Thanks to Steinway & Sons we were able to hear the 16 year old Ameli Sakai – Ivanova, student of the eclectic multi talented Nancy Litten, performing on a magnificent concert grand to a select audience .

Already at such a tender age she has won great recognition and given public performances of concertos by Chopin and Mozart.

A very solid preparation both technically and musically as you might expect from the student of a graduate of the Royal Academy and a fellow colleague of mine in the early 70’s.

There are some things that cannot be taught but can be allowed to flower naturally. They are the passion and natural musicianship that can ignite and inspire young musicians to great heights under the right musicianly guidance.

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It is this passion that shone through her performance of Chopin’s ‘Héroique’ Polonaise that closed this short programme. A performance of passionate conviction and robust technical perfection with a maturity that belies her youthful appearance. It was though in the more lyrical passages that she allowed her natural musicianship to guide her with refined musical taste and beauty. A young pianist playing with all the joy of someone who could conquer such a pianistic hurdle but in the louder passages her exhilaration and mastery belied the fact that the Polonaise is above all a dance. There are also various degrees of ‘forte’, as there are ‘piano’, that can help her shape the louder passages with more refinement, that will come naturally with the maturity of time. The treacherous ride of the cavalry was played with superb lightweight octaves on which they could ride fearlessly onto the battlefield. Building the sound with technical mastery and listening very careful to the balance, defusing the tension with the beauty of the undulating melodic outpouring, before the exhilaration and excitement she brought to the final pages of this truly ‘héroique’ performance.

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Her technical preparation allowed her to give fearless performances of two of Kapustin‘s notoriously knotty Jazz Studies. She played them with a dynamic drive and extraordinary dexterity as she unraveled with clarity and mastery Kapustin’s dizzying maze of notes that were breathtaking in their audacity. .

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But it was the Chopin B flat minor Sonata that revealed her extraordinary maturity, as she could carve an architectural line in the first movement that allowed her to play the second subject with poetic poise without having to slow the tempo or loose control of her aristocratic vision. Some very beautiful pointing of harmonies in the tenor register gave great depth and beauty and it was particularly noticeable in the beauty she brought also to the ‘Trio’ of the ‘Scherzo’. A movement she had opened with fearless abandon and technical mastery shaping the notes into the dance it truly is, playing with an unrelenting forward drive. Beautifully linked without a pause to the ‘Marche Funèbre’ that she allowed to flow from her fingers with nobility and simplicity. A beautiful rich sound to the ‘Trio’ gave great strength to Chopin’s beautiful bel canto, with playing of great poignancy but no sentimentality. More care of the balance between the hands would have allowed her to give more fluidity and glowing sound adding even more magic to one of Chopin’s most miraculous creations.

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The ‘wind over the graves’ of one of Chopin’s ‘wildest children’ (to quote Schumann) showed off Ameli’s quite extraordinary ‘fingerfertigkeit’ and allowed her to play with such clarity Chopin’s quite astonishingly original finale. This was a very mature and in many ways masterly account of one of the greatest works of Chopin. 

The Bach Prelude and Fugue in E flat minor Book 1 is a work new to Ameli’s repertoire and although I found the prelude rather slow it was played with weight and beauty .The Fugue showed a great musical personality as she played Bach’s ‘knotty twine’ ( to quote Delius) with extraordinary clarity and rhythmic drive.

A teenage schoolgirl with remarkable musical gifts that she will with time refine and be able to ride on a more horizontal wave of sound that will give her even more freedom to conquer the great works that will lay before her. It is wondrous voyage of discovery that awaits.

It is nice to know that another lady pianist was playing next door. Martha Argerich, too, had started her musical journey at the age of sixteen. Now at 83 that glorious voyage is continuing in the pursuit of perfection and beauty that has given so much to so many over a lifetime’s dedication to music.

Maura Romano of the Steinway flagship in Milan,in London by chance, was able to hear Ameli today and offer her a recital next season.

She, like George Soole and Wiebke Greinus in London have created an important platform for young musicians that gives these exceptionally talented artists one of the first important steps at the start of the long ladder in a career in music.

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Steinway & Sons Milan ‘we could have danced all night’ Christmas is a comin’
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/12/13/steinway-sons-milan-we-could-have-danced-all-night-christmas-is-a-comin/