It was nice to be able to hear this young Italian pianist again via the streaming from St James’s Piccadilly .I had heard Nicolas in a church in London where due to a broken pipe this young artist had played in arctic temperatures.It was a good ‘suffered’ recital : https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/16/nicolas-ventura-at-st-mary-le-strand-elegance-and-beauty-combine-with-intelligence-and-mastery/.

The Haydn and Brahms I had heard before but today the concert began with Scriabin’s ‘Vers la flamme’.At St James’s Piccadilly this live performance had united artistry and mastery with a Fazioli piano that I have rarely heard played with such a range of sounds.There are just two notes in the Scriabin that are of piercing insistence as they are heard over a cauldron of murmuring menacing sounds.Two beacons shining brightly in this mist as the intensity builds to fever pitch until bursting into the flaming light that is Scriabin’s’ guiding star.An extraordinary control of sound and poetic sensibility as the atmosphere rose so gradually that the actual final explosion came as a mesmerising surprise and infact left Nicolas visibly depleted at the beginning of a recital where major sonatas by Haydn and Brahms were still to come.

This a different artist from the young pianist I had heard in the beautiful but chilly St Mary le Strand.An artist that can open with Vers la Flamme and then change almost immediately to the civilised charm of an elegance of another age with chameleonic ease is an artist to be reckoned with indeed.Like visiting an art gallery and walking from the ‘Impressionists’ to the ‘Renaissance’ it is a sign of the stature of this young artist that he could almost immediately enter this new world of civilised elegance and mutual anticipation .There was a clarity and sense of style with a beguiling charm with the very opening notes.Music that spoke so eloquently and Haydn’s own pedal indications ( that were later to be taken up by his most illustrious pupil ) translated into the sounds of a magical music box.A slow movement that was a cantilena of bel canto that was allowed to unfold so naturally with grace and character on a velvet carpet of sumptuous sounds.What fun there was in the last movement brought vividly to life in this young man’s poetic hands.

What drama there was with the opening of Brahms Sonata in F sharp minor .I have never heard it played with such character and orchestral sense of colour .This was a pianist whose interpretation has matured immeasurably from last November as the arresting opening flourish just opened the doors to a sumptuous voyage of discovery of beauty.Above all an architectural shape that made sense of Brahms’s seemingly rambling early Sonatas for piano.A Scherzo of orchestral colour contrasting with the beauty of the Trio in an extraordinary performance from an artist of great stature.

The Prokofiev encore was played with amazing technical and musical perfection and just a touch of showmanship – che non guasta!