Autore: ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

Kochanovsky and Lupo- an evening of refined musicianship

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
Kochanovsky and Lupo an evening of refined music making
Spring is upon us in the Eternal City and it was only fitting that after a mammouth performance of Beethoven’s 9th with Kirill Petrenko we should have a programme of such refined music making from Kochanovsky and Lupo.
It was like a breath of fresh air blowing into this magnificent hall dedicated to the Patron Saint of Music Santa Cecilia.
A world premier by Ivan Fedele of his Lexikon 111, commisioned by the Accademia was followed by first performances for Rome of works by Taneev and Scriabin.
Ending with that showpiece for orchestra that is Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
What Stanislav Kochanovsky,the young conductor from St Petersburg lacked in animal excitement (so much the norm these days) he made up for with a refined music palette reminiscent of the great German conductors of the past like Eugene Jochum or Otto Klemperer.
None of the blaring brass or outlandish percussion but a great musical line that was immediately apparent in the magical sounds that he found in the suggestive new score, Lexikon 111, of this distinguished composer from Lecce in Puglia.
A sign of a great conductor is not how loudly he can get his band to play but quite the contrary, how quietly.
It was the extraordinary sound world of Ivan Fedele that found this magnificent orchestra under Kochanovsky listening to each other.
Pulsating with the music like a great plasma rising and falling ,wailing and whispering in a piece commisioned by the Accademia lasting barely 15 minutes.
This was a world premiere for a composer who has over a hundred works in his catalogue.

Ivan Fedele recieving the applause at the end of the world premiere of Lexikon 111
A true revelation was a work by Taneev written in 1883/1884.
A Cantata for chorus and orchestra op 1 based on a poem by Aleksej Tolstoy (cousin of Leo Tolstoy): Giovanni di Damasco.
Taneev was a student of Tchaikowsky and Nicolai Rubinstein .
This work that is op 1 was performed in memory of Nicolai Rubinstein in 1884 after Taneev had written previously at least forty other works.
A fascinating discovery,I imagine that of today’s conductor where on reading his curriculum I learn that he has great interest in performing rarely heard works from the past.

Ciro Visco taking a bow for his magniicent S.Cecilia Chorus
It gave us a great opportunity to hear the chorus of S.Cecilia under their chorus master Ciro Visco.
Again it was the perfect balance and sense of line that allowed us to follow so clearly this unjustly neglected work.The chorus in particular was capable of almost whispered sounds but of perfect ensemble .The musical line passing from chorus to orchestra with such simple gestures from a conductor who was listening so attently and undemonstratively to the great achitectural line and drawing them all together in a sumptuous amalgam of sounds.

Benedetto Lupo
It was this same complicity that found the ideal foil with that great musician -Benedetto Lupo- in a performance of a concerto that I have only ever heard once before.
Scriabin’s F sharp minor concerto op 20 I heard years ago in my student days in a recording of Badura Skoda together with the equally unknown Rimsky Korsakov Concerto.
I had even queued up for a promenade concert performance by Mitsuko Uchida.
I thought it strange when she put the score on the piano and put her big no nonsense glasses on.
I realised too late that it was the Schoenberg concerto and not Scriabin!ù
It is a piece that needs to be heard many times such in the complexity of the score.
The piano is completely integrated into the orchestra and only rarely bursts into the great climaxes that we are used to with Rachmaninov or Tchaikowsky.I am glad to see that it was recorded and will look forward to listening many times to appreciate even more the very refined play between pianist and conductor.
It needs a great musician to bring this score to life as we heard tonight.

                   a monumental performance by Benedetto Lupo
Such refined sounds from the piano always ready to accompany with magical filigree embellishments.Great virtuosity too but always at the service of the musical line.
A great complicity between the conductor and pianist where the piano was always integrated into the lavish and subtle sounds created by the orchestra.
It was a curious coincidence that the only other performance I have seen programmed recently of this concerto was of Ian Fountain in London (the only British pianist to have won the Rubinstein-Tel Aviv Competition) A strange coincidence is that one of Benedetto’s prize students Umberto Jacopo Laureti is studying for doctorate at the Royal Academy in London with Ian Fountain.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/04/07/umberto-jacopo-laureti-in-rome/

with Michele dall’Ongaro,President of S.Cecilia
Another of Benedetto’s prize students has recently taken London by storm too.https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/beatrice-rana-takes-london-by-storm/10156282660502309/
It is a sign of the great esteem with which his past and present students hold Benedetto Lupo that they flock to his annual performance in Rome to hear him.

Benedetto with Maestro Pietro Biondi who had performed the concerto of Stravinsky with Stravinsky directing at the Filarmonica Romana
Benedetto holds Masterclasses for piano at the Accademia and can count many very fine musicians that have benefitted from his dedicated mentoring and friendship.
It is just this simplicity that is so apparent in his playing and in that of his students.
They are listening attentively to the sounds they are making without any demonstrative effects that could detract from the real message of an interpreter.
In this he has much in common with that other great Italian pianist and teacher Guido Agosti who we all used to flock to hear in his studio in Siena during the summer months.
Sounds that will never be forgotten by many of the famous pianists still playing today.
It was the supreme simplicity and jewel like perfection in the encore he offered today.A short Albumblat – Prelude by the same composer intimately shared with an audience completely won over by his supreme undemonstrative musicianship.

two great musicians thanking each other for such music making together
It was the famous Firebird Suite by Stravinsky that closed this programme.Not the usual barnstorming performance we are use to but a refine distillation of the magic sounds of the young Stravinsky still under the spell of his forebears.
The magical sounds of the horn of Alessio Bernardi merited the ovation that he got from the public and his colleagues at the end of this first great success of Stravinsky in 1910.

Andrzej Wiercinski at St Mary’s Perivale and streamed worldwide

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
Andrzej Wiercinski at St Mary’s worldwide.

                           Andrzej Wiercinski at the Teatro Ghione Rome
Andrzej Wiercinski at St Mary`s as seen in the shadow of St Peters in Rome.
Glad to see that half term is over and that Dr Mather is back with his absorbing informed enthusiasm and innocent charm.
Missing Roger Nellist’s Richard Baker type introductions though!
As Hugh said at the end of a truly uplifting display of masterly playing here is the “complete pianist”For many years Krystian Zimerman and Murray Perahia have filled that slot and it is indeed refreshing to see a younger colleague at the foot of the hill that is the domain of the Gods.

It was in the encore of the famous A flat Polonaise op 53 that it became even more obvious that here is an heir apparent .
A pianist that infact holds the Zimerman scholarship.
Supreme musicianship that with his complete understanding of the music allowed such freedom of expression.
But not the usual expression of excess that many Polish pianists would have us believe is the way of playing Chopin.
This is the revolutionary Chopin of Rubinstein where all the sentimentality and sugary sensless rubatos that Chopin’s rich but hopelessly untalented aristocratic pupils would have us believe is the real Chopin style are cancelled once and for all.
In their place is a masculine musicianship full of sentiment,colour,shape and total command but absolutely no sentimentality or empty “jeux perle” virtuosity.
I missed the first Scarlatti …such is life in Rome!
I did,after all, have a morning performance of Waiting for Godot and an afternoon performance of famous Italian arias for our chinese tourists who are just longing to embrace the whole Italian Culture scene.
I did though hear a superlative account of the first Scherzo op 20.
Such clarity allied to a fantasy and shaping of phrases that can so often sound like exercises in lesser hands.
Aristocratic pauses worthy of an Arrau made his virtuosity even more breathtaking.
The C sharp minor Scherzo was played with a rhythmic energy but sometimes the octaves were slightly clipped at the ends of phrases and although very fine playing it did not have quite the authority of the previous Scherzo.
The Scriabin Fantasie op 28 was given a masterly performance with such control of sound in a work that can easily slip into the oppresive.
A great sense of control but above all sense of balance and shape were the hallmarks of a truly exemplary performance.
The 12th Hungarian Rhapsody was played with great style.
Although slightly clipped the ends of the opening phrases it had a sense of colour and overall “joie de vivre” that was every bit as irresistible as Rubinstein’s memorable performances.
I remember Freddie Jackson,that almost forgotten musician and teacher of so many fine musicians.He used to tell me how as students they used to stand on the seats to cheer Rubinstein so infectious was his sense of rhythm.
And so it was with Andrzej today.
The Corelli Variations op 42 by Rachmaninov showed off all the extraordinary qualities of this young musician.
Total control,exquisite sense of colour and phrasing but above all a temperament that could ignite the great virtuoso variations of Corelli’s seemingly innocent melody of La Folia.
Much more could be written about this young man, but I will leave that to more competant critics ,in a career that is obviously destined for great things.
I am not at all surprised to see that this 23 year old pianist just three days ago won the International Piano Competition Antoine de Saint Priest in France.
Here is what Philip Cassard wrote together with Pascal Nemirovski :
7 aprile alle ore 21:54 ·
Chers Amis, retenez bien ce nom, car le plus grand avenir lui est promis : ANDRZEJ WIERCINSKY
Ce pianiste polonais de 23 ans vient de remporter le 1er Prix du Concours International de Saint-Priest. Quel artiste ! Quel pianiste !
Je suis encore dans le souvenir de son incroyable épreuve finale, cet après-midi, avec la 12ème Rhapsodie de Liszt jouée avec une virtuosité étincelante, un chic, une maestria grisante; suivie d’une 7ème Sonate de Prokofiev comme j’en ai très rarement entendu : orchestrale, dramatique, hallucinée, constamment surprenante par la créativité de l’interprète et la sidérante réalisation instrumentale. Et hier, nous étions plusieurs, dans le jury, à être au bord des larmes en l’écoutant jouer les Variations Corelli de Rachmaninov : quelle classe, quelle noblesse, quelles inoubliables sonorités pour exprimer la mélancolie, la tendresse et les colères de cette œuvre souvent malmenée. Bravo Andrzej !
Q.E.D indeed.

                                 Andrzej with Dr Mather
Hats off to Hugh Mather and Roger Nellist for jumping the gun yet again!
Of course streaming is fine but I feel Dr Mather should now dedicate himself to providing the same refreshments of those lucky souls in Perivale to accompany his magnificent TV cameras into every corner of the world that choose to follow.

                                                     Castel S.Angelo Rome

                                                St.Peters Square Rome

Ilya Kondratiev streamed live to Paradise

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Miracles in Perivale Ilya Kondratiev streamed live to Paradise

                  even the cat could enjoy the wondrous sounds from Perivale
It was nice to hear our presenter Roger Nellist thanking the numerous public for turning out in such wet weather!
Especially when I am sitting in the boiling hot sunshine in what must be one of the most beautiful places in Europe – The National Park of Circeo in Italy.
Streaming is the latest addition of Hugh Mather and Roger Nellist to their concert series in Perivale aiming to give a platform to some of the finest young musicians of the day.

                             Roger Nellist presenting the concert today.
I am a regular visitor to Perivale when I am in London and one of the main reasons I always dislike leaving is that I will miss one of the stars that are shining so brightly every week.
Over 160 concerts a year.All professional engagements for young musicians at the start of their career.
I was particularly pleased to be able to hear Ilya Kondratiev today who had played so magnificently last January on his Italian tour for the Keyboard Trust.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/ilya-kondratiev-in-italy-the-jewels-in-the-crown/10156227859542309/
A live radio broadcast had the RAI 3 producer with superlatives for the professional artistry of this young pianist in a recital that start at 11 pm and went on until after midnight.
Ilya will now be playing for the KCT in the USA in a concert tour that will take in the new Steinway Hall in New York.Philadelphia with the amazing Elizabeth Glendinning,former assistant to Eugene Ormandy and now in her 90th year still dedicated to helping young talent emerge. Sharing the platform with Dietlinde Maazel in the beautiful theatre on the estate that she shared with her late husband Lorin Maazel in Castleton ,Virgina.
Dietlinde Turban Maazel Wood is a renowned actress and singer who will join Ilya in a Masterclass on the songs of Schubert with Ilya performing the Liszt transcriptions.
Here is the previous tour of the KCT in the USA with Chloe Jiyeong Mun winner of Geneva and Busoni International Piano Competitions who also performed for Dr Hugh Mather in Perivale two years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/chloe-jiyeong-mun-and-the-big-apple-parts-1-2-and-3/10156022904412309/

                                   in my garden in Italy today
I have written many times about Ilya but today I was very impressed as he played much of the programme like the great artist he is fast becoming.
Two Schubert Impromptus in particular were played with the colour and simplicity that many never achieve.
If there were one or two blemishes in the Dante Sonata it was a small price to pay for a daring performance that truly allowed us to live every second of this great drama.
He threw himself into the fray and if he sometimes slipped we took no notice as the spiritual energy was so convincing and truly swept us off our feet.
The Liszt transcription of Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade” was one of the most engaging that I have ever heard ….even from Ilya.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/a-man-for-all-seasons-ilya-kondratiev-at-temple-music/10156354236807309/

                                   even the cat had a smile toay

Mount Circeo …Ceres calling the boats onto her breast.The say it is the silouette of Mussolini who drained these malerial swamps in the 30’s by bringing down the workers from  the Venice area who were used to doing just that to such effect!
Ilya taking a bow in Perivale ……..transported to my backyard today

Umberto Jacopo Laureti in Rome

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Umberto Jacopo Laureti at Rome 3 University

Today’s programme in the Aula Magna Roma Tre
A journey in “Italian Keyboard Music” was the title given to this remarkable recital by Umberto Jacopo Laureti.
It was in the Young Artists- Piano Solo Series for the Roma Tre University directed by Roberto Pujia ,President and Valerio Vicari ,Artistic Director.
Apart from the Toccata that I had heard Serkin play years ago in London all the other pieces were new to me.
Quite a voyage of discovery to hear the young Busoni op 33. Schumannesque type pieces (I am thinking of Kinderscenen) compared to the enormous almost abstract music of the later Toccata.
To hear Respighi too in Busonian transcription mode with the Frescobaldi Passacaglia and his own version for piano of the Antiche arie e danze P114 (better known in its occasionally performed orchestral version.)
As if that was not enough we even got an encore by great demand of Umberto’s own transcription of a famous song by the well known italian cabaret singer Mina.

Umberto introducing the programme
Quite an afternoon!
I was sorry to miss Alexander Romanovsky at the other university of Rome – La Sapienza- who was performing a Chopin programme including the Studies op 10 and 25.
I hope he will forgive me!
I was however very pleased to have heard some music new to me and meticulously prepared and introduced by a young musician from the remarkable school of Benedetto Lupo.
He had also studied with Ian Fountain (the only British pianist to have won the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv ) obtaining his “Masters” at my old Alma Mater ,the Royal Academy in London.
Umberto is being helped by the Keyboard Charitable Trust in this formative period as Romanovsky was before he became the great established artist that the world knows today.
He will be performing for the KCT in the newly founded collaboration with the Festival in Grosseto of Gala Chistiakova and her husband Diego Benocci on the 26th May.
Following in the steps of another established KCT artist André Gallohttps://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/andre-gallo-at-magliano-in-toscana/10155642020497309/
It was on S.Cecilia’s day 2017 that I last heard Umberto play in London in an impressive recital that included Schubert’s great C minor Sonata ……..but nothing had prepared me for the artistry and professionalism that I heard today almost two years on.
https:/ /www.facebook.com/npotesr/choristopher-axworthy/in-praise-of-music-on-st-cecilas-day-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-keyboard-trust/10155251455277309/

with the artistic director of Roma 3 Valerio Vicari
A new programme of some very complex ,rarely (if ever) performed music.
Unjustly neglected pieces from two key Italian composers of the 20 century.
Respighi we know from his often performed orchestral showpiece Trilogy “The Pines of Rome.”
Busoni is sometimes referred to as Mr Bach/Busoni but to more expert musicians his Fantasia Contrappuntistica, or his unfinished opera Doktor Faust are recognised masterpieces.
In fact Umberto is preparing his thesis at the Royal Academy in London for a doctorate on Busoni and from his very learned introductions it was obvious that we had expert guidance and introduction to Busoni’s world.

explaining about the Busoni Toccata having taken off his jacket before plunging into this very dense virtuosistic score
The concert opened with the six pieces that make up the “Macchiette mediovali” op 33 by Busoni.
Each piece only a few minutes long but full of differing character.
From the salon type charm of “Dama” to the robust sounds and rhythmic energy of “Cavaliere.” The great sense of colour and horn calls echoing one another of “Paggio.” The ostinato bass of “Guerriero”; the almost fugato texture of “Astrologo” or the great ceremonial opening of “Trovatore” on which the beautiful melodic line rides.
So reminiscent of the little tone poems that make up so many of the early works of Schumann (op 6/12/15 in particular)
Beautifully realised and played with such conviction and style.
Always ravishing sound from this Schimmel concert grand.
Some very subtle colouring and wonderfully robust but never hard tone in the louder passages.
Having heard such a fine performance one only wonders why these pieces are not played more often in concert.
Of course they need fine musicianship and sense of style and colour but above all the scrupulous preparation that we were witness to today.

Umberto with early Busoni before rolling up his sleeves for the transcendental Toccata
There followed a grandiose transcription by Respighi of the Passacaglia P111 by Girolamo Frescobaldi.
A truly virtuoso transcription with some full rich sonorities very reminiscent of the great Busoni organ transcriptions that are much better known.
Listening though to Respighi’s own piano version of his orchestral suite “Antiche arie e danze” P114 one could perceive a certain repetitive formula to his approach to the piano.Very impressive as it was in the Passacaglia it did wane as we heard many of the “tricks of the trade” applied to his own work.
The Grandeur of the Balletto “Il Conte Orlando” again with great sonority and the very sensitive doubling of the melodic line in the middle register in “Villanella” that gave it such sense of depth.
The marked rhythmic character of the scherzando “Gagliardo” with musette type pedal effects especially in the trio section.
The beautiful legato melodic line with the staccato left hand gently accompanying of the “Italiana”.
The equally telling long lines of the traditional melody of the “Siciliana” with its great scale variants and the grandiloquence of the “Passacaglia” final sixth piece.
All perfectly performed with such a sense of overall line and conviction that was indeed remarkable for a piece learnt especially for this all Italian programme.

Shirt sleeves for Busoni’s transcendental Toccata
The final work was Busoni’s extraordinary Toccata BV287 that I had heard Serkin play together with the Berceuse many years ago in London.A programme that had included a mammouth work too by Reger together with Schumann Carnaval op 9 and Beethoven op 111.A memorable evening indeed for one of his all too rare visits to Europe.
The toccata is a very complex work in three parts Preludio,Fantasia and Chaconne requiring great physical drive and complete mastery of the keyboard.
All things that Umberto had in abundance as he launched himself in shirtsleeves into this final work.
Here was the great Busoni sonority that Respighi had tried to mirror but also with great dynamic contrasts and sense of colour .Some of Busoni’s very personal meanderings that Hindemith was to mirror later.
A voyage of discovery in the presence of a master of the keyboard who had dedicated himself to revealing the secrets of this still very little known repertoire.

Cristian Sandrin at St Mary’s with encore performance

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
Cristian Sandrin at St Mary’s with encore performance
Some superb sounds from this young Romanian pianist playing for the Keyboard Trust,invited by Hugh Mather into the mecca that he and his team have created in this beautiful little 12th century redundant church.
Redundant no longer thanks to this retired physician who dedicates his time to helping all the remarkable young musians that flock to London from all parts of the world.
I remember Cherkassky saying that although travelling the world continuously until well into his 80’s,London was always the indisputed capital for music and the only place to be.
Cristian is a natural musician where music pours out of him without any artefacts.
The same physical stature of an Ashkenazy he too looks as though he was born to play the piano.
All his physical movements only underlined the sounds that he was able to conjure out of the piano.
This well used but lovingly looked after Yamaha piano he exclaimed afterwards to Dr Mather how much he had enjoyed playing it.
It is not an easy piano but in the hands of a true musician we can be convinced, as he was, that in that moment it is the only instrument for him.
Richter used to say he did not want to choose a piano but he loved delving into any instrument and learning like a true Don Giovanni the secret path to seduction!
Cristian certainly did that with a sumptuous muticoloured performance of Ravel’s most elusive of scores that is “Miroirs”.

Cristian with Dr Mather
From the moths flitting around the piano to the bells resounding in the distance.
The great swishing of the ocean waves and the decided authority of the Jester.
It was all here in a multifaceted performance that kept us spellbound.
That is until the rude awakening of Ginastera`s much neglected Sonata n.1 op 22.
Bombastic,passionate,delicate and hypnotic it was all here but never resorting to the usual transatlantic metallic sounds that has been inflicted on it (like Prokofiev)for too long in lesser hands.
The C minor nocturne by Chopin op 48 n.1 offered as an encore showed a heart that beated as beautifully as his head reasoned like the born musician he demonstrated to us today.
The Mozart sonata in C K 330.
Played with such style and shape.
Sometimes lacking in that absolute clarity of articulation that can make even the fastest passages sing.
I was not always in agreement with his ornaments especially in the slow movement but then I had just heard Mitsuko Uchida play it in Perugia with a beauty and perfection that I never expect to hear or wish for again.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/miracles-in-perugia-dame-mitsuko-uchida-plays-schubert/10156334047927309/
As she said ,she lives in the 20th century and for her a concert should remain only a beautiful memory.
It certainly was that today too.
Cristian has been invited back to Perivale in the renowned Tuesday afternoon series created by Dr Hugh, his wife Dr Felicity and Roger Nellist.
Tuesday 2nd April from 2 to 3.Timed so beautifully to avoid rush hour but it is also streamed on the St Mary`s website.
And so it was another recital only confirming even more resoundingly the first impression of his concert for the Keyboard Trust last month.

Spring comes to Perivale
Spring has come to this beautiful little church immersed in the greenery of Ealing Golf Course.
It was a revelation to hear Schubert’s “big” A minor Sonata D.845 from the hands of a true musician.
I have never thought of this sonata as being Schubert’s “Pastoral” Sonata but such was the range of sounds and use of the pedal by Cristian Sandrin it all fitted so well into place.
As one was aware in his previous recital Cristian is a real musician but listening to this very long and difficult sonata this was a performance seen through the eyes not only of a true thinking musician but above all of a poet.
A beautiful haze was created by a subtle use of the pedals in the final of the first movement as the horns show us Schubert’s vision of pastures green.
The extreme delicacy of the Andante and a very telling subtle rubato was quite irresistible and reminiscent of so many of Schubert’s Lied.
The trio of the Scherzo was played with a great sense of colour and again the timeless mist of Schubert’s countryside.

programme of the 2nd April
The Rondo just drifting in and as in the G major sonata, Schubert’s sublime melodic invention was added to such moving effect contrasting with some truly transcendental passages played with great authority.
Thirty five minutes of sublime music where time stood still.
A great difference from another concert in the Barbican where a never ending performance of Schubert’s last sonata unfolded in a record 55 minutes with an audience clapping after every movement hoping that this was perhaps the end !
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/canons-covered-in-flowers-khatia-buniatishvili-at-the-barbican/10156392241447309/

spring bursting out all over in this historic graveyard
The concert had opened with the Haydn Sonata in C Hob XVI:50.
It was Anton Rubinstein that said the pedal was the soul of the piano and it was never more evident than in the recital today.
The music box effect in the first movement was beautifully realised in the true syle of the day.
A very rhythmic performance of the Allegro but with some very subtle contrasts in dynamics passing almost unnoticed as the music was allowed to unfold so naturally.
The Adagio was allowed to unfold like the opening of a great opera.
So delicately phrased, Haydn’s great drama was allowed to unfold with such an affecting simplicity and wonderful sense of balance.
The playful interruptions of the final Allegro were played so spiritedly it shaped so perfectly the closing notes of this absolute jewel of a sonata.
The Chopin Nocturne op 48 n.1 I have spoken about in the previous recital but the beauty of sound seemed today to have reached even greater heights.
As had the poetry of the ending as is disappeared in a subtle mist of sound bringing to an end so movingly this true little tone poem.
Oiseaux Triste was the encore offered in place of his original idea of Paganini -Schumann that he preferred to keep for the next day in a piano festival in Germany.
A beautiful performance that brought this truly musical afternoon to a fitting end.

St Mary’s today
A full house but much more than was apparent to us present today.
The concert was streamed live worldwide to a far greater audience than could ever fit into this beautiful musical mecca just 20 minutes from the centre of London.
Our host of ceremonies Roger Nellist was taking the place of Dr Hugh Mather who was listening with his grandchildren on Cyprus.
He was having a well earned break, during the school half term ,from the hundreds of concerts that he and his colleague promote so generously each year.

Old schoolfriends united after 40 years on wings of song

Khatia Buniatishvili at the Barbican

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“Canons” covered in flowers Khatia Buniatishvili at the Barbican
World record just under the 60 minutes for Schubert B flat.
Four looooong movements:Travesty,Betrayal,Gnomus-things that go bump in the night,Pastiche.
Luckily her audience had come to applaud an entertainer and so clapped after every movement hoping no doubt that she would go into fifth gear and give us what we really had come for!
Frenzied paraphrase on Liszt`s 2nd Rhapsody had the audience on their feet and a fleet of young men chasing her onto the stage with flowers.
This is just the adulation we are told that awaited Liszt from his aristocratic admirers.
A thankfully abbreviated version of Schubert G flat impromptu (as like the Andante( sic) sostenuto of the Sonata it was practically inaudible) brought this grotesque and vulgar exhibition to its triumphant end.
We all loved her …..me too….she is irresitible
“Je ne regret rien”…….but sorry I had to give my Sokolov ticket away tonight as I had to delay my return to Rome for family reasons.
One might be tempted to say ,looking at Miss Buniatishvili’s decollete’ tonight that I got the “booby” prize.
But I must say she looks the million dollars that
he `aint…..
………………..but he has that little extra that counts so they tell me!
Laughing all the way to the bank as my idol Liberace used to boast……..
………….and we are laughing with you darling Khatia just like Lang Lang ……
                                               Chapeau!
                                             We love you.

The Joy of Music -Adam Heron and friends at St Mary at Hill

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The Joy of Music – Adam Heron and Friends at St Mary – at -Hill
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·VENERDÌ 29 MARZO 2019

Lovat Lane the home of St Mary at Hill
On a beautiful spring day what a treat to be in the City and to see such crowds congregated in shirts sleeves during the lunch hour outside the many historic pubs that abound in this part of the city……….
but in almost every church in London music is ringing out too .And it was indeed refreshing to see a crowd of young musicians in their early twenties sharing their superb talent and evident love of music with us at St Mary at Hill.
Joined together from the Royal Academy of Music and united around Adam Heron for the first of a series to include all the Symphonies of the “local lad” William Boyce (1711-1779).
In a programme today that included Mozart Concerto in C K.415 with Aïda Lahlou as soloist.
Last week it had been Adam Heron who had given a superb solo recital in this church St Mary at Hill.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/london-rings-with-the-sound-of-music-adam-heron-at-st-mary-at-hill/10156372055932309/
Aïda Lahlou I had heard too a few months ago in another beautiful church: St James’s Piccadilly where she performed under the eagle eye of Canan Maxton and her Talent Unlimited which aims to give a platform to some of the most talented musicians in London.

Thibault Charrin A man for all seasons composer pianist,recording engineer
Thibault Charrin who gave the world premiere of his violin sonata in the shared recital at St James’s was  the expert recording engineer of today’s concert
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A very full church for this first concert of the newly born Boyce Camerata.
Today Adam Heron was wearing his conducting hat and at the piano was his charming companion Aïda Lahlou who gave a beautiful performance of Mozart’s C major Concerto.
One of a trilogy of concerti K 413/414/415 that I still remember in
a magical evening with Fou Ts’ong and the Allegri quartet of the much missed Hugh Maguire.
A beautiful performance in which the sublime slow movement and the slow central section of the final Allegro were realised with great simplicity and sense of style.
Beautifully accompanied by the Camerata and Adam Heron who were listening to every note.
The final Allegro was played with all the charm of the young Mozart and the opening Allegro played with great rhythmic energy and sense of character.
The cadenzas showed off all the command of this very talented young pianist from the Menuhin School (a studentof Marcel Baudet) and now an undergraduate in Cambridge
continuing her studies with Caroline Palmer.
The concert began with Elgar’s very personal tribute to his friend August Jaeger.
A beautifully judged performance in which Adam abandoned the conductor’s baton preferring the much more expressive use of his natural arm and hand movements.
We had actually discussed this a few days earlier at the concert conducted by Vasily Petrenko and we had both agreed on our admiration for his beautiful natural movements .Adam had likened it to Kleiber and I to Giulini.
The brilliant sun light that penetrated the beautiful tall windows of the church seemed to illuminate quite by chance the score that Adam was using.
It was indeed very illuminating to see with what intelligence and passion this young man has created his own ensemble and brought them so happily together with such “joie de vivre” for the simple joy of sharing music with us.
This is something we never ever hear about in the mass media where Brexit or even worse seem to be the only name of the game!
A young engineer too had come to the concert with the urtext edition of the Boyce Symphonies and told me that he was studying conducting and music for the sheer joy of enjoyment!

the musical engineer following with the score
The first Symphony by Boyce seemed very familiar to me, no idea why.But it was full of Handelian charm and boyancy.
This young ensemble under their conductor played with such sense of enjoyment Listening to each other their ensemble was really quite remarkable .
The Moderato e dolce of the first Symphony was most beautifully shaped.
The Symphony in three short movements lasted about ten minutes – what a difference from the Shostakovich Symphony I had sat through the night before that lasted almost an hour!
The Symphony n. 4 in F completed the programme.
The strange indication noted in the programme by a colleague of Vivace ma non troppo was infact in the urtext as we assertained from our musical engineer!
What a wonderful surprise to find this oasis where people had gathered for the pure joy of sharing the experience of music together.
Hats off to Adam Heron and his friends for showing us what many of our youths are also up to in these bleak days of only terrible reports in the press.
I am reminded of the extraordinary “experiment” in Venezuela and the magic qualities of music for all those that dare to enter.

Jun Lin Wu- A star is born

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary3 commenti
Jaques Samuel Prize Winner’s Wigmore Hall recital.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/jaques-samuel-intercollegiate-competition-at-the-wigmore-hall/10156097085632309/
An extraordinary debut recital by this 21 year old winner of the Jaques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition .
I was at the final of the competition last November when this young man amongst some very fine contestants took us all by storm with a sensational account of Rachmaninov’s Sonata in B flat minor.
We saw each other again when he was in the audience for the extraordinary recital at the Chopin Society of his present teacher Dmitri Alexeev at the RCM in London.
I remember Craig Sheppard telling me about this remarkable young man when still in his teens he won the International Piano Competition in Seattle.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/the-chopin-society-london-salutes-a-master/10156119259407309/
He has much in common with his mentor with his total involvement when he is seated at the piano and great sense of balance and colour.
A technique that like Alexeev knows no boundaries and is at the service of their search for the true musical meaning of the works that they transmit so fervently to us.

St Mary’s Perivale
Amazingly this young man was playing at the Wigmore Hall in the evening and the following morning playing in that mecca for pianists of Dr Hugh Mather at St Mary’s in Perivale.
A completely different programme comprising the Liszt Sonata and Haydn Sonata in B minor Hob XVI:32

Jun Lin Wu at the Wigmore Hall
And so it was that Jun Lin presented in the Wigmore Hall a very varied programme that demonstrated his remarkable musicianship and vast range of sound.
From the arresting opening of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy,through the most poetical musings of late Chopin.The radiant scents of the Spain of Albeniz to the sublime colours and pyrotechnics of Ravel.
Chopin’s nocturne in F sharp op.15 played as his last encore made it quite clear that we were in the presence of a true poet of the piano.
It was nice to see Terry Lewis of Jaques Samuels that indefatigable sustainer of young musicians giving this chance of a major debut in London to a young pianist.
He has recently been honoured by the RCM from the hands of Prince Charles in recognition of all that he does for music in London via his studio of Fazioli and Bechstein pianos in the centre of London.
It was also nice to see Dmitri Alexeev’s wife the distinguished teacher Tanya Sarkissova and his assistant the pianist Jianing Kong both supporting Jun Lin whilst his mentor was on tour in Germany.https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/jianing-kong-in-perivale/10154253331762309/
The concert manager Lisa Peacock and vice head of Keyboard at the RCM: Ian Jones were all present to sustain this young artist as he revealed his remarkable artistry to a musical world that awaits.

Jun Lin Wu at the Wigmore Hall
It was nice to see at last a Bechstein Concert Grand returning to it’s rightful home “Bechstein Hall” as Wigmore Hall was originally known from its opening in 1901.
In 1914 like all German businesses in Britain it was put into the hands of an official Receiver and Manager.
In November 1916 the hall was acquired at auction by Debenham and Freebody and was reopened on January 16 1917 renamed Wigmore Hall that we know today.
Artur Rubinstein gave the last concert of his life in May 1976 ( 75 years since his first appearance there) to persuade people not to allow the threatened demolition of one of London’s most cherished halls.
Since then the Wigmore Hall has gone from strength to strength and is today considered one of the most loved chamber music venues in the world.

Jun Lin Wu at the Wigmore Hall
And so it was thanks to our most generous benefactors Terry Lewis and Hugh Mather who gave us the opportunity to hear this remarkable young pianist twice in a range of repertoire in the span of only 24 hours.
The simplicity and youthful freshness with which this young man presents himself belies the profound subtlety of his art.
The extreme delicacy and range of expression in the quietest of passages is of Richter/Lupu proportions.
The two Chopin nocturnes op 62 amongst the last utterings of Chopin were played at the Wigmore and repeated in Perivale.
They say miracles do not occur twice but here we heard sounds as one would imagine only a mature aristocratic artist would be able to transmit.
Such finesse and flexibility of pulse whilst shaping the great melodic lines in a great arch surrounded by the most subtle counterpoints .

The completely natural simplicity of this young man in Perivale today
The sweeping ornaments were like great swells of sound in particular in op 62 n.1 that just enhanced the magic atmosphere that he was creating.
This is a true gift of the Gods and not something that can be taught .
The Chopin Scherzo op 54 was given a scintillating performance at the Wigmore Hall.With such astonishing technical command allied to his extreme sensibilty to sound he gave one of the finest performances that I have heard of this the most elusive of Chopin’s four Scherzi.
The Schubert Wanderer Fantasy at the Wigmore Hall was matched by Liszt’s masterpiece of the Romantic era :the Sonata in B minor.
The Schubert that opened the Wigmore Hall recital was in Jun Lin’s own words :” It is always a good choice for the beginning of a big recital,the Cmajor chords give strong expression to reflect the power of the performer”
Well it certainly did that but much much more besides.
The complete technical command meant that he could abandon himself to the almost savage demands that Schubert places on the performer.
With the great passion and energy of a young man he threw himself into the fray in a very exciting and sweeping performance.But here too was the beautiful shaping and sense of balance in the long lyrical passages that shows so poignantly the path that Schubert was to take as his short life neared its end.
His sense of balance in accompanying the melodic lines was quite superb especially when he had a fast pianissimo accompaniment played almost without a hint of pedal.

Jun Lin Wu in Perivale
It was in the great Sonata by Liszt that closed his recital in Perivale that it was the quieter more introspective passages that were so remarkable.
In Liszt his sparing use of pedal meant it lacked something of the grandeur in the passionate outbursts that abound.
Amazing technical control but I found right from the opening triplet declaration there could have been more weight.This of course is only a detail in a performance that had so many memorable moments.
The build up in the slow middle movement was quite breathtaking with sumptuous rich sounds.
The ending too built up to the eruption of the great octaves that were dispatched with all the ease of a young virtuoso.It was though in the final notes that his complete control of sound and colour were quite unique and will remain with me for a long time.

Jun Lin Wu introducing his programme in Perivale
The Sonata in B minor by Haydn with which he opened his Perivale recital was played with a great sense of style as he entered into the sound world that Haydn demands.
Extreme clarity allied to the most subtle phrasing were the hallmarks of a refreshingly simple performance.The Minuet was played with such beautiful colouring and the last movement was played with great energy maybe just a shade too fast for Haydn’s wit to shine through completely.
The Albeniz that he presented in the Wigmore Hall showed off all his extraordinary sense of colours and subtle shadings.The Prelude from the Cantos de Espana op 232 was played with such fibrile energy you could almost imagine the savage flamenco in course but with such exquisite interruptions of complete contrast.
El Albaicin and Triana were played with all the charm and exhilaration of Spain.His sense of balance was quite extraordinary as the melodic line passed from one part of the piano to another.
Cordoba that he also played as an encore in Perivale had such an irresistible sense of nostalgia mixed with charm I am amazed it is not heard more often in the concert hall.

Jun Lin Wu at the Wigmore Hall
His ravishing performances of Ravel will remain with me for a long time.
The beauty of sound and perfection of the Pavane was matched by the shimmering sounds that he regaled us with in Jeux d’eau.
La Valse was a tour de force of bravura.Starting with barely a murmur and leading to glissandi and the most trancendentally difficult passages dispatched as only a true virtuoso could.
It brought the Wigmore Hall concert to a breathtaking close.
A little piece of such subtle beauty by Sibelius was his way of thanking us and reminding us of the poet that we have in our midst today.

Programme in Perivale

The Amazing Ming Xie for City Music Society

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The amazing Ming Xie for City Music Society

St Bartholomew the Great
The amazing Ming Xie at St Bartholomew the Great with his extraordinary recording technician Thibault Charrin.
A mouthwatering account of Brahms Paganini Book 1 was a magnificent finish to his lunchtime recital for the City Music Society.
A very fine performance of great clarity due to his careful use of the sustaining pedal in which his finger legato was quite incredible.
The 6th variation with very little pedal made the difference between staccato left hand and portamento right so clean and clear as is rarely the case in lesser hands.
His sense of balance was quite extraordinary and nowhere more than in the sublime 12th variation where the melodic line in the left hand was embelished by the right with such delicacy.
The glissandi that followed were thrown off with an ease that would have had any other pianists in tears.
The power of the final variation was quite breathtaking.
It was preceded by Beethoven’s Sonata op 31 n.3 which in his hands has never sounded so “pastoral”.Even more so than the “official” Pastoral Sonata op 28 .
A continuous bubbling over of energy like water running over a brook.
It had me rushing to the score too to check some of the details that were so originally and rightly observed.
Not sure about the opening ritardando that was the only place that sounded rather ponderous in a performance that had us almost dancing in the aisles.
The first movement leading into the second without a break was so perfectly right one wonders why others have not done the same..
The Menuetto and even more famous Trio were played with such beautiful tone and heartfelt shaping,rarely has this little Menuetto sounded so wonderfully mellifluous.
The Scherzo from a Midsummer Night’s Dream in the famous transcription by Rachmaninov was played with such ” joie de vivre” that we were not even aware of the feats of piano playing that were being conjured before our very eyes.
A little waltz by Tchaikowsky: “Natha- Valse” op 51 n.4 was thrown off with all the charm and ease of the great virtuosi of the past.
His magnificent Brahms only included Book one so it left time for two encores.
Ravel “Ondine” that was the most beautiful account I ever wish to hear.It was played with the clarity and ease of Jeux d’eau but of course much more transcendentally difficult.
A wonderful sense of balance in which the water nymph flitted in waters that were so crystal clean and clear it was almost beyond belief.The final melody was so beautifully judged as she drowned in a mist of pedal only to be reawakened by cascades of sounds that disappeared as they had begun.
His second encore was Chopin’s study op 25 n.6 in double thirds that we learnt incredulously afterwards he had not played for two years!
Martha Argerich was not joking when she said he was a phenomenon.
Here he is at his Guildhall Prize Winners Wigmore Hall concert in June 2018 https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/miracles-at-the-guildhall-ming-xie-and-jonathan-ferrucci/10155795520292309/

congratulated by friends after his recital

St Bartholomew the Great

Julian Trevelyan plays the Diabelli Variations at St Mary’s

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
JulianTrevelyan plays the Diabelli Variations at St Mary’s
An notable achievement is how Dr Hugh Mather described Julian Trevelyan’s Diabelli Variations today.
Miracles do not happen every day but I am certain that today we were all hypnotised by this extraordinary first outing of Beethoven’s final thoughts for the piano.
It will now grow even more in stature until Julian has the courage to abandon the written score and enter even more fully into Beethoven`s universe with the same frenzy and total dedication of Rudolf Serkin in his unforgettable performances of op.106 and 120 in the RFH in the early 70’s.Alfred Brendel too was unforgettable.
A performance marked by the great rhythmic energy from the first to the last note of a fifty minute span in which all the range of emotions were exposed in one of Beethoven’s last works for piano.
Later in op 126 the same emotions were filtered and distilled as he had indicated already in these 33 variations on the simple little waltz by Anton Diabelli.
The 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, was written between 1819 and 1823 and is considered to be one of the greatest sets of variations for keyboard along with Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
Donald Tovey called it “the greatest set of variations ever written”.
Alfred Brendel has described it as “the greatest of all piano works”.
It also comprises, in the words of Hans von Bülow, “a microcosm of Beethoven’s art”.
In Beethoven: The Last Decade 1817–1827, Martin Cooper writes, “The variety of treatment is almost without parallel, so that the work represents a book of advanced studies in Beethoven’s manner of expression and his use of the keyboard, as well as a monumental work in its own right”
( It is interesting to note that his daughter Imogen has just recorded the Diabelli on Chandos CHAN 2005 to great critical acclaim)
Arnold Schoenberg writes that the Diabelli Variations “in respect of its harmony, deserves to be called the most adventurous work by Beethoven”.
Beethoven’s approach to the theme is to take some of its smallest elements – the opening turn, the descending fourth and fifth, the repeated notes – and build upon them pieces of great imagination, power and subtlety.
Alfred Brendel wrote, “The theme has ceased to reign over its unruly offspring. Rather, the variations decide what the theme may have to offer them. Instead of being confirmed, adorned and glorified, it is improved, parodied, ridiculed, disclaimed, transfigured, mourned, stamped out and finally uplifted”
And so undaunted this young musician,Julian Trevelyan, approached for the first time in public this masterpiece trusting in Dr Mather’s discerning audience to find the right ears for the beginning of his great voyage of discovery.
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https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/julian-trevelyan-at-st-marys-perivale/10154611649682309/
It shows the great intellectual searching mind of this young pianist who has already taken the musical world by storm at the age of only 16 when he was the top prize winner in the Marguerite Long (Thibaud-Crespin) International Piano Competition in Paris.
Now at 19 and studying at Oxford he chooses to play this monumental work instead of the more usual fare of Liszt,Chopin,Rachmaninov that we are used to hearing from the young lions that roar at us from every angle of the planet.
Andras Schiff played both the Diabelli and Goldberg in his 60th birthday recital a few years ago.
It is a pure coincidence that this week in London he gave a revelatory account of the two Brahms concerti on a Bluthner of 1860,the same one that he uses for his most recent recording of the Diabelli variations.
A performance at once marked from the outset by a rhythmic drive that took us unrelentingly through the fifty minutes in which Beethoven spans all the human emotions via this disarmingly simple little waltz.
Great contrasts at once apparent between the maestoso Alla Marcia of the first variation and the lightweight scamperings of the second.All played with the minimum of pedal that allowed for great clarity of detail.Subtle shadings being made by his very sensitive touch.
The striking beauty of the following variations to the chorus of great trills in every part of the piano.Great contrast of dynamics with great foreward impetus in the 7th and the clarity and beautiful legato “dolce e teneramente” of the 8th.We were not spared Beethoven’s snarling acciacaturas and the technical precision of the 10th was breathtaking.
The delicate beseeching of the melodic line spread over the whole range of the keyboard was followed by some very telling finger legato which allowed the bass to become even more menacing.
The great Beethovenian contrasts were superbly realised in the following variation leading to the first of the most intense statements of number 14 which was played with great depth of feeling.
It is a profound statement that finds a parallel only in Bach’s great set of Variations dedicated to Goldberg.
A slight release of tension in the scherzando’s playful sense of rhythm before the great outburst and forward movement of the 16th and 17th. A great sense of mystery in the 18th before the superbly cascading notes of the 19th.The 20th so reminiscent of Beethovens last Sonata op 111 with his deepest anguished lament ending in paradise and superbly judged by Trevelyan.
The spell rudely awakened as always by Beethoven with the trills once again appearing all over the keyboard.
Beethoven at his most playful immediately followed by great feats of virtuosity with impertinant interruptions .Contrasting with the peace and pastoral feel of the fughetta.The bubbling left hand played all so clearly and leggiermente on which the chords were allowed to bounce so playfully.The beautiful liquid sounds “piacevole” leading to great feats of virtuosity and the angular chords played with an obtuse sense of bewilderment.
Gradually leading into the very heart of this work from variation 29.
I had admired so much Andre Tchaikowsky here in the way the very specifically marked rests were allowed to give a passionate almost gasping feel to this long sustained melodic line.
The most profound 31st variation so similar to the slow movement of the Hammerklavier in it’s almost Bellinian embellishments led to the frenzied outburts of the ferocious Fugato.
It was here that the animal like frenzy of Serkin will never be forgotten by all those that could feel the electricity generated by this simple professorial looking man.
It is impossible to abandon oneself to the animal like instincts and frustrations that Beethoven demands reading from the score.
The disarming innocense and eventual disintigration of Diabelli’s little melody in the final variation was superbly realised by Julian Trevelyan
I look forward to hearing Julian Trevelyan again in this work that will grow in stature and evolve as he too will as he learns to live with it.
The birth of the great artist he is revealing himself to be via living with these masterworks and sharing them with a world that awaits.