Autore: ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

When I was a schoolboy many years ago I well remember the late night programmes on the BBC of the recently discovered piano rolls in Frank Holland’s piano museum in Brentford.Phenomenal performances from the Golden Age of piano playing.

Pianists that we had read about but never heard:Rosenthal,Lhevine,Godowsky,Levitski,Chaloff,Munz,Dohnanyi etc presented by Deryck Cooke. I waited anxiously every week to hear this unbelievably subtle display of virtuoso piano playing.

Shortly after, Raymond Lewenthal arrived on the scene with music of Alkan,another legendary pianist/composer, contemporary of Chopin and Liszt that we had only read about .This mysterious figure,killed when the Talmud fell on him , had written music of such difficulty that it was rumoured to be impossible to play.

Raymond Lewenthal appeared on the scene ,a romantic figure from a bygone age, with programmes of Liszt Hexameron and the Norma paraphrase together with pieces of hair raising difficulty by Alkan.There were queues all night at the Wigmore Hall to get a return for his sold out recitals.

Then came Ronald Smith with his performances and learned books on the legendary figure of Alkan.

In our time now Marc-Andre Hamelin is that pianist with the reserves of technique to play this repertoire .

The next in line waiting in the wings is Mark Viner there can be no doubt after the phenomenal display this afternoon in Hugh Mathers remarkable series in Ealing that he is ready to fly into the limelight to astonish the vast public that awaits  him.

Place of honour always to Nina Walker the legendary repetiteur at Covent Garden who worked on the historic performances of Norma with Monserrat Caballe and Grace Bumbry.(I had actually been present at the first Festival of  Valle D’Itria in Martina Franca where Grace Bumbry had come to sing Norma for the first time as she was about to alternate her usual role of Adalgisa with Norma .Of course in the end Monserrat refused to sing anything but the title role  and the two divas fought it out bravely).

So Nina Walker certainly was able to appreciate the absolute rhythmic control and sheer sense of theatre and excitement in a superlative performance of the Reminiscences de Norma that I doubt has ever been bettered.
Never has this Bosendorfer piano sounded so grand with the magnificent bass allowing the middle and upper sections to glisten in the amazing pyrotechnics that Liszt requires of the performer.

Opening this remarkable concert with a piece completely unknown to me and I expect to most : A la Chapelle Sixtine S.461ii by Liszt.
Such amazing contrasts from the extreme virtuosity of the opening to the serene reference to Mozart Ave Verum .Beautifully projected cantabile playing combined with a virtuosity that took ones breath away.

Following with five of the Douze etudes dans tous les tons majeurs op 35 by Alkan .A real discovery.A cross between the original op 1 version of the Liszt transcendental studies and Chopin or Mendelssohn.Someone even suggested Mendelssohn in a drunken rage! Certainly pieces of hair raising difficulty but also with great character.From the ferocity of the Allegro barbaro to the refined cantabile of the Allegramente reminiscent of Chopin’s own op 10 n.10 study only technically much more difficult. There seemed even to be some scottish reference in one of them .It was fascinating to hear this whole new world open up in such a totally convincing manner by the winner of the first Alkan- Zimmerman International Piano Competition and not surprisingly President of the Alkan Society.

A total surprise considering this rather gentlemanly figure ( was not Jorge Bolet also out of character with the utmost romantic sounds he produced )of the British born and trained virtuoso.
Hats off to his two teachers Tessa Nicholson of the Purcell School and Niel Immelman at the Royal College of Music showing the results of the remarkable early training that our musicians can now count on.Something that was once only available in the Eastern countries or the USA but now through institutions such as the Purcell or Menuhin School our superlative young musicians receive the early training to allow them to compete on the world stage .

Number one Belgrave Square signifies Romanian Culture,thus the cultural attache opened his welcoming speech to the numerous public .
Pointing out the enormous success of Enescu at the Royal Opera House with his masterpiece Oedipus and presenting Sergiu Tuhutziu(top prize winner at the Manhattan International Piano Competition recently) ,substituting an indisposed pianist at only two days notice for the highly successful Enescu Concert Season.

A programme of romantic masterpieces by Chopin and Schumann that also included the Pavane from Enescu`s Piano Suite n.2 op 10.Good to get to know the music of this very fine but until now neglected composer.Full of evocative sounds beautifully realised on a difficult piano.
Finely controlled first Ballade by Chopin played with a simplicity that allowed this well known work to unfold in a direct and unrhetorical way .

All the technical challenges in the Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante were finely resolved and the public were swept along in a performance in which the sense of balance of the Andante was matched by the fine filigree fingerwork in the Polonaise .
A finely held together Symphonic Studies by Schumann showed off all the technical control allied to a real sense of colour and poetry.
A delicate piece of a famous melody by Sting brought this successful recital to an end.

Now looking forward to hearing the amazingly  versatile Sergiu  Tuhutiu with the American singer Peisha Mc Phee   in their fabulous cabaret “Chopin meets Broadway”

What a wise and knowledgeable person Dame Fanny Waterman is especially when it comes to spotting musicians with that very rare insightful classical style .
And so it was on this Sunday Bank Holiday that I was more than grateful to race from the Chopin Society to the Wigmore Hall to hear the remarkable, refined artistry and intelligence of Louis Schwizgebel the pianist that had won second prize at Leeds to the first prize awarded in 2012 to the young very individual Italian virtuoso Federico Colli.
Dame Fanny was right indeed because here is an artist of the Curzon/Perahia school.
Not only giving us insightful performances of the classics but also restoring the works of Liszt to their rightful place with the same intelligence and artistry …very much the school of my old mentor Guido Agosti, disciple of Busoni
And so it was that the first encore in this extraordinary recital was one of the most played waltzes by Chopin op 64 n.2 but played as rarely we have heard it before .The tantalising sounds from his remarkable team of ten individual fingers and the subtle tone colours found all within a certain strict framework was to be marvelled at.
Followed unexpectedly by La Campanella played with all the tone colours and subtle virtuosity that we associate with a past age .
The little 3rd of Schubert’s moments musicaux was reminiscent of the much missed artistry of Clifford Curzon .
Beginning with Haydn’s C major sonata HXV1.50 it has got me hurrying to consult the score to find all the marvels that this young man revealed to us .
From the beautifully shaped line to the magical music box sounds in the first movement Ornaments played in the strict classical style but could the final two chords of the slow movement on the beat have sounded so beautifully right .
Four of Schubert’s Lieder remanaged by Liszt were shown for the little masterpieces that they really are .
From the beautiful echo effect in Standchen to the flow of the stream in Auf dem Wasser zu singen.
The sheer simplicity of Du bist die Ruh and finishing with Das Erlkonig that was every bit as terrifying as Fischer Dieskau’s famous interpretation with Gerald Moore.
A single work after the interval of Schubert’s big A minor Sonata .
From the opening utterance it was clear that we were in for an extraordinary journey from the seachingly sensitive and inquisitive mind of this remarkable artist .
The nobility of the first movement was matched by the extreme delicacy of the slow movement .The whole sonata held within a strict framework but with such imagination that one of the most difficult of Schubert’s Sonatas to interpret was made to sound so inevitably right .
Reminded tonight of Krystian Zimermann’s extraordinary performance of the last two of Schubert’s Sonatas in the Festival Hall last month.
It is refreshing to know that Louis Schwitzgebel is heir to this very rare breed of master musicians that are also masters of their instrument
How much we have to be grateful to Dame Fanny for,for never compromising the real musical values for pure virtuosity and bringing these likes of Perahia,Lupu and now Schwizgebel to the public’s attention.
Hats off indeed to this remarkable lady now in her 95th year.

Welcome back to London to Janina Fialkowska playing with the London Mozart Players Mozart’s beautiful little C major concerto K415.

Some beautifully refined playing sometimes overpowered by the orchestra much due to the very resonant St Johns acoustic.
Maybe the ideal performance for balance would indeed be for string quartet and piano something that often happens with this perfect trilogy of jewels K413,414,415 .
Alexander Ullman came to greet Janina who finds time to help and promote young talents in her festival in Bavaria which is now her home.

I remember Alex telling me how much he owed her for revealing the true meaning of Chopin’s mazurkas to him.Janina with the the same generosity, sharing her experience and artistry with the younger generation, as Artur Rubinstein had shared with her in her formative years.
So it will be quite a treat on Sunday at Westminster Hall at 4.30 for the Chopin Society to hear her play the two Chopin Concertos with string quartet.