Let there be fun,games ,glorious music and sumptuous food …….if music be the food of love …..play on in this festive season in Milan …….thanks to Steinway and all their wonderful sons and daughters

Oh what a wonderful party ………….with the two winners of the Steinway Young musicians contest …………..13 and 14 years old ….what talent …listen below ………….after the music strictly limited to 20 minutes the fun and games truly began in Maura Romano style.We could have danced all night ……and nearly did except midnight was in view and I am not keen on pumpkins.

Patrizia Amane Di Lena 13 year old student in Milan of Silvia Rumi winner with Mattias Glavinic of the Steinway Young Artists Contest …….
A superb Fantasy Sonata by Scriabin that at 14 is a technical challenge and at 21 a musical one ….but this young lady had it all in her fingers ,brain and heart.

A remarkable performance of youthful innocence and passion with an enviable command of the keyboard.The various strands of melody in the first movement that she magically pieced together and the driving rhythmic energy that she brought to the second movement I have rarely heard played so musically and with such simple innocent passion.

Playing on the magnificent Steinway D that sits so regally in this wonderful Flagship captained by Maura Romano…….
Calm seas and treacherous voyage are no danger here in the centre of Milan next door to the musical temple that is La Scala.
Maura is a wonderful sailor who knows how to calm the waters and encourage all those great talents that sail with her to their land of dreams.

Minkyu Kim recently gave a concert on the same piano in the highly successful series of concerts in collaboration with the Keyboard Trust captained by the indomitable Noretta Conci and John Leech.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/12/02/minkyu-kim-in-florence-and-milan/

Mattias Antonio Glavinic 14 year old student in Venice of Gianluigi Polli, winner with Patrizia Di Lena of the Steinway Young Artists Contest.
Mattias I learnt afterwards had studied in Croazia with the same teacher as Ivan Krpan who had won the Busoni Competition when he was only 20.By coincidence Ivan Krpan had played for the KT in Cyprus last night and recently played in our series in Florence :
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/03/01/ivan-krpan-busoni-2017-in-florence-mastery-and-simplicity-at-the-service-of-music/

A series ,that now thanks to Maura Romano ,is combined with Milan.
Jae-Hong Park had recently played in this same hall but on a piano that has now been sold .
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/10/jae-hong-park-in-florence-and-milan-the-poetic-sensibility-and-virtuosity-of-a-great-musician/

It was a memorable recital as was the performance by fourteen year old Mattias Glavinic today.Maura had rationed these two young artists to ten minutes each but I would have gladly listened to them for much longer – but Christmas Cheer needs time to digest and enjoy too!

Mattias played a quite remarkable ‘La Leggerezza’ concert study by Liszt.
The subtle rubato and insinuating beguiling sounds that uncurled from his delicate agile fingers reminded me of Godowsky’s famous recording :

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UXI2v_jxk0U&feature=shared .

Some things cannot be taught and this beauty of sound and flexibility of pulse is acquired unconsciously in infancy and once given the technical know how expresses itself in what we heard tonight.
Obviously he has a good teacher who does not obstruct his great natural talent but just helps it grow.
He also played Chopin’s Third Ballade – the most pastoral of the four remarkable tone poems that Chopin created for the piano.
It was a musicianly performance that showed a great command of the keyboard but also of Chopin’s very precise pedal indications that are so fundamental for the shaping of phrases and maintaining the lilting pulse of this sunniest of Ballades.
A remarkable performance for the control of his youthful love and passion for music and if I had to criticise him at the end it was only to point out the fact that the visual beauty of movement should depict the same beauty and shape of the notes on the page.
Volodos is the prime example these days, as to watch him paint the ravishing sounds he makes is like admiring a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci or a sculpture of Michelangelo.

Pianists often facilitate these movements by pianistic trickery as Mattias did today in the last great scale that plunges into the depths of the piano before the final glorious four chords.The shape of that scale should be the shape physically of the arm movement …it is a question of mind over matter …………I pointed it out to Mattias because for such a potentially great talent it is food for thought to think and ponder over and be aware of. A dimension that only the greatest of talents can understand and digest.
Mattias is just such a talent !

How lucky we are to have Maura at the helm to guide and help young musicians of the calibre we heard tonight and the two we have been privileged to hear recently from the Keyboard Trust ….
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/02/the-gift-of-music-the-keyboard-trust-at-30/

Aisa Ijiri pictured with Maura Romano gave a memorable concert here a few months ago and does so much to promote music worldwide.
She had flown in especially to be with us tonight.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/10/21/montecatini-international-piano-competition-final-in-the-historic-teatro-niccolini-in-florence/