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Kausikan Rajeshkumar at S.Mary’s Perivale

It was a few years ago that I heard a young Sri Lankan pianist play at the Royal Festival Hall in the Martin Trust Young Musicians series.
It was an outstanding performance of Chopin’s B minor sonata together with a pieces by Villa Lobos .
I immediately made a note of his name as someone to watch out for and rushed back to inform my colleagues and founders of the Keyboard CharitableTrust,John and Noretta Leech .
And so it was that two years ago he appeared in the little town near to my home in Italy ,Sermoneta,to partecipate in the famous master classes at the Summer School founded by Menuhin and Szigeti ,
The great pianist and ever generous teacher Elisso Virsaladze returns every year for masterclasses to which the greatest young talents flock. Kausikan was one of the few selected by her to play in the final concert of her master students .
I still remember the magic of the Sonata n.2 by Scriabin ,the so called Fantasy Sonata in two movements .
A magic that was remembered too by many people on the beach the following day that had flocked to these very special concerts and had been entranced by this young pianist. .
And so it was today in the new series invented by that indefaticable Hugh Mather that we too were able to be entranced by this very performance .
An almost improvisatory performance such was his self identification with the sound world of Scriabin .
Full of subtle colours and demonic energy .
The two movements very much conceived as a whole with the fragmentary almost hinted melodies of the first united in the second movement in a triumphant final exposition … the famous “star” for which even in his early years Scriabin was searching.
Little did the public know that Kausikan has a unique improvisatory talent and can with great ease improvise in many different styles on any theme given to him .
We all admired the Brazilian pianist Gabriela Montenero at the Proms the other day.How she improvised in many different styles on the Sailors Horn Pipe tune so associated with the last night of the Proms.
I have heard Kausikan do similar and maybe even more and sincerely hope that he will share this with his public that is not used to what today is considered a unique gift.
It is a talent given to a young man who gained a first in Cambridge at a very early age having been trained in the piano at the Purcell School.
It is only now that we are seeing the remarkable results of British trained musicians from the Purcell and Menuhin Schools that give superb musical training to highly talented children whilst allowing them to combine normal school activities .
Kausikan from the remarkable school of Tessa Nicholson who has trained so many of the remarkable talents that are now coming to the fore.Gone is the age when we all looked to the East and to the USA for highly trained musicians whilst the British were admired for their musicianship but sadly lacking technical accomplishment .Now too the British musicians are in the forefront on the International Concert Scene.
It was ,in my opinion,a little too improvisatory, for the great E major Sonata of Beethoven ,the first of his last great trilogy of Sonatas.
Whilst as he rightly indicated in his excellent presentation,this is the most serene almost pastoral of the last Sonatas ,it does need to have a very solid backbone that sometimes Kausikan in his search for that special sound world of his and Scriabin slightly lost the pulse in the ebb and flow of this sublime music.
Not helped by an ungrateful piano two studies by Chopin and Liszt were given virtuoso performances greatly appreciated by our master of ceremony Hugh Mather.
It was refreshing to hear ” Waldesrauchen” by Liszt that I have not heard since Perlemuter played it as an encore after a monumental performance of the B minor Sonata ,some thirty years ago.
The most poetic of Rachmaninoff Preludes ,that in D major op 23 was followed by the final piece in the programme the tempestuous Etude Tableau in D op 39.
At the insistence of our very enthusiastic host and also a very appreciative audience we were treated to the so called ” minute” Waltz which Kausikan delivered in fifty five delicious seconds.

Over fifty years ago I was taken to the Albert Hall by my piano “daddy” Sidney Harrison who was concerned that his star schoolboy pupil should receive the right nourishment from an early age.
And so that was the first occasion that I heard Bach`s Mass in B minor.
Later as a student at the Royal Academy I was privileged to hear two performances with Otto Klemperer and the unforgettable Janet Baker.
The former performance in the 1960`s I expect was for large choral forces but the second with Klemperer was much reduced and,of course, very slow with great weight and meaning to each note as one expected from a musician of such stature now passed into legend.
It was with Walter Legge`s legendary Philharmonia in the Festival Hall.
But nothing could have prepared me for the absolute clarity of line from William Christie and Les Arts Florissants tonight fifty years on.
This must have been what Bach heard and made one realise that it could not be any other way.
This is not music of effect but the greatest work ever dedicated to the Glory of God.

That is not to say that there was not much interplay and subtle rubato between the partecipants.This was no cold “authentic” performance but a live and moving experience.
Almost two hours,without interval, with six thousand people in total rapt silence following the inspired language that Bach had lain before them.
The famous Agnus Dei that was so memorable with Janet Baker here was sung by the counter tenor Tim Mead and how could it possibly be otherwise in this context.
Andre Morsch the magnificent baritone with Katherine Watson,soprano and Reinoud Van Mechelen ,tenor all singing with the magnificent chorus …there were no divas here but all equal together in the Glory of God !
What a lesson in real humility and absolute musicianship .
As if this was not enough it was preceded by a Proms Extra of a Paul Tortelier masterclass of Bach’s 3rd cello suite from vintage BBC television when television was still a means of instructing and informing .
None of these monosyllabic dramas of today, interrupted every fifteen minutes by advertisements that are often much better than the actual dramas so highly advertised by the PR boys!Yes Young Victoria is what I tried to digest the other day . Hard indeed to digest after having seen Yerma at the Young Vic and listening now the Bach B minor mass.
Endless reminders about television license ……..well I think they should pay us damages for having such rubbish transmitted into every living room in the land!

And there was our adorable Tortelier who often came to play in my theatre in Rome.
I asked him once to give a talk on Bach .He said he thought he might be able to talk for an hour.
Well after six hours of talking ,playing both cello and piano and involving all the public I had to ask him to stop in order to prepare for that evenings stage performance.
Actually it was Paul who said he would play in the so called authentic way when they discovered and authentic way of making recordings!
What an artist !Never forgotten…and there he was this evening as an aperitivo to the Greatest Work written to the Glory of God .He would have loved it!

The Festival Pontino di Musica in Sermoneta in these difficult times has dedicated this years festival to the young that are so in need of a platform .
And so the very opening concert in the magical atmosphere of the Caetani Castle was dedicated to the Orchestra of the Liceo Musicale Farnesina and on the 29th July in the beautiful Abbey of Valvisciolo it will be the turn of the Juni Orchestra of the Accademy of S.Cecilia .
What better way to turn these austere times to the advantage of the enormously talented young musicians that dedicate their youth to Art.
Hats off the Elisa Cerocchi( daughter of the now retired founder Riccardo Cerocchi)Tiziana Cherubini and the ever present neo presidente Luigi Giannini.
However the Pontine Festival does not lack in illustrious names with a faithful following from artists such as Elisso Virsaladze,Alessandro Carbonare,Franco Petracchi and Mariana Sirbu all dedicating their time to the masterclasses that since the time of Menuhin and Szigeti have been so much part of the music making on the Pontine Hills during the summer months.

So it was last night with the return of Elisso Virsaladze,who has been an annual appointment for for many years .
Missing last year due to illness and now returning to give a recital in the courtyard of the castle of Mozart.Schubert and Schumann.

And what a return it was .Could there now be another dimension to her playing or have we just been starved of her great artistry for too long
The little Mozart Rondo in A minor KV511 given a really operatic performance such was the freedom she found within the strict framework where very note seemed to talk directly in a fascinating and very subtle way.
Beautiful and unexpected jeux perle’ and wonderful sense of balance allowed the music to speak for itself with a surprising intensity .It was as though we were hearing this well known piece for the first time.
Following with Schubert’s great G major Sonata Fantasia .
A difficult work to bring off in the concert hall so here in the open air it was a real challenge.
It was obvious from the magical opening that she had perfectly judged the accoustic as she held the public in her hands for the next half an hour . Not missing the drama of the development section in the first movement but always in the context of the fantasy that she was recounting .Some beautifully projected cantabile in the andante and some very subtle shading in the Menuet leading to an impish opening of the Allegretto ,played with such obvious enjoyment that when it burst into one of the most beautiful melodies that Schubert has penned we were reminded of that other wonderful last movement that is Mozart’s Cmajor concerto K503 where the overwhelming invention pours out in a seemingly limitless way.

Schnabel once said that Mozart was too easy for children and too difficult for adults but in the Sonata in F K.533 that followed after the interval this amazingly complete artist found just the right simplicity and character that can be so difficult to balance .

Richter was a great admirer of Elisso Virsaladze’s Schumann from when she won the competition in Zwickau and so it was no surprise to find an impeccable performance of his Carnaval op 9.
Restored to the original with all the traditional idiosyncracies eliminated as she purveyed in a microscopic way the original intentions of Schumann as shown  so clearly in the score .
Not to say it lacked colour,passion,charm and style for this is one of the great artists of our time and how lucky all the young pianists are that flock to her masterclasses to be able to share in her seemingly direct contact with the composers.Students that have included Beatrice Rana,Emanuel Rimoldi,Alexander Ullman,Pablo Rossi and Evelyne Beresowsky to name but a few.

Ever generous with three encores (Mozart and Chopin Mazurka op30 n.4 and the Waltz op 42 ) and an enthusiastic audience glad to be able to demonstrate how pleased they are to have her back again.