A short extract of an exchange that Benedetto and I shared during the month of May, when there was an explosion of competitions in Brussels, Fort Worth, Vienna, not to mention the enormous amount of less clamorous events in Trapani, Grossetto, Val Tidona, Thalberg/Naples etc:
‘However, my reason for not going to competitions is even deeper….. ………… I think that we should always praise the incredible efforts that these young artists are doing, whether we like them at this stage of their lives or not… going to competitions like those ones is surely something different from playing a nice recital, and we should always keep this in mind, especially when commenting their performances. This is why I keep so private about this, it is very easy to be misunderstood.’ B.L.
‘What a wonderful person you are exactly my sentiments but of course you are a great pianist and are making a great sacrifice for the sake of young musicians who should be praised and honoured for the sacrifice they are making no matter how they play. C.A.
‘I do remember pretty well, my efforts and my feelings while being in those competitions… those kinds of feelings may make you either more compassionate or vice versa, from what I have seen until now in several competitions. On the other hand, it is true that sometimes judging is not so easy’ B.L.
The extraordinary class of Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has access to the complex of concert halls that make up the unique Parco della Musica. Benedetto is a remarkable performing musician with eclectic programmes and a discerning choice of concertos.He is indeed part of that elite group of musicians descendants of Liszt ,Czerny,Beethoven ,Haydn and Busoni where humility, honesty and integrity are hallmarks of interpreters not just entertainers.
Here in Rome are a remarkable group of pianists, united in every sense under the influence of Benedetto Lupo …………….many winners of important International Piano Competitions …..but realise that winning is an enviable achievement that may lead to momentary fame and even fortune, but is not necessarily the door to delving deep into the scores and finding treasures that are there only for the chosen totally dedicated few. The road of a true artist is hard to follow, but one that Benedetto, like the pied piper of ‘Hamelin’, is determined to tread and happy to allow anyone with the same dedication to follow.
This what I recently wrote about Alfred Brendel :
‘Alfred Brendel friend and admirer of Noretta Conci and John Leech,founders of the Keyboard Trust of which he was an esteemed trustee from the very first day of its creation.He was a pinnacle to which all those that believed in Music with a capital M would refer to for guidance and inspiration . From his very early recordings of Beethoven but also Balakirev Stravinsky and above all Liszt here was a musician of great musical integrity that one could trust. Together with Serkin and Pollini they were were an elite group of masters who could show generations what it means to be an interpreter of humility honesty and integrity . It is no coincidence that Pollini, Brendel and Michelangeli shared the same birthday Brendel will remain a beacon whose flame will illuminate and inspire musicians for generations to come.
Benedetto is also part of this elite group of great musicians as was Guido Agosti and Menehem Pressler. Benedetto writes: ‘ I will be forever grateful for his insights in a lot of repertoire, many of his recordings, especially the ones he did when he was younger, were truly exceptional… I remember that he was a good friend of Noretta’.
Due to a transport strike in Rome, as often happens on a Friday, I was only able to hear the two pianists of the morning session : Nicolas Giacomelli and Dmitri Malignan. Francesco Maria Navelli I was sorry to miss on this occasion but am happy to include my thoughts pre Benedetto Lupo! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/08/francesco-maria-navelli-a-star-shining-brightly-at-teatro-palladium-for-roma-3/
Dimitri Malignan I had heard a lot about from Lina Tufano the Artistic Director of The Young Artists Series at the Walton Foundation on Ischia, where he had played the same recital two weeks ago. By coincidence I had been there just the week after with Kasparas Mikužis invited on an annual invitation as one of the stars of the Keyboard Trust https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/06/15/kasparas-mikuzis-at-la-mortella-creating-magic-sounds-in-waltons-paradise-on-ischia/.
By coincidence Kasparas had played in a masterclass in Pinerolo with Benedetto Lupo a short while before.
‘ Kasparas has come this year to Pinerolo for my light course… a talented young pianist with a lot of potential and obviously a lot of work to do. Give him my best regards! He’s a very smart and nice person, sometimes I have been a bit harsh and demanding with him in Pinerolo, but it was just to have him reach an higher level of artistry.’
An eclectic musician, this young Parisian pianist chose a programme with a secret link between the works of Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. A trio that were indeed to suffer ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’. With the theme of the fourth of Robert’s Bunte Blätter being taken by Clara, first, and Brahms ,second, for a series of variations. The theme from the little Nocturne by Clara was incorporated into the last movement of Robert’s Fantasy op 17. Dimitri ended this carefully thought out programme with Robert’s masterly tone poem of the Novelette op 21 n. 8. There was remarkable beauty where the variations by both Clara and Brahms were played with beguiling mystery and poetic understanding. A beautiful jeux perlé where notes were turned into streams of magical sounds. There were passionate outbursts too especially in the Brahms but always with an architectural shape and masterly control. A stronger rhythmic propulsion from within especially in the more etherial variations would have made for a more varied palette of sounds. Brendel and Serkin showed us that the contrast of an almost brutal attack on the keyboard made the resolution even more unexpected and seductive. There was never a doubt of Dimitri’s technical mastery as was made abundantly clear from his astonishing performance of the two set pieces : ‘Fuoco’ and ‘Mirroring’ by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara.
Nicolas Giacomelli placing the two set pieces at the beginning and end of his programme that included Schumann Kreisleriana and Brahms Seven Fantasie’s op 116. Playing the two set works without the score with total commitment and remarkable poetic fantasy showing a real understanding for a world tainted by Ginasterian gymnastics but also beguilingly insinuating sounds. The Mozart Fantasy in D minor was a little too slow and deliberate for the improvisation that it obviously is.Played with great poise and beauty of sound adding some delicate embellishments tastefully but in my opinion unnecessarily .The cheeky one in the left hand almost had me smiling out loud – I loved it almost as much as he obviously did.
Many beautiful things in the Schumann but I found he had not judged the acoustic and a lot of the faster passages were played often too fast to allow any breathing and were rather hazy and indistinct. It was however exactly this orchestral use of the pedal that illuminated his Brahms which I have rarely heard played with such sumptuous rich sound and real Brahmsian drive. As I said to him afterwards ,as the lads were off to have a sandwich together , you made that Fazioli sound like a sumptuous Bosendorfer, which is no mean feat !
Two fine artists ready now to take their first steps on the long and arduous ladder that will bring them great artistic satisfaction, They have been shown the road for their search for a poetic Nirvana that they may never reach but will certainly glimpse ever nearer, as their communication with the public becomes ever more profound (In Buddhism, Nirvana (or Nibbana) is the ultimate goal, representing the end of suffering and the cycle of rebirth (samsara) . It signifies the extinguishing of greed, hatred, and ignorance, leading to liberation and a state of profound peace and freedom. Nirvana is not a place, but a state of being, often described as bliss, security, and unconditioned.
Martha Noguera the veteran 84 year old Argentinian pianist has just been on the jury on 21/24 May in Naples at Francesco Nicolosi’s Sigismund Thalberg International Piano Competition.This was followed by a recital in Warsaw and a performance of the two Chopin Piano concertos in the Opera House in Lodsz. Her festival Chopiniana in Buenos Aires is now in its tenth year.
Her last performance in Europe this year will be in Rome on the 26th June at the historic Tempietto https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/06/21/martha-noguera-in-rome-and-sorrento-the-authority-and-passionate-conviction-of-a-great-artist/
Einojuhani Rautavaara 9 October 1928 Helsinki Finland – 27 July 2016 ( aged 87) Notable works include Piano Concerto n. 1 Cantus Arcticus and Symphony n. 7 (Angel of Light) In the performance notes of his 1999 piece Autumn Gardens , Rautavaara writes, “I have often compared composing to gardening. In both processes, one observes and controls organic growth rather than constructing or assembling existing components and elements. I would also like to think that my compositions are rather like ‘English gardens’, freely growing and organic, as opposed to those that are pruned to geometric precision and severity.” He has also described that he would first pick the instrumentation of a piece, where the music could then “grow organically” as a concept.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 