A warm welcome as always from Glenn Kesby and every seat in the house taken including the upstairs salon bar and terrace.All there to hear a young man who is fast making a name for himself.
I have heard Misha Kaploukhii over the past four years when as a ‘fresher’ his teacher Ian Jones invited me to hear his student playing Rachmaninov First concerto in Cadogan Hall.
I have since heard his Rachmaninov 3rd and 4th concerti as well as Liszt and Chopin second and even Brahms 2 played on Myra Hess’s prize Steinway on which she herself worked on this ‘ little concerto with an even smaller scherzo’ . Her recording of it with Bruno Walter is one of the monuments of recorded history.
Misha has been invited to play it at the Royal College next season as top prize winner of the annual concerto competition .
But Misha is not a competition animal he does not wish to do comparative performances, his music making is judged by his ability to communicate directly with the public.
His playing over these past years has gained in authority and he has built up a large repertoire which is the baggage that he will share far and wide with audiences that are waiting for that special atmosphere that only live music making can provide .
Choosing two of the most challenging works in the repertoire for a short evening recital for the Hattori Foundation which since 1992 have taken up residence in the little cottage that used to be the headmasters residence and is now an oasis of peace and charm next to the busiest railway station in the world!
Lit by candlelight, extraordinarily convincing fake candies so as not to dirty the exquisite decor, there was nothing fake about what we heard today.
‘Davidsbündler’, Schumann’s 18 dances are the stuff that dreams are made of and are the sum of Schumann’s poetic inspiration for the piano.
An early work in which the simple beauty and with Eusebius’s still joyful sparring partner Florestan kept in a golden cage of some of the most sublime music ever written for the piano .
Schumann was no showman as was Liszt whose Norma Fantasy worked its spell today as the partner in crime .
Octaves and naked emotions as innovative three handed piano writing built to an emotional climax made of impossible counterpoints in a diabolical duet which was silenced only by massive octaves and breathtaking pyrotechnics .
Schumann on the other hand works a different spell and his work finishes with a disarming waltz where ‘quite superfluously Eusebius remarked as follows : but all the time great bliss spoke from his eyes’ and with the whispered chime of midnight disappears into a world of dreams .
It is pure magic and it closes a performance of refined beauty and passionate conviction. A sense of style with a musician who could shape Schumann’s magical world without ever breaking the spell . An architectural journey as well as a spiritual one where Misha led us through a myriad of emotions with a kaleidoscope of sounds and a technical perfection that quite rightly passed unnoticed .
His pianistic mastery is at the service of the master of which he is merely the servant .’Je sens, je joue , je trasmets.’ could indeed be the motto for a performance of such poetic beauty.
The core of the work must surely be the 14th dance ‘tenderly and singing’ that Misha played with the freedom of a singer such was the seamless freedom of inspired beauty . Brahmsian passion too ‘wild and Lustig ‘ bursting into a chorale worthy of an Academic overture and played with that sumptuous rich sound that made Stokowski’s Philadelphia the favourite of Rachmaninov .
Misha never hits the keys so there are never any unexpected hard edges to break a poetic spell that takes us from dawn to dusk on a journey where a box of gleaming jewels are allowed to glisten and glow with the radiant beauty of a supreme stylist.
A performance as Mitsuko Uchida would claim which will remain in the memory and will never fade with time as recordings do, but become ever more beautiful as time passes .
It was interesting to note that our ‘master of ceremonies’, unknown to any but the spies was following the score during the performance on the staircase leading to the upstairs salon.
The 1901 club is that sort of place born of genuine love and passion where quality rather than quantity still can reign .
One could list the places visited by Misha from the gentle refined banter of F and E at the opening with a remarkable jeux perlé of subtle pedalling followed by the purity and simplicity of Eusebius . The clumsy antics of Florestan where the colouring of the coda was played with extraordinary pianistic finesse . The impatient passion of Florestan thinking of the sunny days ahead was gently wrapped over the knuckles by the beguiling reminder of refined beauty of Eusebius . There was remarkable pianistic control to the sixth with its quiet rumbling ruminations and complex syncopations bursting into joyous glee with the coda . But it was the very great feeling of Eusebius that created a stillness and magic in Mishas sensitive hands . Florestan’s mighty Ballade ignited Mishas youthful passion with playing of fervent conviction and a masterly use of the pedal . What skittish charm he just flicked off the notes in the 12th dance playing with remarkable ease and precision . There was great romantic sweep to the fifteenth where Misha united the two sparring partners in a ravishing outpouring of wondrous sounds.
Good humour miraculously turning into one of the most remarkable pages in all piano literature where Schumann can float a dream in thin air, catching beauty as it came to earth as if by chance, and allowing its prismatic beauty to captivate our souls ( Ravel comes close with the epilogue of his Waltzes ).
The Norma Fantasy followed some preludes by a Ukrainian composer which cleared the air like a sorbet in a sumptuous feast.
Played with conviction and simple beauty obviously influenced by Schumann and Liszt with suggestions of Funerailles and the F sharp romance embedded in their structure
But it was more than that as Misha always carries in his heart the tragic conflict that Putin in waging in his homeland .
True artistry is born of human experiences not only of joy and beauty but also of tragedy and suffering and Misha is a true artist and fast becoming a great pianist ready to take his artistry to many corners of the globe in the hope that music can reach peoples where words very often only create conflict and misunderstanding .
The Norma Fantasy is one of the great paraphrases that Liszt wrote for his own performances as the greatest pianist on earth . Seducing the noble ladies of the great salons with diabolical piano playing inspired by that devil of the violin : Paganini . Sedate ladies transformed into a screaming rabble of admirers wanting a souvenir of someone who could ignite sensations they did not know existed .
It is a showpiece of transcendental technical difficulty and where the invention of the pedal could allow for the so called three handed technique to float melodies from the great operatic hits of the day in the tenor register, with notes flying all around in an astonishing manner. Liszt also corrects the running order of Bellini and even connects the two main themes in a final diabolical duet that is breathtaking and overwhelming.
Misha played it with fearless abandon and technical mastery and Norma worked it’s spell on an audience that wanted even more from this daring young man on the flying trapeze.
A sombre Choral prelude by Brahms calmed the atmosphere with sublime sounds of richly embroidered beauty .
The only thing left to do was to go upstairs to meet this talented young man and drink to his health and his future illustrious career that awaits just around the corner.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 