Terra del Fuoco indeed as this young Spanish pianist /composer ignited the already torrid heat in Florence with a scintillating display of ‘joie de vivre’as rays of sunlight just shot from his agile fingers.
A Wanderer Fantasy where Schubert’s youthful energy and brilliance were matched with intelligence and sublime beauty as Salvador Sanchez with his noble opening statement took us on a long and intricate journey.From the heroic opening,the teasing fun of the scherzo to the very heart of the Wanderer.It was here that Salvador’s romantic soul allowed the sublime variations to seduce and beguile before the astonishing pyrotechnics of the fugato.
The four movements are played without a break. After the first movement Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo and the second movement Adagio follow a scherzo presto and the technically transcendental finale, which starts in fugato becoming more and more virtuosic as it moves toward its thunderous conclusion.Liszt was fascinated by the Wanderer Fantasy, and transcribed it for piano and orchestra (S.366) and two pianos (S.653). He also edited the original score and added some various interpretations making a complete rearrangement of the final movement (S.565a).
Calming the waters with Debussy’s mists of sound Salvador was able to conjure up an atmosphere that was certainly not the one we were experiencing in Florence today.
The wonderful blue sky and crystal clear atmosphere was more a tune to what Salvador had up his sleeve in the second part of his recital in the Harold Acton Library of the British Institute.
His performance of the complete Goyescas had Leslie Howard on the edge of his seat a while ago in his first concert for the Keyboard Trust. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/06/30/salvador-sanchezs-scintillating-artistry-for-the-keyboard-trust/ Four pieces were re-enacted today without even waiting for the mist to clear!
Music that is clearly in the blood of this young virtuoso from Alicante.Conquering the enormous technical hurdles that Granados delighted in pouring into his famous Goyescas.Written of course before he went down with the ship.(His ship was torpedoed on his way home from New York where his opera based on Goyescas received its premiere.Being summoned to play for the President at the White House’ he fatally caught a later boat home).
Pieces of a transcendental difficulty not only to play the notes but to keep in the memory with the intricate strands of melody that are so richly embellished in a true maze of sounds.The ‘Fandango’was played with hypnotic rhythmic verve and contrasted with the sublime beauty of ‘The Maiden and the Nightingale’ where the sheer beauty of the maiden truly delighted the nightingale who was ready to warble to her hearts delight with such clarity and daring.’Los Requiebras’ was a tour de force of technical and musical mastery as the melodic line passed from one part of the keyboard to the other.Magical filigree embellishments of fleeting beauty passed like shafts of gold and silver ornamenting the sumptuous beauty of the melodic line.’Coloquio en La Reja’ showed off his extraordinary sense of balance allowing sounds of ravishing beauty to sing so naturally unforced.
This young Spaniard’s sense of timing and subtle stretching of the tempo that like Chopins Mazurkas cannot be taught but has to come from the soul.
And Salvador not only has a soul but also the passion and fire of a hot blooded Latin.
No more evident that in the Argentinian Dances by Ginastera where having astonished with the brilliance of the ‘del viejo boyero’he seduced with the sublime musings of ‘la moza donosa’only to be literally caterpulted into the astonishing exuberances of ‘del gaucho matrero’
Astonished and not a little exhausted by this sparkling display of virtuosity Salvador was ready to offer one of his own compositions.
The calm and translucent sounds brought us to the atmosphere that Bartok brings to his own ‘open air’ that was probably the inspiration for this very evocative piece.
Salvador is also a remarkable composer and on the 10th July a commissioned work for string quartet and magnetised (!)piano will receive it’s premiere in London.
It was so refreshing on this suffocatingly hot day to see the radiance and fun he was evidently having sharing music with this elite audience.A new series that director Simon Gammell and wife Jennifer have organised with the astonishing array of artists from the ever expanding roster of the Keyboard Trust.Here they are in our collaboration with six of the artists chosen to play this season in Florence from October ‘21 to October ‘22
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 
Una risposta a "Salvador Sanchez ignites Florence the Terra Del Fuoco"