Day two started for me with an interesting recital by Claudio Sanna with ‘Contemporary Sardinian Composers’
Followed by a recital in the room upstairs of another contestant for the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw who was being given a platform by Paolo Fazioli.
‘Ruben Micieli a poetic kapellmeister getting to the heart of Chopin’
Ruben plays with a great sense of style but being also a conductor he never gets lost and always there is a sense of architectural shape to his playing no matter how sensitively and stylistically he plays. Nowhere more was this evident than in the Waltz op 18 where you feel a real sense of theatre with a grace and beguilingly seductive charm. A lightness of Les Sylphydes where you could almost see the dancers enjoying every moment of this early Waltz with playing of such refreshing ‘joie de vivre’. The concert had begun with a ‘bang’, metaphorically speaking, because Ruben’s playing is all horizontal and with beautifully relaxed movements like birds just fluttering over the keys. So Chopin’s mighty Octave study was played as a true tone poem with the outer episodes played with clouded clarity. Octaves became waves of shifting harmonies before settling into a central episode where Chopin’s octaves become a glorious bel canto of ravishing beauty. Played with a whispered delicacy of great beauty where Ruben’s refined sense of phrasing was that of a singer where every note had an inflection and subtle meaning. A magical transition back to the more voracious octaves was one of the many magic moments where Ruben’s artistry held us spell bound.
The Second Ballade with its gently whispered opening and tumultuous interruptions all played under an umbrella of a sound world that united the work into an architectural whole. Ruben always thinking up from the bass that gave a sumptuous richness to this extraordinary work. After a very passionately driven coda the gentle opening returns in a stroke of Genius as Chopin’s magical journey comes full circle.
The Preludes op 28 from 19 to 24 include some of the most beautiful ‘problems (to quote Fou Ts’ong) that Chopin ever penned. The beautifully mellifluous E flat ,one of the technically most difficult as the continual leaps should give the impression of the magic of an Aeolian Harp ( as op 25 n. 1 without the leaps!). Played with mastery where the difficulties just disappeared as the music was allowed to flow with such natural beauty and shape. Ruben brought a remarkable control to the mighty C minor Prelude used by Busoni and Rachmaninov as the theme of a series of variations. A sound world that Ruben created without any hardness as one phrase melted into the other, until was left only a barely whispered outline where even the final chord, marked ‘forte’ was more of inner than outer meaning.The twenty first prelude was played with fantasy with exquisite ornaments as this is an artist who listens to himself and plays with impeccable style .His octaves in the twenty second prelude sang in the left hand as they rarely are allowed to do .Just growing out of the previous prelude with a magical legato that belied their technical proficiency. The twenty third was ‘au bord d’une sourse’ of exquisite timeless beauty. The final prelude showed us Ruben’s quite unique sound world of sumptuous sounds without ever becoming hard or ungrateful as the temperature rose. There were breathtaking moments of passionate involvement and sublime beauty where Ruben’s love for the sound world of the piano shone through all he touched .A Midas touch indeed!
The three posthumous studies written for the treatise that Fétis was preparing and are three jewels where the problems of rhythmic juxtaposition and difference of touch are wrapped up in works of wondrous beauty. Chopin on his deathbed had asked Alkan to complete it. A rubato of an elasticity that passed unnoticed as Ruben cast a spell over us in a world where technical problems just did not exist. The opening of the D flat staccato and legato was of such refined elegance ‘we could have danced all night’.
The third Scherzo began with mysterious menacing beauty opening out to a chorale where Ruben’s sense of line was quite unique . Magical embellishments just illuminated the sumptuous beauty of a chorale that was worthy of Chopin’s inspiration: J.S. Bach. Exhilaration and excitement but above all as I told Ing Fazioli :’ This young artist makes your piano sing as never before’ . An encore of a Mazurka op 24 n. 1 , that was a true dance of subtle colour and beguiling insinuation. Roberto Prosseda looking proudly on, as they had worked on these works of Chopin together over the past year . I remember Fou Ts’ong whenever he heard that Roberto was in his class was thrilled at the journey of discovery that they would share together.
In the meantime the adorable, indefatigable Valentina Lo Sordo had arrived for the presentation of the Cremona Awards 2025
At the same time Lucrezia Liberati was presenting a recital entitled ‘ ‘Respighi,Casella and Filidei: Sound Genealogies Between Memory and Modernity’. She was to play later too, at the awards ceremony performing a work by Francesco Filidei greeted with delight by the composer and the distinguished audience in the Auditorium G . Arvedi of the magnificent Museo del Violino https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/03/08/lucrezia-liberati-at-roma-3-virtuosity-and-freedom-in-the-name-of-music/
In the media lounge was the presentation of Luca Ciammarughi’s new book,’ Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.The Mystery of a Genius’ in a fascinating and very amusing conversation with the director of Amadeus, Filippo Michelangeli who had written the preface to the book and whose birthday he was celebrating today as well.
Followed, in an ever more crescendo of activity, by a concert of Virginia Rossetti entitled Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Vittorio Rieti : ‘A Shared Destiny ‘
A magnificent recital by Alessandro Stella and Marcos Madrigal presenting their new CD with four hand music by Ildebrando Pizzetti and Italo Montenezzi .
This was no ordinary recital but a lesson in how to play four hands with ravishing sounds and colours from two master musicians who listen to each other and play as one. Alessandro’s masterly pedalling gave the platform for the chiselled beauty of Marcos’s masterly hands . Creating atmospheres and colours that I have rarely heard from a piano before.
Two concerts at 3.30 saw me race from Stradivari to Zelioli Lanzini halls of Yamaha and Fazioli. The first with Alessio Santolini Raggi,a young man who with Francesca Antonucci had helped me find my way at one of the first Cremona Musica events a few years ago . From the class of Roberto Prosseda they have both become artists in their own right . I reviewed a superb recital Alessio gave in Rome and he is now completing his studies at UCLA ( Los Angeles University) with Inna Faliks.
Pianist and composer he was demonstrating today the Disklavier piano programme ‘ Diagram and Projection’
Francesca I was to admire the next day playing very sensitively Chopin’s Second Concerto and to see them both together going off to celebrate Francesca’s 21st . A fascinating talk and demonstration from Alessio who from a student is fast becoming a force to reckon with! A breath of fresh air to see such talent flowering so naturally https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/05/08/alessio-santolini-at-roma-3-the-fantasy-and-invention-of-a-composer-pianist/
In the Zelioli Lanzini Hall Leonora Armellini ( a top prize winner in the last Chopin Competition three years ago). An established much loved artist from Padua where her family reign magnificently.
She was presenting her new CD with the distinguished viola player Anna Serova : ‘ The Late Brahms’ choosing though to play an encore by Schumann from that curious trio made up of Robert ,Johannas and Clara ! Superb playing with the weight of supreme mastery enjoyed by a more than full hall not wanting their music making to stop. But Mr Amadeus is a stern and decisive policeman and being his birthday he had every right to call the tune!
I was able to listen to part of the recital by Jorge Juarez Alvarez with playing of Chopin ( that I recognised) and of Giulio Ricordi and Manuel Ponce ( that was unknown to me).
Some very persuasive performances of great beauty illuminated this delightful salon music from another age. Music of simple beauty with the ease of teasing melodies and embellishments of the ‘Victorian’ era .
The final concert of a long but very enjoyable day was presented by Ruben Marza who had to rush to deal with the torrential rain that was creating some problems in another part of the Exhibition Centre. Rogliano’s masterly playing spoke so much louder than his exhaustive introduction. Music has the power to speak louder than words when played with the mastery of Marco Rogliano.
‘Music made in Italy’ was the title of the Gala Evening in the Museo del Violino. An award’s ceremony and concert with the special Cremona Music Awards being given to Rosa Feola, Francesco Filidei and Franco Scala.
These are the things that dreams are made of in Cremona, the city where dreams become reality!
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 