!
Or be reminded of the sublime words of Thomas Hardy.
Letting their hair down with Harry Woods hilarious “Poor Papa – He’s got nothin’ at all” alla Scott Joplin with Theodore Platt or the fun and games they all had with Poulenc “We want a little sister.”
The first half ended with Hugo Wolf’s “Epiphany” where the three singers sneaked off one by one until poor Graham was left alone still playing on stage!

Distinguished audience too with Roman Simovic ,leader of the LSO and his equally distinguished viola playing wife Milena.
With Linn Rothstein,the pianist and Graham’s next door neighbour with the first clarinet of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Franco Pedro Lopez.
Nice to be reminded after the interval with “Mistletoe from Fraser’s 1835 Magazine” and that Beethoven had a sense of humour too in “The Kiss.”
Kodaly was born on the same day as Beethoven in 1882 as was Noel Coward in 1899.
The beautifully suggestive Kodaly “Sadly rustle the leaves” was contrasted with the wonderful fun of Coward exhorting “Mrs Worthington” not to put her daughter on the stage!
It was nice to be reminded too of Herbert Howells,who I often used to see at the RCM, with his beautiful “Come Sing and Dance” from Ailish Tynan.
It was followed by the equally beautiful Charles Ives “Christmas Carol” from the creamy rich voice of Anna Huntley.
All three singers had such fun with the Humperdinck Christmas finale.
But it was Graham Johnson placing the final note of the evening with such loving care that will always remain in my memory for a long time to come.
It was a special occasion that will never be forgotten.
Mitsuko Uchida said the other day to one of her admiring public who wanted to take a photo backstage: “I do not like photos or selfies or people secretly recording concerts.They should remain like a beautiful memory of an unforgettable shared experience and not suddenly posted on social media.”
Perchance to dream indeed.
We were reminded tonight that dreams do still exist!

Graham Johnson, John Gilhooly, Janet Suzman,Ailish Tynan, Anna Huntley ,Theodore Platt

Happy 249th The fifth and ninth Symphonies at St Lawrence and St Martins

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Happy 249th Birthday Beethoven The fifth and ninth Symphonies at St Lawrence Jewry and St Martin in the Fields
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·

A standing ovation from a public who long overstayed their lunch break – captivated as they were by the spell that Beethoven can still weave when played by artists of this stature.
A standing ovation awaited at the end of an extraordinary performance by Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman of Beethoven 9th Symphony on his 249th birthday.An ovation for the performers but above all for Beethoven’s score that can still astonish and amaze us especially when played with a clarity and rhythmic drive even more revolutionary and evident when played on the same instrument.

The score by Scharwenka that had found its way from Tessa’s mother’s studio in S Africa to sit so comfortably on Sir Thomas Beecham’s Steinway in St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London
Playing on Sir Thomas Beecham`s beautiful instrument it was a revelation of beauty,clarity and rhythmic energy from two superb musicians sharing the same keyboard.
With Ben`s two sensitive feet allowing Tessa`s radiant tone to shine like jewels whilst enveloping it with all the sumptuous sounds of a Berlin Philharnonic.
Four hands,two feet but above all four wonderful ears to bring to life so mellifluously Beethoven`s Ode to Joy .It was a rare privilege to be present at Beethoven`s birthday celebration today in St Lawrence Jewry.
Beethoven 5th on Monday at St Martins will certainly not go unnoticed as we enter into his 250th celebration year.
The extraordinarily wide range of dynamics that Sir Thomas’s Steinway allowed these two superb musicians to delve deeply into Beethoven’s mammoth score and to still surprise and astonish us as though hearing it for the first time.
It was the four hand transcription by Scharwenka that Tessa had grown up with in her mother’s studio in South Africa .
All nine symphonies that she and her compatriot Ben Schoeman will be presenting during the 250th anniversary year.Both South African pianists who had perfected their studies in London and both gone on to win the coveted Royal Overseas League annual competition amongst the top students in London.
Tessa and I had both been in the class of our adored Gordon Green at the Royal Academy in London and I had been delighted many years later to invite the now very distinguished Tessa to play in my theatre in Rome.

Tessa’s famous brother and the personage that he created of Evita Bezuidenhout
My wife,the actress, Ileana Ghione and I had also hurried to see Tessa’s famous actor /satyrist brother Peter Dirk Uys when he made one of his rare visits to the little Tricycle theatre in Kilburn.A hilarious political satyrist when there was much to criticise with the South African apartheid regime.
I remember him telling his sold out audience the story of his government’s solution to the birth control crisis.Their solution was to give free contraceptives to the needy population………… which they then stapled on to cards for easier handling!!!
It was interesting too to hear the piano that had once stood in St Martin in the Fields and that had remained in my memory of a performance I gave there of Beethoven op 111 on completion of my studies at the RAM in 1972.

New York Steinway D n. 217359
The piano,an American Steinway is in need of restoration and the performance for Beethoven’s birthday was also a special fund raising concert to restore this still beautiful sounding piano to its former glory.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/tessa-uys-at-st-lawrence-jewry-and-with-ben-schoeman-in-beethoven-5th-and-9th-sy/10155766894127309/
I had heard this duo before last year and can say that their performance has grown in stature as they have lived together with these scores.
The remarkable opening of the 9th Symphony with the atmosphere created by Ben Schoeman’s bass murmur and the ravishing beauty from Tessa of the fragments that Beethoven offers in this magical awakening.Some astonishing outbursts and a very impressive build up to the end of the first movement.There was a rhythmic energy to the Scherzo that was played with a precision and sense of line passing from one voice to another with a great sweep only adding to Beethoven’s never ending rhythymic energy.Very pregnant silences made this energy even more mesmerising .
The beautiful stillness of the Adagio molto e cantabile .A simple melodic line from Tessa with the deeply felt bass of Ben made a very satisfying symphonic whole indeed.The sublime melodic invention of Beethoven was sumptuously expressed from the hands of Ben to the extraordinarily poignant comments from Tessa.The final movement was a kaleidoscope of subtle invention leading to the overwhelming ‘Ode to Joy’ with a sense of colour and invention bursting into the final transcendental outburst where Sir Thomas’s piano was made to glow on this very special occasion .
A joy indeed to see these two artists embracing each other after their 90 minute journey together with Beethoven
After the “Ode to Joy” at St Lawrence Jewry.The magnificent call to arms today at St Martin in the Fields.
We await in April Beethoven`s great delusion with the Eroica in Perivale on the 22nd in Hugh Mather`s remarkable series
A magnificent performance of the Fifth Symphony at St Martin in the Fields completely full two days before Christmas.
The driving rhythms and joyous fanfares so well suited to this four hand version especially when played by two such superb convinced and convincing musicians.
A quick change around and five Hungarian Dances had the audience on their feet cheering such was the infectious subtle rubato that had the audience holding their breath with excitement .

Ileana Ghione Constance Channon Douglass and husband Cesare – centre stage as always Lydia Agosti with her husband one of the most revered musicians of our time on the right.
I remember playing these dances with our mentor Guido Agosti.
He used to come to our house on the seashore every weekend .His wife and mine would disappear onto the beach whilst the Maestro and I played four hands all day ready to give a concert to our beloved ones in the evening!
These Hungarian dances were very much part of our repertoire and much appreciated .

The end of the 9th Symphony

All ready for the fifth Symphony at St Martin in the Fields

The end of the fifth Symphony

St Martin’s full to the rafters for the fifth Symphony

O Come all ye faithful- A Songmakers’ Christmas Carol

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
A SONGMAKERS’ CHRISTMAS CAROL
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/on-wings-of-song-the-songmakers-almanac-40-years-on/10156087942437309/
Reading again this piece (and please,please do)that was as much as I could remember of Graham’s own words last November there is very little to add. ………….beauty,integrity,loyalty,commitment,faithfulness and above all friendship are wonderful things to be reminded of particularly in this Christmas period.
Words that are fast becoming obselete ……for many….far too many………I cherish those for whom these values still have some meaning and are a guiding beacon in life …..Graham for me and many others is just such a shining light.
A Winter Birthday to cherish

The ever elegant Janet Suzman toasting the wonderful journey they had just shared with us
“But Graham you don`t have to play every note as though someone was sticking a knife into you” exhorted John Streets to the seventeen year old boy from South Africa at our Chamber Music Lessons that we shared as freshers at the RAM.
“But you do ,you do!! ” shrieked the 80 year old Janet Suzman “It makes all the difference”
……and it certainly does as the last note in a magical Christmas Songmakers`Almanac proved today.
Graham kept us spellbound as we waited for him to place a last note of pure gold.
“Don’t put your daughter on the stage” they all sang ……
………….but just you try to keep `em off it!
No logistics or music 360 degrees but pure jewels showered onto an audience seduced,ravished and even a little bewildered that such an evening could still exist in a world where vulgarity and speed seem to have taken the place of beauty and timelessness.

Graham with a musician admirer and next door neighbour backstage
How could I not exclaim to Janet Suzman how wonderful it was to see her back on stage?
It has been too long !
I enthusiastically told her how wonderfully elegant she was with her ruby red velvet ‘spolverino’ over a very ‘slinky’ black evening dress.
Red and black – just like my theatre in Rome ….it is the most elegant combination of colours as I have learnt over the years since asking the great set designer Eugenio Guglielminetti what colour we should paint the the ceilings and woodwork of our theatre in Rome.
The walls we had covered with ruby red velvet that had been passed through a machine to make it look antique and warm.
My wife the distinguished actress Ileana Ghione trusted her childhood friend ………..but when he said “black” we spent many sleepless nights with the seed of doubt!
There was no doubt once seen.
And as proven today.
It is of an elegance which suited the refined artistry of one of England’s greatest actresses.

On stage at the Wigmore Hall
How could I not exclaim to my student friend that he looks ever more like his mentor Gerald Moore.
An elegant dinner jacket and bow tie so rare these days when artists arrive before the public in a black shirt or even worse a white polo neck!
My old piano teacher Sidney Harrison well known for his informed and intelligent radio and TV broadcasts would always put on a tie and jacket when the red light came on.
There is a sense of occasion that is so often missing these days.
The feeling that when the curtain goes up – or that famous door opens in the Wigmore Hall – there should be something magic that happens.
A tingle of something that is unique to a performance shared with people who have travelled far and wide to experience what cannot be experienced at home with a CD or video player.
As Gilels used to say it is the difference between fresh or canned food!
And so it was tonight that in this hall where we are so often treated to all the Sonatas or Quartets of Beethoven or Schubert.The 48 Preludes and Fugues or complete works of Bach.Complete song cycles etc etc.
All marvellously played by artists with an extraordinary genial capacity to be able to play entire cycles and then repeat them a few days or even hours later in the same hall or on the other side of the globe.
It is rare though to find a programme pieced together with the loving care and attention that Graham has treated us to with his Songmakers’ Almanac over the past forty years.

Linn Rothstein with Ailish Tynan and Theodore Platt
But within these evenings we are treated to some sumptuous performances of music, poetry and song.
How could one not be ravished by the beauty of Graham’s playing in the Strauss “Three Kings.”Or moved by “The Birds” of Benjamin Britten.
The truly ravishing voices of Ailish Tynan,Anna Huntley or Theodre Platt (making his Wigmore debut!).
The refined authority of Janet Suzman and a Graham Johnson who can at last take the stage as actor and not be upstaged by one of our greatest living actresses.

The company with William Lyne sitting so comfortably on the head of John Gilhooly
I well remember Gerald Moore in his farewell performance at the RFH where not only the music will be cherished for ever but also his very witty speech given with the timing and inflection of a great actor.
Exhorting us not to come back stage as there were so many friends wishing to say farewell that it might mean that Elisabeth, Victoria and Dieter might miss their last buses home!
His final performance poignantly on his own on the vast stage of the Festival Hall will never be forgotten by those lucky enough to be present.
No video exists Thank God!
How could we forget “The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole” or “Christmas Presents “ where grown ups we are told need Father Christmas more that children!
Or be reminded of the sublime words of Thomas Hardy
Letting their hair down with Harry Woods hilarious “Poor Papa – He’s got nothin’ at all” alla Scott Joplin with Theodore Platt or the fun and games they all had with Poulenc “We want a little sister”.
The first half ended with Hugo Wolf’s “Epiphany” where the three singers sneaked off one by one until poor Graham was left alone still playing on stage!

Distinguished audience too with Roman Simovic ,leader of the LSO and his equally distinguished viola playing wife Milena.With Linn Rothstein,the pianist and Graham’s next door neighbour with the first clarinet of the Copenhagen Philharmonic:Franco Pedro Lopez
Nice to be reminded after the interval with “Mistletoe from Fraser’s 1835 Magazine” and that Beethoven had a sense of humour too in “The Kiss.”
Kodaly was born on the same day as Beethoven in 1882 as was Noel Coward in 1899.
The beautifully suggestive Kodaly “Sadly rustle the leaves” was contrasted with the wonderful fun of Coward exhorting “Mrs Worthington” not to put her daughter on the stage!
It was nice to be reminded too of Herbert Howells,who I often used to see at the RCM, with his beautiful “Come Sing and Dance” from Ailish Tynan.It was followed by the equally beautiful Charles Ives “Christmas Carol” from the creamy rich voice of Anna Huntley.
All three singers had such fun with the Humperdinck Christmas finale.
But it was Graham Johnson placing the final note of the evening with such loving care that will always remain in my memory for a long time to come.
It was a special occasion that will never be forgotten.
Mitsuko Uchida said the other day to one of her admiring public who wanted to take a photo backstage: “I do not like photos or selfies or people secretly recording concerts.They should remain like a beautiful memory of an unforgettable shared experience and not suddenly posted on social media.”
Perchance to dream indeed.
We were reminded tonight that dreams do still exist!

Graham Johnson, John Gilhooly, Janet Suzman,Ailish Tynan, Anna Huntley ,Theodore Platt

The Joy of Music for Christmas

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The Joy of masterly music making at St James’s
On listening to the opening of the Symphonic Studies by Schumann today I was reminded of my audition lesson with Sidney Harrison.
As a talented child obsessed with my grandmother’s piano my mother had written to the man she had seen giving lessons on the television.Like Eamon Andrews, his next door, neighbour he was a great personality when the television had only one chanel transmitting for only a few hours a day in black and white.

Murray Mc Lachlan with Canan Maxton indefatiguable promoter of exceptionally talented musicians via her Talent Unlimited series
We were one of the few families in our street that had a television and the neighbours used to come quite regularly to look at ours.
One of the most popular programmes was This is Your Life with Eamon Andrews, Take your Pick with Michael Miles,Dixon of Dock Green with Jack Warner and Sidney Harrison who would be teaching a young Peter Croser how to play the piano!

Todays programme at St James’s Piccadilly page 1
People would tune in week after week to see what progress the young pianist was making.
I took my pieces to play to Sidney Harrison which he listened to carefully and then sat down at his beautifully inlaid mahogany Steinway and played the opening theme of the Symphonic Studies.
I still remember 60 years later the aristocratic sumptuous beauty of sound.
It was the moment that I knew that I wanted to spend my life searching for that sound too.
Sidney wrote to my mother saying he could see by the way I sat at the piano that I was a born pianist and although he did not give schoolboy lessons he would make an exception in my case!
I studied for the next five or six years with Sidney who became my piano ‘daddy’.
He undertook my musical education and took me to concerts and operas and introduced me to his musical friends.
The seed was set by this remarkable man as it had also been for the schoolgirl Norma Fisher ,the teacher of Callum Mclachlan’s father and also of Tolga Atalay Ün the other pianist in the programme today.Small world!
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I went on to study with him at the Royal Academy where I won the Gold Medal in 1972.He was very proud when I invited him to Rome to meet my future wife and he saw for himself what wonders we were doing with the theatre we had created next to St.Peter’s Square.

The centre photo with the two Sidneys on my wedding day in Kew the top photo with the celebrated violinist Jack Rothstein and the bottom Ruth Eedy one of my childhood neighbours who would look ‘into’ our television with her children our best friends on our street!
He was even there for the debut of Victor San Giorgio one of many pianist young and 0ld (from Leslie Howard brought by Noretta Conci-Leech to my final mentor Vlado Perlemuter) who had been neglected by the rather provincial Roman audiences but had been befriended by us as Sidney Harrison had befriended me in my youth.
All this came into my mind as Callum Mclachlan played the theme today.A Fazioli piano chosen by another distinguished musician friend Alberto Portugheis.I have never heard sound so ravishingly beautiful as today.
It was with that aristocratic feeling that there was something very special about to unfold.
I turned to his father (the distinguished pianist Murray McLachlan) in amazement that his young Callum had become at only 19 an artist of such stature.
I had heard him before :
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What has happened in Salzburg to turn a very fine student into an artist that lives and breathes every note as though it was the most beautiful jewel to share with us?
His secret according to his father is Claus Tanski who had also helped another remarkable pupil of his: Chiyan Wong……
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I think, although his father would never like to admit it ( he is Head of Keyboard and much more besides at Chethams in Manchester), it is the air in Salzburg that is so much more invigorating for a young aspiring artist than that in Manchester !

A triumphant end to the Schumann op 13
These are the two spontaneous comments I made immediately after the concert and do not regret:
”It was indeed amazing ………..a performance of great artistry that I shall try to describe in carefully chosen words tomorrow.I think you deserve Krug at least and leave the mulled wine to the plebs!
I like my photos too ……………the way you played the opening theme created an aristocratic magic world that kept us all spellbound in wonder to the final triumphant fanfare.The little op posth study that you said you were not going to bother with has at last found its rightful place in your  sensitive hands.
I turned to your father after the first few bars and told him how proud he must be today”

Callum introducing his performance to a very full hall
Words are indeed superfluous but one can note not only the imposing opening theme but the very subtle first variation that entered as a whisper in the depths of the piano with a very incisive rhythm (the so called dotted rhythm that can be so irritating in Schumann if not played with great shape and imagination ).
There were some very subtle counter melodies- just a mere shadow of the theme to whet the appetite for this amazing adventure.
The second variation was played with sumptuous tone with a very delicate repeat played so simply without trying to vary the variations as is so often the case with lesser artists.It was as though this was another verse of a great poem with different more expressive words.A wonderful sense of balance allowed the resonant bass notes at the climax to ring as they have never before been allowed to on this rather brilliant Fazioli.
The sumptuous beauty of the left hand melody played like a great singer with the fleetingly light right hand like a butterfly barely touching the keys.I have only heard a balance like this from Alfred Cortot but here the trill in the left hand was even more precise and incorporated into the melodic line.
It is of quite transcendental difficulty and requires such subtle control.
In the third variation Callum’s great temperament got momentarily the better of him and where now rigid control is needed he was slightly too anxious to tamper with the clock like precision that makes for such a telling contrast.
He immediately set the tempo again though with the lightweight almost Mendelssohn scherzo fourth variation shaped so eloquently and thrown of with an ease that was indeed the contrast needed for the great romantic impetus of the fifth.
Played without the usual rhetorical sentimentality but allowed to speak simply for itself .
It led into the very exciting sixth variation played at a real Allegro molto with some truly astonishing left hand octaves but also with some very telling shading.
The seventh variation I remember Guido Agosti likening it to the structure of a Gothic cathedral.
It was infact played here with that solid structure but also with some very subtle colours ending with a great sense of occasion.
The feeling one can have when leaving some imposing edifice erected by man for the glory of God.
I am not a believer but it is moments like this that make one wonder!
And it was indeed the heavens that opened at this point when Callum took me so by surprise by inserting here the last of the op. posth studies .It was truly magical and played with a wonderfully flexible melodic line so much more poignant coming after the great structural event of the seventh.

Callum with his long time mentor and family friend Leslie Howard
The Presto possibile shows that Callum is not just a young man about town in Salzburg but that he has been puting in the hours needed to play this very difficult variation with a lightness and total command that was quite astonishing.The ending was thrown off like Traumes Wirren with a nonchalance of the great virtuosi of the so called Golden Age.
The eighth was played with great energy and rhythmic impetus that contrasted so well with the final ninth variation.

Canan Maxton entranced as we all were today
A simple duet between two voices on a subtle velvet cushion of sound.A true tone poem that could stand on its own like the Chopin nocturne op 27 n.2 that it is so similar to.
The finale was played with great brilliance.
The great change of key coming like the shock Schumann obviously intended.
The problem here is always the Schumann dotted rhythms on which it is totally based.
Should they be rhythmic or melodic of should one try to combine both?
Not sure Callum succeeded completely but he did succeed in taking our breath away- his too- with the excitement and the enormous but never hard sounds that he brought to the finale as he brought this great adventure to a triumphant close.
A much played work at last restored in Callum’s sensitive hands to the pinnacle of the Romantic Repertoire where it truly belongs.
Hats off to use Schumann’s own words ….an artist is born!

Programme page 2
Tolga Atalay Ün and Ana Dunne-Sequi both artist of Talent Unlimited took the stage for a performance of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata.
Beautifully played on the viola with the piano lid fully open.
Tolga another artist who I know well from the class of Norma Fisher.
He was winner of the much coveted Beethoven prize at the RCM with a magical performance of Beethoven op 110 Sonata.
He is a true musician who followed every nuance of the Schubert Arpeggione in a true musical conversation that was so refreshing after the Romantic ‘sturm und drang’ of Schumann.

Tolga with Ana today
Hats off to Canan Maxton for programming not only exceptional artists but also choosing an order that I would not have thought possible.
It created a concert that was a true celebration to the Joy of Music in this Christmas period.

The Arpeggione Sonata by Schubert
In my wife’s favourite church too and where I was happy to light a candle to her memory today.(Many of the cushion covers in our house are from the market outside!)

Linn Rothstein with Tolga, Ana and page turner .Linn had just been staying in Germany with her best friend Janina Fialkowska, mentor of Tolga

Canan Maxton with the concert manager of St James’s David McCleery

Murray McLachlan,Canan Maxton,Leslie Howard,Callum and Mathew McLachlan

Dr Mather’s Christmas Treat – The Grier Trio at St Mary’s

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The Grier Trio at St Mary’s Dr Mathers Christmas Treat

Wednesday December 18th 7.30 pm

The Grier Trio

Savitri Grier (violin)
Indira Grier (cello)
Francis Grier (piano)

Brahms: Piano trio in B major Op 8
Dvorak: Piano trio in E minor Op 90 ‘Dumky’

What a wonderful way to spend a rainy evening – Thank you dear Hugh Mather for telling me about this remarkable family trio who truly play as one.What a Christmas Gift for this last concert of the year.
Hausmusik indeed and streamed into my own home.
The sumptuous early Brahms Trio in which all Brahms’ youthful passion was lain bare and contrasted so well with the typical exhuberance of the ‘Dumky’ Trio of Dvorak’s native country.
How could one praise the superb cello playing of Indira without singling out the magnificent violin of Savitri.
But above all a father figure surveying the scene so expertly without any arguments but drawing the family together in a remarkable family discussion of give and take.
Mutual anticipation indeed as Menuhin like to describe it.
No point in wasting words about a performance when one can just sit back comfortably and wallow in the magnificence of these two masterpieces in such caring hands.
The Grier Trio consists of Savitri (violin) and Indira (cello) playing with their father, Francis Grier (piano). They have played at St John’s, Smith Square and at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, as well as in the Blackheath Halls concert series, and they regularly perform at St Mary’s, Perivale and at Bob Boas’ concert series. In 2016 they played at All Souls, Oxford, and in the Holywell Music Room for the Oxford Chamber Music Society. In 2017 they performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, with the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra directed by Stephen Cleobury. In 2019 they will be making their first CD, recording trios by Brahms and Dvorak.
During the 2019/20 season Savitri makes her debut as soloist with the Concerto Budapest, City of Birmingham Youth and Qatar Philharmonic Orchestras. She gives recitals in Mumbai and concerts across Europe. In 2020 she guest leads the Budapest Festival Orchestra at major venues across Europe. Over the last year Savitri has played in Qatar, China, India, and Guatamala.
Other highlights include recitals at Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall, a collaboration with the Dvorak Quartet at Berlin Konzerthaus and Laeiszhalle Hamburg and a residency at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas. As a soloist Savitri has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, English Chamber and Oxford Philharmonic Orchestras, among many others. She was selected by YCAT in 2015. Savitri studied at Oxford University, the Guildhall School of Music, and the Universität der Künste Berlin with David Takeno and Nora Chastain.
Already the recipient of several international prizes, Indira has recently completed a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music studying with Alexander Chaushian. Previously she was taught by Melissa Phelps and then by Troels Svane at the Musikhochschule Luebeck. Indira has won Making Music’s 2019 ‘Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist Award’, the 2019 RCM Unaccompanied Bach Prize, the 2018 RCM Concerto Competition performing the Elgar Cello Concerto and a Gold Medal in the 2019 Vienna International Music Competition. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician across the UK and Europe, and has participated in masterclasses with David Geringas, Frans Helmerson, Thomas Ades and Steven Isserlis.
Francis Grier used to be organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and gave the first ever Prom concert given over to a solo performer in 1985. He is now a psychoanalyst and composer. In 2006 his Passion , commissioned by the BBC and VocalEssence in Minneapolis was reviewed as “a work of vital attack, shivering beauty and compelling power…”, and as “a modern masterpiece.” He was awarded a British Composer Award in 2011. He has recorded with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis, and has performed with Colin Carr, Louise Williams and Andrew Marriner – as well as with his daughters. In 2018 the Choir of King’s College Cambridge digitally released Lit by Holy Fire ; and a CD was released of his organ music. His new oratorio Before All Worlds will be performed by the BBC Singers in November 2020.

Asagi Nakata at St Mary’s ‘On Wings of Song’

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Asagi Nakata at St Mary’s
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This beautiful photo was taken by Geoff Cox ,that tireless promoter of young musicians
The change of programme of Asagi Nakata had me searching for more information about these remarkable rarely performed works by Liszt.
She is obviously preparing for the competition in Utrecht in March of which and is one of the 14 selected from world wide auditions to take part.She and another pianist well known to Hugh Mather’s select public Andrew Yiangou will perform works selected by Leslie Howard to include works of Liszt that Leslie has ceaslessly championed over the past 50 years (His 100 CD set of the complete works of Liszt is even mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records).
I met Leslie Howard in the class of Guido Agosti in Siena where he was already revered by this great musician.Guido Agosti was from the school of Busoni and musicians would flock every summer to his studio at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena for inspiration and guidance.
Agosti’s performance of the B minor sonata in his class at the Chigiana will never be forgotten by those who were privileged to hear it.

The programme at St Mary’s

Bach ‘ Was Gott tut,das ist Wohlgetan’
The first extraordinary work by Liszt in programme was a set of variations S.180 on the Choral “Was Gott tut,das ist Wohlgetan” from Bach’s cantata: “Weinen,klagen,sorgen,zagen”BWV 12.
It was Asagi’s intelligent musicianship that shone through a performance of great power and weight.
I would almost say conviction as Liszt’s affermation of faith was declared in the final triumphant Choral ending.
Asagi Nakata’s very relaxed arm movements allowed her a kaleidoscopic sense of colour allied to a fluidity and natural musicianship that was very convincing indeed.A transcendental control of the keyboard allowed her to astonish us with her virtuosity but always allied to the musical values that she tirelessly searched for in these not easily accessable scores.
As Hugh Mather declared at the end of a journey of discovery,it was not only Asagi that was exhausted after the recital, but also her audience that had followed so attentively her exhilarating performances of almost unknown works.
For the second work the Grosses Konzertsolo S.176 I had to do some research as it was a work I have never heard in the concert hall before.
Of course who better than Leslie Howard to describe this work that appears on his recording for Hyperion:
“Liszt’s genius for beautiful titles deserted him only once—the Grosses Konzertsolo is a mere stab at a title for a long work which is not yet a sonata, but no longer a character piece. Forerunner of the B minor Sonata it certainly is, however, and the history of the composition shows that Liszt was much preoccupied with it.

Asagi’s expressive arm movements
The piece was written between 1849 and 1850, and dedicated to Adolf Henselt who professed himself unable to play it, even though Liszt had intended it as a competition piece for the Paris Conservatoire. The original is a simple one-movement Allegro, and the piece also exists in an unpublished version for piano and orchestra (not to be confused with the recently discovered ‘third’ concerto). Some time before the publication in 1851, Liszt expanded the work by adding a slow central section whose material he also worked into the later stages of the piece. Later still Liszt arranged the piece for two pianos under the title Concerto Pathétique and at the end of his life supervised his student Eduard Reuss in the production of a new version for piano and orchestra, to which Liszt added several new passages. In any case, this is an extremely interesting work in its own right, and is unaccountably neglected, especially by students who might well benefit from consulting this piece before tackling the Sonata!”
And it is thanks to Leslie Howard and the insistence on discovering new repertoire that we have to thank for allowing us to begin to appreciate the much misunderstood genius of Liszt.
The Liszt transcription of the Symphonies I remember from a remarkable hungarian pianist Adam Fellegi who used to play them every year in my series Euromusica at the Ghione Theatre in Rome.He even came one year with a recording of the chorus for the ninth Symphony that Liszt himself had found difficulty adapting to the inferior pianos of his time.
It was not until 1863 that Breitkopf & Härtel suggested to Liszt that he transcribe the complete set for a future publication.
For this work, Liszt recycled his previous transcriptions by simplifying passages, stating that “the more intimately acquainted one becomes with Beethoven, the more one clings to certain singularities and finds that even insignificant details are not without their value”. He would note down the names of the orchestral instruments for the pianist to imitate, he would also add pedal marks and fingerings for amateurs and sight readers.But when Liszt began work transcribing the ninth symphony, he expressed that “after a great deal of experimentation in various directions, I was unable to deny the utter impossibility of even a partially satisfactory and effective arrangement of the 4th movement. I hope you will not take it amiss if I dispense with this and regard my arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies as complete at the end of the 3rd movement of the Ninth.” (He had in fact completed a transcription of the Ninth Symphony for two pianos in 1850.)

Asagi presenting her unusual programme to Hugh Mather and his audience
Nevertheless, he made another attempt after an insistent letter from Breitkopf & Härtel, and stated “the range achieved by the pianoforte in recent years as a result of progress both in playing technique and in terms of mechanical improvements enables more and better things to be achieved than was previously possible. Through the immense development of its harmonic power the piano is trying increasingly to adopt all orchestral compositions. In the compass of its seven octaves it is able, with only a few exceptions, to reproduce all the characteristics, all the combination, all the forms of the deepest and most profound works of music. It was with this intention that I embark on the work which I now present to the world.”
The full set of transcriptions were however were finally published in 1865 and dedicated to Hans von Bulow.
Vladimir Horowitz, in a 1988 interview, stated “I deeply regret never having played Liszt’s arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies in public – these are the greatest works for the piano – tremendous works – every note of the symphonies is in the Liszt works.”
Liszt’s Beethoven Symphony transcriptions are little known outside serious musical circles, and were in relative obscurity for over 100 years after their publication. It remains a mystery why none of Liszt’s pupils performed or recorded these works.
The first recording of any of them was not until 1967, when Glenn Gould recorded the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.
Idil Biret became the first pianist to record the complete cycle, between July 1985 and April 1986.
Subsequently, Cyprien Katsaris, Leslie Howard, Konstatin Scherbakov and Yury Martynov have also recorded all nine.
The last time I heard the First Symphony in this Liszt transcription was from the hands of another competitor for the last 2017 Utrecht competition.Alexander Ullman went on to take first prize.
Asagi too today gave a superlative performance full of colour and rhythmic energy.
Would she have prepared these works without the shadow of the Liszt Utrecht Competition looming ?
A competition that was founded in 1986 to celebrate 100 years since the death of Liszt.
Hats off to a competition that in the hands of its director Rob Hilberink and a jury that often comprises experts such as Leslie Howard,Idil Biret,Andrea Bonatta and Janina Fialkowska who can not only help promote but also inform the young musicians of tomorrow.
After these neglected works Asagi Nakata offered a Christmas present to her mentor Hugh Mather and dedicated friends.
A beautifully mellifluous performance,exquisitely played ,of Liszt’s well known transcription of Schubert’s “Auf dem Wasser zu Singen” (In fact the only work that had been on her original programme for today!)
All’s well that ends well indeed !
And 2020 bodes well for all those aspiring young musicians who are invited to this beautiful 12th century redundant church ringing to the sound of glorious music .

Hugh Mather with Asagi Nakata wishing her well for March as we all do

Happy Birthday Beethoven – Uys/Schoeman at St Lawrence Jewry

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A standing ovation awaited at the end of an extraordinary performance by Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman of Beethoven 9th Symphony on his 249th birthday.
An ovation for the performers but above all for Beethoven’s score that can still astonish and amaze us especially when played with a clarity and rhythmic drive even more revolutionary and evident when played on the same instrument.

The score by Scharwenka that had found its way from Tessa’s mother’s studio in S Africa to sit so comfortably on Sir Thomas Beecham’s Steinway in St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London
Playing on Sir Thomas Beecham`s beautiful instrument it was a revelation of beauty,clarity and rhythmic energy from two superb musicians sharing the same keyboard.
With Ben`s two sensitive feet allowing Tessa`s radiant tone to shine like jewels whilst enveloping it with all the sumptuous sounds of a Berlin Philharnonic.
Four hands,two feet but above all four wonderful ears to bring to life so mellifluously Beethoven`s Ode to Joy.
It was a rare privilege to be present at Beethoven`s birthday celebration today in St Lawrence Jewry.
Beethoven 5th on Monday at St Martins will certainly not go unnoticed as we enter into his 250th celebration year.
The extraordinarily wide range of dynamics that Sir Thomas’s Steinway allowed these two superb musicians to delve deeply into Beethoven’s mammoth score and to still surprise and astonish us as though hearing it for the first time.
It was the four hand transcription by Scharwenka that Tessa had grown up with in her mother’s studio in South Africa .
All nine symphonies that she and her compatriot Ben Schoeman will be presenting during the 250th anniversary year.
Both South African pianists who had perfected their studies in London and both gone on to win the coveted Royal Overseas League annual competition amongst the top students in London.
Tessa and I had both been in the class of our adored Gordon Green at the Royal Academy in London and I had been delighted many years later to invite the now very distinguished Tessa to play in my theatre in Rome.

Tessa’s famous brother and the personage that he created of Evita Bezuidenhout
My wife,the actress, Ileana Ghione and I had also hurried to see Tessa’s famous actor /satyrist brother Peter Dirk Uys when he made one of his rare visits to the little Tricycle theatre in Kilburn.
A hilarious political satyrist when there was much to criticise with the South African apartheid regime.
I remember him telling his sold out audience the story of his government’s solution to the birth control crisis.
Their solution was to give free contraceptives to the needy population………… which they then stapled on to cards for easier handling!!!
It was interesting too to hear the piano that had once stood in St Martin in the Fields and that had remained in my memory of a performance I gave there of Beethoven op 111 on completion of my studies at the RAM in 1972.

New York Steinway D n. 217359
The piano,an American Steinway is in need of restoration and the performance for Beethoven’s birthday was also a special fund raising concert to restore this still beautiful sounding piano to its former glory.
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I had heard this duo before last year and can say that their performance has grown in stature as they have lived together with these scores.
The remarkable opening of the 9th Symphony with the atmosphere created by Ben Schoeman’s bass murmur and the ravishing beauty from Tessa of the fragments that Beethoven offers in this magical awakening.
Some astonishing outbursts and a very impressive build up to the end of the first movement.
There was a rhythmic energy to the Scherzo that was played with a precision and sense of line passing from one voice to another with a great sweep only adding to Beethoven’s never ending rhythymic energy.Very pregnant silences made this energy even more mesmerising .
The beautifull stillness of the Adagio molto e cantabile .
A simple melodic line from Tessa with the deeply felt bass of Ben made a very satisfying symphonic whole indeed.
The sublime melodic invention of Beethoven was sumptuously expressed from the hands of Ben to the extraordinarily poignant comments from Tessa.
The final movement was a kaleidoscope of subtle invention leading to the overwhelming ‘Ode to Joy’ with a sense of colour and invention bursting into the final transcendental outburst where Sir Thomas’s piano was made to glow on this very special occasion.
A joy indeed to see these two artists embracing each other after their 90 minute journey together with Beethoven

Filippo Gorini at Teatro Argentina Rome

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Filippo Gorini at Teatro Argentina Rome for the Filarmonica Romana
Filippo Gorini at Teatro Argentina
A superb recital from a true musician with a maturity way beyond his 24 years.
A Kreisleriana that crept in on the heels of the Mozart D minor fantasy to be crowned with a glorious account of Schubert’s Fantasy Sonata in G.
A small but discerning audience of connoisseurs judging from the total silence in which Filippo’s fantastic story could be told.
Entranced in this hallowed hall by his fantastic fantasies we were treated to two Schubert encores.
The last of which was a magical account of the first Impromptu op 90 where all his extraordinary gifts were displayed like a kaleidoscope of an entire recital dedicated to pure musical interpretation of the highest level.
Every note was given the just meaning in a continuous musical conversation .
A gift of the Gods indeed.
It is nice to see music back in

Teatro Argentina
the Teatro Argentina ,the historic theatre in the centre of Rome that was founded in 1732.
In 1816 “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” by Rossini saw the light of day here followed by works of Cimarosa,Donizetti and Verdi.Paganini performed in the vestibule in 1827.
The Accademia Filarmonica Romana have been programming their main concert season here for the past few years as they advance towards their two hundreth anniversary 1821- 2021.
A series of concerts too for the younger generation of great talents in the Sala Casella in the grounds of their historic seat in Via Flaminia.
Concerts often recorded for the radio and including contemporary works mixed with the complete sonatas of Beethoven.
It was just this attention to detail and real musical values that allowed the young pianist Filippo Gorini to enter the main season at Teatro Argentina.
Only just 24 with rave reviews for his first CD of the Diabelli variations from such esteemed publications as The Guardian,BBC Music Magazine and Le Monde.
He was noticed when he won the “Telekom” Beethoven Competition in Bonn at the age of 20.
Having been formed and constantly guided by Maria Grazia Bellocchio at the Conservatory in Bergamo he has since received precious advice from Pavel Gililov at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Alfred Brendel in London.

Cristian Sandrin,much helped by Imogen Cooper also a disciple of Brendel .Outside Teatro Argentina on a visit to Rome from London where he lives having graduated with honours from the RAM and part of the Keyboard Chartiable Trust    https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/cristian-sandrin-at-st-marys-with-encore-performance/10156346866617309/
He tells me his next CD out on the 31st January will be Beethoven op 106 and 111.What more can one say!
One could see immediately from the programme he presented his very mature musical credentials.
Even more so when before his first encore of the Schubert Allegretto in C minor D.915 he explained why the Schumann Kreisleriana had interrupted the Mozart Fantasia.
In fact the Fantasia was unfinished when it was first published in 1804 after Mozart’s death with the last ten bars completed by August Eberhard Muller.
An amazing musical journey with his refreshingly original phrasing in the Mozart Fantasia of a real thinking musician.
Interpreting the music without rhetoric but with a musical simplicity that as Schnabel used to say is too easy for children and too difficult for adults!
A beautifully and clearly phrased Kreisleriana,Schumann’s eight fantasies, burst on to the scene before August Eberhard Muller could lead us astray!
An extreme legato in the second fantasy was followed by a third of great rhythmic energy contrasting with a sumptuously melodic outpouring in the central section .

introducing his two encores
A beautifully serene fourth was followed by the scherzo contrast of the fifth.
The tender song of the sixth with an unusually sombre but magical reawakening led into the driving energy of the seventh.
Always with great technical control at the service of the musical line.The accellerando so rarely attempted at the end was beautifully judged and allowed the last fantasy to creep in with deep gently syncopated bass notes .
There was a wonderful sweep to the melodic line in the central episode before disappearing into the depths of the piano.
The Schubert Sonata in G D.894 was played with great delicacy and luminosity with an enviable control of sound.
The extreme simplicity of the Andante was allowed to sing so naturally.The Menuetto was followed by a Trio of extreme beauty and there was a joyous bubbling along in the Allegretto that contrasted so well with Schubert’s unexpectedly sublime explosion of magical song.
I have rarely heard this sonata played so convincingly in the concert hall since Mitsuko Uchida’s memorable account in the Festival Hall last year.
A wonderful evening of pure music making from an artist who like his peers we can already be sure will search unsparingly until he finds the true secret of legato that Kempff,Lupu and Richter spent a life searching for.

Kissin the Conqueror

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Kissin the conqueror
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY

programme in Rome
Another superb Beethoven recital from a reborn Kissin ready to join the elite.
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After his memorable “Hammerklavier” in London last year Kissin in this 250th Anniversary year is offering his own homage to Beethoven.
From a “Pathetique” shorn of all rhetoric to a “Waldstein” of Ferrari type propulsion .
Framing an “Eroica Variations” in the relms of the Gods and a “Tempest” Sonata of rare beauty.
Dynamic contrasts but always in complete context with a very precise rhythmic bass was the hallmark of a superb performance of Beethoven’s op 13 “Pathetique” Sonata.
A flowing Adagio with a truly beautiful cantabile and very telling support from the bass.
A duet between the melody and bass was indeed to cherish and led to a very mellifluous Rondò.
It was the same beauty that he found later in the “Tempest” Sonata where there were great layers of sound with a glow that allowed the melodic line to appear as if by magic in the Adagio grazioso.
The entry of the Rondò Allegretto was quite magical and had the same flow and sense of contrasts that had bewitched us from the outset in the “Pathetique.”
It was the same musical conversation that he had found throughout the “Eroica” Variations op 35.
Already there are Beethoven’s great rhythmic interruptions but with contrasting legato playing of great beauty and sense of character.

The Symphony Hall S.Cecilia in Rome
The “Waldstein” I have not heard with such rhythmic energy since Serkin’s memorable performance in London.No glissandi for Kissin (Serkin used to wet his fingers to lubricate his glissandi) but today beautifully glided scales up and down the keyboard on the crest of a wave that swept us all along in a quite remarkable performance where total technical assurance was allied to a musical and intellectual control that must be quite unique these days.
Two early Bagatelles op 33 n.1.and 2 and the variations op 76 on “The Ruins of Athens” crowned a recital that not since Serkin or Arrau have we heard the like.