The birth of a great artist yesterday at the POSK theatre in Ravenscourt Park,London.
A young pianist of exceptional talent where the more talented you are the more you are disturbed by the impossible task of seeking perfection.
Andrzej Wiercinski I have been listening to for some years ever since his first appearances over ten years ago in that Mecca for all aspiring young musicians. St Mary’s Perivale is where Dr Mather and his team offer a concert and recording to artists that have dedicated their youth to art and just need an audience to continue their voyage of discovery with.
But today I heard a pianist who was at one with the music with performances of great personality but totally at the service of the composer.
His Kreisleriana seemed as an improvisation such was his extraordinary palette of sounds allied to a scrupulous attention to the score. A fleetingly chameleonic change of character from the passionate opening to the sublime intimate flights of fantasy. A breathtaking performance where he had us sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation of the secrets that this Poet of the piano would reveal in what is quite the greatest interpretation I have ever heard.
It is a work in eight episodes that is not easy to shape into one unified whole. Andrzej found the key in the sumptuous bass sounds that was the common denominator that pervaded the entire work. A bass that could allow for the piano to open up its sonorities and create sounds of full richness and passionate intensity as it could allow for the most exquisite sounds of barely murmured sentiments. The opening was a hurricane of passion where the intricate weaving strands in the right hand of quite considerable virtuosity were sustained by the rich full bass and masterly use of the pedal.The central episode was allowed to ride on this sumptuous rich wave of sound without having to slow down as it grew out of what came before and was to come after.Ravishing playing of such subtle shaping and delicacy before the hurricane regained its energy with even more passionate energy. There was extraordinary beauty to the legato of the second episode with the deep bass melody just hinted at as was the melodic line in the right hand all incorporated into this one long outpouring of song. Interrupted by the first Intermezzo that was played with clockwork precision and drive and contrasted so well with the continual wave of song that was forever present.The second Intermezzo was remarkable for its sense of line, and the prominence given to the bass in the final few bars was indeed a master stroke. It was the clarity of line and sumptuous sounds bathed in pedal that made the central part of the third episode quite memorable, with one melodic strand overlapping the other in a duet of sumptuous beauty. Again it contrasted with the spiky rhythmic drive of the outer episodes.The coda ‘Noch schneller’ was breathtaking for it’s animal excitement and enormous sonorities that were never hard but always with a sense of line and overall shape. A tour de force of control of sound quite apart from the extraordinary precision and finger dexterity. There was a simplicity to the disarming ‘sehr langsam’ of the fourth episode played with poignant intensity, the tension released with the gentle song of the ‘Bewegter’. Within all the capricious rhythmic elements of the fifth episode, Andrzej managed to find the musical line that in turn was linked with the mellifluous central episode, where even here one seemed to grow so naturally out of the other. A wonderfully passionate outpouring to this central episode that was a true explosion of romantic fervour. A whispered beauty to the melodic line in the sixth episode where out of nothing there seemed to be born new life, in one of those magic moments that only the poet Schumann could envisage.The ‘sehr rash’ of the seventh was played with a brilliance and animal fervour that was overwhelming in its dynamic drive and digital perfection. Even in these transcendentally difficult passages Andrzej could steer us through a maze of notes giving them an architectural, expressive shape and meaning. Wonderful to hear the non legato chords in the coda that suddenly become legato as they come to rest on a cloud of beauty.The last episode is probably the most difficult to hold together and it was here that Andrzej showed a complete understanding of Schumann’s chameleonic change of character. There was the beautiful bass melody allowed to flow so gracefully in the first episode and the wondrous use of the pedal and the deep bass notes in the second that allowed a build up of sonority without any hardness or exaggeration. The gently rhythmic outer episodes were sustained by deep bass notes as the work finished with whispered notes deep in the bottom of the keyboard.
The young talented teenager now on the edge of thirty has become a very great artist.
Chosen to present the newly acquired manuscript of Chopin’s Fourth Ballade for the Polish Institute in Warsaw, he changed the announced programme of the third Ballade to the fourth.
A press conference was held to present the manuscript of the Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, composed in 1842. My participation was the presentation of the national version and the version from the manuscript so as to highlight the differences. Such a wonderful experience. You can watch the entire conference at the link below.: https://www.youtube.com/live/QHk1LbWTYWE?si=ad_uKXvFSJVjxBER
But it was the opening Nocturnes op 55 and the Mazukas op 50 that immediately revealed his great artistry. A freedom that had in its midst a burning energy that carried him on a wave of sound where the music just seemed to pour out of him.
Of course the B minor Sonata and the F minor Ballade showed his architectural understanding not only of the structure but what true Bel Canto can mean.
Hats off to Norma Fisher, and Roger Nellist of Perivale, who have been monitoring and helping him in these past few years where his seemingly unattainable vision was so close but yet so far.
‘Je sens, je joue, je trasmet’ was used to describe Cherkassky many years ago and with Andrzej today has never been more actual
Unfortunately Bach could not make it on stage at the end of a ravishingly beautiful performance of his Goldbergs by Cristian Sandrin last night .
His presence was felt strongly, though, in this most beautiful of London Concert Halls.
These were not the monumental variations that the High Priestess of Bach would offer in a quasi religious seance. These were seen through another prism, one that had inspired three young composers,commissioned by this eclectic musician, to enhance the aspect of beauty and ravishment that Bach had been commissioned to write to inspire the dreams of an insomniac. Perchance to dream indeed !
Nearly two hours of music as our genial host like all serious musicians played all Bach’s repeats, bar one, adding discretely with the use of an I pad the three where the ink was still wet on the page .
Bach’s work seemed to have on him quite the opposite effect from its commission as he extracted the three new variations and allowed them to shine on their own with ravishing beauty around this magnificent edifice. Encore took on a new meaning just as the title the ‘New Goldberg Variations’ had promised.
A triumph and a refreshingly original performance of one of the greatest creations of all keyboard works. Lucky Milan who will get seconds on Friday for Hans Fazzari’s Serate Musicali !
The opening of a much needed Young Artists Series at the new Bechstein Hall that is fast making it’s mark as an important new concert venue in London, just complimenting its next door neighbours of Wigmore Hall and Bob Boas Salon in nearby Mansfield Road. An important new venue especially for young musicians who have dedicated their youth to art and are just in need of a public to continue their voyage of discovery together.
What better choice could there have been than a young man perfecting his quite considerable skills at the Guildhall under such esteemed musicians as Charles Owen and Lucy Parham ,who we have recently applauded in this very hall.
Thomas Masciaga ,a young Italian from Ivrea whose evident love for the piano shone through everything he did.
Just two Sonatas both in B minor and both played with ravishing sound and a musicianly sense of style. I have rarely heard the Chopin scherzo from the B minor Sonata played as beautifully with a jeux perlé so exquisitely shaped.
The mighty Rondo Finale: ‘Presto non tanto’ was so beautiful that each time the rondo returned it was played ever more radiantly and not just treated with the usual brutal force and lack of finesse of lesser artists . The cascades of notes after the imperious chords were truly like wafts of golden sunlight shining on the ever more exciting forward drive.
The opening of the sonata was indeed Maestoso and if his love for Chopin’s glorious outpouring of Bel Canto meant that he had to sacrifice the overall architectural shape of the movement , it was the price he had to pay for having such an exquisitely sensitive heart .
The mighty chords at the opening of the Largo were the consequence of the final notes of the scherzo and heralded a bel canto of beguiling freedom and beauty.
This was playing of a supreme stylist who could bring to life a work so often manhandled by so called virtuosi.Thomas has all the same virtuosity but it was canons covered in flowers!
The Haydn Sonata too was played with exquisite style but also with a kaleidoscope of colour with a first movement of beauty and grace and an architectural shape that suited the style of its age. A ‘Menuetto’ of beguiling delicacy and pastoral innocence with the spell broken momentarily only by the imposing ‘Trio.’ The return of the ‘Menuetto’ was gracefully embellished, as is the vogue these days, but wonder whether an artist who can make the modern piano speak with such an exquisite voice needs to add embellishments that were of an age when the magnificent voice of the Bechstein of today was not yet envisage.The ‘Presto’ was played with brilliance and grace with lubricated fingers of crystalline clarity. The ritornello here (he had ignored it in the Chopin) just added to the sumptuous enjoyment that he was providing this morning.
Hats off to the director Terry Lewis, present this morning ,to applaud this young artist in a hall he has fought for many years to bring to fruition.
Born in Italy to an Anglo-Italian family, Thomas started playing piano at the age of 7, studying first at the local music school and then privately with Italian concert pianist Chiara Bertoglio. At 12, he debuted with a solo recital in Siena at Teatro dei Rozzi, going on to win several national and international competitions in subsequent years. At the age of 15, he began commuting between Italy and London to attend the Junior Guildhall Music Program where he won the Piano Prize, was a Lutine Prize finalist, and a Beethoven Intercollegiate Piano Competition finalist in Manchester. Thomas continued his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, working alongside Lucy Parham, Charles Owen, Paul Roberts, and Joan Havill. Graduating with a first-class bachelor’s degree, he was awarded a Concert Recital Diploma, and is currently in the first year of his Artist Diploma. Thomas is also a student of renowned Russian pianist Konstantin Bogino in the prestigious Accademia Perosi of Biella. During his studies in London, Thomas has regularly performed solo recitals and piano concertos in both England and Italy, including prestigious venues such as St.James’s Piccadilly and Milton Court Concert Hall, has worked with various orchestras and has been a session player at the Abbey Road Studios. Thomas is a proud Talent Unlimited Artist since November 2024.
Beethoven in all his glory tonight at Bechstein’s. The first and last cello sonatas, the penultimate twin of op 102 and the virtuoso show piece variations ‘See the conquering hero comes’.
After the deep contemplation of the opening ‘Adagio sostenuto’ this first sonata of Beethoven burst into an outpouring of joy with the sun shining unusually brightly for Beethoven. Even the Allegro Vivace final movement was full of playful energy and shifting colours.Youthful brilliance and exhilarating energy were the hallmarks of a performance that reminded me of that ‘Golden couple’ almost fifty years ago. A light still shining brightly with these two genial musicians.
Op 102 n.1 where the plaintive cry of the cello was answered by the simple benediction of the piano before the eruption into the imperious Allegro vivace. It was played with dynamic relentless drive and with its abrupt non nonsense Beethoven ending.The question and answer of the Adagio was followed by the unexpected changes of character in the Allegro vivace in a performance of great authority and musical integrity.
The variations that followed the interval were a series of brilliant show pieces for each instrument with each player trying to outdo the other. The eleventh variation showed the genial invention of Beethoven with the poignancy of the two instruments united in an Adagio that was to point to the final and greatest inspiration of Beethoven with his Sonata op 102 n.2.
It was here, in this final sonata, that both players were inspired to give a mesmerising performance of this great work, from its opening call to arms ( every bit as arresting as the Fifth Symphony) and the Adagio of searing beauty with a deep soulful communion of great poignancy. Played with poise and aristocratic weight, its gentle hints barely whispered of what was to come with the mighty Fugue final movement. A movement played with quite considerable mastery not only technically but above all for the music line that together they could carve out of this monumental construction. Veni Vidi Vici indeed
It is this that could well have given the title to performances tonight of dynamic drive and searing intensity.
Guy Johnston and Mishka Momen Rushdie, two players that play as one .
The piano lid fully opened and the cellist using the sound board of the piano to project sounds that rarely we hear in the concert hall united with such vibrancy and energy.
Guy Johnston and Mishka Momen Rushdie are both masters linked inexorably together to bring Beethoven’s thoughts to us ‘hot off the press.’ These were performances in this sumptuous new hall that were born of an intelligence and musical integrity of an age when there was time to dig deep into the very core of the music and extract the meaning that hides behind the seemingly innocuous black and white symbols on the page.
These were performances that in the not too distant past one would travel to Marlborough or Prades to hear and learn from.
Ludwig van Beethoven Baptised 17 December 1770. 26 March 1827 (aged 56) Vienna
Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano, between 1796 (op. 5 nos. 1–2) and 1815 (op. 102 nos. 1–2)
In February 1796, Beethoven set out on a tour of East-Central Europe, starting with Prague and working his way to Berlin via Dresden and Leipzig. Berlin had been one of Europe’s musical centers but was, by the time Beethoven arrived that May, in dire musical straits. Johann Friedrich Reichardt, the distinguished composer who had brought the city’s musical life to distinction in the 1780s, had been relieved of his post for pro-French-Revolution sympathies. (He apparently let slip that the best kind of king was one with no head during a card-game in Hamburg, something that didn’t exactly thrill his boss, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia.) Among the few performers of distinction who remained in the Prussian capital was the cellist Jean-Louis Duport, a favorite of the king, who was himself a fine amateur cellist. So it was only natural that Beethoven should write some music for cello and piano during his stay in Berlin. His first two Cello Sonatas, Op. 5, and the Variations on “See the conqu’ring hero comes” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus were the results. The Judas Maccabaeus Variations date from this Berlin visit; they, too, were published by Artaria (without an opus number) in 1797. The theme – probably the best-known from Handel’s entire oratorio – was an especially felicitous choice on the part of the young Beethoven. He may not have known it, but Handel occupied a special place in Friedrich Wilhelm’s affections. The king, during his days as crown prince, had declared his musical independence from his predecessor, Friedrich the Great, by sponsoring a massive performance of Handel’s Messiah in the Berlin Cathedral. Beethoven, too, held Handel’s music in the highest esteem. The theme, with its measured tread and lofty bearing, provided the composer with the basis for an engaging set of 12 variations. The eleventh variation, an extended adagio, is the longest “slow movement” Beethoven would write for cello and piano until his final work for the pairing, the Sonata, Op. 102, No. 2.
Nikolaus Kraft (1778-1853) was the eldest son of the cellist Anton Kraft (1749-1820). In 1801 he travelled to Berlin together with his father where he received cello lessons for one year from the virtuoso cellist Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819), who was employed there at the Prussian court of King Friedrich Wilhelm II. Nikolaus, as well as his father, was also for a time a member of the Schuppanzigh string quartet – named after its founder the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh (1776-1830) – which gave a number of first performances of Beethoven’s string quartets.The Krafts were not the only cellists with whom Beethoven worked during his life. In spring of 1796 Beethoven visited the Prussian court in Berlin, where he also met Jean-Louis Duport, and it was there that his op. 5 cello sonatas originated. These sonatas are regarded today as the first ‘true’ sonatas for cello and piano, as the two instruments are given equal importance.Jean-Louis Duport was one of the most influential cellists of his time. In the early 19th century he published a violoncello treatise entitled: Essai sur le doigté du violoncelle et sur la conduite de l’archet (Essay on fingering the violoncello and on the conduct of the bow) (Paris, 1806). This became one of the most influential cello treatises in the history of the cello; the exercises (Études) that are included in it are still practised by cello pupils today.
Sketches for Beethoven’s Cello Sonata op. 5 no. 1 in the ‘Kafka’ sketch miscellany. Allegro movement.
At the time of Beethoven’s visit, Jean-Louis Duport was principal cellist in the opera orchestra and, together with his brother the virtuoso cellist Jean-Pierre Duport (1741-1818), also instructed the king on the cello. Beethoven and Jean-Louis Duport performed his op. 5 cello sonatas for the king, and apparently, Beethoven also intended to dedicate the two sonatas to him. This is evident from a letter, now lost, which Duport sent to him where he wrote: ‘Duport, acknowledges the dedication to him of Beethoven’s two sonatas for piano and violoncello and expresses the wish to play them with the composer’. In the end the op. 5 cello sonatas were dedicated to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II.
The Sonatas for cello and piano No. 4 in C major. op.102, No. 1, and No. 5 in D major, Op. 102, No. 2, were composed simultaneously in 1815 and published, by Simrock, in 1817 and were dedicated to the Countess Marie von Erdödy, a close friend and confidante of Beethoven.
The two sonatas were written between May and December 1815. The first copy by Beethoven’s copyist Wenzel Rampl was made in late 1815 but was then subject to further alterations by Beethoven. A subsequent ‘good’ copy was supplied in February 1816 to Charles Neate for proposed, though unrealized, publication in London. Beethoven then made further small alterations prior to their eventual publication by Simrock in Bonn.
During the period 1812 to 1817 Beethoven, ailing and overcome by all sorts of difficulties, experienced a period of literal and figurative silence as his deafness became overwhelmingly profound and his productivity diminished. Following seven years after the A major op 69 the complexity of their composition and their visionary character marks (which they share with the piano sonata op 101 the start of Beethoven’s ‘third period’.
The critics of the time, were often perplexed by Beethoven’s last compositions: ‘They elicit the most unexpected and unusual reactions, not only by their form but by the use of the piano as well…We have never been able to warm up to the two sonatas; but these compositions are perhaps a necessary link in the chain of Beethoven’s works in order to lead us there where the steady hand of the maestro wanted to lead us.’
Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award. He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra,BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St Petersburg Symphony. Recent seasons have included a BBC Prom with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, concertos with The Hallé, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Orchestra of The Swan. Most recently, he has been the featured soloist of Taverner’s ‘The Protecting Veil’ for Britten’s Sinfonia 2024 UK and Ireland tour receiving critical acclaim in The Guardian and the Arts Desk. Performances and recordings with eminent conductors have included collaborations with Alexander Dmitriev, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniele Gatti, Ilan Volkov, Leonard Slatkin, Mark Wigglesworth, Robin Ticciati, Sir Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, Vassily Sinaisky, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Yuri Simonov. Guy is a passionate advocate for chamber music and recitals as founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Music Festival and performs regularly at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe including Wigmore Hall, Louvre Museum, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and Three Choirs Festival, collaborating with instrumentalists such as Anthony Marwood, Brett Dean, Huw Watkins, Janine Jansen, Kathy Stott, Lawrence Power, Melvyn Tan, Mishka Rushdie Momen, Sheku KannehMason and Tom Poster. A prolific recording artist often championing contemporary British composers, Guy’s recent releases include Dobrinka Tabakova’s Cello Concerto with The Hallé and Rebecca Dale’s ‘Night Seasons’ with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Other recordings include a premiere of Herbert Howells’ completed Cello Concerto with the Britten Sinfonia, a celebration disc of the tricentenary of his David Tecchler cello with commissions by Charlotte Bray, David Matthews, Mark Simpson and a collaboration with the acclaimed Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where the cello was made. 2025 will bring forth Guy’s latest recording of Xiaogang Ye’s My Faraway Nanjing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave the premiere of Charlotte Bray’s ‘Falling in the Fire’ at the BBC Proms and Joseph Phibbs ‘Cello Sonata’ at Wigmore Hall. His 2024/2025 season will see the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto for Guy and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Other premières include Emma Ruth Richards ‘Until a Reservoir no longer remains’ and a recording of Matthew Kaner’s solo suite for cello.In addition to a busy and versatile career as an international soloist, chamber musician and guest principal, Guy is an inspiring leader of young musicians. He was Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York (2018-2024) and a guest Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded an Hon. ARAM in 2015. He has recently been appointed President of the European String Teachers Association and is patron of several charities which promote music education for school children and young people including Music First and Future Talent. He is also a board member of the Pierre Fournier Award for young cellists.
Guy Johnston plays the 1692 Antonio Stradivari cello known as the “Segelman, ex Hart” kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous patron. He is a Larsen Strings Artist. Hailed as “one of the most thoughtful and sensitive of British pianists” (The Times), Mishka Rushdie Momen captivates audiences with her refined and expressive playing. Mishka Rushdie Momen’s wide repertoire focuses on Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann, whilst reaching back to Gibbons and Rameau. Committed to performing new music, Mishka Rushdie Momen has commissioned works by Nico Muhly and Vijay Iyer, and premiered An Inviting Object by Héloïse Werner at the Lucerne Summer Festival in 2022. Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include debuts with The Royal Danish Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Mannheim Chamber Orchestra. Further orchestral engagements to date include City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Britten Sinfonia and play/directing Mozart K.271 with Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, working with Dinis Sousa, Anu Tali, Paul Meyer, Case Scaglione and Natalia Ponomarchuk. Rushdie Momen’s recital highlights include performances atHamburg Elbphilharmonie, Lucerne Festival, Tonhalle Zurich, Wigmore Hall, Antwerp’s deSingel, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Leeds Piano Competition and, in the US, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Phillips Collection in Washington DC, New York’s 92Y, Carnegie Hall, Portland Piano and The Maestro Foundation in Santa Monica. Her 24/25 recitals include Wigmore Hall, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Aldeburgh Festival, and the re-opening festival of the Frick Collection in New York.
Equally at home as a chamber musician, Rushdie Momen’s chamber partners include Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, Joshua Bell, Midori, Angela Hewitt, Steven Isserlis, Timothy Ridout and Zlatomir Fung, with festival performances including Rheingau Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Oeiras International Piano Festival, Chamonix Vallée Classics, Hindsgavl, Chipping Campden, Trasimeno Festival, the new Casals Forum at Kronberg, and IMS Prussia Cove. Rushdie Momen’s latest release Reformation (Hyperion, 2024) presents the works of William Byrd, John Bull, Orlando Gibbons and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, performed on the modern piano. The album was described in The Times’ selection of the best releases of 2024 as “a triumph”, as “quietly beguiling” (The Guardian) , “performed with thrilling exuberance and subtlety” (The Spectator), topped the Classical Charts in July 2024 and was chosen as a Classic FM Discovery of the Week. Her debut solo recording, Variations, was released in October 2019 by SOMM Recordings, featuring works by Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms, and Mendelssohn. Mishka Rushdie Momen was The Times Arts critics’ chosen nominee in the field of classical music for their 2021 Breakthrough Award, given by Sky Arts and The South Bank Show, who profiled her for an episode of the programme broadcast in July 2021 Mishka Rushdie Momen studied with Joan Havill and Imogen Cooper at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She also studied periodically with Richard Goode, and at the Kronberg Academy with Sir András Schiff, who has presented her in recital and orchestral dates across the USA and Europe. Mishka Rushdie Momen’s studies at the Kronberg Academy were generously funded by the Henle Foundation.
Curtis on the staircase to paradise – Hollywood could never match this
Lunar New Year at the National Liberal Club in an evening of sumptuous delight organised every year by Yisha Xue for her Asia Circle.Curtis invited for the first five days of Snake Year.
Dragon ,drums and many other delights to celebrate the opening of this New Year.The year of the Snake.
Yisha Xue on the red carpet leading to the NLC music room
A culinary feast for over 100 distinguished guests but it was the twenty year old Taiwanese pianist Curtis Phill Hsu who stole the show with playing of such exquisite artistry that silenced an audience ready for revelry. We were stopped in our tracks in one of those collective moments when time stands still.
Yisha’s daughter Amy Hawkins of the Guardian with former BBC journalist Humphrey HawkselyYisha Xue presenting the evening
The winner of the Hastings International Piano Competition cast a spell over the festive atmosphere and illuminated our evening with the perfumed delights of Debussy but above all the timeless beauty he brought to Schubert’s G flat Impromptu.
A sumptuous improvised paraphrase of a popular chinese film score was played with the ease and kaleidoscope of colours from a young man whose destiny is already sicured.
Yisha with new snakes 36,48 ,60 in the year of 2025 with prizes donated by Nicola,Marianna ,Roger Pillai and Kan Loo Roger,David,James with speaker Charlotte cane MPThe National Liberal Club
After the sumptuous Chinese New Year Celebrations at the NLC, Yisha together with Ian Brignall and Paul Newman, who had both travelled up especially from Hastings, having organised for the 2023 Hastings winner two extra concerts in Chelsea at the Sketch Club and finally on Sunday at the Arts Club.
This little tour had in fact commenced with a full recital in Bob Boas sumptuous salon, neighbour of the Wigmore and Bechstein Halls,and had concluded after the NLC and Sketch Club with a Sunday evening concert at Chelsea Arts Club.
Last concert of this short ‘Snake’ tour at the Chelsea Arts Club Bob Boas with Curtis and Yisha at the recital at his salon in 22 Mansfield Road on the 29th January the day before the National Liberal Club Celebration
I never knew of the existence of the Sketch Club even though I have visited friends on many occasions who live almost next door on Cheyne Walk overlooking the historic Physic Garden. It is a journey back in time which quite frequently happens in the ‘Circoli’ that one can still occasionally find in noble old Italian cities, but I had no idea could be found in the centre of London! Mozart of course talks about going for a ride in the countryside of Chelsea but that is almost three centuries ago.
An amazing place full of the atmosphere of Artists from past times who came together to discuss, create and smoke! Similar of course to Montmartre at the turn of the 1900’s as described by Picasso,Stravinsky,Poulenc and Rubinstein.
A noble Blüthner sits in the vast studio,with painters’ easles stained with paint stacked in the corner, because it is a club still vibrant with activity. It was here that Paul Newman had organised a second full recital for Curtis of Debussy,Beethoven,Ravel and Schubert with a surprise item by Benjamin Britten. It was here that we could rediscover the true mastery of this young musician.
our host Paul Newman presenting the concert Ian Brignall of Hastings with Curtis and Yisha
Opening with three Debussy Preludes from Book 1. ‘La file aux cheveaux de Lin’ was played with aristocratic weight, freedom and ravishing beauty.’Très calme et doucement expressif ‘ could not have found more sensitive hands as they carved out this well ‘trodden’ melody without a trace of sentimentality but with a poignant significance of poetic understanding.The final bars marked ‘murmuré et en revenant peu à peu’ was where Curtis brought out the inner parts that led so naturally upwards drifting into the distance before the two crystalline split notes of farewell. There was magic in the air in a place where the bohemian Debussy would have felt completely at home.The distance bells of ‘Les collines d’Anacapri’ were answered by the gradual awakening of the joyous excitement of the Neapolitan Riviera. Curtis created a wonderful sense of improvisation with chameleonic changes of colour and character as the melody was heard in the bass ‘avec la liberté d’une chanson populaire’. A passionate outpouring of subtle innuendo of sultry insinuation, was played with all the style of a jazz player before the return to the hustle and bustle of the mediterranean and the final ecstatic cry for joy that Curtis punched out with such gleeful exuberance.
The final prelude in this ‘tris’ was the most innovative and remarkable. Debussy was quite a considerable pianist and knew the scores of past masters well ,he even edited the works of Chopin. But it was here the three handed pianism of Thalberg and Liszt that created an ongoing wave of sound on which floated the glowing melodic line. Curtis played with the same mastery that I remember from Richter on his first visits to the West. Streams of notes played with such mastery that they become merely gold and silver sounds as the sails are allowed to float so naturally around the keyboard. A tour de force especially on a piano that was most probably the original one from the 1890’s when this club was first formulated! Richter ,too, used to enjoy his encounter with unknown instruments and the challenge of delving deep to find a soul that may have been hidden from all, until its master can tame them.
I have hear Curtis play Beethoven before, both the ‘Waldstein’ and ‘Hammerklavier’ revealed an artist with the same sacred fire of a Serkin.The same intellectual intelligence of all great interpreters searching deep into the score to discover what the composer really intended.
I have reviewed the ‘Waldstein’ before as you can read here :
But every performance for a real thinking musician is a new voyage of discovery and it was this that came across with the dynamic rhythmic drive and inner energy that opened the ‘Waldstein’. Delius used to dismiss all other composers except himself with just a few words.Bach he would describe as ‘knotty twine’ whereas Beethoven was ‘all scales and arpeggios!’ It is this sonata and the ‘Emperor’ concerto that does in fact use scales and arpeggios in a truly genial way.
Curtis played with absolute rhythmic precision, even taking the tempo of the Allegro con brio from the tempo needed for the melodic second subject. A driving rhythmic impulse that did not turn corners in a ‘stylish’ way but realised that the abrupt changes of character were more tonal than slowing the tempo. Curtis with fingers like limpets that could play with Gilels and Gelber like precision, where every note was given its just weight and worth.The sudden changes from piano to sforzando in the development were as hair raising as they must truly have seemed in Beethoven’s day. An introduction to the last movement ( the slow movement Beethoven obviously considered too distracting for this whirlwind he had created and was later published as the Andante favori ).
Curtis brought a weight and profound beauty to this deeply meditative outpouring with an architectural sense of line that led to the top G, that Beethoven, as if by magic, turns into the opening of the Rondo. An undulation of sounds as the composer has indicated, with very precise pedal markings, and which Curtis scrupulously interpreted. A tour de force of scales and arpeggios indeed, but what drive and architectural shape this young man, with great maturity, could lead us through a maze of breathtaking virtuosity.
‘Gaspard de la Nuit’ was written by Ravel with the intent of creating a piano piece of even more transcendental difficulty than Balakirev’s ‘Islamey’. ‘Scarbo’ is indeed one of the most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire and needs a virtuoso technique, but also a resilience that can keep the driving rhythms of the impish demon flitting around the keyboard with unrelenting skill. It also has moments of passionate outpourings that Curtis played with fiery conviction. Holding back with aristocratic authority before letting go with extraordinary vehemence.The deep bass gongs at the beginning of the mysterious central episode I have never heard played with such clarity or demonic devilry. Curtis not only was master of the notes but above all master of the character and subtle dynamic range that Ravel demands.
The opening ‘Ondine’ was played with extraordinary clarity on a piano that I doubt has ever been asked to respond to such mastery. The nymph sang out above the washes of sound and the lead up to the climax was breathtaking in its exhilarating ecstatic declamation. Wonderful control on a not easy piano as Curtis left the pedal down for the final whispered cry of the nymph before allowing her to flit off into the distance. ‘Le Gibet’ (the gallows swaying in the wind) showed the true mastery of Curtis because the truly great pianists are not those that can play louder and faster than their rivals but those that can play quieter and with total control. And nowhere more could one appreciate Curtis’s great artistry than in the much maligned G flat Impromptu of Schubert with which he closed his recital . I wonder if Curtis knew that today the 31st January was Schubert’s birthday in 1797.There was indeed magic in the air and a sense of timeless beauty as Curtis stretched the melodic line with the rarified breath control of the greatest of Bel Canto singers.
And it was to the human voice that Curtis turned as he accompanied our host Paul Newman in a delicious rendering of Britten’s ‘Foggy Foggy Dew’.They had tried it out for fun in the afternoon with no idea of sharing it publicly, but Curtis was only too delighted to finish his recital together with such a genial host.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 