Mese: marzo 2024

I think five years have passed since I first heard Phillip play in Perivale.He won a top prize in the Liszt Society Competition and later was invited to stand in at the last minute for an indisposed pianist.The difference now in five years is quite astonishing as a fine student pianist has turned into a real artist .Could it be the air in Scotland which is where he has been perfecting his studies after finishing at Trinity Laban in London? A pianist now who listens so carefully to all he does and plays with great sensitivity and sense of colour.Never a hard sound but his very pianistic fingers are like limpets clinging to each key and extracting the sounds they contain without any unnecessary hitting the keys or extrovert showmanship.

A beautiful programme that gave Phillip the possibility to explore the beautiful sounds that are hidden in this box of hammers and strings for those with ears to search and extract them.Of course one needs a sense of balance and musicianship allied to a technical preparation not only of the fingers but above all the use of the pedals.It was Anton Rubinstein who said the pedals are the soul of the piano and a careful use of the pedals allied to a sense of balance can give the impression that this percussion instrument can sing as well as any singer!Phillip showed us all that today.

I remember the great pedagogue Guido Agosti in his studio in Siena where every pianist worth his sort would flock for inspiration from a student of Busoni. A young Canadian pianist had just played the Goldberg Variations and thought he would bring some pieces of Mompou to the great master. Agosti took the music from the stand and put it in the waste paper bin saying ‘Now play me some music!’ Times have changes since the sixties and seventies and Mompou has now been revalued and many great pianists have made recordings of his works .It is music of miniatures of great delicacy with a kaleidoscope of colours and as Phillip showed us today it is music of great beauty and atmosphere.There is a wistful fluidity to the music with a gentle murmur of evocative sounds with splashes of colours spread over the entire keyboard.There were beautiful pungent sounds too in the Carros de Galicia with a beautifully etched melodic line.

Tchaikowsky’s Dumka is a miniature tone poem that Phillip played with great artistry with the beautiful opening melody gradually building in intensity with cascades of notes gently accompanying the melodic line.A beautifully quixotic central episode was just a gentle interlude before the final dramatic ending.

The Schumann is unjustly neglected because it is a work of great beauty of Schubertian contrasts.There was a great sweep to the opening ,’molto vivace ed appassionatamente’, and Phillip played it with a freedom and sense of style allowing the melodic line to float with refined rubato on the continuous wave of swirling sounds.The ‘Piuttosto Lento’ of the second movement was played with disarming simplicity and beauty and if the phrasing of the ‘etwas bewegter’ central episode was not as clear this may well have been Schumann’s elusive character just interrupting what was so obviously inspired by Schubert. The last movement ‘con forza ed assai marcato’ was played with rhythmic clarity and spirit and again here the elusive central episode was not always so clearly defined as it reappears in the coda like Eusebius interrupting the high jinx of Florestan.

It was Shura Cherkassky who I first heard play Schumann’s op 111 as a prelude to the Liszt B minor Sonata .Today Phillip played them as a prelude to the Franck Prelude Chorale and Fugue which was the work that Richter chose as a prelude to the Liszt sonata!

The César Franck was given a performance of an architectural form managing to shape the three movements into one unified whole.The Chorale in particular was played with simplicity and a beautiful sense of line with the expansive arpeggiando chords unfolding with ravishing beauty.If in the outer movements there were moments when rests were pedalled over and details smudged it was because he felt it so intensely as he allowed the music to move unrelentingly forward leading to the climax out of which the opening melody appears on a magic wave of sounds as it reaches the triumphant conclusion.A fine performance from a true musician.

British pianist, Phillip Leslie is known for his captivating playing and diverse programming. Praised for his sense of “culture and refinement” by the Liszt Society he has received considerable acclaim for his performances across the UK and Europe. He has been described by ESM as a “tour-de-force” and has performed extensively across the UK and Europe. His concert engagements include performances at Salle Cortot, Steinway Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Castellon Auditorio & the Wigmore Hall and made his ‘Emerging Artist’ debut recital at the Usher Hall this season. A prize winner of the Anton Rubinstein International Piano Competition in 2023, he recently won First Prize and ‘Best Interpretation of a Swedish work’ at the Gothenbur International Piano Competition in Sweden. He is a laureate of the Liszt International Piano Competition (UK), EPTA Piano Competition, Vienna International Piano Competition, Jock Holden Mozart Prize and a finalist in the Beethoven Society of Europe Competition in 2021. Named a Park Lane Group Artist in 2018, he made his Southbank Centre debut in 2019. Phillip has been broadcast on BBC Radio and performed for the BBC Philharmonic Chamber Recitals at the Bridgewater Hall. He has collaborated with orchestras including the Scottish Sinfonia and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras. Educated at Trinity Laban, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, RNCM & L’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, he received the Weingarten Prize and Silver Medal Keyboard Award for his studies in London. His teachers have included Philip Fowke, Alexander Ardakov, Margaret Fingerhut, Kathryn Stott & Aaron Shorr.

Three Fantasiestücke for piano, Op. 111, composed in 1851, is one of four works by Schumann entitled Fantasiestücke. The other three are:

• Fantasiestucke op 12 (1837), eight pieces for solo piano, also based on Hoffmann’s Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier
• Fantasiestucke op 73 ( 1849), three pieces for clarinet and piano (violin or cello)
• Phantasiestücke, Op. 88 (1842), for piano, violin and cello in four movements

The title was inspired by the collection of letters and writings about music published in 1814–1815, Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier by E.T.A. Hoffmann one of Schumann’s favourite authors. The composer greatly appreciated the 17th-century engraver’s sense of fantasy.Clara Schumann wrote in her diary in September 1851 : “Robert has composed three piano pieces of a grave and passionate character which I like very much.”

Mompou is best known as a miniaturist, writing short, relatively improvisatory music, often described as “delicate” or “intimate”.His principal influences were French impressionism, Erik Satie and Gabriel Fauré, resulting in a style in which musical development is minimised and expression is concentrated into very small forms. He was fond of ostinato figures, bell imitations (his mother’s family owned the Dencausse bell foundry and his grandfather was a bell maker),and a kind of incantatory, meditative sound, the most complete expression of which can be found in his masterpiece Musica Callada (or the Voice of Silence) based on the mystical poetry of Saint John of the cross .He was also influenced by the sounds and smells of the maritime quarter of Barcelona, the cry of seagulls, the sound of children playing and popular Catalan culture. He often dispensed with bar lines and key signatures. His music is rooted in the chord G♭–C–E♭–A♭–D, which he named Barri de platja (the Beach Quarter).

A full hall for the annual recital by Sokolov at the Academy of Santa Cecilia.Today with Maurizio Pollini being honoured by La Scala with his 169th appearance on that hallowed stage. The President and Artistic Director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia,Michele dall’Ongaro, offered his heartfelt condolences from the stage where our beloved living legend had performed for a lifetime but will now no longer appear in his much anticipated annual performances.

But what a wonderful tribute to a master to hear Bach played with the same crystalline simplicity from Sokolov today with Bach’s Four Duets and his Second Partita.
The music just seemed to flow so naturally from Sokolov’s hands with a beauty and clarity of art that conceals art as he seems to do nothing but manages to recount a universe.
There is such subtle control of sound that Sokolov can pin point certain details in Bach’s knotty twine without ever disturbing the pulse or even the dynamic range.Even the majestic opening of the Second Partita was imperious without ever stepping out of the dimension of sound that he had established with the opening four duets .The first duet sounded in this way so modern with its daring clashing counterpoints .There was featherlight passage work in the second with delicacy,beauty and clarity .The gentle meandering of the third was followed by the whispered entry in the bass of the fourth.

Even the second partita was played in a contemplative mood where the Allemande was allowed to flow so beautifully with the Courante slightly more robust as though he had only moved to a different register .He returned though to the gently chiselled sounds of the Sarabande before the rhythmic vitality of the Rondeau and the decisive almost imperious Capriccio.The Grave adagio of the opening was played with absolute clarity with dynamic energy driven by the rests in between such noble statements.The Andante emerged from this imperious opening statement and was barely whispered as it flowed like a great singer sotto voce with the gentle rise and fall of the phrases that were allowed to breathe and flow so naturally.Bursting unexpectedly into life after the long beautiful ornaments of Bach’s aristocratic Bel Canto.A remarkable conversation was started between the parts as the chattering phrases were imperceptibly highlighted with technical masterly control always guided by the mind of a master musician.

Seven Chopin Mazurkas where whispered confessions of ravishing beauty showed us that these were ‘canons covered in flowers ‘ as they were the true Poland that had remained in Chopin’s heart during a lifetime of exile from his homeland.

The four op 30 began with Allegretto but as Chopin asks ‘non tanto’ as there are the yearning phrases in Sokolov’s hands played with disarming simplicity before almost taking flight but ‘con anima’ always as it unwinds it’s way so subtly to the yearning of the opening.A slightly more robust dance with it’s question and answer was greeted by the tolling of the bell of A flat that heralds this more rumbustous third Mazurka.Leading by way of a magical cascade of etherial notes to a mysteriously driven sotto voce that seems to burn itself out with the gentle beat of the drum in the left hand played with such delicate staccato that it was no more than a mere suggestion before taking flight again.The last of this set and the longest is a real tone poem where a story is being told.There was magic in the air as Sokolov just barely reached for the golden high notes.Leading to a majestic climax only to dissolve to what was for me the most magical sound of the whole evening: the final E that shone like gold in the magical descent to complete the home key of C sharp minor.

The three mazurkas op 50 sprang to life with the ‘vivace’ of this rousing first dance.There was aristocratic beauty in the second of the set with its almost military style central episode.The last of this set is one of the longest and the most poignantly beautiful.I remember Perlemuter playing it with great depth of sound or weight where his fingers like Sokolov’s today seemed almost glued to the keys like limpets as they extracted the very essence of sound from each note.This is indeed a jewel amongst gems and Sokolov played it with disarming beauty with the quixotic changes of character passing almost unnoticed as the great architectural line was maintained with mastery and great artistry.And mastery there was too even with the way he just placed to perfection the final C sharp .The slam of the door but not Beethovenian but with the aristocratic respect of Chopin!
Schumann too was present with one of his most contemplative works where a poet is saying goodbye to the world. A whispered haunting opening was greeted by ‘Lonely Flowers’ entwined in a duet of delicacy and poignant beauty with a transcendental control of sound .A wistful ‘Prophet Bird’ with its almost too serious central chorale hymn to life before taking flight again with etherial lightness and whimsical improvisation.Drawing to a close but not before a gentle reminder of the ‘Hunter in the Woods’ played with almost Mussorgskian terror mixed with joy.Secrets shared of a ‘Haunted place’ where Schumann’s dotted rhythms in Sokolov’s hands became a lazy question and answer of great effect. A ‘Friendly Place’ that just flowed like water from Sokolov’s hands with a fluidity and buoyancy that was like a breath of fresh air blowing over the keys.A rumbustuous rhythmically driven ‘Hunting Song’ was played with joy and playfulness .There was great nostalgia in the beautiful outpouring of song that describes so well the relief to find the ‘Wayside Inn’ before saying a heartfelt Farewell.’Abschied’ is one of Schumann’s most poignant utterings that was played with golden sounds and a ravishing sense of balance as befits this moving ‘song without words’. All played with perfection by Sokolov with the same superhuman control of sound that we have only ever experienced from Richter.
Even the five encores that were demanded by an insistent public were played with subdued contemplative whispered beauty.The Mazurka in F minor op 63 n.2 opened Sokolov’s traditional succession of encores.A mere whisper that Chopin like Schumann was yearning for a past with searing nostalgic intensity.Sokolov’s Rameau has passed into legend for the incredibly crisp and clear ornaments and the hypnotic rhythmic drive combined with delicacy and sense of style that on a modern day piano is something quite miraculous.His’ Raindrop’ Prelude is exquisite and at times overpowering as so many emotions can be experienced in just a few pages of music – a true miniature tone poem.I think,though, the only sound we heard this evening over forte was in the last encore : the C minor Prelude op 28 n. 20.

https://youtu.be/ly4tsSZpzkE?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/gBaq0d1I96I?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/XEcedNpqlxE?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/dZz_OcJNFuc?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/1chVdUgTJS8?feature=shared

Sokolov is a master musician and pianist and in the past few years I have been astonished how a whole concert with Haydn ,Byrd ,Purcell or lesser know masterpieces by Schumann could hold us in his spell as much as his ‘Hammerklavier’ could ever do.

Today though his contemplative mood did not touch me as it always does.Could it be the programme ? Is the master feeling the strain of choosing to play the same programme for an entire season? Was it just me after being blown away the other day by the young Kantorow or bewitched by the supreme style of Lugansky .
I felt tonight for the first time that a ritual was being repeated rather than recreated .Maybe we were all just in a melancholy mood thinking of the loss just three days ago of a much loved legend ?

Sokolov casts his spell over the Eternal City https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/04/04/sokolov-casts-his-spell-over-the-eternal-city/

Sokolov in Todi……..”…..the greatest pianist alive or dead?”https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/02/17/sokolov-in-todi-the-greatest-pianist-alive-or-dead/

The Sublime Perfection of Sokolov https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2018/03/15/the-sublime-perfection-of-sokolov/

Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), Op.82, is a set of nine short solo piano pieces composed by Robert Schumann  in 1848–1849, first published in 1850–1851 in Leipzig

1. Eintritt (Entrata) – Nicht zu schnell (si bemolle maggiore)
2. Jager auf der Lauer (Cacciatore in agguato) – Hochst lebhaft (re minore)
3. Einsame Blumen (Fiori solitari) – Einfach (si bemolle maggiore)
4. Verrufene Stelle (Luogo maledetto) – Ziemlich langsam (re minore)
5. Freudliche Landschaft (Paesaggio gioioso) – Schnell (si bemolle maggiore)
6. Herberge (Osteria) – Massig (mi bemolle maggiore)
7. Vogel als Prophet (Uccello profeta) – Langsam, sehr zart (sol minore)
8. Jagdlied (Canzone di caccia) – Rasch, kraftig (mi bemolle maggiore)
9. Abschied (Addio) – Nicht schnell (si bemolle maggiore)

It is tragic to note that a late work of Schumann, such as Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), is the effort of a man not yet 40. After a life of severe mental instability, Schumann committed himself to an asylum in Endenich in 1854 and would be dead within two years at the age of 46. Still, in the short time allotted to his professional career, he was able to distinguish himself both as a composer and musical journalist.Battling against cycles of debilitating depression, Schumann completed his Waldszenen in 1848 and early 1849. Clara Schumann found some of the individual scenes upsetting and chose not to play them.Schumann wrote: “The titles for pieces of music, since they again have come into favour in our day, have been censured here and there, and it has been said that ‘good music needs no sign-post.’ Certainly not, but neither does a title rob it of its value; and the composer, by adding one, at least prevents a complete misunderstanding of the character of his music. What is important is that such a verbal heading should be significant and apt. It may be considered the test of the general level of the composer’s education.”With Waldszenen, it had been the composer’s intention to head five of the cycle’s nine episodes with fragments of poetry in addition to their descriptive and sometimes enigmatic titles. In the event, he removed all but one of these fragments before publication, recognizing that one can be too specific and limiting in an intentionally evocative musical excursion. Schumann’s regard for Waldszenen is documented in a letter to his publisher in which he refers to the piece as one which “I have greatly cherished for a long time.”

The Partita for keyboard No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826, is a SUITE of six movements written for the harpsichord.It was announced in 1727,issued individually, and then published as Bach’s Clavier-Ubung in 1731.

The six movements are

1. Sinfonia
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Rondeau
6. Capriccio

Nikolai Lugansky in a concert dedicated to Maurizio Pollini who made his debut for the University in 1958 and today almost sixty years on we salute a legend.
And what better salute could there be than a recital from one of the finest pianists of our day.
One who with the same mastery,integrity and honesty presents the composer to us with a simplicity that is indeed humbling .
And humbled we were indeed as the last word went to Lugansky who dedicated a Bach Chorale; ‘Jesu Joy of man’s desiring’,to one of the greatest pianists of our age.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/26/london-salutes-a-legend-maurizio-pollini-the-story-of-a-miracle-by-antonio-morabito/

Nikolai Lugansky was making his debut for the University concert series and will long be remembered for the ravishing beauty of his playing.
Six Songs without Words by Mendelssohn opened the concert with playing of timeless beauty and a sense of balance that allowed the harmonies to mingle and colour the melodic line.There was a subtle freedom to his playing as he shaped Mendelssohn’s bitter sweet melodies with the same freedom as a bel canto singer.A mellifluous gentle unwinding of the melodic line in the ‘Duetto’ op 38 n.6 as the two voices intertwine, the beautifully robust tenor voice answered by the more gentle soprano.Joining together for a gloriously operatic reunion before disappearing into the heights with exquisite delicacy and refined good taste.The extraordinary control of song and accompaniment in the ‘May Song’ op 67 n.6 where the coquettish melody legatissimo floated so easily on the featherlight accompaniment with an extraordinary control of sound all played with the charm of another age of civilised respect and restrained passion.

This was followed by the ‘Spinning song’ sometimes known as the ‘Bees Wedding’ which was played with etherial featherlight jeux perlé with the slight hesitation judged to absolute perfection before the plunge into the devouring melody.It can so easily be either exaggerated or even ignored but here Lugansky’s superb musicianship made everything he did speak as if there were infact words!The final two impish chords were placed with absolute disarming simplicity .The same aristocratic simplicity that I remember from Rubinstein who played this just once as an encore in London.There were marvels indeed in the F sharp minor op 67 n.2 where I have always had Horowitz or his pupil Turini in mind .Hovering above the featherlight accompaniment there floats a legato melody of such beguiling charm that can in lesser hands become rather banal and obvious.Lugansky played it with the same coquettish charm of a Schwarzkopf which was of seeming simplicity and the innocence of a child but that showed the art that conceals art of a truly great interpreter.

It is so easy to overstep that hairline boundary and fall into the quagmire of kitsch where Mendelssohn is so unjustly categorised as being dated and rather superficial.But like Schwarzkopf with Wolff Lugansky revealed with humility and great artistry the true genius of the still underrated Mendelssohn.Some might say that Mr Lugansky turned baubles into gems which would not be correct because Mr Lugansky showed us what neglected gems they truly are!Only Schubert could have written such a wondrous melody as in the last ‘Song’ in this all too short selection .The Andante sostenuto of op 85 n.4 was played with the same wondrous inflections of a Caballé because there was the ravishing sound that Lugansky brought to the melodic line.Also he allowed the harmonies to add colours from an accompaniment with sounds like the continual water of a brook in a tranquil pastoral landscape .The water continuing into the distance as we cherish the wonders that it shared with us on its unending journey into the distance.

It was by coincidence that Lugansky should have had in his programme three works by Chopin that were amongst the most closely associated with Maurizio Pollini.The third and fourth Ballades and the magical Nocturne in D flat op 27 n. 2. I remember the intelligence and beauty mixed with power and mastery that Pollini would bring to the first Ballade that he often would play as an encore.Today were were treated to the beautifully whispered opening of the third Ballade, surely the most pastoral of all four and infact was the ideal companion to the ‘songs without words’.This was indeed a long song of ravishing beauty but also of an extraordinary architectural shape.Each episode grew out of the previous in a continual outpouring of streams of golden sounds.Wondrous liquid ornamental trills were like drops of water just allowed to glimmer in this pastoral landscape.Suddenly there appeared as if by magic the crystalline delicacy of a lilting bell on the horizon out of which the melodic line was allowed to evolve.Arabesques that were played with ease as they were allowed to unfold like a flower in blossom with the music moving inexorably forward on a wave of subdued emotion.There was an etherial lightness to the left hand jeux perlé which was just accompanying the melodic line as it built to a passionate climax.

There was controlled passion and masterly musicianship as this was only the start of the build up to the final outpouring of nobility where even in this red hot final outpouring there was a sense of balance that allowed this great song to open up with a masterly control of sound like the opening up of the diaphragm of a great singer.This like the Barcarolle was Chopin’s song without words where Lugansky’s musicianship intelligence and artistry combined to exult the Genius of Chopin.Even the final plunge from the top to the bottom of the keyboard was played with one stroke of the arm like a great painter with his brush.(I have never noticed before that Lugansky has an unusual way of using his arm from the elbow which of course has no relevance but it had never truck me before.An artist must use any physical means to produce the sounds that he is searching for. Richter would throw his whole body on to the keyboard like a wild animal and Gilels would throw his arms into the air with great aristocratic sweeping gestures .They are all a means to the end which is the sound they have in their heads,hearts and souls!

And Lugansky certainly has a soul the same as his teacher,our beloved Tatyana Nikolaeva.Intelligence ,simplicity and aristocratic nobility always at the service of the wishes of the composer .

The D flat Nocturne op 27 n. 2 was played with poignant veiled beauty.There was the same aristocratic nobility that was of Pollini or Rubinstein with the beautiful sense of question and answer in the build up of intensity.The release of restrained tension was with a bouquet of refined ornamentation that was allowed to flower in a shower of golden notes.There was magic in the air with the tender coda of ever more beseeching delicacy and the disarming simplicity of the final two chords.

Out of this magic world emerged the Andante con moto of the Fourth Ballade.This with the Liszt sonata and Schumann Fantasie are the Pinnacles of the Romantic piano repertoire and are works of absolute originality and genius.Lugansky played the opening like an apparition or mirage that seemed to have no beginning or ending it was simply a cloud to take us into a magic land of wondrous beauty.There were barely suggested left hand octaves marked pianissimo and legato that took us into the series of variations that would lead to the magical return of the opening .Perlemuter wrote in my score at this point Cortot’s poignant words :’avec un sentiment de regret’ .A golden web of sounds brings us to the contrapuntal opening theme played with the beauty that Chopin’s counterpoints ( Bach was Chopin’s God) obviously imply as this is Bach seen through ‘rose coloured spectacles’.The fluidity that Lugansky brought to these final pages was breathtaking with the left hand scales just like wafts of colour on which the melodic line could float with ever more passionate abandon.The tumultuous climax was played with enviable precision and vehemence but even more remarkable was the gentle glow he immediately brought to the five pianissimo chords that prepare us for the virtuosistic coda.An extraordinary mastery of technical brilliance and musicianship with a masterly control brought this first half of the recital to a magnificent finish.

The second half was dedicated to Rachmaninov a composer I can never recall Pollini playing.

This was Rachmaninov played with the mastery and musicianship that so astonished us in the west when Richter first appeared on the scene with his recording of the second concerto and six preludes.Lugansky is presenting programmes of the complete works of Rachmaninov for the 150th anniversary year and today played five Etudes Tableaux from op 33 and 39 and six preludes from op 23 and one from op 32 as an encore.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/05/18/nikolai-lugansky-miracles-at-the-wigmore-hall/

This was masterly playing with a technical prowess that went unnoticed as it was the streams of golden sumptuous sounds that poured from the piano that kept us enthralled and entranced and not a little astonished.The quite extraordinary tone poems that are each of the Etude Tableaux where technical difficulties were just absorbed into a musical panorama of extraordinary expressiveness.I have never heard the infamous op 33 n. 5 played with such beguiling beauty where the enormous technical challenges were just inexistant in such masterly hands.There were the enormous sumptuous sounds of op 39 . N. 9 and the disarming simplicity of op 33 n. 2 .The preludes too were a similar selection to those that I heard as a child on the now historic first recording of Richter.The spiders web of sounds of the 7th on which the noblest of melodies resound unperturbed by such busy fingers. There was the same disarming simplicity and veiled passion of the D major n. 4 and the tumultuous driving brilliance of the G minor n. 5.

An encore was the beautiful G sharp minor op 32 n,12 ending with the same impish charm as in op 23 n. 5.

The greatest performance however, Lugansky reserved for Pollini in a personal homage of the Bach chorale that he announced at the end of this extraordinary tribute from one great pianist to another.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2018/04/13/russia-comes-to-rome/

Nikolai Lugansky was born in 1972 in Moscow. He was studying at Central Music School at Moscow Conservatory under Tatiana Kestner and later on with such professors as Tatiana Nikolayeva and Sergey Dorensky. He continued his postgraduate education under Dorensky supervision. The initial stage of his career as the solo pianist brought him the title of the laureate of the I All-Union competition of young musicians in Tbilisi (1988), VIII International competition of J.S. Bach in Leipzig (1988), All-Union competition of S.V. Rachmaninoff in Moscow (1990), International summer academy Mozarteum (Salzburg, 1992) and the win at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994.In 2013, Nikolay Lugansky was awarded the title of the “Honored artist of the Russian Federation”. Today on the count of the soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic and honored member the Russian Academy of arts there are many brilliant artistic achievements. They include collaboration with the best symphonic orchestras of Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, and the USA and of many other countries under the direction of well-known conductors as Evgeny Svetlanov, Yuri Temirkanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, Vladimir Jurowski, Yuri Simonov, Alexander Vedernikov, Kirill Petrenko, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Marik Janowski, Gianandrea Noseda and Sakari Oramo. Besides Lugansky`s partners in chamber performances were pianists Vadim Rudenko, Yuja Wang, violinists Vadim Repin, Leonidas Kavakos, Isabelle Faust, Sergey Krylov, cellists Aleksander Knyazev, Aleksander Rudin, Misha Maisky, clarinetist Evgeny Petrov and soprano Anna Netrebko.

The discography of Nikolai Lugansky includes records with such labels as “Melody”, Erato Disques, Warner Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve, Harmonia Mundi and other companies. His albums have been awarded many international prizes, including the Award of Terence Judd, Diapason d’Or de l’Annee (three times), ECHO Klassik (three times), Choc du Monde de la Music, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and BBC Music Magazine Award.

Since 1998, the pianist has been giving lectures as the professor at the Moscow Conservatory at the department of special piano. Besides, Nikolay Lugansky still gives hundreds of concerts all over the world annually.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Rhapsody in B minor Op. 79 No. 1 (1879)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Chasse-neige from Etudes d’exécution transcendante
S139 (pub. 1852);
Vallée d’Obermann from Années de pèlerinage,
première année, Suisse S160 (1848-55)
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) Rhapsody Op. 1 (1904)

Interval

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor Op. 28 (1907)
I. Allegro moderato • II. Lento • III. Allegro molto
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin
BWV1004 (1720) arranged by Johannes Brahms.

Kantorow bestrides the Wigmore Hall like the colossus he truly is .A burning intensity from the very first notes of Brahms B minor Rhapsody that was truly monumental.A colossal range of sounds of orchestral proportions with deep bass notes added just to open up the sumptuous sonorities of golden beauty .
There was a glow to the sound that I have never heard before in this hall as this unassuming young man seduced and ravished us as probably only Horowitz could have done .
A ‘Chasse Neige’ with such a ravishing sense of balance and a range of sounds from the whispered to the overwhelming with an intensity that was at times almost unbearable.To see this young man looking so intently at the keys as he was truly unfolding a story of unbelievable beauty and passion.Reduced to a murmur as the chromatic snow drifts gradually grew in enormous intensity that I thought the piano might break in two.But never with hardness or ungrateful sounds but the full sumptuous sounds of Stokowski’s Philadelphia.

Leading in from the glowing embers the haunting tenor melody of the Vallée d’Obermann could be heard.There was all the eloquence of opera singers conversing with tender beauty as they courted each other in this wondrous land of make believe looking to discover where and who they are.
The entry on high of the tender reply was one of those magic moments that all those that can remember Caballé will begin to understand what wonders were being enacted at the Wigmore Hall tonight .A deep growling bass signalled the towering storm of transcendental gymnastics that were only at the service of the great story that was unfolding before our incredulous eyes.The magical return of the opening melody barely whispered but glowing like a will o’ the wisp because this magician had barely touched a note deep in the bass that had illuminated the sounds that became a breathing wondrous thing.A tumultuous outpouring of passionately expressive octaves was breathtaking in its unrelenting release of passionate intensity.I have in the past been bowled over by Volodos and Horowitz but it is this young French man whose performance will linger in my heart for long to come.A triumphant frenzied climax and then total silence which spoke louder than any sounds ever could .A final relieving exclamation played almost sotto voce and placed with aristocratic control came as a desperately needed release of tension.

The Bartok Rhapsody n.1 was played with a kaleidoscope of throbbing sounds orchestral in the range and quality of sounds that were being conjured out of this great black box by a master magician.He seems to have a key no one else possesses where all he touches turns to gold.Not only of colour but the character he brought to all he did one can always envisage a great story being told by a master who believes so intensely all he is sharing with us.(It is interesting to note that the Bartok Rhapsody will be substituted for the Fauré 6th Nocturne in Rome where he makes his recital debut on the 10th April )

I heard him play the Rachmaninov Sonata n.1 and the Bach/Brahms Chaconne the very first time that I had heard him streamed live during the pandemic from an empty Philharmonie in 2021.

Alexandre Kantorow takes the Philharmonie de Paris by storm

I was bowled over then and am even more now listening to him live by his understanding of the Rachmaninov which for me has always been a work where you cannot see the wood for the trees. Kantorow though has a vision of this work which is obviously the key that the young Rachmaninov struggled with when trying to give a formal shape to a work that is so obviously based on the leit motif.All through the performance there were the recurring themes of consolation and of throbbing intensity.The massive numbers of notes in his hands are just golden threads that illuminate the path for what in this young man’s hands appears to be a youthful masterpiece.Here was a great actor recreating a performance of vibrant haunting intensity.From the opening menacing bass notes to the searing intensity of luminosity and purity of the Lento to the dynamic breathtaking drive of the Allegro molto.Can this be the case of a master turning a bauble into a gem? Could it be a case where the performer is greater than the composer?It has no importance but what we all felt in the hall was a master convinced and convincing who involved us all in his ecstatic discovery of a work of passionate intensity and beauty.It was the same question I asked myself in Naples where he recreated the First Sonata of Brahms in the same way.

Alexandre Kantarow ignites and delights Naples at San Carlo with his great artistry

We all know the Bach – Busoni Chaconne but all too rarely we hear the Bach- Brahms Chaconne.So it was breathtaking to hear a masterly performance with the left hand alone recreating this masterpiece as Bach had written it for a single hand on the violin.The colours and driving rhythmic energy were quite overwhelming as he let his right hand rest at the top of the keyboard and would only place it in his lap at moments of particular transcendental gymnastics .His eyes glared at the keys that he dominated with a mastery that will long be remembered in this hall.It was the same mastery I had heard from the Philharmonie .But there was an atmosphere and tension he created last night which was something that makes me thank God for live performances where an artist still has the courage to risk all for the sake of the music! Inspite of and because of his quite phenomenal technical prowess and kaleidoscopic range of colour it was Kantorow’s musicianship that was to be cheered to the rafters.

A star is truly born and long may it shine as brightly as last night and illuminate our musical lives for long to come.An unforgettable experience that will eventually in the farthest distant future possible be given pride of place with the historic archive programmes that adorn this historic venue.

Just one encore that he later told us was by Nina Simone : ‘The Theme from Samson and Delilah’ taken from her historic Carnegie Hall recital on the 30th May 2015

It was played like a great bel canto singer – even better – and was the only way for a great artist to say au revoir.

Racing across the hall to sign his CD’s for a queue of people that now stretched for as far as I could see into the street.

With the simplicity and charm of a great artist he greeted each one with the same rapt attention with which he greeted the music.Love of Music and Love of Life combine in a way we have only witnessed before with Rubinstein.If music be the food of love ……please play on!

Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor op 28 was completed in 1908.It is the first of three “Dresden pieces”, along with the symphony n.2 and part of an opera, which were composed in the quiet city of Dresden.It was originally inspired by Goethe’s tragic play Faust,although Rachmaninoff abandoned the idea soon after beginning composition, traces of this influence can still be found.After numerous revisions and substantial cuts made at the advice of his colleagues, he completed it on April 11, 1908. Konstantin Igumnov gave the premiere in Moscow on October 17, 1908. It received a lukewarm response there, and remains one of the least performed of Rachmaninoff’s works.He wrote from Dresden, “We live here like hermits: we see nobody, we know nobody, and we go nowhere. I work a great deal,”but even without distraction he had considerable difficulty in composing his first piano sonata, especially concerning its form.Rachmaninoff enlisted the help of Nikita Morozov , one of his classmates from Anton Arensky’s class back in the Moscow Conservatory, to discuss how the sonata rondo form applied to his sprawling work.Rachmaninov performed in 1907 an early version of the sonata to contemporaries including Medtner.With their input, he shortened the original 45-minute-long piece to around 35 minutes and completed the work on April 11, 1908. Igumnov gave the premiere of the sonata on October 17, 1908, in Moscow, 

Lukas Geniusas writes about his premiere recording of the Rachmaninov Sonata n. 1 to be issued in October : ‘About a year ago I came across a very rare manuscript of the Rachmaninov’s Sonata no.1 in its first, unabridged version. It had never been publicly performed. 
This version of Sonata is not significantly longer (maybe 3 or 4 minutes, still to be checked upon performing), first movement’s form is modified and it is also substantially reworked in terms of textures and voicings, as well as there are few later-to-be-omitted episodes. The fact that this manuscript had to rest unattended for so many years is very perplexing to me. It’s original form is very appealing in it’s authentic full-blooded thickness, the truly Rachmaninovian long compositional breath. I find the very fact of it’s existence worth public attention, let alone it’s musical importance. Pianistic world knows and distinguishes the fact that there are two versions of his Piano Sonata no.2 but to a great mystery there had never been the same with Sonata no.1.’

Vallée d’Obermann (Obermann’s Valley) in E minor – Inspired by Etienne Pivert de Senancour’s novel of the same title, set in Switzerland, with a hero overwhelmed and confused by nature, suffering from boredom and longing,finally concluding that only our feelings are true.Liszt’s quotes include one from Byron’s succeeding canto 97 :”Could I embody and unbosom now / That which is most within me,–could I wreak / My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw / Soul–heart–mind–passions–feelings–strong or weak– / All that I would have sought, and all I seek, / Bear, know, feel–and yet breathe–into one word, / And that one word were Lightning, I would speak; / But as it is, I live and die unheard, / With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword”and two from Senancour’s Obermann, which include the crucial questions, “What do I want? Who am I? What do I ask of nature?”

Liszt was entranced Senacour’s novel Obermann, which he carried with him during his journey across the Swiss Alps in 1835, and which had an enormous influence on the young artists of Liszt’s generation (Liszt was not yet 25, and his mistress Countess Marie d’Agoult was about to give birth to their first child).  Obermann is the archetypal romantic recluse, the misunderstood artist, the seer who grapples with the immensity of suffering in the world, his own and mankinds. The Swiss Alps provided the perfect backdrop for cosmic reflection, as described by Marie d’Agoult: Ramparts of granite, inaccessible mountains now arose between ourselves and the world, as if to conceal us in those deep valleys, among the shadowy pines, where the only sound was the murmurng of waterfalls, the distant thunder of unseen precipices.

« Alexandre is Liszt reincarnated. I’ve never heard anyone play these pieces, let alone play the piano the way he does. »

Jerry Dubins, Fanfare Magazine

Alexandre Kantorow is the winner of the 2024 Gilmore Artist Award, the youngest pianist and the first French artist toreceive this accolade.  Four years ago,at the age of 22, he was the first French pianist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition, also receiving the Grand Prix, previously awarded only three times in the competition’s history. Now in demand at the highest level worldwide, he is applauded for his innate poetic charm, luminous clarity, andstunning virtuosity.In recital, Mr. Kantorow appears at major concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Queen Elizabeth Hall inLondon and Philharmonie de Paris, and in 2023 he makes his debut at Carnegie Hall and Tokyo Opera City. He performs regularly at the most prestigious festivals around the globe, including the Ravinia Festival, Verbier Festival and BBC Proms. Chamber music is one of his great pleasures, and he performs with artists such as violinist Renaud Capuçon, violist Antoine Tamestit,cellist Gautier Capuçon, and baritone Matthias Goerne.Highlights of Mr. Kantorow’s upcoming seasons include concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic and tours with the Munich Philharmonic and Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestras amongst others, and with conductors including Manfred Honeck, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Jaap van Zweden, Francois-Xavier Roth and Klaus Mäkelä. Past highlights have included performances with the Boston Symphony, Budapest Festival and Israel Philharmonic orchestras, and with conductors such as Sir Antonio Pappano and Valery Gergiev.
Mr. Kantorow records exclusively for BIS, now part of Apple Music.  All his recordings have received the highest critical acclaim internationally as well as multiple awards, including several Diapason d’Or, Victoires de la musique Classique and Trophée d’Année and in 2022 he was featured in Gramophone magazine, with a full front-page cover and Editor’s Choice.
Mr Kantorow is a laureate of the Safran Foundation and of the Banque Populaire Foundation.  Born in France and of French British heritage, Mr. Kantorow studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Frank Braley, and Rena Shereshevskaya.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TaI06XGM1No&feature=shared

https://youtube.com/watch?v=oswBAnsx1Hw&feature=shared

To go on stage is relatively easy as the stage director pushes you into the spotlight.It is more difficult to leave the stage sliding between the wings judging the exit with care because there is always someone who wants to cheat you out of your applause.For Romolo Valli he would have liked to go ‘Prima del Silenzio’ as he himself said quoting from the title of his last play,instead of a banal overturning of his car for he who was so Proustian in his stage roles.And Turi Ferro? Sometime before his end he felt so ill he confused life with death.He was destined to die in the wings perhaps upset that he had to pass his retired life digesting useless medicine and not a little scandalous gossip.

Also Gassman dreamt of dying on stage like ‘The Great Kean’ .He announced it often although he kept his fingers crossed ,as he told his friend Carlo Mazzarella,because he had so much more ahead of him to look forward to .Raffaele Viviani ,De Filippo,Angelo Musco ,Anna Lelio all had dreamt to die on stage like Molière.And there was a truly great actor,Antonio Petit feeling that death was close managed to put his costume on as Pulcinella to give himself up to his respected public.Playing ‘Gli esami non finiscono mai’ Eduardo tried at the Eliseo to do like Petit but he had an actress companion who he loved so he finished with only flirting with death until with his superb irony vanished together with her.

In Rome in Via delle Fornaci a stones’ throw from the austere home of that great Italian called De Gaspari there was once upon a time a seedy little cinema called ‘Rosa’.Cabaret companies would perform until with courage a delicate lady with an iron will turned it into a theatre to which she lent her name :the Ghione Theatre – because the daring actress /impresario was called Ileana Ghione.

Yes I am talking about the delicate actress who died two weeks ago whilst on stage ,she so fresh and open playing the terrible rugged Ecuba.Tenderly the President Ciampi sent a heartfelt message to Ileana’s husband ,the English pianist Christopher Axworthy.A serious artist has left us and one who in my honest opinion never had the fame she deserved.But she cared very little of success often not merited : she just adored acting.Under the make up her complection was pale surrounded by the perfume that only the stage can produce of a mixture of talcum powder and cologne of wood ,velvet and rhinestones.

Before leaving the stage forever she took off her wedding ring and placed it on the finger of her companion of a happy life together.In the confusion that death can create Ileana’s ring vanished .Christopher tortured himself in desperation asking forgiveness from his adored companion.But Ileana seemed to just smile indulgently with a shade of irony on her lips.And so returning to the theatre Chris found the missing wedding ring on the pavement outside the theatre.This is a great ending .Worthy of an actress who knew how to be a wife,companion and a real person.Always.

‘Every invented drama reflects a drama that is not invented’ Francois Mauriac

Christopher Axworthy Dip.RAM ,ARAM

CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY Dip.RAM,ARAM

Christopher Axworthy was born in London,but since 1980 has built and run the Ghione Theatre in the centre of Rome together with his wife the distinguished actress Ileana Ghione .

It was Stockhausen’s favourite theatre.He loved to direct the lighting

It has become one of the most important theatres in the city having created its own theatre company principally for young actors.

At the same time Euromusica of International standing was created with over 40 concerts each season.Not only famous musicians strangely neglected by Rome but also for young talented musicians seeking an important platform.

For this activity his wife was awarded one of the highest honours from the President of Italy –Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana and he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy in London.

Letter from the President on hearing of Ileana’s death

Some of the artists who played and often gave masterclasses for young musicians too include:

Vlado Perlemuter,Guido Agosti,Shura Cherkassky,Annie Fischer,Dame Moura Lympany,Fou Ts’ong,Peter Frankl,Rosalyn Tureck,Gyorgy Sandor,Alicia De Larrocha,Peter Katin,Ruggiero Ricci,Idil Biret,Dominique Merlet,Bruno Canino,Pina Carmirelli,Jeno Jando,Vadim Repin,Mikhail Pletnev,Tatiana Nikolaeva,Andor Foldes,Paul Tortelier,Janina Fialkowska,Angela Hewitt,Ivo Pogorelich,Friedrich Gulda,Jerome Rose,Dmitri Alexeev,Oxana Yablonskaya ,Boris Berman,Gervase De Peyer,Bary Tuckwell,Paul Badura-Skoda,Franco Mannino,Fausto Zadra,Martha Noguera,Aquiles Delle Vigne,Lya De Barberiis,Alberto Portugheis,Alexander Romanovsky,Bruno Canino,Karlheinz Stockhausen,Luciano Berio,Marilyn Horne,Lucia Valentini Terrani,Carlo Bergonzi,Jose Cura,Mariella Devia,Margaret Price,Dame Gweneth Jones,Olga Borodina,Dmitri Hvorosovsky,Nicolai Gedda,Giuseppe di Stefano,Goffredo Petrassi,Eliot Carter, Dame Eva Turner,Roberto Prosedda,Jayson Gillham,Alexander Ullman,Vitaly Pisarenko,Pablo Rossi,Leslie Howard,Carlo Grante etc.

                             one of the many Master Concert Series

Christopher Axworthy has also been invited on the jury of many International Competitions in Italy including Enna,Monza and Sulmona,and was for many years also and examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

He studied in London from an early age with Sidney Harrison and continued his studies with him for three years at the Royal Academy of Music and for a further two years at the RAM with Gordon Green and Frederick Jackson receiving chamber music guidance together with Graham Johnson from John Streets.

He won all the major prizes which included:Liszt Open Scholarship,The Tobias Matthay Fellowship,RAM Student Fellowship and the Recital Diploma where he was awarded the MacFarren Gold Medal,the highest award of the RAM.

Agosti op 110 and 111. Op 110 was issued as a CD op 111 was lost and only a video remains

Leaving the Academy to study with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris and Guido Agosti in Rome and Siena on scholarships from the Italian Government,Leverhulme Trust (via Youth and Music),Countess of Munster Trust.

He also received guidance from Andre Tchaikowsky,Geza Anda,Ilona Kabos,Nadia Boulanger and Stephen Bishop Kovacevich.

He has played extensively throughout Italy and amongst many performances he gave the first performance in Italy, directing from the keyboard ,of Trouble in Tahiti by Bernstein.

He also gave a series of recitals of Benjamin Britten to mark his 60th birthday sponsored by the British Council and played at the British Embassy on the occasion of the visit to Rome of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Rosalyn Tureck with “her” Goldberg after an absence from the platform for 20 years

He was a trustee of the Tureck Bach Institute in Oxford and is actually a trustee and co- artistic director of the Keyboard Charitable Trust.

His main activity has been running a major concert hall in Rome and for the past 40 years helping young musicians to find a platform.

He dedicates himself still to helping young musicians mainly via the Keyboard Charitable Trust based in London

Newspaper article that was published on the news of Ileana’s sudden death on stage

After Agosti and Perlemuter the only possible one was Annie Fischer

I took this foto of Paola Borboni ,famous actress ,the first to de robe for serious theatrical purpose for Pirandello.She loved the foto and asked me to have 100 copies made to give to her many admirers

Just some of the critics over the years .

A production that Ileana was proud of.We took it to Argentina too and it sold out in Milan and Rome

ArrigoTassinari first flute of Toscanini and next door neighbour to  the theatre.Guido Agosti who was on the jury of the Rubinstein Competition where Janina was a top prize winner and noticed by Rubinstein who befriended her and help start a major career.

Canan Maxton A remarkable man, an inspirational visionary! I stand in awe of you, Chris!

Denise Betts Lovely photo xx

Christopher Axworthy It is for my passport.

Christopher Axworthy Lasts ten years so will not have the bother again

Canan Maxton It is a seriously good photo. Lucky passport!

Christopher Axworthy It was taken in my house in Italy with an I phone.Elisabeta took two or three following the on line instructions.Some could not be used because my white hair blended in with the neutral background and it was not clear how big my head is…….no comments please.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/03/20/il-specchio-17th-december-2005-the-ring/

Canan Maxton Hahaha about the size of your head! It must have been the background that blended into your head and not the other way around!

Eleanor Wong Lovely to know you, and very impressed for what you have done and the things you are doing now.I only knew the Chris 50 years ago!

Clare Pakenham I am left speechless with awe! Wow! Amazing! I wish I’d heard you play. Great photo of you, too. And lovely tributes re your wife who must have been a very exceptional person. I so hope one day I’ll bet able to visit her & your theatre with you.

Heather Turnham I am in awe of all that you have achieved. I have enjoyed reading this very much. You are an inspiration.

Oxana Yablonskaya The best to You

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/12/05/ileana-and-joan-3rd-december-2023/

To go on stage is relatively easy as the stage director pushes you into the spotlight.It is more difficult to leave the stage sliding between the wings judging the exit with care because there is always someone who wants to cheat you out of your applause.For Romolo Valli he would have liked to go ‘Prima del Silenzio’ as he himself said quoting from the title of his last play,instead of a banal overturning of his car for he who was so Proustian in his stage roles.And Turi Ferro? Sometime before his end he felt so ill he confused life with death.He was destined to die in the wings perhaps upset that he had to pass his retired life digesting useless medicine and not a little scandalous gossip.

Also Gassman dreamt of dying on stage like ‘The Great Kean’ .He announced it often although he kept his fingers crossed ,as he told his friend Carlo Mazzarella,because he had so much more ahead of him to look forward to .Raffaele Viviani ,De Filippo,Angelo Musco ,Anna Lelio all had dreamt to die on stage like Molière.And there was a truly great actor,Antonio Petit feeling that death was close managed to put his costume on as Pulcinella to give himself up to his respected public.Playing ‘Gli esami non finiscono mai’ Eduardo tried at the Eliseo to do like Petit but he had an actress companion who he loved so he finished with only flirting with death until with his superb irony vanished together with her.

In Rome in Via delle Fornaci a stones’ throw from the austere home of that great Italian called De Gaspari there was once upon a time a seedy little cinema called ‘Rosa’.Cabaret companies would perform until with courage a delicate lady with an iron will turned it into a theatre to which she lent her name :the Ghione Theatre – because the daring actress /impresario was called Ileana Ghione.

Yes I am talking about the delicate actress who died two weeks ago whilst on stage ,she so fresh and open playing the terrible rugged Ecuba.Tenderly the President Ciampi sent a heartfelt message to Ileana’s husband ,the English pianist Christopher Axworthy.A serious artist has left us and one who in my honest opinion never had the fame she deserved.But she cared very little of success often not merited : she just adored acting.Under the make up her complection was pale surrounded by the perfume that only the stage can produce of a mixture of talcum powder and cologne of wood ,velvet and rhinestones.

Before leaving the stage forever she took off her wedding ring and placed it on the finger of her companion of a happy life together.In the confusion that death can create Ileana’s ring vanished .Christopher tortured himself in desperation asking forgiveness from his adored companion.But Ileana seemed to just smile indulgently with a shade of irony on her lips.And so returning to the theatre Chris found the missing wedding ring on the pavement outside the theatre.This is a great ending .Worthy of an actress who knew how to be a wife,companion and a real person.Always.

‘Every invented drama reflects a drama that is not invented’ Francois Mauriac

Christopher Axworthy Dip.RAM ,ARAM

To see Jacky Zhang just a few months ago and see him now one can see the transformation from child prodigy to young artist.A young boy at the BBC young artists competition and now a young man with long hair and frock coat.This transition from choir boy to choir master is not easy and one must thank the Alexeev’s for taking this young boy under their protective wing and allowing his talent to bloom and flourish in a most natural way.

A year or so ago I heard him play the Goldberg Variations and now the Diabelli. Two of the greatest sets of variations ever written for keyboard and both works of endurance ,stamina and intellectual understanding quite apart from a technical mastery of the instrument . Jacky today gave an impeccable performance of the Diabelli Variations which in itself is something of a feat but it was his encore of Chopin ‘s B flat minor Sonata that convinced much more.

The Chopin had sweep,passion ,colour allied to a remarkable technical mastery and architectural understanding.Chopin’s indications had mostly been scrupulously noted and incorporated into an interpretation that was totally convincing .Above all there was the passionate commitment of a young man whose heart was beating with the same intensity as Chopin’s.I am not sure I like his pianistic rearrangement of the hands at the opening that makes me wonder whether he is thinking as a pianist or a musician but the clarity and precision of the last movement was truly remarkable.The scherzo too I have rarely heard played with such technical and musical assurance .Even the beautiful trio was played with individual personality but always with the greatest respect for the score.The final two bass notes were played with just the right orchestral length that made the entry of the Funeral March even more poignant.The Trio of the Funeral March was played with flowing lyricism with more restrained passion than the usual cold respect.The architectural shape of the first movement too was quite remarkably sustained and the final few bars played with aristocratic control.All through the performance there had been a wonderful sense of colour due to a remarkable sense of balance that gave a sumptuous glow to all he did no matter what the technical hurdles might have been.

The Diabelli Variations are one of the greatest works for piano and I have heard them over the years played by many remarkable players.Rudolf Serkin and Alfred Brendel are the two that have remained with me ever since their performances in the Royal Festival Hall many years ago.How could I ever forget the electricity as Serkin attacked the Fugue of variation n 32 or the intensity and buoyancy that Brendel gave to the innocuous little opening theme.Stephen Bishop ( as he was then known) gave a performance of them in the Wigmore Hall that has gone down in history. I was not there but he told me that his mentor Myra Hess had never played them herself but she sat down and worked in detail with him and was there at the Wigmore Hall to cheer her young American prodigy.

All this to say that it was a remarkable feat for a 15 year old artist to be able to give not only a note perfect performance of a work that lasts almost an hour but to play it with a technical mastery and a sense of architectural shape that could hold this vast edifice into one complete whole.

But why then did it not have the same impact as a Serkin or a Brendel when with youth on his side it should have been even more exciting?

The point is that Beethoven may have been totally deaf when he wrote this penultimate work for piano but he was able to indicate in the minutest detail exactly what only he could actually hear and envisage .All the markings are there as indeed Brendel and Serkin had realised.

One of the most important things in Beethoven are the rests, sudden contrasts without forewarning of forte and piano.Sforzandi that should be like electric shocks and a difference between legato and staccato that is orchestral not pianistic.In the 29th Variation it was André Tchaikowsky who I remember more than others for the ‘Adagio’ that was not all uniformly legato but the rests were like a gasp between each droplet of the phrase.Jacky had played the 2nd variation with a legato melody too where the number of rests written must be a Guinness record! The Allegro of the 6th variation was more joyous than Beethoven’s indication of ‘serioso’.But there were many beautiful things of course, like the ‘Grave e maestoso’ of the 14th variation that flowed so beautifully but then surely the 15th should be more fun as it is after all marked ‘scherzando’ !The sudden forte and piano and legato left hand in the 17th was not noted as he spent more time on the transcendental difficulty of the right hand which is basically the accompaniment .The Allegro of the 21st was played with just the right amount of brio but the last note of ‘Notte e giorno faticar’ quoted from Mozart is not staccato like the previous four.And although the 23rd was remarkably played the simple ‘Andante Fughetta’ was missing the weight of world weariness that would have given it even more significance .His remarkable playing of the 25th was marred by a non legato left hand that is marked leggiermente and implies the sound of a legato bassoon rather than single bowed cellos? Why play the 26th so slowly when it is evolving like the miraculous unfolding of the fourth variation of op 109? Surely the ‘Menuetto’ of the last variation too should be slower .It is the calm after the storm where even Beethoven marks ‘grazioso e dolce’ as it floats into the stratosphere that the composer could already envisage in his final years .Floating into the paradise that was awaiting but which even he thinks is too soon as he slams the door shut with an almighty bang which resonates around the room ( hence the original pedal mark).

Of course Jacky is a remarkable young artist headed for the heights but these heights are not easily earned .When you touch such masterpieces there are so many things that only with maturity you will be able to understand.I remember Sidney Harrison judging a youthful Glenn Gould in a Canadian Music Festival and being told by his teacher that the boy would spend the entire lesson just playing the first chord of Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto and would not leave it until he was as satisfied as much was possible!

Genius is a multifaceted prism which moves in every direction as it becomes more and more aware of the problems of searching for perfection and looking to find the true meaning behind the notes of a score.The search is on for Jacky and it will be a voyage of discovery with many wonderful things awaiting as his talent will see the wonders that lie ahead of him ready for his golden fingers to entwine.

Of course one demands how can a mere performer be a Genius.

Bach,Beethoven and Mozart were Universal Genius’s with an astonishing amount of compositions that were masterpieces and one just wonders how that is possible in one lifetime. Da Vinci and Michelangelo too of course.But they all have one thing in common that defines them as Genius because it is a gift or God given talent that is unique and the reason for it unexplained by any normal reasoning.They are people who stand out because they have a unique gift and I use the term obviously in this context of performance meaning exceptionally talented.But it is more than exceptional it is unique and Genius or this sort of exceptional talent is neither easy to live with nor always pleasant .Trifonov is a case in point with a super human capacity to devour music and also to produce it himself.I remember Gilels when he came to the West and astonished us all simply saying ‘Wait and see who follows me’ – of course it was Richter! Bernstein was exceptionally talented -a Genius you might say.People with such extraordinary gifts and talent that are unexplained and so cannot be cloned but continue to surprise and astonish us mortals.

As Maude Tortelier once wrote to me so poetically saying that they are Angels just lent to us on this Earth for a certain period to fill our lives with joy and wonder.

Jacky Zhang is a 15-year-old composer, pianist, songwriter, and producer. He is currently Year 3 undergraduate student of Royal College of Music, studying piano with Prof. Dmitri Alexeev and Prof. Jianing Kong, and composition with Prof. Kenneth Hesketh. Jacky won the first prize of the III Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition 2019, the UK Piano Open International Piano Competition 2021, Premio Alkan International Piano Competition 2022, and both Classical and Romantic sections at the Città di Cantù International Piano and Orchestra Competition in 2023. Jacky has performed at many festivals and venues and has played concertos by Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff with well-known world-class conductors. 

Jacky Zhang at St Mary’s the birth of a great artist and the start of a long voyage of discovery

The back of beyond -Bright future for the class of Dmitri Alexeev -Jacky Zhang-Alexander Doronin-Nikita Burzanitsa-Thomas Kelly -JunLin Wu

Donald Tovey  called it “the greatest set of variations ever written” and Alfred Brendel  has described it as “the greatest of all piano works”.It also comprises, in the words of Hans von Bulow “ a microcosm of Beethoven’s art”.Martin Cooper ,father of Imogen ,  writes, “The variety of treatment is almost without parallel, so that the work represents a book of advanced studies in Beethoven’s manner of expression and his use of the keyboard, as well as a monumental work in its own right”And Schoenberg  “in respect of its harmony, the Diabelli deserves to be called the most adventurous work by Beethoven”.

The 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, commonly known as the Diabelli Variations, was  written between 1819 and 1823 by  Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli . Beethoven had had a connection with Diabelli for a number of years. Diabelli, born near Salzburg in 1781, had now been for some years one of the more prolific composers of light and pleasing music, and one of the best and most popular teachers in Vienna. He was much employed by Steiner and Co., as copyist and corrector, and in this capacity enjoyed much of Beethoven’s confidence, who also heartily liked him as a man.At the time of his project for variations on a theme of his own by various composers, Diabelli had advanced to become a partner in the publishing firm of Cappi and Diabelli. Beethoven at first refused categorically to participate in Diabelli’s project, dismissing the theme as banal, a Schusterfleck or ‘cobbler’s patch,’unworthy of his time. Not long afterwards, according to the story, upon learning that Diabelli would pay a handsome price for a full set of variations from him, Beethoven changed his mind and decided to show how much could be done with such slim materials. In another version of the legend, Beethoven was so insulted at being asked to work with material he considered beneath him that he wrote 33 variations to demonstrate his prowess.Beethoven’s approach to the theme  is to take some of its smallest elements – the opening turn, the descending fourth and fifth ,the repeated notes – and build upon them pieces of great imagination, power and subtlety. Alfred Brendel wrote, “The theme has ceased to reign over its unruly offspring. Rather, the variations decide what the theme may have to offer them. Instead of being confirmed, adorned and glorified, it is improved, parodied, ridiculed, disclaimed, transfigured, mourned, stamped out and finally uplifted”.In early 1819 Diabelli, sent a waltz of his creation to all the important composers of the Austrian Empire , including Schubert,Czerny,Hummel and the Archduke Rudolph, asking each of them to write a variation on it. His plan was to publish all the variations in a patriotic volume called Vaterlandischer Kunstlerverein and to use the profits to benefit orphans and widows of the Napoleonic Wars.Liszt was not included, but it seems his teacher Czerny arranged for him to also provide a variation which he composed at the age of 11!

Diabelli published the work quickly as Op. 120 in June of the same year, adding the following introductory note:

“We present here to the world Variations of no ordinary type, but a great and important masterpiece worthy to be ranked with the imperishable creations of the old Classics—such a work as only Beethoven, the greatest living representative of true art—only Beethoven, and no other, can produce. The most original structures and ideas, the boldest musical idioms and harmonies are here exhausted; every pianoforte effect based on a solid technique is employed, and this work is the more interesting from the fact that it is elicited from a theme which no one would otherwise have supposed capable of a working-out of that character in which our exalted Master stands alone among his contemporaries. The splendid Fugues, Nos. 24 and 32, will astonish all friends and connoisseurs of serious style, as will Nos. 2, 6, 16, 17, 23, &c. the brilliant pianists; indeed all these variations, through the novelty of their ideas, care in working-out, and beauty in the most artful of their transitions, will entitle the work to a place beside Sebastian Bach’s famous masterpiece in the same form. We are proud to have given occasion for this composition, and have, moreover, taken all possible pains with regard to the printing to combine elegance with the utmost accuracy.^”

In the following year, 1824, it was republished as Volume 1 of the two-volume set Vaterlandischer Kunstlerverein , the second volume comprising the 50 variations by 50 other composers.Subsequent editions no longer mentioned Vaterländischer Künstlerverein.

Superb recital by 22 year old Godfrey Leung from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire playing in the annual Keyboard Trust organ recital at the historic Temple Church .
An oasis of calm between the Inner and Middle temples where the Magna Carta was thrashed out before its sealing at Runnymead in June 1215 .It was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law. It sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power, and placed limits of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself.
Today a full house for a superb young musician with a range of sounds I have never heard before on the organ.
A violinist with the CBSO converted to the King of all instruments with musical discoveries that astonished and surprised us all today in this all too short recital.
It was streamed live and can still be seen and heard here :
http://templechurch.com/music/lunchtime-organ-recitals

  POWER AND DRAMA FROM  TEMPLE ORGAN an appreciation by Angela Ransley

                                        Bach  Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 545
                                        Hindemith  Ruhig bewegt from Organ sonata No.2

                                        Vierne  Toccata from 24 Pièces de fantaisie, Op. 53
                                        Duruflé  Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain,Op 7

I have attended many organ recitals at Temple Church in their celebrated Lunchtime Series but only at the one given by GODFREY LEUNG has spontaneous applause interrupted its usual serenity. This was after a fiery delivery of the Vierne Toccata that had the audience on the edge of their pews.

GODFREY LEUNG is 22 years old and began formal organ studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in October 2022, having previously gained wide musical experience as a violinist in the CBSO Youth Orchestra. The priests in his local church supported him to take up the organ: its power has since captured his heart and soul. The famous Harrison organ at Temple – one of London’s elite instruments – has fire power a-plenty.

The Temple recitals are just 30 minutes in length and I am always amazed at how significant this musical journey can be. Godfrey played first of all an early work by JS Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C Major BWV 545,which exists in several versions. The Prelude offers athletic semiquuaver writing over deep pedal points; the Fugue with a subject on a rising C major scale gives much opportunity for exciting, rhythmically taut cross-rhythms, which led to Debussy describe Bach’s compositional style as adorable Arabesque.In this era there are no tempo or dynamic indications: this is left to the musical imagination of the perfomer. Godfrey chose to emphasise the work’s grandeur with a moderato tempo and deep pedal registration. Effective use of the reed stops heightened the rhythmic drive towards the thrilling final pedal entry of the fugue subject.

The next composer, Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) shared Bach’s nationality but almost nothing else: he was at odds with the prevailing adherence to the twelve-tone method of the Second Viennese School, seeking to extend traditional tonality rather than annihilate it. He also fell foul of the Nazi regime who banned his opera about a mediaeval peasant uprising Mathis de Maler (Mathius the Artist), denouncing him as a cultural Bolshevist and spiritual non-Aryan. As a result, most of his professional life was carried out abroad: in Turkey, where he founded a conservatoire along Western lines, then as Professor of Composition at the universities of Yale and Zurich. He composed across all genres including the organ for which he wrote 3 sonatas, a concerto and a piece in the Kammermusik series for organ and 15 strings.

Ruhig bewegt is the pastoral slow movement in Organ Sonata no 2 composed in 1937, which gives respite between the fevered toccata-like first movement and a final fugue driven by a tortuous subject. His concept of extended tonality is very apparent in that while independent lines create dissonances that deny any sense of tonality, one still hears the classical phrase shapes and the comfort of a tonic or dominant chord to complete a section. I am reminded of a puppy galloping off on a retractable lead, only too happy to return with muddy paws after sinking into murky terrain. Godfrey judged the tempo of this siciliano well and the distinctive Harrison solo stops added vivid colour. More atmosphere could have been achieved from the piano dynamic indicated by the composer.                                             

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) followed the tradition of French organists who, once appointed, remain in post for life: he won the competition to become titular organist at Notre Dame in 1900 and stayed there for 37 years. His Toccata from the suite Pieces de Fantaisie (1926) is one of the glories of the French symphonic tradition inspired by the monolithic organs of Aristide Cavaille-Coll. Out of the flurry of semiquavers emerges an idiomatically French, rising whole-tone scale balanced by a descending series of diminished 5ths which is heard in different registers and registrations as the virtuosity unfolds. Godfrey unleashed the full power and drama of this unique instrument to an astonished audience. When I asked him afterwards what he liked about the organ, he replied its power!

An affectionate family photograph of Jehan Alain with younger sister Marie-Claire

The Prelude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain by Maurice Durufle (1902-1986)   employs a technique used by numerous composers of taking the letters from a name to create a theme. Jehan Alain came from the distinguished Alain family, and was elder brother to the celebrated organist Marie-Claire Alain and a promising composer. A friend of Durufle, he was killed in action in 1940 and awarded full military honours by the Germans at his funeral to acknowledge his bravery.It was specially poignant to hear this piece in a building that suffered itself in the same year of the Second World War. The intensity of the bombing on 10 May 1940 turned the organ into a river of liquid metal: what remains can still be seen through a door from the nave. The haunting theme generated by these letters is heard against a toccata-like texture of restless quavers. This gives way to a solemn conclusion where Durufle quotes from Jehan’s own work Litanies. The Fugue is virtuosic in concept as well as technique: it has a double subject and many contrapuntal feats which enables the music to blaze in glory –  mirroring Alain’s courageous stand. Godfrey’s spacious, sensitive account was enhanced by daring colour contrast in the Prelude and pleasing linear clarity in the following Fugue.

One of the disadvantages of any organ recital is that the performer is either completely invisible or has his back to the audience as at Temple, making   a shared occasion difficult to achieve.  In this short recital of organ masterpieces, Godfrey showed us that a deep conviction for the music along with technical and musical assurance can overcome it. This is what created the sudden hush of drama in the Vierne Toccata and the warmth of reception at the end. Thank you, Godfrey, for a memorable recital and for showing us what talent and hard work can achieve.

Leo Patsalides founded the Amati Orchestra in 2011 with the vision of creating London’s leading amateur orchestra .Tonight marks his retirement after being at the helm of his orchestra in 29 performances of 88 works.
What better way could there be to celebrate ,what has in fact become one of the finest amateur orchestras, than with a sold out St John’s Smith Square one of the most beautiful of concert halls in the city.
Joined by Antonina Suhanova for one of the most formidable of all concertos for piano and orchestra.

A tour de force for any pianist but also a trial of fire for a professional orchestra let alone an amateur one!
I have heard Antonina before in recital when she gave an astonishing performance of Rachmaninov’s First Sonata and so I was not completely surprised tonight to hear a sumptuous and very powerful account of the 3rd Concerto.

She towered above the orchestra with sonorities and power that belied her physical stature.It was even more remarkable for how she managed to involve the orchestra in the sometimes treacherous interplay between the woodwinds and piano.Of course she played the ‘big’ cadenza because she is a big pianist like Gina Bachauer or Oxana Yablonskaya.

I remember in my student days that anyone who could play Rach 3 or Prokofiev 2 was thought of as a hero .Vladimir Ashkenazy made his London orchestra debut with both in the same programme!
A seventeen year old John Lill hit the headlines when he made his London debut with the concerto at the RCM under Sir Adrian Boult and the film ‘Shine ‘ later made a very elaborated story about it.
Oxana playing with a similar orchestra in Rome found that the distinguished but very elderly Turkish conductor got so emotionally involved in the final ecstatic few pages that caos would have reigned had she not taken over the role of pianist and conductor.
No fear of that tonight from Patsalides’ patient baton even if the outer two movements were taken at quite a lick!

Antonina Suhanova is such a fine musician that she managed to turn speed into sweep with moments of passionate intensity and heartwarming beauty.

‘New Faces’Piano Festival in Perivale Day 2

And from the archive :