Mese: agosto 2023

Jeunes Etoiles VII 

Illia Ovcharenko, Piano
Prize Laureate 2022 Honens International Piano Competition (Calgary, Canada)

This concert was recorded live on 26 August in the Gstaad Chapel and broadcast on 28 August, 7.30 pm.

What a wonder to hear this young artist today in the hallowed festival founded by Yehudi Menuhin one of greatest and most generous of musicians of our time.Many of us have been following this young man as he appeared on the competition circuit where his extraordinary unique gifts were apparent to those great performing artists who were called to jury service.Two in particular have been helping him over the past few years knowing that comparative performances of the competition circuit are not for artists of the calibre of this young man.He does not fit into the standard pattern of the many other wonderfully trained young pianists in a world where the standard of piano playing has never been so prolific .Through the Circus aspect of the competition we are though able to hear all these wonderfully trained young pianists streamed on channels worldwide and very occasionally one can see a spark of genius that might,given the right conditions and time,mature into one of the very few truly great interpretative artists of our day.Perahia,after all was guided not only by Serkin but also Horowitz.Zimerman was taken under the wing of Artur Rubinstein- two of the greatest artists of our day.The Competition by its very nature has to have a winner to satisfy the sponsor and the public where the excitement generated by the race aspect is a reality that brings enthusiasm and participation into an art form that is always in a minority compared to other sporting occasions.But could one compare Da Vinci with Michelangelo – Art cannot be judged on such simplistic terms as beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is not the number of times a ball has been kicked into a net!

Illia today played a short programme of Bach/Busoni,Chopin,Schumann and Scarlatti .To discover a real artist it just takes two notes – how the first note is struck or caressed and how it is joined to the second .Illia gave us many more than two notes in an outpouring of music that I have rarely heard played with such poignant meaning and self identification .It held me literally spell bound where there was only music as the world momentarily was held at bay.A timeless outpouring of music making that I can only remember from Rubinstein in his Indian summer as he held us in his spell seated at a comfortable armchair unfolding magic that just flowed from his fingers with such golden sounds.

It was just a matter of time before Illia would be recognised as an artist of quite extraordinary sensitivity with a musicianship that could bring the music alive and where every note had a meaning in a musical conversation that could comunicate the very essence of the composer in his moment of creation.Hats off to the Honens competition that has recognised this young artist and is helping nurture his artistry whilst sharing his quite unique gifts with audiences worldwide.A three year programme where the artistry of Illia is able to flower and be appreciated by a world that is in desperate need of quality not quantity.

It was the same magic that I heard today as the music turned full circle starting with Bach’s choral prelude in the masterly recreation of Busoni and ending with the same meditative beauty an hour later with a simple Scarlatti Sonata played with the same intensity and kaleidoscopic sense of colour.It was truly the opening and closing of a magic casket of jewels.The Busoni (truly a recreation of JSB) showed immediately Illia’s extraordinary sense of balance as he convinced us that this old Steinway was the most beautiful instrument in the world.( was not that the same aspiration and challenge that stimulated Richter).The glorious melodic line was allowed to sing supported but unimpeded by a sumptuous insistent bass with a kaleidoscope of colour that was never sentimental as the true meaning was deep inside each note.Bach’s radiant outpouring of a true believer and a coda that did not want to say goodbye but left us utterly humbled and thankful we had lived to experience such fervent ecstasy.

There was a menacing clarity to the opening of the B flat minor Scherzo where the clockwork precision of Illias fingers gave such meaning to the seemingly innocent triplet figures ( similar in many ways to the demonic opening of the Liszt Sonata with an articulation of extraordinary technical mastery).Leading to one of the most poignant melodic outpourings on a continuous wave of voluptuous beauty.Played with mastery as the contrasts became ever more apparent .Simplicity and purity of innocent beauty of refined elegance with the luminosity of sound contrasting with the deeply meditative tenor line.Clarity and purity of sounds as climax built upon climax taking on more significance each time until bursting into the most dynamically passionate outpouring.A work where Illia lived the drama with self identification as the characters revealed themselves with such heartfelt immediacy.

Nowhere was Illias ability to make each note speak with such eloquence than in Chopin’s last Nocturne .It was played with ravishing sound and a magical sense of balance that gave a poignant meaning to every phrase he shaped.All played with a deeply felt meaning of nobility and aristocratic beauty that could ravish and seduce the senses with unbelievable colour and radiance.

The same unusual contrast as the Scherzo he brought to the Polonaise Héroique.Clarity contrasted with luminosity as he truly lived the drama.Military but also very much dance too .Cavalry that I have never heard stampede in such formation across the ground as the cry to call to arms was heralded above with searing intense breath control.Dissolving into a deep meditation of subtle melodic meanderings as colours gradually appeared from within building to the final great outpouring of heartfelt significance.The door slammed shut by Illia with terrifying finality and total conviction with the audience by now totally mesmerised by the artistry and stories of this young master.

Little could they imagine what wonders were to be in store for them with Schumann’s Kreisleriana.One of the finest most convincing performances I can ever remember hearing poured from Illia’s fingers.Eusebius and Florestan playfully sparred only to be entwined in their own unique sound world to which Illia today had the key.A total mastery not only of the technical difficulties but of the fleeting changes of character from the sublime to the ridiculous.An opening of passion and exhilaration but played with poetic understanding as the harmonies entwined to reveal a central episode that unwound with radiance and simplicity.A barely noticeable flexibility of tempo that like a singer taking a breath could bring meaning to the most innocent of phrases.A wondrous sense of legato to the second movement was interrupted by the absolute clarity of the first intermezzo and the gradual unfolding of the second,descending always into a timeless sense of phrasing and colour.The bucolic humour he brought to the third contrasted with the streams of melody the poured across the keyboard from all directions on a wave of voluptuous sounds where the beauty of the tenor doubling of the melodic line was truly wondrous and that I will never forget.The beautiful duet in the fourth movement as the tenor and soprano voices converse and entwine in a musical conversation with clashing pungent harmonies that gave even more meaning to this deeply felt message.There was the capricious fun of the fifth movement as it burst into song with freedom and flexibility.Florestan and Eusebius entwined as they arrived together united in a culmination of lyrical outpourings.Deep meditation and delicacy of the sixth and what a wonder to allow the tenor voice to dominate as the soprano commented from afar so timidly and untiringly as finally they burst into song together.The seventh usually a ‘tour de force’ for piano players was allowed to pour with such ease from Illias fingers where even the usual pianistic high jinx of splitting the hands was not necessary from this superbly discreet virtuoso.An end of poignant simplicity and beauty as the gentle final dance was set on its weary way.A web of delicate sounds interrupted by ever more passionate episodes but it was like someone reminiscing at the end of a long journey as this gentle web of sounds disappeared into the distance at the bottom of the keyboard.An ending reminiscent in many ways of Davidsbundler where exhausted Florestan and Eusebius lay entwined and united from a long journey of adventure and wondrous beauty.

Scarlatti as an encore bringing us full circle and the end of a truly memorable experience.

The list of awards the 21-year-old Ukrainian pianist has received is truly impressive … and Illia Ovcharenko has not yet left the benches of the Hochschule in Hanover, where he is currently perfecting his skills with Arie Vardi, former teacher of Yefim Bronfman, and Francesco Piemontesi! In the wake of his generously endowed victory at the Honens Competition in Calgary, Canada, which provided him with three years of high-level support for the start of his career, he is now touring the stages of the world, and his summer route takes him to Gstaad. For his first concert at Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy, Ovcharenko has conceived a Bach/Busoni-Chopin-Schumann recital programme through which he can unfold all facets of his great talent.

Illia Ovcharenko in Duszniki A great artist with a heart of gold

Andresz Wiercinski told me that he was going to hear Lubimov at the Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw .(https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/05/11/andrzej-wiercinski-at-la-mortella-ischia-the-william-walton-foundation-refined-artistry-and-musical-intelligence-in-paradise/). I saw it was being streamed and not having heard Lubimov before said I will be with you!What an amazing lesson in simple pure music making.Brahms op 79 Rhapsodies spoke as never before and were monuments constructed on this 1878 Ehrbar piano with a luminosity and subtlety of sound that I had forgotten could exist.Each note had a meaning as a song might have a different word.There was no need to do anything but just let the music pour from his fingers unimpeded by personal effects.If I was bowled over by his monumental rhapsodies I was enraptured by his op 116 as never before.Emotion added to emotion in an outpouring of unbearable searing beauty and poignant meaning.Seduced by op 117 and enriched and ennobled by a Chopin Barcarolle of aristocratic simplicity and beauty.Mozart D minor Fantasy opened up a complete world with a tone poem of unimagined contrasts from the improvised to refined elegance and brilliance and a pastoral ending of unimagined purity and simplicity.Some added embellishments I could have done without and it was the only thing is his masterly performances that did not convince me.His Schubert E flat Impromptu just poured from his fingers in such a civilised measured way.It must have done that too in a similar fashion before the police had carried him off in Moscow!Announcing with his human voice this time a Lullaby by Silvestrov as he wanted to show his solidarity for Ukraine at the end of his programmes.There was a resonance to his left hand that reminded me of the desolation of Le Gibet or Des Pas sur la neige and just showed how much could be expressed with so little by a true poet of the piano.On a more mundane note it was a marvel to see the perfect arch of his no longer young hands and with completely relaxed arms siting so still before this great black beast.I am reminded of Rubinstein in his Indian Summer when sitting in his favourite armchair in front of a black box of hammers and strings he could seduce the world with the stories he still had to tell.

Alexei Lubimov (born 1944 as Алексе́й Бори́сович Люби́мов, Alexey Borisovich Lyubimov) is a Russian pianist, fortepianist and harpsichordist he studied at the moscow Conservatory with Heinrich Neuhaus and Lev Naumov .After successes in several competitions, he gave the premieres in the Soviet Union of several pieces by composers such as Schoenberg,Stockhausen,Boulez and Ligeti .His commitment to western music was criticised by the Soviet authorities and he was prevented from leaving the Soviet Union for several years, during which time he concentrated on working with period instruments.He is a founder of the Moscow Baroque Quartet and the Moscow Chamber Academy as well as the music festival “Alternativa”. Apart from giving solo recitals throughout the world and appearing with leading symphony orchestras, he works regularly with early music ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. And among.his partners in chamber music are Andreas Staier,Natalia Gutman,Peter Schreier,Heinrich Schiff,Christian Tetzlaff,Gidon Kremer

In recent seasons he has given concerts with the London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra in Moscow and the Tonkünstlerorchester. He toured with the Haydn Sinfonietta playing Mozart and played Haydn with the Camerata Salzburg under Sir Roger Norrington in New York and gave performances of Scriabin’s Prometheus at the Salzburg Festival. In November 2010 he gave two recitals at Lincoln Center, returning in 2011 on tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivan Fischer.

In April 2022, police raided an anti-war classical concert by Lubimov at a Moscow cultural centre, interrupting his performance. In dramatic fashion Lubimov finished playing the final bars of Schubert’s Impromptu op 90 n. 2 as two police officers took the stage.

All the fun of the circus.The Busoni Competition

And then there were three The Busoni Competition- The Final Part 1 and 2

Again, the piano world is turning its attention to South Tyrol, where one of the oldest and most renowned piano competitions is entering its all-important decisive phase. A year ago, 110 candidates from almost 600 applicants were invited to participate in the Glocal Piano Project in November 2022. Under this motto, the first round of the competition was held in Steinway & Sons showrooms worldwide over the course of 10 days. The recitals recorded in front of live audiences were professionally recorded, and the jury subsequently appointed the main group of 26 finalists based on the videos. Further candidates got to enter the final stages through the audience vote or were nominated from among prize winners from associated WFIMC competitions; three young pianists were allowed to postpone their 2020 final participation to this year. The audience in Bolzano and the world can look forward to a particularly wide field of participants, with now 32 outstanding young talents!

The final stages in 2023 The structure of the four-part final phase is divided into two solo rounds, a chamber music round, and the grand finale with orchestra, in which only three finalists get to play for the First Prize. This year the chamber music round is divided into a recital and a quintet part, accompanied by the breathtakingly energetic Isidore String Quartet from New York City.

The Finalissima with orchestra will be held on a Sunday morning for the first time, a response to a constantly growing interest in Asia. Streaming: Follow the competition live anywhere The gripping, thrilling course of the competition can also be experienced directly from a distance, thanks to the live-streaming of all phases of the competition on

https://competition.busoni-mahler.eu/

I recently wrote about a young pianist where we could listen to his performances thanks to the superb streaming of the Busoni Piano Competition.Gary Graffman had spoken very highly of this young man as he commenced his studies with him at Curtis in Philadelphia but I had not yet been able to hear him play four years on.Comparative performances are not for me but to be able to enjoy all these magnificent performances in my home is a privilege and honour for which I am extremely grateful.It also gives a platform to the superbly talented young musicians who are dedicating their youth to hours of intense study to create a thing of lasting beauty.

Elias Ackerley’s masterly performances at the Busoni Semi Final one of the 33 selected to take part in the final from auditions held at Steinway Halls around the world.Supported by the Dr Weir Trust via the Keyboard Trust for studies at Curtis institute in Philadelphia for the past four years after his early studies with Murray McLachlan at Chethams.The competition circuit gives us a chance to listen to these young masters.Comparative performance though is impossible as every performance should be enjoyed and enrich the listener without numbers being added ………….this just proves my point ………..a pressure cooker can lead to early results but real cooking takes time and passion to mature and be savoured…………….Elias is a young master ….Shunta Morimoto,also is a recognised master from the age of fourteen in Fort Worth when his performances on internet went viral.Shunta recently was not considered eligible to procede to the final in Australia much to everyone’s amazement ……..Music should not be put in a position of Circus entertainment ….or goal scoring.Just listen and you will see what I mean.
Would Michelangelo have got more points than Da Vinci? …………..unfortunately there appears to be no alternative due to the standard of early training that has never produced such mastery as today.Hats off to these competitions then and Busoni in particular for allowing us to listen to these young masters via their superb streaming channels.Nothing is written in stone in music so one can decide for oneself- please do: this is Shunta Morimoto in Australia recently :https://youtube.com/watch?v=uMTy7bD-b0o&feature=shared. (At 2.20 )

The Keyboard Charitable trust have been associated with the Busoni Competition since 1949 when Noretta Conci listened to the very first competition just a stone’s throw from her home in Trento.An assistant to Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli she and her husband John Leech have created the Keyboard Charitable Trust that gives a platform to young musicians in the difficult period of finishing advanced studies and starting a concert career.

The KT offer a Career Development Prize to the Busoni Winner which includes a London debut concert and this season has seen five winners playing in Florence in a series :Music at British in collaboration with the Keyboard Trust .Ivan Krpan,Chloe Mun,Emanuil Ivanov will be followed by Jae Hong Park on the 9th November and this years winner (?????) on the 5th December.

Chloe Jiyeong Mun in Florence-A musical feast of whispered secrets of ravishing beauty

Ivan Krpan Busoni 2017 in Florence Mastery and simplicity at the service of music

Emanuil Ivanov premio Busoni 2019 Al British in the Harold Acton Library A room with a view of ravishing beauty and seduction

Busoni International Piano Competition 2021

Viva Busoni ..The Final parts 1/2/3 with Interlude

More superb music from Warsaw.A Mozart Double with Master and pupil,Dang Thai Son and Bruce Liu,both winners of the Chopin Competition, and both masters sharing the platform together in a wonderful musical conversation of subtle music making.(An Anonymous observer was inspired to share these poetic thoughts :’Bonjour cher Christophe, J’ai beaucoup aimé votre article sur Dang Thai Song et Bruce et vous remercie. Je suis tout à fait d’accord avec vous que c’est une création artistique sur une conversation musicale . Cela signifie l’harmonie ou transmission entre deux générations ? 🎼😀 Cela signifie la modernisation de la musique classique par les jeunes pianistes?😆 Tout de même, l’Innovation est très importante , mais elle devra toujours être basée sur son noyau d’origine : classique. Merci beaucoup. Bonne journée. 🙏🙏🙏🎼🎼🎼🪸🪸🪸’)

But it was their encores that revealed their supreme artistry as it was allowed to blossom with an exquisite performance of Chopin’s early D major variations.

Playing as one they shaped the music with ravishing beauty and scintillating jeux perlé.A sense of style that led us into corners of unimagined beauty as they gently opened this box of jewels and allowed them to shimmer and glisten with prisms of light that illuminated all it touched.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/03/11/bruce-liu-takes-london-by-storm/

A Brahms waltz that was played with disarming simplicity and subtle shading as they recreated the music together before our astonished eyes.Uplifting indeed as our souls were replenished by such simple beauty from two great artists who could reveal the true secrets hidden in the notes on the page.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/08/23/bruce-lius-triumphant-debut-at-the-edinburgh-festival/

Lukas Geniusas played the Haydn D major Concerto with chiselled sounds of purity and beauty.The poignancy of the slow movement was rudely interrupted by the high jinks of the Rondo all’Ungarese which he played with irresistible good humour.

But Lukas’s true artistry was revealed in a Chopin study op 25 n.2 of unimagined beauty as this great artist turned a will o’ the wisp study into a ravishing timeless tone poem. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/11/lukas-geniusas-maturity-and-mastery-in-duszniki/

Superb live stream from Warsaw………a historic Erard piano with Pedro López Salas playing Mozart Concerto K.467 with superb rhythmic drive and infallible precision.
But this was allied to a simple pure musicality of great character which brought Mozart’s world vividly to life with operatic charm and style.

The aristocratic poise he brought to the famous ‘Elvira Madigan’slow movement was all the more poignant without any of the fussy ornamentation that seems to have inflicted poor Mozart these days.

Pure great Mozart nowhere more so than in the last movement of the Concerto and his Sonata K. 330 played as encore with disarming simplicity and moments when he dared step back and allow the music to speak for itself with a smile on its face with the same beguiling charm and ‘joie de vivre’ of Mozart’s opera characters.
Of course aided by a superb orchestra of period instruments guided by the concert master of overwhelming personality and rhythmic drive.
Mozart on period instruments played with real character and the ‘sturm und drang’ of concealed passion and drive ,not afraid of the music but consumed by it .

Yes please this is an example to us all of how Mozart could be played respecting the period but not being intimidated by it.Let’s not forget the wonderful Martina Pastuszka directing from the violin but more than directing she was living music with dance and song as she moved with a mastery of someone with music that was inhabiting her very being.Transmitting it to her superb orchestra of semi period instruments (brass and wind) of the (Oh!) Orkiestra .
Pedro and she and all their colleagues became one as the very operatic meaning of Mozart was transmitted through them to us thirsty for such enticing musical integrity and inspiration and dare I add ‘authenticity!’

Pedro had never played a historic instrument before but he wrote to say how much he was learning living with the instrument for a few days before the concert.Living,learning and transmitting – what greater lesson of true artistry could there be than that?

Pedro Lopez Salas at St Mary’s -The magic box of colours of a great artist

Well we were to find out after the interval as Aleksandra Swigut took us quite literally by storm as like a woman totally possessed by the music she re created the Grieg Concerto with a mastery and overwhelming conviction that was truly breathtaking.There is the famous story of Liszt sight reading the concerto that the composer had brought to show the master.Of course Erard was the preferred piano of Liszt and listening and being literally submerged and involved in Aleksandra’s performance today I could not help thinking of how this performance must have been similar to that which had so astonished the composer and has become part of history.

I have heard Aleksandra Świgut before in Cremona on a Fazioli concert grand …….of course I admired much of what she did but was a little reserved as I found it a bit over expressive and I can now say even gushing.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/25/aleksandra-swigut-in-cremona-settembre-2022/. I would never have said that had I not heard her performance today which was so convincing and overpowering that I am indeed bewitched,bothered and not a little bewildered.It was quite simply the re birth of the Grieg Concerto for me as I sat on the edge of my seat – listening in Italy via the superb streaming offered by the Chopin Foundation.

Of course Rubinstein made it his own in his Indian Summer where he would sit back and allow the music to pour from his fingers with his inimitable golden sound and aristocratic poise and at key moments injections of startling youthful passion and vitality.Curzon too brought great authority as did Richter,Lipatti,Arrau and many other great pianists.But what I experienced today was so totally overwhelming as the seductive beauty of the second subject or the time she took in the cadenza ravished and surprised me .Not to mention the sublime beauty and nobility of the slow movement and the all or nothing approach of a woman possessed in the last movement .This was quite simply the most convincing performance I have ever heard.Martyna directing with her arms entwined in the music as Aleksandra’s arms were sculpting the music in the air too and then both plunging fearlessly into the fray.

I had been told that Aleksandra dedicated herself more to historic instruments and how right they were where her total mastery was quite mesmerising.I am not a great fan of bringing these historic instruments into modern day concert halls which they were not born to inhabit.Original instruments in halls that they had never known could exist.As Tortelier said to me with his inimitable sincerity that he would play with gut strings on original instruments when they could show him a recording studio or hall of the same period!I have heard Andras Schiff recently play the Brahms piano concertos on a Bechstein that Brahms would have known – conducting from the keyboard too as he says it is sometimes nice to play without the policeman!The concerts in the Royal Festival Hall did not help the instrument and although the first concerto worked better than the second it was an interesting brave experiment from a thinking musician but they were not the glorious concertos that I remember from the hands of Gilels or Anda.Today Aleksandra proved me wrong as she literally threw herself fearlessly into the piano but knowing all the secrets of un synchronised hands, spread chords and mighty glissandi rather than individual notes.

Suddenly this beautiful looking instrument became a live living beast like the one that Liszt used to famously devour.This was also a Grieg concerto of chamber music proportions as the orchestra was listening and waiting as phrases were allowed all the natural time to expand and blend.A conductor who was indeed a policeman of masterly freedom and control – relaxation in tension – now I know what it really means!

An encore after that would seem superfluous and an anticlimax but then we were not counting on such a great artist to guide us into the Hall of the Mountain King.The mad woman of Erard was finally let loose in a performance that struck fear into me and for an instrument that I am used to seeing treated with ‘kid’ gloves instead of a Bodicea on her flaming chariot.It is recorded and available to watch …….please do ….words do not do justice to such an overwhelming experience

Now the race was on to hear Aleksandar Swigut in the Fazioli Piano Festival.I had heard her recently in the final of the Grieg International Competition where she was a top prize winner with a very deeply felt performance of Chopin’s E minor concerto.It had been framed in the final on either side by the Grieg Concerto which only made one more aware of how much the slow movement is inspired by Chopin’s concertos.

She chose to open with one of Chopin’s last works and finished with one of his first and in between his large scale masterpiece that is the B flat Sonata Sonata op 35.She also included Liszt’s Liebestraum n.3 strangely neglected these days and also included Liszt’s ravishing transcription of Schubert’s Gretchen am Spinnrade ( a work that we were to hear in this same hall when Chelsea Guo also sang Goethe’s words from Faust).Many consider the Barcarolle Chopin’s most perfect work .It is an outpouring of song of sublime poetical inspiration.I remember Janina Fialkowska playing it in a commemoration for my wife and coming off the platform she whispered in my ear :’That was Ileana’…….there could not have been a more moving tribute to one of Italy’s most loved dramatic actresses.Aleksandra played it with sumptuous tone from the very first bass C sharp.So often a call to arms instead of the magic opening of a box of jewels which Aleksandra opened to perfection.If later she allowed her emotion to show above rather than in the notes what could one say when it is obvious that she loves it so deeply.The simplicity or distilling emotion into the very core of the notes will come like Rubinstein with living and loving the work for a lifetime.

Liebestraum was played with aristocratic poise and poetic style.Gretchen too showed her kaleidoscopic sense of colour and a technical prowess that allowed her to caress the notes even in the moments of most fervent passion.The B flat minor Sonata was played as a true musician – one with a heart that beats intensely.It was,though,the Trio of the Funeral March that took our breath away for it’s timeless beauty (especially as we had just heard the brass band play it in marching time as the guardsmen accompanied their Queen on her final journey through the streets of London).There were truly wondrous colours in the last movement as we could almost feel the wind blowing over the graves.And after all that puffing and blowing what aristocratic poise she gave to the final great chords of rich vibrancy.It was the radiance and ‘joie de vivre’ of Chopin’s variations op 2 that left us breathless and mesmerised.The work that Schumann was to describe on Chopin’s first appearance in the Paris Salons with ‘Hats off a genius’.Here was the radiance and style of jeux perlé thrown of with an ease and elegance by Aleksandra.A show piece like Liszt or Moscheles but already with the aristocratic refined taste of the genius of Chopin.

A beautiful recital by a pianist of such humility and grace off stage but a colossus of great authority at the keyboard.Like many great actors and artists she looses her true self in the part that she is playing.Goethe’s words were as expressive from her fingers as they were from the greatest of lieder singers of Schubert’s sublime masterpiece.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/26/cremona-the-city-of-dreams-a-global-network-where-dreams-become-reality/

What fun they all had and above all what experiences they shared together …..it reminds me of when I thanked another famous lady pianist for helping so generously young musicians ………’What I do for them is nothing compared to what they share with me ……’The simplicity and generosity of these great women knows no bounds ……….Maria Joao Pires ,Martha Argerich,Janina Fialkowska and Angela Hewitt……….

Angela writes :”We had a fantastic final concert of the masterclass. I was very proud of all the students, and it was great to see the Auditorium Marianum full to the back. Even the cat walked in during the Barber Sonata–haha!!

During the slow movement he (or she?) -(Mark Viner an expert catolgist and Alkan expert adds :The cat is a she – tricoloured.)- stuck his head in through the open door, just testing the waters. But then during the brilliant fugue that is the last movement, walked straight in and looked at the whole audience and took refuge under the chairs of the front row for a while. Jeremy Chan who was playing never noticed! Just as well.

Thank you to all who came, to the students for a marvellous week, and also to them for the beautiful flowers they gave me and a wonderful card, signed by all, many of them saying it was one of the happiest weeks of their lives (so far!). Good luck for the future! (More photos in the following article): https://www.perugiatoday.it/attualita/inviato-cittadino-auditorium-marianum-recital-degli-allievi-della-masterclass-di-angela-hewitt.html”

Angela writes :”We have been having wonderful days at the masterclass in Perugia. The young pianists are all so gifted, and are playing terrifically well. It’s also nice to see how well they get on with each other. It’s a lot, teaching 6 hours every day (that’s intense work–that doesn’t count our lunch break when I also talk with them about careers, life, many things). We did a ton of Bach over a day and a half, then SIX different Beethoven Sonatas (the Waldstein played twice!), two Mozart Sonatas, and today got through two huge works of Schumann (Carnaval, Sonata Op. 11), Mendelssohn (Variations Serieuses, F-sharp minor Fantasy), Chopin (2 Nocturnes, Funeral March Sonata, 3rd Ballade twice!), and Liszt (Ballade). Whew! That was quite a day. And in detail, too. Tomorrow we start with the Liszt Sonata! Bravo to all the kids, and to the Fazioli piano that is weathering the storm!! Several are playing Fazioli for the first time and loving it. It challenges them which is good. “

And thank you to Sig.na Teresa at the Auditorium Marianum, where we also have a resident cat.

“After another 6-hour session of solo repertoire and one concerto, tonight I brought my students out to Lake Trasimeno and to the Sagra del Gambero e del Pesce di Lago Trasimeno–a local fete which takes place every year. We sat on a rooftop terrace overlooking the lake, with the new moon shining, and ate fantastic food. The volunteer townspeople of San Savino who put on that event are THE BEST! It was something uniquely Italian that they wouldn’t have experienced in their home countries and which I think they will never forget.” A.H.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0iaZsLiJCdxKYjHwpq8a7G4GTroEiF8i4Qu3SnKB1GfsksKGk7BzzExLS393Movoal&id=100003143569417

Even extra time …………the reserves too got to be inspired on Angela’s morning off when she opened up so selflessly her heart and soul and deep love of music to two fine pianists who had tipped the scales this time.

Angela Hewitt An inspired display of hope from despair moves and exults at the Wigmore Hall

Angela Hewitt at the RCM a light of radiance and simplicity

Alex Yang, the youngest of the ten students wrote a diary :

A summer to remember ………Day 1 of Masterclass in Italy with Angela Hewitt. I played Bach’s Fifth Toccata (D major) for her, and wow was I given some wonderful advice which would help me both with this Bach and my future ones. Listening to the other Bach pieces (French Suite 5, C minor Toccata, B flat major Capriccio) were also very informative and helpful! Can’t wait to play my Waldstein Sonata, next on the radar! 😃

Day 2 of Masterclasses with Angela Hewitt (Fazioli F-278 again was AWESOME 🤩) – today, we somehow (well Angela at least) covered 11 Bach Preludes & Fugues and two complete Classical Sonatas in GREAT detail in just 6 hours. I’m very happy that she spared some time for me to play my Waldstein at the end, even though today was supposed to be dedicated to Bach and I was supposed to play it tomorrow. Even just by listening to Angela talking about the Bach I learned a lot, not only about fugues and how not to use pedal but also about Baroque style in general and I know that it will help me in the future. After hearing her talk about a lot of Bach for like 8 hours, I’ve managed to start discovering a new perspective on Baroque music and will apply many things I’ve learned to my future repertoire, whether it be Bach, Scarlatti, Mendelssohn, Chopin, or even contemporary music. We also had a great piano to play on. The Fazioli F-278 was great! It had a very nice action and pristine sound which makes it a very desirable piano to play on!

Day 3 of Masterclasses with Angela Hewitt – today was full of Classical Sonatas. It began with Angela commenting on my Waldstein from yesterday. She introduced a lot of musicial ideas and techniques that will bring my Waldstein to the next level. Other works, from the Appasionata to the treacherous Beethoven Opus 111, Angela relentlessly guided us through 7 huge sonatas today. From top to bottom, it was so interesting, hearing her talk about each sonata differently. For instance, I never thought about the Opus 111’s second movement as a song of gratefulness for life, and the so-called “boogie woogie” section in the middle as Beethoven remembering his childhood and thinking of counterpoint, as he did study Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier when he was young. Anyways, it’s been interesting hearing different interpretations of the pieces that I know very well. Same goes for the Opus 2 No. 3, which I played last year: I was introduced to some new ideas and interpretations that will enhance my playing when I play it again. Today’s class ended with a spectacular performance of the second movement of the Sonata Opus 111 by Angela herself, demonstrating the interpretation she uses when playing the piece. Can’t wait to play Mendelssohn Variations Sérieuses tomorrow…first thing!

Day 4 – Angela worked again for 6 hours straight (and on very heavy and long music too). I admire her brain capacity 👍. Anyways, today was dedicated to pieces from the Romantic period. I had prepared my Mendelssohn Variations Sérieuses. Long story short, after playing it for Angela, she pointed out some details I missed and techniques that I could use to improve my dynamic range on the Fazioli. Playing this piece especially allowed me to further explore the wide dynamic range and colour palette of the Fazioli F-278, as each variation features a new technique and demands a new colour. I especially liked her comparison of the singing style of the D major variation (Var. 14) to “Hear My Prayer” by Mendelssohn, a choral work I never listened to before. A romantic music fan myself, whether it be Chopin, Liszt, or Schumann, I discovered many pieces I never heard before like the Mendelssohn F# Fantasy and the Liszt B minor ballade, two works I will MOST DEFINITELY add to my repertoire in the future. The Nocturnes Opus 48 were also played: I have learnt a few Chopin nocturnes and so I can apply what I heard to my own. Two people also played Schumann’s Carnaval and Sonata 1. I haven’t learned any big Schumann pieces yet, but I intend to, and probably will take what I have learned about Schumann’s general style to whatever I learn. I also gained some great learning resources from the notes I took in class about Chopin’s Sonata 2 and Chopin’s Ballade 3, two pieces I intend to learn next year. Tomorrow, others will play a variety of works, from the notorious Liszt Sonata to the beautiful Chopin Barcarolle to the Bartok piano sonata, a juggernaut of the piano repertoire. I will be playing a piece she also learned in her youth: Liszt’s Gnomenreigen.

Day 5 – What better way to start a class at 10 AM than with the Liszt Sonata, a titanic piece lasting over 30 minutes! 🤣 It was an exceptional performance though, and I too benefited a lot from it, learning about Liszt’s past and how he was a noble person who often generously gave to charities. Anyways, I played Gnomenreign afterwards – a lighthearted, 3 minute piece. We worked on making it sound more devilish and articulating the grace notes even more in the opening, as well as voicing the sixteenths in the middle passages. Apart from Liszt, we also heard spectacular performances of the Schubert Wanderer Fantasy and the Four Impromptus, Opus 90. A few years ago, I played the second impromptu from the whole set, and today learnt some things that I didn’t consider before when playing it. Other pieces that were fantastically played were the Bartok Sonata (what interesting harmonies!), the Chopin Barcarolle, one of my favourite pieces which I always wanted to learn. As well, there was the infernal, nefarious Double Thirds Etude (I really want to learn that one but don’t have the guts yet 🥴) and the calming (and somewhat scary) Chopin Nocturne 27/1. To end the day, we heard the complete suite of Ravel’s Miroirs, ending with a performance of excerpts from the Ravel G Major Concerto…again by Angela herself. About Ravel’s style, she noted that it shouldn’t be played too over-the-top (mawkishly). Not like Rachmaninoff or any late romantic composer, but rather the expression Ravel implies should be conveyed through some simplicity. And finally, with 30 minutes to spare, Angela did a Q&A period where we talked about many concert and career experiences, including how to prepare for a competition, with some advice from my classmates, some of which have been winners in major international competitions. It was very informative, and a great way to end the day! Tomorrow, I will be playing my Chopin Nocturne for her, and we will be hearing music from Bach’s French Suite 5 to Samuel Barber’s epic Piano Sonata, one of, if not my single favourite neo-romantic pieces.

Day 6 – I played my Chopin Nocturne today and gained some valuable advice. However, today’s masterclasses were special, because most pieces that we have covered are pieces that I want to learn in the (near) future. First of all, Debussy’s beautiful Estampes – my favourite Debussy work that I’ve been wanting to learn for years but out off for various reasons. Anyways, although the performance was incredible, so was the class that followed. The Barber Piano Sonata – a highly virtuosic and demanding work – is also on my radar (especially the fugue. I’m just that vain 😈). Well, I’m happy I got the chance to listen and take in information that I can keep in mind when learning it, as well as some practice tips to tackle that infernal sonata. Other things that I also want to learn are: Ravel’s La Valse (arrangement for solo piano…my gosh it looks difficult!), Beethoven’s Opus 27/1 (a beautiful sonata), Bach’s fantastic French Suite 5, and Debussy’s L’isle Joyeuse (again, a piece I’ve wanted to learn for a long time). I’ve procured some valuable learning resources from the masterclass, which will help inspire ideas when learning the pieces. Tomorrow, I will be playing my full Chopin E minor concerto at 10 AM! It’s gonna be quite the experience, since I only have learnt it for a bit over a month 😅.

After the masterclass today, we collectively went to Angela’s house near Lake Trasimeno, and there we saw the legendary Fazioli with FOUR PEDALS! Not only that, but I also captured some amazing views of the lake. Angela’s house was situated on top of a giant hill, and when you look down, you can see just about everything, from a shimmering lake to a small island 🏝️. Afterwards Angela invited all of us out to a delicious seafood dinner, fresh fish from Lake Trasimeno! It was an amazing place, and I’m very fortunate to have saw it before I leave Umbria! 😇

Day 7 – FINALLY! CONCERTO DAY! I prepared my Chopin E minor concerto, and although having learnt it for slightly over a month, managed to play it from start to finish with accompaniment without stopping or breaking. Special thanks to @jeremy.pianist for being such an excellent accompanist (your tutti cuts were amazing and in the most unpredictable places possible 🤣). Anyways, I garnered a lot of helpful information from Angela to prepare it for whatever that I may use it for. The rest of the time, I sat in the audience, listening to a lot of concertos that spanned from Beethoven 3, 4, 5 to Schumann A minor to Mozart K.453, 497 and 595. Each was performed with awesome piano accompaniment. Anyways, it was today which we got some of insights about Mozart and Beethoven that weren’t brought up on sonata day.
The masterclass portion of the course is now officially over. Now, my improvements: after all these classes I have not only experienced the wide dynamic range and colour palette of the Fazioli F278, but I also have started to learn how to control the sound and create different colours. Having played in a very resonant hall, I learned to control the sound to match the acoustics and not to pedal wash everything (which will make the notes sound like a blur). I also gained various competition, concert and life experiences from the others as well as Angela, which will definitely help me in the future. Collectively, I think that all of us 10 students have gotten somewhat better at controlling the sound of the Fazioli compared to the first day, and try not to bang on it for everything we play. As well, most of us have probably discovered new repertoire that we want to learn (I certainly did!) or furthered our understanding of the ones we have previously played. All in all, it was a wonderful week, and kudos to Angela for getting through all this large repertoire, teaching 6 hours every day, getting such a nice Fazioli to play on, as well as organizing such a big trip to Lake Trasimeno! 🍻 Your coaching made us sound better on that Fazioli, and I’m looking forward to playing my Bach Toccata in the Final Concert tomorrow!

It was such a pleasure and privilege to have worked with Angela Hewitt this August. Thank you so much for your inspiring lessons and generosity 😊

Jeremy Chen writes: It was a great privilege and honour to have been chosen to work with Angela Hewitt for a week in Perugia, Italy this August, culminating in a final concert last week during which I played the last two movements of Barber’s sonata to a lovely audience as well as a rude, unpaying cat who stole the show (pictured below). But thank you to Christopher Axworthy for the kind words on my performance!

For a whole week we bathed in Fazioli sound, gorged on Fazioli colours, caressed Fazioli keys and lived such a lavish Fazioli lifestyle that it might be difficult now to return to the Way of Stein 😅

I am still in awe of Angela’s ability to play our repertoire perfectly back to us, her tireless energy in giving lessons on more than 60 pieces of music spanning the entire pianistic canon even in the merciless Italian heat, but even more so of the sound she gleaned from the keyboard, so elevated and inspiring it transcends words.

Due to the amount of repertoire we had to prepare for the masterclasses, it was an intense period of practice for me leading up to the course, but I got all the more out of it and the lessons I had with Angela as well as the ones I observed simply made it all worth it.

It was an absolute pleasure to meet all the other pianists on the course, whose unique and distinct abilities I continue to be inspired by.

I’ll post more about my experiences at a later time, but I want to thank Angela dearly for her generosity and inspiration! This has been a truly unforgettable and eye-opening experience. Certainly it has motivated me to take my playing to the next level 😊

P.S.”I’m still thinking about the masterclass we had in Perugia….and the happy time it was. I am asked to be on many juries of international competitions, but now I refuse them all. How much better it is to do this kind of thing, where you really get to know the personality of each student, where you can help them not just as pianists but as people: help them develop, help them see other things in life. It was especially great to see how well they all got along together–even the oldest ones with the youngest one (ages 14-30). We also appreciated the addition of the few auditors who came for the week, including a young boy from Perugia who attended for several days–getting permission from his mother to take time off from his homework: that was really good to see. I will do it again, though probably not next summer. Every two years is fine. That gives me the chance to follow the present group a bit. Anyway, thank you, Jeremy, for your words below and to all the other students who wrote such happy thoughts afterwards online.”Angela Hewitt

Carter Johnson writes :”It was a distinct pleasure to be able to work alongside some new friends with Angela Hewitt for a week in Perugia. She invested countless hours in helping us search out clearer musical ideas, a constant awareness of counterpoint, judicious pedaling (!) and above all, ever more beautiful sounds — and at the very end of the last day, it was an unexpected delight to give an impromptu duet performance of Mozart K 453 with Angela at the solo piano and me with the orchestral part. Many thanks to Angela for your generosity, and to my colleagues!”

Kevin Chen in Poland streamed live …..substituting at the last minute an indisposed Benjamin Grosvenor. A chance to hear a pianist who at 16 won Liszt Budapest,17 Geneva,and at 18 Rubinstein ……playing Chopin Studies op 25 which will complete his survey of the Chopin Studies op 10 and 25 in Poland all within a month!!!!

Kevin Chen A gentle giant of humility and genius

Benjamin Grosvenor at the Proms The reincarnation of the Golden Age of piano playing

Pure genius and I feel as the public in Moscow must have done when another Canadian Glenn Gould made his debut to an empty hall …..word spread like wildfire that there was a genius in Moscow and the hall famously was full after the interval .Kevin Chen just played a Liszt Sonata that will go down in history ….now for Chopin op 52 and op 25 ………A genius is in our midst ……..

Offering this time the studies op 25 and the Liszt Sonata at only 18 he demonstrated himself to be a consummate artist of extraordinary professionalism and refined preparation.
I say it once again he is for me the reincarnation of Solomon ………….and barely 18 years old ….unbelievable but listen for yourself !

Sokolov,Volodos and now Chen joins them ……..a Sacred trinity…………..Chopin studies of unbelievable beauty and mastery.Musical values above all else where Chopin’s most poetic studies were turned into tone poems of exquisite and overpowering beauty.Their technical difficulties became irrelevant as the music was allowed to flow from his hands with a fluidity and mastery of great poetic poignancy.Substituting at the last minute for an indisposed Benjamin Grosvenor with a different programme from that in Duszniki just two weeks ago.

Kevin Chen A gentle giant of humility and genius

Ferenc Liszt

Années de pèlerinage, Second year,Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, S. 161 no. 5

Sonata in B minor, S. 178

Fryderyk Chopin

Ballade in F minor, op. 52

12 Etudes, op. 25

https://youtube.com/live/oprmW3Myqv8?feature=share

Listening to Kevin Chen again the word genius comes to mind but what does it actually mean.Why should a child suddenly at an early age become so aware of musical sounds.It can happen and probably often does but may be ignored and just considered a childish infatuation.I remember a very fine Chinese/Scottish pianist Yuanfan Yang whose mother had told me of the extraordinary tale of her six year old son at a birthday party sitting down at the piano in his friends house and improvising.His friends mother asked her who his teacher was as she too would like her son be able to play like that.But we do not have a piano and she had no idea that he had this gift.His parents took him to a specialist music school in Manchester and the rest is history.These super sensitive children may be lucky enough to receive an early training from someone who can nurture and encourage this early awakening of acute sensibility to sound without destroying it or trying to conventionalise it or bring it into line with what is considered the norm.Kevin Chen is obviously a case in point.His teacher was one of the most remarkable Canadian pianists of her generation Marilyn Engle https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/marilyn-engle-emc

Her colleague Linn Hendry /Rothstein writes :”Canada is a very big country and we all knew each other from the radio…..Marilyn’s teacher in Calgary was very well known for producing solid piano skills…Gladys Egbert…I met Marilyn in Switzerland,by chance, we were having dinner with Tibor Varga and she was in the same restaurant with Peter Feuchtwanger !!! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2016/07/02/peter-feuchtwanger/

She won CBC talent festival in 1966 and I think Janina (Fialkowska) did it in 1968 or 69.I came 2nd to William Tritt in 70 (he played Prokofiev 2 and I played Brahms 1) then the next year I played Rach 3 and got the top prize….I think in between Jane Coop was a winner and after me was Angela Hewitt as I remember. In those days there were quite a few CBC radio orchestras;one in each province so you could be pretty busy. I was always in awe of Marilyn’s bravery in travelling away from home to study. She did go back to Calgary though quite early which may have been for family reasons…and a career in music for a woman was not an easy ride.Janina was taken under the wing of Rubinstein when she was at a crossroads in her life.Angela Hewitt was offered a recording contract for all the works of Bach with the then almost unknown Hyperion label.Marilyn has obviously become a magnificent teacher which the world has discovered via Kevin Chen.

The only real contact between all of us was the CBC…We all knew each other from the radio though…personally I was given a ridiculous number of recital and concerto recording opportunities because of the CBC competition.

I just hope he can make a happy life..he has certainly brought cheer to my life with those 2 recitals…absolutely renews hope in the future if piano playing …the boy has integrity and true and deep respect for the composer…for once a young player who does not put himself forward as the most important part of the equation……he does not need a teacher now just support” Linn Hendry/Rothstein

It is wonderful to see with what generosity both Janina Fialkowska,Angela Hewitt and Louis Lortie are supporting and helping their younger colleagues as they face the trials and tribulations of a concert career.

There is a Canadian school of piano playing which is rarely mentioned of which Kevin Chen and Bruce Liu are the most recent two who are demonstrating to the world the Canadian school’s qualities of integrity,honesty,artistry and mastery that are filling the major concert halls world wide

Sidney Harrison,my first piano teacher was often to be seen judging these competitions and was infact the first man to give piano lesson on television.The TV was a big box that eventually replaced the piano in most living rooms and had a magnifying glass that would allow one to look in to programmes on the one and only channel for a few hours each day!I remember him telling me that a teacher had told him about a boy who played to him who had spent several hours just playing a single chord searching for inner sounds.Glenn Gould went on to astonish us all with those very sounds.

Liszt noted on the sonata’s manuscript that it was completed on 2 February 1853,but he had composed an earlier version by 1849.The Sonata was dedicated to Robert Schumann in return for Schumann’s dedication of his Fantasie in C op 17 (published 1839) to Liszt.A copy of the work arrived at Schumann’s house in May 1854, after he had entered Endenich sanatorium. Pianist and composer Clara Schumann did not perform the Sonata despite her marriage to Robert Schumann as she found it “merely a blind noise”.The original loud ending crossed out by Liszt and replaced with the visionary afterthought of a Genius.

The Liszt Sonata and the Chopin fourth Ballade are together with the Schumann Fantasie pinnacles of the Romantic piano repertoire .The Chopin studies were the discovery by a genius of the poetic and technical possibilities of a piano with pedals.So it was fascinating to hear in Poland in such a short space of time two performances of the Liszt sonata,the Chopin Ballade and the Etudes op 25.Magnificent performances from great young artists that Piotr Paleczny brings to Chopin’s homeland every summer.It was though by an unhappy coincidence that we were offered a surprise recital by Kevin Chen with three of these major works in the same improvised programme!Lukas Geniusas had played Chopin op 25 https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/11/lukas-geniusas-maturity-and-mastery-in-duszniki/ and Illia Ovcharenko the Liszt Sonata https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/10/illia-ovcharenko-in-duszniki-a-great-artist-with-a-heart-of-gold/

No comparison could or should be made as each performance stood on its own magnificent ground and communicated the essence of the music with great artistry.Comparative performances and hence the Circus Arena of the competition circuit are not for me but a necessary evil to give a platform and voice to the prodigious amount of talent that the world has never seen the like of before.

Kevin gave us poetry from the very first exclamatory notes of Liszt’s Sonettò 104 del Petrarca :’Pace non trovo,e non ho da far Guerra…….volo sopra ‘l cielo …e tutto il mondo abbraccio’ Indeed we were embraced by rich sumptuous sounds of a grandiloquence and a timeless unwinding of melodic lines .Embellishments opening like a flower over the entire keyboard only to dissolve into melodic outpourings of ravishing beauty.The atmosphere created by this young artist was so overpowering and with an ending of breathtaking beauty and poignancy that one could feel the electric atmosphere even thousands of miles away on screen.

It was on this electric silence that Kevin intoned the heartbeat of G that opens the monumental Sonata in B minor.A performance which had won Kevin at only 14 first prize in the hall of the Liszt Academy in Budapest and that had so astonished the world as a complete outsider took the public and jury by storm.What can one say of a performance of such intelligence,humility and mastery.The composers indications were the starting point for a performance of architectural shape,aristocratic nobility and poetry.I cannot remember being more moved as the final wondrous chords reached into the distance with breathtaking sensitivity after having shared with us a whole world of blood,thunder,sumptuous beauty and poetic delicacy without ever loosing the overall genial shape that Liszt had created.It was clear for the first time the seeds of absolute genius that were to lead to Liszt’s ever more searing search into the future.

Substituting his youthful showmanship,pop star image and adulation for something much deeper and intense that would be the guiding light for future generations.Kevin too as Linn Rothstein so rightly pointed out said :”the boy has integrity and a true deep respect for the composer”……..what a lesson when I had re read this article recently about a pianist whose performance in Edinburgh Festival so shocked a colleague this week with his completely different point of view of the interpreters role!:https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/07/25/mikhail-pletnev-in-verbier-fakefool-or-genius/

There was absolute clarity but also subtle shading as the three opening seeds of this work are placed before us with such respect for the. composer’s very precise indications.The real opening of the sonata on the third page taking us by surprise as Kevin has a truly virtuoso technique when he chooses to go into top gear.The subtle beauty of the ‘Margherita’ theme was played with disarming simplicity and poignant meaning as embellishments just opened like flowers blossoming with ever more radiance.There was also a rhythmic drive of breathtaking brilliance and beauty as every detail was noted and incorporated into an interpretation of innovative discovery and wonder.A nobility and aristocratic declamations that I have never heard played with such overpowering power and conviction.There was remarkable control of the right hand finger legato that allowed the menacing left hand to pronounce it devilry with terrifying vehemence with not a cloud in sight.

There was a religious solemnity and eloquence to the Andante Sostenuto as it led to the Quasi Adagio of deep meditation and purity.Deeply felt utterances but never allowing the tempo to slacken or break the great architectural arch under which all was being conceived.A sense of colour that became a true kaleidoscope of emotions.The Allegro energico fugato was indeed played in two to terrifying effect as the temperature rose to boiling point bursting over as the recapitulation at last took over.Streaks of lightening shot across the keys with amazing intensity and control and led to the incredible virtuosity of the famous octaves. I have never heard them so clear or precise as today from artists that have included in live performance Richter,Gilels,Arrau and many other great musicians of our age .With Kevin we were not even aware of them ,such was their supreme musical significance.The final visionary pages were played with the weight and poignancy that made Ashkenazy declare that in his opinion they were the most remarkable pages in all the piano repertoire.Today we heard from this 18 year old artist a performance that has put this master work on the very Pinnacle on which it was conceived!

Kevin had played the Fourth Ballade in Duszniki and together with the two encores by Schumann / Liszt were the only works that he repeated in this surprise recital despite and arduous travel schedule in between!The Ballade demonstrated even more clearly his sense of line that together with masterly control could make this work seem like a wave with an inevitability of all that got caught up in it.Moments of purity and sublime beauty and occasional moments to look and stare but always with a sense that we were moving towards a climax of sumptuous passion and beauty that was the culmination of the experience we were being offered.A quite remarkable maturity for a young man of such passionate conviction and technical mastery.The two Schumann song transcriptions were played even more beautifully than in Duszniki because Kevin is a real artist who has need of an audience to stimulate and inspire him each time to even greater heights of discovery.

Chopin Studies op 25 where Art conceals Art in a display of disarming simplicity and technical mastery that I doubt could be matched by others in live performance.Lukas Genusias had given a wonderful account but it was his Rachmaninov that took our breath away.Kevin,on the other hand ,from the very first notes showed us the beauty of the celestial harp with refined phrasing and melting sounds .The second was a will o’ the wisp of delicacy with rays of glistening sounds shimmering so effortlessly over the keys. There was a burning drive to the third but with a musical line that was shaped with remarkable control .In the fourth the legato and non legato added shape to the overall musical line never conceding anything to the driving forward pace he had chosen.The fifth was memorable,like with Rubinstein,for the noble beauty of the central episode.The sixth in double thirds Kevin had already astonished us with when he played it as an encore in Duszniki.It was even more unbelievable now for its technical command and speed all under fairy lighting of jeux perlé brilliance.There was a deeply moving interlude with the long drawn out duet between voices in the seventh played with searing passionate intensity.The sixths of the eighth were played with superhuman legato before the fleeting lightness of the ‘Butterfly’ Etude.The final three studies were played with incredible power and conviction that was truly breathtaking.Unbelievable power and authority but also beauty and delicacy of the octaves in the tenth.A Winter Wind that literally blew itself out at the top of the keyboard opening a flood gate for oceanic waves of tidal passion with a final Titanic wave that swept all before it.

In the Lion’s den last night with a candlelit Chopin and Schumann from a dashing young Italian virtuoso.
A standing ovation and shouts of ‘ Bravo Luca ‘ from fellow Italians who had ventured into St Martin’s in Trafalgar Square to be ravished and seduced by the beauty and passion of such romantic sounds from the hands of Luca Lione.

Invited by John Landor and the Keyboard Trust to bring over the sun and warmth from his home in Calabria and to share Ferragosto- the biggest bank holiday in Italy- with us in London.

Chopin’s Polonaise Fantasie opened with ravishing timeless sounds as the imposing opening chords were allowed to vibrate over the entire keyboard wafting into the cavernous beauty of this glorious edifice.Each chord with a different inflection as the fantasy world of Chopin led to the Polonaise where the two were mixed in a wondrous land that Chopin could envisage just three years before his early death on October 17,1849 ,when Poland’s greatest composer, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) died aged only 39. There was a beautifully mellifluous central episode with some very expressive inner counterpoints that Luca highlighted with aristocratic good taste and consummate artistry.The return of the opening heralded the quickening of adrenaline leading to a tumultuous climax of glorious sounds that were allowed to die away to a whisper as this masterpiece drew to its breathless conclusion.

The most noble of nocturnes op 48 n.1 was played with the same beauty that was to follow in the ‘Andante Spianato.’A sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to speak so expressively on a cloud of poetic harmonies.Chords unfolded with ravishing beauty as the passion mounted culminating in a climax that spilled over into the return of the opening melodic line but this time on a cloud of moving,agitated sounds.

It’s companion op 48 n.2 was played with simplicity and beauty.An unbroken stream of golden sounds interrupted by a central episode of elusive,questioning chords with the opening returning with trills that were mere vibrations of pulsating beauty dissolving into the extremities of the keyboard.A final chord placed with the infinite care of a true poet.

The chiselled beauty of the ‘Andante’ were floated on a wave of ‘Spianato’ with sounds of purity and luminosity and very expressive changes of harmony dissolving into a mazurka played with disarming simplicity and beauty.The Polonaise burst onto the scene with the ‘Molto allegro’ orchestral introduction of one of only six early works for piano and orchestra :the two concertos op 11 and 21;the variations op 2 on Mozart’s ‘La ci darem la mano’;the Fantasy on Polish Themes op 13 and the Krakowiak op 14.This Polonaise op 22 entering ‘meno mosso’ with the beauty of Bel canto and a jeux perlé of beguiling style and kaleidoscopic colour.There were moments of great virtuosity too that Luca played with power and transcendental control but it was the innocence and purity of Chopin’s early genius that he was able to capture with playing of poetic freedom.Allowing his virtuosity full reign only in the final few pages that brought spontaneous applause and a ‘ Bravo Luca’ from this large audience captivated by the beauty revealed by such soulful performances.

A brief pause for a much needed glass of water as Luca charmingly explained to an audience captivated already by this young man’s charm and bravura.

The eight movements that make up Schumann’s Kreisleriana op 16 opened with a passionate outpouring of beautifully shaped sounds that led without any slackening of the pace to the fleetingly mellifluous central episode.He found some beautiful inner colours hidden below the outpouring of song of the second movement that was interrupted only by the dynamic energy of the first episode and the sweeping question and answer of the second.There were biting rhythms to the third movement with its contrasting ‘etwas langsamer’ central episode and a melodic line of voluptuous sounds before the passionate race to the finish.The fourth movement was played with simplicity and beauty and a stillness that suited the magic atmosphere of a church illuminated by candles as dusk settled outside as seen through the vast window that is the backdrop of tonight’s concert.Quixotic energy and Schumann’s beloved dotted rhythms in the fifth movement gradually turned into a melodic line of driving passion only to disappear as if by magic into oblivion.The ravishing beauty of the sixth movement was interrupted only by the frantic dynamic drive of the seventh.Played with a brilliance and speed of lightening that struck like a sudden electric shock.Some transcendental playing at a speed that Schumann implores to be played ever faster before a coda of startling contrast of poetry and meaning.The final movement with it’s impish capriciousness was interrupted only by two ever more passionate outpourings before dissolving into a whisper deep in the bottom of the keyboard.

Two encores by great request were offered to a public now on their feet to applaud this young man who had brought a ray of sunshine with him from the 35 degrees he had just left in the toe of Italy.A beautifully simple Scarlatti Sonata in G K.455 and the tumultuous Etude tableau op 39 n.1 by Rachmaninov whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated this year.

Surrounded by admirers young and old after the concert Luca was happy to share his Ferragosto with us in London instead of like the rest of his compatriots in Italy who seek refuge from the searing heat fleeing the great cities to sit and ponder for this holiday week on the beautiful beaches of what Rostropovich called ‘The Museum of the world’.

LION AND LIGHT OF THE KEYBOARD by Simonetta Allder

“Lei è Lione di nome e leone del pianoforte”, is how I addressed Luca Lione last night after his extraordinary performance at St. Martin-in-the-Fields August 15th “Candlelight Concert” which I attended thanks to an invitation by Christopher Axworthy to whom my gratitude (along with that of the thousands of talented musicians he has mentored and supported) goes. This isn’t a review but, rather, the drooling record of my appreciation. I am a ballet critic, not a musicologist, yet sufficiently versed to say that I was stunned by the sheer difficulty of the programme Luca Lione chose to offer us last night. His fingers danced and jeté-ed to Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana and some of the most devilishly intricate pieces of Chopin with more ease than water flowing down from Niagara Falls; had it been possible to generate hydroelectric power from the energy of Lione’s playing, one would have been able to light up an entire city. “Mi chiami Luca!” (Call me Luca), said this young Calabrian pianist to me, with the humility that distinguishes the very great from the great. Obsessed as I am by the genius of language, I cannot help musing that it suffices to replace the “a” at the end of his name with an “e”… and in Italian one gets the word for light: “luce”. Luca Lione is indeed a powerful shining light among the top pianists of today.

I was particularly struck by a comment last night by the great pianist Alberto Portugheis, a dear friend, who was sitting next to me during Luca’s recital: “He isn’t an interpreter, he doesn’t try to be more original or faster or better than other pianists: he plays like a composer, as if the music were his own!” Gosh… goose pimples. Alberto’s words say all there is to say. Last night, as young and handsome Luca Lione sat at the Steinway, we were in fact listening to Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann playing their own music as they themselves had heard it played by the angels of inspiration and written it down. What a blessed, blessed experience.’ Simonetta Allder

The Polonaise-fantaisie op 61 Is dedicated to Mme A. Veyret,and was written and published in 1846 in late autumn: in Paris, London and Leipzig. Its shape and its style caused much consternation. It was quite some time before listeners could come to terms with it and appreciate that ‘the piano speaks here in a language not previously known’.Liszt’s opinion of the work, expressed in his controversial monograph from 1852 did a great deal of damage, stating that the Polonaise-Fantasy was dominated by ‘an elegiac tristesse ….punctuated by startled movements, melancholic smiles, unexpected jolts, pauses full of tremors, like those felt by somebody caught in an ambush, surrounded on all sides…’. Frederick Niecks’s stated that the Polonaise-Fantasy ‘stands, on account of its pathological contents, outside the sphere of art’.

It was slow to gain favour with musicians, due to its harmonic complexity and intricate form.One of the first critics to speak positively of the work, writing in 1947 stated that it “works on the hearer’s imagination with a power of suggestion equaled only by the F minor Fantasy op 49 or the fourth Ballade op 52”, Justice was rendered to it as a wonderful poetical vision expressed in the language of a grand pianistic poem by great pianists such as Horowitz, Rubinstein ,Cortot and Richter.Arthur Hedley, writes about the ‘spirit that breathes’ in Chopin’s polonaises: ‘pride in the past, lamentation for the present, hope for the future’.

The Nocturnes, Op. 48 are a set of two nocturnes written in 1841^[and published the following year in 1842. They are dedicated to Mlle. Laure Duperré. Chopin later sold the copyright for the nocturnes for 2,000 francs along with several other pieces.The Nocturne in C minor n.1 is one of the more well known nocturnes, and has been categorized as one of Chopin’s greatest emotional achievements.Notable comments have said :”the design and poetic contents of this nocturne make it the most important one that Chopin created; the chief subject is a masterly expression of a great powerful grief.””broad and most imposing with its powerful intermediate movement, a thorough departure from the nocturne style.””the noblest nocturne of them all.””the most imposing instrumental effect of any of the nocturnes,” with the crescendo and octaves “almost Lisztian”The nocturne intensifies “not through ornamentation, but through a new textural background.” and “is the tale of a still greater grief told in an agitated recitando; celestial harps come to bring one ray of hope, which is powerless in its endeavor to calm the wounded soul, which…sends forth to heaven a cry of deepest anguish.^”

The Nocturne in F sharp minor n.2 where compared with the more melancholy outer themes, the middle section, più lento, is completely different and “is finer” and contains “soothing, simple chord progressions.”Chopin once noted that the middle section was like a recitativoand should be played as if “a tyrant commands, and the other asks for mercy.”

The Andante spianato e Grande Polacca brillant was written between 1830 and 1835. The Andante is for solo piano, while the Polacca features orchestral accompaniment.It was written in two stages, approximately five years apart. Chopin wrote the Grande Polacca between 10 September and 25 October 1830 and it is the most virtuosic of his youthful ones, conceived when he was still in Poland.The initial part, Andante spienato , was instead composed later, in 1835 and was initially thought of as a nocturne due to its lyrical and romantic tone, but then the musician thought he could use it as an introduction to the previously written Polonaise brilliant . The finished composition was performed in public on April 26, 1835 in a charity concert in the Salle de Concert of the Conservatoire National de Musique with Chopin himself at the piano and the direction of Francois-Antoine Habeneck , considered at the time the most important conductor. The work was published the following year under the title Grande Polonaise brillant, précédée d’un Andante spianato.

Kreisleriana, Op.16, is a composition in eight movements that Schumann claimed to have written in only four days in April 1838 and a revised version appeared in 1850. The work was dedicated to Frederic Chopin but when a copy was sent to him he commented favourably only on the design of the title page.It is a very dramatic work and is viewed by some critics as one of Schumann’s finest compositions.In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it in a letter “my favourite work,” remarking that “The title conveys nothing to any but Germans. Kreisler is one of E.T.A Hoffmann’s creations, an eccentric, wild, and witty conductor.”In a letter to his wife Clara,Schumann reveals that she has figured largely in the composition of Kreisleriana:”I’m overflowing with music and beautiful melodies now – imagine, since my last letter I’ve finished another whole notebook of new pieces. I intend to call it Kreisleriana. You and one of your ideas play the main role in it, and I want to dedicate it to you – yes, to you and nobody else – and then you will smile so sweetly when you discover yourself in it”.

1. Äußerst bewegt (Extremely animated),
2. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch (Very inwardly and not too quickly)This movement in ABACA form, with its lyrical main theme , includes two contrasting intermezzi . In his 1850 edition, Schumann extended the first reprise of the theme by twenty measures in order to repeat it in full.
3. Sehr aufgeregt (Very agitated),
4. Sehr langsam (Very slowly),
5. Sehr lebhaft (Very lively),
6. Sehr langsam (Very slowly),
7. Sehr rasch (Very fast),
8. Schnell und spielend (Fast and playful), G minor. Schumann used material from this movement in the fourth movement of his first symphony

What an amazing place London is. A Prokofiev 8th sonata to die for and not far off from paradise either in the clock tower of one of London’s busiest railway stations.
It has an Oscar Wilde ring to it but luckily silenced for the duration of the concert !
Ravel of ravishing clockwork beauty that unravelled in such an unknotty way.Bursting into flames as this glorious epitaph to a sacrificed generation reached its ultimate conclusion.
Prokofiev’s vision of beauty desolation and triumph truly inflamed us much more than one could have ever envisaged.This beautiful young waif of a pianist from the class of Kaplinsky at Juilliard is truly a Tiger in disguise .
Now one of the youngest professors in her home city of Sichuan in China.This first visit to London started at St Pancras Station – the gateway to Europe and will undoubtedly be the first of many at the start of a glorious career.

There was from the very opening notes of the Ravel ‘Prelude’ a beautiful circular movement of Qilin Sun’s hands that immediately allowed her to play with a great sense of legato as the clockwork precision of Ravel’s score was turned into washes of sumptuous sounds.The delicacy of the fugue too showed us the kaleidoscopic colours that flowed from her very strong but sensitive fingers.A musicianship that could guide us through this gentle maze of knotty twine with sounds that reminded me of the early violin sonata and already the unmistakable voice of Ravel. A purity and clarity helped by a sensitive use of the pedals but never allowing the sounds to be other than clearly defined with subtle aristocratic but never sentimental beauty.A typically ‘French’ sound that was to influence so many composers who followed in this master’s footsteps.Poulenc of course comes immediately to mind although a different more popular genre.

There was an infectious lilt to the ‘Forlane’ with its mellifluous outpouring and ravishing sense of spirituality with a dance of jewel like precision.The music box coda was magically played by an artist who now had us following every note in a musical conversation of extraordinary clarity and artistry.There was a contrasting sense of rhythmic energy that exploded onto the scene with the ‘Rigaudon’ and its beautiful sensual central episode played with a great sense of freedom.The flowing ‘Minuet’ was played with crystalline beauty and contrasted with the sombre hymn like central episode so reminiscent of Debussy’s ‘Canope’ on which Ravel magically floats the reappearance of the Minuet.

The ‘Toccata’ was a real tour de force from a pianist who was totally in command of the keyboard.Her fingers were like limpets never leaving the keys but playing with breathtaking precision and beauty.A continual relentless forward movement but like the great artist she is she slackened the pace almost imperceptibly as Ravel magically changes colour and opens up a world of ravishing seduction and beauty.The final race to the end was breathtaking in its passionate drive with a technical mastery that was quite overwhelming .Ravel finishing this tribute to the slaughter of a generation and many of his closest friends with a triumphant sign of hope for a better future.

Qilin Sun’s performance of Prokofiev’s monumental Eighth Sonata op 84 was a marvel to behold.There was a contemplative opening to this great lyrical song with its nostalgic and pungent harmonies where streams of melody were floated and lost in the desolate atmosphere that Prokofiev describes with poignant meaning.Spirals of notes unwound with mastery from Qilin’s superb fingers creating a fantastical sound world with a climax of overwhelming power and total conviction that I have only ever heard similar from the hands of Gilels or Richter.

A passion and total mastery not only of the notes but of the very sound she was creating A pianist who listens and feels the sound within her very being.A piano that became a full orchestra never with percussive or ungrateful sounds but a rich deeply expressive sound world full of sumptuously demonic power and energy.I wonder if the clock tower of one of London’s busiest railway stations has ever resounded to such wonderful music making as today?

By great demand she was persuaded to play a short piece that depicts her home town of Chengdu in the province of Bashu.A collection of beautifully chiselled short episodes by Hu-wei Huang ‘The pictures of Bashu’ played with a purity and fluidity that was indeed refreshing after the monumental outpourings of Prokofiev and Ravel that she had treated us to today.Even if the clock had struck the hour I doubt we would have noticed ,such was the atmosphere that Qilin Sun had created in this stop over visit to London from New York to China.

A concert organised for Opus One music by her friend and a former student of Julian Jacobson ,Shirley Wu.(shirley@opusone.ca).This magnificent venue in the centre of London is run by Peter Tompkins ( info@stpancrasclocktower.london)

Prokofiev Piano Sonata No. 8 in B♭ major op.84 is the third and longest of the three “war sonatas”. He completed it in 1944 and dedicated it to his partner Mira Mendelson , who later became his second wife.The sonata was first performed on 30 December 1944, in Moscow by Emil Gilels

In March 1939 Prokofiev began working seriously on a cycle of three piano sonatas, the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth, to be known later in the West as the “War Sonatas.” As was his compositional habit, he had previously composed a few of the themes and assigned them to different movements of each sonata – “Themes easily slip away, they come and go, sometimes never to return.” The circumstances of their composition were summed up by Mira Mendelson, Prokofiev’s partner for the last twelve years of his life, “In 1939 Prokofiev began to write three piano sonatas…working on all ten movements at once, and only later did he lay aside the Seventh and Eighth and concentrated on the Sixth.” In all, it took Prokofiev five years to complete the cycle, from 1939 through 1944.As Russia and the allies gained the advantage in the war, artists began to migrate back to Moscow after having been evacuated to different localities far from the front early in the war. Prokofiev and his fellow Soviet composers were placed in the “Composers Home,” near the town of Ivanovo, fifty miles west of Moscow in December 1943.During the summer of 1944, in a state of great optimism, Prokofiev worked on both his Fifth Symphony and the Eighth Sonata. These two works represent not only the distillation and perhaps culmination of Prokofiev’s creative life, they might also be deemed metaphors for his country’s past history, the hopelessness of the early war years, and finally, victory. Indeed, both works embody what he called “…an expression of the greatness of the human spirit.”Some of the thematic material for the Eighth Sonata was taken from unrealized projects surrounding the centenary of the death of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Prokofiev composed incidental music for a theatrical production of Eugene Onegin (Op. 71), and for a film version of The Queen of Spades (Op. 70).The first theme group of the first movement, derived from melodies from The Queen of Spades, consists of three different melodic profiles. Following a bridge section, a new theme in G minor flows into the allegro of the development. The recapitulation restates the first theme slightly modified. Much of the thematic material of the second movement was taken from the ball scene in Eugene Onegin. Its dream-like quality is expressed in its marking Andante sognando, “slow and dreamy.” The third movement, Vivace, is a brilliant, fast, forging ahead sonata-rondo form with an extensive middle section and coda.

It received its public premiere on December 30, 1944, played by Emil Gilels.

Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Grave of Couperin) is a suite for solo piano composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer (or in one case, two brothers) who had died fighting in World War 1.Written after the death of Ravel’s mother in 1917 and of friends in the First World War, Le Tombeau de Couperin is a light-hearted, and sometimes reflective work rather than a sombre one which Ravel explained in response to criticism saying: “The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence.”Ravel stated that his intention was to pay homage more generally to the sensibilities of the Baroque French keyboard suite,not necessarily to imitate or pay tribute to Couperin in particular. This is reflected in the piece’s structure, which imitates a Baroque dance suite.

I Prelude in memory of Lieutenant Jacques Charlot II Fugue in memory of Jean Cruppi III Forlane in memory of Lieutenant Gabriel Deluc IV Rigaudon in memory of Pierre and Pascal Gaudin V Minuet in memory of Jean Dreyfus VII Toccata in memory of Captain Joseph de Marliave.

Qilin Sun

Hailed by The Irish Times as a brilliant performer with “unfettered enthusiasm,” pianist Qilin Sun is having a rising career as both a soloist and a collaborative musician. She was the first prize winner of the most recent 2021 Golden Bell Music Award in China, and is the unprecedented youngest piano professor in the Sichuan Conservatory of Music.

Ms. Sun made her debut with orchestra at age eleven, playing Mozart Piano Concerto K.488 with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, she has performed in various venues throughout Asia, Europe and North America. After winning the most prestigious music award in China, The Golden Bell Music Award, she embarked on a recital tour throughout the major cities of China. Her recent highlights include performances with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and the opening gala concert with the Chengdu Orchestra and Sichuan Conservatory Philharmonic Orchestra in City Concert Hall in China. In addition, she has made her appearance in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Royal Dublin Society of Ireland, Ruïnekerk in Netherlands, Imperial Palace of Goslar in Germany, Aspen Chapel in Colorado, Chateau of Fontainebleau in France, Studzinski Hall of Bowdoin College, Juilliard School’s Paul Hall, Morse Hall and The Peter J. Sharp Theater, along with other various venues throughout New York City.

Ms. Sun has also been invited to participate in music festivals worldwide including the Aspen International Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Fontainebleau Summer Music Program, Goslar International Concert Working Weeks, and Mozarteum International Summer Academy.

As an enthusiastic collaborative musician, Ms. Sun is currently a member of the Altezza Piano Trio. Having been promoted by The Juilliard School’s Honors Chamber Music Programme the trio made its recital debut at Alice Tully Hall and is quickly establishing itself as an exciting and promising ensemble in New York City. In addition, Ms. Sun premiered several new works on the piano and celesta in Alice Tully Hall as a member of The New Juilliard Ensemble.

Born in Sichuan, China, Ms. Sun started playing the piano at the age of three. She completed her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School in 2018, and was accepted again as the only Asian candidate that year to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (DMA), the most prestigious program at the school. She is currently a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow under the tutelage of Yoheved Kaplinsky.

And War and Peace the article in Chinese thanks to Shirley Wu https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5sYo9mafvcgBBuW09KHovg