Hats off …The Chappell Gold Medal has uncovered a genius

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

Fun and Games at the Royal College and the discovery of a great artist

Florence Harold Acton Library Tuesday 27th and Milan Thursday 29th February at 19th

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/02/the-gift-of-music-the-keyboard-trust-at-30/

Chappell Gold Medal to Magdalene Ho :
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/08/magdalene-ho-the-genial-clara-haskil-winner-at-19-takes-leighton-house-by-storm/

Hopkinson Gold Medal to Misha Kaploukhii
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/15/misha-kaploukhii-at-st-jamess-piccadilly-the-intelligence-and-maturity-of-a-young-master/

Hopkinson Silver Medal to Diana Cooper https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/02/18/diana-cooper-at-st-jamess-piccadilly-an-impeccable-musician-of-refined-good-taste/


All six finalist played magnificently but when you are up against Genius – noblesse oblige applies and we can all just look on and admire in awe.

The distinguished ,critic,commentator ,pianist and composer Jed Distler flown in especially from New York for this prestigious piano competition.


Jed Distler’s astonished words on hearing Magdalene was :’This is the real thing!’ ……………….well I did tell you Jed !
And I have been shouting it from the rooftops since hearing her at Joan Chissell’s Schumann prize a year ago.
An 8th Novelette more beautiful than Richters ……unbelievable but miracles can happen.

Grace Dong .A well oiled Haydn in which her agile fingers spun Haydn’s fine web of sounds but missed a little of the charm and style that she was only to find in the beautiful Adagio.A kaleidoscope of colours in Estampes and some very beautiful moments in Liszt’s tragic tale of Hero and Leander but where the great sweeps of sound in the virtuoso passages were strangely divorced from this harrowing tale .
https://youtube.com/live/nFAoqKblBx0?feature=shared
Thomas Luke winner at 16 in 2020 of the BBC young musician keyboard prize.Now at the age of 19 he gave a beautiful performance of Scriabin’s Fantasy Sonata that was played with sumptuous sounds and technical assurance.If his Bach and Haydn were a little too earthbound and Chopin’s dynamics a little exaggerated he is learning to fly under the artistic guidance of Alim Baesembayev and Vanessa Latarche who are sure to give him the wings to fly ever higher.
Diana Cooper from the class of Norma Fisher showed herself to be a real artist .Mozart of great beauty even if the Allegretto was taken at breakneck speed.Scarlatti that had been like a spring being released and more ‘ toccata’ than dance .An astonishing Alborada and a ravishing Oiseaux tristes .The beauty of the Andante Spianato suddenly became a Polonaise that was more ‘brillante’ than scintillating and beguiling.
Competitions are for horses and being forced to jump hurdles faster and higher than another can lead to a born artist sacrificing quality for quantity.
Competative music making is obviously not for an artist of Diana’s stature .

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Misha I have followed his career since his first performance three years ago of Rachmaninov First Concerto in Cadogan Hall .Last month I heard his masterly performance of the Fourth Concerto with his friends and colleagues joined together at St James’s for music making with youthful expertise and joy.
Misha’s Beethoven was of a maturity way beyond his 21 years.Astonishing performances of the intricate meanderings of Bartok were crowned with Godowsky’s Fledermaus played with the charm and astonishingly subtle virtuosity of a bygone age .
What can I say ……..music speaks louder than words and all those present to hear her Scriabin’s 7th were as overwhelmed with her performance as she was with her musical discovery.A discovery of Fou Ts’ongs wife in Malaysia when she was a schoolgirl with a massive talent . Ts’ong was the greatest genius I have ever known and Patsy was at his side for a lifetime – you see it takes one to recognise one.Ts’ong learnt the Schumann op 6 specially for me in my concert series in Rome where he gave innumerable recitals and masterclasses. It is a very elusive work that if you fall one way it can be too exaggerated and if you fall another it can be too rigid.You have to have the courage to get up onto the high wire to arbitrate and where Schumann tries to unite Florestan with Eusebius.
Magdalene has just such courage and held us spell bound and overwhelmed by Schumann’s poetic fantasy world.
The regal presence of Ilayda was reflected in her playing of refined elegance .Some impish ornamentation in the Mozart of a Sonata that was played like the Scarlatti with very beautiful rich sound.Her most successful performance was the Scriabin 9th Sonata where she found its elusive architectural shape and a wide range of colours .The study by Saygun was astonishing and overwhelming and a wonderful way to finish this exciting day of piano playing before awaiting the result of a winner who had passed through the most hoops successfully!
All the fun of the circus indeed.
I wonder sometimes how Michelangelo would have fared with Leonardo Da Vinci in a similar contest of artistic integrity !
Vanessa Latarche who I have known from when she was the star student of Miss Rowe in Ealing .Now the head of Keyboard at the RCM and with many other responsabilites and accolades world wide she has remained the same Vanessa of yore with the same unforgettable dedication that Miss Rowe bequeathed to us all

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/03/21/vanessa-latarche-comes-home/
Jed Distler Ann Martin- Davis Lara Melda our ringmasters
Davide Sagliocca and wife Joelle Partner with the greatest page turner the world has ever known : Mike Oldham
Misha with Lara Melda

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/03/16/lara-melda-ravished-seduced-and-enriched-by-her-poetryintelligence-and-golden-sounds/
Jed Distler with Diana Cooper

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/03/11/bruce-liu-takes-london-by-storm/
The Chappell Gold Medal being presented to Magdalene Ho by Ann Martin -Davis
Refreshing to see these young artists united with courage and friendship in their quest for a life in music .

2 risposte a "Hats off …The Chappell Gold Medal has uncovered a genius"

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