A standing ovation for Alim Beisembayev with masterly performances of Clementi and Chopin.Aristocratic performances where the young 17 year old youth I had heard at the Purcell School a few years ago has blossomed and grown into a great artist. I had heard him play the same programme last June at that piano Mecca in Perivale.
But today after his triumph in Leeds this was an even more assured performance. Chopin 24 Preludes were quite simply one of the most moving and memorable that I have ever heard in public or on disc ( Cortot excepted of course) A Clementi sonata of scintillating streams of golden sounds that just made one wonder why is this music not more often played. An encore of ‘Chasse Neige’ by Liszt that was truly a wonder and summed up the artistry of this young artist with his transcendental technical control.Imagination and kaleidoscopic sense of colour that added to his youthful passion and uninhibited sense of style was nothing short of sensational.
A very full Wigmore Hall for the BBC live broadcast
There were so many wondrous things,that like listening to that other Leeds winner Murray Perahia,he had you listening afresh as his uncontaminated interpretation from Chopin’s own hand was turned into musical sounds that were at once fresh and amazingly original. I was asked to review this concert but all I can do is point to some of the landmarks that I have lived with all my life but now find myself . in a magic land of wondrous sounds and aristocratic comments that I had not visited before.
The opening sounded like a magic harp just glowing in intensity as jewel like sounds seemed to appear in its midst like magic. There was the languid beauty of the second and the fleeting lightness of the third ,a final flourish led to the sublime beauty of the fourth with the bass pulsating like a heartbeat of searing intensity. Such liquid sounds in the fifth that were shaped into clouds of sound. The sublime sixth with the ending a magical disappearance on a cloud of pedal as Chopin himself had indicated.There was grace and elegance with an extraordinary sense of timing in the seventh as we were enveloped in the streams of romantic sounds of the eighth.A build up of tension of aching intensity before the etherial coda.There was great architectural shape to the ninth with a truly surprise entry of the bass which lent such aristocratic nobility to a prelude often considered as ‘also ran’.Scintillating ‘jeux perlé’ of the tenth and subtle colouring and beauty of legato of the eleventh.The frenzied dance of the twelfth was astonishing for its clarity and total technical command but even more for its mazurka like characterisation that I have never been aware of in the usually laboured or virtuoso bravura performances that are the norm in lesser hands.Wondrous sense of melodic line in the thirteenth and fifteenth- the so called ‘raindrop ‘ prelude – with a middle section where the continuous tolling of a bell (as in Ravels Le Gibet ) I had never been aware of before today’s performance.
The B flat minor n.16 was astonishing for its sweeping sounds of transcendental difficulty.But even at this breakneck speed you could see Alim slightly lift his arm and place it with a disarming mastery that I have only ever seen from Arrau or Gilels.The palpitations of the seventeenth immediately entered on the final vibrations of the three carefully placed chords.The deep bass notes at the end I have never heard played so simply or to such effect as today.A wonderful moving melodic line to the nineteenth just belied the enormous technical demands as it was allowed to unwind so naturally with disarming authority.Aristocratic control of sound in the twentieth,so short but used by many composers as the basis of variations for its seemingly simple construction.Such passionate streams of sound in the twenty second where one was not aware that it is familiarly known as the octave prelude. You see such was Alims identification with the musical world of Chopin that his total mastery allowed him to concentrate on the purely musical meaning of a work that Fou Ts’ong used to describe as 24 problems. The pastoral simplicity -au bord d’une source springs to mind -of the penultimate prelude as streaks of lightening and red hot blazing sounds took us to the final devastating three notes deep in the bass.
Alim receiving gifts in the green room
What to say of the marvel of Clementi – a magic box of jewels made to gleem and shine in Alims hands Scales that were streams of gold and silver combined with ethereal sounds and a musicianship that never left the great architectural shape that was being created by his magic fingers. ‘Il lento e patetico’ was played with the weight that I have only heard from the greatest interpreters. Whirlwind sounds in the Presto with a fabulous ‘jeux perle’ of lightness and ‘joie de vivre’ that was the vocabulary of the pianists of the Golden era of piano playing and until today rarely even hinted at especially with Alims good taste and aristocratic sense of style created together with his mentor of the past ten years Tessa Nicholson and the unforgettable school of Fou Ts’ong who has inspired so many generations of aspiring young musicians.
Soler: 4 Keyboard Sonatas: K 104 in D Minor, K 102 in D Minor, K 106 in E Minor, K 88 in D Flat Major
Schubert: Piano Sonata in B Major D 575 Allegro / Andante / Scherzo / Allegro
Chopin: Rondo a la Mazur Op 5
Scriabin: Sonata no 2 in G Sharp Minor Op 19 Andante/ Presto
Joanna Kacperek standing in at very short notice for a pianist stranded in Austria!A scintillating display of dexterity and style with four Sonatas by the ‘Spanish’Scarlatti -Antonio Soler.He wrote 471 Sonatas rarely heard and so it was refreshing to hear four of them played with vibrant rhythmic energy and crisp delicate passage work shaped by a true musician as you might expect from the school of Norma Fisher. An eclectic choice of programme too with Schubert’s rarely heard B major Sonata given a reading of both beauty and intelligence.Chopin’s Rondo op 5 was played by a native who brought Chopins early sparkling rondo vividly to life with irresistible charm,grace and scintillating virtuosity. Scriabin’s two movement Fantasy Sonata was played with sumptuous colour and a sense of line that gave great coherence to this ravishing early work of Scriabin.The second movement was played with passion and great technical flair by this beautiful young Polish but Ealing based pianist.It was very refreshing to see her husband the pianist Andrew Yiangou following with such pride his talented partner in life.There must be something about the air in Ealing that produces such talented and dedicated people!
International concert pianist, Joanna Kacperek has performed in major concert halls in Poland (Warsaw Philharmonic, Concert Studio of the Polish Radio, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, NOSPR in Katowice) and abroad (including United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Norway, Russia, the Ukraine, Canada and Japan). As a soloist, she has performed with such orchestras as the Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, State Academic Symphony Orchestra in Moscow and Lviv Virtuosos Chamber Orchestra. In 2021 Joanna graduated with distinction from The Royal College of Music in London in the class of Norma Fisher, as the recipient of the C. Bechstein Scholarship and The Zetland Foundation Scholarship. J oanna is also a graduate from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (diploma with distinction) where she studied with Ewa Poblocka. She also studied at the ‘Berlin University of Arts’ in Germany (academic year 2016/2017) where she was mentored by Professor Markus Groh as the receipt of an Erasmus scholarship. Joanna has also received the scholarships from the Polish Minister of Culture and the Prime Minister. Joanna Kacperek has won international piano competitions in Szafarnia (‘F.Chopin’), Pilsen (‘B.Smetana’), Paris (‘M.Magin’) as well as the National Witold Lutoslawski Music Competition in Warsaw. The achievements of the pianist include winning a special prize at the International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition in Bergen (2016), granted unanimously by the jury and the composer Christian Blom for the best performance of his work. In November 2017, together with violinist Roksana Kwasnikowska, Joanna won The 2 nd International Beethoven Chamber Music Competition, organized by The Krzysztof Penderecki European Music Centre, Internationale Beethoven Gesellschaft and The Ludwig van Beethoven Association. Alongside a growing career as a soloist, Joanna Kacperek is highly celebrated for being a multi-faceted pianist. She regularly performs with singers and instrumental players. Her duo with violinist Roksana Kwasnikowska represented Poland at the Kyoto International Music Students Festival in Japan (2015) and regularly performs recitals both in Poland and abroad. In 2021 she was chosen as Young Artist and took part in The Leeds Lieder Festival 2021 (duo with Ava Dodd).
Pietro Fresa at Brompton Oratory showed his true colours with performances of such disarming simplicity.That the ebullient early Mozart could charm and excite as the late Schubert Impromptus op 142 could seduce and reduce us to tears .Some remarkable playing from a musician who could hold us entranced as he allowed the genius of Mozart and Schubert to penetrate our souls with playing of sublime eloquence and ravishing beauty
Piano Sonata No. 5 in Gmajor K 283 (1774)
Allegro
Andante (in C major)
Presto
This sonata is part of the earliest group of sonatas that Mozart published in the mid-1770s and was written down during the visit Mozart paid to Munich for the production of his La finta giardiniera from late 1774 to the beginning of the following March.
It was this work that opened Pietro’s recital in the beautiful St Wilfrid’s Hall,part of Brompton Oratory.A new work for his repertoire that contrasted so well with the late Schubert Impromptus that made up the rest of this short but intense recital.There were great contrast and rhythmic drive from the first notes of the Allegro.A beautifully shaped opening melody was immediately contrasted with Mozart’s joyous youthful exuberance .Great attention to detail meant that every phrase was imbued with such character with the beauty of the legato melodic line contrasted with the very pointed rhythmic phrasing of the streams of golden sounds that seemed to flow so naturally from Pietro’s hands.A development of a mere eighteen bars but it allowed a contrast that the magical reappearance of the opening theme was as refreshing as it was seductive.
From the very first notes Pietro had shown his musical credentials of intelligence,sensitivity and technical brilliance.The Andante was played with such simplicity – Schnabel use to say that Mozart was too easy for children but too difficult for adults.It is a simplicity that comes from a real understanding of phrasing and sense of architectural shape.He allowed Mozart’s melodic line to sing incorporating Mozart’s precise dynamic indications into a musical line that had great meaning and significance.The Presto was played with all the youthful verve and technical agility that Mozart himself would have astonished his audiences with.But even here there were melodic episodes of refined detail and eloquence.But it was the rhythmic drive and ‘joie de vivre’ that left us breathless.That is until Mozart just adds two quiet arpeggiated chords pointedly placed as if to say that’s all there is !
The warm hospitable of St Wilfrid’s Hall
It was probably in just such a hall that Mozart himself might have played.The log fire blazing and book shelves lined with antique editions not to mention the refined candelabras just adding to the atmosphere that Pietro’s refined playing created.
Pietro being introduced to the public by Claudia
The atmosphere too of being in someone’s house in this concert lovingly organised by Claudia and colleagues to raise funds for the Oratory Scout Group.Many young scouts too were eager to listen to Pietro’s very interesting introductions and it should be mentioned too that Pietro himself is only twenty one and not so much older than they are!
The second set of four Impromptus was published posthumously as Op. 142 in 1839 (with a dedication added by the publisher to Franz Liszt).They were probably written in 1827 just a year before Schubert’s death at the age of only 31.
Four Impromptus, D. 935 (Op. posth. 142) N 1 in F minor N.2 in A flat major N.3 in B flat major N.4 in F minor
As the first and last pieces in this set are in the same key of F minor and the set bears some resemblance to a four-movement Sonata,it has been suggested that these Impromptus may be a sonata in disguise, notably by Schumann and Einstein, who claim that Schubert called them Impromptus and allowed them to be individually published to enhance their sales potential.However it is also believed that the set was originally intended to be a continuation of the previous set op 90 as Schubert originally numbered them as Nos. 5–8.It is one of Schubert’s most important compositions and takes a great musician to be able to truly bring them to life and unite them into a whole.I remember in particular memorable performances by Annie Fischer ( in the Teatro Ghione in Rome) and Serkin and Brendel (in the Festival Hall in London).I also remember an inspired performance in Padua by Pietro’s teacher Boris Petrushansky.I had heard Pietro play Mozart’s last piano concerto in Rome recently though and although he gave a fine professional performance it showed a youthful immaturity that did not totally convince. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/10/30/mozart-triumphs-at-torlonia-with-jonathan-ferrucci-pietro-fresa-sieva-borzak/
So today I was overwhelmed by a performance of great sensitivity allied to the same maturity and sense of style as his teacher.From the opening there was great authority allied to a very subtle sense of colouring.There was great weight to all that he did where every note had a significance as it created a sumptuous whole.Even the fortissimo outbursts were played with restrained phrasing of aristocratic control.There was ravishing beauty in the legato melody with its magical music box sounds high on up on the keyboard played with a luminosity that was simple and enchanting.Dissolving into the heart melting question and answer over a gently moving accompaniment.There were such subtle sounds as the musical conversation was both moving and uplifting.I have never forgotten Annie Fischer in her 70’s in this Impromptu and Pietro barely 21 came very close in the atmosphere that he was able to create.The second Impromptu was played at a true Allegretto tempo with such beautiful gentle sounds of real meaning,but never sentimental as can so often befall this much loved Impromptu.There was an etherial beauty of sounds as the trio magically unwound gradually building to a climax only to disappear to a mere whisper and the return of the opening in veiled sounds of sublime beauty.There was beautiful luminous sound to the theme of this set of five variations that make up the third Impromptu that unwound with such beauty and variety of touch and sound.The subtle beauty of the first variation was of a melodic line just resting so gently on the undulating accompaniment.The lyrical playfulness of the second and the almost too serious passion of the third.Beautiful lyricism in the bass of the fourth was in complete contrast to the delicious jeux perlé streams of golden sounds of the fifth,A gentle coda of sublime seriousness brought us to realms of concealed gold indeed.The final Impromptu was very much Serkin’s with the electric current that runs through it and scintillating swirls of sound.Pietro combined both the lyrical and rhythmical elements that whilst not having the same animal excitement – who does!- he found such eloquence and beauty in the middle section before the gradual menacing race to the headlong plunge and the final note deep in the bass.
An encore of an effortless black key study by Chopin was played with all the ease and musical assurance of the great virtuosi of a past age .
The name of the pianist Pietro Fresa (Bologna 2000) first became known in musical circles when he made his debut at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool in September 2017. On this occasion he performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s third concerto, opus 37 for piano and orchestra, as representative of the Italian nation for the event “Bologna-Liverpool UNESCO city of music”. In the same year he received an invitation to the Festa Europea della Musica di Roma; during which event, held at the Camera dei Deputati, the Medaglia della Camera was conferred on him by the Hon. Laura Boldrini in recognition of his musical talent and as a winner of international awards. As regards his training, Pietro Fresa was admitted to the Conservatorio G. B. Martini of Bologna in 2010 where he obtained the highest marks possible graduating with distinction under the guidance of Maestro Carlo Mazzoli in July 2017. During the same period and at only eleven years old, Pietro won a place at the prestigious Accademia Pianistica Internazionale in Imola on the course entitled “Incontri col Maestro” (“Meetings with the Maestro”). Here he studied with the Chinese concert pianist, Jin Ju, whilst at present he is a pupil of the renowned Russian Maestro, Boris Petrushansky. After the Conservatorio he began his studies at the London Royal College of Music, thanks to a generous study grant, and here he attends the courses of the Maestri Dmitri Alexeev and Sofya Gulyak. In addition, Pietro has honed his skills under the instruction of teachers such as Andreas Frölich, Enrico Pace, Roberto Cappello, Vovka Ashkenazy, Leonid Margarius, Stefano Fiuzzi and Vanessa Latarche, participating in their Masterclasses on a regular basis. At twelve years old, he gave his first public performance with the orchestra and inaugurated the academic year of the Conservatorio at the Manzoni Auditorium in Bologna performing Haydn’s Hob.XVIII/11 in D Major. Since then he has embarked on an intensive career as a concert pianist both as a soloist and in chamber music in numerous musical events including Musica in Fiore at the Sala Farnese of the Municipality of Bologna, the San Giacomo Festival at the church of that name in Bologna, the prestigious season Genus Bononiae at the Auditorium of Santa Cristina in Bologna, the Concerts of the Teatro Guardassoni and of the Cenobio of S. Vittore in Bologna, the season entitled Talenti in Musica in Modena, the programme of the Officers’ Club in Bologna, the Literary Society of Verona, the Festival Talent Music Mater Courses and the concerts of the Teatro Sancarlino of Brescia as well as the Teatro Comunale of Bologna. He has been awarded first prize in more than thirty piano competitions. One noteworthy occasion being his triumph at the Vienna International Competition, the Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, where he carried off the first prize enabling him to perform at the renowned Metallener Saal of the Musikverein (Vienna).
A very interesting programme for our ever versatile Professor Jacobson.I remember thirty years ago Julian Dawson -Lyell (as he was then) mixing with all the avant guarde composers at the American Academy in Rome with their Prix de Rome or Fulbright Scholarships,breathing the rarified air of the latest innovative music. When they needed more space or a better piano they would venture down from the Gianicolo to play in the Ghione Theatre.A memorable concert thanks to the Aspen Institute with Petrassi and Carter has gone down in legend.Julian too would be there with his intellectual curiosity ready to perform works where the ink was still wet on the page.It was the ‘indefatigable’Robin Freeman who had invited Julian to play a Suite by Scelsi which he did in the Ghione theatre and which Julian intriguingly says that the whole adventure turned out to be a bit of a nightmare………?!
So it was very interesting today to see the presence of Sally Beamish in his short lunchtime programme for the City University of London.Julian had met her at that chamber music mecca of Prussia Cove.I did not know that she was a very highly esteemed viola played as well as being one of the most prolific composers of the day.I had been charmed by her introduction ,a few months ago, to the much postponed premiere of Sonnets that she had written for the New Ross and London Piano Festivals.A hilarious piece where three pianist’s vied for two pianos.
Julian had asked her for a piece to play in today’s concert and it was ‘Lullaby for Owain’written in 1986 that he played today.It was inspired by the uncertain emotions that a parent might feel at the birth of a child with Down’s Syndrome.The initial shock mixed with powerful love and pride.It was a very simple peace almost pastoral in atmosphere and played with clarity and rhythmic precision.A modern vocabulary that spoke every bit as powerfully as the Great E flat Sonata Hob.XV1:52 by Haydn that had preceded it.
The nobility and rhythmic drive of the Allegro was answered by the beauty and poise of the Adagio.The extraordinary bass interruption central section just showed the genial Haydn at his best and the return of the beseeching opening statement was by contrast so magical.The Finale :Presto was played with great precision and rhythmic energy.
It was interesting to hear the introduction by Julian in which he said that Haydn may not have been touched with the genius of Mozart, Bach or Beethoven but he was a prolific composer,still today much neglected ,and who does have moments of pure genius in his enormous output of works mainly commissioned for a specific occasion or purpose.The composer that Prokofiev most admired was indeed Haydn.Prolific Haydn and prolific too Sally Beamish the most commissioned composer of the day who has been recognised recently with an OBE.
Nikolai Kapustin too was a most prolific composer who produced 20 piano sonatas ,6 piano concertos,many studies and 24 Preludes and Fugues in jazz style.He studied from 1956 until 1961 with Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory.During that period he acquired a reputation as a jazz pianist, arranger and composer.He regarded himself as a composer rather than a jazz musician: “I was never a jazz musician. I never tried to be a real jazz pianist, but I had to do it because of the composing. I’m not interested in improvisation – and what is a jazz musician without improvisation? All my improvisations are written, of course, and they became much better; it improved them.”Julian played the 6th Sonata op 62 from 1991.Taking his jacket off he proceeded to let rip as he entered into this special jazz idiom.A beautiful bass melody in the Grave central movement with a final whispered chord at the top of the keyboard before the undisguised boogie woogie of the Vivace last movement.
Chopin’s late fourth scherzo ,the only one in a major key ,was given a very musicianly performance of aristocratic good taste.It suffered though,from being a little too earthbound rather than etherial.The beautiful melodic middle section was played with a luminosity of sound and a disarming simplicity that was most touching.Helped of course by this Steinway D concert grand in this wooden concert space at the University of London.
A small but appreciative audience was offered a reflective,elegiac encore of the Minuet from Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin.The ideal choice for the resonance and luminosity of sound in this small hall where Ravel’s atmospheric Minuet could breathe so magically under Julian’s sensitive hands.
A beautiful tribute by Benjamin Frith to his much missed teacher Dame Fanny Waterman. She would often tell me how eloquent I was as indeed Ben was tonight in Oleg and Pollina Kogan’s Rasumovsky Academy. But it was the beauty of the playing of this Gold medal winner of the Rubinstein competition that would have thrilled her more than any words. Someone who still knows how to ‘mould’ as she would so simply describe the real Matthay legato.Playing of real intelligence and musical integrity as you might expect having studied since childhood with someone who simply declared that she was the reincarnation of Mozart! It avoided any discussions or doubts with her young students who might question her sterling musicianship.
Ravishing sounds from this piano that once belonged to Fou Ts’ong and that lovingly restored is now cherished by Oleg. In Ben’s hands tonight it gleamed and shone as it must have done in Ts’ongs hands and it could not have found a more warm and welcoming home. A home built with love and passion by Oleg with his own hands.The hands of a renowned cellist who has created this beautiful venue where the predominance of wood has been lovingly restored by him as if it were indeed his own cello.
Oleg Kogan
Some fascinating reminiscences of a childhood shaped by Dame Fanny and that led Dennis Matthews to describe the 14 year old Benjamin Frith as the ‘Prodigy of Prodigies’.In 1989 he was awarded the Gold Medal at the Rubinstein Competition ,tying with Ian Fountain,the only British pianists ever to have won this very prestigious prize,having already won the top prize in the 1986 Busoni Competition in Bolzano.In fact I first met Dame Fanny in Oxford where she was giving Masterclasses in Marios Papadopoulos’s annual Piano Festival.I was with a young Russian pianist who the keyboard Trust had taken under their wing .I asked her ,rather mischievously,if she would like to meet the winner of her next competition in Leeds.’Come with me’ she said to the young Russian pianist ,‘play me something classical ‘.Vitaly Pisarenko went on to win a top prize in the competition.
Ben tells the story too of Irving Moskovitz calling from New York.’Would you please book me a room at the Queens Hotel.I am coming over to Leeds ,and I’m bringing the winner with me .’Really?’asked Fanny.’Well if he doesn’t win I want to be there to hear the pianist who beats him’.Murray Perahia’s performance of the ‘Davidsbundlertanze ‘had many of the jury members in tears and of course he swept the board being already the great pianist the world has since recognised.Ben remembers hearing the performance a year later and falling in love with it.Ben’s recording of it since has been highly praised by the critics .And it was with this work that he chose to close his tribute to Dame Fanny,transforming Ts’ongs Steinway D into a jewel box of emotions of ravishing beauty.
Fou Ts’ong used to come to my concert series in Rome every year and his wife Patsy used to thank me for being so faithful.Thank me!But it is I that should thank him for sharing with us not only his performances but also his unique musical knowledge with young musicians in his Masterclasses for over ten years One year I had suggested he might like to look at the ‘Davidsbundler’which he immediately fell in love with.He played it the next time he came to Rome but unfortunately I was on tour with our theatre company at the other end of Italy.’Oh Chris’,he exclaimed ‘ it is as though I have cooked you a sumptuous meal and you did not turn up to eat it!’Just a few years ago I had listened to a concert on Radio 3 from my home in the depths of the Italian countryside and in writing to Dame Fanny sending her birthday greetings,I mentioned how moved I had been by Graham Johnson’s wonderful accompaniments .She immediately replied saying that she too had listened on the radio in Leeds and considered Graham the greatest living accompanist of our day.Graham and I had been students together at the Royal Academy and when I told him of Dame Fanny’s enthusiasm he immediately thanked her and that day a beautiful friendship was sealed.I was pleasantly surprised one year when she accepted an invitation to a Keyboard Trust concert at the Brazilian Embassy in the beautiful Cunard Hall in Trafalgar Square.Unknown to Pablo Rossi the brilliant Brazilian pianist she sat in the front row and nodded her head on every note that he played.She was much feted by an audience full of distinguished musicians and of course Pablo was thrilled to think such a leggendary figure had come to hear him.’You are such a wonderful host’,she affectionately exclaimed as I hailed a taxi to take her to the Hotel Club where she was staying.
Dane Fanny in heated discussion with Menahem Pressler
She and Menahem Pressler are the only two people I have ever met that listen with such untiring concentration to every single note that is played.Even Pressler complains though that when he is on the jury of Fanny’s competition in Leeds she wants him to sit next to her.So while many jury members are able to nod off for a second in the afternoon of a long session,Pressler sitting with Dame Fanny has to stay continuously alert!There are many anecdotes that Ben affectionately shared with his audience but it was his music making that stood for all the principles that this great lady fought for in her long life.He was often called on to play in fund raising concerts where Fanny would ask him to play works that were easily accessible to an aristocracy that would be the life blood of her competition.Mendelssohn was Queen Victoria’s favourite composer and so as he was playing invariably in Victorian mansions for fund raising concerts Mendelssohn must be included.The two ‘Songs Without Words’ that he played today op 67 n.1 & 2 immediately showed off his ‘moulding’ with ravishing legato playing.The melodic line just floating on a stream of golden sounds as the melody was beautifully shaped with delicious embellishments and a real feeling of nostalgia of times passed.The second ‘Song’ showed his transcendental control of sound and colour with a subtle melodic line accompanied by staccato notes of such exquisite delicacy.There was also a musicianly architectural shape to this miniature tone poem with a subtle refined finale just thrown off with the charm and ease of another age.
The concert had opened with two contrasting Sonatas by Scarlatti.K 213 in D minor was played with subtle delicacy of pastoral atmosphere with beautifully varied sounds.K 492 in D major was played with a crystalline clarity and a rhythmic exuberance that immediately betrayed Scarlatti’s Spanish roots.There was playful charm but also passion and clockwork precision with glitteringly characterful jewels much as I remember Ts’ongs inimitable playing of these very works.
Master piano specialist Nigel Polmear with Oleg at post the concert celebration
The variations on a theme of Schumann op 9 ,deeply elegiac,is Brahms’s first true masterpiece in the genre. The almost overwhelming pathos of this work mirrors the circumstances of its composition in proximity to the stricken Schumann household in Düsseldorf in May and June of 1854 (apart from variations 10 and 11, which were inserted in September). Schumann had only recently been confined in the Bonn asylum for the insane, leaving his wife Clara, pregnant with their seventh child, to look after their five surviving children. She is the work’s dedicatee; Brahms brought each of his variations to show her as he composed them as his love for Clara was tinged with his respect for Robert.The theme comes from the fourth of Schumann’s Op 99 Bunte Blätter—and is the same theme as Clara had chosen for her own set of Variations, Op 20, composed the previous year. But it is Robert who chiefly presides over Brahms’s work: there are stylistic and textural reminiscences of several of his other works, and the variation techniques as such, based especially on the free melodic transformations of the theme or its bass in ‘fantasy’ style, show Brahms absorbing some of Schumann’s most personal innovations. (In the manuscript, though not as published, many of the individual variations are signed: the more lyrical ones 4,7,8,14 and 16 with ‘B’—for Brahms—and the faster, more ardent ones 5,6,9,12 and 13 with ‘Kr’—for ‘Johannes Kreisler Junior’, the romantic alter ego Brahms had invented for himself while still a teenager, after the protagonist of E T A Hoffmann’s novel Kater Murr. N.10 and 11 added later are entitled:’Rose and Heliotrope smelled sweet’(Similar to Schumann’s way of assigning the movements in Davidsbündlertänze to ‘Eusebius’ and ‘Florestan’.)
Oleg Kogan with Benjamin Frith
There was beauty and simplicity in the theme and first variation.The second variation showed a beautiful sense of shape and colour with its legato right hand and staccato left and the fourth variation with the gentle rocking rhythmic accompaniment that led to the outburst of the Allegro capriccioso.There were cascades of brilliance in the sixth variation and the subtle sumptuous beauty of the seventh and eighth.There was great agility in the ninth and an almost religious stillness to the ‘poco adagio’ tenth with its sumptuous accompaniment.Great technical agility in the twelfth and thirteenth before the sumptuous beauty of the fourteenth with its beautiful melodic line suspended above a staccato accompaniment.There was magic in the air as the etherial beauty of the fifteenth variation gave way to the desolation of the final sixteenth.
Ben in discussion with colleague of yore,Linn Rothstein with Pollina Kogan looking on amused.
This was just a preparation for the sumptuous beauty and passionate commitment of the ‘Davidsbundler’.Schumann’s early piano works were influenced by his relationship with Clara Wieck. On September 5, 1839, Schumann wrote to his former professor: “She was practically my sole motivation for writing the Davidsbündlertänze, the Concerto, the Sonata and the Novellettes.” They are an expression of his passionate love, anxieties, longings, visions, dreams and fantasies.From the subtle passionate syncopation of the opening to the sublime musings of the second piece played with such clarity of line and heart melting beauty- Eusebius indeed had entered before being knocked of his pedestal by the rumbustuous Floristan.There was disarming simplicity with the fifth ‘Einfach’ before the rollicking moto perpetuo of the sixth.Extraordinary beauty of the seventh where time seemed to stand still before the rhythmic drive of the following three movements ending in the epic Balladenmassig played with passionate ardour.The gentle shadowed lyricism of the eleventh was followed by the whimsical twelfth thrown of with nonchalant ease.Passion and fire ignited the thirteenth with the wonderfully lyrical middle section that seems to arise above the turbulant waves with a coda that was thrown off with the ease of the great pianists of another age.The fourteenth is one of Schumann’s most sublime creations and it was played with a golden sound of heart rending simplicity.There was great sweep to the fifteenth with its passionate outpouring of melody and the entry of a brief lighthearted play on rhythm ‘mit gutem Humor’.The sixteenth is an epilogue with magical apparitions of past memories.Very similar in atmosphere to the epilogue of Ravel’s Valses Nobles.
An honoured guest presenting Oleg Kogan with a present of esteem and thanks
It built up to an exhilarating climax only to die away to the whispered simplicity of a waltz of such nostalgia and beauty that is no longer as time has passed.The entire penultimate piece is played ‘as if from afar’, lending the music a patina of nostalgia. None of this, however, prevented Schumann from adding his C major postscript—a gentle waltz whose simplicity is infinitely affecting. As it draws towards its close, the music begins to fade away with the chimes of midnight sounding deep in the bass. The inscription Schumann placed at the head of this piece in the original edition tells its own story: ‘Quite superfluously Eusebius added the following; but in so doing, much happiness radiated from his eyes.The first edition is also preceded by the following epigraph that sums up so poignantly the magical atmosphere of this masterpiece: Old saying In each and every age joy and sorrow are mingled: Remain pious in joy, and be ready for sorrow with courage.
Ben with Pollina Kogan
A wonderful tribute to a remarkable lady from a master pianist formed and shaped by her and demonstrating her great legacy of integrity,intelligence and humility in her approach to the classical repertoire.Something that with her unique northern directness and simplicity she promoted with untiring energy and passionate enthusiasm.
Arcadi Volodos at S.Cecilia that like Richter chose to play in penombre as he comuned with the very soul of Schubert’s D major Sonata. Sounds of sublime beauty contrasting with driving rhythmic urgency.Moments of such ravishing beauty that time seemed to stand still as he relished the perfumed sounds of such subtle fragrance.Sounds that I have only ever heard from Gilels where his fingers were like limpets driving deep into each key to produce velvet sounds of glowing richness. But Gilels never forgot that even in Schuberts most mellifluous continuous outpouring of melodic invention there must always be that underlying rhythmic current that holds the whole architectural structure together.
Curzon was a master of this as demonstrated by his famous recording of this sonata.I remember a youthful Murray Perahia holding our rapt attention with it in Rovigo.A recital that included Mozart D minor Fantasy and Chopin four ballades – a truly unforgettable experience. Forty minutes of sublime sounds and transcendental control but with Volodos tonight it did not hold us on the edge of our seats as Curzon,Gilels,Brendel or Perahia could do. Could it be that such pianistic perfection should also contain some imperfection too? A performance to marvel at but not to be devoured by.
I was hoping that like in his last recital his concentrated playing was so great that the first half of late Liszt had me exclaiming that this was the greatest pianist of our day.The way he touched the keys ,his supreme artistry where the shape of his hands was like a sculptor shaping the sublime sounds he was able to create.The first half of late Liszt played as a whole without a break was quite sublime and will never be forgotten.The range of sound and above all the supreme musicianship was of a different age.The second half had been less convincing as the musical vocabulary became repetitive rather than creative.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/02/04/3822/
The second half today was dedicated to two of the most loved works in the piano repertoire: Schumann’s Kinderscenen op 15 and the Fantasy op 17,only Kreisleriana op 16 separates them.A series of masterpieces that poured from Schumann’s soul from op 1 to op 26. Unfortunately it was an evening where Volodos seemed to be like a cat playing with a mouse.Ravishing sounds that seem to stand like little episodes on their own,discovered and played with like an improvisation Little counterpoints that would suddenly appear as quickly as they would disappear without any apparent reason except for a personal journey of discovery.Could he be bored and looking for new things to ignite and renew that initial voyage of discovery?After a lifetime of playing these works instead of becoming more profound with a deeper insight Volodos- the greatest pianist alive or dead – seemed tempted today to look into the nooks and crannies forgetting the actual point of arrival of the journey.A distinguished pianist present at the end told me he had not realised that it was to be an all Scriabin programme!
Kinderscenen was played with ravishing sounds that rarely rose to mezzo forte.A ‘Traumerei’ where the climax was played so gently as it dissolved to an incredible pianissimo.Sounds that I have only ever heard from this pianistic genius.Of course there were many beautiful things because Volodos is a great artist even though today he seemed distracted and to have lost his way. There was a beautiful melodic line in ‘Of foreign Lands and Peoples’ and a gentle playfulness to ‘A curious story’.Fleeting lightness of ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ was followed by some beautiful subtle shaping of the ‘Pleading Child’ and ‘Happy Enough’.The ‘Important Event’ was played with a restrained mezzo forte to contrast with the forte of the central section as ‘The Knight of the Hobbyhorse’ was played with delicious rhythmic verve but always in penombra.By the time he got to the ‘Child falling asleep’ I was too!The ravishing sounds of a ‘Poet Speaks ‘ we had heard it all before.There was a lack of overall architectural shape to this miniature masterpiece that Volodos had neglected in his search for half lights and whispered asides.Sounds of course that no other pianist alive could even imagine but that today he too seemed to have got lost in this maze of sublime creation.
One of the greatest masterpieces of the Romantic era is the Fantasie in C op 17 by Schumann that is dedicated to Liszt.Liszt in turn dedicated his Sonata in B minor to Schumann,that other pinnacle of the Romantic repertoire.I was expecting an overpowering authoritative performance from Volodos but who today had chosen to make his own fantasy on Schumann’s already perfect masterpiece.Added octaves and unexpected eruptions of volcanic proportions.Strange counterpoints underlined at the expense of the musical line,episodes that seemed to end in a sumptuous dead end as it had been teased and played to death.An architectural line that today Volodos had sacrificed to the intimate secret confessions that maybe suited his mood as he sat in almost total darkness in front of this magnificent black box.Today it seemed full of toys and play things instead of the wondrous jewels that I was indeed hoping for from one of the greatest pianist before the public today.
Five encores were generously offered to the very small but enthusiastic audience.The slow movement from the A major Sonata op posth by Schubert where for a moment the turbulent middle section seemed to bring some much needed contrast to the sublime sounds he had teased out of the piano before and after.Another four encores including the famous Brahms Intermezzo op 117 and other works that I could not identify but presume of the school of Scriabin even with a hint of Sondheim in one of them.But where is the Volodos of the Turkish March or the other fabulous encore pieces that had us all in delirium the first time he appeared in Rome.A recital programme must have some shape and contrast and be like a great theatrical production full of every facet of life .Grief ,sadness,and whispered secrets but also joy,life and exhilaration.It is a show and needs a showman to lead us like Rubinstein or Horowitz or indeed the greatest showman ever,Franz Liszt.
It was nice to see all the pianists gathered here today to pay homage to this great artist.Eduardo Hubert an intimate friend of Martha Argerich who like me was studying in Rome many years ago!He was even the page turner for a duo I had with Mirta Herrera in that period.He is a much better pianist and composer than page turner,by the way.50 years ago cannot have been me then!Greeted by Maria Teresa Carunchio,a prodigy of Emma Contestabile,who insisted on calculating the years that had passed since she too had been studying in Rome and shared the Pensione Rosario in via Sistina with us all.Musicians all following on the trail of the much missed Fausto Zadra in the class of Carlo Zecchi and Guido Agosti.
A masked Daniil Trifonov still in Rome instead of Vienna
Daniil Trifonov was present too.He had braved tennis elbow to respect his tour with Pappano and the S.Cecilia Orchestra only to be cheated out of their concert tonight in the Musikverein in Vienna- cancelled as COVID once again raises its evil eye.The life of a travelling musician is certainly not an easy one but in the end what and honour to know that all roads lead to Rome and this magnificent hall that Renzo Piano has donated to the Eternal City.
A truly remarkable performance of the Liszt Sonata was the highlight of Julian Trevelyan’s recital at St Mary’s .
I have heard him give extraordinary performances of the Hammerklavier Sonata and the Diabelli variations.But it is the Liszt Sonata today that will remain for a long time in my memory not only for it’s Arrau type control but also for his scrupulous attention to Liszt’s detailed instructions. How often they are ignored by fine pianists as tradition takes over from intelligence and real musicianship sacrificed to passionate fervour and showmanship. The simple staccato B that ends this one movement masterpiece was the same simple staccato note that had opened the gate to this vast range of emotions and revolutionary transformation of themes that was to be the inspiration later for Liszt’s son in law Richard Wagner.There was a remarkably musicianly opening with a clarity and scrupulous attention to detail .A sumptuous full sound in the first big climax that was immediately diffused and where the silences too had great emotional significance.There was the devilish left hand motif of such menace leading to the beauty of the ‘Marguerite’ melody played with great shape and style.
A highly controlled performance where any slight blemishes were of no significance in a performance of such noble vision,The opening of the slow movement where the hands were slightly out of sinc as he strove to find the right colours in the magically atmospheric chords.The passionate central climax was played with superb control and a wonderful balance between the hands.The anchor very much in the bass giving an aristocratic control and an ‘Arrau’ sense of weight of notes pregnant with significance.There was a stillness in the long falling passages above radiant left hand chords leading to the clarity and absolute precision of the fugato.The treacherous octaves at the end were played with enviable clarity and control as the sonata unwound to its inevitable celestial conclusion.
Already from the opening of the Debussy ‘Prélude a l’Apres-midi’ there was extreme delicacy with washes of colour and a wonderfully rich orchestral sense of colour adding such atmosphere with the refined detail he gave to the different instrumentation.
A Barcarolle that suffered a little from too much water and at one point risked sinking altogether!But it was played with a wonderful sense of melody with Chopin’s magical golden line shining through with such colour and sensitivity.A gentle opening with a wonderful lilt to the gentle lapping of waves that created the base for this continuous outpouring of song.I was not convinced by the non legato/staccato embellishments that sounded suddenly too contrived and pianistic but it was a momentary lapse in an overall performance of great warmth and love.There was a moment too in the transition that sounded nit a little laboured and could have been more simply,opening the door as it does to one of the most magical moments that Chopin has ever created.It was the moment that had Perlemuter exclaiming that this was paradise.Julian at a certain point though looked rather tense with shoulders high and I wonder if all his energy had been directed to the Liszt and poor Chopin had been given poor shrift in its preparation this time!
The Fauré Nocturne in B minor op 119 was one of Fauré’s last works written when he was in his nineties and hard of hearing.But like Beethoven,Fauré could hear wondrous sounds in his head that he was able to share with posterity on the printed page.Written in 1921, three years before Fauré s death, the tragic despair of the Thirteenth Nocturne shares its depth of feeling with few other works in the piano repertoire. Certainly nothing like this was written by Debussy or Ravel, and only in the last pages of Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart or Bach can parallels be found to its austere heartbreak and it should be regarded as deeply autobiographical.The 13th nocturne has long been considered a secret masterpiece by Perlemuter ,Horowitz and many other great musicians. It showed off all the remarkable facets of Julian’s artistry:intelligence,transcendental control of balance and colour together with the passionate commitment of an artist who has a burning desire to share his musical discoveries with others.An encore of the Intermezzo in C op 119 by Brahms was played with the same consumate ease and style that I remember from the hands of Clifford Curzon
Dr Hugh Mather :’It was a truly remarkable recital indeed by a very special pianistic talent.’Here is the link https://youtu.be/bzfgIJXv8HM
Julian Trevelyan is a British pianist and performs regularly throughout Europe and the UK. Performances in the 2019/20 season have included Prokofiev’s fifth piano concerto with the Russian State Academy Symphony Orchestra, Howard Blake piano concerto and Brahms’ first piano concerto in the UK. He gave the first Russian performance of the Concertino for piano and orchestra by Lucas Debargue in the Zaryadye Hall in Moscow in December 2018. His solo recitals have included performances of Beethoven’s Diabelli variations in London, Munich, Paris, and Switzerland. Over the past four years, Julian has studied piano with Rena Shereshevskaya at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Since 2018 he has also been studying Musicology at Oxford University. He composes, regularly performs chamber music on piano, violin and viola, and sings with an acappella group in Oxford. Since the pandemic eased In the summer of 2020 he has taken part in the Vienna Summer School of the International Piano Foundation Theo and Petra Lieven of Hamburg, and has been able to return to France to give a number of solo recitals.
Some scintillating playing from the 16 year old violinist Maria Serena Salvemini with her mother and teacher Daniela Carabellese and the pianist Pietro Laera. Yesterday this very gifted young violinist was awarded the Gold Medal for her exceptional youthful activity,by the ‘Maison des Artistes ‘in the Aula Magna of La Sapienza University of Rome.
Maria Serena Salvemini in the Aula Magna of La Sapienza University of Rome
Today they had been invited to play in Villa Aldobrandini by the distinguished pianist Marylene Mouquet.
Marylene Mouquet
The Trio are from Puglia – that land kissed by the Gods from which so many distinguished musicians have their roots.Not least of whom the legendary violinist Gioconda de Vito from Martina Franca and Riccardo Muti from Molfetta the very town where our young violinist was born too.Not to mention Beatrice Rana,Benedetto Lupo and Francesco Libetta. Five pieces for two violins and piano by Shostakovich immediately presented their notable musical credentials.Short works played with charm and character from the beautiful mellifluous opening to the charmingly shaped Viennese style waltz and the final flamboyant dance.
This was just the opening for a series of violin show pieces :Ziguenerweisen by Sarasate and the solo 24th caprice by Paganini which were given scintillating performances that showed off the technical and musical mastery of this young artist.
Maria Serena Salvemini
The mother Daniela gave a performance of the Spanish Dance from La Vida Breve of De Falla that was full of the flair and colour that Kreisler had brought to his transcription of this piece. Together in Saratsate’s Navarra mother and daughter brought a subtle display of scintillating virtuosity.
The scene was set for the highlight of the concert with a remarkable performance by Maria Serena of Saint Saens famous violin warhorse the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso.A performance full of subtle artistry and technical command and a maturity way beyond her sixteen years.Some very fine playing from her orchestra Pietro Laera,who throughout the concert had followed the violinists every move listening very carefully and never overpowering his companions even with the lid of the Steinway fully open to reflect the sound.A very interesting work was written especially for Maria Serena by the composer Massimo De Lillo and was played in a real duo performance with Pietro Laera.Both artists showing off to the full this very interesting work with its beautifully mellifluous opening and sumptuous accompaniment to the energetic finale of great fervour.
A beautiful Tarantella full of ravishing sounds and excitement was played by the trio with superb ensemble and brought this very enjoyable concert to its official end. A standing ovation after their delicious Hungarian encore was a just reward for these remarkable musicians.
1.00 pm Recital by Minkyu Kim (1st prize in the 2019 competition)
Two Hungarian Recruiting Songs ‘Zum Andenken’, S241Scherzo in G minor, S153 Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort (‘Question and Answer’) – Nocturne nach einem Gedicht von A Raab, S203i Schubert song transcriptions S558: no 1 Sei mir gegrüßt Soirées de Vienne – Valses-Caprices d’après Schubert, S427: No. 4 Variationen über das Motiv von Bach, ‘Weinen, Klagen’ S180 Grande Fantaisie sur des thèmes de Paganini – La clochette et Le carnaval de Venise,
Some quite extraordinary playing from Minkyu Kim.A total mastery of the keyboard,a transcendental technique that seems to know no difficulties .But above all a poet’s soul allied to an intelligence that brings to life a programme of almost unknown works of Liszt.A Campanella Fantasy that Mark Viner exclaimed was impossibly difficult .Not for this young pianist who brought it vividly to life.One could see Liszt’s work in progress and indeed understand the gentleman in Dublin who exhorted Liszt :“Play them bells again Paddy”.The only work that I knew was the extraordinary “Weinen Klagen Variations” that received a truly monumental performance.There was a great sense of balance even when there were transcendental left hand octaves but he was always aware of the overall architectural line.The triumphant ending of a work,that even Perlemuter in his old age had on his music stand,was played with total conviction and mastery.There was great rhythmic control and clarity in the two Hungarian Recruiting Songs S 241 and scintillating playing of great rhythmic drive in the Scherzo S.153.There was also the great beauty of the tenor melody in Schubert’s ‘Sei mir gegrusst’accompanied by ravishingly arpeggiated chords played with such subtle colouring .Soirée de Vienne S.427 N.4 was a novelty as we know only the famous one immortalised by Horowitz and the virtuosi of the Golden age of piano playing.An irresistible rhythmic pulse of extreme delicacy led to a gradual build up to a mighty climax all played with crystalline clarity.An encore of a March that had remained unknown for over a century ,of course now recorded by Leslie Howard,but that Minkyu wanted to play as a final tribute to Liszt at his prizewinners concert today at St Mary’s.
Minkyu Kim was born in South Korea in 1995. He studied piano with Soojeong Jeong at Goyang High School of Arts and with Hyung-Joon Chang and Sehee Kim at Seoul National University and harpsichord with Joohee Oh. He has won many prizes including second prize in the Korean Liszt Competition, first prize in the Jock Holden Memorial Mozart Prize (RCS), Governors’ Recital Prize for Keyboard (RCS), Philip Halstead Prize (RCS) and third prize in the Windsor International Piano Competition. He was selected as one of 14 semi-finalists of International Franz Liszt Competition in 2020, unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. Minkyu has given many recitals in Korea, including several lecture concerts. He has also performed the entire Transcendental Études by Franz Liszt. Minkyu has performed piano concertos with Goyang High School of Arts Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and has had several chamber music concerts with Seoul National University Philharmonic Orchestra. After graduating with distinction from the University in 2017, he began his studies at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a full scholarship from ABRSM. He is currently studying for a Doctor of Performance degree at the RCS in with Professor Aaron Shorr and Sinae Lee with a full scholarship.
The Liszt Society International Competition 2021
HyunJeong Hwang (aged 31, from Korea)
Études d’exécution transcendante d’après Paganini, S140: nos 2 in E flat / 6 in A minor Rapsodie espagnole – Folies d’Espagne et Jota aragonesa, S254
Anastasia Tionadewi (aged 24, from Indonesia)
Harmonies poetiques et religieuses, S173 no 3: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude
Eri Yamamoto (aged 27, from Japan)
Rigoletto de G. Verdi – Paraphrase de concert, S434 Deuxieme Année de pèlerinage – Italie, S161: no 7: Après une lecture de Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata
Results of the competition announced
Anastasia Tionadewi winner
Some very fine playing from all three contestants in the Annual Liszt competition.Some rather over cautious playing from HunJeong Huang but nevertheless with some beautiful shaping of great musicality.A finely spun Dante Sonata from Eri Yamamoto after a scintillating Rigoletto paraphrase.But it was to the beautiful unrestrained musicality of Anastasia Tionadewi that first prize was given.
HyunJeong Hwang
HyunJeong Hwang is a keen pianist with a passion for the classical and romantic repertoire, and she enjoys an active and multifaceted musical life, performing as a soloist and chamber musician. She won various competitions in South Korea from the age of 17, and went on achieve a high commendation in the Lilian Davis Competition at the Royal Academy of Music, the 4th prize in the Osaka International Competition, 2nd prize in the Lazar Berman Competition in Italy, and was also asked to be an official accompanist at the Grand Virtuoso Prize in London for the winning concert at the Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall. A frequent guest at international festivals she has played in Amalfi (Italy), Gabala (Azerbaijan), Puigcerda (Spain) and Kyiv (Ukraine) – where she performed Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto. She holds a BMus and MMus from the RAM, where she studied with Daniel-Ben Pienaar and Colin Stone, and she continued with her doctorate at the Guildhall.
Anastasia Tionadewi
Anastasia Tionadewi was borin in Indonesia in 1997, and pursued her musical education in Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne under the tutelage of Miss Janine Sowden. She has performed throughout Australia, and is the winner of many national awards and prizes there, including the Hephzibah Menuhin Award, the Florence Menk Meyer Prize, the C G McWilliam Bequest, and the Ormond Exhibition Scholarship for the best student of the course for the Bachelor of Music (Hons). Anastasia is now one of the Guildhall School of Music scholars, studying with Joan Havill in the artist master’s programme.
Eri Yamamoto
Eri Yamamoto was born in Tokyo and, after achieving her BA and MA with highest honours at the F. Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest as a Stipendium Hungaricum scholar, she moved to London in 2017 to further her skills on the Professional Diploma course at the Royal Academy of Music. Currently she is also an official piano accompanist of the RAM. She has won numerous prizes and awards throughout Europe and Asia, and she has recently performed important engasgements in Warsaw, Budapest Salzburg and Tokyo. She studied with Na´dor Gyo¨rgy and Orsolya Szabo´ and participated in masterclasses by Cyprien Katszaris and Pavel Gililov. Eri currently receives coaching from Julian Jacobson.
What a wonderful surprise to find this concert in the local town hall full to the rafters on this wet winters evening,ready to applaude a trio of young twenty year old musicians. It speaks louder than words of the perseverance in the name of young talent,of Elisa Cerocchi and Tiziana Cherubini.
Determined to maintain the crusade of Arch Riccardo Cerrochi to bring the highest excellence of culture to this magical but much overlooked part of Italy. The masterclasses at Sermoneta on the hills around Latina have become legend since their beginning with the noble Cattani/Howard family. The decision to create the marvel that are the gardens at Ninfa, the ruin that Liszt knew and frequented as his pupil was Roffredo Cattani, the composer. They invited Menuhin and Szigeti to their castle to play and give masterclasses in the 60’s to help and encourage future generations-Jaqueline Du Pre was one of the first students. Arch Cerrochi maintained and amplified that promise until his death a few years ago. It is nice to see his daughter now at the reigns with the same devotion and surrounded by expert musicians whose care and advice is obviously bringing new life and opportunities for young musicians.
Trio Eidos is made up of Ivos Margoni (1999) a student of Accardo at the extraordinary Stauffer Academy in Cremona. Stefano Bruno (2000) student of Giovanni Solima and Giulia Loperfido(2000) student of Benedetto Lupo, both at the S.Cecilia Accademy in Rome.Playing of such intelligence and musical integrity together with youthful passion and technical brilliance. And what wonders they produced with a scintillating performance of Mendelssohn D minor Trio. Glittering silver from Giulia’s fingers as Ivos and Stefano intoned Mendelssohn’s passionate outpouring of melody.Both listening to Giulias beautiful playing of the Andante ready to join in a musical conversation full of the passion and enthusiasm that only youth can offer.
A recently written work by Capogrosso saw the perfect gentleman of a cellist helping a damselle in distress as Giulia valiantly prepared surprises inside the piano.Some very energetic sounds all expertly played with great seriousness finally ending with a magical ethereal coda of ravishing effect.Just ten minutes that cleansed and refreshed the ears like a sorbet at a ‘cordon bleu’ dinner party Of course Brahms C minor trio op 101 found its ideal interpreters with these wonderful passionate young players. Superb intonation and balance throughout meant that Brahms’s passionate outpourings could sweep over this very full hall and hold us all in their spell to the final noble chords. An encore by Beethoven just underlined the extraordinary musical credentials of this newly formed youthful Trio. Elisa and the Cherubini family very much in evidence .Elisa’s astonished remark – ‘all only 20’ – as she too was bewitched and thrilled that her fathers wish was being maintained in the name of youth and culture in his beloved home town Latina
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 