Autore: ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

It was Noretta Conci-Leech,founder of the Keyboard Charitable Trust who on hearing Mihai strike up the first few notes of Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata leant over to me and said this is the one.

It was the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Intercollegiate Competition that we had been asked to judge together with Piers Lane.

I had already heard Mihai a few years earlier in a masterclass with Richard Goode and from then on had been following his progress with Joan Havill at the Guildhall with much interest.

He ,of course, was awarded the Gold Medal and later graduated with honours from the Guildhall and was accepted by the Keyboard Charitable Trust where he was invited to give a special concert in the Reform Club in the presence of Sir Antonio Pappano.

He has since been selected by the City Music Foundation who presented him at Cadogan Hall with the English Chamber Orchestra under Michael Collins.

They also have produced a CD of piano works by Liszt,Franck and Enescu that has been highly acclaimed by the critics.

He has appeared many times in Romania and as a laureate of the George Enescu International Piano competition his performance of Shostakovich n.1 last autumn with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra was broadcast live on Romanian television.

This is his second appearance that I have heard for Hugh Mather and on this occasion he was standing in at very short notice for an indisposed Mishka Rushdie Momen.

In fact it was such last minute we thought as the clock struck two that we might have to send out a search party for him.

We need not have worried for Mihai is a great professional and having had some difficulty in arriving on time just two minutes late he arrived and sat at the piano and took us immediately into his own special magic world.

It was my teacher Sidney Harrison who first said he did not teach children but when I auditioned for him he immediately saw that the piano and I were made for each other and thankfully changed his mind !

And so it was the first time I saw Mihai in masterclasses of Richard Goode and it was this that Noretta Conci immediately noticed.

Once again today it was obvious that Mihai and the piano are just made for each other.

From the very first notes there was a luminosity of sound that made one realise what Busoni meant when he said the pedal was the soul of the piano.

The Sonata in A major K24 that can so often sound like an exercise was here shaped with very subtle use of the sustaining pedal and a touch of a thousand gradations that gave a living shape and form to Scarlatti’s magic weave.

In the beautifully contrasting sonata in C sharp minor K247 the luminosity of sound was even more apparent.

I have heard many recitals on this piano but rarely have I been aware of the glow and subtle sheen of sound that was hidden within.

It is easy for a professional pianist to make a magnificent instrument sing but it is only a pianist who really listens to himself that can do the same on a piano which has seen better days.

In fact it was Richter who was quite happy to have the challenge of searching for the secrets in an unknown instrument.

The impeccable musicianship of Mihai he has inherited from his mentor at the Guildhall Joan Havill.

It was apparent yet again in an engaging performance of Beethoven’s Les Adieux Sonata A great sense of style and telling use of the bass notes at just the crucial moment.

The great fanfare in the last movement played quite fearlessly and with great rhythmic impetus.

The opening of the Farewell was even more moving for the total respect he had for the score without a trace of sentimentality but with great inner feeling.

A performance that one can put side by side with his remarkable Appassionata that won him the Gold Medal of the Beethoven Society a few years ago.

The fleeting moods of Chopin’s 3 Mazukas op 59 were magically portrayed.The second in particular dissolving into the air.And the more assertive third mazurka played with all the vigour of a native .

The sheen that he gave to the sound of the piano especially in the Liszt was quite remarkable.

The Fminor trancendental study was shaped and given a Ballade type form and any trace of rhetoric or showmanship was subordinate to the passionate sense of urgency and forward movement that swept us along to the exciting finish.

The genial “Au bord d’une source” was given a glistening performance in which we could almost see the stream bubbling along with such  nostalgia of charm and peace.

This is an absolute gem and all too rarely heard these days in concert.

Throwing himself  fearlessly into the Rigoletto Paraphrase this was the world of Liszt the showman.

Mihai was well aware of this and gave a truly virtuoso performance .

The sumptuousness of the melody and the delicate accompaniment were followed by great gusts of octaves that swept us along to a tumultuous end that was greeted by a true ovation from a discerning public that had been totally captivated by the great musicianship of this young artist.

Little were we expecting an encore of such subtle colouring as we were offered with Claire de lune by Debussy.

Such a wonderful delicate sense of balance that colours appeared like jewels in a magic box gleaming like a kaleidoscope with a thousand different shades.

There was pure magic in this fantasy world of Mihai Ritivoiu to which we were admitted so unexpectedly today.

The very enterprising Canan Maxton came up with a suprise concert of not one pianist but two at the lunchtime concert for Talent Unlimited.

Both have won numerous prizes and recognition in International Competitions and both are doing their final postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music .

It was nice to be able to hear this fine Australian pianist again at St Mary’s in Hugh Mather’s series.

Having heard this remarkable pianist a year ago we were both alarmed to hear that he had been invited to leave the country where he had perfected his studies and would have to apply for a visa if he wished to return.

Here are my thoughts on his previous recital that had so impressed.

Whilst delighted to see him back having resolved this problem , one that not all musicians can so easily, one could reflect that with Brexit now very much on everyone’s lips the visa problem may indeed be even more complicated from April 2019 .

It seems strange to me and to Dr Mather, who has many dealings with truly exceptional young international musicians ,that a young artist who has been supported by trust funds and government scholarships because of their unique talent should after having studied in this country and brought honour on themselves and the institutions that have provided them with the recognised exceptional training, that has enabled their extraordinary talent to mature and grow in stature, are then invited to leave the country.

A country that has given them so much and that they now in turn could repay as well as propogate worldwide.

These extraordinary young artists are treated like builders or general workers that are trying to take advantage of all the UK has to offer without participating or repaying that debt .

I remember a story that used to go around of Segovia arriving at the frontier and the officer in control shouted to his mate :”There is an old bloke here who says he plays the banjo”.

Sokolov will not come to this country because he refuses to give his fingerprints as it reminds him of the regime that he had escaped .

No problem for him as the world goes to Europe to hear him ,he has no need to cross the channel !

It is a pity ,and something that I must say I am ashamed of, that artists of this stature after years of struggle and dedication are treated almost like criminals .

There are ways around this of course but so unsettlingly complicated and time consuming that it can take away from the time needed to dedicate themselves to their art.

In fact I was not surprised when Dr Mather told me that there had been a change of programme.I expect that John had spent more time with bureaucracy than with his art in the past months.

The first half of Chopin and Liszt for this reason sounded a bit tired with accomodating rubatos that are no part of this artists usual baggage.

It was in the study op 25 n.12 that suddenly we saw signs of the great pianist that I remembered from before.

There were of course some beautiful things in the Polonaise Fantasie that obviously was old repertoire that had been professionally prepared to honour his engagment with Dr Mather .

The Tarantella by Liszt I remember much more scintillating and less accomodating from his last appearance.

Then after an interval during which we were invited to wander around the graveyard that is looking so beautiful at this time of the year!

Dr Mather rang the church bells or in this case call to arms?

Suddenly after the interval the clouds had passed and we were in the presence of the great artist that we remembered so vividly.

The second sonata by Rachmaninov played with such sense of colour and sense of direction.Added to a superhuman technical ability not only to play the millions of notes but to project them and keep this rather rhapsodic sonata under strict control .

The little G minor Prelude was  also played with great style.

The beautiful inner melodies of the middle section as in the Bflat Prelude that finished the programme could have had a more sumptuous sound and more subtle sense of balance.

But that will surely come when Dr Mather reinvites him back to St Barnabas to play on his magnificent Bosendorfer.

So pleased that this gifted artist ,having resolved his bureaucratic problems can share with us his great artistry.

Not only in his homeland Australia where he is already well known but also in the country that has given him so much.

Now into battle with a young exceptional Serbian pianist.

(Serbia/Australia are not part of the EU as we shortly shall not be too!)

For months  he has not touched the piano whilst he battles with the bureaucracy for an exceptional talent visa.

He won an International Competition in Italy at the age of 14 and decided to study with one of the great teachers that now reside and are proud to teach in UK institutions such as the RCM,RAM in London.

Thanks to the encouragement of Dr Mather and other institutions such as the Keyboard Charitable Trust and Talent Unlimited of Canan Maxton with the collaboration ,of course, of the extraordinary teachers that are prepared to enter the fray to help these young musicians resolve their dreams and put them on track in the very difficult start to a professional career in music.

The welsh pianist Llyr Williams opened the International Piano Series at the recently re opened Queen Elisabeth Hall on the South Bank in London .

A musician’s programme of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms as befits a former BBC New Generation artist and a recipient of the Borlotti- Buitoni award.

I was very pleased to be able to listen live to this pianist who has been performing all the Beethoven Sonatas in a series at the Wigmore Hall.

Unfortunately there is not much information about his formation in the programme or about any of the other artists in the series .

As is the norm these days which seems to be more about recent events than the actual birth and nurturing of the talent that has brought them to the fore !

Marketing it is called !

(Thanks to Google I learn that he had an early taste for opera and a love for Wagner at the age of ten.He got a first class degree from Oxford Queen’s College at 22 and did postgraduate work at the RAM with Michael Dussek,Julius Drake,Hamish Milne and Irina Zaritskaya)

Linn Rothstein with CA

However Linn Rothstein who had invited me had told me that he studied at the Royal Academy in London and studied to be an accompanist .This was with only the programme information (cost 4 pounds) before referring to the “master” Google

Unable to ascertain for certain but as music speaks louder than words it seemed obviously the case as exemplified by the wondrous sounds and extraordinary sense of balance which was combined to a musicality that left no doubt as to his intentions.

Let us not forget the great singing tradition in Wales .

Adelina Patti had a castle there and Dame Gwyneth Jones and Margaret Price wanted to turn it into a National Singing Academy.

Something that Dame Gwyneth learnt when singing in our theatre in Rome that the Arts Council had turned the idea down.

I remember the coaching from John Streets sharing lessons with Graham Johnson and being overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of sound that was possible from the piano to he who listens!

In fact if I had to say who can make the piano sing today more than any other I would not hesitate in saying Graham Johnson and Menahem Pressler.

I often say to young pianists go and listen to Graham and learn how to make the piano sing!

It was even more evident in the single encore offered of the Schubert G flat Impromptu after a long and musically difficult programme .

The magical way in which he could make the melody sing out over a gently murmuring accompaniment reminded me of Gerald Moore playing An Di Musik at his farewell concert.

With Elisabeth Schwarzkopf,Victoria de los Angeles and Dietrich Fischer Diescau looking on he captured a public that had been overwhelmed by an evening of sublime music making .

”Am I too loud” he might very well have asked .

Never !Would be the only answer possible as indeed was the case tonight.

The introduction in the programme too showed a true musical mind .

One that had thought of the recital as a voyage of discovery.From the Beethoven 32 variations based on an eight bar harmonic progression similar to the Baroque chaconne form .To the Brahms Variations in D minor obviously inspired by the great Bach Chaconne in the same key.

These two works as an introduction to two important works :that of Schumann Humoreke op 20 and Brahms Sonata in F minor op 5 .

An imposing opening to the Beethoven as you might expect from someone who was signing after the concert his 12 CD set under the title of Beethoven Unbound.

Some really beautiful detail but somehow the energy behind the notes was missing.

The extraodinary thing about Gilels and Annie Fischer’s performance of this work was the driving energy from the first to the last note .

Here was some extremely beautiful playing but the savage almost animal like Beethoven was missing which left us with a series of episodes where the underlying pulse was missing.

The Schumann rarely have I heard the opening so beautifully played .

The melody projected to perfection.

But when it came to the more articulated sections that make such a telling contrast between Florestan and Eusebius the rhythmic energy and articulation became part of a wash of musical sound.

The great sounds of the piano from which emerge the most heartrending melodic invention was not possible when the whole landscape was one of such beauty.

It became a little boring.

We were in the end yearning for a change of scenery.

It was the same in the Brahms .

A quite remarkable performance but I remember that of Kempff in this very hall where the eruptions of sound were contrasted with the most liquid of cantabiles.

A true orchestra in his hands

Here there were some wonderful moments especially in the slow movement that was a model of perfection for subtlety of balance and projection of melodic line of pure beauty .But the great passionate finale of this movement did not take our breath away as it surely should .

The Brahms variations after the second movement of the String Sextet op 18 n.1 was written as a present for Clara and was given perhaps the most satisfying performance of the evening ………….

…………….that is until we struck gold with Schubert.

It is without doubt that the Welsh have music in their blood and soul.

It is evident when they speak ,sing or as tonight play an instrument.

A remarkable lesson of musicianship indeed in this era where the modern day pianos are used to being beaten to death instead of being caressed and truly loved

P.S. Another fine young Welsh pianist Luke Jones writes :

 He studied as a youth with a local teacher called Lottie Williams-Parry and was a student at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, he went to study at Oxford University in Music whilst taking lessons at RAM. I believe he studied with Hamish Milne whilst a student there. He worked a great deal for Live Music Now and I think YCAT in the early 2000s. I believe he also studied a bit with Julius Drake and Irina Zaritskaya and a few other names that escape me.

 His mother and father are also very keen on music and I understand took him to many concerts as a child. I recall he mentioned to me once he has a copy of Chopin Polonaises signed by Sviatoslav Richter.

In the historic hall of the Academy of S.Cecilia in Via dei Greci ,invited by the director M°Roberto Giuliani, the 13th edition of the Prize took place Saturday in memory of Sergio Cafaro.

His wife Anna Maria Martinelli Cafaro has offered since 2005 scholarships to particularly talented young artists at the beginning of their careers via the Associazione Il Ventaglio represented by Tiziana Cosentino

This year there was a special prize for the interpretation of works by Schumann and Schubert,composers that were particularly close to Sergio Cafaro It was offered by the past students from the renowned School of Piano of Sergio and Anna Maria Cafaro.

The president of the jury was Pieralberto Biondi for many years promoter of a series of concerts in Rome in the Ghione Theatre and himself a very fine pianist, teacher and highly esteemed jury member.

Laura Manzini,one of Sergios pupils of whom he was very proud for her musical prowess and refined piano playing which she had just been demonstrating a few days before in Bucharest in a duo concert with Salvatore Accardo as part of the Enescu Festival

Luisa Prayer another of Sergio’s favourite students and now Artistic Director of the Orchestra in Aquila where her programmes show off all her great musicianship as organiser and performer.

The other two members of the jury were Roberto Giuliani ,director of S.Cecilia and Stella Quadrini substituting for AnnaMaria Martinelli.

A special prize of concerts for AGIMUS in Rome and for Prof Franco Carlo Ricci’s prestigious series at the Tuscia University in Viterbo.

Both Prof Ricci and the violinist Rodolfo Bonucci were also part of the special Schumann/Schubert jury this year .

In all three winners the thing that was most noticeable was the musicianship as well as the remarkable technical accomplishment of the competitors.

A beauty of sound and superb sense of balance that allowed the very fine Steinway concert grand to show off the artistry of all three finalists.

Gaia Sokoli ,third prize winner was also winner of this years special Schubert and Schumann award.

Her Scarlatti Sonata K13 showing off her refined rhythmic control and sense colour which was even more apparent in a magical account of Liszt’s La Leggerezza.

”Leggerezza” indeed was the word that springs to mind in a very refined musical palate shaped with astonishing control and sense of bravura always with the musical shape and style to the fore.

Pasquale Evangelista,who won second prize, gave a very fine performance of the Concerto sans Orchestra which is the 3rd Sonata op 14 by Schumann.

A very difficult work to hold together due to the rather capricious nature of Schumann’s fantasy.

The famous Clara Wieck variations that make up the second movement were superbly shaped .

The first movement though could have been more rhythmically tightly held together .

Nevertheless it was played with great romantic fervour which could be even more engaging if he allowed himself more flexibility in his  physical movements.

The last movement although marked Prestissimo possible could also have been even more carefully articulated.

Nevertheless it was a very successful performance of one of Schumann’s most problematic works.

The first prize went to a very fine Korean pianist Boosung Lee who played two works by Rachmaninoff.The Etude Tableaux op 39 n.1 and the original version of the Sonata n.2 in B flat minor op 36.

Some very fine playing indeed from a student of an old friend M°Micheletti from his own concerts at the Ghione quite rightly proud to pass on his remarkable skill to this beautiful young Korean pianist.

Some ravishing sounds from the piano that could now have more inner rhythmic energy in the slow lanquid sections.

The faster virtuoso passages were played brilliantly .

It was nice to see Paolo Fazioli in the front row listening to a Steinway concert grand!

His own superb pianos are to be found in most major concert halls all over the world with artists such as Angela Hewitt insisting on playing a Fazioli whenever possible.

Prof Ricci was happy to tell me that Anna Maria in desperation had told Paolo that he would never become a pianist and why did he not do something else like making them instead of breaking them!

He was there out of the esteem and thanks that he has for the “Cafaros”.

It was so nice to be back in this historic hall where as a student I had heard for the first time some of the greatest artists of our age.

I remember sitting on the stage behind Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in one of her inimitable lieder evenings.

Of Pina Carmirelli playing the three Brahms Sonatas with a last minute substitute of her regular partner Rudolf Serkin,the young Murray Perahia.

The last time I heard Aldo Ciccolini was in this hall in a concert that he gave to thank the family Napolitano that had looked after him so well after a long illness in Naples .

Many old friends and distinguished musicians present to celebrate Sergio Cafaro and to demonstrate with what esteem he was held by his colleagues.

From Luciano Cerroni and his wife Patrizia,Fausto Di Cesare as well as Laura Manzini,Luisa Prayer and many others.

Roberto Prosseda and Alessandra Ammara were in a sense present too as it was one of their pupils that took one of the major prizes .

Of course the shadows of Lya De Barberiis,Guido Agosti,Carlo Zecchi,Franco Manino,Franco Ferrara,Anna Rosa Tadei,Fausto Zadra ,Licia Mancini,Marisa Candeloro,Gabriella Galli Angelini and of course our beloved Sergio Cafaro

Nice to see Sergio Perticaroli’s star pupil Carlo Guaitoli and to hear news of this other great musician whose life so sadly has been held together by a string for so long.

Sergio who used to live near the theatre near S Peters Square that had become a mecca for musicians that just needed a space where they could share their music with others.

Sergio often used to pass by to discuss his future programmes or to tell me about particularly talented students that he and his wife had befriended.

Sergio was the most eclectic of men and one day he came with a painting that he wanted me to have that he had painted,inspired by Debussy’s Cathedrale Engloutie

Sergio was tall and thin and quite distracted and lived in his own extraordinary world of art and culture and of course his hobby of collecting insects!

He was a remarkable musician who accompanied artists of the calibre of Nathan Milstein .

He was also the most amazing improviser who could play any piece you cared to name in any style!

He was of course a very remarkable pianist and I still remember very vividly the clarity and sound of his left hand in Beethoven’s little Sonata op 79 in his very last concert for us .

Roberto Prosseda and Francesco Libetta gave a duo concert for his birthday in the Ghione theatre bringing the house down with Sergios own extraordinary pot pourri of melodies .

It is refreshing to see that the values that Sergio and Anna Maria have shared with their numerous students live on and will do so for a long time to come .

It was in 1972 whilst a student of Guido Agosti in Rome that I ventured into this historic Oratorio of 1544 to hear a performance of the Diabelli Variations for the Coro Polifonico Romano by William Grant Nabore .

It was introduced by that great character and founder Gastone Tosato.

A very fine performance I remember from Nabore a student of Carlo Zecchi.

Now returning forty years later to hear Marcos Madrigal a remarkable Cuban pianist student of Nabore at the International Piano Academy in Como that he founded with Martha Argerich many years ago and that has been ever since an oasis for many great pianists.

Tureck,Pressler,Fleischer,Fou Ts’ong,Alicia De larrocha,Moura Lympany,Karl Schnabel,Frankl,Perahia,Bashkirov are just a few of the great pianists that have been to the Academy to share their knowledge and experience with some of the finest young aspiring pianists of our day.

Just in the past two weeks there has been a festival in Como for some of the more recent students that have benefited from all that the Academy has offered:Dmitry Masleev,Alessandro Deljavan,Chi Ho Han,Francois Dumont,Ran Jia,Kostantin Lifschitz and last monday Marcos Madrigal.

A semi private concert  at Gonfalone for the opening of the Rotary Club in Rome which was opened by Prof Iacobelli describing some of the amazing frescos which cover the walls of this historic hall.

                                    Starting with the Sonata op 69 by Beethoven.

The first sonata in which cello and piano have equal importance

If the great cello solo opening could have had more weight it was the piano that immediately caught our attention with the opening flourish so beautifully shaped by Marcos.

In fact it was the great temperament of Marcos Madrigal that brought this sonata to life.

Some very refined musicianly cello playing that came to life only in the more energetic moments as the slower more melodic lines could have been projected with more authority.

Authority there certainly was from Marcos and the sheer beauty of the sound and sense of balance between the hands was quite sublime.

The interplay between cello and piano was finely managed by both players in a performance between real musicians .

The Scherzo could have had more rhythmic energy to contrast with the beautiful slow introduction to the ebuliant last movement.

The three Fantasiestucke by Schumann were played with great romantic fervour.

The first one perhaps rather too much rubato from the opening cello phrase for my taste but the interplay between the instruments was absolutely perfect with Marcos following every inflection of his partner.

The cat like glance ready to pounce the moment the cello touched the strings in the last piece gave great impetus to the music that had been lacking from the cello in the Beethoven.

Some very refined playing and great sense of colour from the cello in Casella’s Nocturne and the Tarantella was thrown off with all the ease that I remember from Andre Navarra many years ago.

Now both players were completely warmed up as was the audience on this very balmy september evening in Rome.

We were treated to a virtuoso account of Castelnuovo- Tedesco’s devilish Rhapsody on Mozart’s Figaro.

Some truly remarkable ensemble playing of great virtuosity and charm .

Suddenly we were treated to the atmosphere of sheer joie de vivre that had been missing Both audience and players were united in a great performance that brought the house down.

Or almost because first there were the two thank you speeches from the charming Rotary Presidents who had hosted this feast of music

Luckily there was still time for two extraordinary encores.

Summertime played with all the sleazy flexibility of two artists now completely at their ease .

A tango by Piazzola was the only way to finish such a feast of music .

Of course Marcos on home territory relishing every minute of the driving rhythms that had the cello now totally involved too.

The Cuban sunshine had spread its rays on a cellist that had seemed at first to be a refined musician rather than a showman in the mold of Rostropovich – more a Fournier than a Tortelier .

The stars were shining brightly yesterday for the opening of Hugh Mather’s new season at St Mary’s Perivale.

A true mecca for some of the most talented young pianists wishing to enter the musical scene in London.