An absorbing afternoon with Richard Goode at the Guildhall today introduced by another very fine musician Martin Roscoe . It was nice to be reminded by Martin of our student days in Dartington together sharing many a glass of Scrumpy whilst playing in the masterclasses there of Stephen Kovacevich.
Martin with a very distinguished career and part of that wonderful trio of great pianists from the North of England completed by Peter Donahue and Katherine Stott .Displaying a prodigious memory for it was almost fifty years ago that Katherine and I taught for Miss Rowe in Ealing and Martin and I passed our wonderful summers immersed in music in Dartington
Introducing Richard Goode Martin revealed that his masterly recording of the Beethoven Sonatas was in fact the inspiration for his own which is nearing completion.
Together with other old friends and fellow students of Gordon Green :Tessa Uys and Peter Bithell who were present hoping to be not only inspired but informed by one of the great musicians of our time.
The opening Beethoven Sonata op 27 n.1 very musically played failed to ignite the masterclass in spite of some very interesting comments from Richard Goode . It was the Mozart Sonata in D K.311 that followed , played in a very professionally proficient manner by a master pianist but the moment that Richard Goode tried to explain that every note must have a meaning and began to demonstrate in his inimitable way the musical language of Mozart that spoke so eloquently and immediately a magic was created where the teacher ,student and public were totally involved.
And so it continued with the Fourth Ballade by Chopin. Richard Goode now totally inspired managed to share his passion, sense of balance ,colour and musical intelligence with the excellent young pianist who immediately inspired by the passionate technical and musical demonstrations turned a very fine performance into something really totally on a different plane.
Daniel Lebhardt.at St Mary`s Perivale for Hugh Mathers remarkable series of young virtuosi.
Wonderful to be back to this beautiful church seen from afar in the winter sunshine today.
The opening concert a bit later than usual due to urgent repairs on the delicate roof.
Young hungarian born pianist already at only 23 graduated with honours from the Royal Academy in London where he won the prestigious Sterndale Benett Prize receiving also recognition from YCAT UK and America giving him numerous concert experiences to consolidate his career in music.
Studying from an early age at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest I was very happy to be able to hear this distinguished young musician in Hugh Mather`s extraordinary series.
In three pieces from Brahms op 118 he showed the best of himself with a solid,mature but very sensitive musicianship.
Some beautiful sounds and a sense of line that never led to excess.
A heartfelt interpretation that never dissolved into sentimentality but always the head held nobly on high.
A sense of pulse and rhythmic impulse that led to a very moving interpretation of these deceptively difficult last utterings of Brahms
.
Persuaded by our genial host to present the programme the words used to express what he felt in Brahms were so clearly mirrored in his performances at the keyboard.
Explaining why he preferred the orginal version of Rachmaninovs epic second sonata he proceeded to give a virtuoso performance full of colour and subtle nuances but that somehow did not have the same impact as the famous much truncated”Horowitz” version.
I must say while I appreciate the reason for searching out and presenting the original version which is intellectually admirable but Horowitz was an animal who had a great sense of theatre combined with great musicianship that he is not always credited with.Was it not Rachmaninov ,his best friend ,who said Vovka plays me well!
Daniel gave a very fine full blooded virtuoso performance not missing in subtlety and heartrending romanticism.I just feel that for the actual content it would have benefitted from some cautious cutting and re-editing !
Starting his programme with Beethoven’s “Hunt” Sonata op 31 n.3 I felt as though he had not quite got to grips with the instrument in his quest to find delicacy and almost pastoral cantabile he somehow missed that rhythmic energy and clockwork precision that is so part of Beethoven in this early to middle period.Jaining Kong a few weeks ago in the same master series had shown us exactly how it could be done with masterly,mesmerising accounts of Beethoven Sonatas.
Next Tuesday another great pianist Marcos Madrigal with music of Chopin,Prokofiev and Lecuona a preview of which can be heard on Radio 3 “In Tune” on Thursday as he presents his phenomenal new CD of his compatriot Lecuona .
Marcos is absolutely unique in this music and it was the great conductor Claudio Abbado who recognised his talent and was responsible for helping him leave Cuba to complete his musical studies.
Beatrice Rana `s monumental performance of the Goldberg Variations for the BBC at the
Wigmore Hall today .
Total silence from a packed Wigmore Hall in which she bewitched us with the same rapt concentration that this 23 year old shared with us.
So rare to see a pianist listening so intently to every note totally still except for her magnificent hands spinning their golden web.
Glenn Gould too was only 23 when he recorded his revolutionary performance and I hear that Beatrice`s CD will appear commercially next month.
It was a young intelligent man`s performance as was Beatrice`s today.
Firstly the transcendental piano playing that was never in evidence for its own sake but was totally at the service of the music.
Always with great taste and intelligence some very subtle colouring and shaping.
Maybe the more rhythmic variations could have been slightly slower and weightier with slightly less rubato in the middle variations but that sense of a monumental rock will grow as this young virtuoso takes her rightful place, in the not too distant future, with the likes of Arrau,Tureck or Pollini.
I well remember some years back inviting both Nikolaeva and Tureck to play the Goldbergs in my theatre in Rome within a month of each other and people commenting on the lack of fantasy in programming .
It was exactly the contrast of two of the greatest Bach players of the century interpreting this masterwork in an intellectually intelligent reading both totally different,that was so stimulating and indeed created quite a stir.
It marked the return to the concert platform of Rosalyen Tureck after having retired to Oxford to study in depth the composer that she had dedicated her life to.
Tureck was magnificently slow and weighty(like Klemperer) a monument etched in marble.
With Nikolaeva music poured out of her in such a simple natural way and had a flexibility and humanity that one felt could change:A monument written in sand (like Bruno Walter).
Beatrice Rana did not quite have the authority which will only come with the maturity of experience but she was someway between these two magnificent extremes and it made for a very stimulating and totally absorbing performance.
Her wonderful Steinway was used to the full never aware of her subtle use of the pedals used only as a harpsichordist would change register.
The whispered simplicity of the return of the theme after almost an hour and a half took our breath away ,I think hers too .
Such was the control and silent virtuosity of this performance ,I am sure it will go down in history as one of the most memorable performances in recent times.
There was certainly magic in the air that one can luckily savour on the BBC radio 3 website(bbc.com/radio 3)
Great celebrations for Alberto Portugheis`s 76th birthday concert at St James`s Piccadilly today.
They say a man is known by his friends and as if that was needed to experience such wonderful company at the luncheon party that Alberto hosted for his friends in the beautiful restaurant in Piccadilly .
It was the same generosity of spirit that pervaded the passionate performances of Beethoven and Mussorgsky that he offered to his friends on his 76th birthday at St James’s Piccadilly. Only just recently celebrating with his childhood friend Martha Argerich their 75th birthdays in a memorable duo concert at the Wigmore Hall .
Due to the availability of dates it was only a month later that we celebrated Alberto again …his birthday day being the first of the year.
A real Renaissance man Alberto Portugheis was more concerned in conversation with his young disciples to know how to communicate via the mass or social media to all the mothers of unborn children on how to stop them being butchered in the wars that are endlessly being wagered in the name of Peace.
For there are many publications by Alberto in his quest for peace and his battle to take away the power of governments to wage war without any heed of the human sacrifice involved.
The church too has to take its share of the blame according to Alberto who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
His Mussorgsky threw all caution to the wind in a passionately theatrical heart felt performance that earned him a standing ovation at the end of his concert .
Having started with the Andante Favori by Beethoven – the original slow movement of the Waldstein Sonata.
He offered his adoring public an encore of a Russian melody by an Austrian composer as he announced himself …the third Moment Musicaux by Schubert played with a subtle rubato and sense of song that sent his friends happily away and us privileged few to celebrate around the table with this remarkable man ,where his many faceted views and spirited intelligent conversation kept us at the luncheon table until well into tea time !
Juan Perez Floristan at the Wigmore Hall tonight for the Prizewinners concert of the Santander International Piano Competition. A strange programme confronted us with the first half the Liszt Sonata and the second four preludes by Debussy ,three by Gershwin and in between the Bartok Sonata and Ginasteras`s Argentinian Dances.
My first reaction ,of course,was to think it rather foolhardy or at the very least presumptuous to open a debut recital with such a monumental work. However in his hands it was a totally convincing and satisfying first half. A very mature intelligent reading allied to a luminosity of sound that allowed this masterpiece to unfold without any exaggerations or over passionate exclamations .In fact a quite overwhelmingly professional performance without the hystrionics of a Horowitz or the deep introspection of an Arrau but a real understanding of the structure of this masterpiece.
Blessed,obviously,with a large hand,strong fingers and relaxed arms his sound could be likened to cristal drops reminiscent of Michelangeli. It suited him well also in the second half. His Canope ,one of four preludes by Debussy, was the most remarkable performance in a notable debut recital. La Puerta del Vino was given a performance of orchestral proportions such was his feeling for the colour and style that he was able to produce. A Bartok Sonata of such clarity and precision one was reminded of Andor Foldes memorable recording.
Some subtle additions to Gershwin’s seductive second prelude added to the razz matazz that he found in the outer ones. Leading ,of course, to a sensational account of Ginasteras dances that brought the house down. Party time secured an encore charmingly introduced to the public :his own arrangement of a Flamenco to thank us and wish us goodbye. Well it was quite a farewell for this consummate artist still only twenty three so there will be many more occasions to hear him in London again …………the earlier the better. As Paloma O`Shea says in her programme introduction :”the combination of luminosity and musical depth make Juan a very special pianist”………..this remarkable promoter of the arts has hit the nail on the head that is for sure
Anna Tsybuleva this evening gave her much awaited debut at the Wigmore Hall as winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition founded by the ever amazing Dame Fanny Waterman over fifty years ago.
Dame Fanny at 95 presiding as always over her “children” that have included Murray Perahia,Radu Lupu ,Dmitri Alexeev,Rafael Orozco,Andras Schiff,Mitsuko Uchida,Louis Schwizgabel and many more besides .
Since the very first competition winner,her star pupil , the seventeen year old Michael Roll,much admired by Benjamin Britten and a jury of some of the greatest pianists alive all persuaded by this remarkable lady to give up their valuable time with the sole aim of finding their rightful heir and in doing so helping the next generation to astonish a vast public that was awaiting .
Magaloff,Curzon,Bachauer,Fischer,Tureck ,Siki,Boulanger,Sandor these were some of the names on the first juries.
And so it has been a whole host of great artists brought to the public’s attention thanks to the passionate advocacy of this minute power house of energy who had decided in the 1960s that Leeds should house one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world.
Tonight it was the turn of the young Russian pianist Anna Tsybuleva ,an extremely beautiful young lady with a red hot passionate approach to the piano that had been so admired in her winning performance in Leeds of Brahms Second Piano Concerto.
In fact the visual participation was something that was more admired on the television than on the radio performance .
And so it was tonight in the second half of the recital with a commanding performance of Medtners Sonata in G minor op 22 in which the sense of line and direction were so clearly etched together with a cohesion of sound that made this not fully understood work totally comprehensible .
Not since Richter have we heard the wondrous sounds that she found in Voiles ,the first of three preludes that made up a group of magical Debussy pieces culminating in a passionate performance of L’Isle Joyeuse .
Minstrals was charcterised is such an idiomatic way one was almost reminded of the famously idiosyncratic recording of Paderewski .
Feux d’Artifice could have been more mysterious but the clarity, musicality and sheer virtuosity was breathtaking .
An ovation from a full house was regaled with The Girl with the Flaxen Hair of such liquidity one was totally unaware that here was a box hammers and strings instead of a choir of angels.
The first half on the other hand had been more perplexing . Anna’s inner fire had been to her detriment and the CPE Bach Fantasia in F sharp minor Wq.67 was very fragmented from magnificent frenzied rhythmic articulation to sounds spread over a larger canvas that somehow did not gel into one whole that one could follow.
The Schumann Etudes Symphoniques op 13 too was much too fussy and not simple enough …..somehow her passionate involvement got in the way of the musical line .
The posthumous studies inserted after what Agosti used to describe as the architecturally Gothic cathedral were strangely fragmented and seemingly improvised and not at all part of the overall rather straightforwardly musical line of the variations of this much maligned masterpiece .
In all this performance my one thought was for the great gift that Dame Fanny has with her passionate involvement with music been able to communicate to a vast audience worldwide .
She was very interested to know that Radu Lupo tomorrow would be playing Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto in Rome with Sir Anthony Pappano . I also told her that Murray Perahia would be giving a recital on the 6th of March.
This great pianist and winner of her competition in the 1970’s who represents so wonderfully her ideals for the Leeds Competition that she is projecting into the future when I have have no doubt she will be looking on approvingly from afar.
The triumphant return of Kissin to Rome last night
Evgeny Kissin returned to the concert platform after a year’s sabbatical refreshed,renewed and rejuvinated.
The title at the gates of the magnificent Parco della Musica just about sums up what Kissin was about to offer to Rome an “Inverno Incantato” . It was indeed just that and he was awarded a spontaneous standing ovation by a capacity audience that included Sir Anthony Pappano,Donatella Flick , Nicola Bulgari,Benedetto Lupo and many other illustrious music lovers.
A first half of classical repertoire : the Mozart little C major K.330 and Beethoven’s Appassionata op 57.
Whilst the second half was dedicated after short but magical Intermezzi op 117 by Brahms to Spanish music where he really let his hair down which led to an ever more enthusiastic audience demanding more .
Ever generous and obviously glad to be back ,a sign of real enjoyment showed not only on his face but by the ravishing sounds that he drew from the piano in The Maiden and the Nightingale and in the famous 5th Spanish dance by Granados. At this point having set the pace the recital should obviously have ended with a breathtakingly virtuoso account of Brahms Hungarian Dance in G minor in some demonic transcription reminiscent of those presented by that other super virtuoso Arcadi Volodos.
But from an imploring public visibly in delerium we were treated to a little Spanish piece full of melancholy and nostalgia . No one seemed to know what it was but does that matter when we are treated to such music that we thought we would never hear again since the passing of the great and much missed Alicia De Larrocha .The Master informs me that it was “Oriental” by Granados
The first half quite rightly was a strictly classical affair in every sense.
The beautiful little Mozart played with all the repeats that instead of lasting the usual fifteen minutes lasted almost thirty.
As with Richter and many other discerning musicians who quite rightly insist that repeats are an integral part of the structure.
I personally think there could be a compromise at least in public recitals but what does it matter when there is playing of such charm , grace and intellectual musicianship. Some of the startling changes of harmony though were not so surprising the second time around even though played with such a sense of control and colour .
The last movement could have had more wit and the bubbling enthusiasm of youth ,but the seriousness of this performance set the tone of the recital and led us into a dramatic and tautly drawn performance of the Appassionata.
Never has the contrast between the whispered opening and the explosive chords sounded so overwhelming- reminiscent of the Liszt Sonata although always in the classical style as befits the new vision of this great artist.
The last movement was played non troppo Allegro but with the driving rhythm together with a total control that had us sitting on the edge of our seat something we thought was lost with the passing of his great predecessor Emil Gilels.
Not quite the luminosity of sound in the Andante con moto but played with great sentiment but without sentimentality, a great unfolding corteo as Agosti liked to describe it, only interrupted by the astonishing chords that are so much part of the revolutionary Beethoven of this period and that takes us into the frenzy of the final movement.
The architecture of the first movement was clearly chiselled together with the unexpected changes of dynamics of this extraordinary work.
Last but not least mention must be made of his extraordinary performance of Asturias from the Suite Espanola by Albeniz.The barely audible whispering of guitar strings to the enormous build up was a tour de force of control , sense of colour and style and was followed by a virtuoso performance of Viva Navarra by Larregla .
I was expecting the famous Navarra that Rubinstein used to offer at the end of his recitals but this was another piece with the same febrile sense of excitement and it brought the official programme to a rousing ending .
A startling journey of discovery that indeed left the audience exhausted and “incantato” as the sign had shown us as we entered this hallowed hall.
Tomorrow Pappano with his magnificent orchestra on a voyage of discovery with Janine Jansen .
An unknown work to me and to most others too I believe ,of Bernstein’s Serenata dal Simposio di Platone .
Sugaring the pill for Christmas with Ravel Miroirs , La Valse and Sibelius’s extraordinary Seventh Symphony .
Music is alive and well in the Eternal City as it has never been before ,since the arrival of our knight in shining armour .
A standing ovation for Jianing Kong in Hugh Mather’s remarkable Tuesday series in Perivale of some of the most talented young pianists around.
Very distinguished performances of two of Beethoven`s best loved Sonatas : The Waldstein and Appassionata. Somewhat reminiscent of Solomon in its seemingly direct and intelligent musicianship where everything seemed so logical and clearly expounded.
The most noticeable thing about these performances was the luminosity of sound that he was able to find on this not easy instrument. Allied to a very strong Beethovenian temperament he held a full hall enthralled as we listened to these very well known works as if for the first time.
Tightly held together with a very strong and precise rhythmic impulse that seemed to come from within ,such was his identification with the aggressive and at the same time lyrical and calming world that belongs to Beethoven in his middle period. The subdued opening of the last movement of the Waldstein made the irascible outbursts even more unexpected.The continuous pulse of the second movement and its variations in the Appassionata has never sounded more like the cortege that the composer so obviously intended.
The lead into the coda in the last movement literally had us all on the edge of our seats for the animal excitement that he was able to generate. Beethovens pedalling scrupulously noted and intelligently interpreted as at the end of the two sonatas .Especially finely interpreted in the first movement of the Appassionata where the demonic motive reminiscent of the Fifth Symphony took on a frighteningly menacing aspect as rarely heard before. Such precision allied to such innate musicianship was exactly the reason that Solomon sprang immediately to mind.
No encores possible after that but a word of congratulations from our host and best wishes on his recent wedding to another remarkable pianist Caterina Grewe who will be performing the Liszt Transcendental Studies on this very piano in April. Now that is what I would call a very equilibrated household and send them both all best wishes from myself and in particular the Keyboard Charitable Trust for whom they have been selected a few years ago.
Wonderful birthday celebration at the Wigmore Hall last night for the joint birthday concert of Martha Argerich and her old friend Alberto Portugheis – their 75 Anniversary. And what energy they both have with nearly four hours of rehearsal before the two hours of the concert.
Fortified in between with only a cup of coffee it was a memorable occasion in which two old friends from their long distant youth in Buenos Aires ,shared their love and enjoyment of making music together with a packed out Wigmore Hall.
Two fine Steinways side by side for the two piano works on the programme Mozart Sonata in D and the Brahms Haydn Variations and a single piano was enough for the two duets of Rachmaninov Six Pieces op 11 and Ravel Ma Mere l’Oye . To an enraptured audience they offered two encores :Oblivion by Piazzolla in the arrangement of another old friend Eduardo Hubert and Milhaud’s Braziliana from Scaramouche. Two old friends as page turners completed the festive atmosphere on this very special occasion
Wonderful to hear the exchange between two old friends in the exquisite second movement of the Mozart and the real fun they had in the outer movements . Some beautiful sounds through a very special use of the sustaining pedal in their magical performance of Ravel’s Ma Mere L’Oye suite. And the Rachmaninov played with all the pathos that the twenty one year old composer was able to convey in these very atmospheric six pieces.
And like all good old friends they shared equally the two scores Martha taking the top in Ravel and Alberto the top in the Rachmaninov.
Virtuosity abounding in a rousing performance of the Haydn Variations by Brahms in which Martha Argerich took on the first piano showing all her remarkable gifts that have made her one of the most loved and sought after musicians of our time.
Our remarkable Alberto,nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize no less,showed all his innate musicality in this heartwarmingly affectionate conversation shared with all their adoring friends in the wonderfully welcoming space that is the Wigmore Hall.
Festivities with friends long into the night completed this memorable encounter of two friends of a life time in music.
Immaculate performance of the Resurrection Symphony under a superb Daniel Harding truly worthy of the dedication of tonights concert to Claudio Abbado on the feast day of the Immacolata.
Pappano’s wonderful S. Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus in Rome in magnificent form. A truly memorable performance for its controlled passion and grandeur.
A great sense of line in the German Kappelmeister tradition of Jochum or Klemperer as exemplified in our time by the great and much missed Claudio Abbado .
To say that we were not aware of the ten horns and eight trombones is the greatest compliment one could give to this young director discovered and helped by Abbado for whom he became assistant .
The one and a half hour work all leading inevitably to the last movement inspired by the funeral of Hans von Bulow where the entry of the magnificent chorus is so movingly right.
All performed with a sense of line ( not easy with the enormous orchestra asked for by Mahler) that held the packed audience spellbound to the end.
A standing ovation was not enough for such a profound experience .We left the hall uplifted by this great tribute to Claudio Abbado as Mahler had been at the funeral of Liszt’s son in law.
Where words are not enough …….music can reach the realms that our souls need these days, when we appear to have so much but in fact after this experience it is in fact too little .
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 