Serious fun and games for the students of Giovanni Gnocchi’s Masterclass in Sermoneta
I knew after last Sunday’s recital by Giovanni Gnocchi that the lucky students to work with such a dedicated artist for a week in the magical atmosphere of Sermoneta would result in an extraordinary evening of music making .
And so it was last night in the stables of the castle as we entered for all to see were all the empty ‘cello cases orderly parked with their precious contents in the hands of their young guardians ready to go into action.
Giovanni Gnocchi ready to encourage them from his own place in the ensemble that they had created during a week of intensive study together.
I well remember a similar concert some years ago in Fossanova when Architect Cerocchi invited Alberto Lysy (the original founder of the Festival in 1963) with his magnificent Camerata from Gstaad .
It was a real lesson in dedicated passionate professionalism with each of the superb young virtuosi taking it in turns to lead and be led by their colleagues in a series of chamber concertos for string instruments.
I have only since seen something similar with Sandor Vegh and his colleagues .
This is the great lesson that has been left to us by artists such as Casals and Segovia and the following they created of dedicated disciples .
The inventors of the Guitar and Cello as we know it today in the concert hall.
With the same passion and dedication determined to play the great works of Bach and others on their instruments.
Inventing the so called modern technique
They all have something in common though a passion for making music together at the highest level without any thought of self advancement.
This of course is the same message that the S.Cecilia Orchestra in Rome have received from another passionately involved musician Antony Pappano.
Orchestral musicians playing regularly chamber music together and learning to listen intently to each other to create a whole that has made this orchestra one of the very best ensembles admired worldwide.
It was the same passionate involvement that I received from watching Sir John Barbirolli who used to conduct the orchestra at the Royal Academy walking around the young intrumentalists egging them on to play with more passion and involvement.
“More ,more” he would exclaim or whisper in the ear of particularly attractive young ladies !
It was he who when Jaqueline Du Pre (who had frequented Sermoneta for the courses of Maurice Gendron in the 60’s) was criticised for throwing herself around on the cello with too much red hot passion ,exclaimed how he loved it .
”If you do not play with passion at that age what do you pare down when you get to maturity!”
So tonight here were a group of ten young cellists all listening intently
to the other.
Ages ranging from 14 to early 20’s .
Playing with the same passonate involvement and enjoyment in a programme devised by this extraordinarily dedicated musician ,already at his young age giving classes at the Mozarteum in Saltzburg.
Sometimes giving space to the superb solo playing of Mauro Paolo Monopoli or Stefano Bruno ….or the extraordinary ensemble together in Verdi’s Nabucco.
Too numerous to mention all the remarkable things in a long and enjoyable journey of real Haus musik.
With the same enviable passion of his own solo recital last week Giovanni Gnocchi explained that the first half would be dedicated to the orchestral or solo music for cello which included Popper,Glazunov,Piatti,Ravel and Strauss.
Whereas the second half would be dedicated to opera with William Tell Overture opening the proceedings. Including Verdi ,Mascagni,Puccini,Wagner and Weber.
Grand finale together with famous film music from Burt Bacharach and Ennio Morricone.
All the young passionate cellists playing together with evident joy and satisfaction .
A week of music making that they will remember for a long time to come ,as we certainly will.
Generous as ever Giovanni Gnocchi shared and even incorporated into his cello evening the verses of Renato Gabriele valiantly read by the author .
Hats off to the Pontine Festival for reminding us yet again of the great musical heritage that has been in these hills since the time of Roffredo Caetani and Franz Liszt.
Giovanni Gnocchi and Eugenia Tamburri at Fossanova Abbey
Wonderful to return to the Cistercian Abbey complex at Fossanova.
Founded in 1135 and based on its sister in Hautecombe in France.
The Dominican scholastic Thomas Aquinas died here in 1274 and his chapel can be visited as well as the magnificent cloister and the imposing simplicity of the Abbey itself.
The granary too has been transformed by Architect Cerocchi ,Honorary President and founder of the Campus Musicale di Latina ,into one of the most beautiful and magical of concert halls.
I remember hearing Alicia De Larrocha play here before the restoration in 1985 ,when her changing room was a caravan in the field outside this historic but rather rustic hall.
Now tastefully restored by someone who really understands music.
With a raised wooden platform that allows the sound to be projected into the furthest corners of the hall ,allowing also a complete vision of the artists.
Tasteful drapes and air conditioning with lighting especially studied to create the intimate atmosphere of the hall.
The Cerocchi’s a lifetime together often frequenting the festivals of Saltzburg and Gstaad with the intent of bringing the same serious music making to their native Latina.
The very first Festivals at the Caetani Castle in Sermoneta in the 60’s with artists such as Alberto Lysy,Yehudi Menuhin,Joseph Szigeti,Sandor Vegh,Walter Trampler,Bruno Giuranna,Gaspar Cassado,Andre Navarra,Rocco Filippini,Franco Petracchi,Nikita Magaloff,Bruno Canino,Aldo Ciccolini,Charles Rosen.
All happy to breathe in the same magical atmosphere that was so congenial to Franz Liszt during his long sojourns to the composer Roffredo Caetani.
Goffredo Petrassi was the Honorary President and Architect Cerocchi the active President for so many years.
Architect has now at the age of 90 handed over the reigns to his daughter Elisa .
He now fills the Honorary role that the illustrious composer held for so many years.
Judging from the programmes this year I think we can safely say the serious heritage she has inherited is certainly being splendidly maintained .
After a magnificent recital and a week of masterclasses last week from Elisso Virsaladze ,one of the most highly esteemed pianists of our time.
We were treated last saturday to one of the most renowned Chamber Orchestras in Europe that of Padua and the Veneto .
With a programme of not only Beethoven’s 7th Symphony but also included the world premiere of a manuscript by Petrassi of a cello concerto written for Arturo Bonucci in 1955.
The score of which is housed in the archive of the Campus together with many other precious manuscripts I am told by Mrs Cerocchi.
The programme was completed by a work by Ennio Morricone “Immobile n.2” for Harmonica and strings.
The distinguished soloist,Gianluca Littera, giving rare Harmonica Masterclasses for the Campus too.
So it was hardly surprising to find Giovanni Gnocchi ,a young ‘cellist with a very distinguished curriculum and already a Professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg giving a recital with Eugenia Tamburri in the Granary at Fossanova.
Explaining to a full hall that rather than the printed programme of Variations by Beethoven as a prelude to his second sonata he had chosen to play two song transcriptions by Schubert and Schumann that he felt would prepare us better for the journey of the revolutionary early sonata op 5 n.2 that was the main work in the programme.
Explaining with such enviable passion and evident joy that this was the first of two sonatas in which the piano was for the first time an equal partner to the cello.
In fact the first movement is even longer than that of the Eroica Symphony.
In a programme devised especially for us this evening on the eve of his week of masterclasses that he will hold in the Castle in Sermoneta.
Many of his students have followed him from Saltzburg I am sure and will give a concert in their own right on Friday evening.
It was evident from the very first notes that we were in presence of a very rare artist.
The simple song by Schubert played with such poignancy,almost as if we were being drawn in to overhear the secrets that he was about to reveal.
Great fluidity in which the melodic line was allowed to breathe so naturally showing us the real meaning of tempo rubato.With the roots firmly in the ground allowing the branches to move so naturally in the breeze.
The piano too seemed to be on the same wave created by this artist and it created together with the Schumann Lied a tension that made the remarkable opening of the G minor Sonata even more astonishing.
Some really energetic playing of great virtuosity from both artists in which Beethoven’s tempestuous temperament was contrasted with the most delicately shaped cantabile passages. A great sense of character too in the Rondo Allegro bringing this revolutionary work to a tumultuous end.
So many beautiful things to admire but sometimes at the expense of the great architectural line that is so much part of Beethoven’s world.
All the wondrous things so lovingly presented but also at the expense of the rhythmic impulse that carries us on the journey from the beginning to the end .
A small price to pay for such artistry that I am sure will be a true inspiration to all those lucky enough to share this week together in his masterclasses.
The second half dedicated to “lollypops” from the cello repertoire.
Played with great virtuosity and impeccable style every movement followed by the ever attentive Eugenia Tamburri.
Hair raising virtuosity in Heinrich Schiff’s transcription of the famous violin showpiece of the Scherzo Tarantella by Wieniawski .
Some beautiful cantabile in the pieces by Tchaikowsky just a little too self indulgent for my taste but more than compensated for by a very acrobatic Waltz in C sharp minor by Chopin in the Davidov transcription for cello.
A great Spanish finale of breathtaking brilliance from both players in an almost perfect ensemble.
A great reception from this audience held in a spell by the true musicianship and artistry of these two remarkable artists.
And it was again the poet that was allowed to speak at the end through two songs of Schubert .
Standchen the well known Serenade and again the little song that had opened the programme and allowed us to enter so easily into the magic world created for us this evening .
The Nobility of Elisso’Virsaladze in Latina for the Pontine Festival
A new venue for Elisso’s much awaited annual recital for the Pontine Festival where for some years now her students have flocked to the castle in Sermoneta for one of the few mastercourses she holds in Europe.
The courtyard of the town hall in Latina sold out for the promised recital of Schumann and Chopin.
Enhanced too by the presence of Architect Cerocchi and his wife Maria Teresa the “founding fathers ” of this magnificent festival held every year in the shadow of Caetani Castle in Sermoneta .
The story of its origins told in the Architects biography “L’Ottuagenario Innamorato”.
A multi faceted love story for music,art and above all his beloved home town of Latina and its magnificent surrounds.
Lelia Caetani was the last in line of the Caetani family.
Roffredo being her father and Lord Hubert Howard her husband and first president of the Foundation in her fathers memory having expressed their wish to open their house to art and culture.
Maria Teresa told me of the forty years passed at the Menuhin Festival at Gstadt and of asking Alberto Lysy assistant of Menuhin and very fine Argentinian violinist in his own right to take part in the first festival in 1963.
Alberto Lysy married to Benedetta Origo the daughter of the extraordinary Dame Iris Origo whose book “The War in Val D’Orcia” recently republished,tells her remarkable story of courage and resilience during the occupation of Italy during the second world war.
Antonio Lysy the son of Alberto and Benedetta was a young school boy in Rome when I was asked by his teacher Marika Razza of the Righi School if this remarkable young cellist could give a recital in my theatre.
He was indeed remarkable and we played many times in Rome together even for Prince Charles and Diana in a special honeymoon concert at Villa Volkonsky,the British Ambassadors magnificent residence in Rome.
Tonino after his studies at the Royal Academy in London has gone on to magnificent things in the musical world like his father .
Based mainly in the USA he has also like our Ottuagenario Innamorato never forgotten his roots.
Every year he returns for a magnificent chamber music festival in and around the Origo Family Estate “La Foccia” in Val D’Orcia under the name Musica In Terra di Siena.
The first time for Elisso’ in this new venue.
We normally all struggle up the many cobbled steets to the magic courtyard of the Castle in Sermoneta or to the granary in Fossanova restored under the direction of Architect Cerocchi into one of the most magnificent concert halls.
On this occasion it was a privilege indeed to be able to have the Cerocchi’s with us again (both remarkably in their 90’s ) and for me to be able to hear at first hand the story that had led to one of the world’s finest pianists playing here tonight in what were once malerial swamps and one of the most backward areas in Italy.
A very interesting juxtaposition of works by Schumann and Chopin.
Elisso’s rather forbidding appearance belies the romantic heart of refined gold that beats within in all that she does.
Her love of animals gives only a small clue to the the sensibility of this lady who has dedicated her life to helping her young aspiring colleagues to understand the dedication and discipline needed to interpret the masterworks that are set before them.
In fact wonderful to see all her disciples in the back row intent on listening to this extraordinarily humane master’s own interpretations after a week of intense work together that culminated in the students own concert only two days before.
After her eight hours or so of Masterclasses each day she would lock herself away with a keyboard in her hotel to prepare for her own performances.
A great lesson indeed.
And what music!
A magnificent Steinway “D” with Mauro Buccitti as always on hand to reorder the piano in this rather humid atmosphere.
Opening with the Schumann Arabesque op 18 and the Novelette op 21 n. 8 one was immediately aware of the passionate nobility of the music making.
Never descending into sentimentality but with all the heartfelt passionate outpourings of the young Schumann.
Some wonderful sounds always given the space and time to reach the furthest corner of this courtyard.
An aristocratic sense of sound that Richter himself had noted so admiringly in Rubinstein.
This made even more impact when in the coda” Zum Schluss” of the Arabesque op 18 there is a magical transition reminiscent of course of the coda of that magnifcent song cycle Liedekreis op 24 which was to follow on immediately after.
The half light of the Minore 1 “Etwas Langsamer” was most telling with the acciacaturas thrown off with the ease and meaning of a great lieder singer.
The rhythmic interruption of the Minore 11 always kept in style with the recurring melodic theme “leicht und zart” in its ever varied reappearances in this musicians magically expressive hands.
All through these works we were aware of ” the song without words” element such was the projection of sound that was so immediate and simply direct.
Des Abends from the Fantasiestucke op 12 played with the same disarming simplicity of the Chopin Nocturne in D flat op 27 n.2 that was to follow after the interval.
Drawing us in to overhear the most intimate confessions after the seemingly simple cantabile that had projected the two composers melodies so nobly to her very attentive audience and had made any superfluous noises from a town on holiday so irrelevant.
Magic indeed in the air and the passionate outpouring of the longest of the eight novelletes that make up op 21,was indeed overpowering for it being so unexpected.
The Trio 1 “noch lebhafter” with a playful charm that made Schumann’s dotted rhythms so full of shape and ease led to the Trio 11 played indeed” Hell and lustig”which allowed a great contrast with the beautifully shaped “fortsetzung” – “simple and singing” as Schumann indicates.
A final section of great passion and technical brilliance brought this work ,once a favourite of Sviatoslav Richter,to a exhilarating end that had the audience absolutely under her spell.
A spell indeed that was maintained for the Fantasiestucke op 12.
The sheer magic of Des Abends was matched by the exhilarating impetus of Aufschwung where rarely the melodic line has been so clearly defined.
This of course due to a very careful use of the sustaining pedal which was very telling in the scintillating performance of Traumes Wirren that was to follow.
Warum? Indeed showed a beautiful sense of balance with a wonderful sense of line that bewitched us as we were drawn into the various strands that magically appeared in every part of the keyboard.
This of course just showed what a wonderful sense of colour and control this master musician has over her instrument.
Winner at an early age of the Schumann Competition in Zwickau and noted by her peers as one of the major talents of her generation.
It is hardly surprising that after a distinguished career spanning many decades she has the same mastery that we used to admire so much in the first appearances in the west of Sviatoslav Richter.
In fact as a child I well remember the enormous impact on me of one of the first Richter recitals broadcast live from the Festival Hall of the works of Schumann and Chopin . The same impact I am sure of all those privileged to be present this evening.
The second half after a careful re order of the piano ordered by the ever watchful Mrs Cerocchi from the hands of her very loyal and ever grateful disciple Mauro Buccitti .
A Chopin that Elisso’ wanted to share with us in one long breath .
Starting with two Nocturnes op 27 .
The ever mysterious almost Debussian opening of the C sharp minor Nocturne touchingly disolving into its D flat sister of Bellinian bel canto.
The passionate outpouring of a young Chopin in the Revolutionary Study where the rage of a Polish exile a long way from his country in a time of need brought forth this outburst that ends his early studies op 10.
Studies that had brought him such fame from his peers Liszt,Thalberg and Alkan in the salons of Paris where he had come to seek his fortune as an artist in exile.
Played this evening with all the impetus of someone who had entered fully into the extraordinary world of this genius of the piano.
The Nocturnes op 48 together with the Berceuse op 57 and the Barcarolle op 60 showed us all the aristocratic distillation of a genius yearning for his homeland .
The 3rd Scherzo op 39 played with an overpowering virtuosity combined with a rare sense of line in the long chorals interrupted by such refined filigree comments of real magic.
A coda of transcendental pianism brought the audience to its feet and was awarded by our visibly moved and exhausted master with two encores.
Widmung the beautiful song by Schumann trascribed so magnificently for the piano by Liszt .
Played with a simplicity and wonderful sense of line with such sumptuous sounds that somehow linked the sound world of these great Romantic virtuosi to the magic atmosphere that no doubt Liszt himself had found in Ninfa with the Caetani’s over a century ago.
The rarely played ” Maidens Wish” by Chopin transcribed by Liszt played with all the teasing easy virtuosity of a past era .
In fact neither of us were surprised that none of her students knew of these magical transcriptions of the songs of Chopin that Arrau ,Rachmaninov and Rosenthal had beguiled us with in the so called Golden Romantic Era of piano playing .
An era of real Gold that our Elisso’ had reminded us of in the long wonderful journey she had taken us on this evening .
The highight of the Pontine Festival has always been in its students that have flocked to the magical town of Sermoneta since the very first festival in the 60’s founded by Szigeti and Menuhin.
Some of the very finest musicians have been present including Alberto Lysy,Sandor Veghi,Corrado Romano,Walter Trampler,Arrigo Pellicia,Bruno Giuranna,Gaspar Cassado,Andre Navarra ,Rocco Filippini,Nikita Magaloff,Bruno Canino,Aldo Ciccolini,Vincenzo Vitale,Charles Rosen,Wilhelm Kempff,Andras Schiff,Bruno Mezzena,Sergio Cafaro with Honorary President Goffredo Petrassi.
Under the eagle eye of Architect Riccardo Cerocchi as president since the 1970’s maintaining the musical values of one of the most important summer music academies in the world.
Now passing to Honorary President and leaving the President’s chair to his daughter Elisa Cerocchi .
Having recently published his remarkable story of bringing culture to these parts that were for decades malerial swamps.
It was Mussolini that brought the workers down from the Venetian regions to drain the swamps and turn this unhospitable area into the most fertile land capable of producing all the fruit and vegetables for Rome.
The Noble Caetani family have long owned vast areas of this land and the castle at Sermoneta was often the home for Franz Liszt who would visit Roffredo Caetani a composer in his own right.
The piano in the famous Gardens of Ninfa at the foot of Sermoneta belonged to Liszt himself .
So an area steeped in poverty and history that Riccardo Cerocchi recounts in his biography “L’Ottuagenario Innamorato”.
The tradition of maintaining the highest musical values now falls to his daughter and judging from last nights performances she has risen magnificently to the challenge.
Of course a Summer School is only as good as its Maestri personified in Elisso Virsaladze,since her first invitation from Roberto Prosseda (a product of Sermoneta too and fast making a name for himself on the International Circuit as an expert in Mendelssohn amongst many other remarkable activities).
It is quite some years the Madam Virsaladze has been the draw for the finest young talents to these hills to continue their studies with not only one of the worlds great pianists,much admired by Sviatoslav Richter, but also more importantly for Sermoneta a teacher of vast experience,culture and humanity .
Madam Virsaladze leaving the floor today to her students in what were the stables of the castle and are now a thankfully cool space with a very fine acoustic.
A Steinway cured with loving care by Mauro Buccitti ,that very fine technician who is also on the faculty with a course on tuning.
Two hours of very fine playing that one would only hope to find in the most renowned International Piano Competitions where many of these young musicians will be appearing I am sure.
Ryutaro Susuki with Schumann Etudes Symphoniques op 13.
None of the extra variations fitted in or the variants that have appeared recently from earlier editions.
Here was the work played as Schumann no doubt intended it . Played with a rigour and rhythmic propulsion together with an extraordinary sound palate.
Never effects for their own sake but a sense of line and direction that gave an architectural shape to this masterpiece epitomised in the penultimate variation that Agosti likened to a Gothic Cathedral.
Here it was just that but with some very refined tone colouring that made it sound so naturally right.
A remarkable technical control too in some of the most trecherous variations.
A great sense of musicianship that in fact was a hallmark of all the students today.
With op 13 it was hardly surprising as Elisso’ Virsaladze was winner many years ago of the Schumann competition and whose playing of that composer was held up as an example by Sviatoslav Richter considered as the greatest Schumann player of his time.
A very dynamic totally secure performance of Prokofieff’s one movement 3rd Sonata from Daria Parkhomenko . A rhythmic control that was electric even in the most quiet almost murmured passages.
Marina Vasilyeva in the first three of the Klavierstucke op 118 by Brahms showed us just what an orchestra she had in her hands.
Obviously very early training has given her an orchestra of ten wonderful players in her two hands. The sumptuous sounds that she was able to produce without any forcing was really very impressive as was her complete musical command of these very well known and too often played( badly) masterpieces .
Written by Brahms late in life almost as a distillation of all that was surplus and giving us back a music that was at once so direct,simple and for that moving.
Of course what course could there be without Liszt and two transcriptions were the order of the day with Davide Di Rienzo‘s finely shaped Rigoletto Paraphrase and The Tannhauser Overture that Marco Clavora’Braulin ended the concert with and brought the house down in a never ending succession of diabolic piano playing .
A totally convinced and convincing performance of Copland’s Theme and Variations played by Yukiko Sekino whose sister has been attending these summer course inbetween her own notable activities with Peter Frankl at Yale and now herself teaching at the University of North Carollna .
Leaving the platform this year to her equally remarkable sister.
Philipp Richardsen too a frequent visitor to Sermoneta in a break from his considerable activities in Korea gave some lovely performances of Liszt Liebestraum and the charming Etude op 35 n.2 by Cecile Chaminade .
I have not heard either piece since Cherkassky’s inimitable performances .(Cherkassky a regular visitor to these parts too although he complained that Sabaudia in the summer was not hot enough for him!)
Hats off to Philipp and the Sekino sisters that take time in their holiday period to come and regenerate their musical curiosity with one of the worlds most exhilarating musical personalities.
Minjae Kim gave a remarkable performance of Rachmaninoff’s Momenti musicali n.1 and 4 .
Number 4 a tour de force for any pianist but in this young mans hands it really was a lesson in control and technical prowess. The first Moment musical needed a much more sumptuous piano to do it full justice .
Yoshio Hamano on the other hand found some extraordinary sounds in Scriabin’s revolutionary White Mass Sonata n.10.
A fragmentary work not easy to hold together ,was here given a sense of line and direction that made such musical sense to what was in its day a quite revolutionary sound world.
Elisso’ called to the stage by her doting young disciples decided as always to leave the stage to them .
Her work was done to the satisfaction of all concerned.
A remarkable lesson of humility and total dedication above all to the music but importantly to each individual musician that had come seeking help and advice and each one leaving this magic moment playing better than when they came.
Unfortunately this is not the norm and is quite extraordinarily moving to see in action.
It reminds me of a saying in one of those old church yards in the English countryside:
A life’s work nobly done .
Q.E.D.
Thank you Elisso’,Elisa Cerocchi, the ever present soldier in commandTiziana Cherubini and all at the castle of Sermoneta that have given so much to so many over the past century or so.
Canada Day in Perugia with Angela Hewitt and distinguished friends
How do four great pianists celebrate the Canada 150 anniversary?
Angela Hewitt showed us last night at the Teatro Morlacchi in Perugia as part of her Trasimeno Festival amazingly in its 13 year
Angela has long had a home on her adored Lake Trasimeno .
Travelling the world continuously she told me about her idea of setting up a summer festival to make music with her friends in this idyllic setting.
Having created with my wife Ileana Ghione an important theatre in Rome since 1980 in which many of the worlds greatest musicians performed she sought out my advice to learn from my experiences.
We had both been befriended by our never forgotten father figure Sidney Harrison as we were all in that period Chiswickians but since had both hopelessly fallen in love with Italy.
It was Rostpropovich who described Italy as “The Museum of the World”
How right he was.
Both Angela Hewitt and Janina Fialkowska had played in my theatre.
Angela as winner of the one and only Glenn Gould Competition.
And Janina as a top prize winner in the first Artur Rubinstein Competition in Israel,where she was taken under the wing of the great man himself.
Here they both were again tonight joined by Jon Kimura Parker, winner some years ago of the Leeds International Piano Competition and their younger colleague Charles Richard Hamelin,fast making a name for himself on the International Circuit.
Four of the finest pianists in the world all from the amazing school of Canadian pianists inspired by the genial figure of Glenn Gould.
The curtain rose tonight on four magnificent Fazioli concert grand pianos on the stage of one of Italy’s most historic theatres in Perugia:Teatro Morlacchi.
Mozart’s Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro” in a trascription for four pianos/ eight hands by Hermann Behn.
The infectious rhythmic energy set the seal on a festive spirit that was to pervade the whole joyous evening of refined music making .
Four wonderful musicians letting their hair down and sharing their innate artistry with us in the name of their beloved Canada.
In fact the Sorcerer’s Apprentice that followed was arranged by Adam Stern who had helped prepare the encore of Canada’s national anthem played by our valiant four whilst white and red balloons cascaded down from paradiso (known in fact as the Gods in english).
Remarkable ensemble with Jon and Angela dispensing with page turners in favour of a tablet and an added pedal.
Janina and Charles instead preferring to rely on two valient volontiers.
There were indeed another two volontiers ,who in fact had been forwarned , who took part in six hands on one piano.
A beautifully shaped Standchen in the refined top two hands of Janina.
And a Rachmaninov Romance with the top two hands of a very romantic Angela.
Charles at the bottom as Jon had been in Standchen .
Some beautiful solo Chopin in the first half Charles Hamelin (no relation by the way) in two beautifully shaped Impromptus .
The very artistocratic performances of Rubinstein much in mind in the very noble and simply shaped performance of number 3 tonight followed by a scintillating performance of the Fantasie Impromptu.
Janina in the first scherzo made this fine Fazioli resound with a depth and refined colour palate that the world has recognised in her for over 40 years as Rubinstein had foreseen all those years ago
Angela played with a disarming simplicity that touched her very attentive audience with Debussy Claire de lune
Jon dazzelled us with a Blues Etude by his compatriot jazz genius Oscar Peterson .
We seem to have lost touch in europe with the great pianist who took the world by storm twenty years ago when he won the most prestigious of all competitions in Leeds. Remarkable sense of colour and an infectious joy to share the music with us.
Scaramouche with some beautifully shaped sounds and a rhythmic performance of great virtuosity of the Braziliera that brought the house down and ended the first half
Rossini’s William Tell Overture opened the second half even before the curtain was fully open.
Such was the infectious party atmosphere and a feeling that there was such fun being shared on stage.
Bach,of course could not be missing from the festival of one of the worlds most renowned Bach interpreters.
And so we were treated to the Allegro from the 3rd Brandenburg Concerto.
The wonderful energy generated by this genial music was the ideal foil for our wonderful quartet by now just raring at the bit.
Rachmaninov Tarantella from the Second Suite op 17 for four instead of the usual two pianos brought this party to a happy close.
Happy Birthday Canada from the stable of your world renowned school of piano playing.
Hats off to the indomitable energy of Angela Hewitt for sharing the joy of Canada’s special celebrations with us in her adopted Trasimeno Festival.
in Association with the Beethoven Society of Europe
Finalist in the Junior Section of the BSE competition there is certainly nothing junior about her piano playing.
At eighteen she is just about to transfer from the Junior to the Senior Royal Academy of Music where she is studying with that renowned teacher from the Gordon Green School:Christopher Elton
She presented each piece with a short but well researched talk on Beethoven,Chopin,Debussy and Ravel.
Let me just say that the French music ignited a passion and fantasy which can often happen with young musicians who suddenly discover that they have in their hands the means to play this exciting multi coloured repertoire.
It is the difficult job of the teacher to find just the pieces that can open that secret door.
La Cathedrale Engloutie played with some superb technical control allied to some sumptuous sounds on this well used Boesendorfer piano.
A piano with so much still left to say in it for those who know how to delve deep into its soul and wallow into its sumptuous bass notes and seemingly infinite depth of sound.
Feux d’artifice too showed of her sense of colour and the apparition of the Marseillaise at the end over some beautiful shimmering sounds was every bit as telling as the the great Cathedrale Engloutie had been arising out of the mist.
It had ignited the fantasy of this young musician and she was totally involved in a way that her Beethoven and Chopin were not.
The so called “Moonlight” Sonata was beautifully prepared as one would expect from a student of Christopher Elton but together with the Chopin it lacked the weight needed to project the great melodic lines in the way that will come more naturally to her with maturity.
The last movement of the Beethoven was very excitingly played and if rather overpedalled she was not helped by the very elusive acoustic of St Barnabas.
She kept the momentum from beginning to end never wallowing in sentimentality or allowing her to be distracted from the goal of the final few bars cadenza.
The same with the Chopin Fantasie in F minor where the very complex climaxes were very impressively played .
Less pedal and more weight will come with her future studies but there is so much to admire in her playing already that it is only obviously a question of maturing and perfecting her already quite considerable musical and interpretative understanding.
Jeux d’eau offered as an encore to a large insistent audience produced again some magical sounds that appeared so natural and convincing .
The shimmering water disappearing as it had begun from a mere murmur.
She said that she was preparing the Ravel Concerto too for future performance so she is obviously a name that we will be hearing a lot more of in the not too distant future.
Wonderful to be back in my old Alma Mater in the Dukes Hall where 45 years earlier almost to the day I was awarded the Mc Farren Gold Medal .
A wonderful lifetime in Rome promoting young musicians and the not so young masters sadly neglected in Italy.
As well as producing plays .
My wife was knighted by President Ciampi for her extraordinary work.
The only woman actress to build and run her own theatre for over thirty years .
” We have been made a Dame” she would proudly say
Something for which I too was awarded quite unexpectedly an ARAM.
Someone had obviously spilled the beans in England as out of the blue a big envelope arrived by post in the theatre next to St Peters Square that I built and ran for over thirty years with my wife the renowned actress Ileana Ghione.
Our great friend Rosalyn Tureck reminded us that whilst it is nice to receive recognition from people who seem to be oblivious to the Art world .
It is the work that counts and our mission in life.
That is the true fulfillment and satisfaction!
How right she was always!
Here I was this evening to listen to the down to earth words of wisdom from Stephen Hough ,a student of my old teacher Gordon Green .
The pianist that Cherkassky ,who played over ten recitals for us in Rome,esteemed more than any other of the younger generation.
And now has been rightly hailed worldwide as one of the great pianist of his generation.
A bit like a doctors surgery with some remarkably talented young pianists bringing their problems to Dr Hough for a remedy.
Ten minutes a visit and an excellent way to really help in a very constructive way.
Lovely affectionate foto shoot brought to a conclusion the end of year studies for these very talented young artists about to go out into the world to seek their fortune as I had all those years ago.
Good luck and best wishes to them all:
Arisa Onoda,Antoine Preat,Weng Soon Tee,HyunJeong Hwang,Linhan Sung,Francesca Orlando,Anna Szalucka,Ke Ma
Very impressive performances of great assurance by Tyler Hay.
Only 23 he plays and talks with such authority he reminds me a great deal of the young Leslie Howard whose intellectual and pianistic abilities amazed Guido Agosti and many others from an early age .
Tyler another of the amazing talents from the school of Tessa Nicholson at the Purcell School.
Completing his studies with Frank Wibaut,student himself of Cyril Smith and the winner of the first BBC Piano Competition many years ago and now a distinguished teacher at the Royal Northern School of Music .
Winner of the esteemed Gold Medal at the RNCM as well as the Royal Overseas League and the Liszt Society Competitions.
A great intellect searching out always new scores to bring before the public.
On many occasions the most impossibly difficult scores of the great composer virtuosi of the past such as Liszt and his rival Thalberg.
In this he is very similar to that other fine pianist with a searching mind and world expert on Alkan and Thalberg Mark Viner (also from the school of Tessa Nicholson and another student of Cyril Smith Neil Immelman at the RCM)
Small world!
Tyler had found in the archive at the RNCM five boxes of the scores of that great pianist composer John Ogdon and had asked his widow for permission to perform them.
He will infact next week be recording some of them in Amsterdam ,in the presence of Ogdon’s widow the renowned pianist Brenda Lucas , for release on CD.
Today he chose to give us a sample of Ogdon’s Variations and Fugue.
One of the most difficult scores he has ever tackled of a pianist who came to the fore when he took the world by storm as joint winner with Vladimir Askenazy of the Tchaikowsky Competition in the 60’s.
An amazing career as a virtuoso performer playing also some of the most impossible scores of Busoni and his contemporary composer friends.
Such a genius was consumed by mental health problems and died whilst only in his early 50’s.
It has taken a young 23 year old with the capacity and intellectual curiosity of an Ogdon to present these unpublished scores to the public at last.
The Variations and Fugue an enormously complex piece requiring the most super human feats of pianism .
A work of great effect that held the audience in awe for the twenty minute duration
A wish to hear it a second time was not possible on this occasion so I much looking forward to the CD to get to know these neglected scores of one of the giants of our time and a student of my old piano teacher the much missed Gordon Green .
The programme started with a very rarely performed Tarantelle op 65 by Thalberg
( The great virtuoso rival of Liszt who amassed such a fortune and retired to Naples where recently his tomb was scandalously desecrated ) .
A short show piece of quite simple stucture played with all the virtuosity that it was required to show off .
The other works on the programme by Franz Liszt .
The rarely heard march like Ballade n.1 given a very rhythmic performance slightly lacking in the scintillating colours that are needed to bring this rather mundane march to life.
The famous Mephisto Waltz was given a very assured reading .
No histrionics or rhetoric this was a fine musicians reading maybe lacking in the demonic energy that Tyler had obviously reserved for the Ogdon that preceeded this group and left him and us rather drained.
The Liszt Variations on Bach’s Weinen,Klagen,Sorgen,Zagen .
A monumental piece written in memory of Liszt’s two children Daniel and Blandine that had tragically died.
Full of extraordinary colour with a great sense of the architectural line .
The choral a moving contrast for its stillness and austerity to the virtuoso outer sections.
A song with out words in F sharp minor showed off this fine pianists refined sense of balance and innate musicality .
Chloe Mun Gold medal winner of Geneva and Busoni International Piano competitions at St Mary`s Perivale in the remarkable series of great young pianists of Dr Hugh Mather
Part of that prize was also a concert in London for the Keyboard Charitable Trust whose founders Noretta Conci-Leech and John Leech have long been associated with the Busoni Competition listening to all the competitors and offering encouragement and help to many great talents that do not necessarily have all the requisites to carry off a Gold Medal but with the right sort of help that the Trust can offer can gain the necessary experience and time to allow their talent to mature and grow.
Romanovsky,Lifits,Leone,Cao,Rimoldi are only a few of the many that have been helped in this way and have since made their way successfully in what can be a very precarious career .
Only recently Rodolfo Leone and Bolai Cao noted in the Busoni Competition have won first and third prizes in the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna.
Jiyeong Mun – known to the musical world as Chloe Mun had all the requisites at the age of only 19 to carry home the Gold Medals of the Geneva and Busoni International Piano Competitions .
A feat only once repeated and that was by a 16 year old girl by the name of Martha Argerich!
Chloe is not the typical child prodigy for she came from a very disadvantaged family in South Korea .
Both parents are disabled and receive only a state subsidy and she began studying the piano at her own initiative.
Despite her family’s economic hardships she soon decided that she wanted to take her piano career seriously,refusing to be discouraged.
Because she did not have a piano at home she practised either at school or in a neighbourhood church. She even discontinued traditional schooling in order to spend more time at the piano and subsequently graduated on her own well ahead of her peers.
It was in 2009 at the age of 14 that she won First prize at the Art Dream Competition organized by the Korean Business Council,which allows people in the lower echelons of society access to higher artistic education.
It was on this occasion that she met Daejin Kim.
Winner of the Cleveland Casadesus International Competition in 1985 .
Since 1994 he has moved back to Korea with his family and teaches at the Korean National University.
He has been on the jury of many prestigious competitions and his students have gone on to win many international competitions.
Sunwook Kim winner of the Haskil ( 2005 ) and Leeds International Competitions (2006)and now Chloe Mun winner of the Geneva (2014 ) and Busoni ( 2015).
Since that fateful day in 2009 Daejin Kim has been her teacher and mentor and she is currently studying with him at The Korean National University.
Thanks to the enormous generosity and knowledgeable enthusiasm of Hugh Mather not only was Chloe invited to play at Steinway Hall for the KCT – not to be missed on Wednesday 21st June at 19h – but our remarkable Dr Mather ,having heard her remarkable performances on you tube, immediately offered her another engagement in his prestigious piano recital series in Perivale.
Even changing his holiday plans and offering hospitality to this still only 21 year old young lady in order to make her 7000 mile trip from Korea even more worthwhile.
We say in Italy it is the facts that count and time and time again Dr Mather has proven himself to be a real benefactor of these remarkable talents that are emerging as never before.
He was not disappointed as no one was of those who were present in the charming little wooden church in the middle of Ealing Golf Course on what must be the hottest day of the year.
I congratulated Dr Mather on his new piano .
New he exclaimed but it is the same one that everyone plays on but in her hands it became a real magic box .
A box full of the most wondrous dreams because that is what we were treated to from the first to the last note .
I had heard her in October and noted her pianistic and musical perfection but felt it lacked an experience of life . Of a story to tell …her story that would only come with experience of life.
But now less that a year later here was all the same perfection but allied to a sense of wonder and beauty without any rhetoric or histrionics that I would say it was one of the most sublime recitals that I have heard in recent years because so unexpected.
A sense of balance that allowed the piano to sing without any forcing.
A sheen and sumptuous quality to the sound that one would only think possible on the very finest German pianos.
This ladies and gentlemen was a much used Yamaha.
I am reminded of Richter who had no preference for a piano for he wanted to dive down deep into the instrument to discover its hidden secrets and then seduce and engulf the instrument holding us in a trance as only great artists can do.
It takes total dedication and as we can see from Chloe’s difficult past it is through this total determination together with expert guidance at the right time that has brought her to the pinnacle of pianistic perfection.
Her opening Galuppi Sonata T.27 in C major had the same crystaline purity that Michelangeli revealed to us in this very sonata.
It takes great control of balance to allow the melody to sing in such a pure way seemingly without pedal because so subtle.
So few notes but so pregnant with meaning.
Truly art that conceals art.
This little three movement Sonata became a jewel in her hands.
Ornaments so unobtrusively executed that one was not aware of the transcendental difficulty of allowing them to be part of the overall musical line.
What a wonder these sonatas and those of Scarlatti can be on the piano when played in such a simple refined artistocratic manner .
Amazing control of sound in the Images Book one by Debussy.
The washes of sound in Reflets dans l’eau were quite miraculous in their unobtrusiveness just as they are or at least should be in Ravels Ondine .
This is water cascading never overpowering as so often is heard in this piece.
The stillness she brought to the ending was quite magical and on this piano a major miracle.
Hommage a Rameau I have heard many times from Rubinstein and it has always remained with me for the subtle colouring and aristocratic very french sound that could be so telling here as in Poulenc .
Full of pathos and robustness but never romantic or sentimental .
The wondrous coda and complete change of colour – as though on another planet .
One of those magical moments that are so rare .
Where you feel the interpreter is in awe of the sounds that are being conjured out of this box of tricks.
All this I was reminded of in the performance by Chloe today – total magic.
Head down in total concentration .
The transcendental pianism in the Mouvements was only to be marvelled at.
Where the clarity of the continuous mouvements was so quiet that the melodic line was allowed to speak as very rarely it is heard.
Starting from nothing and disappearing to nothing a real feat that only a great musical mind with a wonderful ear could have achieved.
If this was remarkable little did we expect to be transported into the world of dreams in the second half.
For that is what is was .
” The Poet Speaks ” so apt a title for the last piece in Schumann’s Scenes of Childhood . The dual personalities of Florestan and Eusebius through whom the poet Schumann could speak.
But Schumann’s music needs a special sound it is neither Beethoven,Schubert or Chopin.
It is a quite unique sound world that Guimar Novaes and Clara Haskil understood so well
There has to be a special sheen to the sound that can be both sumptuous and voluptuous as it can be rhythmic and passionate .
But it is above all lyrical and it was this aspect that Chloe understood so well .
From the opening notes of the Arabeske op 18 that can sound so mundane and ordinary. The same theme repeated endelessly inbetween contrasting episodes.
Here today we were treated to an Arabeske that seemed to come out of thin air with the contrasting episodes so enveloped in the overall line that each appearance of the theme was transformed and seemingly ever more beautiful.
Disolving into a coda of such magic that it can only be likened to Schumann’s own Liedekreis.
What to say of the Schumann Fantasie.
An outpouring of love for Clara.
Dedicated to Franz Liszt who famously sight read the fantasie infront of the composer. Liszt dedicated his B minor Sonata in return.
Both are pinnacles of the Romatic era.
Having heard a near perfect performance from Chloe in Rome but one in which I had been strangely untouched by her pianistic and musical perfection.
I was not expecting the overwhelming musical experience that she offered today.
Here was all the passion that had been missing but allied to such inteliigence that allowed her to control the sound with such architectural prudence that when the great climax at the end of the middle section Im Legenden-Ton emerged it was the same overwhelming experience that I remember from Clifford Curzon that true master of the great Romantic tradition.
The dotted rhythms that can be so irritating in the second movement were played today with such a sense of line and a quite unique sound that allowed the music to sing in a single breath.
All leading to the last statement of the march- Massig indeed- and an overwhelming coda played as a real musician but with a truly virtuoso technique .
Bringing the second movement to a tumultuous ending.
Such was the concentration of the audience that where there would normally be unwanted applause here there was total silence .
A silence pregnant with meaning that after an almost unbearable few moments the magical Langsam getragen entered as if by magic .
A magic kaleidoscope of colours but always with that sheen ( so reminiscent of Novaes) that carried us along in the dream- her dream- Schumann’s dream .
Leading to the sublime almost unbearable beauty of the final two pages.
Gradually unfolding to the climax and gentle dropping off to the final chords that were played with and ever more magical diminuendo.
It made one realise what a love Schumann had for Clara in Chloe’s hands today.
Triana from Iberia by Albeniz played with all the sunshine and charm that this piece can contain in the right hands.
Never just note spinning but bands of colours that she seemed to conjure out of thin air .
What could she play after such a feast as that .
Widmung the song by Schumann transcribed by Liszt .
One of the finest I have ever heard because it was a song with all the passion and heartfelt confessions allied to such a sumptuous subtle sound that this truly was the highlight for me of a remarkable recital.
At a foto shoot after the tea and cakes that are so much part of this English institution Chloe sat down and played Traumerei – dreaming by Schumann to satisfy the fotographers ….we left in tears .
Thank you Chloe and dear Hugh for allowing us to experience such wonders.
Hats off to the International Piano Competitions too.
Busoni in particular for being able to choose such a complete artist from all the wonderful musicians that were on parade.
I am the first to be sceptical but also the first to be convinced and seduced.
Hurry to Steinway Hall at 19h on Wednesday to hear the same recital repeated.
Free entrance until capacity is reached.
A glass of two of wine with the artist and the remarkable founders of the Keyboard Charitable Trust that has done so much to bring just such talent to the fore.
Having heard such good reports about Igor Levit from musicians whose opinions I trust completely I was very keen to be able to hear this young pianist for myself.
His Beethoven Sonata series in the Wigmore hall where musical integrity and real musicianship are paramount requirements for a very discerning audience was sold out .
A hall where artists of the quality of Andras Schiff,Angela Hewitt,Graham Johnson,Stephen Isserlis,Paul Lewis reign may give an indication of the unique values that are upheld in this hallowed hall by the democratic Mr Gilhooly.
A hall that has gone from strength to strength ,never compromising its fundamental principles ,since that famous series in 1976 devised by William Lyne to try to stop this much loved hall from being knocked down and redeveloped.
I well remember Artur Rubinstein after beseeching the audience at his last appearance in public not to allow them to pull the hall down where he had started and finished his career.
Now almost blind he opened the doors to his adoring public to say a last farewell. He may have been blind but not too blind to notice the beautiful Lauren Bacall that had come backstage to embrace her hero.
Mr Levit obviously very much the flavour of the month and having heard recently varied reports of his “Emperor” with the LSO I was very pleased to see that the BBC were transmitting live his final recital of the last three Beethoven Sonatas.
Armed with a radio ,wine and the Henle Urtext I awaited in the leafy glades of Kew on a wonderful balmy night for the first magical strains of op.109.
Having much experience of the PR boys promotion of the most remarkably talented musicians but often at variants with my own musical values.
So on/off knob prominently at the ready!
Was it not Igor Pogorelich,one of the greatest young pianists the world has known ,who had the jury of the Chopin Competition fighting amongst themselves .
Martha Argerich walked out in protest that such a pianist could be eliminated from an International Competition where this contestant could undoubtedly play better than any of the distinguished jury members.
Should a competition be judged on musical integrity or on phenomenal pianistic capability?
Are competitions a fair judge of true artistry.
None of the Wigmore Hall stars has run off with a Gold Medal from International competitions yet they are applauded worldwide.
This created a scandal that infact launched Pogorelich onto the world stage where the public could decide for themselves depending on their values also helped by his film star good looks that had a great appeal for a less discerning public.
Lang lang too has an appeal for a vast public and although he is not always able to maintain his musical principles he has brought music to the masses .
These are in fact entertainers and not necessarily to be confused with great interpreters whose sole aim is to transmit the composers wishes.
Occasionally we are treated to an artist that can combine both.
In my day and for many others of my generation this was epitomised in Artur Rubinstein.
Having heard recently much admired and lauded pianists such as Bozhanov and Trpceski.
Amazing as they are we beg to differ on musical matters.
Was it not Deutsche Grammophon who sent to Perlemuter for some words of praise for the launch of the extraordinary recording of Pogorelich playing some major works of Ravel with whom Perlemuter had studied.
“Quesque c’est que ca” exclaimed Perlemuter who had spent a lifetime studying and worrying over interpretative details in the scores.
I need not have worried for here from Levit was extraordinarily accomplished playing. Scrupulous attention to the composers indications and a super human sense of colour and a musicianship that had one referring to the score to check details that were truly there in works that one has heard many times before.
Hardly a false note in the entire 75 minutes of this pinnacle of the pianistic repertoire.
A wonderful way to spend a summer evening and I put the fact that there did not seem to be much magic or atmosphere down to the fact that the radio produces canned not fresh food as Gilels was fond of saying.
However a much esteemed friend and indeed a world authority on all there is to know of pianists alive or dead said the following wise and measured words that confirmed my feeling of why was I so moved by Perahia`s op 111 the other night when here there was not just the last sonata on it’s own but the last three but I remained astonished but totally unmoved.
“Struggle” was the word that put meaning back into an uneasy feeling where words failed me.
“Look Chris “,he said “I sat through the second performance at ten , a repeat of the 7.30 performance that had been added due to great public demand.
I was amazed and astonished by the remarkable technical and musical command .
I kept thinking of how amazing it was to play these three works so perfectly for the second time in the same evening.
A quick cup of tea between performances and he could play them all over again.
But Chris I remember in the 70`s the monumental performance of Claudio Arrau where together we had scaled the heights of this musical pinnacle.
We came out totally exhausted and satisfied that we had been through a draining,unforgettable musical experience together.
Never for a second was there time to think of the remarkable musical and technical prowess of this master.
Mr Levit on the other hand could have repeated them all night long.
“Water off a remarkable duck`s back indeed”.
How do you teach struggle?
What is soul?
It is the domain of the truly great to look on in amazement at what they are moulding in their hands.
Only time and experience of life will tell.
We are indeed in the hands of the Gods.
In the meantime play on Mr Levit I too shall be there to follow your remarkable career
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 