Mihai Ritivoiu at Bechstein Hall ,an artist renowned in his homeland but has chosen to live in London where we hardly ever have a chance to hear him play.

A great artist who thanks to Terry Lewis has been given the chance finally to play in an important hall in London.

Two fantasy sonatas by Beethoven with his so called ‘Moonlight’ and Schubert’s G major showed us just what London had been missing. A graduate some years ago from the Guildhall where he studied with that great teacher Joan Havill. He has decided to make his home in London and recently got married too, but travels abroad for his concert tours. A real musician as you would expect from the teacher of Paul Lewis and Jonathan Ferrucci and many others of impeccable musical credentials. Beethoven’s Sonata quasi una fantasia was played from the bass upwards where the undulating accompaniments in the infamous first movement were merely shifting harmonies out of which emerged the melodic line. I found it a little fast but Beethoven does mark it in two not four but he also marks it ‘Adagio sostenuto’ .However Mihai brought a great sense of orchestral colouring to a movement that is so often played as a melody and accompaniment but is much more intense than that. Even the bass melody in the coda just emerged out of a haze of sounds. Played with aristocratic poise and seriousness like a slowly moving quasi religious procession. A minuet of refreshing grace and charm with its simple questioning and answer that Mihai played with disarming simplicity. The organ like interruption of lumbering capriciousness of the trio was answered but a tender pianissimo reply . A tempestuous final movement was played with searing passion and dynamic drive, but also a refined tonal palette that gave such shape and inner meaning to a movement that certainly was never moonlit! An extraordinary clarity at the opening contrasted with the pedalled answering phrases. Perfectly shaped streams of notes led to the excitement of repeated chords played with a driving rhythm of exhilaration and mounting excitement.There was beauty too as Mihai shaped the outbursts of mellifluous phrases first in the right hand and later in the left with extraordinary flowing beauty. A forward movement that finally exploded with cascades of notes over the entire keyboard, and its was interesting that the final burst was played quieter as he always had in mind the architectural shape of the music that gave such meaning to all he played. The whispered beauty of the final bars after the cadenza was immediately dispelled with the tumultuous final weight of two imperious chords played with burning authority.

There was magic in the air as Mihai intoned the miraculous opening of Schubert’s Fantasy Sonata. Sublime delicacy was contrasted with passionate Beethovenian outbursts, but it was the disarming simplicity of the dance that gave such a pastoral atmosphere to this master work.Suddenly we were thrown into the depths with the development that took us by surprise such was the sense of discovery that Mihai shared with us today. A tumultuous climax and one of the rare times that Schubert indicates fortissimo in the score but it was short lived as the intricate beauty returned taking us to a coda of sublime beauty and intense emotional impact. It was played with a mastery of control of sound as the opening gasps got ever more faint until we could barely hear the final breath.There was a simple beauty to the ‘Andante’ that again was played with a rich harmonic palette where violent outbursts were followed by beseeching asides. A ‘Minuetto’ of Beethovenian proportions was answered by the delicate ländler of the ‘Trio’ that Mihai played with a whispered luminosity of the beguiling insinuation of a music box. The sublime mellifluous outpouring in the final joyous dance was played with delicacy and richness and was a true celebration of intricate weaving between the hands played with a teasing forward movement before bursting into Schubert’s unstoppable and seemingly endless melodic invention. Ravishing beauty as Mihai allowed this miraculous vision of beauty to unfold with whispered luminosity contrasting with passionate outbursts .Our journey had only momentarily been interrupted as Mihai picked up the threads of the capricious infectious dance that took us to the totally unexpected questioning of the opening of this joyous pastoral ride.The genius of Schubert concluding his genial fantasy with five gently vibrating chords as if his heart had simply lay to rest with a gentle smile of satisfaction and thanksgiving for this wondrous journey .

Chopin’s waltz op 42 was played as an encore with the style and mastery of the great Chopin players of the past and just confirmed that we are in the presence of an important artist that I hope we in London will be able to enjoy more often. 

BEETHOVEN: Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No 2, “Quasi una fantasia” 

I. Adagio sostenuto 

II. Allegretto 

III. Presto agitato 

SCHUBERT: Sonata in G major, D 894 “Fantasie” 

I. Molto moderato e cantabile 

II. Andante 

III. Menuetto: Allegro moderato 

IV. Allegretto

London-based Romanian pianist Mihai Ritivoiu, first came to the attention of our director, Terence Lewis, when Mihai was still a student.Mihai is now a top prize-winner of several international competitions, including the George Enescu International Competition and leads an international career performing solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and Asia.Notable London performances include the Barbican Centre, the Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall. Mihai has also appeared live multiple times on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’.

 Mihai Ritivoiu started playing piano at the age of 6, and won his first competition at the age of 7, subsequently performing across Romania. He studied piano at the National University of Music in Bucharest and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, winning the Beethoven Society of Europe Intercollegiate Piano Competition while representing Guildhall. He has been taught by Joan Havill and mentored by Valentin Gheorghiu and Christopher Elton

In 2011, at the age of 21, Mihai was a top laureate of the George Enescu International Competition, and won a number of special prizes including best interpretation of a piano sonata by George Enescu and the best Romanian competitor.

Career: Mihai has performed at venues including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St Martin in the Fields and the Romanian Athenaeum, and played with orchestras such as George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the MDR Leipzig Radio Orchestra.

In addition to his solo recitals and concerto appearances, Ritivoiu has a rich chamber music activity, playing with Corina Belcea, Antoine Lederlin, Roland Pidoux and Alexander Sitkovetsky. He has also worked closely with the contemporary French composer, Stéphane Delplace, performing the world premiere of one of his pieces.

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