Dejan Bogdanovich,violin Gabriele Maria Vianello,piano Virtuosity and Meditation at Kings Place
A concert dedicated to the memory of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
A concert in the splendid Kings Place dedicated to Max by his close friend of 45 years standing .
Sylvia Junge promoted and introduced this violin recital by the distinguished Croatian violinist Dejan Bogdanovich.
Now based in Italy it was hardly suprising that he was sharing the platform with a very fine Italian pianist Gabriele Maria Vianello, from the splendidly efficient Neapolitan school of Maria Tipo.
Some very fine playing for a master violinist who regularly gives masterclasses and has many highly successful students. On the jury of many International Competitions it was hardly surprising to find the very distinguished viola player Ian Jewel seated next to me.
He tells me he had been on the jury with Dejan in Fermo in Italy.
As Sylvia Junge had pointed out in her brief but heartfelt introduction,the Sonatina for solo violin of 2015 ,was written when Max knew that he had only a short time to live.
Fitting to remember too that the final few months of his life were spent preparing his Symphony n.10 in Rome with Antonio Pappano and the S.Cecilia Orchestra .
Repeated in London with Pappano and the LSO.
Max loved Italy having studied in Rome with Goffredo Petrassi and returned as often as possible .
His Symphony is in fact inspired by Borromini
Jack Buckley from Rome was in the audience too to pay homage to his great friend who he had done so much to promote in Italy when he was Arts Officer at the British Council.
The Sonatina was first performed in June 2015 in St Magnus Cathedral at the Festival that he had founded on the Scottish Island where he had found the peace and solitude to compose.
It is dedicated to the memory of his great friend on Hoy ,Jack Rendall.
It is a work conceived by Fenella Hunphreys as a way of commissioning six leading British composers to write a companion piece to one of the Bach solo Sonatas or Partitas.
Tonight it was preceded by the Adagio from the Sonata in C that was Max’s chosen Bach. A very fine performance full of shade and colour and I would have loved to hear it again as an encore instead of the Soiree de Vienne in the Oistrach transcription that was offered to a very enthusiastic audience.
The final two pieces on the programme: Tchaikowsky Meditation and Valse Scherzo played with all the charm and verve of someone who had liberated himself at last from the score and could at last turn baubles into gems.
Fine performance of the Schubert Grand Duo and Saint- Saens’ overlong and rambling Sonata in D.
Very much tied to the score they did not quite find that amalgam and freedom that they found later.
Some beautiful things of course from the beautiful bass opening of the Schubert to the soaring melodic lines of the Saint Saens.
Max must have been looking on though – in fact there was magic in the air for this much loved composer,- the finest most moving performance of the evening was infact his own Sonatina.
Alexander Gadjiev at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Charitable Trust
Winner of the Hamamatsu Competition in 2015 he gave an impassioned account of Schumann Kreisleriana which is on his new CD “Literary Fantasies” due for release later this month on Acousence Records.
A crystalline account of the Bach French Suite n.3 in B minor BWV 814 was followed by the first of Prokofievs 3 “War Sonatas” n.6 op 82,
And war it was with a massive onslaught into the savage world that Prokofiev so vividly portrays.
After such a physically exciting performance it was no wonder he did not quite find the calm for the love that dear Isolde exclaims in Liszt’s famous transcription .
Still only 22 here is indeed a talent to be reckoned with and Hats off to the Keyboard Trust for inviting him to play in London for the first time to a such discerning public that included Noretta Conci-Leech and her husband John founders of the Trust,
Leslie Howard,Vitaly Pisarenko Sasha Grynuk Iya I. Sughayer ,Sulamita Aranowska were just a few of the distinguished pianists that came to welcome this delightful young man to London.
Erzhan Kulibaev winner of the 2016 Enescu International Competition
in recital with Iulian Ochescu in Sibiu for the Enescu Festival.
An amazing line up of violinists at the Enescu Festival this year.
Including :Kavakos,Mutter,F.P.Zimmerman,Zuckerman,Chen, Vengerov,Bell,Repin,Tetzlaff,Znaider,Sitkovetsky,,Garrett,Capucon,Grimal,M.Barenboim Rachlin,Azoitei,Kopatchinskaja.
A wonderful tribute to that remarkable musician George Enescu the much loved mentor of Yehudi Menuhin and much more to discover besides.
It is a great tribute to a Festival that can leave space too for the names of the future.
The three winners of the 2016 Enescu Competition:Viktoria Vassilenko,piano; Zlatomir Fung,cello and Erzhan Kulibaev, violin have been given a space within a programme which in only two weeks has included some of the worlds greatest orchestras and soloists.
Tonight it was the turn of Erzhan Kulibaev having already played with The Royal Camerata in Bucharest last Saturday.
In Sibiu he could be heard in a very distinguished recital of music by Medtner,Prokofiev,Schubert,Ravel and Bizet
A recital that recalls the natural musicianship of Yehudi Menuhin .
No histrionics but just pure subtle music poured out of this young musician ably partnered by Iulian Ochescu.
Some very interesting pieces by Medtner:Two Canzonas with Dances op 43.
Unknown to me it was clear from the very first phrase that we were in the hands of a real musician .
The piano lid fully opened as our young Rumanian pianist knew how to listen carefully and was able to match the subtle sounds that Erzhan was able to find on his beautiful sounding instrument .
The first Sonata by Prokofiev was given too a very subtle performance with a great sense of the architectural shape in this long and sometimes meandering early work.
A perfect match between the two artists that had now found their ease in this rather dry hall.
If the first half had been rather subdued that was not the case after the interval.
A very beautiful performance of Schuberts Duo in A .
Such subtle phrasing from the violin throwing off exquisite sounds into a packed auditorium that try as he did Ilulian could not quite match the rapport that Rachmaninov had with his partner Kreisler!
However the pianist came into his own with a very fine performance of the Ravel Sonata for Violin and piano.
Rarely have I heard such liquid sounds from the piano that the violinist could comment on .
The final jazz like final played with all the verve and typical Ravelian style that brought this work to a very exciting ending.
Leading from this point onwards to some real fireworks in the form of the famous Bizet/Waxman showpiece of Carmen Fantasy.
Here Erzhan’s transcendental technique came more obviously out into the open and we could appreciate in full his total command of the instrument that had obviously lead to him taking the Enecu Competition by storm in 2016.
Now public and musicians totally at their ease they could let their hair down with two ravishing encores of Bernstein’s” Summertime” and “It ain’t necessarily so”.
A student at the Central Music School for special talent and later with Zakhar Bron in Madrid where he too now teaches .
Perfecting his studies with Pierre Amoyal at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
Erzhan Kulibaev can be heard in London at St James’s Piccadilly on the 30th November for that remarkable promoter of great young artists Canan Maxton of Talent Unlimited.
Looking forward this Friday to hearing Maxim Vengerov again after all these years.
At his debut in London at the age of only 14 (25 years ago) all the most important violinists were present for his recital at the Wigmore Hall.
Cheering to the rafters this young man from the same remarkable school of Zakhar Bron. His performance of the Carmen Fantasy was even more unbelievable than this evening.
But then he is now Yehudi Menuhin visiting Professor at my old Alma Mater in London.
It is only fitting that they should all be present in this shrine to George Enescu.
Victoria Vassilenko ,winner of the 2016 George Enescu International Piano Competition in the Sala Thalia,Sibiu as part of the Enescu Festival 2017
An amazing series of concerts in the George Enescu Festival in Rumania from 2 until 24 September.
A line up of of Orchestras and artists that would do any of the great musical centres in the world proud in an entire season let alone in two weeks.
Sometimes even three concerts a day with Orchestras that include the Czech,Munich and Israel Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony,S Cecilia ,
Royal Philharmonic,Philharmonia di Londra,Camerata Salzburg,
Russian National,Orchestra National de France
under Pappano,Gergiev,Dutoit,Ashkenazy and Honorary President Zubin Mehta
with Trifonov,Argerich,Chen,Terfel,Vengerov,Zukerman,Kaufmann etc etc ……….
The list is too long to include all the wonders on offer in a homage to that great Rumanian musician George Enescu.
(Much remembered in England as the inspirational mentor of Yehudi Menuhin)
Most of the concerts are in Bucharest but there are concerts in other important cities too .
It was in Sibiu that I managed to hear last Sunday Philippe Jaroussky and Celine Scheen with Christina Pluhars Arpeggiata Ensemble in the magnificent Evangelistic Cathedral in the centre of this beautiful city .
A programme based on Monteverdi that treated the packed out church to an hour an half of absolutely sublime music making .
The two solists completely at their ease .
So much so they even on occasion abandoned their scores to make their ensemble more intimate and united.
Christina Pluhar leading her renowned group founded in 2000 .
Antique intruments played with all the abandonment and virtuosity that these instruments can have in the hands of real dedicated musicians.
Rarely can this music have sounded so alive and immediate as this evening.
Taking turns to sing from the pulpit and even together in a very amusing encore that was given after a standing ovation from a public that had listened in raptures in total silence.
Nearly all the concerts are broadcast live on the radio and streamed too and I managed to hear part of the Saturday afternoon concert from Bucharest with the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne with Mihai Ritivoiu and Tine Thing Helseth under Joshua Weilerstein give a very fine account of Shostakovich’s Concerto n.1 for trumpet and piano.
Next week just in one day there is Vengerov/Papian in Sibiu whilst Pappano is performing in Bucharest the Resurrection Symphony with his Orchestra and Chorus from Rome ( a magnificent performance that I had heard this winter in Rome)
and later that very evening Jordi Savall.
So it was hardly surprising to find Ray Chen playing some magnificent solo Bach (a simple direct musicality reminiscent of Sandor Vegh) on the car radio from the five o’clock concert in Bucharest whilst on my way to the recently restored Sala Thalia in Sibiu to hear the winner of the 2016 Enescu International Competition for the seven o’clock concert .
At eight in Bucharest Martha Argerich and Charles Dutoit were playing their Ravel concerto ( their first performance of the concert was together many years ago when they were married and had a child together) united in their later years after a stormy marriage (he just celebrated his 80th birthday and her 76th, I do not think one dare use the word ” old age” in this case) with the RPO in a concert streamed live into the George Enescu Square .
Nel 1972, incontro d’eccezione con la pianista Martha Argerich e suo marito il direttore d’orchestra Charles Dutoit. Fermamente indipendente, Martha ha già scelto di condurre una carriera alla sua immagine, imprevedibile e affascinante.
Amongst all these international “stars” the festival under the enlightened artistic direction of Vladimir Jurowski has found time for the next generation of musicians filtered through the Enescu International Competition .
Artist that include Erzhan Kulibaev,violin 18/9,Mihai Ritivoiu 10/9,Zhitomir Fung,cello 13/9 and Viktoria Vassilenko ,piano 12/9.
And so it was that the discerning public did not desert this 25 year old Bulgarian pianist in a programme of mostly Russian music (hardly surprising from the class of Dmitri Bashkirov at the Regina Sofia Academy in Madrid).
The first of the “war” sonatas n.6 op 82 , Debussy Pour Le Piano ,Tchaikowsky “Dumka” op 5 ,Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition .
An imperious appearance alla Gina Bachauer or Oxana Yablonskaya with all the assuredness of someone who was totally in command both musically and technically.
In the opening Debussy she gave her heart strings too much reign and in general it suffered from an over romantic approach where a more simple and refined palate as Rubinstein and Perlemuter have shown us is needed if this music is to retain its elegance without sentimentality .
How many times I have heard Rubinstein in those opening glissandi leading so simply and inevitably to the chordal fanfares .
The heartfelt yearning of the Sarabande where Perlemuter used to obtain a very special sound with the soft pedal down but playing with a stronger touch than would seem necessary for such poignant music.There was more passion in the notes rather than having to resort to out of place rubato.
Here we are in the land of the Hommage a Rameau from the same early period of this French genius composer.
Of course she played it very well but just a little too keen to make too many hairpins that it seemed to loose its impetus and very aristocratic Frenchness.
It was a completely different thing in the Russian music.
Here was a superb performance of the 6th Sonata by Prokofiev.
Played with just that driving rhythm and unshakeable sense of being anchored to the ground .
Some remarkable sounds from the ferocious to the most tender .
The war like motto theme (in many ways reminiscent of Mahler 6) played with the threatening menace that made its reappearance in the final movement so chilling.
“Avec un sentiment de regret” indeed.
The dance like second movement Allegretto played with all the lilt that Prokofiev is capable of without conceding for a second the rhythmic impetus behind the notes .
The Tempo di Valzer slow movement played with all the sounds of a sumptuous Russian Symphony Orchestra.
The relentless last movement only interrupted by the opening motto but driven to its inexorable end in a performance that had the audience holding their breath until the last
Dumka was played very beautifully but again as in Debussy she allowed the rhythm to slacken when her heart took over.
Mussorgsky Pictures on the other hand received one of the finest readings I have ever heard in concert.
A truly wonderful range of sound allied to an impeccable sense of balance.
The menacing Gnomus dissolving into a most beautifully shaped Old Castle.
An unrelenting Bydlo lead to all the charm of the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.
Some transcendental playing of great control in Limoges Market and the sublime magic created at the end of Catacombae was only broken by the unsually quiet entry of Baba Yaga.
Quiet before the storm indeed and such was her sense of balance and control she knew exactly how to pace herself as the old masters of the past used to.
The tolling bells of the Great Gate of Kiev were allowed to sing out in all their glory instead of vying for attention in the battle between the hands as is normally the case.
A tumultuous ending and only now slightly giving any sign of tiredness for what we had all been through.
It brought the audience to their feet to show their appreciation of this superb young artist.
No encore was possible after this and the seriousness of this artist was once again proven in not giving in to such insistent applause.
Busoni winner the young Croatian outsider Ivan Krpan ;
second Jaeyeon Won;
third Anna Geniushene ;
fourth Eun Seong Kim;
fifth Xingyu Lu;
sixth Dmytro Choni…………….all of whom received monetary prizes
Anna Geniushene also won the Quartet and audience prize.
All the fun of the Circus at the 61st Busoni Competition in Bolzano.
On tenterhooks right until the last moment the enlightened jury led us to a result that is of fairy story proportions.
A young Croation that from his first appearance had shown his natural talent but also lack of experience compared to some of his remarkably well trained colleagues.
I followed his progress and was so sorry to hear the muddle he got into in the Chopin Funeral March Sonata.
Very apt title and presumed that that would be the end of him .
Little did I expect to see him accepted to the next round.
But then the surprise here at the Busoni this year is a jury that are not only counting the notes but above all the real talent behind them.
And so it was that this very unassuming young man just made music as he obviously was born to do.
Up against some of the most remarkably well prepared and experienced performers his talent swept the board and was so rightly awarded last night the Busoni prize to the delight of the audience of his fellow competitors and adoring public .
We had lived the dream with him and the Busoni jury too had not let us down.
A competition that shares its wares so generously with the world is indeed an arena to be cherished.
The superb streaming allowed us all to share in every minute of some remarkable performances that for one reason or another did not proceed to the final.
I heard from my own home some very fine things from Julian Trevelyan ,the 18 year old english pianist ,winner to everyone’s astonishment at the age of 16 of the Marguerite Long Competition .
A Haydn sonata that was noted as one of the finest performances in the competition by Maria Tipo from her home in Florence .
Another twenty year old Julius Asal gave some remarkable performances notably a very fine Bach Chaconne and of four Rachmaninov Preludes.Ravishing indeed.
Leonora Armellini already and established artist and a refined stylist gave a beautiful performance of Chopin’s Fourth Ballade and a very subtle quite marvellous account of Beethoven’s very allusive Sonata op 101.
Anna Geniushene gave a magnificent performance of Prokofiev 8th Sonata and was considered by many the favourite to win .
Her Schuman Quintet with the marvellous Cremona Quartet was a highlight and justly awarded the Quartets own prize of a series of future concerts with them.
Anna is now a post graduate student at my old Alma Mater the Royal Academy in London ,guided by Christopher Elton, that very fine musician and trainer of so many fine pianist before the public today.
For me the greatest talent of all was a young Korean boy ( student of the same teacher as the last Busoni Winner Chloe Mun) Eun Seong Kim .
His performance of Beethoven’s last Sonata was memorable for its control and intelligent musicianship as we have come to expect from the school of Dae Jin Kim .
Now studying with Minsoo Sohn, 1999 winner of third prize in Bolzano and sharing his experience at the same University in Corea.
Eun Seong has that God given gift that cannot be taught but can be nurtured and helped to grow as is the case here but it can also so easily be destroyed .
His Scriabin fifth was one of the most intelligent and exciting that I have ever heard.
These are just a few of the performances that will remain in my memory.
That there can only be one winner is the Circus aspect of an International Piano Competition.
But as the amazing Murray MacLachlan said the other day in another competition in Manchester :”all the competitors are winners for the joy of making music at such a level.”
Unfortunately there are prizes to be won and sponsors to be cherished and prize money to be awarded.
Who fell at the first hurdle.
Who survived to the second but was then knocked off the pedestal for one reason or another .
The jury always gets blamed for what the public may consider a lack of consideration for their favourite performance or performer.
That is part of the Circus aspect but it draws people into the fray sometimes unfortunately in the heat of the moment lacking in kind words towards a jury that has a near impossible task.
But do the same people ever consider that the performer too is not always right and can have some good performances mingled with less too?
I had noted Krpan from the beginning but had also noted his youthful inexperience .
Allowing him into the Chamber Music round he came into his own and stood the ground with our favourite charming Russian and a very experienced 29 year old Corean who up until that moment I had not heard .
Our own Eun Seong Kim unfortunately fell at this hurdle to Krpan.
That classical music can generate such excitement and partecipation is the phenomena of the event called International Piano Competition of which there are an abundance these days.
Gone is the passive acceptance so often found in classical music concerts .
Here it is a real almost animal partecipation that can reach the same frenzied following that is so much part of sporting events.
Great day by day – blow by blow – account from a very informed young correspondent from the Amadeus magazine – Alessandro Tommasi and his charming companion Sofia .Two faces designed to light up every day with youthful exuberance and down to earth intelligence .
There are an abundance of competitions because there is so much more talent around that ever before .
Such magnificent teaching and encouragement for the arts at an early age .
The fact that these young people have dedicated their youth in search of beauty is something the mass media never talk about in their pursuit to give us the most detailed accounts of all the disasters and scandals worldwide .
All the competitiors have now been give a stage worldwide by the Busoni Competition Streaming .
The Italian Radio and Television have broadcast the final evening and prize giving .
The world awaits and what an exciting platform it has been and will be in the future for many of these young musicians.
Hats off to Peter Paul Kainrath and his dedicated colleagues who have shown just what it means and what responsability it is to be called the BUSONI Competition.
They have risen magnificently to the challenge and I know that it has not been an easy path to follow.
Looking through the very interesting programme I notice the following that puts the Circus aspect of a competition into perspective:
1949 Alfred Brendel 4th prize;
1952 Ingrid Habler and Walter Klien 4th prize ex aequo;
1956 Bruno Canino and Michael Ponti 4th prize ex aequo ;
The young Chinese-American pianist Jessica Zhu a graduate of the University of Houston and with a Marshall Scholarship completing her studies at the Guildhall in London with Joan Havill.Awarded a Fellowship by the Guildhall she is now on the doctoral programme studying with Paul Roberts and Ronan O’Hora.
A very serious programme of just two works for this lunchtime concert in one of the most beautiful churches in London.
Lovely summer atmosphere outside with all the lunchtime offers of delights from various parts of the world on the stalls in the church coutyard just a stones throw from Piccadilly Circus.
Some very musicianly playing as was to be expected from the very distinguished teachers she has been working with .
The Brahms Handel Variations that can so often sound fragmented and just a series of contrasting episodes .
Here in Jessica Zhu’s hands were given a relentless chaconne like sense of structure.
A constant driving rhythm that underlay even the most delicate variations .
The rhythmic drive in the final few variations leading to the triumphant return of Handel’s little innocent seeming melody was remarkably exciting .
Her great temperament drove her to risk sometimes not totally successfully but such was the intelligence of her musicianship that it was only in retrospect that one was aware of a few blemishes on her inexorable frenzied journey forward.
The trumphant appearance of the theme before the release of the fugue could in my opinion have been more grandiose and maestoso .
Enjoying the triumphant arrival a little more.
But hats off to her for maintaining the tempo in such a relentless and transcendental way.
The Fugue too allowing a little respite at first from the variations was driven forward to its exciting conclusion.
Wonderful to hear this work restored to its great place in the piano literature.
I sense the hand of that great teacher Joan Havill in particular here. This is a work that can only come to life as it did today in the hands of a real musician .
Recently I listened rather bored to Yuja Wang play the same work in the Festival Hall where she reduced this masterpiece to a series of beautiful episodes without any sense of the architecture or structure that is so much part of the Classical Romantic world that is Brahms in his larger works.
Rewarded with an encore of Gnomenreigen by Liszt played with all the intelligence and subtle virtuosity that can bring this little jewel so tantilizingly back to life .
The early Beethoven Sonata op 10 n.2 that opened the programme was played with the same intelligent musicianship with great sense of style and colour.
Always very clearly played never forcing the sound which can be so easy to do on this rather bright Fazioli in a church acoustic.
The final movement- Presto – was very exciting but maybe her considerable temperament pushed her a shade too fast to allow all the detail to tell .
Played as was the whole programme with an assurance and great technical command that kept the packed audience under her spell .
Little did the people in the courtyard realise what real treats they were missing inside this hallowed beautiful church.
Stephen Hough at the Proms with Brahms n.1 with the BBC Philharmonic under Mark Wigglesworth and David Sawer`s The Greatest Happiness Principle and Haydn Symphony n.99 in E flat.
Interesting to hear Stephen Hough’s splendid account of Brahms in this hallowed hall where I well remember Claudio Arrau in a memorable evening that included Weber`s Konzertstuck.
Living up to the prediction that Cherkassky saw in him all those years ago as the only pianist of the younger generation who actually listens to himself and has a “sound”.
He has since taken the world by storm with amongst other things his live recordings of the complete Rachmaninoff and Saint Saens concertos.
A refined palate of a bygone age that of Rosenthal,Lhevine,Godowsky or Cherkassky.
In fact anyone who has heard his own tantalizing bon bons at the end of his recitals might think they had gone back in time to the Golden Age of piano playing.
However he is also a distinguished composer and learned commentator on musical and world affairs.
A truly renaissance man who after his early training with our never forgotten Gordon Green went on to perfect his studies in the USA.
His Brahms today did not have the weight of Arrau ,the frenzy of Serkin,the grandiose aristocracy of Rubinstein or the struggle of a Curzon.
This was the Brahms of a Hough the great english pianist.
A beautifully thought out Brahms of great simple lines stated with a pure and golden tone.
Never lacking in great rhythmic energy and real assurance in the tumultuous struggles between piano and orchestra that Brahms demands in the first movement of this early first concerto.
Great volume of sound from the first outbreak of octaves combined with a touching lyricism in the two solo cadenzas where his innate sense of balance led to some truly magical moments.
The slow movement too played with great authority.
The central section played with unusually great passion which only made the choral like return even more moving.
The great march like last movement played with a clarity and rhythmic energy that made the typical lyrical Brahmsian second subject even more regal and imperiously lyrical.
A very fine performance indeed greeted by an ovation from an audience that had followed the almost hour long journey in total silence.
Lacking only in that final touch of genius that is almost undefinable .
A question of sound colours maybe or of rhythmic energy behind the notes even in the most quietly lyrical passages.
That indefinable something that did not allow the atmosphere to stand still as it can on certain special occasions in the slow movement or to sweep us totally off our feet as it can on the great occasions.
Truly one of the finest pianist before the public today Cherkassky’s prediction was certainly spot on.
No encore possible after such a performance and the capacity audience was just happy to acknowledge it with a standing ovation.
Some very musicianly playing from this young english trained japanese pianist .
One of the two english trained pianists to be accepted for the Utrecht Liszt Competition in October after worldwide auditions to select the best handful of competitiors .
A competition that Vitaly Pisarenko(See above chronicle n.3) won at the age of 20!
The other british pianist selected Alexander Ullman has already won the Liszt Bartok competition when he too was 20.
So hats off to Asagi Nakata for winning a place amongst such prestigious competition.
Having moved to the UK at only eight months she wasted no time in seeking out and studying with the finest teachers at the Royal Academy Junior and Senior Departments.
Ian Jones,Tatiana Sarkissova and Christopher Elton are a formidable group indeed.
They have helped Asagi acquire a solid musicianship looking intently into the scores to find the true meaning of the composers intentions but also maintaining her own fantasy and originality added to an accomplished technical command of the instrument.
What they could not do was to give Asagi a bigger hand !
But like that other pianist with small hands Alicia De Larrocha- where there is a will there is always a way.
A very interesting programme all intelligently and charmingly introduced to a full hall for the final concert of the season.
The best performance in a very fine,intelligent Liszt recital was kept for the encore .
It was infact Beethoven .
The slow movement from the Pathetique Sonata played with sentiment but without sentimentality .
A fraction on the fast side for my taste that made the triplet accompaniment appear a little too agitated for the Adagio Cantabile indication of Beethoven.
However some beautifully shaped phrasing and very delicate tone colours .
The all Liszt programme started with Sposalizio and Sonnetto del Petrarca n.47 from the Deuxieme de Annee de Pelerinage Italie .
Some beautiful musicianly shaped performances especially in the delicate sections of these two extraordinary pieces.
Sposalizio inspired by Raphael’s “The Marriage of the Virgin” housed in the Pinacoteca di Brera.
Starting and ending very quietly building to a climax with a left hand accompaniment of octaves that Asagi never allowed to overpower the melodic line .
It was the same sense of line combined with passionate involvement that was so convincing in the Sonetto n.47 that followed.
The great tone poem that is Vallee d’Obermann from book One of the Annees and based on the Poem by Senancour with the great romantic questions:”Who am I ,what do I want,what do I ask of nature ” .
Some beautiful things especially in the quieter sections.
The stormy octaves and the great climax were a little strained due to the size of Asagi’s hand .
The driving rhythm on which the melody floats triumphantly to its inevitable rhetorical end was not allowed to flow as naturally as it could in the hands of a great virtuoso.
This is the music of a Horowitz or an Arrau .
Strange that Rubinstein begged his prize protegee never to play it in public….he too realised that this was music that could only be unleashed by a chosen few.
Inspite of this limitation Asagi gave a very accomplished and musicianly performance .
The Reminiscences des Puritains S.390 was played with great flair and evident enjoyment.
The slightly coquettish rubato did not convince entirely as I feel she was not totally convinced herself.
Some beautifully shaped Bellinian melodies with a great sense of balance and colour .
A tumultuous totally convincing ending brought a standing ovation and a suitable ending to Dr Mathers very remarkable mosaic of some of the finest talents in the land .
If anyone wants to find a kaleidoscope of pianistic talent in London they should head straight for this beautiful little church in Perivale so passionately programmed by Dr Mather and his team of real music lovers intent on helping great young talents to take another step up the ladder in their quest for recognition and appreciative audiences.
Heaven helps those who help themselves and the sense of enjoyment and concentration in these afternoon concerts is indeed very unusual and a joy to behold.
“A lifes work nobly done” is the very apt inscription on one of the stones outside in this oasis in the middle of Ealing Golf Course just 30 minutes from the centre of London . Q.E.D.
Serious fun and games for the students of Giovanni Gnocchi’s Masterclass in Sermoneta
I knew after last Sunday’s recital by Giovanni Gnocchi that the lucky students to work with such a dedicated artist for a week in the magical atmosphere of Sermoneta would result in an extraordinary evening of music making .
And so it was last night in the stables of the castle as we entered for all to see were all the empty ‘cello cases orderly parked with their precious contents in the hands of their young guardians ready to go into action.
Giovanni Gnocchi ready to encourage them from his own place in the ensemble that they had created during a week of intensive study together.
I well remember a similar concert some years ago in Fossanova when Architect Cerocchi invited Alberto Lysy (the original founder of the Festival in 1963) with his magnificent Camerata from Gstaad .
It was a real lesson in dedicated passionate professionalism with each of the superb young virtuosi taking it in turns to lead and be led by their colleagues in a series of chamber concertos for string instruments.
I have only since seen something similar with Sandor Vegh and his colleagues .
This is the great lesson that has been left to us by artists such as Casals and Segovia and the following they created of dedicated disciples .
The inventors of the Guitar and Cello as we know it today in the concert hall.
With the same passion and dedication determined to play the great works of Bach and others on their instruments.
Inventing the so called modern technique
They all have something in common though a passion for making music together at the highest level without any thought of self advancement.
This of course is the same message that the S.Cecilia Orchestra in Rome have received from another passionately involved musician Antony Pappano.
Orchestral musicians playing regularly chamber music together and learning to listen intently to each other to create a whole that has made this orchestra one of the very best ensembles admired worldwide.
It was the same passionate involvement that I received from watching Sir John Barbirolli who used to conduct the orchestra at the Royal Academy walking around the young intrumentalists egging them on to play with more passion and involvement.
“More ,more” he would exclaim or whisper in the ear of particularly attractive young ladies !
It was he who when Jaqueline Du Pre (who had frequented Sermoneta for the courses of Maurice Gendron in the 60’s) was criticised for throwing herself around on the cello with too much red hot passion ,exclaimed how he loved it .
”If you do not play with passion at that age what do you pare down when you get to maturity!”
So tonight here were a group of ten young cellists all listening intently
to the other.
Ages ranging from 14 to early 20’s .
Playing with the same passonate involvement and enjoyment in a programme devised by this extraordinarily dedicated musician ,already at his young age giving classes at the Mozarteum in Saltzburg.
Sometimes giving space to the superb solo playing of Mauro Paolo Monopoli or Stefano Bruno ….or the extraordinary ensemble together in Verdi’s Nabucco.
Too numerous to mention all the remarkable things in a long and enjoyable journey of real Haus musik.
With the same enviable passion of his own solo recital last week Giovanni Gnocchi explained that the first half would be dedicated to the orchestral or solo music for cello which included Popper,Glazunov,Piatti,Ravel and Strauss.
Whereas the second half would be dedicated to opera with William Tell Overture opening the proceedings. Including Verdi ,Mascagni,Puccini,Wagner and Weber.
Grand finale together with famous film music from Burt Bacharach and Ennio Morricone.
All the young passionate cellists playing together with evident joy and satisfaction .
A week of music making that they will remember for a long time to come ,as we certainly will.
Generous as ever Giovanni Gnocchi shared and even incorporated into his cello evening the verses of Renato Gabriele valiantly read by the author .
Hats off to the Pontine Festival for reminding us yet again of the great musical heritage that has been in these hills since the time of Roffredo Caetani and Franz Liszt.
Giovanni Gnocchi and Eugenia Tamburri at Fossanova Abbey
Wonderful to return to the Cistercian Abbey complex at Fossanova.
Founded in 1135 and based on its sister in Hautecombe in France.
The Dominican scholastic Thomas Aquinas died here in 1274 and his chapel can be visited as well as the magnificent cloister and the imposing simplicity of the Abbey itself.
The granary too has been transformed by Architect Cerocchi ,Honorary President and founder of the Campus Musicale di Latina ,into one of the most beautiful and magical of concert halls.
I remember hearing Alicia De Larrocha play here before the restoration in 1985 ,when her changing room was a caravan in the field outside this historic but rather rustic hall.
Now tastefully restored by someone who really understands music.
With a raised wooden platform that allows the sound to be projected into the furthest corners of the hall ,allowing also a complete vision of the artists.
Tasteful drapes and air conditioning with lighting especially studied to create the intimate atmosphere of the hall.
The Cerocchi’s a lifetime together often frequenting the festivals of Saltzburg and Gstaad with the intent of bringing the same serious music making to their native Latina.
The very first Festivals at the Caetani Castle in Sermoneta in the 60’s with artists such as Alberto Lysy,Yehudi Menuhin,Joseph Szigeti,Sandor Vegh,Walter Trampler,Bruno Giuranna,Gaspar Cassado,Andre Navarra,Rocco Filippini,Franco Petracchi,Nikita Magaloff,Bruno Canino,Aldo Ciccolini,Charles Rosen.
All happy to breathe in the same magical atmosphere that was so congenial to Franz Liszt during his long sojourns to the composer Roffredo Caetani.
Goffredo Petrassi was the Honorary President and Architect Cerocchi the active President for so many years.
Architect has now at the age of 90 handed over the reigns to his daughter Elisa .
He now fills the Honorary role that the illustrious composer held for so many years.
Judging from the programmes this year I think we can safely say the serious heritage she has inherited is certainly being splendidly maintained .
After a magnificent recital and a week of masterclasses last week from Elisso Virsaladze ,one of the most highly esteemed pianists of our time.
We were treated last saturday to one of the most renowned Chamber Orchestras in Europe that of Padua and the Veneto .
With a programme of not only Beethoven’s 7th Symphony but also included the world premiere of a manuscript by Petrassi of a cello concerto written for Arturo Bonucci in 1955.
The score of which is housed in the archive of the Campus together with many other precious manuscripts I am told by Mrs Cerocchi.
The programme was completed by a work by Ennio Morricone “Immobile n.2” for Harmonica and strings.
The distinguished soloist,Gianluca Littera, giving rare Harmonica Masterclasses for the Campus too.
So it was hardly surprising to find Giovanni Gnocchi ,a young ‘cellist with a very distinguished curriculum and already a Professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg giving a recital with Eugenia Tamburri in the Granary at Fossanova.
Explaining to a full hall that rather than the printed programme of Variations by Beethoven as a prelude to his second sonata he had chosen to play two song transcriptions by Schubert and Schumann that he felt would prepare us better for the journey of the revolutionary early sonata op 5 n.2 that was the main work in the programme.
Explaining with such enviable passion and evident joy that this was the first of two sonatas in which the piano was for the first time an equal partner to the cello.
In fact the first movement is even longer than that of the Eroica Symphony.
In a programme devised especially for us this evening on the eve of his week of masterclasses that he will hold in the Castle in Sermoneta.
Many of his students have followed him from Saltzburg I am sure and will give a concert in their own right on Friday evening.
It was evident from the very first notes that we were in presence of a very rare artist.
The simple song by Schubert played with such poignancy,almost as if we were being drawn in to overhear the secrets that he was about to reveal.
Great fluidity in which the melodic line was allowed to breathe so naturally showing us the real meaning of tempo rubato.With the roots firmly in the ground allowing the branches to move so naturally in the breeze.
The piano too seemed to be on the same wave created by this artist and it created together with the Schumann Lied a tension that made the remarkable opening of the G minor Sonata even more astonishing.
Some really energetic playing of great virtuosity from both artists in which Beethoven’s tempestuous temperament was contrasted with the most delicately shaped cantabile passages. A great sense of character too in the Rondo Allegro bringing this revolutionary work to a tumultuous end.
So many beautiful things to admire but sometimes at the expense of the great architectural line that is so much part of Beethoven’s world.
All the wondrous things so lovingly presented but also at the expense of the rhythmic impulse that carries us on the journey from the beginning to the end .
A small price to pay for such artistry that I am sure will be a true inspiration to all those lucky enough to share this week together in his masterclasses.
The second half dedicated to “lollypops” from the cello repertoire.
Played with great virtuosity and impeccable style every movement followed by the ever attentive Eugenia Tamburri.
Hair raising virtuosity in Heinrich Schiff’s transcription of the famous violin showpiece of the Scherzo Tarantella by Wieniawski .
Some beautiful cantabile in the pieces by Tchaikowsky just a little too self indulgent for my taste but more than compensated for by a very acrobatic Waltz in C sharp minor by Chopin in the Davidov transcription for cello.
A great Spanish finale of breathtaking brilliance from both players in an almost perfect ensemble.
A great reception from this audience held in a spell by the true musicianship and artistry of these two remarkable artists.
And it was again the poet that was allowed to speak at the end through two songs of Schubert .
Standchen the well known Serenade and again the little song that had opened the programme and allowed us to enter so easily into the magic world created for us this evening .
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 