What a wonder it was at the end of a long day to hear Angelo Fabbrini telling us of his encounters with Michelangeli and Magaloff and to experience the extreme modesty of a man who has symbolised integrity,honesty and passion for so many great pianists of our time as they relied on him to turn their dreams and wishes into a possibility.The greatest of compliments from Magaloff as he came off stage and thanked Fabbrini for allowing him to play without being aware of the mechanics of the piano.Or Michelangeli asking why he had not told him of the birth off his son and would he consider him as Godfather!Michelangeli too asking for the seemingly impossible and Fabbrini replying my name is Angelo not Michel angelo!But Angelo he is knowing that the artist knows what he is looking for and with great respect and much work Fabbrini was always there to provide it.A wonderful man who was crowned with the highest honour of Cremona Musica at the Museo del Violino Saturday evening

The day had begun on the bus taking us from the Hotel in the centre of Cremona to the Exhibition Centre.It was on the bus too that one could encounter the most interesting people in music from every corner of the world .Discussions about conducting with the renowned Finnish conductor Atso Almila in Cremona to talk about the remarkable Finnish Conducting School.Jed Distler telling us in a most amusing way the encounters he has had with musicians via their recorded performances that he writes about and also talks about in his New York Radio programme : ‘Beyond the Keys’.A discussion about pianists and competitions with Eric Schoones of ‘Pianist Magazines’ in the Netherlands.He is here to present the German edition of his book ‘Walking up the Mountain Track :The Zen Way to Enlightened Musicianship’.The title taken from a book that for Glenn Gould was the Bible.Danieli Longo flown in especially from Rio to talk about her teaching experiences in the Conservatory there .Also Paolo Bartolini founder of the Rites of Spring Music Festival on Long Island – Paolo like Roberto was born in Latina and brought up on the Campus Musicale di Latina and the Ghione Theatre in Rome.All this before the gate to the fair opens at ten o’clock!

In the same hall a little later in the day there was another piano duo but this time four hands on one piano.Two beautiful twins,Eleonora and Beatrice Dallagnese,playing the Yamaha concert grand in a programme completely from memory.At only 23 like the Jussen brothers they are dedicating themselves to a duo career playing without the score which gives a freedom to interact as the music evolves so naturally without being tied to the printed page.Some beautifully delicate Schubert with a sense of architectural shape that was the same that they were to demonstrate in the Brahms Schumann Variations op 23.Four of the better know Hungarian dances allowed them to let their hair down,metaphorically speaking ,as they squeezed every bit of charm out of these works that they played with an intoxicating style and rhythmic energy.A fifth Hungarian dance was a present they were happy to share to a very enthusiastic audience.

Carlo Guaitoli’s recital of Debussy included the Second Book of Preludes and were played with great character and ravishing sounds.Has ‘General Levine’ ever signed off so surely?Or ‘Ondine’ getting up to her mischief in such ravishing waters.’Canope’, Fou Ts’ong’s favourite prelude,created such desolation before the beauty and precision of the alternating thirds prelude.’Feux d’Artifice’ was a true tone poem with the Marseillaise rising out of the distant mist at the end after the sheer exhilaration of the fireworks on display.Carlo is now the Artistic Director of the Casagrande Competition and it is good to see the rebirth of such a noble competition by an artist of Carlo’s stature.I remember the first editions in which my teacher Vlado Perlemuter was on the Jury together with Paul Badura Skoda.A great tradition overseen by Adriana Casagrande,the daughter who looked after the jury and competitions with such care.A 16 year old Alexander Lonquich created quite a stir when he won first prize.Perlemuter was very amused to see Badura Skoda on stage tuning the rather out of tune piano himself!Carlo a student of Sergio Perticaroli ,the 1952 winner of the Busoni Competition, who died after a long illness that had left him paralysed.He had the misfortune to eventually die in mid August and Carlo and I were the only people there to salute a great artist who had given so much to so many aspiring young musicians.

The Purcell School comes to Cremona with their director Paul Hoskins ready to take part in the ‘ Beyond Erasmus’ round table discussions.Together with Menuhin and Chethams,the Purcell School is the most important institution for aspiring young musicians in the UK ,where musical training goes hand in hand with academic studies .William Fong ,head of keyboard studies ,had brought with him two ex students Kira Frolu and Thomas Kelly .It was a programme of three works all written at the beginning of the twentieth century.Kira Frolu,now studying at the RAM with Tessa Nicholson,played Mac Dowell’s Fireside Tales op 61 with ravishing sounds and the unmistakable ‘American’ sound of MacDowell .She brought a sense of character to the six short pieces that ranged from languid beauty to rhythmic good humour and even incorporated capricious jazz idioms ending with the long hymn like outpouring of ‘By Smouldering Embers’.A beautiful performance of ‘Estampes’ by William Fong who despite his onerous teaching commitments at the Purcell School and the Royal Academy manages to maintain playing of the highest order.Thomas Kelly ,now at the RCM with Dmitri Alexeev,is fast making a name for himself as the Ogdon of our day.He played the 16 Variations and Fugue by Rebecca Clarke that was written whilst she was a student of Charles Villiers Stanford and discovered in the archive only in 2003.

Thomas Kelly at the National Liberal Club The ‘outrageous’ virtuoso with a heart of pure gold.

A charming and fascinating encore of six hands on one piano with Percy Granger’s ‘Zanzibar Boat Song’ in which William Fong also managed to turn the pages ,showing yet again his extraordinary versatility.