Autore: ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

In Praise of Joan

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary5 commenti
In praise of Joan
“I met Joan and Vlado for the first time in Dartington in 1968 and then studied with him in 1972/73 commuting to Paris whenever I received a postcard from him written in his turquoise ink . If it was a Saturday I sometimes had to wait while the Rugby match finished !
In 1984, two years after the opening of our theatre in Rome with my wife Ileana Ghione, I approached Basil Douglas with the idea of persuading Vlado to make his debut in Italy. He came in December 1984 and made his debut at the age of 81. The French Ambassador sent a note saying he had a prior engagement a letter that Vlado tore up once he had asked me if I thought he could not be of use to the theatre in the future ! Always the perfect gentleman.
He came one year that was the anniversary of Ravel’s birth and the TV wanted to record part of the concert and make an interview. Vlado refused but we had the crew hidden out of sight in the balcony,with Joan’s connivance too, and he was on the news that night.
When he realised it would be useful for the theatre he agreed to the interview as well.
Immediately after his Rome debut Filippo Juvarra called from Padua to ask if Vlado would come and play for them in the Sala dei Giganti. He did not know that this leggendary figure was still playing.
We shared Vlado for the next 9 years and he played every year for us in Rome giving masterclasses too .
He was invited to play afterwards in many cities notably Florence where Jane Camilloni lives and whose parents lived in Florence – Joan’s God daughter who she used to take to boarding school in England.
Jane’s aunts were living in Ewelme at the time -Jelly D’Aranyi and Adila Fackiri .
Jane’s parents came to hear his Florentine debut .
Jane played too in Vlado’s masterclasses in Rome ….he was very impressed .
There was an angry crowd in the interval that could not understand why this great pianist had not played in Florence before.
No one had thought of asking him until Claudio Arrau at 84 cancelled and they needed someone to open their season. They called me up and I took him to Florence always with Joan of course.
He played in Milan,Venice too.
In Venice my wife ,who was a well known actress was allowed to jump the queue with Vlado to visit S Marks Tower whilst Joan and Filippo looked on bemused.

Filippo Juvarra Vlado Perlemuter Joan Booth Ileana Ghione
P.S. I have known Joan and Vlado since 1968 as a student in Dartington but could only consider them as close friends from their first visit to us in Italy in 1984 .
Joan loved to recall the time in 1972 when Vlado was giving classes at the Royal Academy and I was playing to him  Beethoven’s op .111 and exclaiming how come there were not more people for one of the greatest musicians of our time. He was demonstrating the most difficult of  the Chopin Preludes …n 16 in B flat minor when the lights went out ……… It was the time of Heath and strikes etc …………….Vlado continued playing to the end in pitch darkness …it has passed into history at the RAM
We had often visited them in Ewelme and Markham Square and of course loved having them both with us in Rome.
Joan often used to say that he came for us ….He adored my wife Ileana .
We visited Vlado in Paris a month before he died .Joan who commuted regularly into her late 80’s on Eurostar was not there on that occasion as Mmlle Schmidt was very much in charge .
Vlado did not recognise us on this last occasion but he loved my caressing his hand and we loved being with him .
Mlle Schmidt was very kind to us all. She was an ex student of his and became his carer. It must have been difficult for Joan and Vlado with their very discreet relationship mostly afar from Paris.
When we arrived back in Italy we were listening to the Italian Radio 3   and heard someone playing Chopin.
“This is Vlado Perlemuter who passed away today”
My wife,Ileana Ghione, passed away too in 2005 playing Hecuba on stage in our theatre ……..” an eye for an eye ……when will it ever finish” she was struck down by an aneurism and died on the operating table that night.
Since then Joan has been an absolute rock .
No rhetoric ,as my wife had asked me just before her all night operation,but warmth,intelligence and always there .
Many memorable evenings in Markham Square on my monthly visits to London.
She would provide the simplest most wonderful meals …Baked potato,Baked apple and Steak cooked on the red hot slab which she tested for its heat in the only way possible!
When she could no longer cook easily I would take pot luck from Marks and Spencer’s just at the end of the Square or a Roast chicken when in Ewelme .
One visit I had just arrived from Italy and took my nephew’s Jaguar around to Joan’s with the usual Marks and Spencer fare .
Included a bottle of red wine too in the deal …….Joan was not a great drinker and maybe had a glass.The rest of the bottle seemed to disappear though .
Driving back I was flashed at by the police who suggested I was driving erratically ……….I was of course driving on the opposite side from Italy and in a car much bigger than mine in Italy so I was ultra careful.
Asking if I had been drinking I explained I was having an M&S dinner for two with my dear 100 year old friend ………….one of the pleasant young policemen said that he was recently married and often took advantage of the same deal.
We were near my house in Kew and I suggested we go back there whilst we waited for the breathaliser to arrive.They were quite happy to wait by the car and were obviously sizing me up.They explained about the test and that if it was over 30  what the eventual consequences would be .
Blowing into the thing we waited with baited breath to see the result …………..15 !!!!!!
They offered to drive me back home with apologies all round and I considered sueing M&S for selling me coloured water !!!!
As she got older I realised she was missing music in the house and I took along many young pianists to give private recitals on Vlado’s piano …………..in Ewelme too ………Alexander Ullman,winner of the Liszt International Competitions in Budapest and Utrecht,Vitaly Pisarenko winner of the Leeds Competition,Mark Viner,winner of Alkan Competition in Athens,Evgeny Genchev ,Marcos Madrigal ……..Pablo Rossi who I took down to Ewelme one evening bringing supper with the music too.
Mark Viner,the last to play, came over about eight months ago when it seemed that Joan was on her way out.
The family had be reunited and she began giving away her books and pictures to dear friends and family.
I was not convinced that we should give up so easily and Mark came over to play ….it was just what she needed together with the three pints of blood provided at the local hospital ….and our Joan was back with us for a while longer .
She even asked for her books and pictures back to enjoy until the end was in fact nigh.
I was with Joan all day Saturday 2 December,fire ablaze as always ………..I hope she knew that I was there with the red scarf that she had given me for my birthday just a month or so ago.
Fond memories of the Birthday cake that she had ordered from Martin- the Viking’s wife Nitta……………………I told her I was looking forward to seeing the curtains that Nitta was making with Eileen,her sister’s design .We had a lovely evening together admiring the curtains and talking just a week before she died.. ………….I told her I had booked a flight to spend Christmas with her ……to give her something to look forward to ……..me too of course,nothing could have been nicer.She was wonderful company right to the end .
She passed away the same day as my wife (12 years previously) in the light of the Super Moon and I like to think that Ileana opened her arms to light the way for my dearest friend.
“Underneath the spreading chestnut tree little old Hitler said to me:if you want to get your gas mask free join the blinking ARP.(air raid protection corp).”
Amazing recollection from a 104 year old .
How could you ever forget it she comments
Here is a recent page from her diary that she kept every day of her long life
A beautiful day to say Goodbye ………18th December 2017 Ewelme

The last photos of Vlado Perlemuter taken in Rue Ampere Paris 26th August 2002 just a few weeks before his death on the 4th September that was announced on the Italian radio on the return of my wife Ileana Ghione and I to our holiday home in Sabaudia.On the train from London to Paris I had noticed a man looking like the Abbé Liszt studying a music score .Just as we arrived in Paris I remembered his name having seen him often on Antenne 2 French Television.I thanked Ivry Gitlis for all the wonderful performances we had enjoyed.I explained that we had a theatre in Rome and were on our way to see Vlado .He was thrilled to meet us and immediately invited us back to his house !

Szymon Nehring at the Wigmore Hall

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Szymon Nehring at the Wigmore Hall
Szymon Nehring at the Wigmore Hall
What an evening with Menahem Pressler , Peter Frankl , Noretta Conci and John Leech from the Keyboard Trust and many other distinguished musicians.
All present to celebrate the winner of the 2017 Rubinstein International Piano Competition in the hall where that great man Arthur Rubinstein gave his last public performance in 1976 to try to prevent the hall from being demolished.
In fact a programme of works very much associated with Rubinstein :Beethoven’s Appassionata and the Funeral March Sonata of Chopin.
Followed by works dedicated to him by his great friends Szymanowski: Mazukas op 50 1-4 and Variations op 3 and Stravinsky ending with the three movements from Petrushka .
Great discussions afterwards between Menahem Pressler and Peter Frankl not only about tonight’s programme but also taking in Kurtag,Dohnanyi and Schumann not to mention Cortot,Casadesus,Moszkowski and Perlemuter.
Two of the greatest musicians of our day in amicable discussion about music and musicians.
Pressler about to record with Matthias Goerne Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Kinderscenen and Peter Frankl to play on the 13th in Budapest chamber works by Dohnanyi.

Menahem Pressler Lady Weidenfelt Peter Frankl
All present to salute a new young colleague, winner of the competition that bears the name of the much loved and never forgotten Arthur Rubinstein.
Simon Nehring,in 2017, the first Polish pianist to win the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, having studied in Krakow with Prof Stefan Wojtas and Olga Lazarska is now at Yale University in the class of Boris Berman.
It is hardly surpring that the highlight of the concert was to be found in the refined and subtle tone palate of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski.
The four little Mazurkas op 50 that Rubinstein used to play after the interval in an all Chopin programme almost like taking a sorbet before continuing with the feast.
Here played with that same sense of rhythm and dance that is so much part of the Polish tradition.
A real sense of colour that had somehow eluded him in the first half where the great Appassionata although played with true authority seemed strangely black and white.
I well remember the wonderful second subject of the Allegro assai first movement in Rubinstein’s hands given all the time to unfold as he directed the great orchestra that he had in his ten magical fingers.
Although the tempo was admirably maintained with superlative technical command tonight the great Beethovenian contrasts and sense of orchestral colours were missing.
Some beautiful things in the Andante con moto cortege and a wonderful question mark before plunging into the Allegro ma non troppo.
Here again rather too fast to allow Beethoven’s innate orchestral sense to tell.
A coda played with almost superhuman precision at breakneck speed with breathtaking virtuosity.
It was just a pity for his really intelligent musicianship not to take the time necessary to give more character to this, one of the mightiest of all Beethoven’s Sonatas.
A beautiful opening to the Chopin Sonata op 35 and the whispering of the opening theme was superbly well controlled .
I missed the sumptuous colours of the second subject and the grandeur of the bass notes in the devolpment though.
The second movement rather too fast and monocrome with no real sense of dance but rather a fantastically played study.
A beautiful Marche funebre even though the trills in the left hand were rather too percussive and intrusive at times. The Trio in particular played with great poise and control.
The last movement was played with enviable clarity and superb virtuosity but did it really sound like the wind on the graves?

Standing ovation at the end of Petrushka
The Szymanowski early variations in B flat minor op 3 were played with all the colours allied to superb virtuosity and musicianship that had obviously contributed to his success in the Rubinstein Competition.
A real sense of sumptuous colour and a very refined palate allied to a great sense of line and forward direction .Leading to a final Allegro con fuoco that brought this rarely heard piece to a brilliant end.
The three Movements from Petrushka were played with astonishing virtuosity and sense of colour but I could not help feeling that there was no real sense of the dance in the Danse Russe or La Semaine Grasse.
The rather clean and clear sparse use of the pedal brought this mighty orchestral piano transcription into the realm of Stravinsky’s own definition of the the piano being nothing but a utility instrument that sounds right only as percussion.
A standing ovation and as an encore a beautiful little piece by Paderewski charmingly announced by this great young virtuoso and was played with all that same colour and sense of style that he had brought to his other compatriot Szymanowski this evening.
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Menahem Pressler with Noretta Conci and Lady Weidenfelt

Menahem Pressler Lady Weidenfelt Peter Frankl

On Wings of Song – Mitsuko Uchida’s sublime Schubert

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On wings of song. Mitsuko Uchida at the Royal Festival Hall in London
Mitsuko Uchida on wings of song.
Sublime music making as she herself says Schubert’s music is at once personal and profound.
Every note speaks and touches your soul.
In the first of two recitals of Schubert Sonatas Mitsuko Uchida swept onto the platform of the Royal Festival Hall and immediately plunged into the great C minor Sonata D.958. Such rhythmic energy and real passion it was the only really Beethovenian statement that we were to get tonight .
For like Wilhelm Kempff that great kapellmeister of the piano who in his later years forsook his nobility and overwhelming authority for something much more subtle and poetic.
He had found the true secret of how to make the piano sing.
Gone were the bar lines and any resemblance of percussiveness.
In its place was a sublime legato that drew the audience in to him as if sharing an intimate secret with them.
Thus it was tonight .
The great opening statement of the C minor soon gave way to the most sublime legato. Chromatic scales almost impossibly whispered with the menacing opening rhythm only hinted at in the left hand before erupting into the recapitulation.
She had no time for any little mishaps or muddyness that might occurr on her long search to eliminate any sense of percussiveness from what is after all a percussive instrument.
It was Schubert ,the greatest song smith of all, that was paramount in Mitsuka Uchidas heart and soul.
The Adagio played like the great song it is with absolutely no sense of percussiveness but an almost superhuman control of sound that allowed her to shape so naturally.
Schubert’s seemingly seemless unending invention.
The middle section of the Menuetto played as if a wondrous murmured song that linked up so well with the da capo of the Menuetto.
The supreme clarity of rhythmic invention of the last movement in her hands dissolved so naturally into the heavenly hint of melody that Schubert could not resist even here.
The little A Major Sonata D.664 that opens with a simple melody so beautifully shaped with such a subtle sense of rubato . The great octave passages completely integrated into this cantabile context and a heartrending ending that seemed to get ever more quiet as it whispered its farewell.
A transcendental feat of piano playing for any that have tried to shape a melodic line from piano to pianissimo.
The wonderful duet effect in the slow movement was matched to the seeming simplicity with which she played the charming last movement.
I well remember Mitsuko’s monumental Hammerklavier in the Leeds Competition all those years ago, so much admired by Rosalyn Tureck, when she took a top prize with Alexeev and Schiff.
As I remember too the truly overwhelmingly powerful performance of Brahm’s F minor Sonata in the mighty hands of Wilhelm Kempff.
Wonderful and overpowering as it was they were projecting to the audience whereas in the later period of their careers they have a need to bring the audience in to them.
What better example than the minutes of total silence that greeted Mitsuko Uchida’s sublime performance of the great G major Sonata.
No words could describe this totally unblemished performance as near perfection as I would have thought possible.
She had the whole audience of thousands following her every sound and she did not let them down in the sublime thirty minutes or so of sheer music making .
A standing ovation particularly appreciated by her from the music students that had been seated behind her on the platform.
An almost inaudible langsam second piece from Schoenbergs six little pieces op 19 made the audience work even harder to listen to every note just as she was .
Performer and audience were united in the creation of music .
A truly remarkable experience for all those privileged to be present .
The second concert on Friday with another three Sonatas I can’t wait .

Che dire……sublime Mitsuko Uchida part 2

From the very first note of the usually much overlooked B major sonata.
Through a monumental performance of the big A minor.
The opening theme so many subtle ways of saying goodbye and the ever present throbbing heart beat.
Quite unforgettable.

The great D major perhaps the most Beethovenian of Schubert sonatas but where the toy like clockwork precision in the last movement is sublimely Schubert. Touched more by Mozart for its simple innocent purity than the complexity of Beethoven.
I have only heard Curzon come near to this interpretation with Schnabel`s “too easy for children but too difficult for adults” made so apparent.

A sublime evening where pure music spoke louder than words .

And now part 3?
The last two hopefully soon.

In Praise of Music on St Cecila’s day A day in the life of the Keyboard Charitable Trust

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In praise of music – A day in the life of The Keyboard Trust

CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·LUNEDÌ 27 NOVEMBRE 2017

Nicholas Freestone at Temple Church and Umberto Jacopo Laureti at Steinway Hall……two great artists today for the Keyboard Charitable Trust

Nicholas Freestone
Two great concerts for the Keyboard Charitable Trust on the same day but in very different venues.
The first on the magnificent organ in the Temple Church by Nicholas Freestone and the second in Steinway Hall with Umberto Jacopo Laureti.
I never thought I would use the word charming for an organist but here it was today in a little piece by John Ireland :Villanella from the Miniature Suite.
There was all the cheeky charm that one usually associates with the great romantic pianists of the past.
The reason being of course that here at the organ today was a real thinking musician totally in command of the instrument and able to find and use to the advantage of the music all the vast range of colours that this organ could provide.
From the great March on a theme of Handel by Alexandre Guilamt in which the nobility and grandure immediately announced the credentials of this young Organ Scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Nicholas Freestone graduate of Oxford holding an Organ Scholarship at Worcester College where he was resonsible for the running of the chapel music .He later went on to be Organ Scholar at St Albans Cathedral training and accompanying the choirs as well as being their principal organist .
At his young age he is a complete musician a Kappellmeister in the great tradition of the past and lent to the music an authority and sense of style and direction that was quite absorbing from the first to the last note.
Herbert Howells Master Tallis’s Testament almost whispered after the tumultuous sounds at the end of the Handel March by Guilmant.
Frank Bridge Adagio in E where his subtle use of the stops gave such a great sense of colour but never forsaking the sense of line .
The great Carillon de Westminster by Louis Vierne that concluded this all too short recital were allowed to ring out around this ancient church of the Knights Templar in the heart of London

Nicholas Freestone,Roy Emerson,Sarah Biggs,Greg Morris
It was nice to see John Leech the founding father of the KCT present in these august surroundings and missing only Sir Geoffrey Nice his lifelong friend and instigator of this new branch of activity for the Trust . As one of his illustrious colleagues pointed out without doubt taken up with the events of the day in his very busy schedule
The second appointment of this busy day for the KCT was with Umberto Jacopo Laureti an equally remarkable musician from the school of Benedetto Lupo in Rome and Ian Fountain in London.
Noretta Conci-Leech the founder of the KCT sharing this day with her husband .

Umberto Laureti
I had heard him play in a concert by the students of Benedetto Lupo’s class at the Accademia di S.Cecilia in Rome.
All the Scriabin sonatas played by some of the very talented young musicians that flock to study with him in Rome.
A remarkable array of talent that included Beatrice Rana,Oxana Shevshenko, Ben Cruchley and Umberto Jacopo Laureti.
So it was very interesting to be able to hear a complete programme today that ranged from Schubert to Busoni. Now studying for a PhD with a research programme on Busoni it was hardly surprising to find an important work of Busoni as a finale to a recital that had shown off the intelligent musicianship that had been apparent from the very first opening chords of Schubert’s great C minor Sonata D.985.
From the very first notes there was an energy and inner propulsion that he maintained for the next thirty minutes .
From the great Beethovenian opening played with great passion dissolving into the beautiful second subject played with just the right flexibility that allowed Schubert`s sublime melodic invention to cast it`s spell.
The same spell that was to be cast in the Adagio with just the perfect mix of shape and character that allowed the sublime invention in Schubert`s last year to speak so naturally .
The Minuetto perfectly judged to contrast with the tarantella like Allegro.
Schubert spinning his magic in this young man`s hands .
The magical melodic interruptions never halting the infectious forward movement.

Umberto Laureti with Elena Vorotko Bridges
I wonder why Umberto chose to play the opening bass of the Chopin Barcarolle with two hands?
A poetic reading where the melodic invention was played with a beauty of tone that was never allowed to become percussive.
Always expressive this great long song was allowed the space and time to breathe so naturally.
The arrival in paradise (in Perlemuters own words) was played with an exquisite completely natural cantabile.
The final page,so much admired by Ravel, played in such a fluid manner and the last chords played without emphasis as the end of this great melodic outpouring of the already gravely ill Chopin on his ill fated soggiorn with Georges Sand on Majorca.
A contemporary piece of a friend “Song for him” was just the right contrast for the Busoni Toccata.
A piece I well remember Serkin playing in London together with the Reger variations and op.111.
It is nice to see being rediscovered by this fine young musician delving into the output of Busoni.A real reincarnation of Franz Liszt in his anticipation of the direction that music might take.
Some remarkable sounds and use of pedal effects in the De Angelis “Song for him” as was the sparseness of pedal in the Busoni .
A true musician ,the second in the same day that only goes to confirm the very roots on which the KCT was born.
A little piece of childrens slumbers from Schumann`s Kinderscenen was just the ideal encore at the end of a long day dedicated to real music making.

Umberto Laureti

Temple Church

Umberto Laureti with a member of the audience

Elena Vorotko and Sarah Biggs

Our founding fathers…..Noretta Conci and John Leech
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Terry’s Picasso

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Terry’s Picasso
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·LUNEDÌ 27 NOVEMBRE 2017

Wonderful to see Terry`s dream come true.

Peter Tate -Picasso
Thanks to Peter Tate`s determined dedication to present Terry`s Picasso that she had dedicated her last days to.
So much of Terry inside and out in this new space in the shadow of Grenfell Tower.
Even the beautiful lamps in the foyer from Terrys home in Lugano.
A very warm atmosphere that only Terry could have created as anyone would know who visited her studio in the centre of Rome.
Wonderful lighting too on stage to illuminate Terry`s Picasso in the magisterial performance of Peter Tate
Five star review from Michael Billington in the Guardian has sealed the fate on this very movingly heartfelt production.

Peter Tate with Adele Oni,Claire Bowman,Alejandra Costa
Peter Hats off to Peter and his wife for their dedication to the cause of Picasso.
A great celebration of that extraordinary woman who will long remain in our hearts and as Peter pointed out under our skin.
https://www.theguardian.com/…/picasso-review-playground-the…

Grenfell Tower cast its shadow

Terry D’Alfonso
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In Praise of Liszt- Annual Day and International Piano Competition of the Liszt Society

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In Praise of Liszt-Annual day and International Piano Competition of the Liszt Society
Liszt Society Annual Day
A whole day dedicated to Liszt and as Leslie Howard,President of the Liszt Society, said where else could you have heard on the same day or on any day come to that : Faribolo,Chanson tiree du Poeme de Franconnetto de Jasmin,the Fourth Mephisto Waltz or the Heroischer Marsch in ungarischen Stil.

Leslie Howard President of the Liszt Society
All this preceeded by the Polonaise n.1 S.223/1 in Edward Leung‘s superb lunchtime recital and after four hours of competitor recitals the day closed by Mark Viner and Ronald Cavaye with a very rare performance of Der Traurige Monch for recitation and piano .
The day began with an inspired recital by one of last years prizewinners of the Liszt Society Competition Edward Leung.
A young american pianist graduate of Princeton University was inspired and encouraged in his discovery of Liszt by Leslie Howard as a thirteen year old boy and is now nine years later studying at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Pascal Nemirovski.

Edward Leung
A real poet of the piano he gave a very mellifluous reading of Beethoven’s Sonata op 101.Maybe the edges a little too smoothly shaped in the Lebhaft marshmasssig second movement but perfect in the Allegretto ma non troppo opening .
He just seemed to miss that contrast and ragged edges that are so much part of Beethoven’s later character.
However suddenly springing to life in the fugato last movement which was played with great command and created just the rhythmic sense that was needed.
This was obviously the intention in his overall grasp and interpretation of Beethoven’s elusively pastoral forebear to the Hammerklavier .
It was just this sense of urgency and total command of the instrument that was so apparent in his superb Liszt performances.

Edward Leung
A Totentanz for solo piano ,as Edward explained inspired by his hearing Leslie Howard all those years ago,that seemed to personify that famous cartoon of Liszt devouring the keys.
A tiger of the keys indeed and infact earned a standing ovation from a very discerning audience .
The contestants noticeably rather sheep faced realising they would be following that superb demonstration of transcendental piano playing .
A very fine Steinway too that managed to withstand and respond to Edward Leung‘s refined virtuosity.
A piano chosen by Emilie Capulet,head of Classical Performance Studies at the University of West London She has obviously found the ideal venue for their activities in this church in the round blessed with an unusually fine acoustic.
Edward Leung before the onslaught that Liszt calls for gave a very intelligent and poetic performance of the rarely heard Polonaise melancolique and the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin that I must confess took me by surprise as I am used to hearing in concert the Pabst paraphrase- it was infact a favourite of Cherkassky.
Slightly running overtime he was given two minutes for an encore.
Throwing himself into the piano with a really overwhelming performance of the last movement of Prokofiev’s 7th Sonata and almost keeping to the two minutes that were alotted.

Leslie Howard with Luca Monachino
Eight contestants followed with half hourly recitals including some rarely heard works of Liszt.
A very rare Faribolo Pasteur S.236/1 from Keishi Suzuki eventual winner of first prize and a Heroischer Marsch S.231 from Luca Monachino winner of second prize.
But also some fine performances including Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony from Daniele Buccio;a well shaped Trauergondol from Vincent Letourmy; a refined Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude from Zhu Sun;a well prepared Fourth Mephisto and fourth Hungarian Rhapsody from Vincenzo Gambuzza;a poetic Aux cypres de la Villa d’Este from Svaroslav Antipov and a heroic Norma Fantasy from Giosue de Vincenti.

Keishi Suzuki
All this intermingled with the inevitable 12th Rhapsody ,Dante Sonata and Liebestod.
A short commercial break from the publisher of the remarkable editions of the Liszt Society edited by Leslie Howard and a reminder from this unique authority on Liszt about the annual Liszt Society Journal with all the latest discoveries of that absolute revolutionary Franz Liszt.
It is good to see the link up of the Alkan Society in the person of Mark Viner with the oldest Liszt Society in existence.
That great Liszt scholar Humphrey Searle had founded the Society in 1950 and is now presided over by that equally remarkable Liszt scholar Leslie Howard having taken over the reigns from Louis Kentner.

Mark Viner with Keishi Suzuki
So much still to discover about Liszt but also Alkan and Thalberg and who better to delve into the archives that Leslie Howard and Mark Viner. Both obviously part of the jury together with Niel Immelman, Melvyn Cooperand Elgin Ronayne. Elgin Ronayne handing over the reigns as chairman of the Liszt Society today to Mark Viner .

The jury with Keishi Suzuki and Luca Monachino
In collaboration with the Keyboard Charitable Trust Mark Viner will be on tour in January in Rome,Venice,Padua,Vicenza and Naples culminating in a Wigmore Hall recital on the 2nd March with a programme dedicated to Alkan,Thalberg and Liszt .
Today he was happy to give a performance after a busy day on jury duty .
Der Traurige Monch S.348 for reciter and piano

Mark Viner with Ronald Cavaye
In the English traslation the poetry of Lenau came over very well with the very expressive voice of Ronald Cavaye creating the effect it must have had in Liszt’s day.
It was the perfect prelude to the announcement of the winners of the competition.
Keishi Suzuki from Japan and Luca Monachino from Italy.
It was nice to have Tyler Hay ,last years winner with us for the entire day. Generously partecipating in the proceedings that he must have well remembered a year later
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Sandro De Palma in Viterbo A Didone never abandoned

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Didone never abandoned Sandro De Palma in Viterbo
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·DOMENICA 19 NOVEMBRE 2017

Sandro De Palma at Viterbo
A very interesting programme by the distinguished Italian pianist Sandro De Palma for the Tuscia University Series of Prof Ricci in Viterbo in the Auditorium S.Maria in Gradi .
Winner some years ago of the Alfredo Casella International Competition in Naples at the age of only 19.
It was hardly surprising that with the name of Casella to the fore the musical element was foremost in his searching mind for this pianist formed by the renowned school of Vincenzo Vitale

Poster for Carnegie Hall New York 3rd December 2017
A programme that will reach Carnegie Hall in New York on the 3rd December was presented here after an intensive week of recording for the Naxos label.
A week spent recording four of Clementi’s output of almost 113 Sonatas.
Rarely performed ,even Mozart suggested to his sister that she should avoid them because of their difficulty.
We all remember the Gradus ad Parnassum that was part of Clementi’s quite considerable output.
As a fourteen year old boy he was brought to England from Rome by Sir Peter Beckford to advance his studies and provide entertainment for his mentor.
In his thirties he became a renowned publisher ,piano dealer and founder of the Royal Philharmonic Society .
Amongst his pupils were Moscheles and John Field who carried his body to rest in Westminster Abbey at the age of eighty.
Having married three times and with five children he retired to Evesham where he died in 1832.

Mauro Bucitti at work on the Steinway
Sandro De Palma in his researching of unknown piano repertoire had spent a week recording in this hall prior to the recital.
An almost perfect acoustic bringing with him that magician of the piano Mauro Bucitti together with Michael Seberich one of the finest sound engineers with his team from Bolzano.
Mauro Bucitti had infact turned a fine but well used Steinway into an instrument ready for recording .
Turning a bauble into a real gem indeed for the “Didone abbandonata” Sonata op 50 n,3 together with 3 other equally rarely heard sonatas.

Michael Seberich with Sandro De Palma
A programme under the title of” Myths of the Past and Present.Love and death between history and legend”.
Substituting on this occasion Orfeo by the renowned composer and sister in law of the pianist , Silvia Colasanti which requires a reciter ,with Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata for solo piano.
A programme that spanned from Orfeo ed Euridice :”The Dance of the Blessed Spirits” through the” Didone Abbandonata” by Clementi and Beethoven’s “Tempest” finishing with Liszt’s great second Ballade based on the story from Ovid of Ero and Leandro.
The story of Leandro swimming across to his lover Ero and due to a storm she not putting out the guiding light , she finds him drowned on the beach in the morning and in desperation throws herself to her death from her tower.
Our own eclectic pianist not only happy with grouping some rarely heard works together he also has all the scores on his I pad which includes all the various editions of the Liszt which he explained has three different endings.
Bagatelles and sketches of Beethoven together with his only Prelude are being collected and studied with an eye to another project to lead on from his present one in progress of Debussy and his times.
An unknown piece by Massenet was one of the encores on this occasion and he tells me he would like now to bring out a recording of all Massenet’s piano works.
Only from the remarkable Leslie Howard and Mark Viner have I heard a pianist with such an intelligently inquisitive mind.

Massenet encore
Not convinced with the Dance of the Spirits in the usual Sgambati arrangement for piano he made his own arrangement of the central part and had an ending more atune to the original that lead so well into the Clementi Sonata.
Some remarkable playing from a pianist renowned for his performances of the Complete Chopin Studies in 1983 at the Michelangeli Festival in Brescia/ Bergamo or the complete Chopin Preludes at his debut recital at the Wigmore Hall in London in 1998.
A career that has taken in the world premiere of Michele Dall’0ngaro’s Piano Concerto at the Bellini Theatre in Catania to many major Festivals including the Folle journee’ di Nantes and the Festival at La Roque d’Antheron.
A mind much too inquisitive to tour the world only as a virtuoso, Sandro has dedicated himself to discovering a vast amount of music still lying dormant.
Some really exquisite sounds in the opening Gluck in which like a real magician he was able to bring our all the subtle strands and colours that this reborn instrument was now capable of transmitting.
Like Cherkassky and the real pianists of the past that have discovered the secret balance that the piano is capable of in the hands of pianists not only with enormous technical equipment but with super sensitive ears that can hear things that would go unnoticed in lesser hands.
”Je sens,j’ecoute, je trasmet” indeed.

Mauro Bucitti
The great “Didone abbandonata” given a Beethovenian performance in which the contrasts were paramount and combined to a forward movement and sense of line that made one wonder why it is not more often heard.
Well the answer was immediately apparent when the master Beethoven spoke.
Here this masterpiece was brought to life by a pianist who was aware of the great contrasts and revolutionary pedalling that Beethoven asks for
Not afraid to arrange some passages to give greater ease pianistically speaking ,something Arrau would never allow ,the first movement in particular was played with great conviction and a passion that held the audience’s attention and indeed his own in a quite extraordinary way.
The ever present I pad but on this occasion there was not even a moment to glance at it such was his total engagement with the spirit of Beethoven.

Sandro De Palma
After that the second movement did not have quite the same propulsion or tension that was so evident before.
The last movement played with all lilting energy that Beethoven in his almost pastoral mood could apply.
The great Liszt Ballade was played with great sense of contrasts but somehow missed the constant pulse that could have made the overall line so apparent and even more gripping.
Some astonishing virtuosity in the parts where the 40 year old Liszt was obviously at the height of his powers taking the world by storm.
A heartrending cantabile leading to the most tumultuous outpourings of bravura of the great theme and then dying away to a whisper at the end.

Auditorium S.Maria in Gradi Viterbo
An encore by Massenet was followed due to great public demand by what was for many the highlight of the recital.
A little sonata by Cimarosa.
It is hardly surprising that he has been awarded the Premio “Cimarosa” for his work in making these gems from this Neapolitan Composer better known.

Christopher Axworthy with Sandro De Palma
Almost Scarlatti like in the rhythmic energy and showing off the now perfect repeating action of this Steinway it was a real lesson in control and finesse as had infact been this entire unforgettable afternoon in Viterbo.
Lucky New York.
Lets hope other capitals will realise what they have been missing.
And above all hats off to Prof. Franco Carlo Ricci for capturing yet again for his series in Viterbo another real eye opener for conossieurs of music making.
The recording for Naxos is now in preparation and the four Clementi Sonatas chosen will appear as soon as the editing process has been achieved.

Sandro de Palma with Prof Ricci

Sandro De Palma transformed with his wife Cecilia Colasanti

Sandro De Palma
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http://www.tusciatimes.eu/unitus-sandro-de-palma-trasforma…/
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The evergreen fascino of Enoch Arden

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The evergreen fascino of Enoch Arden Stefano Greco and Tommaso Ragno at S.Cecilia ,Rome
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·VENERDÌ 10 NOVEMBRE 2017

Enoch Arden in Rome still weaves its magic ……..
An entire evening dedicated to Enoch Arden on the occasion of the presentation of a series of paintings by Paolo Giorgi inspired by that great poem of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
A poem that in 1864 sold 70000 copies in only four months and inspired Richard Strauss to compose perhaps the greatest of all Melologos in 1897.
With the voice of Tommaso Ragno and the piano of Stefano Greco we were treated to a performance in the free italian translation of that great man of culture Prof Bruno Cagli.
A standing ovation from one President to another for the rare presence these days of Bruno Cagli,President of Santa Cecilia for 22 years bringing it to world attention taking it into its magnificent new halls designed by Renzo Piano with a historic Orchestra re born under Sir Antonio Pappano.
Michele dall’Ongaro will have his work cut out to follow in such illustrious footsteps.
But as ex director of the Italian Television’s prime culture channel: Rai 5 and a notable composer in his own right he has all the cards possible to bring the greatest performances to a discerning public.
And tonight as Master of Ceremonies he was able to introduce us in his inimitable way to the world of the Melologo.
Passing the microphone to Prof Cesare Scarton,author of the only Italian book on this genre of music theatre.
He was given just ten minutes to give a brief history of this now almost obsolete form of dramatic declamation.
A brilliant and fortunately with the Presidents stop watch ticking away,brief,resume’ of which from Rousseau in 1712 to Schonberg in 1951 has included such composers as Mozart,Schubert,Schumann,Liszt,Wagner,Grieg and of course Richard Strauss.
So seemingly all the cards in order for an enjoyably instructive evening amongst friends.
It is at this point that I was reminded of the story that Paul Tortelier loved to recount about Georges Enescu.
Enescu had asked some friends to listen to one of his violin students in concert and this is what they recounted:
The man playing the piano ,Enescu (renowned mentor of Yehudi Menuhin) should have been playing the violin .
The page turner Alfred Cortot should have been playing the piano
and the prize student should have considered himself lucky to turn pages.
In Torteliers inimitable way of story telling it was unforgettable.
It passed through my mind tonight as we had some beautiful modern paintings that depicted a mermaid type waif in front of a sinking Concordia and seemingly nothing to do with the world of Tennyson’s Enoch;
A magnificent reciter hidden behind two music stands with a radio microphone attached to him which made it rather difficult to declame dramatically as was intended ;
a truly remarkable pianist in front of a magnificent Fabrini Steinway with its voice muted by it being almost totally closed.
An unfair match indeed was to be played out.
But then the magic of Enoch Arden mysteriously filled this rather austerely modern Spazio Risonanze and all the seeming incongruities were forgotten and forgiven in a performance that held the audience riveted from the first waves on the piano to the death of Enoch forty minutes later.
We even looked at those pictures with the eyes of a painter who had been so inspired by this recount that he had overheard one day on the radio
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Homage to Lya De Barberiis Martha Noguera al Ghione

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Martha Noguera al Ghione Homage to Lya De Barberiis
Wonderful to see that great Steinway back on stage to embrace a great friend of the theatre from its very beginning in 1982.
Lya De Barberiis was one of the first pianists to play on this wonderful Fabrini Steinway,that was purchased especially for the theatre .
She was playing in a series of contemporary music for the publisher Edipan created by Bruno Nicolai.

Guido Agosti after a concert at the Ghione with Lya De Barberiis
Her contemporaries whom she championed with that same seriousness and absolute integrity that we had all learnt from our beloved Maestro Agosti.
Casella,Pizzetti,Malipiero,Dallapiccola,Martucci and her great friend Goffredo Petrassi were among the many that she gave first performances of and many of their works are dedicated to her.

Christopher Axworthy short presentation at the Ghione Theatre
From those first moments the Ghione theatre has passed into history for its celebrated series of concerts for Euromusica.
Artists that have included so many great names neglected or ignored by the great established music societies .
Artist that included in 1984 Vlado Perlemuter,making his debut in Italy at the age of 81,Shura Cherkassky,Gyorgy Sandor,The Tortelier Family,Ruggiero Ricci,Karlheinz Stockhausen,Marylyn Horne,Carlo Bergonzi and a very rare recital by Guido Agosti too just to name a few.
But the artist that created the greatest impression on Lya was the debut after a 30 year absence from the concert stage of Rosalyn Tureck,whose performance of the Goldberg Variations in September 1990 created an earth tremor not only for all those present but also for the rest of Europe where she started to play again.
The High Priestess indeed!
She had not been forgotten.
I had heard Rosalyn Tureck in London playing the “Goldbergs” in one evening at the Royal Festival Hall ,first on the harpsichord and after a long interval on the piano.
An unforgettable performance that I learn years later Martha Noguera was present at too whilst she was having a period of study with that great stylist of her day Ilona Kabos

Ileana Ghione with Rosalyn Tureck in Circeo
I met Lya in Siena for Guido Agosti’s 80th birthday concert.
No party he very seriously specified but he would give a lecture recital on the Debussy Preludes .
What a wonder it was too even if it finished well after midnight.
But the Maestro did agree to a midnight brindisi after his serious work was done and it was here at the Chigiana that I met Lya  for the first time with my wife  .
We had all come to Siena especially to be with the Maestro and his adorable wife Lydia on what was for us at least such an important occasion.
Little did I imagine that we would all spend so much time together immersed in culture in Rome.

Congratulations and serious comment about the nature of work and its rewards from Rosalyn Tureck
Infact it was Lya years later that exclaimed that we should be feted by the state for all that we had done for culture over the years.
In 2001 ” we ” were infact made a Dame by the President of Italy.

22nd May 2005 Duo concert with Lya and my wife in the centre
When in 2000 Lya heard me play in the theatre for a commemoration concert with my wife she decided there and then that this was the that sort of musician she wanted to make music with.
We played all over Italy travelling together when my wife was not on stage.
Ileana adored seeing me in the place where we had met (at the piano) instead of behind the scenes running our theatre business!

Goffredo Petrassi taken by Ileana Ghione at Circeo

Book available from Massimiliano Negri
Our last concert at the Ghione was in 2012 in a concert in memory of our dear friend Goffredo Petrassi at the creation of an Association -” Circolo Culturale Lya De Barberiis”- to promote the music of the composers whom she had so valiantly championed during her long life but also to help bring new young talent to the fore.
All this under the admiring patronage of Gianni Letta.
Created by one of her many students – she would never accept money for teaching by the way – Massimiliano Negri who has since brought out a well researched book” Lya de Barberiis una vita di music nel Novecento italiano”
Lya loved our piano and could not understand why we did not have a proper cover for it  One day a large packet arrived from Hamburg with the cover that still houses the Steinway ……”with love and admiration Lya.”
Much missed, Martha Noguera who was a great friend ,they each frequented each others concerts.
Martha had flown in especially from her home in Buenos Aires to celebrate Lya in three concerts in the places she loved playing in the most: Rome,Sorrento and Viterbo.
Part of an exchange that Lya would have totally endorsed with Martha’s Chopin Festival in Argentina ,now in its 18th year .
Included in this year’s programme was Pablo Rossi one of the greatly admired artists from the Keyboard Charitable Trust,who himself had played at the Ghione when he was just in his teens.
Martha is no stranger to Rome having given a series of concerts in 97 to 99 of the complete works of Chopin and the 32 Sonatas of Beethoven.
A remarkable capacity.
She even told me that she was engaged at the last minute to play the Clara Wieck piano concerto and not being able to find the score in time she learnt the entire concerto from the  Serkin’s recording .
This was some years ago before the advent of internet.

Martha Noguera with Prof Franco Ricci
Finding the score only at the rehearsal she was relieved to know that it was almost perfect.
The same amazing talent as another Ghione artist Ian Hobson who learnt the Horowitz transcription of Stars and Stripes from the recording as the Maestro like Liszt and Thalberg kept his secrets up his sleeve.
Someone from his University in USA sent it to the Maestro and was surprised to have a reply from the devil himself: ” Not Bad” !
And so it was hardly surprising to find the theatre packed out on a very rainy Sunday evening in Rome for this long overdue homage to a great lady.
It was hardly surpring too that the finest performance was the last work on a long and varied programme .
The Sonata n.1 op 22 by Ginastera an Argentinian compatriot of Martha with whom she had discussed this very work.

Sergio Calligaris in the Green Room with Martha Noguera
From 1952 in his “Subjective Nationalism” period in the Gauchesco tradition .
A gaucho being a landless native horseman of the plains and is a symbol of Argentina.
A superlative performance that Martha even had the energy to describe to us in Ginastera’s own words in the Green Room after the concert .

Rosalyn Tureck and Ileana Ghione in Circeo
Wonderful sense of colour allied to a rhythmic energy that never relented even in the Presto misterioso somewhat reminiscent of the last movement of Chopin’s B flat minor Sonata .
Such beautiful sounds in the Adagio molto appassionato and such unrelenting sense of movement and real virtuosity in the Allegro marcato and Ruvido ed ostinato.
Throughout the concert one had been aware of her great sense of line and real sense of balance that allowed the piano to sing in such a natural way.
Particularly ideal for the “little” Schubert A major sonata op posth 120.
The opening Allegro moderato allowed to sing as if one of the composers sublime songs . A great sense of style and even if some details were occasionally blurred one was always aware of being in the presence of a true musician.
The charming last movement thrown off sometimes with a little too much liberty and ease followed a slow movement of rare beauty.
The Chopin Polonaise Fantasie given a full blown performance in which the key word was Fantasie sometimes at the price of sacrificing the true line and rhythm of the Polonaise in what could almost be considered the “old tradition” of the Chopin stylist that Pollini via Rubinstein has long eliminated .
However it was a very convincing heartfelt performance as a whole and was played with all the passion and verve of a musician half her age .

Sergio Calligaris and Ornella Cogliolo in the Green Room
The Haydn and Beethoven E flat Sonatas :n.59 Hob XV1:49 and op 81a “Les Adieux” were given stylish performances of a simplicity in which the beauty of sound was paramount.
A very clear pulse to the opening Haydn was sometimes betrayed by the freedom she gave to the more virtuosistic passages .
The slow movement unfolded in a very spacious manner and the contrast with the middle section was very passionately conveyed.
Always perfectly in style the last movement was played with all the charm and grace that made this “little” Haydn E flat a perfect opening and preparation for the only Sonata that Beethoven himself actually gave a title .
Prefacing the three movements :Farewell;Absence;Return , Beethoven’s “Les Adieux was vividly depicted in a performance of great intelligence .
In particular notable for the beauty of the melodic line in the second movement and the nervous forward motion of the Return.
No encores were possible after such a tumultuous performance of Ginastera and it was nice to note such distinguished musicians in the audience.Prof Franco Carlo Ricci,
Maestro Cerroni, Pieralberto Biondi,Signora Martinelli Cafaro,Sergio Calligaris,Ornella Cogliolo,Avvocato Ambrosio all present to pay homage to an extraordinary artist despite a deluge in Rome that has not been seen for quite sometime.
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Alessandro Taverna at the Filarmonica

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Alessandro Taverna at the Filarmonica

CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·LUNEDÌ 30 OTTOBRE 2017

Alessandro Taverna at the Filarmonica Romana for their Beethovenklavier series
I have only been able to attend two of these memorable concerts that Matteo D’Amico ,the Artistic Director of the Filarmonica Romana,has dedicated to the Pinnacle of the piano repertoire:The 32 Sonatas of Beethoven.
Giving the stage to some of the most remarkable pianists of their generation and all Italian too.
Not content with this, as a notable composer in his own right ,he has included a piano work by contemporary Italian composers in each programme.
All these concerts recorded for the RAI for future broadcast including a brief but sometimes illuminating talk by the composers themselves.
The recitals  are under the eagle eye of Andrea Lucchesini ,the director of the famous Academy in Fiesole,and a very distinguished pianist in his own right.
I well remember Cherkassky when I took him to play in Empoli,Busoni’s birthplace,being invited to Luciano Berio’s house nearby to hear his protege Andrea Lucchesini play.
Cherkassky was very impressed and that young boy has since gone on to have a very distinguished career never forgetting in turn to help his younger colleagues.
Much in the same vein as his teacher Maria Tipo.
There is certainly something in the hills around Florence that is conducive to great pianists.
All the concerts in the Sala Casella ,part of the beautiful Villa which is the seat of the Filarmonica .
Is it just a coincidence that the Casella edition of the Beethoven Sonatas was for many years the bible for young pianists ?
The bust of his hands was recently bequeathed to the Filarmonica by that great,much missed Italian pianist Lya De Barberiis also champion of so many Italian contemporary composers.
Her memorable lecture recital in this very hall for her 90th birthday a few years ago has become a benchmark for all those interested in the Italian composers of that period.
My previous visit was to hear that great stylist Leonora Armellini and today it was the turn of Alessandro Taverna fast being recognised as one of the finest interpreters of his day especially of contemporary music.
Interesting to note that both have been chosen to perform for the Keyboard Charitable Trust of London founded by a disciple of Benedetti Michelangeli,Noretta Conci-Leech.
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Hats of to the composer Matteo D’Amico because for me the highlight of the recital today was the contemporary piece by the composer Michele dall’Ongaro.
President in his own right of the Accademia di S.Cecilia and director of RAI 5 the cultural station like BBC 4 in the UK .
His only piece for solo piano written in 1989 as he very amusingly decribed the five “brief” scenes that make up his “Autodafe'”.
Explaining that everything of any importance has already been done by Beethoven and so anything that composers  could offer today had in some way already been contemplated by Beethoven.
But he said the greatest joy for a composer was to be alone in a darkened room with a pencil and manuscript paper to turn his fantasy into sound.
He certainly did that in these varied pieces describing the jouney to the scaffold!
Amazing sounds from the piano played with such conviction by Alessandro Taverna.
He did not break a string in the final piece as the composer had recommended but as a true master of the piano played with the same vehemence that was required.
In fact it was even more remarkable for the contrast that he found .
The floating sounds of the fourth piece “rassegnato” and the contrasts in the first piece “riluttante” all played with an enviable clarity and precision but with a fantasy that made  the composers own images so immediately apparent.
The three Sonatas op 27 n.1 “quasi una fantasia “;op 53 “Waldstein”;op 110.
All three sonatas played with the rigour for which this young man is renowned and duly feted by Lorin Maazel ,who on hearing him at his festival in Castleton,USA for the KCT,immediatley engaged him to play together with his Munchner Philharmoniker.
A Beethoven in which the great contrasts that are so much part of Beethoven’s character were immediately apparent.
The virtuoso demands in the Waldstein were played with a mastery that did not deny either the struggle that is within and is the very essence of this sonata.
The short slow movement (Andante Favori that was the original mouvement was published separately ) was a beautiful introduction to Rondo’-Allegretto moderato where the bell like melody entered so gently on a cloud of sound before the very energetic eruptions. The first movement played at just the right tempo that allowed the second subject to make such a telling contrast, without a change of tempo ,with the rhythmic rumble with which the movement begins.
Infact it was this sense of line that was so apparent in the penultimate Sonata op 110.
This seemingly Pastoral Sonata that is sometimes so difficult to perceive as a whole was here given an exemplary reading.
Eventually some of the magical sounds that had sparked his fantasy in the contemporary piece he will add to his notable intellectual musicianship that gave such a sense of architectural line to this masterpiece where Beethovens rage was turning into something so much simpler and profound as in the works that follow op.111,126 and the great Diabelli op120.
The companion sonata to the more famous “Moonlight” was played with all the simplicity and rhythmic energy that brought this once much neglected sonata to life.
Hats off to the Filarmonica and Matteo D’Amico for promoting Beethoven, the finest young Italian musicians as well as contemporary Italian composers .
Matteo D’Amico who wrote the score many years ago for me to play in Orazio Costa’s famous edition of Pirandello “Cosi e’ se vi pare” with my wife the renowned actress and impresario Ileana Ghione.
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