Autore: ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

I had heard Piotr a year or so ago in the POSK annual Chopin Festival in London. It was on that occasion that I remember he wanted to explain to the pubic about the tradition of pianists of the past who used to improvise between pieces, taking us on a gentle transition to the different keys of each piece, something he went on to demonstrate in his recital. I then followed his playing in the Chopin competition in Warsaw where his stylish playing and evident love for music was much admired by a vast audience via their superb live streaming. It is easy to see why he was such an audience favourite because he exudes a sense of enjoyment in sharing his love for music and quite considerable scholarship. Judging by the comments during the live stream from Perivale today and an unusually full hall, he has a considerable following of admirers. It is playing of a crystalline clarity together with a natural way of playing that is like someone riding on a wave of sounds. A natural way of embracing the keys that allows him to produce a kaleidoscope of sounds that makes the music speak and brings all he plays vividly to life. It was Rubinstein who said you should only play music that you love and that speaks to you and it was his love for all the works on his programme that shone through his charming introductions, as it did with his music making that spoke even more eloquently ! https://youtu.be/gex0sOR7XZ0?si=_JaaqQqegHOeP4bT.

I remember discovering as a schoolboy Chopin’s ‘ Krakowiak’. It was a recording of Stefan Askenase and I found it so magical that I even bought the facsimile of the original in Chopin’s own hand. It was in the original version for piano and orchestra that I have never seen or heard of being played in public because being only fourteen minutes long it is hard to know how to programme it in orchestral concerts. It is nice to know that Chopin made this arrangement for solo piano and maybe it was with this that he astonished the public, whilst still a teenager, just before leaving Poland for good and taking up residence in Paris where he certainly made a mark. His ‘La ci darem’ variations, written for piano and orchestra and piano alone, were received by Robert Schumann with ‘Hats off,Gentlemen, a genius!’ A beautifully shaped and atmospheric introduction that suddenly sprang to life with brilliance and clarity. A cadenza taking us to a dance – Krakowiak – of irresistible style and with interludes that were washes of notes over the entire keyboard.They were played with brilliance and the jeux perlé that Chopin would have astonished his audiences with. Refined virtuosity with the Polish dance rhythms always present even in the maze of notes that poured from Piotr’s hands with flowing ease.

Today was Mozart’s birthday so it was as a fitting tribute that Piotr included his D minor Fantasie. As he explained Mozart had not actually finished the work and the final bars were in someone else’s hand. No matter, because Piotr is a master musician and when he got to that point he would improvise an ending that was less abrupt. There was a serenity to the opening spread out chords, the melody after this atmospheric opening played with simplicity and crystalline clarity. Beautifully shaped with great character and a palette of subtle colours, adding occasional embellishments always in good taste, being careful not to overload this simple melodic outline. Instead of the usual ending, written by an unknown hand, Piotr improvised an ending, as surely Mozart would have done, bringing back the opening themes in a poignant improvised farewell.

César Franck growing out of the Mozart quite simply, without any improvised interim modulations, as this too was played with a freedom but always within a strict architectural framework. It is a work that can sometimes sound fragmented, but Piotr managed to match the differing sounds of the etherial opening with the more earthbound chordal comments, in a way that one seemed to be a natural reply to the other. The meandering counterpoints ,that followed, shadowing each other and were played with clarity but also very expressive with an anguished feeling of impending mystery. His beautiful natural movements allowed the chorale to unfold with serenity and respectful beauty. It was in the same way that Chopin had described ‘tempo rubato’ to his pupils with roots firmly planted in the bass but with the branches free to flow freely above. There was always a musicianly sense of line and architectural shape as the volume almost imperceptibly increased in fervour as the music moved with a sense of improvised discovery towards the simple clarity of the Fugue. Unusually beautifully phrased as it built to a climax that was played with passion and sumptuous full sound, with a mounting tension unleashed by Piotr with almost total abandon. Suddenly a maze of notes unwound but always anchored to the insistent repeated bass notes, as the tension was released and the main theme of the ‘Prelude’ was allowed to float on this wave of mellifluous sounds. Gradually all three themes were miraculously united and incorporated into an exhilarating climax with the fervour of a true believer. If the ending was rather impetuous it was because the exhilaration and excitement that Piotr had generated almost risked to become out of control, adding a frisson of even more excitement to one of the finest performances that Dr Mather has ever heard in Perivale.

The final two works of the concert of were by Chopin and I had heard them both from Warsaw during the competition.There was an unusual clarity to the meandering unwinding ‘Prelude’ that Chopin was to pen towards the end of his life. A series of undulating modulations on which is revealed a melodic line very similar to Franck’s Chorale. I am used to hearing this work played rather faster by Vlado Perlemuter, and with a more luxuriant use of pedal, but Piotr revealed the timeless beauty of this extraordinary work where even the final cadenza was merely a shifting maze of chordal harmonies moving towards the final velvet clad chords.

It was the same intelligence and informed musicianship that brought the first movement of Chopin’s Third Piano Concerto vividly to life, as I have only heard before from the hands of Arrau. The ‘Allegro de Concert’ op 46 is a notoriously difficult work to bring into the concert hall, not only for its technical difficulties with much Schubertian awkwardness ,pianistically speaking, but also to join them together into a whole where there is an obvious orchestral and soloist nature to the work. Where there is a will there is always a way, though, and love will always out. Piotr’s love for this work shone through a performance which was united under and umbrella of refined glowing beauty and sumptuous richness. Streams of notes were shaped into gleaming jewels of brilliance and at times of poignant significance .The final climax and exhilarating octave ending were played with aristocratic nobility and mastery.

Of course after such beautiful performances the ‘Perivalian’s’ or are they the ‘St Maryites’ were craving for more before allowing him to catch the plane back to Gdansk. Piotr with his ebullient ‘joie de vivre’ was more than happy to play some more. This time though the audience had to work as well, as he asked them to sing him a traditional English melody on which he could improvise a work of thanks to them. ‘Greensleeves’ was heard on an undercurrent of united song and it was this that Piotr with the mastery of a true kapellmeister transformed into a tone poem of intricate beauty and exhilaration. I bet Dr Mather already has a date fixed in his diary for a return match with this charming young master!

Piotr Pawlak is one of the most versatile Polish pianists of the young generation. He is the winner of many international competitions, including the V Maj Lind International Piano Competition in Helsinki (2022) and the XI International Chopin Piano Competition in Darmstadt (2017), laureate of Chopin Competitions in Beijing (2016), Budapest (2018) and Cracow (2019), the International Competition of Polish Music in Rzeszów (2019), the International Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz (2022) and the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw (2023). 

He regularly performs concerts worldwide, having appeared at numerous musical events in most European countries, as well as in the United States, China and Japan. He has performed at prestigious venues such as the Sankt Petersburg Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmonic, Sala Verdi in Milan and Teatro alla Scala, and has participated in renowned festivals such as „Kissinger Sommer” in Bad Kissingen and „Chopin and his Europe” in Warsaw. 

In the 2024/2025 season, he was performing in Canada, Japan, Venezuela, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary and Poland, cooperating with e.g. Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Baltica. 

Piotr Pawlak began his musical education on the piano at the age of six in Feliks Nowowiejski Music School in Gdansk with Ewa Wlodarczyk, and then he continued to study with Waldemar Wojtal until the end of his studies in 2021. He also graduated music school finishing in organ studies, under the tutorship of Hanna Dys, and he studied conducting in The Stanislaw Moniuszko Music Academy in Gdansk with Zygmunt Rychert. From 2024 he is also a student of the prestigious International Piano Academy Lake Como. 

Piotr Pawlak is dedicated to reviving improvisation in the classical music world. He draws inspiration from historically informed performance practices, incorporating elements such as improvised cadenzas in Mozart’s piano concertos. 

POSK Chopin Festival 2024 Mak – Dubiel-Pawlak- Swigut A feast of music and full immersion with Lady Rose Cholmondeley and Prof John Rink

Presentation of the concert season 2026 in Foligno by the artistic director Marco Scolastra with the participation of Peter Paul Kainrath and 2025 Busoni winner Yifan Wu.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/10/24/marco-scolastra-at-the-goethe-institute-a-voyage-of-discovery-from-clementi-to-rossini/

Marco in describing all the wonders he will be bringing to his home town this season wanted us to remember the much missed Elio Pandolfi on the centenary of his birth.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/12/30/elio-pandolfi-a-tribute/

There has been a long tradition of inviting Busoni winners to Foligno.It was here that I first heard Michail Lifits ,Busoni winner in 2008 who is now not only a concert pianist but a revered Professor at the Liszt Academy in Weimar. This year not only Yifan Wu has been invited but also Lilya Silberstein,Busoni winner in 1987 continuing the tradition of Guido Agosti at the Chigiana Academy in Siena. She will play in duo with Kainrath’s remarkable violinist son. .https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/08/28/julian-kainrath-rides-high-on-the-wings-of-ulisse-some-enchanted-evening/

There will also be a concert of L’Handpan with Daniele Rebaudo who was persuaded to demonstrate this extraordinary instrument to us.

Dott Kainrath, since 2021 is President of the World Federation of International Music Competitions and since 2007 artistic director of the Busoni Competition in Bolzano .

He gave a fascinating talk about the new way we should be listening and conceiving music especially in relation to the 2025 winner of Busoni . Lucas Debargue and Sergio Tiempo, both jury members in 2025 , have created a new movement of ‘freedom in music’ harking back to the pianists of the turn of last century who would make use of improvisation on a journey of discovery of sounds., https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/05/06/lucas-debargue-at-the-wigmore-hall-to-be-or-not-to-be/

They were musicians who were above all magicians and Kainrath made a very persuasive case to make music making more in the style of a ‘kapellmeister’ than ‘school master.’

Many of the composers were also master improvisers who wrote the music down only after it had been conceived at the keyboard.

It is an interesting path to rediscover after Pollini, Agosti, Rubinstein, Arrau, Serkin and Perahia (including in another sphere Riccardo Muti) had broken away from this freedom of tradition and taught us that our duty as interpreters was to start with a scrupulous attention to what the composer wrote. As Kainrath wisely said why can’t we combine both worlds and embrace new cultures and way of thinking?

‘Je sens, je joue, je transmet’ was the title of an article in Le Monde de la Musique dedicated to Cherkassky who would often say to me that he did not think the young pianists actually listened to themselves anymore .

In preparing us to listen to Yifan Wu he explained that we should open our ears and embrace many cultures not in a traditional way but with the idea of re discovery.

And so it was that this twenty year old Chinese pianist took the stage to demonstrate what Kainrath had explained in words .

Beautiful improvisations between the works prepared our ears to listen afresh to Scarlatti and Schumann Sonatas . Musings on Beethoven 4 or Schumann songs. Adding great bass notes and a luxuriant use of the pedal to open up this black box of hammers and strings and persuade us that it could really sing with the voice of a Caballé or roar with the sumptuous sounds of Stokowski’s Philadelphia . I have never been aware that a magnificent Fazioli piano could open up to reveal a Pandora’s box of glistening jewels. Although the baroque specialist would flinch at the highly romanticised Scarlatti ( the once famous re workings of Tausig have long been banished from the concert hall and were last heard in the hands of Cherkassky.) Not Horowitz though whose studio recordings of Scarlatti found the ideal between style and colour as Argerich does today . But then Horowitz was a unique genius, master musician as well as a master magician as is today Martha Argerich, winner in 1957 of Busoni as a teenager now in her 85th year! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/13/all-the-fun-of-the-circus-the-busoni-competition/

Robert Levin the absolute authority on classical style is surprisingly free and a master improviser showing us that we should not be too rigid in our interpretations of the classics. When they were written there was a great liberty and freedom left to the interpreter with improvised ornamentation, Bach even wrote out a table of ornaments that could be used in his works.

It is a difficult path to follow but as Kainrath says more of us should have the courage to climb onto the high wire and risk falling off, but in any case bring more excitement and vibrancy to interpretations that are in many ways becoming rather standardised. The risk is to become more of an entertainer than an interpreter! It is a very fine line to cross. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/09/02/and-then-there-were-three-the-busoni-competition-the-final-part-1-and-2/

The shorter pieces were beautiful bijou’s played with subtle refined sounds of whispered beauty. It is in the larger works that sacrificing the architectural line and the construction from the bass upwards is one of the hardest tricks for any magician to resolve . The beauty and colour of the young pianist in Schumann’s Sonata op 11 were remarkable but I hope that with the help of Stanisłav Ioudentich in Madrid Yifan Wu will discover how to put all the glistening bricks together to create the great Gothic Cathedrals of which we interpreters are mere servants and master craftsmen. Interpreters have long been trying to piece all the bricks together and bring to life the music of others with the ink still wet on the page https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/09/04/busoni-international-piano-competition-2021/

An encore played with the score (sic) of a Scarlatti sonata did in fact produce the most satisfying performance of this short recital .

Yifan Wu is a courageous adventurer and we wish him luck as he searches for the road to El Dorado. He is well on his way as he proved today.

Mikhail Pletnev in Rome – the return of De Pachmann – Fake,fool or genius?

Alessio Tonelli playing in Viterbo as a top prize winner of the Recondite Armonie Competition in his home town of Grosseto and chosen by Vitaly Pisarenko to play in the prestigious concert season of Tuscia University . The 21st anniversary season created and organised every year by Prof Franco Ricci who was the first to applaud the mastery and musicianship of this young musician from the class of Giuliano Schiano, Hector Luis Moreno and Daniel Rivera . Now perfecting his studies with Mariangela Vacatello who was on the jury this week of the Utrecht Liszt Competition which Vitaly Pisarenko had won in 2008 and Mariangela was a top prize winner in 1999.

It was obvious from the very first notes of Beethoven’s Sonata op 109 that here was a young man with an impeccable musical pedigree . A young artist who delves deeply into the score paying scrupulous attention to the composer’s very precise indications . But this was only the start of a musical journey of a young artist who listens to himself and produces a range of sounds of great beauty. Whether the sumptuous rich sounds of Liszt or the delicacy of Beethoven this is a young man who loves the piano and is not capable of making ugly or ungrateful sounds at the expense of the composer of which he is a devoted servant .

Beethoven op 109, the first of the trilogy of the last of the composers cycle of thirty two sonatas, was played with sensitivity and intelligence.The ‘Vivace ,ma non troppo’ movement opened on a wave of sound that was to take us on this final journey. It is where Beethoven at last finds peace and consolation as in his isolation after a turbulent life he can only experience sounds with his inner ear. The miracle of course is that Beethoven could write these sounds down for posterity, that were only in his head, as he was totally deaf at this point . Alessio with scrupulous musicianship was able to transform these indication into sounds of mellifluous beauty.

The opening ( see above the original manuscript) was like a long improvisation only interrupted by ‘recitativi’ of poignant significance. The second movement ‘Prestissimo’ was played with the dynamic drive that is indicated but there was also beauty of sound and a clarity no matter the technical hurdles he surmounted with ease. Alessio also brought a sense of struggle that is implied behind the notes and which was a complete contrast to what was to follow. The ‘Theme and Variations’ that make up the last movement were played with aristocratic poise and a maturity where this young man could allow the music to pour simply from his fingers without any unnecessary rhetoric or fussy unwanted interventions. The clarity of the ‘Allegro’ third variation was transformed into a web of meandering sounds searching for a way forward. It was here that Alessio brought a beautiful flowing shape to his playing finishing on high before the dynamic drive of the fifth variation. Played with great clarity as Beethoven’s intricate counterpoints take us to the dismantled theme. A theme that Alessio transformed on magic waves of sound gradually finding the melodic line with playing of technical authority and masterly control. Alessio allowed this wave of sounds to unwind so naturally that the theme was literally reborn with an inner intensity and delicacy. This was a masterly mature reading and hats off to Alessio’s mentors for showing him the path of a true interpreter putting his considerable technical baggage at the service of the composer.

Brahms early Scherzo op 4 was played with great rhythmic clarity and a kaleidoscope of sounds from whispered insinuating impulses to sumptuous exciting symphonic sounds. A whimsical first episode was given great character and the second that followed was beautifully phrased with passionate virtuosity. This was the work in-between the three Sonatas of Brahms of op 1 op 2 and op 5 , that Schumann was to call ‘veiled symphonies’.It was just this symphonic sense of colour that Alessio brought to this Scherzo that has for a long time been eclipsed by it’s more imposing brothers!

It was in Chopin that Alessio’s simple and beautiful musicianship allowed this most ‘pastoral’ of Chopin’s four ballades to flow so naturally. Always supported by the bass that gave great solidity to the beautiful variations that he could float with great style above. It was Chopin that described to his pupils that music like a tree should have its roots firmly planted in the ground but the branches above allowed freedom to move naturally. Alessio playing with an aristocratic style of timeless beauty but also showing considerable technical assurance with the sumptuous full sonorities of the first great climax. There followed a menacing crescendo that Alessio played with remarkable control arriving at the final glorious outpouring of passionate intensity and glowing brilliance.

Liszt’s imposing ‘Dante Sonata’ was where all Alessio’s remarkable qualities were put at the disposal of Liszt’s extraordinary vision. It was the work of Dante that was to touch Liszt so deeply whilst on his travels with Marie d’Agoult in Switzerland and Italy .There are a multitude of emotions in a work that is a true tone poem full of passionate outbursts of heartrending intensity. Alessio showed a scrupulous attention to the composers indications where there was no empty rhetoric or mere showmanship but a story that unfolded with extraordinary emotional clarity and meaning. Alessio brought sumptuous full sounds and a remarkable technical control to the demands that the composer imposes. But there was also a great architectural line that bound this mighty work together into a unified whole. The central episode was played with delicacy and whispered beauty but always with the melodic line projected into the hall with glowing beauty. A ‘tour de force’ with playing of great authority and a technical mastery that even the treacherous final leaps were incorporated into a musical conversation and not just hurdles to be surmounted as is often the case with lesser artists.

A larger audience today than I have seen before, despite the bad weather, and who were happy to give an ovation to this young artist now perfecting his studies at Perugia Conservatory.

Alessio responded with the last of Chopin’s 24 Studies – the so called ‘Ocean’ study op 25 n.12 that he played with flowing ease and passionate intensity. Even here the phrasing and shaping of this whirlwind of sounds was of an artist who is listening to himself and shaping the sounds with sensitivity,intelligence and great style.

Mention should be made of Gala Chistiakova and Diego Benocci who have created a vast musical activity in Grosseto including the competition of which Alessio is such a shining example of excellence.

Duo Degas in Viterbo Chistiakova & Benocci at Tuscia University with style and seduction

Behzod Abduraimov taking Santa Cecilia by storm with a performance of Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto of refined finesse combined with passion and fire . Nowhere more was this more evident than in the encore of a glowingly whispered Rachmaninov Prelude op 32 n 5 .

Such refined playing in such a vast hall brings to mind what Fou Ts’ong once confided : that it is easier to be more intimate in a big space than in a smaller one . I will though enjoy listening again to the recording that was made by Radio 3 that may reveal many poetic musings that might not have carried in the hall.

https://www.raiplaysound.it/audio/2026/01/Radio3-Suite—Il-Cartellone-del-23012026-ac5057ac-b00c-443b-bfa9-7676d24bf3a6.html

I remember a teacher of English who had heard Behzod as a child and was so impressed that he arranged to bring him to Europe in fact to Walton on Thames in the England. He went on to study with Stanislaw Ioudentich and at the Piano Academy Lake Como with William Grant Naboré. I heard him win the World Power Competition of Sulamita Aronovsky which was held in the Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic . Listening to him now brought back memories of the young boy playing Prokofiev Third Concerto with the same passion and poetic power that we heard today in Rachmaninov.

I also remember the party afterwards that finished so late that many illustrious guests, Peter Frankl and Fanny Waterman included, found the hall’s garage closed after midnight . A Cinderella syndrome indeed .

Talking of which I remember his Rome debut some years ago to an alarmingly sparse audience at the Teatro Olympico . We were treated to a masterly performance of Chopin’s Four Ballades that Lang Lang was to play to nearly three thousand people the next day at the Santa Cecilia Hall . No comparison is necessary but I was so surprised to see the vast Teatro Olympico so sparsely populated for such a magnificent performance that I was one of the few to buy a signed copy of his latest CD of the Tchaikowsky piano concerto!

Glad to see that the Roman public have been awoken from their slumbers at last and hope we can listen to this great artist in recital again in Rome before the world claims him!

A room with a view for Nikita Burzanitsa’s birthday in Florence this evening in the Harold Acton Library of the British Institute. Some superb playing, from the absolute clarity of Bach where an improvisatory freedom made the entry of the Toccata even more of a surprise. Ravishing colours in Ravel with an extraordinary control of sound and a kaleidoscope of colours that allowed him to create the mellifluous beauty of ‘Ondine’ passing through the desolation of whispered mystery in ‘Le Gibet’ to the devilish antics of ‘Scarbo’. All played with a poetic mastery that brought these poems of Bertrand vividly to life.

Liszt’s Paganini study n 2 was played with such grace and charm that Nikita’s transcendental command of the keyboard passed almost unnoticed.

The last work on the programme was Prokofiev’s 7 th Sonata. One of his three war sonatas where again Nikita’s astonishing palette of sounds were of a real poet of the keyboard . Transforming this usually brittle sounding sonata into an evocative lament as well a ferocious scream for help and then a fight to the finish.

No encore could follow after such a harrowing and breathtaking experience and it was time for Nikita to let his hair down and enjoy this special day marking his first quarter of a century .

Programme: 

Bach – Toccata in E minor 

I. Toccata. II. Un Poco Allegro III. Adagio IV. Allegro – Fuga

Ravel – Gaspard de la nuit  Ondine – Le Gibet – Scarbo

Liszt – Grand Etudes de Paganini No.2 

Prokofiev – Sonata No.7 Op.83. Allegro inquieto – Andante caloroso – Precipitato

Here is a video of Nikita playing  Prokofiev – Sonata No.7 

Born into a musical family in Donetsk, Ukraine, pianist Nikita Burzanitsa began his studies at seven and trained at the Special Music School for Gifted Children under Professor Nataliya Chesnokova. Awarded a full scholarship to Wells Cathedral School in the UK, he continued his development with John Byrne. He has participated in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Lang Lang, Steven Hough, Imogen Cooper, Angela Hewitt, and Igor Levit. Nikita has performed across Europe, earning acclaim for his technical mastery and expressive musicality.Bach likely composed the toccata while working as the court organist for Duke Johann Ernst of Weimar, depicted above.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxmAOb8F58Ydjv6Q0VICzNbODiuphQZn09?si=mMmoyXgEMcz1kvzm

This is the first of four recitals organised by Simon Gammell and his team, in partnership with the Keyboard Trust supported by the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/06/15/kasparas-mikuzis-at-la-mortella-creating-magic-sounds-in-waltons-paradise-on-ischia/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/11/13/tomos-boyles-at-steinway-hall-for-the-keyboard-trust-intelligence-and-poetic-artistry-combine/ https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/03/09/alexander-doronin-at-steinways-for-the-keyboard-trust/ Alexander has recently been awarded the Gold Medal at the Hong Kong International Piano Competition

The back of beyond -Bright future for the class of Dmitri Alexeev -Jacky Zhang-Alexander Doronin-Nikita Burzanitsa-Thomas Kelly -JunLin Wu

Bach wrote the Toccata in E minor alongside six other keyboard toccatas, BWV 910-916 , between 1707 and 1710 or 1711, before the age of 30 The Toccata in E minor was likely composed in 1710.Some scholars have suggested potentially later dates of composition His toccatas were influenced by the Italian model of toccata, with varying lively and expressive tempos across each section of the composition, and with between two and six sections per toccata.The toccatas are typically opened by a short, striking toccata section, followed by a fugue, and then a recitative imitating the Italian aria  or German fantasia  forms. One section is always a fugue and fugues frequently conclude the toccatasFugal passages are often considered the most cherished features of the toccatas.

The name Gaspard ” is derived from its original Persian form, denoting “the man in charge of the royal treasures”: “Gaspard of the Night” or the treasurer of the night thus creates allusions to someone in charge of all that is jewel-like, dark, mysterious, perhaps even morose.

Of the work, Ravel himself said: “Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems. My ambition is to say with notes what a poet expresses with words.”

Aloysius Bertrand , author of Gaspard de la Nuit (1842), introduces his collection by attributing them to a mysterious old man met in a park in Dijon , who lent him the book. When he goes in search of M. Gaspard to return the volume, he asks, “ ’Tell me where M. Gaspard de la Nuit may be found.’ ‘He is in hell, provided that he isn’t somewhere else’, comes the reply. ‘Ah! I am beginning to understand! What! Gaspard de la Nuit must be…?’ the poet continues. ‘Ah! Yes… the devil!’ his informant responds. ‘Thank you, mon brave!… If Gaspard de la Nuit is in hell, may he roast there. I shall publish his book.'”Gaspard de la Nuit — Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot is the compilation of prosa poems  by Italian-born French poet Aloysius Bertrand Considered one of the first examples of modern prose poetry, it was published in the year 1842, one year after Bertrand’s death from tuberculosis , as a manuscript dated 1836 by his friend David d’Angers The text includes a short address to Victor Hugo and another to Charles Nodier r, and a Memoir of Bertrand written by Sainte – Beuve was included in the original 1842 edition.

This suite of three pieces for piano was inspired by the prose poems of Aloysius Bertrand (1807 – 1841), which were first published posthumously in 1842 under the title Gaspard de la nuit: fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot; they are works of an intense romanticism, fascinated by the mediaeval and the mysterious. Ondine is a water-nymph who seeks a mortal spouse in vain before disappearing in a spray of water drops. Le Gibet depicts an eerie scene at sunset as the corpse of a hanged man swings to and fro on the gibbet. Scarbo is the malevolent gnome who appears in the middle of the night furiously spreading fear and disorder.

Ravel was first introduced to the work by his friend, the pianist Ricardo Viñes who subsequently gave the work’s first performance in Paris on 9 January 1909.

Ravel said that his intention had been “to write piano pieces of transcendental virtuosity which are even more complicated than [Balakirev’s] Islamey“. (Roland – Manuel  [1947] p.54.) Speaking of the third movement Scarbo, he told a pupil, “I wanted to make a caricature of romanticism, but perhaps I let myself be taken over by it.” (Perlemute [1989] p.35). His friend Hélène Jourdan-Morhange was struck however by the classical form to be found in the work: “The three poems chosen by Ravel are quite dissimilar, but because of their perfect musical realisation, they seem to have been intentionally gathered together by the poet. The structure is almost that of a sonata: Allegro, Adagio and a dazzling Finale“. (Perlemuter 1989] p.31).

The author tells an introductory story of how he sat in a garden in Dijon , and fell into conversation with a dishevelled old man who sat near him leafing through a book. The stranger recognizes him to be a poet, and speaks of how he has spent his life searching for the meaning of Art (‘L’art est la science du poète’), and for the elements or principles of Art. The first principle, what was sentiment in Art, was revealed to him by the discovery of some little book inscribed Gott – Liebe (‘Dieu et Amour’, God and Love): to have loved and to have prayed.

Then he became preoccupied by what constituted idea in Art, and, having studied nature and the works of man through thirty years, at the cost of his youth, he wondered if the second principle, that of idea, might be Satan. After a night of storm and colic in the church of Notre-Dame of Dijon, in which clarity shone through the shadows (‘Une clarté piqua les ténèbres’), he concluded that the devil did not exist, that Art existed in the bosom of God, and that we are merely the copyists of the Creator.

Then the old stranger thrusts into the poet’s hand the book, his own manuscript, telling all the attempts of his lips to find the instrument which gives the pure and expressive note – every trial upon the canvas before the subtle dawn-glow of the ‘clair-obscur’ or clarity in shadow appeared there – the novel experiments of harmony and colour, the only products of his nocturnal deliberations. The old man goes off to write his Will, saying he will come back to collect his book tomorrow. The manuscript is, naturally, Gaspard de la Nuit. Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot. The next day the poet returns to restore the book to its owner, who does not come: he asks after M. Gaspard de la Nuit, to which the answer is that he is probably in Hell unless he is out on his travels – for he is, of course, the devil. ‘May he roast there!’ says the poet. ‘I shall publish his book.’

A short preface attributed to Gaspard himself  explains that the artists Paul Rembrandt^] and Jaques Callotrepresent two eternally reverse or antithetic faces of Art: one the philosopher absorbed in meditation and prayer upon the spirits of beauty, science, wisdom and love, seeking to penetrate the symbols of nature, and the other the showy figure who parades about the street, rows in the taverns, caresses bohemian girls, always swears by his rapier, and whose main preoccupation is waxing his moustache. But in considering Art under this double personification he has included studies upon other artists among his poetic meditations, which he has not presented as a formal literary theory because M.Séraphin  has not explained to him the mechanism of his Chinese shadow-plays, and Pulchinello conceals from curious viewers the thread which makes his arm move.

Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 in B♭ major, Op. 83 (occasionally called the “Stalingrad”)is , the second of the three “War Sonatas”, composed in 1942. The sonata was first performed on 18 January 1943 in Moscow by Sviatoslav Richter.

On June 20, 1939, Prokofiev’s close friend and professional associate, the director Vsevolod Meyerhold, was arrested by the NKVDjust before he was due to rehearse Prokofiev’s new opera Semyon Kotko; he was shot on 2 February 1940. Although his death was not publicly acknowledged, let alone widely known about until after Stalin’s reign, the brutal murder of Meyerhold’s wife, Zinaida Raikh, less than a month after his arrest was a notorious event. Only months afterwards, Prokofiev was ‘invited’ to compose Zdravitsa(literally translated ‘Cheers!’, but more often given the English title Hail to Stalin) (Op. 85) to celebrate Stalin’s 60th birthday

Later that year, Prokofiev started composing his Piano Sonatas Nos, 6 , 7, and 8 Opp. 82–84, widely known today as the “War Sonatas.” These sonatas contain some of Prokofiev’s most dissonant music for the piano. Biographer Daniel Jaffé has argued that Prokofiev, “having forced himself to compose a cheerful evocation of the nirvana Stalin wanted everyone to believe he had created” (i.e. in Zdravitsa) then subsequently, in these three sonatas, “expressed his true feelings” The sonata was awarded a Stalin Prize (Second Class)

The sonata has three movements :

1. Allegro inquieto (in B♭ major)
2. Andante caloroso (in E major)
3. Precipitato (in B♭ major)

Nikita Burzanitsa surprises and thrills at St Pancras Church Euston

Nikita Burzanitsa in Perivale with refound authority and mastery

Derek Wang in London today and tomorrow ( St John’s at one ) with a moving recital in words and music about Liszt’s travels around Switzerland with the Countess Marie d’Agoult (The future mother of Liszt’s three children ).

Derek a superb pianist and a prize winner of the Hastings, who had invited Derek to London into the beautiful salon of Bob and Elisabeth Boas is also an extraordinary actor creating the atmosphere of their discovery of beauty and nature and also about themselves and their innermost feelings.

But it was the music that was played with renewed poetic sensibility together with astonishing mastery that held us mesmerised as we re lived the magic of discovery together. Opening with ‘William Tell’ played with aristocratic control and searing tension. Liszt was to say he had never been able to think of Lake Wallenstadt without weeping. Derek played it bathed in pedal as the melodic line flowed on the lapping waves with refreshing freedom. This was the last piece to be played by Alfred Brendel as an encore in Vienna after his farewell performance with Mozart Concerto K291 ( Jeunehomme !!) .

Derek followed this with the joyous outpouring of ‘Pastorale’ with its questioning ending. ‘Au bord d’une source’ is one of those jewels that was to pour from Liszt’s fingers with refined delicacy and poetic meaning. Derek played it with a wondrous sense of balance playing with beautiful grace and delicacy.

Now Derek was ready to unleash his mighty technical arsenal with ‘Orage’, that he played with passion and startling virtuosity, with extraordinary clarity and burning excitement. At this point Derek abandoned the script that he had on the stand and looked us in the eye as he delved ever deeper into the profound world of poetic beauty with the ‘Vallée d’Obermann’. It was on this wave of emotion that the beautiful tenor melody was floated into the room with innermost intensity. Derek opened up this world of self questioning, turbulent emotions and searing passion, in a performance of masterly architectural control and conviction.Veiled octaves this time, as opposed to ‘Orage’, were merely vibrations of sound to describe the agitation and turbulence of a disturbed soul. ‘Eclogue’ was a refreshing interlude full of radiance and sunshine. ‘Le Mal du pays’ on the other hand was where Derek found sombre sounds of great suggestion and nostalgia – rumblings from within or without ? As Liszt was to say, quoted by Derek : ‘The life of an artist is a long dissonance with no resolution’. However Derek finished with the glorious radiance of hope and beauty that is in ‘Les cloches de Genève’, creating with mastery another masterpiece from this suite of nine scenes of travel.

Derek Wang at the Fazioli Concert Hall – A master musician and poetic virtuoso.

Robert Mc Duffie – The Devil in disguise ignites the Vatican with his annual RCMF Festival

Années de pèlerinage S.160/161/162/163 is a set of three suites  for solo piano by Franz Liszt. Much of it (the first suite in particular) derives from an earlier work, Album d’un voyageur, his first major published piano cycle, which was composed between 1835 and 1838 and published in 1842 Années de pèlerinage is widely considered as the masterwork and summation of Liszt’s musical style. While the first two offerings are often considered music of a young man, the third volume is notable as an example of his later style. Composed well after the first two volumes, it displays less virtuosity and more harmonic experimentation.

Première année: Suisse” (“First Year: Switzerland”), S.160, was published in 1855. Composed between 1848 and 1854, most of the pieces (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9) are revisions of Album d’un voyageur: Part 1: Impressions et Poesies and Part 2: Fleurs mélodiques des Alpes. “Au lac de Wallenstadt” (No. 2) and “Au bord d’une source” (No. 4) received only minor revisions, while “La Chapelle de Guillaume Tell” (No. 1), “Vallée d’Obermann” (No. 6), and especially “Les cloches de Genève” (No. 9) were more extensively rewritten. “Églogue” (No. 7) was published separately, and “Orage” (No. 5) was included as part of the definitive version of the cycle.

1. Chapelle de Guillaume Tell  in C major – For this depiction of the Swiss struggle for liberation Liszt chooses a motto from Schiller as caption, “All for one – one for all.” A noble passage marked lento opens the piece, followed by the main melody of the freedom fighters. A horn call rouses the troops, echoes down the valleys, and mixes with the sound of the heroic struggle
2. Au lac de Wallenstadt in A♭ major – Liszt’s caption is from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage  (Canto III, stanza 85): “Thy contrasted lake / With the wild world I dwell in is a thing / Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake / Earth’s troubled waters for a purer spring.” In her Mémoires, Liszt’s mistress and traveling companion of the time, Marie d’Agoult, recalls their time by Lake Wallenstadt, writing, “Franz wrote for me there a melancholy harmony, imitative of the sigh of the waves and the cadence of oars, which I have never been able to hear without weeping.”^[6]
3. Pastorale in E major – This piece is a revision of the third from the second book of the earlier Album, with its central section removed in the process.
4. Au born dune source  in A♭ major – Liszt’s caption is from Schiller: “In the whispering coolness begins young nature’s play.”
5. Orage  in C minor – Liszt’s caption is again from Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage  (Canto III, canto 96): “But where of ye, O tempests! is the goal? / Are ye like those within the human breast? / Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest?”
6. Vallée d’Obermann (Obermann’s Valley) in E minor – Inspired by Étienne Pivert de Senancour’s novel of the same title, set in Switzerland, with a hero overwhelmed and confused by nature, suffering from ennui and longing, finally concluding that only our feelings are true The captions include one from Byron’s succeeding canto 97, (“Could I embody and unbosom now / That which is most within me,–could I wreak / My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw / Soul–heart–mind–passions–feelings–strong or weak– / All that I would have sought, and all I seek, / Bear, know, feel–and yet breathe–into one word, / And that one word were Lightning, I would speak; / But as it is, I live and die unheard, / With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword”) and two from Senancour’s Obermann, which include the crucial questions, “What do I want? Who am I? What do I ask of nature?”
7. Eglogue  in A♭ major – Liszt’s caption is from the next canto of the Pilgrimage: “The morn is up again, the dewy morn, / With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom, / Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn, / And living as if earth contained no tomb!”
8. Le mal du pays (Homesickness) in E minor –The work is prefaced by a quotation from the ‘Troisième fragment’ of Senancour’s Obermann: ‘De l’expression romantique, et du ranz des vaches’ (‘on Romantic expression, and the Swiss pastoral melody employed in the calling of the cows’)—‘Le romanesque séduit les imaginations vives et fleuries; le romantique suffit seul aux âmes profondes, la véritable sensibilité …’ (‘The Romanesque attracts those of lively and florid imagination; the Romantic satisfies only profound souls, real sensitivity …’).
9. Les cloches de Genève: Nocturne in B major – Liszt’s caption is from stanza 72, earlier in the Byron’s Pilgrimage: “I live not in myself, but I become / Portion of that around me”.

I have heard Nicolas Ventura many times during his studies in London with varied repertoire and even a magnificent performance of Prokofiev’s 3rd Concerto at Cadogan Hall . But I never thought that his inquisitive musicianship would lead to a recital of works that I have never heard before.

Nicolas just added (en passant!!!) ‘ By the way, I just noticed in the programme it was not mentioned that the Suite is my transcription and was the premiere of it (first time playing it live). That’s why you couldn’t have heard it anywhere else before’

Prokofiev’s ‘Old Grandmother Tales’ I had heard from Iso Elinson when I was a child but never since.

Nicolas is now being mentored by Dina Parakhina whose advocacy of the works of Medtner is much appreciated by a discerning public . Nicolas following in her footsteps bringing us today neglected works of Prokofiev and Bloch with masterly performances of astonishing poetic conviction

This vintage Bosendorfer at St Olave’s in the shadow of the ‘Tower of London ‘ not to say the ‘Guerkin’ and ‘Shard’, I have heard many pianists play with differing success. Today Nicolas found the noble pedigree of this instrument imbuing it with colours and pedal effects that I would not have thought possible until today .

Brendel was fond of saying there are no such things as bad pianos only bad pianist! Brendel was never wrong!

Nicolas Ventura takes Cadogan Hall by storm with the YMSO under James Blair

Nicolas Ventura an artist of maturity and stature at St James’s Piccadilly .

Nicolas Ventura at St Mary Le Strand Elegance and Beauty combine with intelligence and mastery

Tales of an Old Grandmother . op.31 (Russian: Сказки старой бабушки, romanized: Skazki staroy babushki) is a set of four piano pieces composed in 1918 and premiered by the composer himself on January 7 the following year in New York City.It was composed during Prokofiev’s exile in the United States after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. An arrangement for orchestra also exists. Prokofiev’s pianistic output of this period is scarce since he put all his efforts into composing his opera The Love of Three Oranges . He also composed, around that time, Four Pieces, Op. 32. Both were written in order to mitigate his economic situation because of the delay of the opera’s premiere; however, he did not obtain the money in royalties he expected for them.

The set of works describes an old grandmother narrating tales to her young grandson who listens carefully in her lap. It is full of nostalgia, with all the movements written in minor keys Tales of Old Grandmother, Op. 31 by Prokofiev is based on a fairy tale theme and can be considered as both a most valuable pedagogical piece for young students and as a piece for the concert repertoire. However, this piece was under-appreciated by most piano performers and piano pedagogues for many years, even though it was praised by several well-known composers and was often played by other pianists and Prokofiev himself. The main aim of this study is to promote the Tales so that they will be performed and taught more often. All of the complex harmonic language, unique unforgettable lyricism and Prokofiev’s typical compositional elements are presented in this score, allowing it to serve as a great concert repertoire choice. At the same time, the simple format setting, less demanding technique and the fairy tale theme can easily catch and hold a children’s interest. Therefore, Tales of Old Grandmother contains both performance value and pedagogical value. This premise is achieved through a discussion of Prokofiev’s unfailing interest in fairy tales and comparisons between Tales of Old Grandmother with Prokofiev’s advanced piano works and with his Music for Children, Op. 65.

The Scythian Suite, Op. 20 is an orchestral suite written in 1915.

Prokofiev originally wrote the music for the ballet Ala i Lolli, the story of which takes place among the Scythians . Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev , the ballet was written to a scenario by Russian poet Sergey Gorodetsky . But when Diaghilev rejected the score even before its completion, the composer reworked the music into a suite for concert performance.

The suite was premiered on 29 January 1916 at the Marinsky Theatre  in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer.

A scheduled Moscow performance of the suite that December was cancelled at the last minute due to the difficulty of finding musicians to play the piece; it called for an enlarged orchestra and, as many performers had been mobilized due to World War 1 enough players could not be found. Nevertheless, the Moscow music critic Leonid Sabaneyev gave the music a scathing review. Prokofiev responded that the supposed performance must have been a product of Sabaneyev’s imagination, as the only copy of the score was in the composer’s hands and thus he had not even been able to see it.

The suite is in four movements and lasts around 20 minutes.

1. Invocation to Velesand Ala – barbaric and colourful music describing the Scythians’ invocation of the sun
2. The Evil God and the Dance of the Pagan Monsters (also known as “The Alien God and the Dance of the Evil Spirits”) – as the Scythians make a sacrifice to Ala, daughter of Veles, the Evil God performs a violent dance surrounded by seven monsters
3. Night – the Evil God harms Ala; the Moon Maidens descend to console her
4. The Glorious Departure of Lolli and the Cortège of the Sun – Lolli, the hero, comes to save Ala; the Sun God assists him in defeating the Evil God. They are victorious, and the suite ends with a musical picture of the sunrise

Although it is not a strictly programmatic work per se, Bloch’s 1936 Visions and Prophecies—a five-movement piece for solo piano—is an emotional, spiritual, and dramatic evocation of sentiments, incidents, proclamations, or characters in the Hebrew Bible. For the pianist on this recording, David Holzman, the movements representing biblical visions are clearly distinguishable from those reflecting prophecies. And in Bloch’s own interpretation of the work, he identifies or intuits—albeit admittedly tentatively (“to some extent”)—specific biblical personalities:

After the portentious introduction (the modal scale clearly gives the work a “Jewish color”), the wailing melody evokes Jeremiah. The motionless twinkle of the second movement hints at the vision of Jacob’s ladder. The harsh violence of the third summons up Micah reviling the sins of the tribes of Israel. The beauty and tranquility of the fourth movement prepares the way for the final movement, a complex war among all the conflicting motives, and ends with the eternity of the universe, unswayed by the passions and hatred which embroiled the world.

The first movement is marked Moderato; the second, Poco lento; the third is also Moderato; the indication of the fourth movement is Adagio, piacevole; and the final movement is Poco agitato. 

The writing throughout the piece is characterized by an interplay between pianistically idiomatic tone clusters (prominent from the outset in the first movement) and expositions of continuously unfolding melody—especially in the second and fourth movements. Elsewhere, there are shorter, biting melodic and rhythmic motives, as in the third movement, where a mood of controlled fury is portrayed. The fourth movement is generally reflective and meditative in spirit—almost dreamlike, and lean in its clarity. All these elements are juxtaposed against one another in the finale, as the agitation ebbs and flows and as the movement builds to a penultimate climax that fades to a calm, resolute conclusion.

Some superb playing from Jeremy Chan in that oasis of beauty and peace that is St Mary’s Perivale

The beauty of the surrounding countryside was enhanced by the beauty of Mozart, Bach Shostakovich and Franck . If music be the food of love play on………..!

I have heard Jeremy play on many occasions, the first in Angela Hewitt’s masterclasses in Perugia when he had just obtained his degree in English Literature at Durham University. He has since gone on to dedicate himself, without distraction, to music, obtaining his Artist’s Diploma last summer from the Guildhall in London. His playing has now grown quite considerably in stature since that very first time in Italy https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/24/angelas-generosity-and-infectious-song-and-dance-inspires-her-illustrious-students/

He ended the concert in Perivale with the ‘Prelude Chorale and Fugue’ by César Franck, which is a work that I have heard him play in concerts previously. It was played with great authority as the improvised ‘Prelude’ was sustained from the bass that gave an architectural shape to a movement that in lesser hands can seem very fragmented. The ‘Chorale’ unwound with great beauty the chords finding a glistening radiance with the top notes shining brightly. There was an ease and naturalness to his playing that allowed the climax and glorious exultation of the ‘Chorale’ to grow from the deep bass notes that were the anchor on which this work is based. The ‘Fugue’ was played with simplicity and clarity as it built up ever more intensely with passionate conviction and sumptuous full sounds. Out of this climax emerges the magic cloud of sounds with which the ‘Prelude’ had opened and which Jeremy played with such unforced simplicity . Never underlining the melodic line but allowing it to magically emerge as gradually Franck combines all three melodic strands together in a tumultuous climax of strength and exhilaration. But above all from Jeremy’s hands a sense of exultation and revelation.

You can read a more detailed review in the articles below.

The ‘little’ D major Sonata by Mozart I have not heard Jeremy play before and it was a surprise that he could play with such simplicity but also bringing such operatic character to the first and last movements A brilliance as one phrase answered another in a beguiling musical conversation of spirited energy and eloquence. Whilst the ‘Allegro con spirito’ was all brilliance and extraordinary musical invention,not least the quiet calming final bars of refined elegance after such scintillating ebullience.There was a charm and grace to the Rondó, which is by far the longest of the three movements, because Mozart could not contain his inventive genius. Jeremy brought to it a sense of discovery every time the Rondó theme reappeared and there was a real operatic feel to the scene that was being played out with such enjoyment before our very eyes. The ‘Andante con expressione’ central movement is one of those sublime moments that marks Mozart out as a Genius. It was played with a refined beauty of poignant meaning with a subtle palette of colours which enhanced this extraordinary movement.

It is rare to see just one Prelude and Fugue on a concert programme but Jeremy had cleverly combined it with two by Shostakovich that were directly inspired by Bach. Shostakovich was on the jury of the Bach Competition in Leipzig when he was inspired by Tatyana Nikolaeva’s playing to write his own which he dedicated to her. The Bach in E flat Book 1 was played with radiance as Jeremy used freely the pedal to add to the mellifluous beauty of the prelude almost as an improvisation before the great character he brought to the fugue.

Its was the same improvised freedom that he brought to Shostakovich op 87 n. 3. It’s great opening declamation played in unison between the hands with it’s majestic opening of reverberating sounds. It was in startling contrast with the Fugue that was a frenzy of knotty twine played with scintillating clarity and rhythmic energy. The sonorous bass of op 87 n. 12 was contrasted with the bold contours of the fugue that was played with dynamic drive and searing conviction.

Jeremy Chan is an award-winning concert pianist based in London. He holds an Artist Diploma as well as a Masters degree with Concert Recital Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He also obtained a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Durham University. In 2023 and 2024, Jeremy won both the Guildhall Beethoven Prize and the Guildhall Romantic Prize. He also won second prize at the Tunbridge Wells International Music Competition. In July 2023, he made his concerto debut at St John’s Smith Square with the London City Orchestra playing Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. In the summer of 2023, he was invited to work with pianist Angela Hewitt for a week in Italy. He has made appearances in festivals such as the London Piano Festival and Un Piano Sous Les Arbes in France. 

Jeremy has performed in different venues including Kings Place, Steinway Hall London, St John’s Smith Square, Silk Street Concert Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall, Salle Gilles Lefebvre, Durham University Concert Hall and City Lit Recital Room. Jeremy has worked with and received great insight from world-renowned musicians such as Angela Hewitt, Dame Imogen Cooper, Sir Stephen Hough, Jonathan Biss, André Laplante, Jean Saulnier, Dmitri Alexeev, Ilya Poletaev, Graham Scott and Katya Apekisheva. Jeremy is also an avid chamber musician and is currently a member of the Wayfarer Trio with cellist William Lui and clarinettist Kosuke Shirai. In 2025, Jeremy completed his Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Noriko Ogawa, Charles Owen and Ronan O’ Hora.

Alongside his performing career, Jeremy is an active writer on classical music. He publishes regularly on his Substack newsletter On Music & Making   featuring concert reviews, essays, and conversations with leading musical figures. 

Jeremy Chan ‘Miracles at Milton Court’

Jeremy Chan Young Artists Recital at Bechstein Hall ‘Intelligence and Artistry combine with words in music’

Jeremy Chan at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust

Anna Bonitatibus and Adele D’Aronzo with courage bringing Rossini to the Wigmore Hall. Bringing many unusual and even unpublished works including a world première of a work discovered at an auction at Christie’s in 2023 . ‘L’esule’ was just one of the rarities of the genial outpouring of Rossini. He may have retired from writing opera in return for the good life , but he could never stop his musical invention . Péchés de Vieillesse and many miniatures, album leaves and even solo piano slipped from his pen with ease .

Of course his genius was in creating a completely new genre of Opera.

Anna singing with a sumptuous radiance from the whispered beauty of his very first composition of the ‘Mill girl’s wishes’ passing through the ravishing beauty of Metastasio’s ‘Lament in silence’ to the grandiosity of Rossini’s Farewell (Vienna was genially changed to Paris!) as he was Honoured in Paris with the Legion of Honour just after the première of ‘William Tell’. The artists from the Paris Opéra serenaded him beneath his window when he was at the height of his fame .

Three salon pieces for solo piano were performed by Adele whilst Anna got her breath back!

One of them was dedicated to a pupil of Chopin and daughter of the banker de Rothschild . Adele playing with great style as you might expect from the school of Sergio Perticaroli in Rome

What a week at the Wigmore ‘Academy’ with Nelson Goerner bringing the sunshine of Spain with Albeniz’s complete Iberia

Nelson Goerner at the Wigmore Hall The magic world of Albeniz revealed in all its glory

And Graham Johnson with Christopher Maltman with a Schubert Lieder recital

Christopher Maltman and Graham Johnson at the Wigmore Hall.A Schubertiade of radiance and beauty

Now this great Italian diva bringing the glories of the world of Rossini.

The Wiggies may flock to hear their favourites but the eclectic choice of programmes these days at the Wigmore Hall is unique and is a continual voyage of discovery.

Imogen Cooper on Sunday with her farewell tour of the complete Schubert Impromptus too .

Imogen Cooper a Shubertiade of radiance and beauty at the National Liberal Club

‘This is the week that is ’ indeed !

Welcome to the web-site of Anna Bonitatibus: news, events, and projects of one of the most acclaimed artists on the international operatic and concert landscape!

https://annabonitatibus.com

The Anti-Diva, as she likes to describe herself, is renowned for the noble passion with which she interprets titles between the most famous of ‘teatro musicale’, as well as the tireless commitment with which she promotes the divulgation of a rarer repertoire.

Premio Abbiati del Disco 2024:  Monologues;  Halle Handel Preize 2023; Bärenreiter Ambassador; winner of the International Opera Awards 2015 for Semiramide — La Signora regale; Best Female Voice nomination, International Opera Awards 2016. Latest recording: MONOLOGUES, Prospero, 2023. and the rare and precious Péchés de Vieillesse  by the ‘pesarese’.

Anna Bonitatibus is renowned for the noble passion with which she interprets titles between the most famous of ‘teatro musicale’, as well as the tireless commitment with which she promotes a rarer repertoire. More than seventy operas performed, from Claudio Monteverdi’s masterpieces to titles back to proscenium by Francesco Cavalli (Didone, Ercole amante, Calisto) crossing Händel’s operatic production (Agrippina, Deidamia, Giulio Cesare, Orlando, Tamerlano, Tolomeo, Ottone, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno) as well as composers from the Neapolitan school, from Pergolesi to Cimarosa, and her beloved Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri, Il Viaggio a Reims, Tancredi, and furthermore Cantate, Masses and the rare and precious Péchés de Vieillesse  by the ‘pesarese’.

As the embodiment of Cherubino from the Daponteian Le Nozze di Figaro, she has become one of the most acclaimed performers of Mozart. Then follows Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Mitridate Re di Ponto, La Clemenza di Tito, as well as sacred and profane repertoire by the Salzburgian composer. The Mezzo-soprano’s wide repertoire includes Messa da Requiem, Giuseppe Verdi, Ginevra di Scozia, Simon Mayr, Enrico di Borgogna by Donizetti interpreted with great success at the Donizetti Opera, Bergamo (2018). The French repertoire includes Carmen, a role brilliantly debuted in Madrid (2018) and L’Enfant et les sortilèges by Ravel, Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz and Gounod as well as Les contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach, Werther and Don Quichotte by Massenet.

From first steps at the Teatro alla Scala, to Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Opéra comique in Parigi, to the Teatro Real in Madrid, La Monnaie in Bruxelles, Staatsoper in Vienna, to Royal Opera House in London, Festivals (Salzburg, Florence, Munich, Bologna, Grange) and to the most renowned international concert halls (from Russia to United States), Anna Bonitatibus collaborated with the most acclaimed conductors, directors and artists such as: Charles Mackerras, Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, René Jacobs, William Christie, Ivor Bolton, Myung Whun Chung, Alan Curtis, Roberto Abbado, Ottavio Dantone, Marc Minkowski, Raphael Pichon, Stefano Montanari, Angela Hewitt, Andrea Lucchesini and Luca Ronconi, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Dario Fo, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, David Alden, Jonathan Miller, Kasper Holten, Emilio Sagi, Irina Brook, Ivo van Hove, David Bösch, Mariame Clément, Tobias Kratzer, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Valérie Lesort; among the many colleagues on stage: Michele Pertusi, Christian Gerhaher, Rockwell Blake, Barbara Frittoli, Juan Diego Florez, Cecilia Bartoli, Simon Keenlyside, Sabine Devieilhe, Franco Fagioli, Angela Georghiu, Patrizia Ciofi, Michael Spyres, Thomas Allen, Roberto Alagna, Vivica Genaux, Lisette Oropesa, Magdalena Kožená, Philippe Jarrousky, Aleksandra Kurzac.

Interpreter of numerous Recitals of which she personally curates the programs, the most recent includes: “Beethoven and Rossini”, “Beyond the Borders: Music and Musicians of the New Europe” (Wigmore Hall);  “Prime Donne – from Margherita Durastanti to Adelaide Malanotte” (Händel Festival, Karlsruhe); “Tanti affetti: Rossini e le sue Muse” (Rossini Opera Festival); “Cantori e Maestri” (I Festival Toscanini, Parma).

In 2021 she debuted at the Hamburg’s Staatsoper with Händel’s Agrippina (Barry Kosky’s production), with the same title and production she returned at the Bayerische Staastoper in May 2022 greeted with enormous success. A double debut took place during Summer 2022, at the Aix en Provence Festival in Mozart’s Idomeneo;  during the Autumn of the same year she sung in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem on tour with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano (Italy, Netherlands, Spain). 2023 opens in the name of Händel: debut in Alcina – Ruggiero – on tour with Marc Minkowski and his Les Musiciens du Louvre (Paris, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia) and which will be concluded in February 2024 at the Teatro alla Scala; inauguration of the Händel Halle Festival with her first Serse : at the end of the performance she has been awarded of the Händel Preis 2023. In the same year, for the First Respighi Festival (Bologna), she performed the lyric poem Il Tramonto.

Alongside her artistic activity, Anna Bonitatibus is engaged in the research and promotion of Lirica italiana da camera through the Publishing House “Consonarte – Vox in Musica”, that she founded in London.

In February 2024 Alcina, with Marc Minkowski and LMDL, will be published (Pentatone); her recent album Monologues, (Prospero, 2023) is dedicated to monologues set to music of characters from mythology, history & literature, recorded with Adele D’Aronzo. Among her most successful recordings: Semiramide – La Signora regale (DHM), International Opera Awards 2015; en travesti (BR Klassik); La Tempesta, Marianna Martines (DHM); «Canti italiani», Beethoven (Consonarte). In DVD: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Hardy-RaiTrade), La Didone & Ercole amante (OpusArte), Così fan tutte (Arthaus), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Virgin Classic). Available in streaming: La Clemenza di Tito & Lucio Silla (La Monnaie, Bruxelles), L’Italiana in Algeri (Staatsoper, Vienna).

Anna Bonitatibus – Bio EN | January 2024

Evelina Antemisari piano

Chopin – Ballade No.3 in A flat major, Op.47
Debussy – Images (Book I) 
Khachaturian – Masquerade Suite

It was nice to hear Evelina Antemisari at St Olave’s today A beautiful church dedicated to helping and following the progress of young musicians studying in London. A church that has a piano of German pedigree still with a noble voice to resound around this historic church surrounded by modern monsters of Guerkins and Diamond shaped high rise office blocks.

A student of Kostantinos Destonis in Greece who I well remember playing here when he was studying for his PHD.

And now his student filling this same space with Chopin, Debussy and Khachaturian as she too pursues a musical pedigree at the Royal College under the guidance of the distinguished pianist Dina Parakhina.

Early days yet but playing of great musicianship and style . Despite her small hand she allowed Chopin’s third Ballade to flow with luminosity with a flowing tempo and playing of great delicacy and timeless beauty.

Debussy’s first book of Images where her reflections in water were of great sensitivity and a kaleidoscope of colour. Streams of notes out of which emerged the melodic line with passionate conviction before dying away to a mere whisper. Her ‘Homage a Rameau’ was played with aristocratic nobility and control with a very atmospheric ending . A remarkable sense of line allowed her to steer her way with authority through the continuous outpouring of notes that cover the entire keyboard in the final ‘ Mouvement ‘

Ending with Khachaturians ever popular Masquerade Suite she brought each of the five pieces vividly to life with verve and style.

An encore from an enthusiastic public was her way of thanking a very full church for battling with the elements for a moment of peace and beauty next to the Tower of London in the heart of the city

Evelina Antemisari (Athens, August 30th, 2005). At the age of 6 she started studying Piano with her mother-piano teacher Chrissa Diagourta. Her piano professors: Katerina Papadakou(2014-16), Dimitris Toufexis(2016-22), Konstantinos Destounis(2022-present). At the age of 14 she was awarded a Professor’s and Performer’s Piano Diploma with «Excellent, a 1st prize and the Gold Medal of the Philharmonic Conservatory». She also plays the Violin and the Alto Saxophone at a high level. Other music Diplomas: Diploma of Harmony with a grade of «Excellent» (Philharmonic Conservatory, T.Broutzakis, 2020) Grade 6 Music Theory Diploma (T.Broutzakis,ABRSM,2021) Grade 8 Violin Diploma (G.Mandylas,ABRSM,2021). She studied at Pierce -The American College of Greece with a Music Scholarship (2017-23) She has been a member of Pierce’s Orchestra and of the award winning Rosarte Choir. She is currently studying piano performance at the Royal College of Music with Prof Dina Parakhina