More music at the National Liberal Club with Yisha Xue’s Asia circle presenting another sold out concert of young musicians.
A wind quintet from Imperial college brought delicacy beauty and style to a work that even the composer Mozart thought was one of the finest things he had penned. A beautiful sense of balance between Cherry Kwan oboe with Zhiming Wang ,horn, seated opposite Janice Chiu,bassoon and Bide Chen,clarinet coordinated with style and refined elegance by Justin Keung piano.
Ben Cummings brought seductive beauty and together with his duo partner Jiayi Liu excitement and considerable virtuosity to Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G minor .
Ben a young cellist studying with a Professor at the Royal College whilst actually completing his engineering studies at Imperial College!
The concert had started and finished with Chopin . What better composer could there be to ignite and ravish the senses on the wonderful Steinway concert grand that adorns the music room at the Liberal Club. Continuing a long tradition with an investment in beauty at the Liberal club since Rachmaninov himself gave his last concert in London brought by club member Benno Moiseiwitch , that much loved pianist whose best friend simply said he plays me well. https://youtu.be/iFobyhwznng?si=ZT51-I3CppWXU8ot
Artur Haftman opened the concert with one of Chopin’s most radiant waltzes op 34 n 1 .
An example of style and beauty with a jeux perlé that only the greatest Chopin players possess . I have known Artur for many years since he first came to London and took St James’s Piccadilly by storm with a lunchtime concert where he was called back to play encores until it was almost teatime ! He went on to graduate from the Royal College with Dmitri Alexeev and is now a distinguished pianist established with his wife in London masterminding the Young Musicians International Chopin Competition. As Rubinstein said talent cannot be taught but can be nurtured and allowed to flower as we saw tonight.
https://youtu.be/gex0sOR7XZ0?si=EpNj2_aCMh-OkKrq
The concert ended with a work with which the young Chopin on his arrival in Paris took the noble salons by storm .
The Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante was one of the works that inspired Schumann to declare ‘ Hats off a Genius ‘.
Helen Meng gave a ravishing performance full of subtle beauty and a kaleidoscope of bewitching sounds. A scintillating sense of style and a masterly command of the keyboard from a young artist recently graduated from the Royal Academy from the class of Joanna McGregor. Helen had also studied at the International Piano Academy Lake Como whose president is another lady pianist Martha Argerich .
She demonstrated that she is now ready to embark on a professional career that should take her music making far and wide with great success.
Of course every audience should be thanked with a little extra music and it was a piano duo from Imperial College who provided a seductive performance of Dvorak’s delicious Slavonic Dance in Eminor op 72 n 2
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 