Surrounded by beauty in this most beautiful part of London that is Highgate, especially on the hottest day of the year.
The magnificent trees busting into flower and even Cherkassky, just a stones throw away down the hill, happy to sunbathe next to Karl Marx basking hand in hand in this continental sunshine .
One of the best kept secrets in these parts is the music making, on Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtime, in the beautiful St Michael’s Church seated on top of the hill surveilling all this beauty from on high.
But deep in the heart of this church’s soul today can be found the ravishingly beautiful music of Schubert
From the hands of Antonio Morabito and Katalin Csillagh the opening of the F minor Fantasy filled this vast edifice with one of the most sublime creations from a composer who was shortly to take his rightful place in heaven.
A very fine Steinway piano has even been provided ,allowing the superb musicianship of this duo to bring us a masterpiece in all its glory.
A quite extraordinary sense of balance , Antonio in the bass and with ‘noblesse oblige’ able to sustain ,but never overpower, the delicacy and ravishing beauty of one of Schubert’s most haunting melodies from Katalin’s delicate hands.
A dynamic drive and continuous flow allowed the music to unravel with simplicity and nobility. If the Scherzo was rather Beethovenian ,and one would get their legs in a twist if they tried to dance to that ,it was because it had grown out of a Largo of aristocratic nobility.
A monumental declaration of poignant nobility where,every so often , a ray of sunlight would appear allowing Schubert’s unending melodic invention to beguile and haunt us before bursting into the Scherzo. The final ‘fugato’ was played with remarkable control and a sense of line where these two artists played as one. The return of the opening theme after such tempestuous knotty twine is one of those moments of pure genius ( similar to the return of the the Aria in Bach’s Goldberg Variations). A magic that these two pianist were able to share with us, making this trip to Highgate one of the most memorable moments in a London where spring has taken on another meaning.
Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance in E minor was another of those haunting melodies that really reach the heart strings. Especially when the insinuating beguiling melody is imbued with a kaleidoscope of subtle shading from the hands of a Hungarian pianist where hot blooded gypsy emotions are part of their culture.
The A flat dance is new to me and was played with subtle sounds with a ‘joie de vivre’ of whispered well being, before taking flight with an insinuating charm and drive. Almost rearing out of control as Dvorak shows us what exuberance and exhilaration he can bring to music from his homeland.
Just half an hour of music where these two fine musicians had managed to captivate a small but very enthusiastic audience with music making of rare intelligence and sensitivity.
A quick swop over for a thank you to such an attentive audience allowed Antonio to be at the helm for a delicious ‘bon bon’ by Rachmaninov. A ‘Polka’ written for four hands which the composer had probably played with his friend Vladimir Horowitz!
And wizardry there was too,allowing us an exhilarating return to the world outside ,uplifted and ready for the beauty spring and of course the wonderful country pub that sits next to all Churches of any importance.
office@stmichaelshighgate.org
And now down the hill to tend Shura’s resting place that I promised his long term companion,Doreen Davis that I would continue to look after when the time would come that she too would join him ,together with with Schubert iand of course Marx, a place even more beautiful than the paradise that is Highgate today.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 