Cremona Musica ……2023 Day 3 The day of reckoning

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

Last but certainly not least a round table discussion with many experts from institutions around the world ;’Beyond Erasmus’ Musical Education Abroad and Across Institutions………mediated by Roberto Prosedda it can be seen on the Cremona Musica web site .

https://fb.watch/niIEhlTcAS/

The presentation of Michele Campanella’s ‘The Possible Breviary of The Pianist’ A short impassioned encounter with a legendary name and a pianist that I still can remember from my student days being so overwhelmed by his performance of Mussorgsky ‘Pictures ‘ in the suggestive atmosphere of the amphitheatre in Fiesole.He was a young man at the start of an illustrious career and now at 76 he can share words of wisdom from a lifetime’s experience of concertising.’Speed is not a good thing for our society’- ‘Pauses thought out but not lived’- ‘the importance of theatre to realise how punctuation in fundamental in understanding the meaning’.I could only stay for a very short glimpse of this idol of my youth but it was enough to realise what food for thought there must be in his book.
Boris Petrushansky the Maestro of Maestros invited to Cremona by Roberto Prosedda,an ex student from Imola Academy where most of the pianist playing today have studied.Persuaded to play and apologising that he was not prepared.But a true artist is never truly prepared but their great artistry is evident for all to see.Beauty of sound and exquisite phrasing together with an architectural control in Schubert’s Impromptu op 142 n.2 held us in his spell as only the truly great can do ‘at the drop of a hat’

Roberto Prosedda applauding his Maestro

Ever generous and glad to be photographed with Elia Cecino one of the finest musicians of his generation and a star very much in ascent.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/01/22/elia-cecino-at-the-quirinale-in-rome-realms-of-gold-in-the-presidents-palace/

Just next door was the amazing Jed Distler not only one of the finest critics (with the late Piero Rattalino and Bryce Morrison pianophiles who have no peers). But Jed is also a pianist to be reckoned with as he demonstrated with an eclectic programme where the palette of sounds he found on the Bosendorfer 280 would be the envy of his illustrious colleagues.An ease and ‘ joie de vivre’ that like his great friend Inna Faliks fills the hall with a very special happy atmosphere with supreme intelligence and mastery.Jed had just performed in London Mahler 2nd Symphony in a four hand arrangement together with Gabriele Baldocci a protégée of Martha Argerich.Ever generous he and Inna were taken by Roberto to Rovigo Conservatory where they gave masterclasses immediately after the Cremona Musica Fair.Jed wrote to me this morning exclaiming how impressed he was with Roberto’s students and in particular a young man who had been acting as a volunteer in Cremona and then gave an amazing performance of Cesar Franck ….’one of the best he has ever heard’.

Alessio Santolini at Roma 3 the fantasy and invention of a composer pianist

Alessio Santolini and Francesca Antonucci two students of Roberto Prosedda at Rovigo Conservatory in the masterclass of Jed Distler and Inna Faliks immediately after the Cremona Fair. .
https://www.youtube.com/live/pAoDYqnb8q4?feature=shared
Jed Distler
Masterclass in Rovigo with Jed Distler in persuasive mood.
Jed with Elia Cecino whose CD he had played on his radio programme in New York :”Beyond the Keys’ so needed no introduction from me!

A final afternoon in which many performances overlapped and I was sorry to miss, including a recital by Alessandro Riccardi but I look forward to listening to his CD’s

Preludi e sonetti italiani


G. F. Malipiero (1882-1973): Preludi autunnali


F. Liszt (1811-1886): Sonetto “Tanto gentile e tanto onesta”


Tre Sonetti del Petrarca


Selezionato tra i migliori pianisti diplomati nei conservatori italiani nel 2014, Alessandro Riccardi ha partecipato ai festival pianistici del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, al Festival Pianistico Scriabin e Rachmaninov di Kjustendil (Bulgaria), alla “Giovine Orchestra Genovese” di Genova e al Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Ferruccio Busoni” di Bolzano. Ha conseguito il Diploma di Laurea in Pianoforte con lode nel 2014 presso il Conservatorio Pietro Mascagni di Livorno, sotto la guida di Marco Baraldi e Monica Cecchi. Ha proseguito gli studi pianistici con Cristiano Burato presso il Conservatorio Claudio Monteverdi di Bolzano, dove ha conseguito il Diploma di Master in Piano Solo Performance con il massimo dei voti nel 2017. Ha studiato con Robert Palmer e James Helton presso la Ball State University di Muncie, Indiana (USA), per conseguire l’Artist Diploma in Piano Performance. Ha approfondito il repertorio di Chopin presso l’Accademia Musicale Karol Szymanowski di Katowice (Polonia) frequentando le masterclass di Andrzej Jasiński e Wojciech Šwitała.


Nel 2017 Alessandro è stato selezionato per suonare il Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra di Schumann in tour accompagnato dall’Orchestra Sinfonica Monteverdi. Ha inoltre vinto le audizioni Monteverdi per tenere recital di pianoforte solo nella Krzysztof Penderecki Concert Hall di Radom (Polonia) e nella Athanas Kurtiev Concert Hall di Kjustendil (Bulgaria). Ha effettuato tournée in Europa e in America, suonando da solista e con orchestra. Tra le varie sedi in cui si è esibito figurano il Palais des Congrès (Parigi), la Wiener Stadthalle (Vienna), il Teatro degli Arcimboldi (Milano), l’Auditoria Forum (Barcellona), il Palacio Vistalegre (Madrid), il Palacio Euskalduna (Bilbao) l’Hallenstadion (Zurigo), la Porche Arena (Stoccarda), l’Heineken Music Hall (Amsterdam), l’Indiana Wesleyan University (Marion, IN, USA) e l’Università di Yukatàn (Mérida, Messico). Alessandro è stato premiato con il primo premio all’VIII Concorso Nazionale di Musica “Val Di Sole”, al XII Concorso Nazionale di Musica “Bardolino” (VR, Italia) e al Concorso “Rotary Club Mascagni Livorno”, con il secondo premio al Concorso Pianistico Matinée Musicale di Indianapolis, al Concorso Pianistico di Livorno e nel 2018 è stato uno dei 100 partecipanti selezionati al Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “F. Busoni”.


Alessandro ha insegnato pianoforte alla Ball State University di Muncie nel 2019 e nel 2020, alla Scuola di Musica “Vivaldi” di Bolzano (Italia) e ha tenuto masterclass all’Università di Yukatán a Mérida (Messico) e a Terni (Italia) durante il “Festival Internazionale dei Colli” in collaborazione con l’Università di Łódź (Polonia). Nel 2019, durante una tournée in Messico, ha tenuto un recital sul repertorio di Scriabin: Alexander Scriabin, the Romantic Soul of the Early Piano Works. Nel 2020 ha registrato il suo primo album per pianoforte per Da Vinci Publishing: Alexander Scriabin, The Early Piano Works, che include la Ballata incompiuta Ahn. 14 in prima incisione mondiale. Il CD è stato accolto con favore dal Presidente dell’Associazione Alexander Scriabin di Mosca, Alexandr Serafimovich Scriabin, parente del compositore russo. Alessandro è attualmente docente presso il Conservatorio Fausto Torrefranca di Vibo Valentia (Italia).
I did not want to miss the fascinating talk by Eric Schoones that had so intrigued me with our conversation on the bus that morning .A presentation of the German Edition of his book :’Walking Up the Mountain Track- The Zen Way to Enlightened Musicianship’.Talking about great pianists and International Piano Competitions.
The Cremona Music award to Steven Isserlis where I was just able to hear he and Roberto play Casals’ ‘Song of the Birds’ in a hall that I have rarely seen so full.Roberto and Steven I had known in Sermoneta when Roberto ,then artistic director of the Pontine Festival, had invited Steven to play a work by Mendelssohn that Roberto had found in the archives and that had never been performed.Recording for Hyperion the most enlightened of recording companies,I was at the festival with Angela Hewitt also a Hyperion artist with whom she recorded the complete works of Bach.
What fun we all had in the town where Roberto was born with two Hyperion artists meeting for the first time up a mountain in the middle of Italy.
Now all established artists with important careers but united around Roberto and Alessandra with mutual admiration and friendship.
I was only able to catch the Scarlatti encore of Greta’s recital and was sorry to miss Chopin’s B minor Sonata having been able to admire her musicianship and technical mastery in one of Scarlatti’s most enticingly rhythmic Sonatas .

Having missed completely Atso Almila’s presentation of the ‘Finnish Conducting School’ that we had spoken about over breakfast – I just hope that I can’t catch up with the recordings that were made of the live stream.A man that exudes the simplicity of the truly great I would dearly love to hear all that he has to say about the wonderful Finnish conductors that are taking over as Principal conductors of many of the greatest orchestras of the world .Finally I was able to enjoy some ravishing Debussy from Saya Ota in the Fazioli Concert Hall.Ondine and Feux d’Artifice played with a crystalline clarity and wonderful use of the pedals creating the same magic atmosphere as Carlo Guaitoli had done on this beautiful instrument only 24 hours before.

A Schumann Carnaval played with great style as one would expect from a student of Magarius at the Academy of Imola.Some beautifully stylish playing of great authority even though I was not totally convinced by her rather detached Pierrot.
Coquette was played to absolute perfection as was Chopin the aristocrat with a heart of gold.But the best was still to come with a scintillating performance of Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase .A Strauss paraphrase ‘Soirées de Vienne’ by Grunfeld ( not Rosenthal) was played with irresistible charm and ease and was a world that ignited her imagination and for me was a memorable way to close these wonderful three days immersed in a world of dreams .
Pasquale Evangelista who I had heard in Angela Hewitt’s masterclasses in Perugia a month ago.I remember his Fauré Ballade that Angela was so happy to listen to – she has recorded it twice but it is a rarity in the concert hall these days.
Recently transferred to Cremona I suggested he came to Cremona Musica to meet many interesting people from the world of music.A student of Orazio Maione he is now studying in Paris with Francois-Joel Thiollier and is a name to watch out for.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/24/angelas-generosity-and-infectious-song-and-dance-inspires-her-illustrious-students/
Danieli Longo flown in especially from the Conservatory in San Paolo in Brazil
William Fong of the Purcell School enjoying every minute of this feast of music in Cremona
Well I had said I would forgive him if he played from the score as this was a one off performance sandwiched between Rachmaninoff First Sonata and Brahms B flat and Schumann Concertos …………..so would you mind turning the pages for me …….always the perfect gentleman !
Cremona is above all this ………What marvels there are to be seen in this city where dreams become reality .

The entire cast of the Saturday evening concert in the Museo del violino

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