Mese: aprile 2025

Sensational would be too little to describe what we have heard today. I was here when Vengerov made his London debut at the age of fourteen and we stood on the chairs and cheered in disbelief at the end of Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy just as they did with Horowitz . It must have been like that with Liszt and Paganini with an overwhelming mastery and commitment that has a hypnotic effect on anyone within range.Tonight though was different because not only was there a violinist who could lean back with sounds of sumptuous piercing beauty but there was also a pianist whose mastery and humility are conquering the world.

A potent combination that now in the interval I can contemplate what wonders I have just experienced. Grieg and Schumann sonatas played with overwhelming power and united burning intensity, combined with a poetic beauty of ravishing authority .To see Daniel on his 24th birthday lean back just as actors are told to do arching their back to appear even more imposing than they are in life ,but playing with the intensity of an Arrau, with real weight .Yes I know Arrau was a pianist but he more than any other knew what weight and intensity allied to interpretative mastery really meant. Kantarow with streams of notes just thrown off as if he too was playing a magnificent Strad. Such was their unity that the actual instruments became one glorious voice of a communicative mastery that reached every one of us in this sold out hall .The unified silence and tension was more palpable than I have ever felt with such intensity. in the concert hall. Now after the interval our two young heros arrive without the score because they have the music engraved in their being .The magic opening notes of the Franck played with a glowing luminosity answered by the whispered barely audible reply of the violin . A continual building of intensity until reaching an unbearable pitch of passionate dynamism that I have rarely experienced in the concert hall. Unbelievable virtuosity in the second movement that made the mellifluous outpourings such a relief, as we could feel this turbulent cauldron about to erupt again. And erupt it certainly did where suddenly Kantarow reduced the sound to prepare us for the breathtaking race to the final dramatic note. A recitativo played with audacious authority by both players but diffused with the simple ravishing beauty of the Allegretto. Chasing each other with pastoral ease until they caught up with each other and sparks really were ignited in a burning passionate outpouring of quite extraordinary potency.

Liebesleid was the only antidote for such youthful passionate mastery and with a twinkle in their eye they played with irresistible charm and with a sense of colour and refined phrasing truly of the age of Kreisler

After a confab at the keyboard where someone from the audience shouted out Happy Birthday and Kantarow looking incredulously at his partner as this was news to him! So Brahms it was, the Scherzo from the FAE sonata, played with sumptuous sounds but of kaleidoscopic insinuation and the devilish rhythmic motif chiselled out of the bass by Kantarow like a devil in disguise enticing his partner to even greater heights. And heights there were with a climax to beat all climaxes leaving these two lads to go off arm in arm discussing what heights they had achieved together and judging by the queue of people backstage I should think this should be some birthday party .

Alexandre Kantorow bestrides the Wigmore Hall like a Colossus.

Tuesday 1 April 2.00 pm 

Sonya Pigot (piano)

Haydn: Sonata in B minor no 47 Hob:XVI:32
Allegro / Minuet / Presto

Chopin: 2 Nocturnes 
Nocturne Op 9 no 1 in B flat minor
Nocturne Op 48 no 1 in C minor  

Liszt: ‘Lyon’ from Album D’un Voyageur S 156/1

Weber: “Invitation to the Dance” Op 65   

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody no 17 in D minor  

Some very intense music making from Sonya Pigot today, but what an interesting choice of repertoire. Fresh from playing in the semi finals of the Utrecht Liszt Competition. Every year Leslie Howard delves deep into the enormous amount of works by Liszt that are still lying on dusty shelves in the archives and makes them obligatory set pieces to all those that wish to participate. It was the two works by Liszt that particularly ignited the fantasy and dynamism of this young pianist who has so much passionate commitment to share. On occasion it is this desperate need to communicate that can lead to moments of uncertainty but it is a small price to pay for the ravishing sound and beauty that she can combine with moments of real inspiration.

The Haydn B minor sonata showed off her well oiled fingers with streams of jeux perlé runs and trills that were like tightly wound springs that just gave a glitter to Haydn’s impish civilised sense of humour. If the Minuet was rather slow it was because she felt it more of a beautiful song than a dance. The Presto finale,however, took wing with dynamic drive and great character and was played with great style where even Haydn’s final declamation was played with the civilised voice of its time.

The Chopin Nocturne ,his first, was played with great expression but lost some of Chopin’s aristocratic nobility to more earthy emotions of dramatic intensity. A beautiful sense of balance allowed her to play with ravishing sound of glowing beauty. The C minor Nocturne is one of Chopin’s longest and a tone poem of majestic proportions. Nobility and beauty combined in Sonya’s performance and although rather slow at the beginning it was played with sensitivity and beauty.The gradual build up to the climax was played with masterly control as the octaves were just underlining the musical line that explodes into shimmering vibrations on which the melodic line floats with golden beauty.

Weber’s invitation to the Dance I think I have in Tausig’s arrangement but I certainly know Schnabel’s most unexpected recording.Weber is a composer much overlooked but which both Gilels and Richter were great admirers and would play the second and third sonatas which are of great originality and beauty.I remember hearing Claudio Arrau,another great thinking musician, playing the Konzertstück at the Albert Hall together with Liszt Totentanz .He is a composer that could well do with a revival and is a cross between Beethoven and Schubert with Sonatas in four movements even. The Invitation to the dance was often included in programmes of the virtuosi of the Golden age of piano playing and was played by Sonya with great style and charm and she even managed to catch the audience out with the surprise whispered coda that Weber adds mischievously at the end.

The two Liszt works are new to me and they were very impressively played even though they seemed rather bombastic showpieces rather than the introspective genius of Liszt’s later works or the ravishing beauty of Liszt the seducer of his early years.However well worth hearing them at least once and hats off to Sonya for presenting them with such conviction and authority.

In January 2025 sonya was a semi-finalist in the Liszt Utrecht International piano competition at the TivoliVredenburg, Netherlands and her performing career has taken her world wide to prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, Steinway Hall, the Royal Albert hall and concert halls throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. While studying her Undergraduate, Masters and Artist Diploma Degrees at the Royal College of Music she has studied and worked with renowned professors that include; Norma Fisher, Sofya Gulyak, Ashley Wass, Dimitri Alexeev and Ian Jones. She is now on a scholarship studying a PhD that explores the relationship between personality and the interpretation of music at the RCM. 

As well as having performed for members of the British Royal Family, Sonya has won and taken part in many international music competitions across Australia and Europe; most notably the Busoni International piano competition, semi-finalist in Liszt Utrecht International piano competition, First prize in the Grand Prize Virtuoso International music competition, Gold Medal in the Berliner International Music competition, First prize in the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Award piano competition and First prize in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Rising Star competition. She is generously supported by the Talent Unlimited Charity and she is looking forward to performing at Steinway Hall, London as a “New Artist” for the Keyboard Charitable Trust. 

Sonya has had concert engagements with orchestras since she was 15, most notably the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Gill AO and the Perugia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marius Stravinsky in Tuscany. Sonya has performed for and been in masterclasses with many international artists, such as: Alfred Brendel, Boris Berman, John Perry, Ewa Pablocka and Pavel Gililov. Alongside her solo career she is looking forward to performing with the violinist David Nebel, Concertmaster of the Berlin Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the upcoming 25/26 season. 

Sonya Pigot a magic wonderland of sounds at St James’s Piccadilly