Sunday May 2 4.00 pm

It was only a few months ago that Dr Hugh Mather ,a 75 year old retired physician celebrated the 1000th concert in a series that he together with his enthusiastic and expert colleagues have been running for some years .St Mary’s Perivale is a beautiful redundant church in the centre of Ealing golf course,only a stone’s throw from central London,that has become one of the most important chamber music concert halls in the country.With the passion of people that enjoy selflessly sharing their expertise with the next generation it gives a platform to the most talented young musicians in London.

Canan Maxton too has created for quite some time ,Talent Unlimited,designed to help young musicians find a platform for their outstanding talent.So it was very refreshing to see the two united in presenting two aspiring young musicians from the Royal,College of Music in two of the masterworks for piano.An unexpected illness had left a last minute space in the calendar that was immediately filled by Simo Sisevic from Montenegro and Kirill Zheleznov from Russia.

Little did they know that their host had played both those works in a memorable celebration concert https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/dr-hugh-mather-1000-not-out/

Simo Šiševic (piano) 

Rachmaninov: Prelude Op 23 no 4 in D

Beethoven: Sonata no 23 in F minor Op 57 ‘Appassionata’ Allegro assai-Andante con moto-Allegro ma non troppo /Presto

They are two of the most important works in the piano repertoire.Beethoven’s revolutionary Appassionata Sonata op 57 and Schumann’s Fantasie op 17 .It was Schumann’s contribution towards Liszt’s cost of erecting a monument to Beethoven in Bonn.Hat’s off to both the young artists that at very short notice could give such exemplary performances .Simo even playing Rachmaninov’s beautiful prelude in D op 23 as a tranquil, opening to the drama that was about to be enacted .A sense of architectural shape was the overall impression of the two performances of Beethoven and Schumann.The very precise indications of Beethoven regarding his revolutionary use of the pedal was not always noted but the Andante con moto was played at just the right tempo of the corteo that it depicts.Great contrasts in the first movement could have been even more accentuated had the second subject been more expressive and mysterious.The Allegro ma non troppo was played with great control even if it could have been almost lighter in places especially in the coda where Beethoven does indicated the dramatic contrasts that he imagined.There were some beautiful things too in the Schumann Fantasie but sometimes Kirill felt this passionate outpouring for Clara a little too strongly which could sometimes blur the overall line of this masterpiece.There were some exquisite moments in the sostenuto where Agosti had written the words Clar. ……..a in my score at bar 4.The coda of the second movement was thrown off with technical proficiency but somewhat at the expense of the overall shape.An afternoon of sumptuous music played by two aspiring young musicians that we wish the success that they deserve with their future studies in London.

Simo Šiševic is an award-winning Montenegrin pianist and a current student at the Royal College of Music in London. His competition successes include the Absolute Prize in the Academy Award International Competition in Rome (2013), Special Prize in the Windsor International Piano Competition^ (2015), First Prize in the International Piano Competition in Tivat, Montenegro (2016), First Prize in the Pieter Gaci International Competition in Shkoder, Albania. (2017) He has performed extensively at Montenegrin festivals including Fortepiano, Bartok for Young Pianists , Piano in the Spirit of Folklore and French Music in the Early 20th Century . Šiševic also took part in Montenegrin Cultural Symphony event organized by the Embassy of Republic of Montenegro in the UK. He has also performed at the RCM Keyboard Festival (2019) and gave a solo recital in London at the English-Speaking Union in organisation of The Zetland Trust. In 2016, Šiševic represented his country and its musical heritage in the Monténégro au coeur de l’Europe concert at the Festival Weekend de Clavier Contemporain at the Frederic Chopin Conservatoire in Paris. As a jazz pianist, Šiševic has performed extensively including at the opening of the jazz festival Made in New York in Montenegro alongside Randy Brecker, Bobby Sanabria, and Edsel Gomez. Šiševic has been generously supported by The Katheleen Trust, The Zetland Foundation, The Talent Unlimited, The Henry Wood Trust, St Maryleboune Educational Foundation, PAM Montenegro, Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, and Capital City of Podgorica. Throughout his education in Podgorica and previous two years in London he awarded a scholarship by Montenegrin Ministry of Education. Šiševic was recently awarded a scholarship by Municipality of City of Bar (Montenegro) as well as a scholarship by Global Ports Holding. Simo Šiševic was born in Podgorica, Montenegro. He is a graduate of the Art School of Music and Ballet in Podgorica, where he studied with Anka Asanovic. Šiševic is currently a 4th year undergraduate student at the Royal College of Music in London where he has studied with pianist Gordon Fergus-Thompson and John Byrne.

Kirill Zheleznov (piano)

Schumann: Fantasy in C Op 17 Appassionato e fantastico-Maestoso e con energia-Sostenuto

Kirill Zheleznov – Russian concert pianist and a composer currently based in London. He is studying at the Royal College of Music, London, for a Bachelor of Music with John Byrne and Sofya Gulyak, where he is a ‘Kenneth and Violet Scott Scholar’. Kirill was nominated for ‘Study award in recognition of progress’ in 2019 and became an artist of Talent Unlimited Trust in 2020. Since childhood, he has performed in numerous concert halls such as Vienna Concert Hall in Vienna, Austria, and Yehudi Menuhin Hall in Brussels, Belgium. Kirill performed his first solo recital at St. Petersburg House of Music Concert Hall in 2015, aged 19. The most recent Kirill’s successes in international piano competitions include the first prize as well as 2 award-concerts in Italy at the international piano competition “Città di Arona” 2021, the Grand Prize at the XVIII Crimean Spring International Music Competition, the second prize at the Franz Liszt Centre Piano Competition and the third prize at the VI Odin International Music Competition. In 2018 Kirill was also awarded the second prize and the special prize for the best performance of the given composition at the Classic Pure Vienna International Music Competition. Kirill graduated from the St. Petersburg Mussorgsky College of Music (Russia) in 2016 where he studied with Tatiana Osipova. Since then, he has become a prize winner in many international piano competitions, and he has also actively participated in numerous festivals and master classes across Russia and other European countries. Kirill also participated in various programs sponsored by state authorities (including the Russian Ministry of Education) and by well-known multinational companies. As a student he became acquainted with film music and realised that he wants to become not only a concert pianist but a film composer. Therefore, Kirill started to participate in production of films as a film composer. Since then, he collaborated with many directors such as Alena Mikhailina, Valery Ushakov and Andrew Klementev.The most recent Kirill’s collaboration as a composer is a score and production of soundtracks for the play ‘While It was Raining’ (dir. Valery Ushakov) presented by the theatre ‘S.A.D.’ (Moscow). This play is going to be distributed by ‘Stage Russia HD’ company across the Globe in 2021. In 2019 he composed a score and produced soundtracks for Alena Mikhailina’s musical ‘An Eye for a Window’ which won Cannes Corporate Media & TV Award for the ‘Best Student Film’. Kirill Zheleznov also significantly contributed to production of movies by composing soundtracks in collaboration with the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television.