Some superb playing that we have had to wait five months to appreciate since Axel Trolese’s much awaited recital for the Pontine Festival was postponed due to an unexpected downpour in mid July!
A local lad from Aprilia found a full hall awaiting him in Latina ,the city that Mussolini founded, and is now in party mood for Christmas. A recently acquired Brodmann piano was in evidence today in this concert dedicated to Gianfranco Pitton who had done much to bring culture to his city. His wife was moved by the beautiful words of glowing appreciation that the Mayor expressed in her opening welcome presentation .
Axel I have known and admired for some time for his serious musicianship and impeccable preparation. He has been mentored by the great pianist, Louis Lortie, who even supervised his latest recording of Dante / Liszt together with another local lad from nearby Terracina, Luigi Carroccia.
A concert to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Ravel with the early ‘Rapsodie espagnole’ and finishing with the poignant reminder of the tragedy of the First World War. ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin’ was a reminder of the tragic annihilation of an entire generation and which Ravel dedicated to six of his friends who never returned from the war. The horrors of a war that he had experienced at first hand as an ambulance driver on the front line.
But Axel chose to start with the first of the important Sonatas by Beethoven where the composer had started his long journey in 32 steps to transform the Sonatas bequeathed to him by his teacher Papá Haydn into a true diary of his genial evolution.
Already in this second Sonata op 2 n.3 he is breaking away from his teacher with an Adagio of monumental proportions almost like a tone poem in its own right. With four substantial movements it was to be followed by op 7 and op 10.n.3 to make the break complete and establish, already, Beethoven’s extraordinarily individual genius.
Immediately from the first note Axel played with a dynamic rhythmic drive and a crystalline pianistic perfection that immediately held our undivided attention . He was able to transform this arresting opening into moments of refined beauty as Beethoven’s genial mellifluous invention would suddenly appear on the crest of this wave of energy. Like a ray of sunlight as the clouds cleared with moments of refined delicacy and exquisite phrasing . Axel never loosing the burning energy that was always present as an undercurrent driving the music forward .
An ‘Adagio’ of glowing radiance and poignant beauty where the rests became of such importance and spoke as eloquently as the notes. Dramatic contrasts in the central episode were played with nobility and a sumptuous palette of sounds from the barely whispered to aristocratic declamations.
A crystalline clarity to the ‘Scherzo’ that contrasted so well with the waves of notes of the ‘Trio’ before the whispered ending on the return of the scherzo.
An ‘Allegro assai’ that was full of pastoral charm and grace but also of scintillating brilliance and masterly control.
After a short break Axel brought us the magic world of Ravel. His enormous palette of sounds allowed him to paint Ravel’s pictures in sound with the precision and crystalline brilliance that was the very essence of his intricate mastery.
‘Rapsodie espagnole’ originally for two pianos lost nothing in Garban’s transcription for solo piano. A languid atmospheric sound world with hypnotic repetitions before outbursts of sumptuous rich sounds. Beguiling dance rhythms were played with poetic beauty as washes of sound spread over the entire keyboard with exhilaration and burning excitement.
‘Le Tombeau de Couperin’ are six short pieces crafted with clockwork precision and that found in Axel an ideal interpreter. His clarity and rhythmic brilliance were allied to a jewel like palette of sounds of a pointillist painter, where the multicoloured sounds united to create a musical canvas of ravishing undulating shades of refined beauty.
The opening Prélude was of such whispered intricacy that an unexpected missing note was easily accommodated by this brilliant young musician who continued to play with fleeting brilliance.
A whispered fugue where Axel’s masterly control could give such shape and musical significance without ever loosing the rhythmic drive or sacrificing the absolute clarity of this knotty twine. The ‘Forlane’ sprang to life like a ‘Jack in the box’ but with refined beauty and a beguiling dance rhythm of delicacy and nostalgia. The ‘Rigaudon’ burst onto the scene with dynamic drive and a capricious ‘joie de vivre’ but there was also the ravishing subtle beauty of the central episode floating over a moving bass with a jewel like moment of sublime melodic doubling before the final eruptions. He brought a simplicity and delicacy to the ‘Menuet’ with its whispered final vibrant chord . The final ‘Toccata’ was a ‘tour de force’ not only of transcendental piano playing , because this was only a means to express the musical content with poetic beauty alternating with overwhelming exhilaration. Greeted by a standing ovation from an unexpectedly full hall Axel offered an encore of the ‘Notturno’ by Ottorino Respighi whose name honours the Conservatory in Latina .
A very early work and one of his six pieces,written between 1903 and 1905, was played with shimmering beauty and the passionate commitment which had been the hallmark of this remarkable recital.
The president Elisa Cerocchi like her mother and father just a few years back is ever present to bring culture to this region aided by the indomitable Tiziana Cherubini. They were both glad to see a full house today despite the pre Christmas celebrations bursting out all around !
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 