Curtis Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall in London
Osmo Vanska conductor Peter Serkin piano
A strangely inhibited account of Brahms First Piano Concerto with Peter Serkin led to a full blooded virtuoso performance of Ein Heldenleben by Strauss .
Not only Maria Ioudenitch ,the concert master,played brilliantly but each section of this very large orchestra were allowed to play with all their youthful passion allied to a technical skill that is unique to the Curtis Institute.
Another hero to single out for her superb horn playing Sarah Boxmeyer.
Wonderful youthful exuberance in the two encores with Bernstein’s Candide and Prokofiev March.
Hats off to Osmo Vanska who had allowed these very fine young musicians a seemingly free reign and they in turn played with an evident joy and infectious enthusiasm that seemed to ignite the whole of the second half.
I well remember Rudolf Serkin’s remarkable totally convincing performances of the two Brahms Concerti at the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall.
His son Peter on the otherhand had gone on to make a name for himself as a very committed performer of contemporary music and it is only recently that we are hearing his performances of the classical repertory in this country.
Of course with a father called Rudolf and a grand father called Busch one can take for granted the superb musicianship of Peter Serkin .
There were some magical moments as in the two cadenzas of the first movement which seemed to appear from afar instead of the usually rather robust statement .
The etherial trills in the second movement were given an unusally free reign to great effect.
Rather over robust playing of the majestic main theme of the first movement with great upward movement of the arms that seemed to distract and led to some very harsh instead of robust sounds.
Very strange almost vibrating on the note in the quieter passages or could it have been the nervous tension that would not allow that total nervous almost frantic involvement that was so much part of the electricity that Rudolf could conjure up?
Here was all the temperament of his father but somehow one felt that he was not in a world that was totally his .
A fine performance in many ways much more assured than his second concerto at the Proms this summer but it was as though he was not totally convinced and therefore not convincing .
The orchestra played rather on tip toe as though they too were not completely conversant or convinced either.
However after the interval the orchestra playing Strauss’s great showpiece “A Hero’s Life” were totally in their element demonstrating just what it means to be one of the 4 per cent that are chosen from those that audition to be part the Curtis Institute’s 175 students that receive full time scholarships.
Forty percent of the student body comes to Curtis from outside the USA .
Over 20 nations are represented by the student body in a typical year.
Hence in the orchestra many oriental names abound and one only has to think that Lang Lang, Yuga Wang and our own Alexander Ullman all received their training in this noble institute to realise what it means to be a Curtis alumni .
Iyad Sughayer at St Martin in the Fields for the Embassy and Cultural Institute Series .
Representing the Embassy of Jordan Iyad I.Sughayer at only 24 is regarded as one of the Middle East`s most promising young artists.
Mozart 12 Variations on “Ah,vous dirai je Maman”K.265 and the six pieces that make up Liszt Annees de Pelerinage : Premiere annee:Suisse.
Some remarkable virtuosity aided and abetted by Liszt but it was the more concealed ,refined virtuosity in Mozart`s “Baba black sheep ” variations that was even more astonishing.
Beautiful sound from this Steinway Grand that now resides where once Sir Thomas Beecham’s noble old instrument lay.
Such a perfectly pure simple statement of the well known children’s melody ~ so much for Schnabels famous remark about being too easy for children and too difficult for adults.
The clarity and purity of sound was astonishingly maintained in the set of variations that follows.
Some amazingly intricate left hand figurations played with an easy charm and sense of style that one can understand what Schnabel might have been insinuating in lesser hands.
Here there was an innocent virtuosity and a very sparing use of pedal that allowed these intricate figurations to weave their magical web around this little nursery melody with such grace and ease.
Some beautiful shaping and sense of colour in the slower variation with an ornamentation in such impeccable style that one was hardly aware of the intelligent musicianship of this young pianist.
After his success a few weeks ago with the multi award winning Manchester Camerata in that noble cities`reborn cathedral it was good to be able to hear a solo recital in an equally noble edifice in the centre of London.
No hidden virtuosity in Liszt and Iyad certainly showed us that he was more than ready for the fray.
Orage showed off his transcendental octaves in a great display of the Romantic passion of a young Liszt in Switzerland with his great love.
Even in the strenuous passages the musical line was always foremost and this most underestimated of pieces was restored to the place where it really belongs.
It takes a real musician to play Liszt well.
It is all too easy to hide behind the rhetoric and seemingly bombastic technical demands.
It was Guido Agosti,whose mentor was Busoni, who would treat the scores of Liszt with the same respect as with Beethoven or Mozart.
A tradition passed down through pianists such as Claudio Arrau, Alfred Brendel and Leslie Howard who hardly surprising is Iyad`s actual mentor.
Iyad having studied from the age of fourteen at Chethams under that amazing power house that is Murray McLachlan and now perfecting his studies at Trinity Laban under Martino Tirimo and Peter Tuite is maturing into an artist to be reckoned with.
Opening the Liszt with the bold dramatic statement that is in the Chapelle de Guillaume Tell followed by the three most poetic pieces almost Mozartian in their simplicity.
The gentle rippling of the water in the left hand figuration of Au lac de Wallenstadt. The beauty of the sound and sense of balance could have been even more telling with a more constant less disturbed ripple of these tranquil waters.
The well known Au bord d`une source played with all the charm and grace with some delicate jeu perle filligree that could have benefited from a little more time to wend its magic way to perfection as this little jewel can do.
Pastorale whose innocent almost native charm made up the middle section of this totally satisfying whole that makes up Liszt`s magical description of the joys of youth in Switzerland
All leading to the final great statement that is the great poem of the Vallee d`Obermann.
Prefaced by a poem with the great question of Renaissance man:
Who am I,what am I ,where am I going.
A great Romantic poem with a complete range of emotions.
From the most intimate to the most flamboyantly rhetorical.
The magical middle section leading to a most gloriously romantic outpouring of a young virtuoso on the crest of a wave.
With the same physical virtuosity and passion that was on show today and brought this capacity audience spontaniously to their feet at the end of the strenuous emotions that this young man had so simply shared with them.
An amazingly active week for the very fine young Spanish violinist Asia Jimenez.
Having graduated with an honours degree in 2015 from the Conservatory in her home city of Barcelona she is now perfecting her studies in London at the Royal College of Music.
Playing a magnificent Gagliano violin kindly loaned by a private benefactor and having just returned from the prestigious Prussia Cove Chamber Music seminar.
This week alone she rappresented the RCM as one of their top students in a Masterclass of Alina Ibragimova, a concert promoted by the RCM in the Victoria and Albert Museum and a Mozart concerto appearance in the Super String Day Series in the main concert hall of the RCM.
A very stimulating Masterclass with the Russian born Alina Ibragimova.Whom having received her very early training from the famous Gnesin School in Moscow went on to study at the Menuhin School and the RCM in the UK.
Working together as colleagues on the Beethoven Spring Sonata which Asia was to play in recital the next day at the V&A.
A new initmate space called the Globe was the venue for an early evening concert in this most beautiful and fascinating of all museums for all those looking for beauty through the ages.
So what more logical than to have an hour recital of wonderful music surrounded by some beautiful and exotic looking instruments on display in the gallery.
In fact just in view was a Stradivarius violin that was crying out to be played not just displayed!
I remember Ruggiero Ricci recording all 24 Caprices on Paganini’s own violin held in the town hall in Genoa where Paganini was born and being allowed only a few minutes to try the violin before the recording such is the fear of owning such a priceless instrument. Understandable but hardly fair as Paganini’s violin is much bigger than the normal instruments and the Caprices notoriously difficult to play.
However Asia’s beautiful sounding Gagliano was just right for the atmosphere that this wooden frame created. In the rather high ceilinged galleries this gave just the feel of being in an intimate warm space with the audience seated all around the inside of this oval space and the piano and violin playing in the round to the audience both in and out of the oval.
Some fine duo playing with the pianist Alison Rhind very much the equal partner in an exchange of musical views with the violinist.
Brahms’s Scherzo from the FAE sonata was given a performance of great rhythmic precision combined with a delicacy for detail with the great passionate outbursts that are so typical of Brahms .
It was interesting to hear now the whole of the “Spring ” sonata op 24 by Beethoven that had been discussed in the masterclass the day before.
Just the right choice for this initmate atmosphere for one of Beethovens most refreshingly melodic of Violin Sonatas
In fact similar also in period to the simple almost Mozart like melodic invention of the Piano Sonata op 28 known as the Pastoral.
The exchange of the melody from the violin to the piano was played with a simplicity and directness that makes this one of the purest of all Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas.
Of course with Beethoven there are always clouds on the horizon and these were played with all the necessary verve and precision allowing great contrasts between the two sides to Beethoven’s complex character.
Some very beautiful playing passing first from the piano then to the violin in the sublime Adagio molto espressivo with some almost breathless,hardly whispered comments from the violin.
Perfect ensemble in the Scherzo played at a real Allegro molto with great technical assurance leading after this passing cloud to the most radiant of Rondos. Played with just the right almost nostalgic inflection in a fascinating interplay between violin and piano.
Debussy’s elusive sonata was played with great verve and style but of course on such a small piano the overall magic sound world of Debussy appeared a bit dry.
However the De Falla Suite populaire espagnole that ended this short recital was played with all the flair and infectious virtuosity by this beautiful and talented young violinist. Seconded by some very robust and passionate sounds from a piano that in the Debussy had seemed rather inadequate .
And only a few days later The Super String Day at the RCM . A five hour marathon which included the five violin concertos by Mozart.
The soloists one of whom was Asia (very finely projected slow movement of the 4th concerto) accompanying their colleagues in the very fine mainly string orchestra inbetween taking turns to play the solo part.
What a perfect training for these young musicians and what a feast of music for those lucky enough to be invited to listen to them.
Prokofiev second piano concerto with Tamila Salimdjanova and the Ealing Symphony Orchestra under John Gibbons
There must be something about the air in Ealing that not a day passes without the most stimulating musical surprises.
Yesterday the extraordinary recital by Vitaly Pisarenko and today Prokofiev Second Piano Concerto ,probably the hardest concerto in the piano repertoire ,with Tamila Salimdjanova and the Ealing Symphony as winner of their annual concerto competition.
I do not think it a coincidence that they are both students in the class of Dmitri Alexeev winner of the Leeds Piano Competition and star student of Dmitri Bashkirov who at 85 has just spent a week giving seminars at the RCM extolling the bravura of his ex student now one of their top professors.
Surprise,surprise Alexeev is long time resident in Ealing along with that other superb pianist and winner of the Leeds competition Murray Perahia.
One was immediatley struck but the magnificent sound from this old but noble Boesendorfer. In the supremely confident hands of Salimdjanova she swept the orchestra along with her in a performance that had a great sense of direction and rhythmic impulse.
The first movement cadenza built from a murmur to a tumultuous climax where the orchestral brass came magnificently into their own.
The moto perpetuo of the second movement played without a hitch which says much not only for the transcendental playing of Tamila but also the total command of this good but amateur orchestra under their fine conductor John Gibbons.
The conductor who managed to coordinate the ensemble in this very complex work of Prokofiev that at the first performance in 1913 had scandalised its audience who left in drones.
Instead tonight in Ealing there was a real ovation from this large packed out church of St Barnabas and appreciation of the mastery of this waif like young pianist.
Some beautifully sensitive things from Tamila.
In fact the opening of the first movement had been quite magical.
The seemingly effortless power that she could then produce without any hardness always listening and fitting in with the ensemble could be quite overpowering.
No encore possible after a performance like that as the insistent audience understood too.
What a tour de force it had been.
Very interesting choice of programme too.
Opening with the difficult Pines of Rome by that master orhestrator Respighi .
The second half saw a performance of the Second Symphony op.116 by John Gardner.
I well remember him at the RAM with his rugged good looks that were much admired by the ladies.
He was also good friend and admirer of my first teacher Sidney Harrison.
In fact it was John who read the eulogy at his funeral arranging during the ceremony a recording of the deceased Sidney’s performance of Funerailles by Liszt.
He had that sense of humour.
The Symphony written too around this time in 84/85.
For many years I played his amusing arrangement of the March Militaire that he had written for Sidney Harrison’s 80th Birthday concert to be played together by an ex student Ian Hobson,also winner of the Leeds.
I got to play it to my other teacher Guido Agosti in Siena who was very amused and impressed.
I had no idea that John Gardner had been such a prolific composer and I think that here in Ealing it is the first time I have seen his name on a concert programme.
Nice to read that his performance of the drunken bar pianist in Wozzeck in 1951 became the stuff of legend!
To read also of his work with Karl Rankl for the newly formed Covent Garden Company and early performances of his first Symphony under Barbirolli.
His last work a bassoon Concerto op.249 completed in 2004 and that he died at the ripe old age of 94 in 2011.
Hats off to the orchestra for such interesting programmes and wonderful to know that they will be playing in one of Italy’s most magical cities- Lucca- in July.
Extraordinarily fine and perceptive review of a magnificent concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the short European tour of Pappano’s magnificent cohorts – The Orchestra of S.Cecilia of Rome.
This week another great pianist Mitsuko Uchida with Pappano with the Schumann Piano Concerto.
Only in Rome in the magnificent halls designed by Renzo Piano of Shard fame .
Totally agree …..thank goodness we are not alone dear Norma Fisher
But in the end there was no business like show business……Wang on the rampage before the interval and Pappano even upstaging the diva thanks to his Lone Ranger of Rossini William Tell Overture.
But in between some sublime playing from all concerned.
Valse Triste incredible in its flexibility of every instrument listening to the other…..amazingly moving seemingly impossible ensemble ….but then they all have a heart that beats together in syntonia with their knight in shining armour
Wang and Pappano in Rome CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·VENERDÌ 28 APRILE 20175 letture Che festa al Parco della Musica oggi con Yuja Wang and Antonio Pappano at S.Cecilia tonight at the start of their Europ…
Jean Rondeau at St Peter`s Eaton Square for Baroque at the Edge Festival
I would not have thought it possible to come away these days from a harpsichord recital exhilarated,uplifted and excited as one might from a recital by a great virtuoso pianist.
I was brought up on Landowska and later George Malcom which became unfashionable with the advent of original instruments .
Tortelier used to say that he would play Bach in a so called authentic baroque way when they discovered an authentic baroque recording studio.
At last listening on video recordings to a young french harpsichordist looking like a pop star but playing in such an exciting virtuoso manner.
Winner of the First Prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges at only 21 at last at only 26 he is beginning to make a name for himself.
Here at last is a master of his instrument that can play with the passionate intelligence that the masterpieces of Rameau Royer,Couperin and Bach need to bring them alive.
Someone from the younger generation who is not reverently afraid of this rather delicate looking instrument.
Reading in the programme that the 59 year old Rameau was threatened with ‘twenty kicks in the stomach’ by his rival Royer’s companion and that Les sauvages was inspired by the exotic dancing of two American Indians in the Theatre Italien in Paris.
It could almost be a headline from todays newspapers.
And reading in the Telegraph review today of Peter Ackroyd’s book that speaks of officials inspecting in 1538 the dormitories and cloisters of monasteries and found ‘gelded youths,debaucheries,catamites,boy things,pederasts,sodomites ,Gannymedes’.
So why should the music of that period not portray the passions and human frailty as only music can?
This respectfully whispered baroque music as it is so often portrayed does not reveal the passions that lie behind the notes of these remarkable works of genius.
All too rarely an artist such as Jean Rondeau a real virtuoso, appears on the scene to reveal in all its glory the music of this so called baroque period.
Unbelievable that such a small delicate looking instrument could contain such colour,excitement and passion.
The incredible excitement generated in the Gavotte avec les doubles de la Gavotte by Rameau or the wonderful characterisation of the famous La poule.
Where such extraordinary distortions of rhythm ( for you cannot call it rubato) were so telling .
The frantic rhythm of Les Sauvages too but also the incredible sounds in the ultra modern L’enharmonique.
The build up in the Marche de Scythes by Royer that closed this short programme was quite overwhelming .
A use of ornaments that was totally unobtrusive but allowed a legato line and could produce a totally mesmerising architectural shape combined with an extraordinarily subtle palate of colour.
Famous piece by Couperin as an encore concluded this extraordinarily exhilarating recital.
He can be heard again invited by the Keyboard Charitable Trust in the Historic Instrument Series guided by its co artistic director Elena Vorotko :Handel House (sometimes referred to as Jimmy Hendrix House) in Mayfair on 13th June at 18.30 and at Hatchlands Park- The Cobbe Collection- in Guildford at 12 noon on the 14th.
In programme the Goldberg Variations by J.S.Bach .
I have also just been told by our friends at the Amici della Musica di Padua who have a close collaboration with the Keyboard Trust that Jean Rondeau will play in their prestigious series next season on 13th March 2018.
VITALY PISARENKO AT ST BARNABAS FOR THE REMARKABLE DOTT.MATHER
It was indeed a remarkable recital.
A very generous event organised by Hugh Mather to offer a try out recital for a very important concert in Zurich tomorrow.
Clare Packenham ,the distinguished authoress came over especially to support a pianist who is very special indeed.
Wonderful sounding Boesendorfer concert grand .
An old instrument but from the days when the great Germanic pianos had a very special sound.
So not easy to play but it is the great pianist who can dominate and get the piano to give up its innermost secrets.
Was it not Richter who enjoyed the challenge of discovering and seducing even the most difficult instruments.
Vlado Perlemuter said the best concert he ever gave was on a “casserole” in a school in the English countryside.
Magnificent Liszt playing indeed. Intelligent,subtly poetic of such transcendental virtuosity one was not even aware of the mastery we were enjoying.
Liszt Ballades not only n.2 but the rarely heard n.1 .
All one could exclaim is why are these works so rarely heard in recital.
The answer is obvious .
It requires the enormous musical and technical understanding that is so very rare.
Liszt tenth Hungarian Rhapsody where the glissandi were thrown off with an old world ease and charm of a much missed Cherkassky.
Of course the piano was made to resound with the magic of Schubert`s Impromptus. Played with such a subtle rubato almost verging on the romantic but held tightly in control with a sense of the delicate magic that these songs without words can express in the hands of a true poet.
The German dances that opened this short but totally satisfying try out were played with the same idiomatic delicacy and charm of the mazurkas of Chopin.
Lucky Zurich they have no idea what treat is in store.
From Perivale to Zurich in 24 hours all thanks to our ever generous Dr Mather.
Cellissimo indeed but one should also add to title of this series at St James`s Piccadilly for the recital by Jamal Aliyev and Maria Tarasewicz.
Pianissimo would not quite be the equivalent maybe Faziolissimo would make my meaning clearer.
We know that Jamal is one of the finest cellists of his generation I have said it even recently.
How he has matured in the past few years from a very talented student at the RCM to the great artist that the world is beginning to realise.
He has what the Tortelier`s called “peso”. Strong subtle fingers that cling to the strings like limpets(Gilels would be the equivalent on the piano) but he has an even stronger heart and mind that take you on a memorable trip whatever he plays
Whether the charming Minstrel`s Song op.71 by Glazunov that opened todays recital or the monumental Shostakovich Sonata op 40 ,not to forget the total abandonment in Chopin`s youthfully brilliant Polonaise op.3.
Hats off to Jamal but it is not he that has made me want to talk about this recital today but the subtle magical playing of Maria Tarasewicz.
Lucky Jamal that has found the perfect partner a true magician that can turn a fine but very difficult loud Fazioli piano into a magic box totally at her command.
Playing with the lid fully open,never did she overwhelm Jamal as I have heard others so often do in this very church.
An amazingly small but very flexible hand like Alicia de Larrocha it can do exactly as her heart and mind lead her.
The beauty of the sound that is very rarely heard on this piano was proof that she was listening not only to Jamal but even more rarely to herself.
The wondrous sounds that Jamal finds on his Gabrielli cello of 1752 perfectly matched and sometimes even bettered on this Fazioli of 2010.
A real duel where they are united in their ultimate goal which is recreating the music before them with all the drama ,maturity and beauty that their youthful mastery allow them.
We the public can just flock to their concerts in the knowledge of a fulfilling musical experience as we did for that other golden couple Barenboim~Du Pre so cruelly taken from us all those years ago.
Deniz Arman Gelenbe and friends All About Mozart final concert in the Mozart Focus Series at St John`s Smith Square this afternoon
Lovely to see Deniz Arman Gelenbe rushing off after her magnificent performances of Mozart to catch up on the latest of the French Elections.
Especially as St John’s Smith Square in the shadow of Big Ben had been subject to a bomb from the suffragettes attempting to have a vote for women long before Mr Hitler almost flattened this noble edifice during the second world war.
Deniz Gelenbe is a lady who knows where she is going as was obvious from the very stylish performances that she gave with her colleagues from Trinity Laban where she was for many years the very distinquished head of Piano.
Now handing over that post to a younger colleague,Peter Tuite, she is free to dedicate herself more to public performances .
Having studied herself with some very distinguished musicians at Julliard School in New York: Adele Marcos,Rudolf Ganz ,Cecile Gerhart and our never forgotten friend Gyorgy Sandor who had played and given masterclasses in my theatre in Rome for many years In fact Deniz was very touched to see the foto that sits on my piano posted here of Gyorgy with my wife after one of his numerous concerts for us in Rome.
A programme based on three piano and violin sonatas with Michael Bochmann who I well remember from my student days at The Royal Academy .
A disciple of that very gentle and much admired violinist Frederick Grinke who together with David Martin were the very finest violin teachers at that time.
Embodying all the principles of his mentors that have included Sandor Vegh,Henryk Szering and playing Bach Double Concerto on tour in the USA with Yehudi Menuhin.
In the three violin violin sonatas that were generously offered today there was a very real musical dialogue between two musicians totally dedicated to the genial music that they had before them.
Playing with the lid of the piano fully open ,the violin using the sound board of the piano to help amalgamate the sound .
Never overpowering the violin but producing the most beautiful sounds that allowed the two instruments to blend into one. Thus making nonsense of the traditional way in that period of publishing the Sonatas as ” Pour clavecin ou forte piano avec accompagnement d’un violon”.
A tradition carried on well into the times of Brahms by the way.
The early Sonata in G K.301 played with such charm and colour .
The extreme delicacy of the piano found the perfect partner with the violin and there was a real dialogue between them that was fascinating to follow.
The two later Sonatas in B flat K.454 and in F K.376 very stylishly played even if I felt the dramatic element was rather played down in an attempt to give a sheen and wonderful sense of line to these much more complex works.
It was a small price to pay for such wondrous sounds that allowed us to be completely seduced by these genial rather lesser known works of Mozart.
The sense of colour allied to a complete technical command and perfect realisation of the intricate ornamentation of Deniz Gelenbe reminded me of that other much missed lady of the keyboard Alicia De Larrocha.
No histrionics but total concentration on the sounds that they were producing together.
In fact it was refreshing to overhear a conversation in which two members of the public were reminiscing and remarking what a great similarity there was.
They could not remember the name of the other pianist but for me it was already on the tip of my tongue.
Remarkable sense of colour and a very sensitive dynamic range from Michael Bochmann allowed a very attentive audience to wallow in this feast of real music making.
In the final work on the programme, and in this series, was the great Piano Quartet n.2 in E flat K.493.
Joined by their disitnguished colleagues Rivka Golani,viola and Vanessa Lucas-Smith ,violoncello suddenly we seemed to be plunged into another world.
Such was the dramatic impact of the performance and real bodily partecipation of all concerned the very thing that I felt had been missing in the solo sonatas previously.
Michael Bochmann now in a passionate discourse with the dynamic Rivka Golani,who seemed almost to have a cello under her chin such was the size of her beautiful viola.
All totally involved in a performance both of drama and sublime melodic invention .
The piano totally integrated in the robust but always stylish sounds being produced.
Vanessa Lucas-Smith always in total contact discreetly sustaining them when necessary and coming into her own on the few occasions that Mozart offers .
The real participation from the viola of Rivka Golani seemed to inject just the right energy and rhythmic impulse that this masterpiece demands.
Flowers for the originator of this series from Oxford picked in the house where Vlado Perlemuter used to spend his summers .
It is good to note that this great pianist would never play Mozart in public although having recorded all the Piano Sonatas back in the 60’s.
Too difficult for adults and too easy children as Perlemuters mentor Schnabel use to remark.
In fact Perlemuter’s Peonies were a small offering for such courage and such a feast of music offered today
As Bruno Walter is quoted in the programme :”There is an angelic sphere that reveals itself in the beauty and perfection of Mozart’s music,in its exalted range of serenity and purity”.
A fitting description of what we were treated to today.
It has been over forty years since the first time I heard Leslie Howard in the Palace of Count Chigi in Siena during the summer masterclasses of Guido Agosti.
Classes where generations of talented young musicians would flock to a place where musical integrity and a profound respect for the composers wishes was paramount.
The classes of Guido Agosti and Franco Ferrara.
I doubt there are few really great musicians of our generation that have not at some stage been influenced by these two quiet giants of music.
Quiet because both very rarely if ever still performed in public and their holy shrine the only place to hear and study at length with them was here at the Chigiana for three months each summer.
Ferrara struck down by a form of epilepsy that would only allow him to conduct if a doctor was present as in his recordings in the recording studio can testify with Mario Lanza or the Mahler 5 for Visconti’s magical film Death in Venice.
Agosti whose mentor had been Busoni had long dedicated himself almost totally to imparting his unrivelled musical knowledge to his own studio where the entire music world flocked every year to hear the most exemplary playing that somehow the Maestro could not produce in the impersonal concert halls.
Both had lain the stones for some incredible musical careers. Abbado,Mehta,Barenboim are just three of the many,none of whom have ever forgotten the musical experience received in Siena in their formative years.
As a young student I had heard of this marvel and determined to get there to see and experience it for myself.
And so in my first year at the Royal Academy fellow piano student ,Peter Bithell and I sneaked off to Siena to have a taste of this enticing elixir.
Little did we know that someone had spilled the beans at the RAM and we found to our amazement and surprise that instead of being told off we had in fact been given a helping hand in the form of Tobias Matthay Fellowships to allow us to spend the entire summer undisturbed by financial considerations.
There was a very popular athletic looking young Australian with blond hair and blue eyes that Agosti’s fabulously beautiful wife ,Lydia Stix,took under her wing immediately as the Maestro had found that this young man could also do no wrong at the piano .
Here was a student who was on the same wave length as the Maestro.
Someone totally prepared technically but also with a profound knowledge and respect for the scores he was interpreting.
I still remember (as it was a very unusual occurrence) Agosti complimenting this amazing young pianist on his superb mature understanding in an extraordinary performance of Beethoven op 101 Sonata.
This young man has gone on since in the intervening forty years to dedicate himself to a profound study and understanding of many neglected scores and in particular went on to take London by storm in a series of ten historic recitals at the Wigmore Hall of all the major (not necessarily well known) works of Liszt.
Recording on 99 CD’ s the entire output of Liszt for solo piano and piano and orchestra missing only one work that unexpectedly appeared at Sothebys for auction and then promptly disappeared into private hands.
An enormous enterprise that has earned him a place in the Guinness book of records!
Never forgetting his formative years he too has dedicated himself to sharing his musical principles and has a following of remarkable young disciples whose careers he follows with great interest always ready to help with advice or even offering joint concerts.
Founder of the Keyboard Trust established with these very principles in mind by Noretta Conci-Leech and her husband John Leech .
Infact two of these disciples Mark Viner (at only 26 President of the Alkan Society and winner of the first Alkan Competition in Athens ) and Iyad I. Sughayer (one of the Middle East’s most promising young artists) were present today fresh from their triumphs in recent appearances for the Trust in the USA,Cyprus and Manchester.
I am talking,of course, of Leslie Howard who was appearing in London for the final concert in the tenth anniverdary season of The Eaton Square Concerts at St Peters.
As we have come to expect from this very distinguished musician a programme of some neglected masterpieces intermingled with an established classic.
Mozart Sonata in A Major K.331 ,Grieg Sonata op 7 Liszt Sarabande and Chaconne from Handel’s .Almira ( the set piece for the Utrech International Liszt Competition of which Leslie is President of the Jury as he is also President of the Liszt Society in London).Rachmaninov’s much negelected First Sonata op 28.
A beautiful porticoed church in the heart of Belgravia in Eaton Square.
A church full of light and perhaps even more importantly a full house with a very attentive and appreciative audience.
A magnificent Fazioli concert grand on a specially constructed podium in the centre of this magnificent building.
Magnificent looking but also sounding as this church has a remarkably fine acoustic .
The first thing that was immediately apparent was the beauty of the sound produced by Leslie in the opening Mozart Sonata .
A great sense of style but allied to a great sense of character showing off not only the serious but also the most humorous sides of Mozart’s genius.
Some of the opening variations played with an unusual sensitivity immediately taking one by surprise in a work so often played in a rather dry accademic way.
The acciaccaturas played with such a captivating sense of humour it was refershing how such a well known work could come to life in the hands of someone who had the ability and command to make the music really speak in an almost operatic way.
The recurring motif in the Menuetto a revelation in its whispered entrance interrupting the proceedings.
The Rondo alla Turca played with all the the infectious insistence that makes nonesense of those that rattle it off as if a virtuoso show piece instead of part of a remarkable whole.
A passionate reading of Grieg’s much neglected Sonata in E minor .
Glenn Gould,another great original thinking musician, was a great advocate of this Sonata but apart from Cherkassky I do not think I have heard it before in recital.
Full of subtle colours and sumptuous sounds and a forward movement and sense of architecture the belied the usual fragmentary nature of compositions of this underrated composer.
Following on before the interval with a rarity indeed in Liszt’s Sarabande and Chaconne S.181 .
A transcription for solo piano written in 1879 for Liszt’s piano student Walter Bache to play at the Handel Festival in England
A magnificent work full of subtle virtuosity and a gradual build up in the Chaconne that is as impressive as those of Bach or Handel himself.
Strangely neglected and recently set as the obligatory piece for the Utrech International Piano Competition .
Thanks to performances as those of Leslie Howard tonight it will surely take its rightful place in the piano repertoire.
A virtuoso performance indeed but always with a sound that seemed to unite all the fragments into a unified whole . No mean task but in the hands of a real musician it can take on a shape and power as it did today.
A beautiful sense of balance in the Sarabande from a pianist that did not seem to move a muscle .
Completely still , concentrating and listening in a masterly way to the sounds that he was commanding from the orchestra he had in his hands.
Rachmaninov’s much neglected First Sonata in Leslie Howard’s hands tonight was totally absorbing in a way that I have rarely heard before.
Always finding the sonata rather long winded almost Medtner like in it lack of melodic invention compared to the more popular works of Rachmaninov.
Here tonight Leslie Howard showed how wrong I had been.
Here was a masterpiece full of such colour and musical invention from the menacing recurring bass figuration to the throbbingly passionate melody in the beautiful middle register of the piano.
Combined with the most exquisite cantabile sounds never forcing the sound but by such a subtle sense of balance allowing the melody to sing out so naturally.
All this again in a sound that seemed almost to be similar to what we used to describe as the Philadelphia,Cleveland or Berlin sound.
There was an overall sound created that seemed to create a whole that gave great architectural meaning and shape to this misunderstood work.
Great feats of virtuosity were thrown off,en passant,part of the fabric but certainly only part and not the raison d’etre as is so often the case in Rachmaninov.
A totally satisfying performance that was greeted by a well earned standing ovation.
Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G sharp minor was just the right encore chosen by Leslie to thank this very attentive audience.
The heart rending deep bass notes resembllng much of the profound Russian feelings found in the sonata and the ending played in a very subtle and totally convincing way as too rarely heard these days .
