Mese: giugno 2024

Martha Noguera in Rome to show us what it means to be a pianist of class. And what a class,that of 38/39/40 with Martha Argerich,Daniel Barenboim etc in Buenos Aires where the Neapolitan school of playing had been brought over by Vincenzo Scaramuzza. Martha Argerich was in Rome just last week with Beethoven and it was Beethoven that Martha Noguera brought too.

Martha Argerich is back in town and there is magic in the air in the Eternal City

Martha Noguera in Rome in the beautiful Sala Baldini with a programme that would scare most pianists half her age.
Two works by Chopin,the first considered one of the most technically difficult and rarely performed :The Allegro de Concert op 46 and the second a work ,the first Sonata op 4 that I can only ever remember hearing once in the concert hall played by Cherkassky ( as part of a Chopin Trilogy for the students at the Royal Academy ). An early work more in style of Schubert than the Bel Canto that was shortly to follow. After a very short break Martha embarked on Beethoven’s most momentous journey with the Sonata op 106 ‘Hammerklavier’.

Performances that reminded me of Magda Tagliaferro or Vlado Perlemuter for their roots firmly embedded in the harmonic structure and the great architectural line played with chiselled beauty and projection.Like her great colleague Martha has a remarkable arch of the hand and fingers of steel but with wrists and body movements of rubber that can allow the music to flow through her from a lifetime’s experience projecting the musical thought with a concentrated authority and the passionate conviction of a great artist.There was an imposing opening from the very first notes of what was probably to be Chopin’s 3rd Concerto.Full rich sounds resounding in this beautiful and unique hall in the very centre of the Eternal City. An aristocratic sense of spaciousness and timeless beauty where the music was allowed to unfold with simplicity and directness with a chiselled beauty to the melodic line with ornaments that were just streams of ravishing sounds embellishing the beauty of Chopin’s bel canto. As Chopin described to his students,Martha has a rubato where the roots are firmly planted in the ground but the branches above free to flow and move naturally with playing of real weight of a mastery of incredible harmonic cohesion.Playing of sumptuous beauty that filled this beautiful hall with ravishing sounds and the unmistakable beauty of Chopin’s mellifluous outpourings.

The Chopin Sonata op 4 is a very early work but already showing signs of genius but more linked to a formal Schubertian pattern.An imposing first movement played with great clarity and dynamic drive followed by a playful ‘Menuetto’ .But it was the rich chordal opening of the ‘Larghetto’ that spoke so eloquently leading to a mellifluous flowering not yet of Chopin’s bel canto style but of a poignant simplicity and inevitability that was allowed to unfold with such eloquence.The Finale unleashed an explosion of virtuosistic declamations and sparkling brilliance that was played with enviable authority and fingers like limpets that belong to the keys after a lifetime spent of dedication and artistry at the keyboard.

There was a call to arms with the momentous declamation of the ‘Hammerklavier’.The first movement was played with much less pedal that the Chopin which allowed absolute clarity of Beethoven’s knotty twine but also of his overpowering thoughts.There was a dynamic drive with colours of orchestral proportions played with such inevitability and nobility.A searing intensity and contrasts in dynamics that were breathtaking in their daring and rhythmic intensity.A scherzo that seemed rather slow and deliberate for the ‘assai vivace’ indication but it left room for the following ‘Presto’ indication which turned a Brahmsian opening into pure Beethovenian frenzy.

There was a deep rich sound of string quartet proportions to the ‘Adagio Sostenuto’ that was played as Beethoven asks ‘appassionato e con molto sentimento’ . It is the very core of this monumental work and was played with nobility and passion and with a sense of line as the melodic line was allowed to unfold with ever more intensity and deep profundity. A poignancy only broken by the refreshing waves of sounds out of which emerged the monumental Fugue.’ Allegro risoluto’ it was indeed as Martha played with driving rhythms and fearless abandon one of the most difficult works for the keyboard. Richter had played it in London and not being satisfied with his performance he played it all over again as an encore! No encore was necessary tonight as Martha had made a statement that only an artist of her maturity and mastery could offer.Breathtaking,fearless playing of almost improvised freedom as the work evolved from her masterly fingers, as if for the first time ,on a heroic voyage of discovery of one of the greatest works ever written for the keyboard.

Martha Noguera in Sorrento at the Villa Fondi on the terrace overlooking the Bay of Naples.
And it was here that the Adagio sostenuto ,the very core of Beethoven where he reveals in his last years the profundity that he tried to conceal with his irascible temperament, and it was in this beautiful spot on a piano with amplification that Martha managed to communicate the deepest thoughts and feelings of the Genius from Bonn.
A silence and feeling of mutual communication with an audience not expecting to be treated to one of the greatest works of the piano literature .
Persuaded by our genial host Paolo Scibilia to offer a small encore that would allow us to share in the perfumes of her native Argentina.

Martha sat at the piano and it was magic as she gave a gentle farewell to this unforgettable evening with a little piece by Guastavino full of the beguiling charm and insinuating emotions of the ‘Schubert of the Pampas’. It calmed the red hot air of 30 degrees but also the tension created by Beethoven’s mighty fugue where the composer throws open the gauntlet to those few pianist who dare tread into such forbidden territory .

Chopin’s Allegro de concert, Op. 46, was published in November 1841. It is in one movement and takes between 11 and 15 minutes to play. The principal themes  are bold and expressive. It has a curious place in the Chopin canon, and while its history is obscure, the evidence supports the view, shared by Robert Schumann  and others, that it started out as the first movement of a projected third piano concerto, of which the orchestral parts are either now non-existent or were never scored at all. There is no evidence that Chopin ever even started work on the latter movements of this concerto.

Chopin published his two piano concertos in 1830. That same year he wrote that he was planning a concerto for two pianos and orchestra , and would play it with his friend Tomasz Napoleon Nidecki if he managed to finish it. He worked on it for some months, but he had the greatest difficulty with it, and this work never eventuated; however, he may have used ideas from it in later works.

There is also evidence that Chopin started work on a third concerto for piano and orchestra. In Chopin: The Piano Concertos, Rink quotes from an unpublished Chopin letter, dated 10 September 1841, offering Breitkopf & Härtel  an “Allegro maestoso (du 3e Concerto) pour piano seul” for 1,000 francs.In November 1841, Schlesinger published the Allegro de concert, which has a tempo indication of “Allegro maestoso”, and Breitkopf & Härtel also published it in December of the same year. The work has the general characteristics of the opening movement of a concerto from around that time. It contains a lengthy introduction , with the section corresponding to the original piano solo commencing at bar 87. It seems clear that the “Allegro maestoso” Chopin referred to in his letter was the piece published two months later as Allegro de concert, Op. 46.

The first few notes of the piece were drafted around 1832,but it is not known when the rest of the piece was written. Chopin dedicated it to Friederike Muller ,one of his favourite pupils, who studied with him for 18 months (1839–1841). Franz Liszt  gave her the nickname “Mademoiselle opus quarante-six” (“forty six”, the work’s opus number, in French).

The Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 4 was written in 1828 (probably begun around July).It was written during Chopin’s time as a student with Jozef Eisner , to whom the sonata is dedicated. Despite having a low opus number, the sonata was not published until 1851 by Tobias Haslinger in Vienna , two years after Chopin’s death.This sonata is considered to be less refined than the later 2 sonatas, and is thus much less frequently performed and recorded.It is in four movements Allegro maestoso ;Menuetto; Larghetto ;Finale :Presto

Beethoven’s  Piano Sonata No. 29 op 106 (known as the Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier, or more simply as the Hammerklavier) is widely viewed as one of the most important works of the composer’s third period and among the greatest piano sonatas of all time. Completed in 1818, it is often considered to be Beethoven’s most technically challenging piano composition and one of the most demanding solo works in the classical piano repertoire.The first documented public performance was in 1836 by Franz Liszt  in the Salle Erard  in Paris to an enthusiastic review by Hector Berlioz Dedicated to his patron, the Archduke Rudolf , the sonata was written primarily from the summer of 1817 to the late autumn of 1818, towards the end of a fallow period in Beethoven’s compositional career. It represents the spectacular emergence of many of the themes that were to recur in Beethoven’s late period: the reinvention of traditional forms, such as sonata form ; a brusque humour; and a return to pre-classical compositional traditions, including an exploration of modal harmony and reinventions of the fugue within classical forms

The four movements are:

1. Allegro
2. Scherzo : Assai vivace
3. Adagio sostenuto
4. Introduzione: Largo… Allegro – Fuga :Allegro risoluto

 

From the very first notes it was clear that Salome has a strong personality and hot blooded temperament.A supreme stylist of intelligence with an unobtrusive technical mastery that allowed the music to flow so naturally from her sensitive fingers.

A Schumann Arabesque that was played with liquid sounds of great fluidity bringing a subtle sense of character to all she played. A temperament of searing intensity that in this beautiful gem could be more simple and less hanging onto every note as if her life depended on it. But nevertheless it was playing of great beauty and as she matures she will allow the music to speak with this same beauty but without disturbing the natural flow that comes from it’s very roots.

The Chopin Waltz op 34 n.1 a favourite of the great Chopin pianists of the past,in particular Rubinstein, who would play this waltz with the same beguiling charm and character that Salome brought to it today. It could be a little simpler but the ‘joie de vivre’ and wonderful phrasing were the same, and if there were one or two impetuous moments it was a small price to pay for such spontaneity and ‘joie de vivre’.

Rubinstein used to often play the F sharp major nocturne op 15 that Salome played too .It is too rarely heard in the concert hall these days but in the hands of a true poet and supreme stylist like Salome it is of a poignant simplicity and beauty.If her temperament took her to places that she will eventually discard , her superb musicality will win over her intense temperament.

The Scriabin Satanic Poem suited her style today as she made it seem like a free improvisation with a kaleidoscopic sense of colour and driving passionate temperament.A continuous flood of mellifluous ‘satanic’ sounds and a true tone poem of great beauty and intensity.An intelligent programme too that could show us the influence that the Liszt Sonata was to have on all the composers that followed in it’s wake.

Strangely enough it was the two works by Liszt that were played with disarming simplicity and a sense that the music was born from the very roots of it’s inspiration.A harmonic progression that gave great solidity and stability to all the beautiful things that floated on this sumptuous wave of sound. What a beautiful piece ‘Les Cloches de Genève ’ is when played like today.An opening of ravishing beauty as she barely stroked the keys.A ravishing beauty to the melodic line which floated on washes of sumptuous sounds and although played with great intensity it was also played with disarmingly simple beauty.

 

The Liszt Sonata in B minor – the pinnacle of the romantic repertoire and where Liszt had created a work after the Schubert Fantasie in a new form where the opening themes announced at the beginning are transformed like characters in an opera.Breaking away from the traditional Sonata form Liszt manages to create the same overall architectural shape but all stemming from the opening page.Salome here showed that she is indeed a musician to be reckoned with as she followed scrupulously Liszt’s meticulous indications of dynamics and tempo but at the same time imbued the music with the passionate intensity from which it was born.Her performance showed a maturity and intelligent musicianship that is rare where all the momentous technical challenges are usually played like gladiators entering the arena without contemplating the genius of Liszt who could combine emotion and intensity with the intelligence of a supreme architect.Liszt was looking to the future always and it is the final two pages of this sonata that are prophetic and were played by Salome with rare understanding of artistry and maturity.

Winner of New York Concert Artists Worldwide Competition, Georgian pianist Salome Jordania has appeared as a recitalist, chamber musician as well as concerto soloist in different cities of Germany, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Italy, Spain, Austria, Israel, Ukraine, The Netherlands, France, Russia, Mexico and various states of the USA. She had a successful debut recital at Berlin Philarmonie Hall in March of 2023. The same year, she was also chosen as one of the finalists at Classeek Ambassador Programme. Her upcoming concert tour in 2023-2024 includes solo recitals and performances with orchestra in Switzerland, France, UK, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Japan and the US. 

Pianist Salome Jordania began her studies at the age of seven with renowned professor Natalia Natsvlishvili in her native Tbilisi, Georgia. Since young age she has won multiple national and international competitions including 1st prize at Chopin National Competition in Georgia and was granted a special prize by the Mayor of Tbilisi naming her “Cultural Ambassador of Georgia” at 13 years old. Salome earned her Bachelor Degree from The Juilliard School of Music with Prof Julian Martin and her Master’s degree from Yale School of Music with Boris Berman graduating with the Charles S. Miller prize as a distinguished pianist and with Yale Alumni Prize award. 

During recent years, Ms. Jordania was awarded the Norma Fischer Prize in Wideman International Competition; won silver medal at IKIF competition in New York City; First Prize at Golden Key Competition in Frankfurt, Germany; won bronze medal at the Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition, where she was awarded three additional special prizes for best Performance of Mozart, best performance of Chopin, and best interpretation of the commissioned piece, received Finalist Prize, Yamaha Prize and EDHEC prize at Etoiles du Piano, France and the Georges Cziffra Award by the Cziffra Foundation in Vienna, Austria. She is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma degree at Guildhall School of Music in London, UK with Prof Ronan O’Hora, where she is a recipient of Steinway and Sons scholarship. Salome is managed by ICM Management worldwide.

Keyboard at Eight ‘Stars shining brightly at Milton Court ‘ Rose Mclachlan ,Jeremy Chan and Salome Jordania

Roma Chamber Music Festival celebrates 21 years as the brain child of Robert Mc Duffie takes up residence again in the antique Teatro Argentina where Rossini’s Barber of Seville first saw the light of day .
Young musicians united from every denomination to make music together under renowned masters .

Tonight we were treated to Brahms early Serenade op 11 played by these youthful players but even their superb playing could not dissuade us from the fact that Brahms had been right to wait until maturity to reveal his true genius.

The second work ,that Liszt had dismissed so unexpectedly ,was Schumann’s crowning glory after a lifetime of writing for only solo piano.His Piano Quintet op 44 was played by master players .
Lucchesini’s measured but masterly poetic playing was even outshone by the sublime beauty and aristocratic musicianship of Enrico Dindo.I have heard many great pianist play the Schumann Quintet that together with Brahms Quintet op 34 are the two major chamber works for piano and string quartet.

I remember listening to Rubinstein play both in the same programme together with the Fauré C minor quartet when he was well into his ‘80’s and had decided to play more chamber music during his Indian Summer.Of course he had fallen in love with Guarneri Quartet and it was a mutual love affair that they shared for some years with the world. Rubinstein came running on stage and immediately began the Schumann much to the surprise of his much younger colleagues who were still catching their breath!Remarkable performances that like today were played with five players that were listening to each other and weaving in and out with chameleonic drive.Andrea Lucchesini has matured since winning the Dino Ciani competition and being promoted by his teacher Maria Tipo and also Luciano Berio.I remember Cherkassky being very impressed by a young boy playing to him at Berio’s house when he had given a recital the day before in nearby Empoli – the birth place of Busoni. Andrea is a true musician who listens to himself – something so rare these days according to Shura.Joined by equally masterly colleagues they were watching each other waiting to pounce or enter places where lesser mortals dare to tread.There was a continual movement of all players like riding on a wave – unified and of celestial sounds contrasted with passionate outbursts and quite considerable virtuosity in the Scherzo.

I had been made aware a few years ago of this continual cat and mouse movement in Budapest when Peter Frankl gave what was to be his last public performance with the other two great Piano Quintets with a group of musicians ready to pounce with a electric hypnotic zeal as today .https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/27/peter-the-great-peter-frankl-with-the-kelemen-quartet-in-budapest/

I had been at the Dindo brothers Wigmore debut in London many years ago and it has been wonderful to watch in particular Enrico mature into the great artist that he has become today.There were moments in the second movement of quite breathtaking beauty from the ‘cello that I had never been aware of before.The sublime beauty and passionate response from the viola of Leonardo Taio was matched by the violins of Amber Emson Leoni and Sebastian Zagame.What a wonder it was too to see Andrea looking at his colleagues rather than the score as the ravishing delicacy in the last movement reached celestial heights.It contrasted with the rather over zealous precision of the little fugato that shows its head for a moment before bursting into the radiant song from Andreas magic hands.A remarkable performance and obviously a remarkable instrument prepared by that other great magician Mauro Buccitti the technician for Alfonsi Pianos.

Wonderful players,sumptuous selfless music making in one of the most beautiful theatres in the world in certainly the most Eternally beautiful of cities.To leave such beauty exhilarated and uplifted and to find the warm evening air to embrace you makes ‘Music not War’ spring to mind and long for the music never to end.

The McDuffie Scholars are from many differing ethnic backgrounds and we were sitting on the site where Julius Cesar had met his political demise!

Will we never learn!

‘If Music be the Food of Love – Play On ‘ The ‘Bard’ was always right .

Andrea Lucchesini the supreme stylist conquers all in Ninfa

Five players that played as one and could hold this high society audience spell bound wanting to applaud after each movement such was the jewelled perfection of these master musicians .

Andrea Lucchesini ‘ Giovani Artist dal Mondo’ Scuderie del Castello Caetani.’The Hills Resounding to the Sounds of Music’

Rome Chamber Music Festival 2024

Where history meets the future of classical music.
The Rome Chamber Music Festival returns to Teatro Argentina June 17-20 , 2024 .Now in its 21st year, the Rome Chamber Music Festival has delighted audiences with carefully curated programs framed by the majesty of the Eternal City.

This was last years’ festival : https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/14/rome-chamber-music-festival-superb-music-making-returns-to-teatro-argentina/

Acclaimed classical stars join 32 young artists and young professionals – stars-in-the-making – to perform the beloved masterpieces of Vivaldi, Brahms, Schumann, Copland and Dvorak as well as contemporary icons Philip Glass. André Gagnon, Mark O’Connor, and Italy’s own rock music sensation, MÅNESKIN.

De Simone Young Artist Programme

Dedicated to nurturing new talent, the Rome Chamber Music Festival invites each year a select number of promising music students under the age of twenty-five from the United States, Europe, and Asia to take part in its De Simone Young Artist Program. American participants were selected through auditions at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, and European and Asian participants were selected from video auditions and evaluated by Jacopa Stinchelli and committee, with final approval by Robert McDuffie. This year the Festival welcomes 32 participants to the program.

Access to world-renowned artists and the opportunity to perform alongside them is invaluable to a young musician’s professional growth and aspirations.

Steven Della Rocca Young Professional Programme

The Steven Della Rocca Young Professional Program was established by longtime friend and board member Courtenay Hardy in memory of her husband Steven Della Rocca, who was an ardent supporter of education, the arts, and the Festival. The Steven Della Rocca Young Professional Program aims to provide mentoring and employment opportunities to these artists who are beginning their careers and attempting to establish their livelihoods during these challenging times. The Festival is privileged to honor Steve’s legacy by fostering the next generation of great performers. This year, the Festival is pleased to welcome nine talented performers of the Steven Della Rocca Young Professional Program.

Schumann composed his piano quintet in just a few weeks in September and October 1842, in the course of his so-called Year of Chamber Music. Before 1842 Schumann had completed no chamber music at all, with the exception of an early piano quartet composed in 1829. Following his marriage to Clara in 1840, Schumann turned to the composition of songs, chamber music and orchestral works. During his year-long concentration in 1842 upon chamber music he executed the three string quartets, Op. 41, the piano quintet, Op. 44; the piano quartet, Op. 47; and the Phantasiestücke for piano trio, Op. 88. Schumann’s work in that year was buoyant in character; 

Schumann had begun his career primarily as a composer for the keyboard; after his detour into writing for string quartet, according to Joan Chisell, the “reunion with the piano” which the piano quintet provoked gave “his creative imagination … a new lease on life.”

Schumann dedicated the piano quintet to his wife Clara . She was due to perform the piano part in the first private performance of the quintet on the 6th December 1842 at the home of Henriette Vogt and her husband Carl.However she fell ill and Felix Mendelssohn stepped in, sight-reading the “fiendish” piano part.^[5]Mendelssohn’s suggestions to Schumann after this performance led to revisions to the inner movements, including the addition to the third movement of a second trio.

Clara Schumann did play the piano part at the quintet’s first public performance, which took place on the 8th January 1843 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus . Clara pronounced the work “splendid, full of vigor and freshness.” and often performed the quintet throughout her life.A notable performance came in 1852, when Schumann asked that the younger pianist Julius Tausch replace Clara in the quintet, explaining that “a man understands that better.” Franz Liszt heard the piece performed at Schumann’s home in 1848 and described it as “somewhat too Leipzigerisch,” a reference to the conservative music of composers from Leipzig, especially Felix Mendelssohn . Schumann took enormous offense at this remark, especially because Mendelssohn, who was a great friend of Schumann’s and whom Schumann somewhat idolised, had died only a year earlier. By some accounts Schumann rushed at Liszt and seized him by the shoulders. Liszt eventually apologised.Schumann did not forget Liszt’s offhanded insult, and mentioned it several times in letters to Liszt. Liszt’s relationship with the Schumanns was never entirely mended.

The two Serenades, Op. 11 and 16, represent early efforts by Brahms  to write orchestral music. They both date from after the 1856 death of Robert Schumann  when Brahms was residing in Detmold and had access to an orchestra.

Brahms had a goal of reaching Beethoven’s level in writing symphonies, and worked long and hard on his first symphony , completing it only in 1876 when he was 43 years old. As preliminary steps in composing for orchestra, he chose early on to write some lighter orchestral pieces, these Serenades. The first serenade  was completed in 1858. At that time, Brahms was also working on his Piano Concerto n. 1 . Originally scored for wind and string nonet  and then expanded into a longer work for chamber orchestra, the serenade was later adapted for orchestra;Brahms completed the final version for large orchestra in December 1859.In the orchestration of the Concerto Brahms had solicited and got a great deal of advice from his good friend Joseph Joachim . For this Serenade Joachim also gave advice, although to a lesser extent.The first performance of the Serenade, in Hanover  on 3 March 1860, “did not go very well” in Brahms’s opinion,^[7] but evidently the unusually large audience of 1,200 did not notice any mistake during the performance. At the end, applause “persisted until I came out and down in front.” After every piece in the concert “the audience was shouting.”This was a vastly better reception than the Piano Concerto had in either of its first two performances. But at its third performance, 24 March, also in Hamburg, it had been a success, perhaps not to the same degree as the Serenade. 

The Serenade consists of six movements

1. Allegro molto
2. Scherzo . Allegro non troppo – Trio. Poco più moto 
3. Adagio
4. Menuetto 1 – Menuetto II 
5. Scherzo. Allegro – Trio
6. Rondo . Allegro

Scorings for Serenade 1 are:

• Nonet: flute, 2 clarinets in A (movements I, V, VI) and B flat (movements II, III, IV), bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, double bass
• Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (as in the nonet}, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings (violins I and II, viola, cello, double bass)

Martha in town and it is pure magic
Some enchanted evening – how does your garden grow ? Ever more beautiful with glowing warmth and the simplicity of an artist whose whole existence is music.

A 30th birthday performance of solo Bach for the quite extraordinary first violin of Andrea Obiso opened the evening that was to close with Beethoven’s 9th with a glittering array of soloists and Lahav Shani at the helm .

The youngest ever conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic who I had heard just a few days ago there conducting from the keyboard Prokofiev 3rd Concerto .

So hardly surprising that he should share the piano with ‘our’ Martha for a gentle stroll together in Ravel’s magic garden.
Tomorrow’s performance will be recorded for radio and television.
Beethoven’s second concerto that I had only once realised what a gem it is and that was from the hands of Gilels when he played all the Beethoven Concertos with Sir Adrian Boult. I was won over too by Pletnev and Von Dohnyani again in the days when Pletnev was less distracted and a pianist who Sandor could not believe would ever want to be a conductor!

It is those gentle arpeggios up and down the piano in the first movement that sort the men from the boys or a great artist from a good musician.Martha like Curzon has this way of highlighting notes in a scale that is nothing short of miraculous.Curzon used to sweat blood over every note and his scores are witness to the amount of work that went into the seeming simplicity of his interpretations.I bet Martha has not seen the score for years because the music is in her heart and soul as it has been from her youth when she went at the age of 16 from Geneva to Bolzano astonishing all that heard her and was justly covered in Gold medals.

But glory from a very early age has never changed Martha for whom warmth,friendship and communication are her ethos.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2016/12/13/a-birds-eye-view-of-a-very-happy-occasion-martha-argerich-and-alberto-portugheis-wigmore-hall-75th-birthday-celebration/
Of course she knows who she is as an artist before a doting public but it is always her disarming simplicity and sincerity that shines through all she does.

From the very first notes of the Beethoven played with the ease and simplicity of a child with the final question mark thrown over to her colleagues with a nonchalance that Beethoven himself must have used with improvised genius.Missing the last whispered note she just went and added it a fraction later and am sure no one even noticed except for her and it brought a smile to her face for being so silly ( I was sitting almost next to her,by the way !).Sudden injections of dynamic rhythmic drive and the searing intensity of the more virtuosistic passages were helped with the pedal to build up a larger sonority without any mechanical hardness or flamboyance.The clarity of the fugato in Beethoven’s cadenza was played with such glowing beauty as the entry of each voice shone like a light touching a prism.It was done with such subtlety and purely with fingers ( and what fingers and an enviable arch of the hand that she possesses still ) receiving of course an unconscious message from her superb natural musicianship where fingers ,mind ,heart and soul unite in one of the greatest artist before the public today.

A radiance of sound to the Adagio living every moment of the opening orchestral beauty under the watchful hands of her young colleague .He too using his bare hands to sculpt the sounds aided by the quite extraordinary participation of the birthday boy first violin. Martha,Lahav and Andrea inspiring their colleagues to heights and places they rarely visit I was reminded of the trio of Pappano,Jansen and Gonzales a few years ago on this very stage.

Martha barely touching these notes of Mozartian purity but which miraculously reached into the farthest corners of the vast hall.Martha like a great actor or singer who can transmit the same emotion to the front row as she can to the farthest.It is called artistry and I am reminded of Martha’s great friend Nelson Freire who had this same gift and would also sometimes add the occasional note to open up the sonorities hidden within the depths of the piano.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/02/nelson-freire-rip/
I remember when we were on tour in Venice at the same time that Nicolas Economou had arranged a festival for Martha at La Fenice.On a day off from our sold out performances of ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ at the Teatro Ridotto – now Benetton showroom- we went to hear one of the concerts . Martha had played only the first concert and then left much to the surprise of Hans Fazzari of the Milan Serate Musicali who used to follow her around. We heard of course Nicolas Economou who was to die so tragically at the age of forty in a car accident a little while later and who Martha out of friendship had agreed to take part in his mini festival.The technicians though showed us around the theatre backstage and pointed out that under the orchestral pit were some meters of broken glass because the Venetians had realised that it was a natural substance that would reflect the sound into the hall. Artistry,mastery ingenuity call it what you will but it created a warmth of natural sound that no acoustically assisted sound could compete with these days!It is this same natural God given artistry that we are witness too each time that Martha arrives on stage.

There were big sonorities too to the Adagio as the left hand weaved its way underneath the melodic line in a question and answer with the orchestra.
Impetuous as ever Martha ,with a twinkle in her eye, immediately entered with the impish rondo melody of the Molto allegro last movement. A ‘ joie de vivre’ where any idea of numbers could be instantly forgotten as Martha was a coquettish young maiden teasing and beguiling her colleagues into playing ball with her. Even the last chords were played like bells throwing her hands into the air as though being burnt by the glistening sounds that were coming from the piano and that were taken up exactly the same by the orchestra before the final rumbustous ending.

‘Ma mère l’Oye’ I have heard Martha play with many of her colleagues even with the addition sometimes of percussion to add orchestral colour.Today we were treated only to the last of the five pieces that make up this suite for piano duet : ‘Le Jardin Féerique’. Lahav added some subtle deep bass notes ( as Nelson would have no doubt done) and it opened up the sounds of the piano allowing Martha to barely whisper the notes at the top of the keyboard but with a glowing warmth that gradually built up to the streams of sounds of glissandi that she played with the beauty and grace of all she did tonight.

Next stop for Martha ever youthful with an artistry that just grows and grows on every occasion and is of mastery and simplicity – like Rubinstein.

https://www.symphonikerhamburg.de/en/martha-argerich-festival

Another ‘tour de force’ from Julian Jacobson from the 32 Beethoven Sonatas played on the same day and without the use of the score which was indeed a feat of memory, stamina and intellectual daring. He had also helped prepare the new Barenreiter Beethoven Edition together with Leslie Howard and Jonathan De Mar.

Barenreiter Beethoven of Jonathan Del Mar

It is of course impossible to assimilate all the Beethoven Sonatas at one sitting but it does give one a chance to have a panorama and an overall view of Beethoven’s evolution throughout his turbulent life.

Today it was equally interesting to be reminded of the 24 Preludes of Debussy in one sitting.These Preludes were never meant to be played together and Debussy was even careful not to give a title to each one until it was over. However they are now so well known through the historic performances of Richter and Michelangeli and those more recent of Zimmerman, Fou Ts’ong and strangely enough Daniel Barenboim.I remember very well the very first performances of Richter in London where,seated on the stage , I could appreciate not how powerfully he could play in terms of volume but the power and control of sound at a whispered level that we in the west were not yet used to.There was such control but also a temperament that could be unleashed with savage abandon without warning.

There was also the chiselled perfection of Michelangeli the very opposite of Richter and of course Zimmerman was able to combine both worlds with extraordinary perfection.Rubinstein would often play Ondine in his recitals and it would be a tone poem of dynamic drive and ravishing beauty.His ‘terraces du Clair de lune’ was one of the marvels of my concert going experience. Fou Ts’ong too in a documentary about his life showed the camera slowly moving around his beautiful house in Hermitage Lane with Ts’ong playing ‘Canope’ that was truly unforgettable. Agosti too arrived at the Chigiana in Siena for his annual masterclasses announcing that it was his 80th year but did not wish to be celebrated. It was he indeed who celebrated but with the second book of Debussy Preludes that went on late into the night as he wanted to talk about each one in turn (this is one of the few recordings of the legendary musician that are available) Lya De Barberiis and many other illustrious admirers were ready even at 1 am to uncork the forbidden Champagne for a musician of such extraordinarily simplicity and integrity.

You see Julian with this ‘tour de force’ has allowed me to stop and think about past performances as I in turn admired his playing too. From the austere lightness of the Delphic Dancers and the easy wind and calm sea of the Sails where even the wind on the plain seemed strangely calm too .

It was soon to be ruffled when the West Wind blew in after a visit to Anacapri of urbane aristocratic brilliance and it was good to be reminded of Richter at this point too. His gentle steps in the snow reminded me of Moura Lympany with her extraordinary kaleidoscopic touch that thanks to Uncle Tobbs could make simple notes gleam and shine like precious jewels. Julian treated the flaxen haired girl of Debussy’s dreams very gently and beautifully as Debussy had requested – ‘sans rigueur’. The Serenade was played with real Latin aplomb and boiling controlled passion.The great Cathedral of Mont S .Michele was played with aristocratic control and wonder just ready for Puck to poke fun at these serious goings on before the plodding gait of Minstrels ended this parade of twelve picture postcards.

A slight break ,more for the audience than for Julian, and we were immersed in the whispered mists of ‘Brouillards’ as Julian gently allowed the dead leaves to drift slowly around the keyboard. A much needed wake up call from Spain brought us to Debussy’s magic fairy land . Such simplicity and elegance to ‘Bruyère’ , a piece we have all played in our youth.Suddenly Julian was a Jack in the box with ‘General Lavine’ striding on to the scene and if Rubinstein could create more of a magical tone poem of La terraces and Ondine it was also because he chose the two closest to his warm heart and never attempted the feat that Julian has embarked on today.

Clockwork precision and musicianly shaping of the double thirds was followed by the etherial magic of Debussy’s fireworks where the misty vision of La Marseillaise was a wonderful way to close 24 picture postcards of such ravishing colour and character.

And to salute a musician who is a real kapellmeister especially in these days where so often the mechanical has taken over from the human element in the concert hall! Diaphragm has been replaced with a microphone and memory has passed into the feet and is no longer the feat we were witness to today!

Claude Debussy’s Préludes are 24 pieces for solo piano , divided into two books of 12 preludes  each. Each book was written in a matter of months, at an unusually fast pace for Debussy. Book I was written between December 1909 and February 1910, and Book II between the last months of 1912 and early April 1913.On 3 May 1911, pianist Jane Mortier premiered the first book of preludes at the Salle Pleyel  in Paris.German-English pianist Walter morse Rummel , a student of Leopold Godowsky , premiered the second book in 1913 in London.The first complete recording of both books was made in England in 1938 by South African pianist Adolph Hallis^.

In the original editions, Debussy had the titles placed at the end of each work,allowing performers to experience each prelude without being influenced by its titles beforehand.

Two of the titles were set in quotation marks  by Debussy because they are, in fact, quotations: «Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir» is from Baudelaire’s poem Harmonie du soir (“Evening Harmony”), from his volume Les Fleurs du mal “Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses” is from J.M. Barrie’s book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens,, which Debussy’s daughter had received as a gift.

At least one title is poetically vague: The exact meaning of Voiles, the first book’s second prelude, is impossible to ascertain; in French, voiles can mean either “veils” or “sails”.

Kapellmeister Jacobson informs and delights with mastery at St Mary’s

Well Dr Mather said it all when he exclaimed that he could not understand why this unique artist is not better known on the concert platform worldwide.
Endless amounts of CD’s of some of the most interesting repertoire receiving unanimous praise from the critics and live performances like today of impeccable artistry.
Sharing amazing insights into the life and times of musicians we have only before read about in books he also brought them vividly to life not only in words but above all in music.A critic in Vicenza could not believe her ears when she heard him playing Alkan and certainly found it hard to believe her eyes when she saw his score with a finger on every note – and there were many many notes scrawled across the page.

Today a Beethoven that we have often seen mentioned in books and thought of as a curiosity and a sort of try out for the Choral Fantasy – Mark showed us how wrong we could be with a performance of dynamic drive and luminosity and a chameleonic change of character that would have put Gilbert and Sullivan to shame .The last laugh of course was Beethoven’s with a final right hand slap in the bass !!

Two miniatures by Alkan of glowing fluidity and simplicity of a composer that Mark has long been championing.Ier recueil de chants op 38. A superb sense of balance in ‘Largement,quoique asset vif ’ allowed the left hand to provide washes of sound supporting a bel canto melody of great originality unlike any other composer although Mark had likened it to Mendelssohn seen through a dark lense! The repetitive motif in ‘Barcarolle:Andante ’ was of hypnotic beauty with neither piece of transcendental difficulty but both of quite exquisite simple beauty in Mark’s very sensitive hands.Fingers like limpets that dug deep into the keys to reveal secrets that had been hidden for too long.

Debussy’s refreshingly simple ‘Suite bergamasque ’ reborn with its original title and was of pure grace and charm.The grandiose Prelude opening was followed by the impish good humour of the Menuet and the limpid simple beauty of Clair de lune originally entitled ‘Promenade sentimentale’. A Passepied that Mark thought was the real highlight of this suite with its beguiling half lights and insinuating playful ‘joie de vivre’. A true lesson in style and control with a mastery of sound that brought this charming suite vividly to life.

Chopin’s Polonaise Héroique played as Chopin wrote it with nobility and aristocratic control.Such well known works as this can fall into a rhetorical tradition in lesser hands .Mark looks at the score with disarming innocence and can reveal secrets hidden by years of layers of dust and show us just exactly what Chopin wrote.A transcendental technical control that allowed him to master the cavalry into orderly legions so the bugle calls could ride so nobly in its wake.A finale of breathtaking nobility and exhilaration showed us the refreshingly insightful musicianship of a master.

And finally Liszt’s ‘Carnaval de Pesth’ that finished this glittering Carnaval Promenade with a performance of such mastery that as Dr Mather exclaimed he made one of Liszt’s longest and most complicated Rhapsodies seem so simple.
His introduction to the Liszt encore was so enticing that the magic was set even before he touched the keys.Faribolo Pasteur S.236/1 I have only ever heard from Leslie Howard’s hands and it is enough to say that Mark and Leslie are colleagues.Both with an insatiable appetite for delving into the archives and bringing long lost masterpieces to the fore.
Mark is chairman of the Alkan society and Leslie of the Liszt Society and the world is without doubt a better place with them at the helm.

Described by International Piano Magazine as “one of the most gifted pianists of his generation”, Mark Viner is steadily gaining a reputation as one of Britain’s leading concert pianists; his unique blend of individual artistry combined with his bold exploration of the byways of the piano literature garnering international renown. Born in 1989, he began playing at the age of 11 before being awarded a scholarship two years later to enter the Purcell School of Music where he studied with Tessa Nicholson for the next five years. Another scholarship took him to the Royal College of Music where he studied with the late Niel Immelman for the next six years, graduating with first class honours in a Bachelor of Music degree in 2011 and a distinction in Master of Performance 2013; the same year which afforded him the honour to perform before HM the King. 

After winning 1st prize at the Alkan-Zimmerman International Piano Competition in Athens, Greece in 2012, his career has brought him across much of Europe as well as North and South America. While festival invitations include appearances the Raritäten der Klaviermusik, Husum in Germany, the Cheltenham Music Festival and Harrogate Music Festival in the United Kingdom and the Festival Chopiniana in Argentina, radio broadcasts include recitals and interviews aired on Deutschlandfunk together with frequent appearances on BBC Radio 3. His acclaimed Wigmore Hall début recital in 2018 confirmed his reputation as one of today’s indisputable torchbearers of the Romantic Revival. 

He is particularly renowned for his CD recordings on the Piano Classics label which include music by Alkan, Blumenfeld, Chaminade, Liszt and Thalberg, all of which have garnered exceptional international critical acclaim. His most important project to date is a survey of the complete piano music of Alkan: the first of its kind and which is expected to run to some 18 CDs in length. Aside from a busy schedule of concerts and teaching, he is also a published composer and writer and his advocacy for the music of Alkan led to his election as Chairman the Alkan Society 2014. 

Mark Viner at St Michael and All Angels bringing mastery and discovery to Chiswick

During his earlier years, Beethoven’s powers of improvisation were legendary. As Czerny later recalled: ‘His improvisation was most brilliant and striking. In whatever company he might chance to be, he knew how to produce such an effect upon every listener that frequently not an eye remained dry, while many would break out into loud sobs; for there was something wonderful in his expression in addition to the beauty and originality of his ideas and his spirited style of rendering them. After ending an improvisation of this kind he would burst into loud laughter and mock his listeners for the emotion he had caused in them. ‘You are fools!’, he would say. No piece of Beethoven affords a more vivid picture of what his improvisations must have been like than this one.

The autograph score of the Fantasia for Piano op. 77 is a fair copy. As the manuscript itself was the engraver’s model for Breitkopf & Härtel’s original edition, Beethoven wrote out the autograph score in a neat and orderly manner, and it contains almost no corrections. Even Beethoven’s contemporaries noticed that the composer had again departed from tradition with this fantasia and begun to use new, unusual forms and harmonies. The reviewer for the Viennese newspaper Wiener allgemeine musikalische Zeitung wrote in 1813, “The talk is often about new works by Beethoven, but almost anyone who is only partially acquainted with Herr B-s compositions will see this new work under two aspects; 1) as being wholly original in its harmonies, form and modulations 2) as being very difficult to perform. This double expectation is perfectly suited to the above Fantasia.”

Another aspect of the Fantasia op. 77 is also referred to in the review, the “illusion of improvisation”. Although it was the essence of a fantasia to imitate free improvisation and not to follow a fixed scheme, a fantasia was nevertheless a piece, which only imitated improvisation and did not create the impression that the performer was actually improvising. This was not the case with op. 77 – the deception was almost complete for the listeners. Listeners at the time who had already heard the composer improvise freely said that the Fantasia for Piano almost sounded like his free improvisations.

Franz Liszt and Countess Caroline de Saint-Cricq

When reciting his Franconnette, Jasmin sang the “Siren with a heart of ice” song to a melody that he composed himself Liszt named his Faribolo Pastour composition after the first line of the song, rather than using Jasmin’s title. Here are Jasmin’s original score and lyrics.

Faribolo pastouro,
Serèno al cò de glas,
Oh! digo, digo couro
Entendren tinda l’houro
Oun t’amistouzaras.

Toutjour fariboulejes,
Et quand parpailloulejes
La foulo que mestrejes,
Sur toun cami set mèt
Et te siet.

Mais rés d’acos, maynådo,
Al bounhur pot mena;
Qu’és acòs d’estre aymado,
Quand on sat pas ayma?

O frivolous shepherd maid,
Siren with a heart of ice,
Oh! tell us, tell us when
we can expect the time
when you’ll finally be subdued.

Always fluttering and flirting,
And when you hover over
the crowd that you control,
upon your path they’ll fall
at your feet.

But nothing comes of this, young maid,
To happiness it never leads;
What is it to be loved like this
If you can never return that love ?

Young Franz Liszt’s love affair with his pupil Caroline de Saint-Cricq is a prominent item with all his biographers. The following compiled description provides the essence of their romance as we know it today:

Countess Caroline de Saint-Cricq has been described as nothing short of an angel come down to earth, without worldly desires of whatsoever kind. Besides, she was very beautiful and very rich. Liszt became her piano teacher in spring 1828. While talking exclusively of holy things, they quickly fell in love. Supported by Caroline’s mother they wanted to marry. Shortly afterwards, on June 30 or July 1, 1828, the mother died. Despite a promise to his wife on her death bed, Caroline’s father, French Minister of Commerce Pierre de Saint-Cricq, then acted as antagonist, showing Liszt the door. Caroline fell ill and Liszt suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1830, by her father’s arrangement, Caroline married one Bertrand d’Artigaux in Pau in southern France, where she led an unhappy married life.

Documents that were written close to the time of young Liszt’s idyll with Caroline, are mostly of an idealized romantic nature and contain significant omissions with respect to listing of sources. Many later biographies have blindly copied these stories.
The catalyst for gaining a new understanding is Liszt’s piano composition named Faribolo Pastour. Liszt wrote it during a concert trip to Southern Europe in 1844. At a concert series in Pau in October that year, Liszt was reunited with his childhood love Caroline Dartigaux (née Saint-Cricq).  During his two week stay at Pau, Liszt created two compositions which he dedicated to Caroline. The works are rarely performed.

Up to now, the title Faribolo Pastour has been interpreted using the French language, where it means Pastoral Whimsy. However, the poet Jasmin who created the song did not write in French but in a local patois: the Languedocien d’Agen.

• In this language, the word faribolo is etymologically translated as frivole (frivolous), with fariboulejes meaning flirtatious, fluttering about — like a butterfly
• Rather than pastoral, the correct translation of the word pastouro from the Languedocien d’Agen is bergère (shepherd girl).

This seemingly minor language difference changes the song from Pastoral Whimsy to Frivolous Shepherd Girl. This offers an exciting new perspective on Caroline de Saint-Cricq.

Why did Liszt dedicate a song about a frivolous girl to his first major love Caroline who has always been described as virtuous and angelic?

In 1875, Liszt stated to his biographer Lina Ramann:”These two little transcriptions are hardly known, and I have entirely forgotten them”.

This is a bold statement if we consider that he dedicated them to the girl that, according to all of his biographers was one of the most important loves of his life and key to his further development as a human being and composer.

Suite bergamasque

Debussy was initially unwilling to use these relatively early piano compositions because they were not in his mature style, but in 1905 he accepted the offer of a publisher who thought they would be successful, given the fame Debussy had gained in the intervening fifteen years.While it is not known how much of the Suite was written in 1890 and how much was written in 1905, it is clear that Debussy changed the names of at least two of the pieces. Passepied had first been composed under the title Pavane, while Clair de lune was originally entitled Promenade sentimentale. These names come from poems by Paul Verlaine .The title of the third movement of Suite bergamasque is taken from Verlaine’s poem “Clair de lune’ which refers to bergamasks in the opening stanza:

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,
Where masks and bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.^[3]

Playing of great clarity and sterling musicianship allied to a technical command of brilliance and authority.It brought a welcome breath of fresh air to the Chopin B minor Sonata and earned this young man a standing ovation from the eclectic audience that Dr Mather has nurtured over the years with his many seasons that give a platform to young musicians at the start of their career.

Schubert’s Moment Musicaux in F minor and Impromptu in G flat had the same simple musicianship that allowed the music to speak so directly as did the Eleven Bagatelles by Beethoven op 119.
Eleven jewels that did not quite glitter and shine with the composers impish personality but which glowed with a light of purity and precision.

It was Chopin with his Barcarolle op 60 and Sonata op 58 that illuminated this young man’s soul and using more pedal ,which is indeed the soul of the piano, he allowed the music to unfold with even more authority and poetry. A remarkable clarity and technical mastery but in Chopin allied more to a world of fantasy and artistry that obviously touched this young man more than the respectable beauty of his Schubert and Beethoven.

A kaleidoscope of colours though were saved for the encore by his fellow Croatian, Dora Pejacevic ,with a Nocturne of fantasy and ravishing shimmering sounds.It was here that this young Croation pianist allowed us a glimpse into his inner world of fantasy and imagination with a freedom that he had held remarkably under control until this final heartfelt glimpse of his homeland.

Croatian young pianist Zvjezdan Vojvodic made his concerto debut at the age of 15, as a laureate of the 50 th prestigious international piano competition “Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte” in the Czech Republic where he got the opportunity to perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto in f minor at the opening concert of that competition in the following year. Zvjezdan was born in Croatia in 2003, where he completed his primary and secondary music education in the class of professor and excellent advisor Ivanka Kordic. Since the autumn of 2021, Zvjezdan has been studying at the Royal College of Music in London, UK. His teachers are Ian Jones and Dinara Klinton, and Zvjezdan is now 3 rd year student at RCM as William Mealings Scholar supported by the Cosmina and Douglas Liversidge Scholarship.

He won over 80 first and special awards at national and international competitions. At the Croatian national competitions (2015-2021) he continuously won four first prizes in the piano category and twice in the piano duo. Among international awards we can point some 1 st prizes: “Merci maestro”, (Brussels, 2017); „Jurica Murai”, laureate of the competition (Varaždin, 2017); “Ars nova”, laureate of the competition (Trieste, 2017); “Isidor Bajic”, (Novi Sad, 2018); “EPTA” (Osijek, 2019).
At the renowned XII. Darmstadt International Chopin Piano Competition, held in Autumn 2022, as the youngest competitor he reached the final stage and was one of the prize winners. And in 2023. Zvjezdan won 1 st prize at the Watford International Piano Competition held in the UK.

Another extraordinary recital by Patrick Hemmerlé who seems to digest the piano repertoire,conventional and unconventional, with a voracious appetite that is quite astonishing.
Intelligence,curiosity,mastery and simplicity. A sense of communication and effortless beauty that brings us scores of notorious difficulty time after time.Today was even more astonishing as he played one of the most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire with a smile on his face as he lived Mozart’s drama describing each character with the same effect that we would have experienced in the theatre.
Bach that just spun from his fingers with the crystalline clarity of the Fantasia in C minor or the searing intensity of ‘Nun Komm…….’ in Busoni’s transcription.Patrick,an ever more Busonian character himself , had even made his own transcription of the elaborate weaving of Bach’s ‘Ich habe Genug’ that he found time to write whiling away the boredom of being far from a piano with Covid!
Wagner’s heart rending passionate outpouring so lusciously described in his father in law’s genial hands was mirrored by the sparse but poignant transcription,or more pointedly a ramble by that illusive figure Percy Grainger.
Der Rosenkavalier where with just the unmistakeable stroke of chiming chords he could create the same atmosphere of Strauss’s sumptuous score .It reminded me very much of another Busonian figure : Ronald Stevenson whose Grimes Fantasy was similarly poignant with Britten’s unmistakable chord progressions creating the same desolate atmosphere as the crowds swaying on stage.
It needs just one saliant detail to describe so grafically an entire opera.
The variations by Novak ,that the composer himself had not thought worthy of his later compositions, in Patrick’s hands revealed a set of variations that were so much more interesting and varied than the rather repetitive monocoloured theme from Schumann’s usually richly ‘coloured leaves’ op. 99.
If the Don Juan Fantasy was astonishing for it’s fearless virtuosity and breathtaking vision it was the little waltz by Schubert played as an encore that truly stole our hearts.Beauty,simplicity and a ravishing sense of balance combined to calm the red hot cauldron with which Liszt had described Mozart’s great operatic masterpiece.
It also was of great interest as Schubert gave it to his friend Kupelwieser as a wedding present in 1826 and it was never written down.A family descendent played it to Strauss in 1943 who did write it down and it was eventually published in 1970.
Yet another sting in the tail for this remarkable young artist who never fails to astonish,inform or seduce.

Patrick Hemmerlé is one of Europe’s foremost and most enigmatic pianists. Refusing to follow musical traditional conventions, he has forged a unique path in the musical world which leaves him free to immerse himself with singular dedication into the repertoire and musical expression resonating with the profoundest convictions. The results are interpretations of startling insight and originality. By dauntlessly performing all 24 Chopin Etudes or 24 of Bach’s Preludes and Fugues in a single concert, as well as championing lesser-known composers he feels a deep affinity for, he has developed a reputation as an original with something out of the ordinary to say, 

French born and trained at the Conservatoire de Paris under Billy Edie, and laureate of many international piano competitions, he now lives in Cambridge, England, where he has built up a staunchly loyal following. He also performs all over the world and recent engagements have taken him to New York, Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Prague and China. He has published 5 CDs, and his latest recording project to be issued shortly, is a pairing of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and Fischer’s Ariadne Musica. Patrick is a member of Clare Hall, where he is in charge of the concert programme. 

Patrick Hemmerlé at St Mary’s The Mastery and Mistery of a fervent believer

Réminiscences de Don Juan (S. 418)  on themes from mozart’s Mozart’s 1787 opera Don Giovanni

As Busoni  says in the preface to his 1918 edition of the work, the Réminiscences carries “an almost symbolic significance as the highest point of pianism.” Liszt wrote the work in 1841 and published a two-piano version (S. 656) in 1877. It is extremely technically demanding and considered to be among the most taxing of Liszt’s works and in the entire repertoire . Neuhaus simply stated that with the exception of Ginzburg probably nobody but the pianola played without smudges.” https://youtube.com/watch?v=5VU7NsF5E1E&feature=shared

It was the final piece for Horowitz’s graduation concert at the Kiev’s conservatory; at the end all the professors stood up to express their approval. Horowitz, after claiming to Backhaus that the most difficult piano piece he ever played was Liszt’s Feux-follets without hesitation, he added that Réminiscences de Don Juan is not an easy piece either. Horowitz had it in his concert programmes, as well as the Liszt Sonata, which was not often played at the time, in his early years in Europe

Scriabin injured his right hand overpracticing this piece and Balakirev’s Islamey , and wrote the funeral march  of his First Piano Sonata in memory of his damaged hand.

Tristan and Isolde is a musical drama in three acts written by Richard Wagner between 1857 and 1859, and premiered in 1865. Two years after the debut of the work at the National Theater of Munich, Franz Liszt (who was Wagner’s father in law) made a piano transcription of Isolde’s final aria. The piece, called “Mild und leise”, was referred to as “Verklärung” (Transfiguration) by Wagner. Liszt prefaced his transcription with a four bar excerpt from the Love Duet from Act II, which in the opera is sung to the words “sehnend verlangter Liebestod”. Accordingly, he referred to his transcription as ‘Liebestod’. Later it was designated with the catalogue number S. 447. Liszt’s transcription (which underwent a revision in 1875) became famous in Europe well before Wagner’s opera reached most places.

Vitězslav NOVÁK (1870-1949)
Variations on a theme by Schumann, Op.4 (1893)

His chamber music includes some fine piano music such as the variations on a theme of Schumann  of 1893, the Sonata Eroica of 1900, Exotion of 1911, the six sonatinas of 1919–1920 and Pan, op 43 an important work left out of Michaels Kennedy’s inadequate Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music. There are the Reminiscences Op 6 of 1884 and Songs of a Winter Night Op 30, the final burleske of which is a foot-tappper, and, in 1920, Novák put together twenty-one short piano pieces which he entitled Mladi (Youth) with the Opus number 55.

Most of his chamber music are early works and include two piano trios in G minor of 1892 and D minor of 1902, a Piano Quartet revised in 1899, a Piano Quintet revised in 1897, three string quartets (1899, 1905 and 1930), and a Cello Sonata of 1941.His Piano Concerto in E minor of 1895 apparently not performed until about 20 years later and which Novák referred to as a monster.Dvorak helped Novák considerably and encouraged him to study philosophy as well. But, by the mid 1890s, Novák was in crisis. He could not find an original voice for his music and despaired sinking into depression. He travelled to a remote region on the borders of Bohemia and Moravia and fell in love with Slovak folk songs which lifted his spirits. He collected many of these songs and seem to fuse them within his own work. It was this contact with nature that inspired him and he felt freed from traditional forms as in the work of the great masters and his mature music probably owes most to Richard Strauss than Brahms

His early works shows a debt to Brahms with his Serenade in F for orchestra of 1894 and the Orchestral Bohemian dances of 1897. He revised the serenade in the last year of his life.But, by far, the most impressive symphonic poem is De Profundis Op 67 of 1941 written during the Nazi occupation. Novák made it clear that he hated the Nazis and could have been arrested for his outspoken views. The title comes from Psalm 130, “Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord.” and the score is headed up, “consecrated to the suffering of the Czech people during the German reign of terror 1939–1945.” The large orchestra includes a part for organ played by Jiři Reinberger at the premiere in Brno on 20 November 1941 with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bretislav Bakala. In Brno, Czech people were still being shot and hung simply for the amusement of the German people.He had composed another large scale symphony between 1931–1934 called the Autumn Symphony which is a choral symphony. But his finest choral piece is generally agreed to be The Spectre’s Bride of 1912–1913.

Grainger was a great admirer of the music of Richard Strauss, considering him to be a genius and ‘a humane soul whose music overflowed with the milk of human kindness’. Meetings between the two composers took place on various occasions during the early part of the twentieth century, and Strauss was on at least two occasions to conduct Grainger’s music in Germany. Work commenced on the Ramble on Love (‘Ramble on the love-duet in the opera “The Rose-Bearer” [Der Rosenkavalier] FSFM No 4’) before 1920. But it was his mother’s suicide in 1922 that drove Grainger to complete this most elaborate of all his piano paraphrases, with her name obliquely enshrined in the title. It is one of the most meticulously notated piano pieces in the repertoire, with copious use of the sostenuto (middle) pedal where the sumptuous sound world of Strauss is conjured up to dazzling effect in this transcription that marks the full range and summit of Grainger’s pianism.Except for three months’ formal schooling as a 12-year-old, during which he was bullied and ridiculed by his classmates, Percy was educated at home.Rose, an autodidact  with a dominating presence, supervised his music and literature studies and engaged other tutors for languages, art and drama.At the age of 10 he began studying piano under Louis Pabst, a German-born graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, Melbourne’s leading piano teacher. Grainger’s first known composition, “A Birthday Gift to Mother”, is dated 1893.Pabst arranged Grainger’s first public concert appearances, at Melbourne’s Masonic Hall in July and September 1894. After Pabst returned to Europe in the autumn of 1894, Grainger’s new piano tutor, Adelaide Burkitt, arranged for his appearances at a series of concerts in October 1894 at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building . The size of this enormous venue horrified the young pianist; nevertheless, his performance delighted the Melbourne critics, who dubbed him “the flaxen-haired phenomenon who plays like a master”.This public acclaim helped Rose to decide that her son should continue his studies in Germany.He left Australia at the age of 13 to attend the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt .

Grainger’s biographer, records that during his Frankfurt years, Grainger began to develop sexual appetites that were “distinctly abnormal”; by the age of 16 he had started to experiment in flagellation  and other sado-masochistic practices, which he continued to pursue through most of his adult life. Bird surmises that Grainger’s fascination with themes of punishment and pain derived from the harsh discipline to which Rose had subjected him as a child.

Between 1901 and 1914 he was based in London, where he established himself first as a society pianist and later as a concert performer, composer, and collector of original folk melodies. As his reputation grew he met many of the significant figures in European music, forming important friendships with Delius and Grieg . He became a champion of Nordicmusic and culture, his enthusiasm for which he often expressed in private letters, sometimes in crudely racial or anti-Semitic terms. 

In 1914, Grainger moved to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life, though he travelled widely in Europe and Australia.

Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 906, is an unfinished work composed by sometime during Bach’s tenure in Leipzig (1723–1750). The work survives in two autograph  scores, one with the fantasia  alone, and the other, believed to have been penned around 1738 in which the fugue is incomplete.It is notable for being one of Bach’s latest compositions in the prelude and fugue  format.

In 1802 Forkel,the first biographer of Bach  described two keyboard fantasies by Bach .He sees the first of these, the Chromatic Fantasia BWV 903 as “unique and unequalled”, and the second, the one in C minor (BWV 906), as a work of different character, “rather the Allegro of a Sonata”. Unaware of the composition’s second autograph, which was only discovered in Dresden in 1876, he thinks that the Fugue is unconnected to the Fantasia and that the end of the Fugue is likely by another composer.

Busoni  used the fantasia and his own completion of the fugue in his Fantasia ,Adagio e Fuga BV B37.

Bach arranged the cantata during his career (BWV 699). There have been many variations of Bach’s arrangement. One of the most respected solo instrumental versions is one by Busoni in his Bach- Busoni Editions .

Ich habe genug (original: Ich habe genung, English: “I have enough” or “I am content”), BWV 82,is a cantata by Bach which he composed bass in Leipzig in 1727 for the Feast Mariae Reinigung(Purification of Mary) and first performed it on 2 February 1727. In a version for soprano BWV 82a, possibly first performed in 1731, the part of the obbligato oboe is replaced by a flute . Part of the music appears in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach . The cantata is one of the most recorded and performed of Bach’s sacred cantatas. The opening aria and so-called “slumber aria” are regarded as some of the most inspired creations of Bach.

The gift of a waltz encore

Leopold Kupelwieser was an artist, born in 1796, and a friend of Schubert. The artist got married in 1826. To honor them, Schubert composed the couple a little waltz in G flat major. According to lore, the waltz was never written down. It was played and enjoyed by descendants of the couple, generation after generation. Finally, one of these descendants played the waltz for Richard Strauss. This was during World War in 1943. Strauss transcribed the waltz—which was at last published in 1970.

“Very delicate,” says Muti of the Kupelwieser Waltz, and “very nostalgic.” Also expressive of “best wishes for the marriage and for the future of this couple.”

Just before he plays the piece, he says, “It’s quite unknown but very beautiful.”

Guido Agosti (Forlì, 11 agosto 1901 – Milano, 2 giugno 1989) è stato un pianista, compositore e docente italiano.

Studiò dal 1911 al 1914 presso il Liceo Musicale di Bologna, sotto la guida di Ferruccio Busoni, Bruno Mugellini e Filippo Ivaldi. Si diplomò in pianoforte a 13 anni. In seguito, studiò privatamente composizione con Giacomo Benvenuti. Esordì quindi come concertista, ottenendo lusinghieri successi sia in Italia che all’estero, ma la sua promettente carriera di brillante solista fu spesso ostacolata da problemi nervosi. Si dedicò perciò all’insegnamento, e tra il 1933 e il 1949 insegnò nei conservatori di Venezia, Roma e Milano.

Dopo la seconda guerra mondiale, tenne sistematicamente importanti corsi di perfezionamento pianistico prima a Roma e successivamente presso l’Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena, formando nella sua lunga carriera un gran numero di musicisti, tra cui spiccano Maria Tipo, Daniela Sabatini, Hector Pell. Tenne inoltre corsi presso l’Accademia di Stato Franz Liszt di Weimar, l’Accademia Sibelius di Helsinki e la Juilliard School di Nuova York. Fu spesso membro di giuria di importanti concorsi pianistici internazionali.

Fu anche compositore (musica per pianoforte e per orchestra, liriche, revisione di musiche antiche). La sua trascrizione per pianoforte solo della Firebird Suite di Stravinsky è tuttora in repertorio di vari importanti pianisti.

Ricominciò l’attività concertistica nel 1967, suonando spesso in trio con il flautista Severino Gazzelloni e il violoncellista Enrico Mainardi e con il Quartetto di Roma.

Le sue non numerose incisioni (alcune delle quali in tarda età) sono dedicate soprattutto a composizioni di Beethoven (sonate) e Debussy (preludi).

P. S. : LA BIOGRAFIA E LE IMMAGINI SONO TRATTE DAL WEB, CI SCUSIAMO IN ANTICIPO PER EVENTUALI ERRORI E/O INESATTEZZE.
GRAZIE PER LA COMPRENSIONE E L’INTERESSE.

There was an imperious opening to the Fantasia but combined with great tenderness .The startling contrasts were played with disarming simplicity but always with a menacing twist in the tail as this great drama was played out in an absolutely operatic way. In Sasha’s poetic hands one could envisage the drama unfolding as there was an overall sound even where Mozart writes ‘forte’ and then sudden ‘piano’ and the added gasps of ‘fp’ . Sounds that were always in the context of actors on stage conversing with one another in an age of civilised mutual anticipation.The Allegro burst onto the scene with dynamic drive with Sasha always keeping the sound under control where the contrasts and rhythmic drive were of more importance than the mere beauty of the voice . Playing of impeccable style and authoritative musicianship it was the ‘Più Allegro’ that truly ignited the piano with sumptuous rich orchestral sounds of dynamic drive and clarity.The ‘recitativi’ were pure opera as the voices conversed , punctuated only by the comments from the ‘tutti’.The return of the opening was like re visiting a distant landscape, which after a brief reminder took flight as Mozart paved the way so dramatically to the Sonata that it precedes.

The two Brahms Rhapsodies were played with nobility and ravishing beauty. Grandiose sounds but also extreme delicacy with wild outbursts short lived as radiance and beauty were allowed to reign. A masterly use of the pedals allowed Sasha to find orchestral sounds of dynamic drive and urgency but always with a glorious outpouring of golden sounds on this sumptuous concert grand .A piano so generously offered to artists such as Sasha by the dynamic new manager, Maura Romano, of this beautiful new flagship showroom for Steinways just a stone’s throw from that other Mecca that is La Scala Opera House.

It was the orchestral sounds that opened the ‘Wanderer’ that were played with burning intensity as Sasha could now reveal the true nobility of this remarkable work.There was an architectural shape and sweep to the genial transformation of themes, that was to be the inspiration for Liszt and later for his son in law,Richard Wagner. It was the Adagio – ‘The Wanderer’ – that Sasha gave a truly orchestra fullness too with its quartet richness where every strand was of vital importance.The variations that followed were of chameleonic character from the gentle weaving of the first to the explosive second and the ravishing mellifluous beauty of the third .The gently cascading embellishements of the last were transformed into such a typically Beethovenian tempest .A true eruption played by Sasha with astonishing control and virtuosity but above all the sense of balance of a conductor who is listening to the whole and steering us through the maze of notes with intelligence and clarity of vision.There was the rich embroidery of the Scherzo that after the beseeching innocence and questioning beauty of the Trio was to erupt with cascades of notes and driving rhythms leaving us breathless at the foot of the mighty final Fugato. Nobility and dynamic drive were allied to passion and orchestral colours that Sasha played with unrelenting conviction and artistry. His scrupulous attention to the detail in the score allowed the music to rise and fall as the composer has very meticulously indicated. A mighty work restored to greatness as indeed Richter did many years ago with his landmark recording in collaboration with the musicologist Paul Badura Skoda,taking the music from being a vehicle for an apprentice and giving it back into the hands of a great artist.

It was the great ‘old’ school of Perlemuter or Tagliaferro who would show us ,with the ‘weight’ of their true deep legato, a line clearly defined ,never allowing fussy detail to cloud the overall vision.This was in a way the performance that Sasha gave us today of ‘Ondine’ that he played as an encore. An encore but also in Milan a wish to enjoy the sumptuous sounds of this beautiful new Steinway Concert Grand that sits so proudly in the flagship of Steinways .There were of course the enormous number of notes that were played with remarkable mastery but there was a clarity of line that made ‘Ondine’ immediately so enticing. A sparkling brilliance as this water nymph splashed her way in and out of the water that Sasha created with fluidity and luminosity. We were not aware of the remarkable technical hurdles as the music flowed constantly forward like the water it was depicting.The massive climax was played with a clarity ,where the musical line was surrounded by clouds of notes,without any slowing or muddying of the texture.

Sasha’s second concert was in the beautiful Harold Acton Library in Florence .Now part of the British Institute it has an 1890 Bechstein piano in its midst that Angela Hewitt has quite rightly said is the right piano for these surroundings. It is a piano with a soul and a sound of antique beauty like looking at a ‘daguerreotype’ photo that has faded with age but the memory of past glories has remained within its very bones. A piano with a past that has a story to tell to he who can persuade her to give up her secrets.

Sasha is just such a musician or should I say magician because he could conjure up sounds of exquisite subtlety and tonal refinement as he delved deep into the piano and persuaded it with love and mastery to give up its secrets and allow the music to unfold every bit as expressive as the human voice. There was a luminosity and glow to the sound with a natural fluidity with no hard edges.

The Mozart was quite extraordinary as every note had a different inflection where even the imperious opening seemed to take on a different significance .There was magic in the air tonight with Brahms Rhapsodies that were not the usual hard hitting passionate declarations but sumptuous full sounds of great luminosity followed by etherial golden whispers of poignant meaning.

A monumental performance of the ‘Wanderer’ fantasy that from the very first call to arms was transformed into living sounds of searing intensity and urgency. Sasha’s quite extraordinary sensitivity to sound was because he was listening to every note that his hands were extracting from this ‘casserole ‘ ( as Vlado Perlemuter would call a piano of a certain vintage ) .He recreated a much maligned work and transformed it into the masterpiece that had influenced all that came after it. A transformation of themes that was to be the new path for composers such as Liszt and even more importantly his son in law Richard Wagner.Etherial sounds mixed with a glorious fluidity of colours rarely found on modern day pianos was used by Sasha to demonstrate that music must speak and in order to do that it must make sense which requires extraordinary concentration and control.

This piano does not play itself but will reveal its secrets only to the finest musicians who have a sensitivity to sound and balance. It is the difference between a ‘cordon bleu ‘ where all the senses are involved : taste ,smell,texture and beauty to create something unique that will remain in the memory for long to come. And there is the perfection of modern day pianos which can almost play themselves ( the new ‘Spiro’ piano at Steinways actually does that and can reproduce via computer any performance that is programmed with superhuman fidelity) but it is difficult to find the sounds that these old German pianos still contain.In a way it is the difference between the convenience of a micro oven or the laboriously slow wood heated furnace. It was Rosalyn Tureck who said that her favourite piano was still the ‘old’ Bechstein as she had such a sensitivity to sound that if she found the piano lid open on stage at the beginning of a concert she would look aghast as she set about removing any speck of dust on the keys that might interfere with her super sensitive fingers. Chloe Mun who had played on this piano last year confided that for the classical repertoire she loved this piano much more than the modern pianos with their perfect technical brilliance.

Chloe Jiyeong Mun in Florence-A musical feast of whispered secrets of ravishing beauty

A monumental performance not of forceful virtuosity but of thoughtful musicality.There was magic in the air as Sasha transformed this rarified atmosphere where every one of us was involved in a musical voyage together with the artist as the washes of sound in Ravel’s ‘Ondine’ filled this beautiful library with ravishing sounds of rarified beauty. A magic carpet on a voyage of discovery.

Another miracle was performed by Simon and Jennifer Gammell transforming the concert hall into a table truly fit for a King as there followed a sumptuous feast for the annual meeting of the patrons of the British Institute. A short speech from Sir David Scholey exclaiming that he would gladly return every Friday to experience such miracles of music and cuisine – transformation of themes indeed!

The ever sensitive David also reminded us that whilst Sasha was playing, his wife had received a message from her parents in Odessa saying that bombs were being dropped on their beloved city in that very minute.Not to dampen the proceedings but to make us aware that a room with a view should also look on the distant horizon and see a world still in conflict.Make music not war is a very simplistic motto to follow but not so easy to convince deeply scarred peoples with conflicting views and traditions.We can and must try!

Fantasia No. 4 in C minor, K. 475 was composed by Mozart  in Vienna on 20 May 1785 and was published as Opus 11, in December 1785, together with the Sonata in C minor K.457, the only one of Mozart’s piano sonatas to be published together with a work of a different genre.

This astonishing Fantasia is probably one of Mozart’s most innovative compositions for solo keyboard. It was composed for Therese Trattner  (1758–1793), and published by Artaria  in Vienna towards the end of 1785, alongside the Piano Sonata in C minor K.457.

Therese (born Maria Theresia) Trattner was the daughter of the court mathematician Joseph Anton Nagel. In 1776, she married the widowed Johann Thomas Trattner, a Vienna publisher and bookseller that Mozart knew well. After Mozart settled in Vienna in 1781, Therese Trattner became one of his first piano students, and surely one of the most talented, she remained so until the composer’s death. In 1784, the Mozarts lived in Trattner’s house on the Graben in Vienna. Well connected in Viennese society, Therese Trattner helped him to organise three subscription concerts here, at which the Piano concertos were performed and which further promoted his reputation as a piano virtuoso in Vienna. She also gave concerts (“academies”) herself in her flat in the Trattnerhof, at which Mozart was present.

Although published together Fantasia K.475 and Sonata K.457 were conceived independently: the rediscovery of the autograph of the two works confirms this.

The Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 ( D.760), popularly known as the Wanderer Fantasy, is a four-movement fantasy for solo piano composed by Schubert in 1822 when only 25 in a life that was tragically cut short by the age of 31.It is widely considered his most technically demanding composition for the piano and Schubert himself said “the devil may play it,” in reference to his own inability to do so properly.The whole work is based on one single basic motif from which all themes are developed. This motif is distilled from the theme of the second movement, which is a sequence of variations on a melody taken from the lied “Der Wanderer”, which Schubert wrote in 1816. It is from this that the work’s popular name is derived.The four movements are played without a break. After the first movement Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo in C major and the second movement Adagio (which begins in C-sharp minor and ends in E major), follow a scherzo presto in A-flat major and the technically transcendental finale, which starts in fugato returning to the key of C major and becomes more and more virtuosic as it moves toward its thunderous conclusion.Liszt was fascinated by the Wanderer Fantasy, transcribing it for piano and orchestra (S.366) and two pianos (S.653). He additionally edited the original score and added some various interpretations in ossia and made a complete rearrangement of the final movement (S.565a).I remember a recent lesson I had listened to of Elisso Virsaladze in which I was struck by the vehemence of the Wanderer Fantasy and the ragged corners that we are more used to in a Beethoven almost twice Schubert’s age .It made me wonder about the maturity of the 25 year old Schubert and could he have had a premonition that his life was to be curtailed only six years later.We are used to the mellifluous Schubert of rounded corners and seemless streams of melodic invention.But surely in the final three sonatas written in the last months of his life the A major and C minor start with a call to arms and only in the last B flat sonata do we arrive at the peace and tranquility that Beethoven was to find too in his last sonata.But the deep rumblings in the bass in Schubert’s last sonata give food for thought that his life was not all sweetness and light.I remember Richter’s long tribulation in the recording studio to put on record as near definitive version as possible of the Wanderer Fantasy with the help of the pianist and musicologist Paul Badura Skoda.

The Rhapsodies, Op. 79, for piano were written by Brahms  in 1879 during his summer stay in Portschach,when he had reached the maturity of his career. They were inscribed to his friend, the musician and composer Elisabeth von Herzogenberg. At the suggestion of the dedicatee, Brahms reluctantly renamed the sophisticated compositions from “Klavierstücke” (piano pieces) to “rhapsodies”.

• No. 1 in B minor.  Agitato is the more extensive piece, with outer sections in sonata form enclosing a lyrical, nocturne-like central section in B major and with a coda ending in that key.
• No. 2 in G minor.  Molto passionato, ma non troppo allegro is a more compact piece in a more conventional sonata form.

Sasha Grynyuk Anniversary recital of a great pianist in Perivale

Sasha Grynyuk astonishes and seduces with superb musicianship and artistry together with friends at St Mary’s