Mese: marzo 2025

William Bracken at the Bechstein Hall armed with our early morning coffee we entered the starlit wonder that is this new Bechstein Hall.

What a marvel that Terry Lewis together with Bechstein dedicate much time to giving an important space for young musicians to play in,the greatest musical metropolis in the world.

I have followed this young man’s student career and it is good to see a prize student becoming an authoritative artist gaining accolades with each performance .

A forty minute programme played almost without a break as he united Clara and Robert with an umbilical of improvised transitions from one piece to another. This was quite the norm in the hall just next door in the early 1900 ‘s when artists such as De Pachman would join the pieces together and also give a running commentary as to how they were progressing .Will did not go that far but it shows off the skill of a real musician who is not only an interpreter but also a transmitter of emotions and atmosphere’s .

Will did say a word or two after the Scriabin 9th Sonata, known as the Black Mass, where tumultuous tortured sounds were floated on a cauldron of red hot vibrations with a mastery and authoritative conviction that was astonishing. As he said we had had our dose of caffein and he had had his dose of Scriabin.

It was in the Scriabin ,Unsuk Chin and Debussy Arpeggio study that the mastery of this young artist was revealed to the full. The ravishing floating sounds of Debussy and scintillating outbursts of astonishing dynamic drive, where Debussy can turn dry arpeggios ,in his last years, into vibrant living strands of sound of unbelievable poignancy and power.The same sounds as Scriabin, a true kaleidoscope of hypnotic decadence as Scriabin reaches the star of his mystic belief. Will attacked the piano like a man possessed and it was breathtaking and overwhelming for the transcendental mastery and the authority and conviction of his playing . I well remember Will’s ‘Esprit de joie’ by Messian in previous recitals and it was the same pungent sounds of broken glass that reached deep inside us all as he punched out the sounds with the same mystic belief of it’s creator .’Traumes Wirren’ by Schumann that had appeared on the programme as ‘Traumerei’, came as a pleasant surprise as the refreshing jeux perlé and charm of Will’s playing brought us full circle, as had intimated in his warmly friendly introduction

If Chopin fared less well it was a small price to pay for such masterly playing of composers a century later. A Chopin Nocturne dissected with Will’s extraordinary intellect but which seemed to be sliced into two with episodes not related with his explosive playing of the central episode.It is curious that such a master could not contemplate the architectural shape and texture of one of Chopin’s most touching tone poems. I think that like Aimard, his love for certain pungent sounds will come full circle as his great artistry matures and grows .The Nocturne by Clara Schumann fared much better and this great love letter from Clara to Robert (she uses the same theme as his Fantasy op 17 and it was published at the same time and with Robert’s Fantasy written as an outpouring of the love of his life and eventual mother of their eight children ). Here Will managed to conceive this miniature jewel as one glorious whole and improvised , without a break, into the searing romantic waves of sound of Robert’s ‘In der Nacht’. Played with a passionate drive and sumptuous romantic sounds as Schumann floats one of his most beautiful melodies on a cauldron of windy sounds just as Will had done in Scriabin.The difference of course is that one is of a satanic ritual and the other of romantic effusions . A wonderful improvisation to Warum just confirmed the musicianship and courage of this true thinking musician.

Liszt in Perivale – The Universal Genius – The voyage of discovery continues

William Bracken at St Mary’s with clarity and purity of style allied to fantasy and technical mastery

William Bracken is in demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. The Wirral-born pianist has won numerous awards including 1st prize at the 2022 Liszt Society International Piano Competition, 1st prize, press prize and audience prize at the 2023 Euregio Piano Award international piano competition and 3rd prize at the 2024 UniSA international piano competition in South Africa. He is currently continuing studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he also holds a position as teaching assistant in the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation. 
Concert highlights include several concerto performances at The Barbican, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and recitals at Chipping Campden Festival, LSO St. Luke’s and most recently Wigmore Hall, where he was praised by the Telegraph for his “courage and stamina and musicality in abundance” and “an ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand”. He also made his New York debut at Carnegie’s Weill recital hall in January 2024.
 William performs a large and diverse range of repertoire and also has a keen interest in jazz and improvisational elements of performing classical music. He is a founding member of Ensemble+, a chamber collective focused primarily on challenging preconceptions about live music through the medium of improvisation and is a current artist diploma student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with profs. Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora.

The Keyboard Trust and the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation together with Music al British in Florence presented Sherri Lun with a fascinating programme that started and finished with two of the most important works in the Romantic piano repertoire. Chopin’s last great masterpiece the Polonaise- Fantasie where Chopin had created a completely new form that was so revolutionary for it’s time that it was only many years after his death that it was finally recognised for it’s genial invention and poetic beauty. Beethoven’s shortest Sonata,but one of the composers favourite for it’s beauty and simplicity, opening the gate to the composers last period of his thirty two sonatas that spanned his entire life story.

’Widmung’ and the Fantasie were outpourings of love by Robert Schumann for his future wife Clara .It is fitting that Sherri should include a composition by Clara Schumann too, who apart from being the mother of Robert’s eight children was the first woman virtuoso of the piano and a quite considerable composer in her own right.This nocturne published at the same time as Robert’s Fantasie uses Robert’s theme from the Fantasie and is a secret love trist between them. ‘Widmung’ was Robert’s wedding present to Clara and was a fitting close to this concert dedicated to one of the greatest love stories ever told. Sherri had played the Chopin and Schumann Fantasies just two days before this Italian tour , in London, and I reviewed them here :

.Sherri Lun in Perivale ‘Maturity and mastery of intelligence and refined poetry’
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/03/12/sherri-lun-in-perivale-maturity-and-mastery-of-intelligence-and-refined-poetry/

What I did not know until Christopher Elton,her teacher, told me, was that the Schumann op 17 was a new work in her repertoire and so Vicenza was only the second time she had played it in public! She has since played it in Venice, Padua and Abano.

Florence, the last date of this tour, marks Sherri’s sixth performance! It was remarkable in Perivale and as Christopher had so rightly said it is getting even better with every performance! ‘Widmung’ has long been in her repertoire and she played it with phrasing of breathtaking beauty. The exhilaration of Liszt’s embellishments brought the greatest love story ever told onto the concert platform with heartrending sensibility and passionate involvement.

Beethoven’s favourite sonata was played with a crystalline clarity and refined musicianship that just illuminated the grace and charm that Beethoven could express for ‘Thérèse’ who may very well have been the ‘Immortal beloved’ of much speculation. After the glorious opening ‘Adagio cantabile’ of simple unadorned beauty, there was refined phrasing and a constant flowing tempo in the ‘Allegro ma non troppo’ that follows.The ‘Allegro vivace’ was played with a jeux perlé jewel like precision which just flowed from Sherri’s fingers with simple mastery. After another wonderful performance of the Schumann Fantasy where the coda of the first movement was always ever more touching, and where the whispered beauty of the ending led to minutes of aching silence when the audience and the performer could savour together the magic that had been recreated.The concert had also included a memorable performance of Chopin’s Polonaise – Fantaise that was played with poetic beauty and dynamic heroism.The streams of sounds that poured out of the first imperious chords were merely vibrations of sound on which was born the gently militaristic Polonaise. A central episode played with poetic beauty and a ravishing sense of balance gradually led to the glorious final outpouring of magnificence and not a little nostalgia for the homeland that Chopin had left at eighteen and was destined never to see again. After his death in his adopted city of Paris his bodily remains were buried in Père Lachaise cemetery but his heart was brought back to Poland where it had always belonged. An extraordinarily robust ending from a delicate looking young musician who evidently has a tiger hidden within.

Beethoven Sonata No.24 in F-sharp major, Op.78

Chopin Polonaise Fantasie in A-flat major, Op.61

Clara Schumann Nocturne Op.6 No.2

Schumann Fantasie in C major, Op.17

Schumann/Liszt Widmung

The Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61 was dedicated to Mme A. Veyret, and written and published in 1846. It was slow to gain favour with musicians, due to its harmonic complexity and intricate form.Its shape and its style caused much consternation and it was quite some time before listeners could come to terms with it as ‘the piano speaks here in a language not previously known’.The “Polonaise-Fantaisie” is among Chopin’s last great piano works, and is a testament to his mastery and maturity. The unusual title betrays the fact that Chopin was uncertain about which genre to assign it to. While the typical rhythm and noble character of the Polonaise repeatedly shine through the notes, the Polonaise-Fantaisie is characterized above all by a great freedom in its thematic and formal aspects. The work brushes through a great variety of keys, moods and motifs, and leads into a grandiose closing apotheosis as if at the end of a long journey.One of the first critics to speak positively of the work was Arthur Hedley,writing in 1947 said that it “works on the hearer’s imagination with a power of suggestion equaled only by the F minor Fantasy  or the Fourth Ballade .He suggested that the Polonaise-Fantaisie represents a change in Chopin’s style from ‘late’ to ‘last’.It is suggested that the formal ambiguities of the piece (particularly the unconventional and musically misleading transitions into and out of the lyrical inner section) are the most significant defining qualities of this ‘last style’, which only includes this and one other piece—the F minor Mazurka op 68 n. 4 Chopin’s last composition.”,

The Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major , Op. 78, nicknamed “à Thérèse” (because it was written for Countess Thérèse von Brunswick in 1809).

It consists of two movements:

1. Adagio cantabile — Allegro ma non troppo
2. Allegro vivace

According to Carl Czerny , Beethoven himself singled out this sonata and the “Appassionata ” Sonata as favourites (once written, the “Hammerklavier “ Sonata” would also become one of Beethoven’s favourites

The Fantasie in C, Op. 17, was written by Robert Schumann in 1836 and revised prior to publication in 1839, when it was dedicated to Franz Liszt. It is generally described as one of Schumann’s greatest works for solo piano, and is one of the central works of the early Romantic period.

Its three movements are headed:

1. Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen; Im Legenden-Ton 
2. Mäßig. Durchaus energisch –
3. Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten.
   The piece has its origin in early 1836, when Schumann composed a piece entitled Ruines expressing his distress at being parted from his beloved Clara Wieck (later to become his wife). This later became the first movement of the Fantasy.Later that year, he wrote two more movements to create a work intended as a contribution to the appeal for funds to erect a monument  to Beethoven  in his birthplace, Bonn . Schumann offered the work to the publisher Kirstner, suggesting that 100 presentation copies could be sold to raise money for the monument. Other contributions to the Beethoven monument fund included Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses
   The original title of Schumann’s work was “Obolen auf Beethovens Monument: Ruinen, Trophaen, Palmen, Grosse Sonate f.d. Piano f. Für Beethovens Denkmal”. Kirstner refused, and Schumann tried offering the piece to Haslinger in January 1837. When Haslinger also refused, he offered it to Breitkopf & Hartel in May 1837. The movements’ subtitles (Ruins, Trophies, Palms) became Ruins, Triumphal Arch, and Constellation, and were then removed altogether before Breitkopf & Härtel eventually issued the Fantasie in May 1839.
   The work was dedicated to Franz Liszt , who replied in a letter dated June 5, 1839: “The Fantaisie dedicated to me is a work of the highest kind – and I am really proud of the honour you have done me in dedicating to me so grand a composition. I mean, therefore, to work at it and penetrate it through and through, so as to make the utmost possible effect with it.”
   The Beethoven Monument was eventually completed, due mainly to the efforts of Liszt, who paid 2,666 thaler,the largest single contribution. It was unveiled in grand style in 1845, the attendees including Queem Victoria  and Prince Albert, and many other dignitaries and composers, but not Schumann, who was ill.
   Schumann prefaced the work with a quote from Friedich Schlegel :
   Durch alle Töne tönet
   Im bunten Erdentraum
   Ein leiser Ton gezogen
   Für den, der heimlich lauschet.
   (“Resounding through all the notes
   In the earth’s colorful dream
   There sounds a faint long-drawn note
   For the one who listens in secret.”)
   The musical quotation  of a phrase from Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte  in the coda of the first movement was not acknowledged by Schumann, and apparently was not spotted until 1910.The text of the passage quoted is: Accept then these songs [beloved, which I sang for you alone]. Both the Schlegel stanza and the Beethoven quotation are appropriate to Schumann’s current situation of separation from Clara Wieck. Schumann wrote to Clara: The first movement may well be the most passionate I have ever composed – a deep lament for you. They still had many tribulations to suffer before they finally married four years later.

The six Soirees musicales, Op. 6. Robert Schumann himself was appreciative enough of Clara’s romantic ”Notturno”, Op. 6 No. 2, (growing from the five falling-note motif so symbolic for both of them while forbidden all communication by Clara’s father) to quote it as the ”Stimme aus der Ferne” in his last Novellette.

Widmung is much more than a mere showpiece – containing probably the most passionate music writing and most heartfelt feelings. Written in 1840 (this piece was from a set of Lieder called Myrthen, Op.25), this piece was later arranged for piano solo by Liszt . Myrthen was dedicated to Clara Wieck  as a wedding gift, as he finally married Clara in September, despite the opposition from Clara’s father (who was also Robert’s piano teacher).

Below is the text of Widmung, with English translation:

Original Text by Friedrich Rückert

Du meine Seele, du mein Herz,

Du meine Wonn’, o du mein Schmerz,

Du meine Welt, in der ich lebe,

Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe,

O du mein Grab, in das hinab

Ich ewig meinen Kummer gab!

Du bist die Ruh, du bist der Frieden,

Du bist vom Himmel mir beschieden.

Dass du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert,

Dein Blick hat mich vor mir verklärt,

Du hebst mich liebend über mich,

Mein guter Geist, mein bess’res Ich!

You my soul, you my heart,

You my rapture, O you my pain,

You my world in which I live,

My heaven you, to which I aspire,

O you my grave, into which

My grief forever I’ve consigned!

You are repose, you are peace,

You are bestowed on me from heaven.

Your love for me gives me my worth,

Your eyes transfigure me in mine,

You raise me lovingly above myself,

Sherri Lun, named ‘2020 Performing Artist of the Year’ by the South China Morning Post, has garnered acclaim for her “pinpoint clarity and convincing bravura” (Chicago Tribune). Born in Hong Kong and currently based in London, Sherri has swiftly established herself as a rising soloist on the international stage. A Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, Sherri made her concerto debut at the Ravinia Festival with the Midwest Young Artists at just 10 years old. Since then, she has performed in prestigious venues including Wigmore Hall in London, Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and Millennium Park in Chicago. Her international appearances span the UK, US, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Malaysia, and China. Sherri has also collaborated with esteemed ensembles such as the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Hong Kong Youth Orchestra, and Kölner Kammerorchester. Recent performances include the Hammerklavier International Piano Series in Girona, the Festival Musicale delle Nazioni in Rome, a 4-concert Malaysian tour, recitals in Steinway Hall London and Drapers’ Hall. In December 2023, she released her debut album with KNS Classical, featuring works by Robert Schumann and César Franck. Sherri’s artistry has been recognized with top prizes in numerous national and international competitions. Most recently, she won First Prize and Audience Prize in the 2024 Birmingham International Piano Competition, following her First Prize win at the 2023 Hong Kong Generation Next Arts Competition. Sherri also won top prizes in the Robert Schumann Competition (Du¨sseldorf), Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, ASEAN International Chopin Piano Competition, Singapore International Piano Competition, and Steinway & Sons Youth Piano Competition, to name a few, and is a quarter-finalist of the 2024 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. At the Royal Academy, she won consecutively the 2022 Sterndale Bennett Prize, 2023 Chung Nung Lee Prize, and 2024 Harold Craxton Prize. She was also invited to perform in RAM’s 2022 Bicentenary celebration concert in Wigmore Hall. In Hong Kong, she is a frequent winner of local competitions, and her performance has been broadcasted by the Radio Television Hong Kong. Born in 2003, Sherri majored in piano and viola as a junior student of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She is currently studying under Prof. Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music on a full scholarship, supported by both the Academy and the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme. She is also an artist with KNS Classical and the Keyboard Charitable Trust. For more information, visit http://www.sherrilun.com.

The Strand Rising Stars Series – Sherri Lun The magic and artistry of a star shining brightly

Sherri Lun at St James’s Piccadilly Poetry and grandeur with crystalline clarity and impeccable musicianship

Sherri Lun at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust Mastery,passion and intelligence of twenty year old pianist.

Sherri Lun Keyboard Trust Italian Tour 2025 Part 1 and Part 2
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/03/15/sherri-lun-keyboard-trust-italian-tour-2025-part-1/

Padua looking so regal and resplendent in the blazing sunshine today after the downfall yesterday in Padua and Venice – water water everywhere !!!!!

Today not only ablaze with ravishing noble beauty but resounding to the sound of music at the Sala dei Giganti this morning, and the Palazzo Zacco Armeni this afternoon.

Carlo Solinas for the Amici della Musica and Sherri Lun for the Keyboard Trust -Agimus

A Sunday Craft Market outside the hall this morning could have created problems with its street music blaring away at full blast. But inside this historic hall, on Richter’s favourite Steinway piano, there was a pianist of such professional calibre that it would have taken much more than that to disturb his superb music making. Myra Hess springs to mind, with her famous lunchtime concerts in a London under siege from the German bombs overhead, nothing could stop her from sharing her much needed music with others suffering such barbaric onslaughts!

Perfecting his studies with that great trainer of pianists Leonid Magarius ,Carlo Solinas has also been trained in the class of Roberto Cappello and Francesca Costa. All contributing at the age of 25 to a pianist of great stature, a multi prize winner just ready to start a career that will take his music far and wide.

Today the eclectic choice of a real thinking musician . A rarely heard prélude by Lili Boulanger with its delicate kaleidoscope of sounds which were welded together with the XIV contrapunctus from Bach’s Art of Fugue.

An extraordinary fluidity and sense of colour, where every part of this knotty twine was given a voice of its own with a masterly control of sound and aristocratic sense of architectural line.

A change of programme from Mozart’s A minor Sonata to Beethoven’s last sonata that was played with fearless abandon and intelligence. A scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s very meticulous indications but allied to a dynamic energy and fearless drive that brought to mind Perlemuter telling me that it should be like water boiling over at 100 degrees.

It was Perlemuter in 1985 who I brought to this hall, in his 83rd year, to play all the works of Ravel on the this very instrument. Small world!

Filippo Juvarra had dedicated to him and his lifelong companion Joan Flockhart Booth the anniversary concert, last month,of the complete Ravel piano works ,with Jean – Efflam Bavouzet.

Carlo played the opening of op.111 with imperious authority and trills that sparkled like diamonds as the music moved inevitably forward in massive blocks to the final arrival home to C.

It was here that the ‘Allegro con brio’ was tinged with something of the monumental as the blistering drive was conducted with burning intensity and aristocratic authority. Oases of yearning beauty as Beethoven left his energy momentarily spent recuperating his force for the next onslaught of irascible temperament. Carlo played with exactly the fearless recklessness of the final great struggle of a universal genius.

No rallentando at the end as this was an orchestrally conceived arrival where the whole orchestra, completely spent, waited for the glorious final vision of the paradise that Beethoven could see on the horizon . The depth of sound of this piano played its part with a richness in the middle register that just illuminated all that Carlo did with glowing beauty and fluidity .Floating the ‘Arietta’ on this final wave of sounds Carlo played with ravishing beauty and refined delicacy this one of the most beautiful melodies that were to flow from Beethoven’s pen in the last period of his turbulent life.

It is in the late quartets that Beethoven’s soul is laid bare with an inner intensity that is one of the glories of all music.

Carlo conceived this ‘Arietta’ more as song and accompaniment whereas I feel that every note of each chord has a vital and equal importance that can add even more poignancy to this opening. The variations flowed beautifully and it was here that Carlo allowed every note to sing with deeply felt intensity and heartrending authority . The explosive third variations was again played with fearless mastery as it too gradually lay spent. Whispered gasps over a bass that in Carlos masterly hands sounded like the undefined mist that Beethoven obviously intended .A masterly control of pedal and superb technical command allowed this passage to move forward with deathly searing intensity. Leading with gradual insistence to the glorious outpouring of a master who could rejoice in finding his goal.

The magic streams of sound wrapped up in trills that was so much part of this last lost world of Beethoven were played with a mastery as the ‘Arietta’ now appeared on this mystic cloud much as Scriabin a century later was to describe the star that could shine so brightly taking him to a place that only music could describe.

Carlo walked off stage after op. 111 and I was reminded for a moment of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli who playing a benefit concert in the Vatican ( that he did not consider Italy where he vowed never to return after being hounded by the press for presumed and as it turned out false accusation’s of tax evasion ). A rather cold Sala Nervi beautified with greenery in which were hidden crickets who enjoyed rather too much the masters magnificent performance of Beethoven. In the interval the piano was wheeled off stage and we thought, like Carlo today, that music making with such acoustical interference was just not possible. Fabbrini had another piano in the wings for the masters’ ‘Gaspard de La Nuit’ and like Carlo today we were treated to a magnificent second half !

Carlo reappeared and with great sonorous sounds declared battle with the ‘Philistines’ just the other side of the great glass windows that had been taken away to be restored and that allowed such an acoustical intrusion on to the battle field of Giants!

Soon dissolving into the charm and delicacy of Schubert’s ‘ländler’ that Liszt embellishes with a jeux perlé of ravishing seduction and tittivating charm .

Carlo, via his mentor Magarius, is a master of this ‘old style’ pianism of the giants of the Golden age of piano playing of Rosenthal ,Godowsky and of course Horowitz and Cherkassky.

The performances just flowed from Carlo’s well oiled fingers with a mastery that allowed one of Chopin’s greatest masterpieces, the fourth ballade, to continually move forward without any fear that Carlo’s youthful passion and heartrending sentiments could ever meet their match . On occasion Carlo’s passionate intensity and mastery could lead him into hasty moments where maturity will allow the aristocratic control that Rubinstein was to bring in his Indian summer that allowed youthful passion to be tempered with reasoned maturity.

Scriabin’s 5th sonata entered on a whirlwind of demonic sounds immediately diffused by the glowing fragments that were wafted over a cauldron of ever present burning intensity. Fragments that Carlo gradually brought together with masterly musicianship and sense of architectural shape until Scriabin’s star filled this magnificent piano and the ‘Giant’s ‘ hearts with the sounds that only he could possess and the street musicians were left like the poor morsels they obviously were behind the missing glass panes.A hall of such beauty and with perfect acoustic that has seen some of the greatest musicians of our time in the glorious activity directed by Filippo Juvarra and the Amici della Musica, with passion and the discerning taste of a real musicians.

Carlo was now in vein to offer the beautiful Clara Wieck variations that her future husband penned in his Sonata ‘sans orchestre’ op 14

It has long been a specialty of Horowitz and Carlo played it with the same Brahmsian intensity that was part of this trio of Clara ,Robert and Brahms ,musicians united in their love and passion not only for music !

Coming full circle like the great thinking musician that was revealed to us today, Carlo played Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in F minor book one ,with the same same kaleidoscope of colours and intense musicianship with which this voyage of discovery had been shared with a large audience on this Sunday morning in a truly radiant and resplendent Padua .

From the earliest age Jack wished to be a music teacher. He had a passion for opera, chamber music and the avantgarde, but also the entrepreneurial spirit required to make things happen. His left of centre politics and the interest in spiritual growth and religion supported this calling. By 1954, at the age of sixteen, Jack had already formed a committee with a view to drawing together as many young musical talents in the area as possible to put on chamber music concerts in still-to-be explored venues. This led to the formation of the Accrington and District Young People’s Music Society, which was Jack’s legacy to his town. They performed in various church halls in the district. He contacted the music critic of the Accrington Observer to cover these concerts and achieve publicity. The calling to work creatively with youth was already evident.

Following his A Levels, Jack was admitted to the Northern School of Music in Manchester where he studied for one year before moving to Trinity College in London in 1958. His first position after leaving Trinity was as music master at a school in Rugeley, Staffs. He stayed there two years before moving to Wennington School in Wetherby, Yorkshire, a privately run Quaker school, where he stayed until his move to Rome, in 1967. It was in Wennington School that he met Jane and Gareth both of whom are here with us today. He would remain in Rome until 2018 or approximately 50 years. 

Travel 

One of the few members of the extended family he was close to, his aunt Anne Hindle, shared his entrepreneurial spirit. She was the first person to recruit secretarial assistants for Members of Parliament. On the strength of these contacts  she opened what went on to become a highly successful travel company, Fairways and Swinford, specialising in Hellenic cruises and tours. It was Anne who paid for his needsthroughout his time at Trinity College. Jack benefited from her generosity all his life gaining a detailed knowledge of the Mediterranean cultures during his many free cruises.

Opera and the Avantgarde

As a teacher, Jack never tired of treating his friends and his pupils to accounts of his meetings with the famous. 

One year, while in Bayreuth at the annual Wagner festival, he was honoured to meet Winifred Wagner, the daughter-in-law of the composer. She had married Siegfried, one of the composer’s sons. Although not a party member, she was a fervent admirer of Hitler. She regaled Jack with stories of how Onkel Hitler, as he was known, moved in and out of the family home. 

Later, and by now in Italy, he had the pleasure of interviewing both Maria Callas  and  Montserrat Caballe whose sense of humour he enjoyed.

Fired by his interest in avantgarde music, a largely left wing concern in 60’s and 70’s Italy, he collaborated with Sylvano Bussotti, Luigi Nono and Luciano Berio and ran workshops with some of its principal exponents, while the friendship with the British composer Peter Maxwell-Davies endured until his death from leukaemia.

Career

While in Rome he taught music and English at  St George’s English School putting on a number of memorable productions which he co-wrote and co-produced with the school pupils and which broadened their understanding of theatre and music in a manner well beyond the expectations of the rather conservative curriculum. Again, youth and creativity to the fore.

He finally gave up teaching to take up the post of Arts Officer at the British Council. It was here that his entrepreneurial spirit and imagination found their fullest expression. He argued that the Council should not concern itself with promoting the work of established UK artists or organisations nor with the careers of up-in-comingperformers. Rather, he would focus on promoting the work of established artists as yet relatively unknown in Italy. Amongst these were Sir William Walton (a resident ofIschia) and Lindsay Kemp. Sir William’s opera The Bear was performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, in 1983. Jack himself would  perform another of Sir William’s works, the witty Facade, in a number of European cities often together with Cathy Berberian and with Jan Lathan-Koenig conducting. Sir William was immensely grateful to Jack for this late revival of interest in his work. Jack would play a similar role in bringing the stagecraft of Lindsey Kemp to the attention of Italian theatre promoters. Lindsay enjoyed immense success in Italy and then Spain before eventually retiring in Italy. Jack was a close friend of both.

In the 80’s, alongside his work at the Council, Jack helped Lionel and Joy Bryer, manage the European Community Youth Orchestra which they founded.

He would remain at the Council until the early 90’s when the Thatcherite economies resulted in his post being cut. From now on he would hold only part-time jobs. Amongst these was the post of English Language lecturer in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Rome. Prof. Hilary Gatti, whose teaching Jack supported, was of the opinion that Jack’s wit and impressive cultural knowledge, which went well beyond the field of literature, were in excess of the rather modest position he occupied in the university hierarchy. He had a wide knowledge of contemporary authors, many of whom he had met personally. In the new millennium, he was invited by the then Dean of the Philosophy Faculty, Professor Marta Fattori, to stay on with them, which he did until he finally made his decision to retire and return to the UK in 2017.

By then he was also a regular contributor Seen and Heard International, the‘live review’ section of MusicWeb International, from both Italy and England.

Food

Throughout his life Jack’s friends would enjoy his legendary hospitality. An accomplished cook, he would source the right wines for each course and finish with typically British puddings little known to his foreign friends, all of these prepared in a kitchen of barely 8 square metres. Guests were forbidden from entering the kitchen as he entertained them with his usual brilliant conversation while preparing the offer. But he could also be your simple companion – that is, someone he broke his bread with. On such occasions he demonstrated that rare skill of making the guest feel the centre of attention.

Amongst the many legendary food stories we will mention two. John Cage was in Rome for a concert series. Jack lured him to lunch with the promise of a selection of Italy’s little known bitter greens. It was Cage, however, who stole the show by arriving with a basketful of still lesser known herbs and leaves foraged, unlikely though it may seem, while finding his way to Jack’s apartment. On another occasion at the Hilton in Rome Jack, who had reserved the best table for himself and his guests, Theo and Emma, came in for unexpectedly detailed and obsessive attention including complementary drinks. Jack was amused to be addressed as Mr. Blair throughout the evening. It was only later that they noticed Tony and Cherie sitting quietly in the corner (with security, of course) perhaps grateful for a relatively anonymous evening. The staff error may have been comic but it was also down to Jack’s presence or charisma. Not everyone could have or would have wanted to carry it off.

Spiritual Life

After Wennington, Jack retained a deep respect for Quaker practice. But he had an energetic and restless intellect. During the 70’s and 80’s he turned to Buddhism partly on account of a meeting with HH The Dalai Lama in ‘73 and perhaps as a reaction toChristianity’s demand that its moral codes be followed unquestioningly by all. Morality, for Jack, was contingent, the distinction between Good and Evil not as simple as the monotheistic religions would have us believe. Rather, he aligned himself with what Buddhism and Tao teach, and what George Harrison famously sang: ‘And to see you’re really only very small and life flows on within you and without you’. Birth is random. Life on earth is brief. Live it to the full without regrets.

Jack’s childhood friend, Leslie Walsh, reflects that Jack had his ups and downs but that he circumnavigated these by creating and living in his own world. If this reflected the reality of a situation, then fine, but if not, trouble brewed. He and Leslie used to talk about politics after his move to Croydon, but Leslie regarded politics as one of the areas where Jack’s world collided with reality. This did not prevent him becoming active in Labour Party with Rowenna Davis commenting Jack was a leading light for the local Labour Party.

***

A final reflection. When in the company of Jack at his most unfailingly polite you knew he had little interest in the person; when in the company of Jack the raconteur you knew he had found a listener and Jack enjoyed lapping up the attention; but it was only when someone was subjected to what we might call a Jack Attack that you understood this was a close friend. As he was careful to explain, if you challengesomeone you don’t know, you risk losing them. You can only afford to be short with friends because you know they will remain so.

So there you have him. A working class Lancastrian who had the privilege most of his adult life of living in the Doria palace, Rome, whose private gallery hangs works by Velasquez, Rembrandt and Caravaggio and whose Baroque staircase was adjudged by Anthony Blunt no less to be the most beautiful of its kind in Rome; a man with deeply Christian roots but with no need for a creator God; someone rich in spirit but with no belief in the soul or the afterlife, no belief in heaven or hell; one whose politics was well left of centre and who demonstrated this through his generosity and his consideration of others’ needs including the spiritual; a convivial but also intensely private person; one whose poetics enabled him to transcend all these distinctions and weave these into the rich tapestry of a fully lived life. He died intestate and penniless but not friendless and was immensely grateful to all those who supported him in his latter years. And he was immensely grateful to the staff at Whitgift for their support and care, their generosity and their willingness to meet his needs until the end.

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She Walks in Beauty – Marianne is Faithfull

Puck at the Piano

Celebrating

THE LIFE OF

Jack Buckley 

15.03.38 – 26.09.22

Tuesday February 28^th 2023 09:45

Croydon Crematorium East Chapel

Mitcham Rd (A236), London CR03AA

Thornton Rd (A23) London CR7 6BB

UK

Order of Service

Procession​………………..……… .Conchita Supervia

Introduction and Welcome……………Bishop Peter Price

Poem……….……….………….……………..William Blake

Eulogy 1…………………………………Stefano Pascalino

Poems…………………………………………Jack Buckley

Eulogy 2……………………………..Antony Warde-Jones

Revelation 21.1-5a…………………….Bishop Peter Price

Obituary ………………………………..Bishop Peter Price

Committal…………………………………..Verdi:Trovatore“D’amor sull’ali rosee” Monserrat Caballe

Departure

Eternity

He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy 

He who kisses the joy as it flies 

Lives in eternity’s sun rise.

William Blake 1757-1827

Life follows death

Life follows death and back again,

A hundred or so times a day.

Eat, drink, live, die, cry, love, hope, pray.

Sometimes a child shows us the way.

Life follows death and back again.

No fears please, least, not for today.

Happy Christmas is what we say.

Life follows death and back again.

Eat, drink, live, die, cry, love, hope, pray.

With live for the day your refrain,

Life follows death and back again,

A hundred or so times a day.  

A close friend died and left some pain.

Eat, drink, live, die, cry, love, hope, pray.

Most things absent often remain.

I try to live life without gain:

Its own reward.  Say that again.

Eat, drink, live, die cry, love, hope, pray:

A checklist for your mainstay. 

A thousand or so times a day.

Jack Buckley

Grace

When it comes to grace
Eternity’s your space.
Only feel it.
Don’t need it.
Bigger than you.
The joy you never knew.
A smile on your face
when it comes to grace,
when grace should find you,
it’s courtesy to remind you
that grace found you,
but ne’er on a working day:
Breath deeply. Breath calmly.
Then! Then! Quietly pray.
Should you need help
remember yourself.
But quietly: no haste.
‘t is wondrous space

-that gifts us grace.

JB 08/11/2019

Yet

When I was dying,

Thought I was ready,

                              Yet,

Something was missing.

Don’t know what it was

                                  Yet

It felt so familiar

                   Yet

So far away and

Still no conditioner,

No asphyxiating indicator.

No liberating force

                        Yet

You couldn’t help thinking

How kindly is death.

Still,

Death won’t keep quiet,

Quite yet.  

31/10/2019  JB

The link for the funeral of Jack Buckley to be held on 

Tuesday Feb 28^th 2023 at 09:45

Website​​https://watch.obitus.com

Username​​sane2834

Password​​264437

Sherri just two days after playing in London began her Keyboard Trust Italian tour in collaboration with the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation, with a triumphant appearance in Vicenza.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/03/12/sherri-lun-in-perivale-maturity-and-mastery-of-intelligence-and-refined-poetry/

Incontro Sulla Tastiera for young musicians is the series that the tireless Mariantonietta Righetto Sgueglia has been organising for almost fifty years. Now in the magnificent Teatro Comunale this was just the start of a tour that will finish next week in Florence taking in Venice,Padua and The Ritz at Abano Terme

.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/03/19/sherri-lun-in-florence-harold-acton-library-music-al-british-refined-musicianship-and-mastery-of-a-young-star/

A fascinating programme that starts and finishes with two of the most important works in the Romantic piano repertoire. Chopin’s last great masterpiece the Polonaise- Fantasie where Chopin had created a completely new form that was so revolutionary for it’s time that it was only many years after his death that it was finally recognised for it’s genial invention and poetic beauty. Beethoven’s shortest Sonata but one of the composers favourite for its beauty and simplicity, opening the gate to the composers last period of his thirty two sonatas that spanned his entire life story.

Bach’s mighty Chaconne presented in the famous reworking by Busoni in his centenary year and the rebirth for the piano of one of the greatest of Bach’s works originally written for solo violin. ’Widmung’ and the Fantasie were outpourings of love by Robert Schumann for his future wife Clara .It is fitting that Sherri should include a composition by Clara Schumann too, who apart from being the mother of Robert’s eight children was the first woman virtuoso of the piano and a quite considerable composer in her own right.The Nocturne uses Robert’s theme from the Fantasie and was published in the same year.A secret message between Clara and Robert of one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Chopin Polonaise Fantasie in A-flat major, Op.61

Beethoven Sonata No.24 in F-sharp major, Op.78

Bach/Busoni Chaconne in D minor, BWV 1004

—Intermission— 

Schumann/Liszt Widmung

Clara Schumann Nocturne Op.6 No.2

Schumann Fantasy in C major, Op.17

Schumann ,Wieck and Chopin
Good performances of Sherri Lun
Il Giornale di Vicenza 19 March 2025
Eva Purelli
‘Difficult programme played with great ability by the young refined pianist from Hong Kong .With the only exception of Bach.’

‘In partnership with the Keyboard Trust of London and the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation, the 21 year old pianist from Hong Kong , Sherri Lun, played for the ‘Incontri sulla Tastiera.
This time for the appearance in Vicenza in the historic collaboration with the English Trust,created by Noretta Conci with her husband John Leech, (Noretta had been a student and assistant of Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli) , there appeared another association that sponsors young concert artists on their International tours : The Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation giving scholarships to young pianists from all parts of the world in memory of the young pianist who died of linfoma in 2018.
These realities do not exist in Italy as they do in England where this same pianist, Lun, is perfecting her studies under Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music.
Her visiting card in Vicenza was with a refined programme of above all the music of Robert Schumann. The Fantasie in C op 17 was written in 1836 and revised in 1838 to raise funds for a monument in honour of Beethoven in Bonn, that Robert Schumann dedicated to Liszt, with it’s outpouring of love for Clara Wieck. It is a work of great originality, strong passions and intimate nostalgia of such importance that it became the inspiration for Liszt’s B minor Sonata that he dedicated to Robert Schumann.
A pianistic masterpiece that found in Lun an interpreter of precision with great attention to the dynamics and an authoritative technical command of expressive sensibility .
There can be no doubt that Schumann is the composer that she has most feeling for, with a ravishing tenderness that was revealed also in her performance of his song ( in reality a Lied).
‘Widmung’ op 25 n 1 was composed by Schumann and trascribed for piano by Liszt. It means ‘Dedication’ and is a profound declaration of love and admiration for Clara Wieck. It was her Nocturne op 6 n 2 that Sherri also played. For some years this composer has been rediscovered and admired for herself and not just as the partner of a Romantic German genius. In fact her nocturne was a surprise for its exquisite fullness and creative style.
Well etched also was Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie op 61 .
This important and robust programme also included Beethoven’s F sharp Sonata op 78 in which she revealed a kaleidoscope of colour and sensitive phrasing.
The programme could have finished there with the beautiful romanticism of Schumann without bothering to play the Bach Chaconne in D minor BWV 1004 in the famous reworking of Ferruccio Busoni : where Lun’s interpretation was too romantic, lacking in profundity and contrapuntal shape.
On the other hand she played a glowing encore ‘In des Abends ‘ from the ‘Fantasiestücke’ ………by Schumann of course .

PART 2 Venice – Padua – Abano Terme for Agimus Padua

Beauty everywhere and nowhere more than in Palazzo Albrizzi with an inspired Sherri Lun.

The Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61 was dedicated to Mme A. Veyret, and written and published in 1846. It was slow to gain favour with musicians, due to its harmonic complexity and intricate form.Its shape and its style caused much consternation and it was quite some time before listeners could come to terms with it as ‘the piano speaks here in a language not previously known’.The “Polonaise-Fantaisie” is among Chopin’s last great piano works, and is a testament to his mastery and maturity. The unusual title betrays the fact that Chopin was uncertain about which genre to assign it to. While the typical rhythm and noble character of the Polonaise repeatedly shine through the notes, the Polonaise-Fantaisie is characterized above all by a great freedom in its thematic and formal aspects. The work brushes through a great variety of keys, moods and motifs, and leads into a grandiose closing apotheosis as if at the end of a long journey.One of the first critics to speak positively of the work was Arthur Hedley,writing in 1947 said that it “works on the hearer’s imagination with a power of suggestion equaled only by the F minor Fantasy  or the Fourth Ballade .He suggested that the Polonaise-Fantaisie represents a change in Chopin’s style from ‘late’ to ‘last’.It is suggested that the formal ambiguities of the piece (particularly the unconventional and musically misleading transitions into and out of the lyrical inner section) are the most significant defining qualities of this ‘last style’, which only includes this and one other piece—the F minor Mazurka op 68 n. 4 Chopin’s last composition.”,

The Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major , Op. 78, nicknamed “à Thérèse” (because it was written for Countess Thérèse von Brunswick in 1809.

It consists of two movements:

1. Adagio cantabile — Allegro ma non troppo
2. Allegro vivace

According to Carl Czerny , Beethoven himself singled out this sonata and the “Appassionata ” Sonata as favourites (once written, the “Hammerklavier “ Sonata” would also become one of Beethoven’s favourites

Who isn’t familiar with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chaconne, the final movement in his Partita in D minor for Violin solo? Time and again composers have been inspired to make this exceptional piece accessible for other instruments. Perhaps the best-known arrangement is by Ferruccio Busoni. 
Without distancing himself too greatly from Bach’s original, he endeavours to transpose the virtuosity of the string writing onto the piano. Thus Busoni wrote for the piano in a way that congenially makes the most of the capabilities of the modern piano.

Ferrucio Busoni, born in Italy of an Italian father and a German mother, displayed a passion for Bach at an early age. A prodigy who played some of his own compositions in a piano recital in Vienna when he was 10 years old, Busoni made an exhaustive study of Bach’s music and throughout his adult life worked tirelessly at editing and making transcriptions of works by the Baroque master. His philosophical notions of music and the advanced practices of composition that he applied to his own pieces seem now to be at odds with such a bravura, flamboyant piece of work as his transcription for piano of the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin. The transcription was made sometime in the late 1890s and was dedicated to the pianist Eugene d’Albert; Busoni himself played it frequently in his own blazingly brilliant recitals.

Lest it be thought that Busoni was being irreverent in appropriating the lofty Chaconne for showpiece purposes, one must remember that Brahms made a piano transcription of the selfsame piece, for left hand alone. Wheras Brahms imitates the original as closely as possible, Busoni ventures an arrangement that seems to be a piano realization of a grand orchestral or organ work rather than one for a single violin.In fact, the Chaconne, the final movement of the Partita, is monumental in its original version—a set of more than 60 variations on a simple bass theme. The great Bach scholar Philipp Spitta (1841-1894) gave a description of the Chaconne that might have quickened Busoni’s fascination with it. Wrote Spitta:

“The overpowering wealth of forms displays not only the most perfect knowledge of the technique of the violin, but also the most absolute mastery over an imagination the life of which no composer was ever endowed with… What scenes the small instrument opens to our view!… From the grave majesty of the beginning to the 32nd notes which rush up and down like very demons; from the tremulous arpeggios that hang almost motionless, like veiling clouds above a gloomy ravine, till a strong wind drives them to the tree tops, which groan and toss as they whirl their leaves into the air; to the devotional beauty of the movement in D major, where the evening sun sets in the peaceful valley. The spirit of the master urges the instrument to incredible utterances; at the end of the major section, it sounds like an organ, and sometimes a whole band of violins seems to be playing. [Busoni took this reference seriously.] The Chaconne is a triumph of spirit over matter such as even Bach never repeated in a more brilliant manner.”

The Fantasie in C, Op. 17, was written by Robert Schumann in 1836 and revised prior to publication in 1839, when it was dedicated to Franz Liszt. It is generally described as one of Schumann’s greatest works for solo piano, and is one of the central works of the early Romantic period.

Its three movements are headed:

1. Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen; Im Legenden-Ton 
2. Mäßig. Durchaus energisch –
3. Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten.
   The piece has its origin in early 1836, when Schumann composed a piece entitled Ruines expressing his distress at being parted from his beloved Clara Wieck (later to become his wife). This later became the first movement of the Fantasy.Later that year, he wrote two more movements to create a work intended as a contribution to the appeal for funds to erect a monument  to Beethoven  in his birthplace, Bonn . Schumann offered the work to the publisher Kirstner, suggesting that 100 presentation copies could be sold to raise money for the monument. Other contributions to the Beethoven monument fund included Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses
   The original title of Schumann’s work was “Obolen auf Beethovens Monument: Ruinen, Trophaen, Palmen, Grosse Sonate f.d. Piano f. Für Beethovens Denkmal”. Kirstner refused, and Schumann tried offering the piece to Haslinger in January 1837. When Haslinger also refused, he offered it to Breitkopf & Hartel in May 1837. The movements’ subtitles (Ruins, Trophies, Palms) became Ruins, Triumphal Arch, and Constellation, and were then removed altogether before Breitkopf & Härtel eventually issued the Fantasie in May 1839.
   The work was dedicated to Franz Liszt , who replied in a letter dated June 5, 1839: “The Fantaisie dedicated to me is a work of the highest kind – and I am really proud of the honour you have done me in dedicating to me so grand a composition. I mean, therefore, to work at it and penetrate it through and through, so as to make the utmost possible effect with it.”
   The Beethoven Monument was eventually completed, due mainly to the efforts of Liszt, who paid 2,666 thaler,the largest single contribution. It was unveiled in grand style in 1845, the attendees including Queem Victoria  and Prince Albert, and many other dignitaries and composers, but not Schumann, who was ill.
   Schumann prefaced the work with a quote from Friedich Schlegel :
   Durch alle Töne tönet
   Im bunten Erdentraum
   Ein leiser Ton gezogen
   Für den, der heimlich lauschet.
   (“Resounding through all the notes
   In the earth’s colorful dream
   There sounds a faint long-drawn note
   For the one who listens in secret.”)
   The musical quotation  of a phrase from Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte  in the coda of the first movement was not acknowledged by Schumann, and apparently was not spotted until 1910.The text of the passage quoted is: Accept then these songs [beloved, which I sang for you alone]. Both the Schlegel stanza and the Beethoven quotation are appropriate to Schumann’s current situation of separation from Clara Wieck. Schumann wrote to Clara: The first movement may well be the most passionate I have ever composed – a deep lament for you. They still had many tribulations to suffer before they finally married four years later.

The six Soirees musicales, Op. 6. Robert Schumann himself was appreciative enough of Clara’s romantic ”Notturno”, Op. 6 No. 2, (growing from the five falling-note motif so symbolic for both of them while forbidden all communication by Clara’s father) to quote it as the ”Stimme aus der Ferne” in his last Novellette.

Widmung is much more than a mere showpiece – containing probably the most passionate music writing and most heartfelt feelings. Written in 1840 (this piece was from a set of Lieder called Myrthen, Op.25), this piece was later arranged for piano solo by Liszt . Myrthen was dedicated to Clara Wieck  as a wedding gift, as he finally married Clara in September, despite the opposition from Clara’s father (who was also Robert’s piano teacher).

Below is the text of Widmung, with English translation:

Original Text by Friedrich Rückert

Du meine Seele, du mein Herz,

Du meine Wonn’, o du mein Schmerz,

Du meine Welt, in der ich lebe,

Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe,

O du mein Grab, in das hinab

Ich ewig meinen Kummer gab!

Du bist die Ruh, du bist der Frieden,

Du bist vom Himmel mir beschieden.

Dass du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert,

Dein Blick hat mich vor mir verklärt,

Du hebst mich liebend über mich,

Mein guter Geist, mein bess’res Ich!

You my soul, you my heart,

You my rapture, O you my pain,

You my world in which I live,

My heaven you, to which I aspire,

O you my grave, into which

My grief forever I’ve consigned!

You are repose, you are peace,

You are bestowed on me from heaven.

Your love for me gives me my worth,

Your eyes transfigure me in mine,

You raise me lovingly above myself,

Sherri Lun, named ‘2020 Performing Artist of the Year’ by the South China Morning Post, has garnered acclaim for her “pinpoint clarity and convincing bravura” (Chicago Tribune). Born in Hong Kong and currently based in London, Sherri has swiftly established herself as a rising soloist on the international stage. A Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, Sherri made her concerto debut at the Ravinia Festival with the Midwest Young Artists at just 10 years old. Since then, she has performed in prestigious venues including Wigmore Hall in London, Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and Millennium Park in Chicago. Her international appearances span the UK, US, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Malaysia, and China. Sherri has also collaborated with esteemed ensembles such as the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Hong Kong Youth Orchestra, and Kölner Kammerorchester. Recent performances include the Hammerklavier International Piano Series in Girona, the Festival Musicale delle Nazioni in Rome, a 4-concert Malaysian tour, recitals in Steinway Hall London and Drapers’ Hall. In December 2023, she released her debut album with KNS Classical, featuring works by Robert Schumann and César Franck. Sherri’s artistry has been recognized with top prizes in numerous national and international competitions. Most recently, she won First Prize and Audience Prize in the 2024 Birmingham International Piano Competition, following her First Prize win at the 2023 Hong Kong Generation Next Arts Competition. Sherri also won top prizes in the Robert Schumann Competition (Du¨sseldorf), Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, ASEAN International Chopin Piano Competition, Singapore International Piano Competition, and Steinway & Sons Youth Piano Competition, to name a few, and is a quarter-finalist of the 2024 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. At the Royal Academy, she won consecutively the 2022 Sterndale Bennett Prize, 2023 Chung Nung Lee Prize, and 2024 Harold Craxton Prize. She was also invited to perform in RAM’s 2022 Bicentenary celebration concert in Wigmore Hall. In Hong Kong, she is a frequent winner of local competitions, and her performance has been broadcasted by the Radio Television Hong Kong. Born in 2003, Sherri majored in piano and viola as a junior student of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She is currently studying under Prof. Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music on a full scholarship, supported by both the Academy and the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme. She is also an artist with KNS Classical and the Keyboard Charitable Trust. For more information, visit http://www.sherrilun.com.

Sherri Lun in Perivale ‘Maturity and mastery of intelligence and refined poetry’

The Strand Rising Stars Series – Sherri Lun The magic and artistry of a star shining brightly

Sherri Lun at St James’s Piccadilly Poetry and grandeur with crystalline clarity and impeccable musicianship

Sherri Lun at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust Mastery,passion and intelligence of twenty year old pianist.

Quite extraordinary playing of two masterworks for piano by Beethoven and Schubert. Not only superb playing but a very moving introduction from a young lady whose whole philosophy of life is in her music making. It was nice to be reminded of Alfred Brendel’s ‘bon mot’ of Beethoven being the architect and Schubert the sleep walker. In the entire recital there was not a single note that was out of place. It reminded me of Rosalyn Tureck saying she did not play wrong notes, meaning that every note had a place in a musical equation of a deeply thought out interpretation.

Here was an artist who had a whole orchestra in her hands, where even the simple bare notes of the Eroica theme were played with an extraordinary depth of sound. A beautiful fluidity to ‘a due’ and ‘a tre’ until springing to life in the ‘a quattro’ and finally the theme appearing in all its charm and simplicity.There was the beguiling charm of the first variation and the cascades of notes of the second which were more in effect moving harmonies as notes just disappeared in the hands of such a poetic artist. The rugged edges of the turbulent Beethoven of the third were answered by the meanderings of the fourth with the left hand played with gentle persuasion as the bare outlines of the theme were etched above. She brought a glowing beauty to the fifth with a beautiful mellifluous outpouring of refined sensibility.There was the dramatic entry of the sixth with it’s sinister bass notes and the spiky brilliance of the seventh.The elegance of the eighth bathed in pedal and played with simple beauty. The chiselled ragged brilliance of the ninth with its obstinate left hand eruptions was followed by the quixotic playfulness of the tenth before the exquisite charm of the eleventh. Each hand chasing each other in the twelfth with gymnastic precision and then the tongue in cheek insistence she brought to the acciaccaturas in the thirteenth.The searching contemplation of the fourteenth in the minor key before the extraordinarily poignant final variation in the major. An ornamentation of fervour and improvised freedom with a coda of great uncertainty searching for a way out, and finally drifting on a cloud to a final cadence, and the decisive entry of the fugue. Knotty twine played with remarkable clarity and architectural shape. And here the remarkable genius of Beethoven ( in some way similar to Bach’s Goldberg Variations) with the return of the theme played with disarming simplicity but that Beethoven decides to bring to a glorious conclusion of great exhilaration just as Busoni had mistakenly done with Bach’s genial creation!

There was a wonderful sense of legato and weight which gave nobility and poignancy to this outpouring of song that was to be Schubert’s last. I imagine she did not play the repeat in the first movement because of the time restriction with the live stream, because a musician of her stature would realise what a wonder are those few extra bars that take us back to the beginning. There was beauty of great solidity and intelligence with an extraordinary sense of balance with a glorious outpouring of deeply felt playing. The ‘Andante sostenuto’ with a melodic line played with disarming simplicity and searing intensity, an extraordinary legato where the embellishments were merely fragments adorning such poignant outpourings.There was great intensity and sublime beauty to the central chorale of almost Brahmsian richness, before dissolving into the disarming whispered simplicity of the ending played with extraordinary poise. She brought a pastoral simplicity to the ‘Scherzo’ and even the troublesome’Trio’ was played with a clarity of line that is rare indeed. The last movement revealed the whole of Schubert’s world, from the disarming simplicity of the ländler to the mellifluous outpouring of song and also a rare dynamic turbulence of urgency and demonstrative vigour.

As Dr Mather said we had been treated this afternoon to playing of extraordinary beauty and shown the real meaning of technical perfection. It is when the composer’s wishes can be turned into sounds without any circus tricks or gymnastics, just allowing the music to speak with humility, intelligence and poetic sensibility. This is what Elisabeth Tsai share with us today.

American pianist Elisabeth Tsai was born into a musical family and began playing the cello at the age of four, switching to the piano at age seven. Throughout her adolescent years, she garnered top awards in local and international competitions and received opportunities to perform throughout the United States, including appearances at Carnegie Hall and From the Top’s radio show. Her recent endeavours have been largely repertoire-based, with recitals programming the last three Beethoven sonatas and the last four Brahms opuses for solo piano. She was recently awarded the first prize ex aequo at the 2024 Brahms Piano Competition Detmold. 

Elisabeth received a bachelor’s from the Schwob School of Music and two master’s degrees from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Boris Berman and Boris Slutsky. She is currently studying with Ronan O’Hora as an artist diploma candidate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In addition to solo and concerto performances around the US, Germany, Italy, the UK and the Netherlands, she has played in masterclasses for artists such as Peter Serkin, Robert Levin, Christopher Elton, Paul Lewis, and Roberto Prosseda. An avid chamber musician, Elisabeth was a Fellow at the 2024 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and was invited to the Smithsonian Chamber Society in 2023 to perform Beethoven piano trios on historical instruments. 

Elisabeth is passionate about music education as well as performance. She previously held a Teaching Artist position at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven and taught at Through the Staff’s online music education program. 

Elena Vorotko co Artistic Director of the KT writes : ‘Bridget Yee, effervescence of youth with a heart of gold. From the first bright runs of the Bach Partita, through the mind-bending complexity of Gubaidulina’s Chaconne to the last luscious chords of the Rachmaninov Sonata, Bridget’s sweet nature, enthusiasm and passion for music shone through. All the pieces were her favourites and it showed – there was complete command of the material and the pleasure she took in shaping her musical sentences and voicing her textures brought delight to the audience too. The Bach had a balance of flexibility and pulse and an enviable crispness and lightness of finger work. Some of the lyrical movements spoke with moving fragility and genuine charm. The final Gigue was full of fireworks which was just a glimpse of treats to come! The following Chaconne by Gubaidulina was written in 1962 for Marina Mdiwani, winner of the first Tchaikovsky Competition and a student of Emil Gilels. The composer said that she tailored the piece to the pianist who was of lively temperament and could play amazing chords. The construction of the piece is very clever, as was expressed by Bridget in the discussion after the concert, the 23 note row is manipulated in many different ways, often made evident to a lay listener, while constructing a tremendous architecture of a marriage between a Chaconne and a Passacaglia. Bridget’s grasp of the musical ideas was astonishing as she took us through the narrative in one breath. But her true heart revealed itself in the first notes of the Rachmaninov Sonata, of which she is hoping to make her own version one day. The golden warmth of sound and the organic moulding of her phrasing took us to another realm. Tremendously virtuosic, her technique, always serving the music, created breathtaking moments of genuine beauty and power. This young lady, so full of enthusiasm for life, art, mountains and music has a lot of joy to give this world. We look forward to witnessing her flourish.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/18/bridget-yee-at-st-jamess-sussex-gardens-intellect-and-keyboard-command-of-breathtaking-audacity/

Point and Counterpoint 2024 A personal view by Christopher Axworthy

Some remarkable playing of great maturity from this twenty two year old pianist from the class of Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy in London. A class where above all musical values are the basis for a profound study of the score, taking for granted a mastery of the keyboard but explaining the style and the very meaning behind the notes. It is only from this beginning that the true meaning of technique can be understood and mastered. It is born from a wish to delve ever deeper into the score to find the meaning of the music when still wet on the page. It was exactly this that came across in all that Sherri played today.Two Fantasies,both representing the pinnacle of the Romantic piano repertoire, and a Chaconne not by Bach but by the 93 year old Sofija Gubaidulina written for the winner of the Tchaikovsky competition in 1962. The most notable thing about Sherri’s playing is the limpet type weight that her fingers have as they cling to the keys, never hitting them but sucking the sound out with an enviable concentration that denies any showmanship or eccentricities.This was a pianist who listens to every sound she was making with a mastery and intelligence that would be the envy of pianists twice her age!

Chopin’s Polonaise- Fantaisie is one of his last works,when he had found a unique form that united the Polish dance with the fantasy of a poetic genius. Sherri played it with aristocratic authority, where notes we have heard many times before now had a significance and meaning that demanded our attention. The opening imperious chords were allowed to vibrate over the entire keyboard with a single web of sound that are true reverberations of the soul. Sherri realised this and played the notes with one beautiful movement ( so often divided up between the hands to make it pianistically easier).It was her total identification with the music, where the beauty of the music was the same natural beauty of the shape of her hand and body. A sumptuous glowing sound as the Polonaise could be heard in the distance gradually advancing with the clarity of the knotty counterpoints that link the episodes together. Ornaments that sparkled like jewels and just showed Sherri’s mastery of the pedal and above all mastery of true legato. A poignant introduction to the central episode was played with timeless beauty and opened up to a chorale of ravishing depth of sound and control. Chopin’s counterpoints just adding to the beauty that was unfolding with a clarity that was never intrusive but just contributing to the magic that was being recreated. There was a beautifully judged build up to the heroic climax where she created the culmination of nobility and aristocratic control with breathtaking exhilaration, dying away to a mere whisper before the final bare A flat.

The Gubaidulina Chaconne opened with imperious authority of luminosity with a kaleidoscope of colours.There was a great clarity even with such a knotty web of sounds. Played with a transcendental mastery but always with an architectural shape that could reconcile the fervent outpourings with the actual overall shape of this extraordinary work. Astonishing mastery of non legato and legato and with the use of the pedal that even allowed for such clarity. Ending as it had begun with nobility and unashamed declamations of intensity and strength. Sherri had warned us in advance that this was a different sound world from Chopin and Schumann .It was a work that had touched her deeply and that she wanted to master and be able to share her enthusiasm with others, which she certainly did today with fearless courage and masterly authority.

The Fantasy op 17 is one of Schumann’s greatest works and is dedicated to Liszt and was Schumann’s contribution to the expense of a monument to Beethoven in Bonn. Liszt is famed for having sight read it with total mastery. The first performance I ever heard was the very first recital I went to of Artur Rubinstein in London, and it has remained in my heart ever since. I have since heard many pianists ,great and small, play it but rarely have I heard it played with such understanding or beauty as today. There was a wonderful opening with just a wash of sounds on which floated Schumann’s miraculous outpouring of love for his Clara. How often have we heard that first G played like a bomb going off instead of just creating a magic web of sound. Agosti often used to stop students when they started the fantasy in such a brutal way with a comment that it was as though Schumann had hit his beloved Clara over the head ! Sherri shaped the melodic line so beautifully but also with passion and a legato of real weight and refined beauty. There was a great sense of line in which Schumann’s chords were merely bystanders as it lead to the first big climax. Deep bass notes and a descending scale prepared us for the central ‘Im Legenden Ton’ that Sherri played with glowing simplicity.There was a beautiful stillness to the coda as her attention to detail and the very precise dynamic marks were interpreted with rare poetic beauty.

The March was played with restrained nobility that allowed her to shape it with maturity in what can seem a very repetitive movement if played full out from the very first notes. Schumann’s infamous dotted rhythms too, were shaped into phrases of beauty that conversed with the inner voices in such a beguiling way. A continual forward movement even in the graceful central episode. Sherri demonstrated a remarkable fearless control where music just poured from her hands and where technical hurdles no longer existed. The treacherous coda too was played with remarkable accuracy and passionate abandon with a dynamic drive that is of a chosen few. A long pause before the final movement allowing her hands to enter into the private domain of Robert and Clara with an outpouring of love and sensibility. Sherri played it with a subtle flexibility that was like a great improvisation where everything was allowed to sing. Even the chordal build up to the two climaxes was played with knowing beauty where the top notes were allowed to sing without ever allowing for a thicker texture. The ending was a beautiful outpouring of song as the melody passed from the soprano to the bass voice with an impeccable sense of balance. Even the crescendo. that Schumann marks, never overstepped the atmosphere that had been created but just added to the poetic intensity of one of the finest performances I have heard for many a year.

Sherri is also an inquisitive musician and her encore by Clara Schumann was the Nocturne op 6, that echoes the melody of Robert in the fantasy and was published in the same year . It was played with the same weight and aristocratic beauty as the fantasy with a sense of yearning that was a deep lament for Robert as his Fantasy had been for her .

The Strand Rising Stars Series – Sherri Lun The magic and artistry of a star shining brightly

Sherri Lun at St James’s Piccadilly Poetry and grandeur with crystalline clarity and impeccable musicianship

Sherri Lun at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust Mastery,passion and intelligence of twenty year old pianist.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sofia Gubaidulina on March 13, 2025, at her home near Hamburg.

Sofia Gubaidulina was regarded as the grande dame of contemporary music, the most significant Russian composer of our time, and a person whose deep faith was a constant source of inspiration. Her profound curiosity about the world, people, and spirituality left a lasting impression on all who met her and had the honor of collaborating with her.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4kIEehL

The Piano: Bach to BeBop is produced by Burnett Thompson https://www.PianoJazz.com https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2019/11/11/tea-for-two-leslie-howard-45th-wigmore-celebrations-and-burnett-thompson-the-age-of-mayhem/

01:22 Helen Ottaway Levantina

08:04 Franz Schubert Drei Klavierstücke D. 946

29:03 Jan Sibelius 6 Impromptus, opus 5

44:59 Aram Khachaturian Sonata I. Allegro vivace II. Andante tranquillo III. Allegro assai

It was nice to hear Iyad live from Washington yesterday, the last stop of his USA tour. Some years have passed since his student days in London when I was already very impressed by his intelligent well prepared programmes and the professional calm he was able to transmit from a very early age. He has long been an advocate of the works of Mozart of which he was already a remarkably mature interpreter but it was his brilliance and total dedication to Khachaturian that captured the imagination. Listening to Iyad today I was impressed not only with his professional stance with playing of authority but above all of the poetic colouring and imagination he brought to all he played. Sometimes old instruments can still have sounds hidden away inside them that even they no longer know they possess. Richter would often enjoy the discovery of an unknown instrument and the challenge to find the soul that was hidden to all but the musicians who were also magicians.

Already with the opening work by Helen Ottaway, although we could not hear the introduction, as a headless Iyad spoke out of range of camera and microphone. It was obvious that this was a work that uses the piano not as a percussive instrument but as the Pandora’s Box it can be in a true artist’s hands. A lot of it reminded me of the hypnotic repetitive sound world of Steve Reich, as there were magical sounds resonating through this ‘historic’ instrument with a mellifluous flow of flowering intensity.

Schubert’s Drei Klavierstücke are a true test of musicianship and poetic sensibility and Iyad opened the first with a joyous outpouring of great urgency on a journey to some distant paradise.The paradise that was waiting in the central episode that was allowed to sing in Iyad’s sensitive hands with beauty and simplicity. Magical arabesques just illuminating the mellifluous outpouring, gradually becoming more agitated as it regained the pace of the opening .The second movement was a simple ‘ländler’ that was deeply felt and played with aristocratic poise.The last movement had an infectious rhythmic drive and an almost Brahmsian richness to the central episode embellished by notes sparkling on high.The doubling of the tenor voice gave depth and added even more sumptuous beauty as the opening was just waiting to take wing and bring us with exultation and excitement to the end. A work that has been likened to a sonata such is the overall architectural shape which Iyad understood with simple mastery today.

A real voyage of discovery with Iyad’s programme today continuing with Six Impromptus op 5 by Sibelius. As Iyad pointed out, we think of this composer as a Symphonist but there is an even greater output of solo piano pieces that are completely overlooked .His orchestral output amounts to 77 works whereas for piano there are 115 out of a total number of compositions of 550 ! These six Impromptus are an early work written in 1893 ( Sibelius 1865- 1957) and are miniatures lasting only a few minutes each, with the exception of the 5th which is the most hauntingly beautiful of them all. Iyad played this 5th with cascades of magical arabesques of ravishing golden sounds almost Schumannesque in its expansive outpouring of romantic fervour.The first was intoned with sombre richness followed by the second which was a quixotic dance played with sparkling colours. The third too was a dance of infectious good humour and bucolic fantasy. The fourth a melody of melancholy and great solemnity.The last pointed in the direction of Scriabin with its melodic uncertainty searching for a star that was nowhere yet to be seen.

Khachaturian has long been in Iyad’s veins and he has already recorded the concertos and many of the solo piano works. Music that owes much to Ginastera and a little to Bartòk with its unashamed virtuosity and fast moving changes of character. Streams of notes just poured from Iyad’s hands with transcendental mastery but also a total self identification with a world of simple naked feelings. Not only was there virtuosity but in the slow movement there were sounds of a hypnotic fluidity of searing intensity. A final movement that showed off Iyad’s remarkable clarity and rhythmic mastery with not a little showmanship as the race was on to the exuberant excitement of the ending.

Jordanian-Palestinian concert pianist Iyad Sughayer, performing music of Schubert, Sibelius and Khachaturian in his first professional American tour. A prize-winner with the Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions, he was named London’s ClassicFM “Rising Star Artist”. Mr. Sughayer arrives in Washington, DC following critical acclaim for his recording with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, led by the renowned American conductor Andrew Litton. 

Mr. Sughayer’s recent calendar has included performances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, performances at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barber Institute Birmingham, and a series of recitals at the Leicester International Music Festival. Programs include the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas alongside newly commissioned pieces. 

Iyad has appeared with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players, Manchester Camerata, European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Cairo and Amman Symphony Orchestras. Iyad also regularly collaborates with oboist Armand Djikoloum, with whom he recently toured Scotland. 

In 2022 Iyad co-founded and launched a new specialist music school, the Mashrek Academy of Music, with the Mashrek International School in Amman. The Academy welcomes students from across Jordan, discovering and nurturing a new generation of creators and musicians. In 2020 he contributed to a BBC Arabic documentary ‘London Lockdown’, in which he took part as a character and recorded the soundtrack for the music. 

Born in Amman, Jordan, Iyad studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he won the College’s prestigious Gold Medal. He completed his International Artist Diploma at the RNCM in 2019 and in the same year became a City Music Foundation Artist. In 2021 he was made an Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music (ARNCM). 

Mr. Sughayer was selected by London’s Keyboard Trust for their career development program. Trust board members include Evgeny Kissin, Alfred Brendel, Leslie Howard and Antonio Pappano. 

 

 

Monday, March 10, 7:00 pm 
Decatur House Museum
748 Jackson Pl. NW 
Washington, DC 20006 
Info: Burnett@PianoJazz.com

JONATHAN FERRUCCI LIVE STREAM TO WASHINGTON FROM ST MARY’S

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/03/19/iyad-sughayer-coming-of-age-at-cranleigh-arts-centre/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/04/01/iyad-sughayer-at-st-marys-3rd-march-2020/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2018/11/09/iyad-sughayer-at-conway-hall-in-praise-of-peace/