A homage to one of Forli’s most illustrious citizen’s ,Guido Agosti,with a series of recitals organised by a fellow citizen and pianist Giuliano Tuccia.

I could not imagine a better way to celebrate one of the greatest musicians of his age than with the concert I heard last night by Serena Valluzzi.
A eclectic programme of Debussy,De Severac and Albeniz that created a magic atmosphere of foreign lands joined by a poetic link of subtle ravishing sounds.It was though the musicianship of Serena that allowed her to delve deep into the heart of these atmospheric works and get to the very core of the creation with the respect and musicianship that were the fundamental principles of Guido Agosti.
Serena I had noted at the Busoni Competition and had been impressed by the simplicity and beauty of her playing of ‘Gaspard de la Nuit’.It was later that Louis Lortie,who had been the chairman of the jury,who confided how impressed he too had been by her extraordinary musicianship and sensitivity to sound.She was infact awarded a top prize in Bolzano.

‘Gaspard’ has long been a war horse for virtuosi to show off their wares at the expense of the poetic content that Ravel had depicted.
Agosti in Siena in exasperation would exhort the pianists who flocked to his studio every year from all over the globe not to play too loudly and to follow exactly what the composer had written.
The rock on which an interpretation is founded are the indications left by the composer in the score.It is only when that is understood and mastered that a performer can add his own colours and personality like a painter to his canvas.

Agosti was a great admirer of Debussy and he chose the Preludes book 2 as the programme he gave at the Chigiana in Siena for his 80th birthday.It is one of the few recordings of this great pianist whose humility and dedication to music made public performances a torment for him.

The world would flock to his studio in Siena for thirty years where he was in total command and at ease and it was there that we would hear sounds we would never forget.
A legend was truly born.
And it is this legend that the young pianist Giuliano Tuccia wants his fellow citizens to remember and recognise.

What better way than with Serena ,a complete musician,playing Debussy’s magical ‘Estampes’.The subtle sounds of ‘Pagodes’,the beguiling insinuating ‘Soirées dans Grenade’ and the delicate patter of ‘Jardins sous la Pluie’ was turned into a magic land of subtle sounds and ravishing technical mastery.

A very interesting choice was of a fascinating work by Deodat De Severac :Cerdana ,Cinq etudes pittoresques.What a kaleidoscope of colours and sensitive virtuosity she showed us with a transcendental control of sound that was indeed the principle hallmark of Agosti.
I remember hearing Richter for the first time in London and being astonished at how quietly he could play and with what control between pianissimo and mezzo forte .Of course there were the passionate animal like explosion too but it was here that I began to truly understand Agosti when he would exhort the pianists with ‘troppo forte ….no…..no….piano …piano ‘ as he would push the students hand nearer to the keys so they could feel the sound in their fingertips rather than falling from on high like a sledge hammer.

Serena told me afterwards that it has been Aldo Ciccolini who had discovered the music of De Severac and had recorded the entire piano works too.It is good to see another great musician like Serena continuing this campaign for music that is inexplicably rarely heard in the concert hall.
The beguiling constant pitter patter of El Albaicin by Albeniz was exactly the right work to finish this short homage to the genius of Agosti.
I have heard him teach and explain this work many times and can hear him now as he intoned the music with his passionate hypnotic humming as he demonstrated and ignited the passion in the students before him.And how he would suddenly inflame the piano with passionate abandon as Serena did today too with flames of the same searing intensity.

Another miniature by De Severac was the enchanting encore that Serena offered today and will have me rushing back home to find out more of this greatly neglected composer.

Giuliano writes :’Non posso fare altro che dire grazie a Daniele Ceraolo per la bellissima performance di ieri sera. Un recital focalizzato su Beethoven e Debussy con una padronanza e ricchezza di suono ineguagliabili. Pubblico molto attento alle atmosfere sonore create all’interno della Fabbrica delle Candele. Felice di confermare Daniele per il prossimo anno!’

The third recital in this festival dedicated to Guido Agosti was given by the Russian pianist Roman Salyutov.A pianist who received his early training at the St Petersburg Conservatory where he graduated in 2008 .He continued his studies in Cologne at the Hochschule where he obtained his Masters in 2010 and in 2011 a doctorate from Paderborn University with his thesis on the pianistic works of Cesar Franck.

Since then he has pursued a career not only as solo pianist and chamber musician but also as conductor of various orchestras that he has founded.
In 2018 he was decorated with a distinction for his cultural activities from the city of Bergisch Gladbach where since 2013 he has been principal conductor of the Symphony Orchestra in that city near Cologne.He has also founded the first German – Israeli Orchestra -the Yachad Chamber Orchestra that performs not only in Germany but also in Israel,Lithuania,Poland and France.As a musicologist and pianist he also is regularly invited to give masterclasses.An eclectic musician who on this occasion had driven from Zurich to take part in this new festival in Forlì organised by fellow pianist Giuliano Tuccia.

A programme that demonstrated to the full his extraordinary qualities as virtuoso and musician.

The concert opened with the poignant virtuosity of Liszt’s variations on Bach’s ‘Weinen,Klagen,Sorgen,Zagen’.A work written by Liszt in a very difficult time of his life with the death of his two children.It is an outpouring of grandiose moments of great exuberance contrasting with moments of intimate reflection and beauty .This massive set of variations was written by Franz Liszt when two of his three children had died within three years of each other; he had resigned his position of Kapellmeister to the court of Weimar due to continued opposition to his music, and finally his long sought marriage to Princess Caroline Wittgenstein had been thwarted by political intrigue. Written after Liszt joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and during a time of deep personal tragedy, it reflects both Liszt’s religious journey and his coping with suffering and shows daring explorations of chromaticism that pushed the limits of tonality. It was arranged for organ one year after the piano version was composed and became one of his best-known compositions for organ.The work dates from 1862 and was motivated by the death of Liszt’s elder daughter, Blandine and is dedicated to Anton Rubinstein.

Roman gave a truly virtuoso performance with his long relaxed arms hovering above the keys like eagles swooping in on their prey.A totally committed performance of great technical command and of course being also a noted conductor he could see the whole architectural shape of this heart rending masterpiece by Liszt.His technical mastery and facility together with a great sense of style was to bring the concert later to an exciting conclusion with the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody that Liszt had penned for himself to play when he and Paganini were the considered to be the greatest showmen on earth.Roman in almost improvisatory mood could shift from the seductive zigane melodies to the wild traditional dance to the complete brass band .There were moments in which he created the delicate atmosphere of seduction with searing melodies of sumptuous colours and with his chameleonic sense of style could switch to the breathtaking rhythmic excitement that had the refined ladies of the salons of the day reduced to screaming wild animals trying to get a snatch of this Devil’s hair perchance to dream of their idol.

It was after such a scintillating ending to a long concert that Roman played as an encore Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor op posth and the heavens opened to show us a world of refined elegance and bel canto playing of quite exquisite beauty.Roman had laid aside his indefatigable technical resources to show the pure simple beauty that were also in his long delicate fingers.

The main work in this excellently presented programme was the last of Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas: op 111.Part of the final trilogy of Sonatas that had followed Beethoven’s career from the first Sonatas op 2 dedicated to his teacher Haydn through the tumultuous ‘Appassionata’ op 57 and ‘Hammerklavier’ op 106 to the sublime climax after a tumultuous and difficult life .This final trilogy op 109,op.110 and op 111 were written when Beethoven was completely deaf and he could only hear the music in his inner ear .The marvel of such genius is that he could still write down in the score such minute indications of his intentions for posterity.Roman played the opening ‘Maestoso’ with grandeur and intelligence playing the mighty opening leaps with one hand and throwing down the gauntlet that was to allow him to risk and push to the limits Beethoven’s Allegro con brio .Music boiling at 100 degrees (as Perlemuter described it to me) with only momentary gasps coming up for air with simple ravishing moments of peace.Roman threw himself into the fray with heroic abandon maybe just a little too fast for comfort but it had us sitting on the edge of our seats as he brought this first movement to a close without ever conceding the tempo .The Sonata in C minor ending in C major the key for the celestial heights that Beethoven was to reveal in his final ‘Arietta’ and variations.’Adagio molto,semplice e cantabile’ was played with beauty and simplicity the variations allowed to flow so naturally .There was a continuous hidden undercurrent that was to take us to the tumultuous third variation before the fragmented disintegration of the Arietta only to return triumphantly before ascending into celestial heights .Celestial heights where trills were mere vibrations on which Beethoven could float the beautiful arietta having arrived at a vision of sublime beauty that only Beethoven could foresee.Roman managed to see the entire movement as one and showed us with his superb musicianship the architectural shape of this revolutionary sonata.

Roman took Chopin at his word with a Polonaise that was made of pure fantasy.Deeply felt,there were moments of great beauty and passionate abandon but the title Polonaise – Fantasie had signified for Roman a freedom and liberty with the score that slightly dissected a revolutionary new form into a series of beautiful episodes rather than a complete whole. Many of Chopin’s indications were played in the ‘traditional’ way of a different era.

It was to the Etudes- Tableaux that Roman came into his own with his superb technical command and ravishing sense of colour.They were six miniature tone poems with the call to arms of the E flat op 33 followed by the glorious simplicity of the G minor op 33.The A minor op 39 was bathed in pedal with it’s beautiful nostalgic melody leading to an overpowering climax of passion and excitement.There was something of monumental grandeur to the final C sharp minor Etude – Tableaux op 33 that was breathtaking with it’s tumultuous orchestral sounds.

Tonight our host plays a duo recital with the violinist Emiliano Gennari that I am sorry to miss.But Giuliano will make his solo recital debut at Steinway Hall in London on the 7th February for the Keyboard Trust that I will certainly not miss.I will shake the hand of a talented young musician who has been the first to have the courage and skill to organise concerts in their home town of Forlì dedicated to Guido Agosti one of the greatest and most influential musicians of his age .

Giuliano Tuccia writes : ‘Bravissimo Emiliano Gennari, è riuscito a distinguersi in un recital per pianoforte e violino con grande entusiasmo. La Rassegna Guido Agosti si conclude in bellezza, con musiche di W.A.Mozart e L.V.Beethoven. Ringrazio amici, parenti e le poche persone che hanno preso parte a questa splendida rassegna di altissimo livello. Ringrazio anche Christopher Axworthy, che ho avuto modo di conoscere dal vivo ed ospitare a casa mia. Abbiamo fatto visita a Guido Agosti al cimitero monumentale di Forlì ed è stato veramente toccante; un evento che non dimenticherò mai. Ringrazio il mio consiglio direttivo formato da Chiara Bolognesi e Arcangelo Pinto. Ringrazio Marco Viroli perché forse è stato l’unico ad appoggiare questa iniziativa, e senza il quale, questo non sarebbe potuto accadere. Non vedo l’ora di organizzare la seconda edizione ad aprile/maggio 2024. Grazie!! A presto.’

Guido Agosti (11 August 1901 – 2 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and renowned for his yearly summer course in Siena frequented by all the major musicians of the age.It was on the express wish of Alfredo Casella that Agosti took over his class which he did for the next thirty years.Sounds heard in his studio have never been forgotten.

Agosti was born in Forli 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldiand earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterpoint under Benvenuti and literature at Bologna University. He commenced his professional career as a pianist in 1921. Although he never entirely abandoned concert-giving, nerves made it difficult for him to appear on stage,and he concentrated on teaching. He taught piano at the Venice Conservatoire and at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome.In 1947 he was appointed Professor of piano at the Accademia Chigiana Siena .He also taught at Weimar and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

His notable students include Maria Tipo,Yonty Solomon Leslie Howard,Hamish Milne,Martin Jones,Ian Munro,Dag Achat,Raymond Lewenthal,Ursula Oppens,Kun- Woo Paik,Peter Bithell.He made very few recordings; there is a recording of op 110 from the Ghione theatre in Rome together with his recording on his 80th birthday concert in Siena of Debussy preludes .

He first studied in Toulouse, then later moved to Paris to study under Vincent d’Indy and Albéric Magnard at the Scuola Cantorum , an alternative to the training offered by the Paris Conservatoire . There he took organ lessons from Alexandre Guilmant and worked as an assistant to Isaac Albéniz. He returned to the southern part of France, where he spent much of the rest of his rather short life. His native south was a region that attracted a number of his contemporaries—artists and poets he had met in Paris.His opera Héliogabale was produced at Bézier in 1910.Séverac is noted for his vocal and choral music, which includes settings of verse in Occitan (the historic language of Languedoc) and Catalan (the historic language of Roussillon)as well as French poems by Verlaine and Baudelaire .His compositions for solo piano have also won critical acclaim, and many of them were titled as pictorial evocations and published in the collections Chant de la terre, En Languedoc, and En vacances.

A popular example of his work is The Old Musical Box (“Où l’on entend une vieille boîte à musique”, from En vacances). His masterpiece, however, is the piano suite Cerdaña (written 1904–1911), filled with the local color of Languedoc.His motet Tantum ergo is also still in current use in church settings.

Selected compositions

Operas

• Les Antibels (1907, lost) based on a novel by Émile Pouvillon
• Le Cœur du moulin, poème lyrique in two acts (1908)
• Héliogabale, tragédie lyrique in three acts (1910)
• Le Roi Pinard, opérette (1919)

Works for Piano

• Le Chant de la terre (1900)
• En Languedoc (1904)
• Le Soldat de plombe (1904), for piano duet
• Baigneuses au soleil (1908)
• Cerdaña. 5 Études pittoresques (1904–1911)
• En vacances. Petites pièces romantiques (1912)
• Sous les lauriers roses (1919)
• Où l’on entend une vieille boîte à musique (An Old Music Box)

Chamber music

• Barcarolle (1898), flute and piano
• Élégie héroique (1918), violin/cello and piano/organ
• Trois Recuerdos & Cortège nuptial catalan (1919), string quintet and brass
• Minyoneta (1919), violin and piano
• Souvenirs de Céret (1919), violin and piano

Choral music

• Sant Félix (1900)
• Mignonne allons voir si la rose (1901)
• La Cité (1909)
• Sorèze et Lacordaire (1911)
• Sainte Jeanne de Lorraine (1913)

Songs

• numerous art songs, including À l’aube dans la montagne (1906) and Flors d’Occitania

Aldo Ciccolini plays Cerdana :https://youtube.com/watch?v=O2QvORxyGvk&feature=shared