Sunday 22 November 4.00 pm

Streamed LIVE concert in an empty church

Evelyne Berezovsky (piano)

Grieg:
Arietta Op 12

Schmetterling (Butterfly) Op 43 no 1

Valse-Impromptu op 47 n.1
Traumgesicht (Dreams) Op 62 no 5

Ravel: Jeux  d’eau

Ravel: La Valse

Rachmaninov: Piano sonata no 2 in B flat minor Op 36 (revised version)

Kreisler arr. Rachmaninov: Liebesleid

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/evelyne-berezovsky-a-shining-light-illuminates-st-marys/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/07/06/waiting-for-evie/

Fantastic recital by our Evie of Horowitz proportions .At last someone who understands and can extract such magic from this box of hammers and strings.A glorious effortless stream of golden sounds.There is only one other person who can do that these days.She too is a woman but unbelievably in her eightieth year.
Evie still in her 20’s gives hope for the rebirth of a new Golden Age of piano playing.
With tears in my eyes I will try to write a fuller appreciation but what use are words except to quel the demons that her talent makes her suffer.

Genius is not easy to live with!
See for yourself :https://youtu.be/OLsKEE_Z17I

From the very first notes of Grieg it was as though we were eavesdropping on some whimsical improvisation of a description of a beautiful pastoral scene.Hauntingly beautiful like a breath of fresh air exuding such loving care as she caressed the keys with infinite inflections that only a Schwarzkopf could have envisaged.Butterflies that flew from her fingers with featherlite agility.Like Martha Argerich whatever direction the music took the fingers just followed with seemingly infinite ease.There were no extraneous thoughts about technique but just an instant magnetism that one was compelled to follow.The time she took over the last added bass note ,only a great artist would have dared.The circus entertainer that dares to get on the high wire and with such elegance and assurance gives no thought to falling off but just sailing magically through the air.The nostalgic ride through the snow of the Valse – Impromptu or the ravishingly delicate sounds that she shared with us and was the stuff that dreams are made of.

’Awesome’ as one of her colleagues exclaimed afterwards.

Such subtle rubato in Ravel’s Jeux d’eau and a freedom that seemed almost too romantic.That is until you came under her spell and you could not imagine that there could be any other way.Water lapped all around us sometimes silent and tranquil like in Venice or the passing turbulent wave that soon passed and left the infinite silence that is indeed of that magic city.A mist of sound on which floated strands of the melody as it searched to find its way before emerging complete on a wave of sound disappearing into the distance where like water it is probably still continuing its infinite never ending journey.

The diabolic excesses of La Valse were played with astonishing abandon and sumptuous magical sounds.An almost indecent decadence was enacted before our very eyes with glissandi and pyrotechnics of a breathtaking unforgettable bachanal as she allowed the music to possess her.Building up to such a frenzy.Thank goodness Ravel had had the sense to bring a halt to such indecency with a final full stop deep in the bass.

I remember my actress wife telling me that at her final performance at Drama school she made a wrong turning and asked forgiveness from the great actor Sergio Tofano for not following his rules.There is no such thing as right or wrong Ghione just convince me as you have done today!

There are no rules in art but total dedication and communication take over from the regulations that one has to absorb during one’s early education.In the end it is the true artist who dares to cross the footlights and touches the hearts of others sharing their deepest secrets without even contemplating that there might be a right or wrong way.

It is God given gift bestowed on the blessed few.

Fully warmed up Evie plunged headlong into the final opening flourish of Rachmaninov’s second sonata.I have written about her performances before (see above).Here today there was a performance of almost Horowitz proportions in the freedom,the colours and the romantic passionate outpouring of sounds.I can well understand my old teacher Vlado Perlemuter (mentored by Ravel and Fauré) telling me of the deceptive appearance of Rachmaninov on stage looking as though he had swallowed a knife but when he touched the keys his was the most romantic of sounds as colours flowed from his fingertips.Evie certainly did not look as though she had swallowed a knife but the sounds she could conjure from this fine but much used piano were in Dr Mather’s own words .’of genius.’The crystal clear sound in the slow movement bathed in sumptuous sunshine but always with that typical hint of Russian nostalgia.The gradual build up to the final tumultuous explosion of romantic effusiveness and the coda that shot out of her fingers like fireworks with an incredible accumulation of notes dispatched with passionate ease.

An encore of Kreisler’s Liebesleid \was played with the same irresistible charm as its composer was renowned for.In this famous transcription by Rachmaninov Evie gave us a golden web of sounds seemingly cascading from every part of the keyboard with such subtle colouring that was quite enchanting.For anyone who has tried to find those sounds it was quite astonishing.Rachmaninov and Kreisler used to play together in concerts and one day during a performance Kreisler got lost and whispered to Rachmaninov:’where are we?’ ‘In Carnegie Hall’ boomed a sour faced Rachmaninov.

Here Evie took us back to those magic recordings that were found in the 60’s on piano rolls in Brentford Piano Museum lovingly cared for by Frank Holland and broadcast late at night on BBC.It allowed us to hear the sheer magic of the lost age piano playing of Lhevine ,Rosenthal,Godowsky or Levizki amongst others .Horowitz used to say to Shura Cherkassky that they were the only two left.Indeed they were although Stephen Hough and Benjamin Grosvenor give us hope of refinding the secret path to this lost art today.We can certainly add the name of Evelyne Beresovsky to that.

Evelyne Berezovsky was born in Moscow in 1991, the daughter of the eminent pianist Boris Berezovsky. She started playing the piano at the age of five and two years later joined the Purcell School of Music. She then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne, in Italy with Elisso Virssaladze, and with Rena Shereshevskaya in Paris. She has played in public since she was 7 years old and appeared with the orchestra for the first time at the age of 11. Since then she has performed at major venues in London, including the Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and the Southbank Centre, and at concert venues in Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Norway, Russia and Japan, including a recital at the prestigious piano festival in La Roque d’Antheron. In February 2012 she won First Prize in the Lagny-sur-Marne International Piano Competition in France. Following this, she has been regularly invited to play on Radio France, including a performance at the Fête de la Musique which took place at the Olympia, Paris. Evelyne has given concerts and recitals in the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and the USA, including performances at Lorin Maazel’s Festival in Castelton, VA and Steinway Hall, New York. She has performed with London Musical Arts Orchestra, Enschede Symphony Orchestra, Hulencourt Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Mozart Players, Musica Viva, Thailand Symphony Orchestra and North Czech Philharmonic, and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.