Autore: ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

There must be something about the air in Duszniki that allows very fine artists to reach heights that rarely even they could have imagined. Superb live streaming allows us to eavesdrop on this wonderful array of pianists that Piotr Paleczny surprises us with every year.

Presiding over the concerts with such an eagle eye that when he gives a standing ovation to a pianist the whole audience follows suite.And it was just such a standing ovation that was awarded to Hao Rao today.

Hao Rao plays Chopin in Zelazowa Wola Playing of aristocratic timeless beauty

I had heard Hao Rao last year in that other series in the birthplace of Chopin but today, a year on ,I heard the same very fine young pianist but one that miraculously has become a great artist. Seated at the piano with the minimum of movement but with hands that remind me of Emil Gilels .Fingers that are like limpets sucking out the infinite colours within each key but without any percussive hardness.Always a rich velvet sound whether in the extreme delicacy of Debussy and Ravel or the romantic fervour of Chopin.It was obvious from the opening outpouring of ravishing sounds that here was a young artist of profound sensibility .One of Chopin’s most passionate outpourings op 55 n.2 was played with aristocratic sensitivity of poignant beauty.An audience at once caught in this young man’s spell as complete silence befell in the hall as the agitated sounds of Chopin’s third scherzo broke such a magic shared moment.

There was a full sumptuous sound to the octaves of the third scherzo.This was more a symphonic performance than a pianistic one with a great sense of architectural line .The ‘Presto con fuoco’ linked inexorably to the ‘meno mosso’ as passion and intelligence were allied to transcendental technical authority .Ravishing shimmering sounds to the arabesques that Chopin allows to grow from the deep chiming bass notes after the noble beauty of the chorale .There was the subtle change of key ‘sottovoce’ played with aristocratic sensibility with streams of notes disappearing into the distance as the coda was allowed to unwind with its insistent bass notes building up the tension to a Lisztian fervour .The burning intensity of the final coda bubbling over with dramatic intensity as Chopin was to do in his fourth ballade with even more poetic inspiration .Hao Rao played it with the youthful passion and brilliance of the virtuoso Chopin with a scrupulous attention to the composers indications and the controlled tension of a mature artist.

Ravel’s Valses nobles were played with a completely different palette of sounds.A kaleidoscope of colours with a ravishing fluidity and delicacy .A sultry timeless beauty to the second waltz with Hao Rao playing with natural flowing movements .He brought such character to each waltz as his musicianship and artistry combined with intelligence and sensibility.The third waltz had a simple child like lilt and there were wistful arabesques as the music moved forward with fleeting lightness.There were never any hard edges to the sound as this was a real chamber orchestra with players listening attentively with chameleonic sensibility. Perlemuter might have played with more weight of true finger legato but the colours that Hao Rao found today were indeed the sounds of the supreme colourist that was Ravel.

Hao Rao brought a theatrical colour to Liszt’s Mephisto with transcendental excitement as he depicted this tone poem with hypnotic brilliance and poetry. What beauty he brought to the central episode and I doubt whether the bird calls have ever sounded so crisp and clean with the languid beauty of streams of seemless scales just adding to the ravishing beauty. Virtuosity and brilliance too with the fearless abandon of the notorious final leaps, but there was also the oasis of beauty of the final recitativi interspersed with electric shocks of Lisztian dynamism.

Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’ was a beautiful way to preface Chopin’s most poetic set of studies op 25. ‘Andante très expressif ‘ Debussy writes and one should not forget that Debussy edited the works of Chopin so knew exactly the importance of the composers original thoughts .Hao Rao played with delicacy and beauty and yet another sound world with the freedom of a singer with languid beauty flowing and glowing with timeless beauty.The beauty of the ‘Tempo rubato’ was played with a rare whispered sensibility with the four arpeggiated chords almost inaudible , but a stage whisper that carried across the hall with penetrating beauty before the ‘un poco mosso’ .A wave of sumptuous sounds allowed the melodic line to glow and shine with simplicity and breathtaking beauty.Debussy writes on the final seven bars ‘pp morendo jusqu’à la fin’.It was just this as Hao Rao allowed the final D flat chord to become the opening of Chopin’s ‘Aeolian Harp’ study op 25 n.1.

Hao Rao has been playing the Chopin Studies since he was 13 and now at the ripe old age of 21 he has acquired a mastery of them that is remarkable.A technical mastery ,ca va sans dire ,but it is the poetic meaning that marks these studies out as Chopin the revolutionary.Creating a technique on the piano that was not just mechanical but with the advent of the pedals on pianos with a more sensitive touch adding a true technical mastery where the body and hand movements are allied to the musical shape that is being depicted.Like a great painter with his canvas and the artist using natural movements to create the harmony of nature.It was exactly this mastery that Hao Rao showed us today as the first study was a melodic line floating on moving harmonies as they reached for the climax before dissolving to seemless scales and a whispered final trill that was merely a pulsating heartbeat.There was the wistful entry of the F minor study as it wove it’s way forward with magic glowing sounds. Clarity and architectural shape he brought to the third with a beautifully phrased melodic line and the final notes allowed to disappear into the distance with nonchalant ease and mastery. The fourth was very rhythmically pointed and contrasted with the unusually mellifluous fifth study with it’s beautiful flowing tenor melody of bel canto flexibility and the final arpeggiated chord played with infinite mastery reaching out to the final top G sharp.The left hand was so beautifully shaped in the notorious double third study that the technical difficulty was of no relevance as the thirds were allowed to accompany the melodic line.

The beauty and poignancy he brought to the ‘ Lento’ duet study will long remain in my memory for the aristocratic sensibility and meaning he brought to this most beautiful of genial nocturnal musings.The study in sixths was allowed to float in on the final chord as this young artist had seen the studies op 25 as one architectural whole .The ‘Butterfly’ study was played with fleeting lightness but also with an overall architectural shape,keeping the tempo to the last note, I have never heard the final two bars played more convincingly and as Chopin had indeed indicated! The octaves of the tenth study again entered on the crest of the previous butterflies! Building to an enormous climax but with sumptuous full sounds never hard or brittle where the music was shaped ,as in the Scherzo, as living moving phrases.There was a ravishing beauty to the ‘Lento’ where Hao Rao’s legato playing was something rarely encountered with hands moving like a web welding the sounds together with sumptuous beauty and ease.The aristocratic authority he brought to the final two studies will long be remembered.From the barely whispered opening of the ‘Winter Wind’ to the overwhelming richness of sound that he brought to the ‘Ocean’. Study. A remarkable performance not only for the technical mastery but for the musical understanding and poetic intelligence he brought to each of the twelve steps leading to the creation of an overwhelmingly beautiful Gothic cathedral .

Three encores which included Volodos’s breathtaking reworking of Mozart ‘s Turkish March and the whispered beauty of Chopin’s study op 10 n. 3 ,brought Maestro Paleczny to his feet together with the entire audience to salute an artist of extraordinary mastery and poetic sensibility.

Hao Rao was born on 4 February 2004 in Xiangxi Prefecture, Hunan Province, China. He started learning to play the piano at the age of four. He developed his talent under the tutelage of Vivian Li at the secondary school of the Chinese Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou. A solo recital – which he gave when he was 13, during which he played Chopin etudes – at the Guangzhou Opera House/Guang Zhou Da Ju Yuan in China opened the door to performances all over the world. He has given concerts in China, the United States and Europe. He has taken part in many music festivals, performing on one stage with titled musicians. He is a laureate of prestigious competitions for young artists, e.g: The International Piano Competition in Ettlingen (Germany) and the International Piano Competition in Aarhus (Denmark), as well as the International Mozart Competition in Zhuhai (China), the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition (USA) and the Vladimir Krajnev International Piano Competition in Moscow (Russia). He is also a laureate of the 2nd prize in the Junior e-Piano Competition of the University of Minnesota and the 5th prize in the International Fryderyk Chopin Youth Competition in Beijing. At the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition he qualified for the final “twelve” of the competition.

I had heard Martin just a month ago from Chopin’s birth place Zelazowa Wola playing on an Erard of 1838 in a concert streamed without audience.Today was the opening of the Duszniki festival playing this time to a full hall and on a new Fazioli Concert Grand piano. I had heard Martin play in Cremona in the Fazioli Concert Hall last September and had heard a very fine pianist who had made his mark in the Chopin Competition in Warsaw.Today I heard again that fine pianist who has now miraculously matured into a great artist. I quote from my review at Zelazowa Wola which I can only confirm.

Martin Garcia Garcia with the aristocratic playing of a great artist.A Fantasia of marvels in Chopin’s birthplace

The Polonaise op 44 opened this first half dedicated to Chopin in Duszniki : ‘Martin’s limpet like fingers could make the octaves sing with such beauty of legato and shape with a supreme sense of style.He brought an extraordinary architectural shape to the central transition dissolving so naturally into the beautiful central Mazurka.The final eruptions that lead back into the polonaise were like thunderbolts played with fearless abandon .The final coda I always have Stefan Askenase in my mind but today there was the same nobility and delicacy but also an extraordinary clarity .This was the performance of a true artist who had seen this work as a great tone poem and had lived every moment of it with mastery and poetic vision.’

‘The Barcarolle is one of the greatest of works for the piano where there is a continual outpouring of mellifluous beauty reaching heights of the sublime. Nothing could deflect from the refined beauty and poetry of the playing though.The overhead camera allowed us to appreciated the delicate continuous circular movement of his left hand as the barcarolle continued on it’s way with ravishing beauty.Sublime heights were reached with Chopin’s indication ‘dolce sfogato’ revealed with playing of rare sensitivy in a passage that Perlemuter would exclaim ‘we have arrived in heaven’. Martin picking up the tempo towards the end that gave great shape of joy and exultation and a point of arrival from which he could dissolve as the music gradually disintegrates with veiled beauty before our astonished eyes.’

‘Four Preludes from op 28 were played with such beguiling mastery that I look forward in the future to hearing all 24 from such a master.Op 28 n. 13 is one of the most beautiful of this box of jewels and it was the left hand that was played unusually expressively revealing the ravishing beauty of the melody that sits above this weaving wave of notes.Op 28 n. 3 was a wash of sounds flooding the melodic line that was played with simplicity and clarity.Digging deep into the sombre bass notes of n. 2 with the imperious melody played with just one finger projecting sounds of aristocratic, chiselled nobility.There was a dark brooding to n. 14 which prepared us for the extraordinary last movement of the sonata that was to follow.’

A masterly performance of the B flat minor Sonata op 35 which must truly be one of the greatest masterpieces of all time.Aristocratic nobility and clarity were mixed with luminosity and poetic mastery. A scrupulous attention to Chopin’s very precise markings had me scurrying to the score to see if the two chords before the second subject were indeed staccato! Adding the much debated repeat by going back to the ‘Grave’ introduction and not just the ‘Doppio movimento’ as tradition has dictated ,showed a true thinking musician at the service of the composer.A beautifully artistic scherzo ,not the usual rhythmic exercise but shaped with the same wonderful sound that was to pervade the whole of this recital.The ‘più lento’ I never thought I would hear as beautifully played as I remember from Rubinstein – today in Martin’s hands I was reminded of the sentiment without sentimentality of Rubinstein . There was a gentle but relentless throbbing to the funeral march with the poignancy of the melodic line floated above it as it preceded with heart rending inevitability.I had never noticed the deep bass just before the entry of the Trio until today and again went scurrying to the score as I usually only do with artists of the calibre of Murray Perahia who like Martin really look deeply into the score to find the real meaning of the composer ,transmitting it with humility,intelligence and poetic sensibility.The last movement was exactly as it has been described as the wind wailing over the graves.No pointing of melody but again scrupulous attention to Chopin’s wishes.’ The second half of this opening concert was dedicated to Spanish music by Mompou and Albeniz returning to Chopin for two encores. A beguiling performance of the first Impromptu op 29 with teasing jeux perlé of a lost age .A ravishing performance of the waltz in C sharp op 64 n. 2 that reminded me of the artistry of Rubinstein with it’s timeless elegance and beauty.And of course it was to Rubinstein that Martin turned for a performance of a work that had the audiences in Spain and South America in delirium carrying Rubinstein through the streets after such a rousing performance of Navarra.A work that the composer considered ‘ shamelessly cheap’- but surely a great artist can turn even a bauble into a gem as we heard again today!

But it was in the Variations by Mompou that Martin showed his supreme artistry with a kaleidoscope of sounds as he delved deeply into the piano and found jewels that glittered and seduced. With the final reminiscence of the Prelude that returned with a delicacy and a light that shone with such intimate blinding simplicity and beauty.This was after a series of variations that had ranged from the pungent harmonies and voices that suddenly appeared in the midst of an always recognisable Prelude.There was a playful dance of almost jazz idioms and a left hand study that was every bit as beautiful as Godowsky or Scriabin’s studies.It was played with supreme artistry of such subtle colouring and of quite seductive beauty as Martin’s sensitive fingers just stroked the keys with infinite care.There was even a Mazurka of infectious dance rhythm but full of the charm that Mompou exudes.There was a scherzo of scintillating quixotic brilliance and a nocturne of quite overwhelming beauty. Romantic ardour too of almost Shultz- Evler Viennese charm, but it was the sudden appearance of Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu hidden amongst all the jewels that glittered and glistened in this remarkable young man’s hands that made one wonder why this work has rarely if ever been heard in the concert hall.I know of Mompou’s atmospheric salon pieces that Agosti placed in the waste basket when one of his students dared present them in his masterclasses in Siena in the 60’s.But this much larger work full of fantasy and contrasts showed the mastery of a much more serious composer than the one Agosti had in mind!

Albeniz of course was given masterly performances by an artist who was living every minute and where every sound had a meaning and a voice but always of refined good taste.I have not heard the like since Alicia De Larrocha showed us the true aristocratic sounds of Spain with the same kaleidoscopic sense of colour and brilliance that we witnessed today.

A Fazioli piano today and a historic Erard a month ago but artistry and supreme style are born in the soul not on the drawing board.

Cremona the city of dreams – a global network where dreams become reality

The Variations on a Theme of Chopin  is a work for solo piano by Federico Mompou. The theme  is based on the Prelude in A op 28 n.7 (the shortest of the 24 Preludes ).

It started out as a piece for cello and piano, written in collaboration between Mompou and the cellist Gaspar Cassadò.Work on this version of the piece started in 1938, but was abandoned. Mompou completed the full set of 12 variations in 1957,dedicated to Mompou’s friend Pedro Masaveu, a banker who had made available to Mompou his house in which to compose.The variations were premiered by the Catalan pianist Albert Attenelle in 1964 after working with the composer.

• Theme. Andantino (A major)
• Variation 1. Tranquillo e molto amabile (A major)
• Variation 2. Gracioso (A major)
• Variation 3. Lento (D major, for the left hand)
• Variation 4. Espressivo (F major)
• Variation 5. Tempo di Mazurka  (A major)
• Variation 6. Recitativo (G minor)
• Variation 7. Allegro leggiero (A major)
• Variation 8. Andante dolce e espressivo (F major)
• Variation 9. Valse  (A major)
• Variation 10. Évocation. Cantabile molto espressivo (F sharp minor; Mompou quotes  his own Cancion y Danza n. 6 and in the middle section, he quotes the central theme from Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu op 66
• Variation 11. Lento dolce e legato (F sharp minor)
• Variation 12. Galope y Epílogo (A major).

La Vega” was intended to be the second movement  of a symphonic suite called Alhambra after the Arab palace in Granada , in the Andalusia region in Spain.The suite was drafted in Paris in December 1896, and consisted of six pieces:

1. Preludio
2. La Vega
3. Lindaraja
4. Generalife
5. Zambra
6. Alarme!

Albéniz completed only “La Vega” (on 26 January 1897) and the first 16 bars of “Generalife”. The score was written in piano solo format, and “La Vega” was later orchestrated. The orchestral version of “La Vega” was never published however, but the composer decided to publish the piano solo version after discarding the last three pages and writing a new, more developed version of the entire piece, with a reprise of the opening “A” section taking the place of the three discarded pages. This new expanded version was completed on 14 February 1897 and published that year.The piece lasts approximately 14 minutes.

“La Vega” is an evocation of the Granada  plains on the edge of the city, a “musical reflection”, as the composer put it, contemplated from the Alhambra Palace. Claude Debussy , on hearing Albéniz play the piece, enthusiastically told him of his wish to immediately go and discover Granada.

Iberia is a suite for piano composed between 1905 and 1909 .It is composed of four books of three pieces each; El Polo (flamenco palo) and Lavapies,after a district of Madrid,both are from Book 3

It is Albéniz’s best-known work and considered his masterpiece. It was highly praised by Claude Debussy  and Olivier Messiaen , who said: “Iberia is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of instruments”. Stylistically, this suite falls squarely in the school of Impressionism , especially in its musical evocations of Spain.It is considered one of the most challenging works for the piano: “There is really nothing in Isaac Albeniz’s Iberia that a good three-handed pianist could not master, given unlimited years of practice and permission to play at half tempo. But there are few pianists thus endowed.^”Albéniz had originally intended to include Navarra in the last book of Iberia, but then he decided that it was ‘shamelessly cheap’ and did not belong there; he composed ‘Jerez’ as a substitute!

The twelve pieces were first performed by the French pianist Blanche Selva , but each book was premiered in a different place and on a different date. Three of the performances were in Paris , the other being in a small town in the south of France.

• Book I: May 9, 1906, Salle Pleyel , Paris
• Book II: September 11, 1907, Saint- Jean – de- Luz
• Book III: January 2, 1908, Palace of Princess de Polignac , Paris
• Book IV: February 9, 1909, Société Nazionale de Musique ,Paris

Wonderful to see the ‘Soviet Union’s best kept secret‘ being celebrated world wide while she dedicates her life selflessly to music and to helping young musicians. Oxana had played in Rome in1985 invited by Bruno Nicolai to play in the Ghione Theatre and those that heard her play Prokofiev’s Third Sonata have never forgotten it .I recently had the fortune to spend a week together with this remarkable lady in Trapani where she was chairwoman of the jury of the second edition of the International Piano competition.

Trapani the jewel of Sicily where dreams can become reality – The International Piano Competition – Domenico Scarlatti

A new competition that aims to bring culture to the jewel in Sicily that is Trapani .It was a privilege to see how she listened to all the young contestants and was happy to discuss music and career with them.

A young Russian pianist ,he too an emigré in Weimar,won the first prize together with a more mature South Korean pianist ,Jeongro Park.

It was the attention she showed towards all the young pianists that was remarkable as was her willingness to enjoy the company of her colleagues with a ‘joie de vivre’ that was infectious.When she saw me arrive she very spiritedly said ‘Well now I will have to practice!’.There was no time to practice so after a gruelling last session on the jury she put on a beautiful gown with no wish to rest before she climbed onto the platform to give a recital that will remain in the memory of all those that were present. My poor words can never do justice to such artistry or mastery but I did my best’- she did even better!

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/04/11/oxana-yablonskaya-la-regina-the-queen-of-the-keys/:

‘Today the moment she sat at the piano she became another person as the serenity and simplicity she unfolded in C.P.E Bach’s Rondo espressivo from his B minor Sonata H.245 seemed to give her the vigour and stamina to contemplate a programme that included a major Sonata by Beethoven.
The rondo was played with a delicacy and a ravishing sense of colour but above all a simplicity that allowed the music to speak for itself with disarming beauty.It is the same simplicity that Rubinstein was to share with his public when he too had reached Oxana’s age.It is a simplicity born of total mastery not only as a musician but also being able to play with such natural movements that it is like a great sage seated before us ready to recount the most wondrous stories.’

‘Relaxation in tension because to play the piano is also a physical exercise and Oxana’s technical mastery allows her to place her hands on the keys like a swimmer floating in water.The physical effort is reduced to a minimum with no superfluous crowd pleasing gestures .She like Rubinstein is there at the service of the music with the disarming simplicity of Art that disguises Art.’

‘The Beethoven she had chosen to play is one of the first major sonatas of the 32 that were to span the composers entire life.Breaking away from the model of his illustrious mentor Haydn it is in the Sonatas op 2 n 3 , op 7 and this op 10 n 3 that the composer reveals his revolutionary spirit in opening new paths into the future.It is in all three of these early sonatas that the slow movements become of great poignancy and beauty and show the depth of feeling and orchestral thinking of Beethoven.From the very first notes Oxana took us into a world of dynamic drive and suprising contrasts with the opening octaves shaped with her great artistry into a wind that blew in from a far to arrive at a light where the beautiful second subject could flourish with greater beauty but without ever sacrificing the drive that was to guide us from the first to the last note of this remarkable sonata .The dark sombre string quartet texture of the extraordinarily poignant Largo and mesto was followed by the wonderful way Oxana just allowed the minuet to float in like a ray of sunlight after such sombre brooding .The wonderful expression on this great artist’s face as Beethoven’s question and answer in the Rondo became ever more insistent .There was an ethereal ending with jeux perlé scales accompanying the still questioning left hand as it disappeared so peacefully into the depths of the keyboard .
A remarkable performance of mastery and musicianship that will long be remembered.’

She burst into the second of Brahms Rhapsodies with a kaleidoscope of colour and sumptuous richness.A breath of fresh air blew over the keys as she brought simplicity and purity to the contrasting central episode.

‘Three Chopin Mazurkas were indeed ‘canons covered in flowers’ and became miniature tone poems in Oxana’s poetic hands.There was searing beauty full of nostalgia in the barely whispered A minor op 17 which was the bridge between two boisterous folk dances of Chopin’s native homeland.’

It was almost the same programme that she presented in Sorrento ,with Schubert- Liszt and Gluck instead of Mozart . She was just happy to receive such a prestigious award especially in one of the world’s most beautiful places. I was sorry not to be in Sorrento to hear such artistry again but happy that she played in a place where I had heard artists such as Shura Cherkassky,Rosalyn Tureck,Byron Janis and even her mentor Tatiana Nikolaeva .A great tradition of celebrating great artists in a unique setting.Last year the great Liszt expert Leslie Howard was awarded the Sorrento Classica award as was another great lady Marcella Crudeli the year before ( who,by coincidence,had been chairwoman of the first Trapani Competition) :

Sorrento crowns Marcella Crudeli -A lifetime in music

Martha Noguera in Rome and Sorrento ‘The authority and passionate conviction of a great artist.’

Just time for Alexandre Kantorow to fly in from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on Friday having played with Matthias Goerne on Tuesday in London https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/07/24/miracles-at-the-wigmore-hall-matthias-goerne-and-alexandre-kantorow-entwined-with-poetic-perfection/

And now Saturday a recital in Verbier with the same programme that I had heard a few months ago in London.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/03/21/alexandre-kantorow-bestrides-the-wigmore-hall-like-a-colossus/

Monday in Verbier playing the Brahms Second Piano Concerto a work I had heard him play a few month ago with his father conducting .Today he was conducted by Lahav Shani who had recently been conducting Martha Argerich in Rome and himself playing at home Prokofiev Third with his Rotterdam Philharmonic. Conducting without the score he was able to delve deep into the heart of Brahms as he and Kantorow ignited the passion of these young players re-creating together what Brahms called ‘a very small concerto with a small and pretty scherzo’.It is in fact a difficult work to master because on one hand it is one of the longest and most arduous of concertos, but on the other it has qualities that are pure chamber music .This is a work only for the greatest of musicians who can weave in and out of a monumental work without ever dominating or overpowering the architectural line.Many pianists succeed with the First concerto but are unable to come to terms as successfully with the second. Kantorow had chosen Brahms 2 and Tchaikowsky 2 that brought him an overwhelming victory in the competition in Moscow in 2019.

The Brahms of Kantorow is grandiose with sumptuous sound ,thinking always in orchestral terms never purely pianistic.It was immediately apparent the chamber quality of this work with the beautiful opening solo horn and the gentle comment from the piano where the final top F from the pianist shone like a gentle star in the distance as the full orchestra began to take their place.Brahms marks staccato very often but these are orchestral staccati that are full and robust ,more marcato than staccato .The pianistic crossing of hands at the end of the cadenza was a genial way of keeping control of the build up to the entry of the full orchestra.

Some very expressive conducting from Shani who knew how to get the very best from these superb young players.There were sumptuous full sounds from the piano but also sounds of radiance and beauty.Aristocratic nobility of the second subject before building up the tension with the orchestra .Poetic lyricism went hand in hand with dynamic technical command .Has the magical return to the recapitulation ever sounded so beautiful as it finds its way back to the haunting horn solo again? The Scherzo was played truly ‘Allegro Appassionato’ bursting into a poetic lyricism of searing intensity .Technical difficulties just dissolved in Kantorow’s hands as the pianissimo octave cadenza was just a prelude to expansive Brahmsian outpourings.The animal excitement of the ending was judged to perfection ,always in control but with an intensity that was hypnotic .The piano arpeggios ringing out at the end above the full orchestra as the final pianistic flourish was thrown off with enviable authority.

There was ravishing beauty in the ‘Andante’ with the solo cello of Clara Schlotz of aristocratic poise and intensity. Kantorow playing with a delicacy and sense of colour matched by the beauty of the orchestra in the sensitive hands of Shani.The sudden dramatic outbursts were played with dynamic drive and an architectural sense of great intelligence.The unearthly beauty of the ‘più Adagio’ was of heart rending beauty and restrained aristocratic intensity.The deep bass of the piano in the final drawn out chord was of such golden beauty that the innocence of the ‘ Allegretto grazioso ‘ came as a refreshing surprise and a release from such deeply felt sentiments.The last movement was played with a buoyancy and ‘joie de vivre’ where the syncopated chords from the piano just added even more of a dance character to this refreshingly lyrical final movement. The notorious difficulties of double thirds and much else just paled into insignificance with such a sumptuous pastoral feeling of well being and grandiose joy.

The Intermezzo op 117 n. 1 was Kantorow’ s way of thanking his audience and it was played with a kaleidoscope of colours of poignant meaning .The minutes of aching silence at the end showed the power this young poet has to hold us in his spell as he takes us on a wondrous voyage of discovery to a world of beauty and imagination.

 Piano Concerto No. 2 op 83 was written 22 years after the first concerto his.Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near Vienna. It took him three years to work on this concerto, which indicates that he was always self-critical. He wrote to Clara Schumann: “I want to tell you that I have written a very small piano concerto with a very small and pretty scherzo.” Ironically, he was describing a huge piece.It is dedicated to his teacher, Eduardo Marxsen . The public premiere of the concerto was given in Budapest  on 9 November 1881, with Brahms as soloist and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra , and was an immediate success.^[2] He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.The slow movement is unusual in utilizing an extensive cello solo within a piano concerto (the source of this idea may be Clara Schumann ‘s Piano Concerto , which features a slow movement scored only for cello and piano). Brahms subsequently rewrote the cello’s theme and changed it into a song, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer (“My Slumber Grows Ever More Peaceful”) with lyrics by Hermann Lingg op 105 n. 2. Within the concerto, the cello plays the theme for the first three minutes, before the piano comes in. 

Alexandre Kantorow ignites and delights Naples at San Carlo with his great artistry

Alexandre Kantorow takes the Philharmonie de Paris by storm

I have heard many memorable Emperor’s over the past half century or so but today will remain in my memory as one of the finest. I had heard many times Rubinstein – ‘The Prince of Pianists ‘ and one performance in particular where he played Beethoven 3, 4 and 5 with Antal Dorati in the Festival Hall in London (the 4th is on video ) .The slow movement of the Emperor was so beautiful even the orchestra in rehearsal applauded the great octogenarian. I had heard too Radu Lupu making his debut at the Proms playing the Emperor and the Choral Fantasy .This was the young Lupu ,like the early Kempff , who both played with breathtaking grandiosity before starting their search for the perfect legato,leaving their youthful exuberance behind for something much more poetically poignant. Lupu even played the horn part in the Choral fantasy when the horn failed to make its entry! Curzon too I heard in rehearsal and was so bowled over by the opening of the Choral Fantasy and the Emperor that I immediately spent my meagre student allowance of a ticket for the concert .

What came across today was the maturity of this young pianist . An opening of aristocratic nobility with great personality and authority even playing the single recitativi with one pointed finger. Living every moment with Pappano’s passionately inspired conducting inspiring the pianist and the young players to heights that I would not have believed possible. There was inspired playing in particular from the young horn and clarinet players.

Lim looking at them as fellow chamber music players as they conversed together with the extraordinary freedom that comes when you are all riding on the same wave with one player inspiring the other on a voyage of discovery together .

There was a glowing luminosity to Lim’s playing and a quite extraordinary delicacy and shading but always of imperial importance. The ‘ leggiermente’ of the first movement was truly magical as the pianissimo was projected with the timeless beauty that was truly Rubinstein’s. There was the ravishing beauty of the trills on the second entry of the piano as Lim moulded his gently falling phrases with poetic sensibility .Trills that were living sounds of subtle shaping as indeed they were in the last movement where the long trills before the entry of the Rondo brought a smile to this young man’s face as he played with slight crescendi e diminuendi matching his young colleagues in the orchestra.

This was not the Emperor of Napoleon but an Emperor of the people, of authority , sensitivity and generosity, listening to the people who had elected him Emperor. Quite extraordinary how he matched the pizzicato strings as scales just flowed leggieremente from his fingers like water from a stream .There was truly magic at the end of the cadenza where the horn and piano played with the sort of breathtaking inspiration that makes live music making so essential for true artists. It made one aware of those magic moments at the end of the cadenzas of the 3rd and 4th concerti too where time stands still as the Genius of Beethoven bewitches us and enriches our soul.Pappano right to the final resting place after the last three chords held the energy in the air with the authority and conviction that must surely have been Toscanini’s.

Wondrous beauty of the opening of the ‘Adagio un poco moto’ where the searing beauty of the violas I have never heard even from the sumptuous Philadelphia Orchestra .The crystalline beauty of Lim’s entry missing those unbelievable inflections that only Rubinstein could bring to a seemingly simple scale but nevertheless of ravishing simplicity .Playing the ornament before the beat so the top note shone like the star it is , with the falling scale transformed into a melody of extraordinary poignant beauty.

It was played with a subtlety of phrasing that was of a simplicity of breathtaking sensitivity. Even the double thirds that follow were played with an architectural shape and the final eight played with a timeless staccato before the trills, that was unbearably beautiful.Following the orchestra as Lim accompanied them with ravishingly beautiful embellishments before finally dying away to the note of B .

A note that Pappano was to transform into B flat with such sensitivity that the shock wave was palpable even on this streamed performance. Lim just hinting at what was to burst forth in the Rondo with subtle impish good humour.The Rondo bursting in ,sotto voce , before bursting into flames with the second fortissimo phrase.

All through this performance Lim’s scrupulous attention to the score was of such surprising fidelity that it had me hurrying to check out what I had taken for granted for over half a century! A Rondo of dynamic drive and crystalline clarity – Delius used to complain that Beethoven was all scales and arpeggios. An added bass note just gave a depth to the sound as notes cascaded across the keyboard with such mastery .But it depends who is playing these scales and arpeggios ! As living vibrant rhythmic elements as today and not just dry schoolboy exercises, Lim showed us just how live and vibrant they can be.

The second entry pianissimo was played with unbelievable breathtaking whispers where the arpeggios were barely audible over a bass of extraordinary clarity and clockwork precision.The recitativo poco ritard the last time was played forte ,not piano as the first time, and looking closely at the score I found that Beethoven had not marked them to be played the same.What a remarkable intelligent musician this young man is. Even the final scale and phrases of the coda were played in tempo with the ritardando only slight on the final bars and together with the percussion leading so inevitably to the final great explosion. Discreetly joining in with the final triumphant ending as I am sure is an Emperor’s right.

Mentioning Wilhelm Kempff it was his transcription of the Siciliano for the Sonata n 2 in E flat BWV 1031 that our young hero chose to thank the orchestra and the audience with today . A performance of breathtaking beauty where the fluidity and glowing beauty of the melodic line was matched by the non legato perfection of the accompaniment.Subtle pointing of tenor notes illuminated the velvet beauty that together with a discrete bass note just showed that we were in the hands of a true magician who could turn this box of hammers and strings into a sumptuous casket of glimmering jewels.This was indeed a Poet speaking and as the distinguished announcer said this young man is proving on each appearance to be one of the most important pianists of our time.

I remember the first time i heard this piece was in a recital by Kempff’s protégée Idil Birit in our theatre in Rome .When my wife came to produce and star in the the play ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf’ I was amazed to hear Idil play it quietly at the end when the wife breaks down on stage and admits their baby had died. My wife had remembered Idil’s magical performance and chose it as the music to accompany a moment so touchingly delicate. It was one of those breathtaking moments that was only to be repeated when Idil played it as an encore in memory of my wife who had since died on stage.

Yunchan is a man in love and like Pappano a love that knows no bounds as it is shared so generously with all those that come under their spell .

Yuchan Lim will be playing the Emperor at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday 29th July at 19.30 – broadcast on BBC Radio 3 – live and for 30 days after.

Live at the BBC Proms the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paavo Järvi in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 1. Pianist Yunchan Lim plays Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021b7h

Presented by Tom Service, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, known as the Emperor Concerto in English-speaking countries, was composed in 1809 in Vienna, and id dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, who was his patron, friend, and pupil. 

Beethoven’s return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt in 1802 marked a change in musical style and is now often designated as the start of his middle or “heroic” period characterized by many original works composed on a grand scale.In the autumn of 1808, after being rejected for a position at the Royal Theatre, Beethoven received an offer from Napoleon’s brother Jerome Bonaparte , the King of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister  at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, Archduke Rudolf, Prince Kinsky , and Prince Lobkowitz pledged to pay him a pension of 4000 florins a year.Archduke Rudolf paid his share of the salary on the agreed date.Kinsky, immediately called to military duty, did not contribute and died in November 1812 after falling from his horse.When the Austrian currency destabilized in 1811, Lobkowitz went bankrupt. To benefit from the agreement, Beethoven had to obtain recourse from the law, which in 1815 brought him some payment.

Beethoven felt the Napoleonic Wars reaching Vienna in early 1809 and completed writing the piano concerto in April while Vienna was under siege by Napoleon’s armies.He wrote to his publisher in July 1809 that there was “nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts” around him.To save his hearing, he fled to his brother’s cellar and covered his ears with pillows.The work’s heroic style reflects the war-ridden era in its military topics and heroic tone.Beethoven experimented with new techniques, such as the piano entrance beginning earlier than typical and with a cadenza^.

The concerto’s public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig with Friedrich Schneider  as the soloist.Beethoven’s hearing loss did not prevent him from composing music, but it made playing at concerts increasingly difficult.The concerto debuted in Vienna on 12 February 1812, with Carl Czerny , Beethoven’s pupil, as the soloist.The English premiere was on 8 May 1820 with Charles Neate as soloist.Felix Mendelssohn gave an English performance on 24 June 1829.Archduke Rudolf of Austria was Beethoven’s aristocratic patron, and in 1803 or 1804, Rudolf began studying piano and composition with Beethoven. They became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824.Beethoven dedicated many pieces to him, including this concerto.

The origins of the concerto’s epithet, Emperor, are obscure and no consensus exists on its origin. An unlikely and unauthenticated story says that at the first Vienna performance, a French officer said, “C’est l’Empereur!”Other sources say that Johann Baptist Cramer coined it. Beethoven would have disliked the epithet due to his disapproval of Napoleon’s conquest and had previously reconsidered the dedication of his Eroica Symphony ; initially dedicated to Napoleon, Beethoven changed it after Napoleon assumed the title of emperor in 1804.

Liszt frequently performed the concerto throughout his life, including at an 1841 performance with Hector Berlioz conducting,at the unveiling of the Beethoven Monument  in 1845,and at an 1877 all-Beethoven concert with Ferruccio Busoni  in attendance.At the 1877 concert, Liszt played with nine fingers because of an injury to his left hand. Eleven-year-old Busoni was “bitterly disappointed” at his performance but was the only one who noticed.

The musicologist Alfred Einstein  described the concerto as “the apotheosis of the military concept.” He believed it was the sister work of Eroica because it evokes imagery of an emperor such as Napoleon.Alfred Brendel  said it has “a grand and radiant vision, a noble vision of freedom.”In the 1860 edition of his biography of Beethoven, Anton Schindler  wrote that the concerto was “the summit of all concerto music ever written.”Joseph Kerman stated it was a “triumph”.As of 2021, it was the most performed piano concerto at Carnegie Hall , with 215 performances.

On 2 October 1912, Frank La Forge  recorded the adagio movement with a studio orchestra for the Victor Talking Machine Company ; the recording was issued as Victor 55030-A.In 1922, Frederic Lamond  made the first complete recording with the Royal Albert Hall  Orchestra under Eugene Goossens .In 1945, Walter Gieseking  made a stereophonic tape recording for German radio with the Grosses Funkorchester under Artur Rother . It is one of the earliest Stereo recordings and one of about 300 such recordings made during the war, of which five survived. During the quiet passages, anti-aircraft weapons can be heard.

Yunchan Lim in Verbier The supreme mastery of a poet of the piano.

The Pianistic Perfection of Yunchan Lim at the Wigmore Hall

Yunchan Lim in Poland – the refined beauty and maturity of a great artist

I have heard Bocheng play many times over the past years when he was an undergraduate at the Royal Academy and have always been impressed by his highly professional playing of intelligent musicianship and technical clarity. He is now a post graduate having been awarded all the highest prizes and is being mentored – maybe on a fellowship?- by Tessa Nicholson that renowned trainer of some of the finest pianists of their generation – Alim Beisembayev,Mark Viner,Tyler Hay etc .It was very interesting to hear an all ‘French’ programme culminating in three of Chopin’s masterpieces that were the work of a young Polish emigré who had come to seek out an aristocratic audience in Paris that could appreciate his refined genius.’Hats off Gentlemen a Genius’ penned Schumann on hearing the teenager playing his op 2 Variations. Chopin, though, was destined never to return to the homeland that he always had in his heart. It was this same refined elegance and glowing clarity that Bocheng brought to all he played.

Chopin had Bach’s Preludes and Fugues always on his piano so it was fitting the Bocheng should play one of the most beautiful of his French Suites, the one in G. There was a clarity and a flowing simplicity to the opening ‘Allemande’ . Discreet ornamentation just added to the beauty of his performance with refined good taste and sensitivity .A Courante of dynamic drive and a Sarabande of poignant beauty where the subtle ornamentation was of bel canto beauty .The Gavotte was played with grace and elegance and again subtle ornamentation that just added to its dance like character.There was a poignant beauty to the falling phrases of the Loure which contrasted with the brilliance of the Gigue that was played with an exhilarating drive that showed his technical mastery and superb musicianship .

Ondine appeared with ravishing beauty swimming in and out of the streams of water that Bocheng brilliantly described .Gradually she emerged and rose with triumphant radiance above the searing waves that are to envelope her completely . Played with transcendental authority and command with a whispered ending bathed in pedal of poignant simplicity and poetic beauty before she swam off in the now calmed waters.A remarkable performance that makes one want to hear the whole of this extraordinary suite based on the poem of Aloysius Bertrand.

A performance of Chopin’s Nocturne op 27 n.1 that was a tone poem of refined beauty and exhilaration.From the deep brooding of the opening on which floated a melody that was shaped with the subtle rubato of a bel canto singer.A central episode that seemed to creep in out of this beauty and build to a climax of Polonaise exhilaration and aristocratic nobility before dying away to the serenity and ravishing beauty of the final bars.Playing of refined artistry and poetic understanding allied to a sensitive tone palette of poignant beauty.

The second Ballade had an architectural shape that was quite remarkable .Despite the dramatic contrasts Bocheng managed to construct a work of strength and beauty.An opening of childlike simplicity with a flowing lilting tempo of great delicacy .The explosive eruptions were played with a brilliance and passion that were united in a duet of significance and searing intensity as one phrase answered another before exploding into a coda of exhilaration and passionate drive.Bocheng managed to keep always an undercurrent that was constant despite the dramatic contrasts.Even the genial final bars were part of a picture that had been tainted with genius.

The highlight of the recital was the final work which was of aristocratic playing of nobility and brilliance.This is the real thing with a Chopin of great inner sentiment but never sentimentality or teasing crowd pleasing filigree playing .From the very first notes there was an undercurrent of beauty on which floated the glorious outpouring of bel canto tinged with nostalgia and beguiling melancholy .Even the embellishments were played with an authority where every note had a significance and not just thrown off with crowd teasing brilliance.The Mazurka too was played with a rhythmic fervour and sense of direction that gave great strength to such a seemingly simple melody. Bocheng’s orchestra I have never heard played so well with sumptuous sounds of noble brilliance.No wonder the Polonaise was ‘Grande’ and ‘Brillante’ which is rarely the case with pianists who like to play cat and mouse with Chopin’s teasingly virtuosistic streams of notes.There was an inner strength to Bocheng’s playing that had the same authority that was Rubinstein’s or Fou Ts’ongs where the so called Chopin tradition was exchanged for artists who could delve into Chopin’s heart instead of skating over the top with superficial showmanship.

Letting his hair down Bocheng offered an encore of Mozart alla Turca Jazz a reworking by Fazil Say /Wang with it’s impishly cheeky reworking of Mozart .Ending with glissandi up and down the keyboard it was a wonderful way of bringing this last concert of the season to glorious end.

Bocheng Wang has performed as a soloist with the Hillingdon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Dulwich Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. He has toured across Europe including in the UK, Germany, Poland, Denmark, France and Spain. Following his debut recital at Wigmore Hall in 2023, Bocheng was described by The Arts Desk as ‘a force to be reckoned with’, playing passages ‘with mastery and drama’. An artist with Making Music UK, Bocheng has performed at festivals including PianoTexas International Festival & Academy, Ferrara Summer Festival, Dartington Music Summer School and Festival and The International Musical Artistry Goslar. He has taken masterclasses with the likes of Richard Goode, Stephen Kovacevich, Pavel Gililov, Arie Vardi, Imogen Cooper, Pascal Rogé and Steven Osborne. His important competition successes include First Prize at the Royal Overseas-League Piano Competition (2023), Second Prize at the Windsor International Piano Competition (2022), Semi-finalist Prize at the Santander International Piano Competition (2018), and the First & Grand Prize at the Croydon Performing Arts Festival Concerto Competition (2015). Bocheng reached the highest level of achievement during his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, culminating in full marks from the Academy’s Advanced Diploma in Performance programme under Professor Ian Fountain. He also previously achieved a Master’s Degree with the highest performance award DipRAM and a Bachelor’s Degree with First Class Honours under Professor Ian Fountain ( 2020-23)and Professor Christopher Elton (2016-20). Bocheng’s studies were supported by Sir Elton John. He is currently a pupil of Professor Tessa Nicholson. 

Bocheng Wang at St James’s Piccadilly Supreme musicianship and style

Bocheng Wang’s wondrous Chopin at St Mary’s

Bocheng Wang’s magnificent Rachmaninov at St Mary’s<

Bocheng Wang at Farm Street Church

  

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Der Wanderer D489 (1816)
Wehmut D772 (?1822-3)
Der Jüngling und der Tod D545 (1817)
Fahrt zum Hades D526 (1817)
Schatzgräbers Begehr D761 (1822)
Grenzen der Menschheit D716 (1821)
Das Heimweh D851 (1825)
Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt (Gesänge des Harfners I) D478
(1816/1822)
Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass (Gesänge des Harfners II)
D480 (1816/1822)
An die Türen will ich schleichen (Gesänge des Harfners III)
D479 (1816/1822)
Pilgerweise D789 (1823)
Des Fischers Liebesglück D933 (1827)
Der Winterabend D938 (1828)
Abendstern D806 (1824)
Die Sommernacht D289 (1815)
Der liebliche Stern D861 (1825)

https://media.wigmore-hall.org.uk/documents/NEW_Programme_23_July_2024_730pm_FULL.pdf

Miracles do happen and usually only at the Wigmore Hall these days.
Matthias Goerne and Alexandre Kantorow two poets entwined with searing intensity and heart rending sensitivity as Schubert’s world for over an hour became ours.
Bewitched bothered and bewildered that such beauty can still exist ,we sat in awed silence as the hypnotic intensity of ‘Des Fischers Liebesgluck ‘ became almost unbearable.Tears have never been so beautifully described as in ‘Wer nie sein Brot mit Tranen ass ’ as ‘all guilt is avenged on earth’ .Or the brooding intensity in ‘A die Turen will ich schleichen’ as they ‘shed a tear and I’ll not know why they weep’. Has there ever been anything so beautiful on this stage as the whispered asides of ‘think of her and love’s happiness and sighed in silence and muse and muse’ of ‘Der Winterabend’ And finally as our two poets bid us farewell with ‘Der liebliche Stern’ as we ‘draw near to that lovely star’ and the genius of the short lived Schubert illuminates our lives for ever more .

Entwined music making as these two remarkable artists came to the end of their extraordinary journey together and embraced each other as we embraced them.

Love knows no bounds and music is its life’s blood.The Bard was always right !

Courtesy of BA cancelling my flight back home that I was able to witness this miracle tonight !

Alexandre Kantorow bestrides the Wigmore Hall like a Colossus.

Incredible recital by this young pianist much feted for his appearance at the Van Cliburn Competition where his performance of the Liszt Transcendental studies and Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto have gone down in history. But there is much much more to this young man as his programmes since have proven.
I must admit I did not bother to listen to yet another Korean phenomenon playing Liszt and Rachmaninov but I did stop and listen to him in the remarkable series of Piotr Paleczny that takes place every year in Duszniki and is streamed world wide.
It was here that I was at first surprised and then dumbfounded by this young ‘wizz kid’ who opened the recital with the Four Ballades by Brahms.
It was one of the finest most profound performances I have every heard and made me feel very ashamed for assuming it was yet another of the highly trained ‘wizz’ kids that run off with all the prizes at International Piano Competitions.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/08/16/yunchan-lim-in-poland-the-refined-beauty-and-maturity-of-a-great-artist/
I was not able to find a seat for his London debut but luckily it was streamed live ,like today, and here again the programme was unexpectedly of Byrd,Bach and Beethoven – the three greatest B’s in the history of music.I was luckier in Rome and sat in the front row at the University La Sapienza for the same ‘Big B ‘ programme.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/01/20/the-pianistic-perfection-of-yunchan-lim-at-the-wigmore-hall/

Today it is thanks to Sir Norman Rosenthal and Jessica Duchen that I was tempted to listen to a predominately Russian programme and I just thank God that I have lived long enough to hear such a revelatory performance of Mussorgsky.
A work I truly never wanted to hear again but that today was recreated before our incredulous eyes. Not quite the reworking and hysterisms of Horowitz but many subtle additions that just enhanced the vision of this Poet of the Keyboard. Not only a Poet but a great musical personality ready to stand by his convictions as the music making he offers really does prove that there still exists a phrase that was used to describe Shura Cherkassky in Le monde de la Musique – ‘Je sens,Je joue Je trasmets’ https://youtu.be/Mlzf9rqvQb8?feature=shared https://youtu.be/ZFumJqMprEA?feature=shared

Christopher Axworthy Dip.RAM ,ARAM

Tyler Hay by candlelight with two Chopin recitals in one evening in the 1901 Club in Waterloo.
A programme that included the Etudes op 25 and the B flat minor Sonata op 35.

Having played 24 studies by Czerny for his birthday treat in Perivale and the Alkan Symphony for Thomas Kelly’s Piano festival I think the amount of notes that this young man has managed to digest this month must go down in the Guinness book of records.

Tyler Hay at St Mary’s Perivale ‘The Perfect Pianist comes of age ‘

Leaving his 20’s behind him with a bang as he enters maturity and demonstrates his artistic integrity and capacity with a smile on his face which defies the serious musician behind this glittering facade.Delving deep into the scores as he not only searches in the archives finding some true lost gems but also discovering details in well known scores that have been inexplicably overlooked.

Just such a case in point was outlined by Tyler when I innocently asked him the 100 dollar question.What do you do about the repeat in the first movement of the Chopin B flat minor Sonata ? Tyler had looked very carefully at the manuscript score and found that the bass octave A flat is not tied but repeated and would take us very naturally back to the opening D flat and so to the ‘Grave’ not to the ‘doppio movimento’ which is the root of much conjecture! A detail for sure but for discerning interpreters it is essential to search out all the deciphers that the composers have left for posterity.I am of the opinion of Rubinstein that it is better not to repeat the exposition as was the traditional manner of all classical Sonatas.I also think the same is true of the Schubert Sonatas written around the same time as Chopin’s.These were two composer using the traditional forms still that were soon to change thanks to Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy taken up by Liszt incorporating the transformation of themes as a new art form.

However Tyler gave an exemplary performance and it was particularly fresh and simple without any rhetoric from the so called Chopin tradition but playing exactly what he found in the score with musicianship and mastery.It was Schnabel who famously said ( about Mozart but it certainly could apply to Chopin too ) that ‘ music is too difficult for adults but too easy for children!’ There was an overall architectural shape to the first movement where the second subject was ‘sostenuto’ ( with more weight) rather than at a different tempo.It allowed the music to flow naturally and carried us along on a wave of sublime inspiration.There was precision in the Scherzo but also a feeling of buoyancy that allowed the Trio to be a complete contrast and only a slight relaxation of tempo as Chopin indicates ‘piu lento’.A Funeral March of poignancy and beauty was followed by the whispering of ‘the wind over the gravestones’ or as Schumann said ‘more of a mockery than any sort of music’.Little could we have imagined the struggle that Tyler had on the hottest day of the the year to navigate such folly with the keys bathed in water!

In fact Tyler had chosen to finish the recital in true aquatic fashion with a Venetian Boat Song op 19 n.6 by Mendelssohn a composer that Tyler impishly said that Chopin hated !

Luckily the next work was the Nocturne op 72 n.4 that Tyler had learnt but had not actually programmed in his recitals.So this was the ideal occasion before embarking of twelve of the most strenuous pieces for piano ever written!

And so it was today that we heard the Chopin Studies op 25 played as the composer had indicated.Each of the 12 studies was a miniature tone poem.Bathed in the sunlight, or should I say candlelight,that Chopin’s own pedal indications had asked for .Tyler shaped each one with a luminosity and poetry that I have only heard similar on the old recording of Cortot. Completely different of course but the one thing- the most important thing in common was the poetry that is concealed in what are conceived also as studies.

The Aolian Harp of the first study showing exactly what Sir Charles Hallé had described on hearing Chopin on his last tour in Manchester.

”Il faut graver bien distintemente les grandes e les petites notes” writes Chopin at the bottom of the first page .Long pedal markings overlapping the bar lines and the pianissimo asked for by Chopin so perfectly played by Tyler. The long held pedal at the end gave such an etherial magical sound.

The second study too like silk.Not the usual note for note performances we are used to but washes of sound perfectly articulated of course but with the poetry and music utmost in mind.The final three long “C’s” which can sound out of place were here of a magic that one never wanted them to stop.It was interesting to note that Rubinstein played this study,which I had never heard before in his recitals,at the last concert in his long career at the Wigmore hall in 1976.

The third and fourth to contrast were played with great clarity with some suprising inner notes that gave such substance and depth to the sound.The end of the fifth that linked up to the 6th.It grew out of the final crescendo flourish that always had seemed out of place .Here in Tyler’s hands it is exactly as Chopin in his own hand has indicated.

Here too one must mention the sumptuous middle melody of the fifth played with a wonderful sense of balance and also a flexibility of pulse that again showed the hands of a great musical personality.I have only heard a similar sense of “rubato” live from Rubinstein although Murray Perahia on CD is pure magic too.

The technically difficult double thirds accompanied the left hand melodic line with a subtle sense of sound like a wind passing over the grave indeed !The absolute clarity and jeux perlé of the “double” thirds was just the relief and contrast that was needed.

Beautiful sense of colour in the Lento that is the 7th study where Chopin marks so clearly that the melody is in the left hand with only counterpoint comments from the right( Cortot and Perlemuter are the only others that I have heard make this distinction so clearly)

The 8th played very much molto legato and sotto voce to contrast with the absolute clarity of the “ Butterfly” study that is n.9.The ending that can sound so abrupt in some hands here was perfectly and so naturally shaped.

The great octave study entered like a mist as Chopin indicates poco a poco crescendo .

Such was his identification with this sound world he had seen this study as great wedges of sound interrupted only by the extreme legato cantabile of the middle Lento section. Chopin marks very precisely here the fingering he wants to obtain this effect.

The great “Winter Wind” study n. 11 where there were great washes of sound ,again as Chopin so clearly indicates .The final great scale played unusually cleanly with a very precise final note.Of course all clearly indicated in Chopin’s own hand .

The final 12th study was played with enormous sonority and very clear melodic line as Chopin indicates very clearly .The ending marked “ il piu forte possibile” and a final crescendo to “fff”. It brought this revelatory performance to a breathtaking ending.

Some time after writing the Marche funèbre,(1837) Chopin composed the other movements of the Sonata op 35 ,completing the entire sonata by 1839. In a letter on 8 August 1839, addressed to Fontana, Chopin wrote:

I am writing here a Sonata in B flat minor which will contain my March which you already know. There is an Allegro, then a Scherzo in E flat minor, the March and a short Finale about three pages of my manuscript-paper. The left hand and the right hand gossip in unison after the March. … My father has written to say that my old sonata [in C minor, Op. 4] has been published by Haslinger and that the German critics praise it. Including the ones in your hands I now have six manuscripts. I’ll see the publishers damned before they get them for nothing.

Haslinger’s unauthorised dissemination of Chopin’s early C minor sonata (he had gone as far as engraving the work and allowing it to circulate, against the composer’s wishes) may have increased the pressure Chopin had to publish a piano sonata, which may explain why Chopin added the other movements to the Marche funèbre to produce a sonata.It was finished in the summer of 1839 in Nohant in France and published in May 1840 in London,Leipzig and Paris.

‘Chopin is still up and down, never exactly good or bad. […] He is gay as soon as he feels a little strength, and when he’s melancholy he falls back onto his piano and composes beautiful pages.’
(Letter from George Sand  to Charlotte Marliani, end of July 1839)

‘His creativity was spontaneous, miraculous’, wrote Sand in The Story of My Life,‘he found it without seeking it, without expecting it. It arrived at his piano suddenly, completely, sublimely, or it sang in his head during a walk, and he would hasten to hear it again by recreating it on his instrument………..But then would begin the most heartbreaking labour I have ever witnessed…….He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating or changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and erasing it with equal frequency and beginning again the next day with desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on a page, only to end up writing it just as he had done in his first outpouring.’

The sonata comprises four movements:

1. Grave – Doppio movimento 
2. Scherzo 
3. Marche funèbre: Lento 
4. Finale: Presto 

The first major criticism, by Schumann , appeared in 1841. He described the sonata as “four of [his] maddest children under the same roof” and found the title “Sonata” capricious and slightly presumptuous.He also remarked that the Marche funèbre “has something repulsive” about it, and that “an adagio in its place, perhaps in D-flat, would have had a far more beautiful effect”.In addition, the finale caused a stir among Schumann and other musicians. Schumann said that the movement “seems more like a mockery than any [sort of] music”,and when Felix Mendelssohn was asked for an opinion of it, he commented, “Oh, I abhor it”. Franz Liszt, a friend of Chopin’s, remarked that the Marche funèbre is “of such penetrating sweetness that we can scarcely deem it of this earth”.It was Anton Rubinstein who said that the fourth movement is the “wind howling around the gravestones”.

When the sonata was published in 1840 the London and Paris editions indicated the repeat of the exposition as starting at the very beginning of the movement (at the Grave section). However, the Leipzig edition designed the repeat as beginning at the Doppio movimento section. Although the critical edition published by Breitkopf & Hartel  (that was edited, among others, by Franz Liszt, Carl Reinecke , and Johannes Brahms ) indicate the repeat similarly to the London and Paris first editions, almost all 20th-century editions are similar to the Leipzig edition in this regard with the repeat to the Doppio movimento ,Charles Rosen  argues that the repeat of the exposition in the manner perpetrated by the Leipzig edition is a serious error, saying it is “musically impossible” as it interrupts the D♭ major cadence (which ends the exposition) with the B♭ minor accompanimental figure.Karol Mikuli’s 1880 complete edition of Chopin contained a repeat sign after the Grave in the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 2. Mikuli was a student of Chopin from 1844 to 1848 and also observed lessons Chopin gave to other students – including those where this sonata was taught – and took extensive notes.

Many great artists including Barenboim,Horowitz,Rachmaninoff,Rubinstein,Ohlssohn,Kissin exclude the repetition altogether

A superb Kenny Fu on what must be the hottest day of the year .Hotting up inside too with Rachmaninov’s demonic Second Sonata played with remarkable clarity and control as the monstrous technical obstacles just disappeared under his superb musicianship and architectural understand .He created a monument every bit as impressive as the one we were seated in. St James’s Lancaster Gate where I had heard Badura Skoda in what turned out to be his last London recital.
And today Kenny giving one of his first having graduated from the Purcell School and the Royal Academy and now about to perfect his studies in Italy.

The opening Haydn Sonata in E minor immediately showed his musical pedigree from the class of Tatyana Sarkissova Alexeev and Ian Fountain .A spontaneity and crystal clarity with fingers like taut springs with a boundless energy, each one with a subtle voice if its own .The simplicity and poignant beauty of the ‘Adagio’ unfolded with chiselled beauty as he caressed the keys with a natural movement of refined delicacy .The delicious ‘joie de vivre’ of the ‘vivace molto’ brought a hypnotic rhythmic elan to a movement full of concealed charm and wit.

A masterly performance of Schumann’s elusive Humoreske showed not only his kaleidoscopic sense of colour but the passionate musical understanding of a supreme stylist.There was a subtle beauty to the opening as he allowed the music to unfold so poetically with a superb sense of balance.Bursts of energy were played with a clarity but always with the architectural whole in mind. There were moments that were barely whispered with a sense of improvised freedom. A dynamic drive too that was never hard but always with clarity and beauty of sound.Lumimosity and simplicity of the ‘Einfach und Zart’ was followed by quite considerable technical mastery in the continual flow of the Intermezzo .’Innig’ was played with a beautiful melodic outpouring and a subtle sense of colour and rubato.There was nobility in the ‘Mit einigen Pomp’ with magic as a melody appeared in its midst before an exhilarating final bars of great drive and dynamism.

The Rachmaninov Second Sonata was played with sumptuous sound and transcendental virtuosity but again it was the clarity that was so extraordinary .A web of sounds that Kenny could steer through with musicianship and intelligence.There are moments in the Rachmaninov Sonata that are like notes being fired over the keys but there are also moments of intimacy and glowing beauty.Kenny managed to link all these parts together and show us the overall shape of a difficult work that at time borders on hysterical.

Kenny Fu at St Mary’s ‘Rachmaninov ignites and inflames an artist of impeccable musicianship’

Kenny Fu the making of an artist with poetry and intelligence at St Mary’s