with Valerio Vicari artistic director an selfless promoter of young musicians
Federico Pische in the Young Artists series at Roma 3 University . From the class of Benedetto Lupo with a programme of Scarlatti, Beethoven and Mussorgsky. Played with a musical intelligence and integrity where his technical mastery was at the service of the composers he was playing and just underlined the title he had given to his recital of ‘Form and Significance’. Crystalline purity of three Scarlatti Sonatas, a poignant profundity to the early Beethoven Sonata op 10 n 3 where the Largo e mesto already marks out the genius that was to recreate the sonata form, bringing it to the celestial heights of his final trilogy. But it was Mussorgsky that marked this young man out as an artist of refined good taste and remarkable technical mastery. A pianist who listens to himself with a sensitivity to balance and a kaleidoscopic range of colours can bring this old war horse back to where it truly belongs as one of the pinnacle’s of the pianistic repertoire.
.The A major Scarlatti sonata was played with a purity and clarity of sound with very discrete ornaments and an even more discrete use of the pedal which gave a glow to his playing of refreshing fluidity.The slow D minor sonata K.213 was beautifully shaped with the refined elegance of it’s time and a glowing poignant fluidity reaching a burning intensity diffused by the ebullient ‘joie de vivre’ of the other D minor sonata K.1 with ornaments that sparkled like tightly wound springs overjoyed to be part of such busy chattering of great buoyancy.
There are three sonatas from Beethoven’s early period that immediately show the genius who could take his master, Haydn’s, model and add his explosive temperament and genius in a fast changing world where music was a personal expression and not just an expression of elegant denial. This was a new age where the sonatas opus 2 n. 3, op 7 and op 10 n. 3 all pointed to a brave new world where the slow movements are personal statements of burning intensity and poignancy. Federico opened the op 10 n. 3 quite gently, a radiance gradually building in intensity .There was a dynamic drive and a sense of architectural shape to the first movement with it’s constant changes between rhythmic and lyrical,without ever loosing that burning drive. The ‘Largo e mesto’ was played with a musical intelligence of aristocratic beauty with a sense of balance that allowed the melody to glow without any forcing but with a kaleidoscope of colours and emotions that was breathtaking in it’s intensity. A sense of orchestral colour with deeply agitated bass notes of frenzied emotional impact diffused with a subtle recitativo of purity and naked emotions.There was a simple elegance to the ‘Minuetto’ that was allowed to unfold so simply as the ‘Trio’ burst into life with its enticing question and answer between the hands. The same questioning but with uncertain answers of the Rondò that was played with refined brilliance and rhythmic energy disappearing into the bass of the piano from where this great tale had begun.
Mussorgsky’s Pictures and tribute to his friend Victor Hartmann,were given a monumental performance with an extraordinary range of colours. Even in the most energetic episodes the sound was never allowed to harden as everything Federico did was shaped like the true musician he is. ‘Gnomus’ burst onto the scene with extraordinary impertinence but also with subtle colouring and an ending played with fearless courage. ‘The Old Castle’ of simple beauty as a heartbeat deep inside the piano carried us into this mysterious landscape. Federico brought an irresistible lilt to the children squabbling in the ‘Tuileries’ only to be overpowered by the prepotentious Bydlo. Federico even played it with a pointed finger but gradually allowed the old cart to disappear into the distance with barely audible whispers. A promenade that was now bathed in pedal as he caught sight of the chicks chattering away with insistent clarity and sparkle. ‘Samuel Goldenberg’ took centre stage with unstoppable authority as he was answered by the beseeching cries of ‘Schmuyle’, only to be overridden by the dynamic drive a extraordinary technical prowess of the hustle and bustle of the ‘Market Place in Limoges’. Suddenly ‘Catacombae’ appeared with a vision of terrifying desolation played with great conviction and enormous resonating sonorities, dissolving magically to ‘cum mortuis in lingua mortua’. ‘Baba Yaga’ entered at a fearsome gait as the tension and excitement rose to fever pitch only to be cut short by the wondrous vision of the ‘Great Gate of Kyiv’. Bells pealing all over the keyboard with a mastery of transcendental playing of overwhelming authority. There was beauty too with the interruption of a gentle chorale gradually becoming overwhelmed by the pealing of bells and the glorious vision of the grandeur of such a monumental vision of peace …………
Rachmaninov ‘s D major Prelude offered as soothing balm after a monumental performance of the Great Gate of Kyiv, demonstrated in just a few bars the simple poetic artistry of this extraordinary young artist
A standing ovation for Ruben Micieli at the end of a concert dedicated to Chopin. Not only a celebration in Chopin’s 215th birthday week but also the news that Ruben has been selected to go to Warsaw as part of the Chopin competition selection process. Performances of subtle beauty and mastery that began with the whispered beauty of the D flat nocturne. Ruben allowed Chopin’s bel canto to cast a spell as you might expect from a young musician born in the shadow of Bellini in Catania. Beautiful hand movements of grace and beauty the same as in one of Chopin’s most beautiful creations. A whispered veiled sound world of ravishing beauty.
Masterly performances of the first and third ballades showed off this young man’s superb musicianship with performances of aristocratic authority and sensitivity. Great delicacy mixed with nobility, brilliance and passion in the G minor Ballade.A tone poem of so many emotions played with extraordinary intelligence and poetic sensibility.The A flat Ballade had a fluidity as it’s continuous outpouring of song was played with a kaleidoscope of colours.Embellishments that were jewels that glowed with knowing beauty as the Ballade moved with a masterly build up to the final ecstatic goal. A fearless plunge across the keys brought this most pastoral of Chopin’s Ballades to the noblest of conclusions.
The last six of Chopin’s 24 preludes flowed with a natural fluidity from the mellifluous nineteenth where the melody was allowed to float on Aeolian harp strings belying the technical feats that are required. The imperious twentieth of restrained grandeur was played with ever more whispered echoes of extraordinary barely audible delicacy as the twenty first entered with flowing aristocratic poise. The imperious bass octaves of the twenty second rang out with a noble voice of commanding authority. Chopin’s own jeux d’eau just flowed from Ruben’s well oiled fingers like water in a brook that was to take us to the heroic outpouring of passionate glory with the final twenty fourth. Played with fearless abandon but like all that this young man did it was imbued with the poetic musicality which is at the very heart of Chopin’s music .
Canons covered in flowers is how Schumann was to describe Chopin Mazurkas and it was this subtle poetry and beguiling sense of dance that Ruben brought to his op 24 n.4 .
It was followed by the E minor study op 25 that too was imbued with a sense of dance and fantasy until Chopin was to fill the central episode with one of his most magical tenor melodies accompanied by washes of notes of gossamer lightness. Superb playing of ravishing sounds that gave a glowing radiance to a historic Bechstein that has rarely been asked to bequeath such beauty.
The final two works on the programme included the third Scherzo where Ruben played the commanding octaves with a musicianship that shaped all that he did. Dissolving so naturally into a chorale that was accompanied by filigree notes where delicacy and fragility gave a warmth to the solemn beauty of the chorale before erupting into a coda of transcendental exhilaration and excitement .
But it was the genial invention of Chopin in his final year combining fantaisie to the polonaise and which Ruben described as his vision of life and death where fragility is complemented by passion . A masterly performance of the Polonaise – Fantaisie where Ruben was able to give an architectural shape and nobility to one of Chopin’s greatest creations .
After such profound performances of poetic mastery Ruben surprised us with Fazil Say’s jazzed up version of Mozart’s Turkish March . Played with technical wizardry and not a little showmanship it brought the audience to their feet in appreciation .
Back to Chopin for a second encore with the Revolutionary study that was played with extraordinary clarity and passionate intensity .
A third encore for an ever more enthusiastic public was a free improvisation on Autumn Leaves. There was magic in the air as we all were glad to join together to taste the beautiful nectar that was being offered in the next room by the sponsors of such an uplifting experience.
Sir David Scholey talking to Ruben’s parentsRuben with his parents who had all flown in for the day from Catania
Pianist ,conductor, and composer, Ruben Micieli has won prizes in numerous international competitions since his debut in 2017, and has performed in concert halls and theaters across Europe and Asia, including Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Salle Cortôt in Paris, Weimarhalle, Palau de Musica Catalana in Barcelona, Steinway Hall in London, Xiao Ke Theater in Beijing, Recital Hall in Hong Kong, and Sala Solitär in Salzburg.
He has recorded albums for NAXOS, KNS Classical, A2DV Generation (featuring the complete Chopin Études), and IMD Music. His album Verdi & Bellini – Paraphrases de salon for NAXOS will be released in 2025.
In 2025, he will make his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie.
Anna Fedorova with the triumph of a supreme stylist
in La Pergola ,the temple of serious music making in Italy.
Wondrous whispered sounds of Ukrainian Silvestrov to remind us of what beauty there could be in the world. Anna very much involved with her support for Ukraine opened with these very delicate musings on Mozart, demonstrating Silvestrov’s wish that his music is ‘a response to and an echo of what already exists’. Barely audible sounds gradually taking shape with exquisite glowing beauty immediately showing the delicacy and sensitivity of Anna’s playing. And it was this beautiful world that we heard today, that of a Myra Hess (Tobias Matthay) who could make music speak without resorting to force or speed. Anna Fedorova allowed music to speak louder than any words with a kaleidoscope of colours where each note had an infinite possibility of sounds. Chopin nocturnes op 27 that were a marvel of bel canto and the genial fantasy of Chopin who today was celebrating his 215th birthday.There were deep bass notes barely touched but sustaining the glowing bel canto that grew in intensity in this first almost impressionistic nocturne. The left hand gradually taking on sinister overtones before bursting into a Mazurka played with the lightness of the dance it is, before the solitary glowing beauty of the coda.
Menahem Pressler with Anna as he almost reached his 100th year Menahem Pressler with Lady Weidenfeld to whom he dedicated his last recording Claire de Lune
I was reminded of Anna’s mentor Menahem Pressler when we we listened together with Peter Frankl to a fantastic performance of Petrushka from a top prize winning pianist. I remember Pressler being impressed by the fantastic technical feats but remarking that it is a dance not a circus act! Anna is first and foremost a musician whose love for the music shines through all she does.Her technical command is remarkable but it is above all her love and musicianship that endear her to audiences, as we saw today. There was a deep warmth and expressiveness to the D flat Nocturne with a questioning of passionate intensity and an answer of beseeching compliance. A timeless beauty as the ornaments were allowed to unfold like Caballé ravishment, nowhere more than in the coda where she took all the time needed to underlined the expressiveness of the acciaccaturas without ever disturbing the overall pulse of the music.This was a true example of tempo rubato which Chopin was to describe to his society lady pupils, a tree with the roots firmly planted in the ground with branches that were free to move as the wind blew through them. Surely this was Chopin describing the secret of all great Bel Canto singers.
An ‘Appassionata’ where the pedal played such an important part, allowing a fantasy and colour that is rare indeed, but that Beethoven has actually indicated in the score. I was reminded of Myra Hess who would use the pedal to build up sonorities without the percussive ‘fingerfertigkeit’ that we are so often treated to on pianos that are super resilient, and pianists with muscles that they like to flex in public.This was an ‘Appassionata’ that had great impact for the overall architectural shape and the scrupulous attention to the composers indications. It was the rests at the beginning that were so important and kept the opening trills from overstaying their welcome as they were tightly wound springs, gasps before the explosion that marks the true opening of the sonata. There were great contrasts too between legato and staccato with dynamic contrasts where Anna even noted the way Beethoven had written the waves of notes and kept the physical shape that just mirrored the musical one with no ‘pianistic’ simplifications . Beethoven takes great risks and it is this that adds to his genius – it is not play safe music! Beethoven’s irascible tempo could explode quite unexpectedly as it does indeed in his music. Anna brought orchestral sounds to the coda with much pedal, that gave a shape and meaning too often played like an exercise. Beethoven does not mark a rallentando at the end as this great wave of sound lasts to the very last breath. A flowing ‘Andante’ and as Beethoven asks ‘con moto’.This is a procession as the variations are allowed to unfold naturally on its long journey. A deep resonant bass to the first variation gave unusual depth as the second was allowed to glow with a golden fluidity.It moved with even more haste to the startling unexpected final chord which Anna allowed to unwind with trepidation to the final top note, placed with masterly care. Throwing herself into Beethoven’s irascible slamming of the door she allowed the ‘Allegro,ma non troppo’ to unwind with washes of sound rather than individual notes. Of course she played the repeat that Beethoven asks for, but with even more intensity as it lead to the frenzy of a coda where Anna literally threw herself at the piano with lots of pedal adding washes of orchestral sounds tumbling down on us unsuspecting public with overwhelming effect. Who could not be reminded of Rubinstein who made this Sonata very much his own and played it with electric shocks of passionate impulses until his 90th year!
After the interval Anna gave a performance of ‘Carnaval’ that mesmerised the audience with playing of style and a kaleidoscope of colours with chameleonic changes of character. A noble opening of aristocratic grandeur was followed by a short preview of the charm and excitement that was to unfold over the next twenty scenes, in fact it was a ‘Préamble’ like no other ! ‘Pierrot’ appeared with a sense of line, walking a little faster than usual, but Anna pointing to rich tenor notes adding ravishing colour from this very first scene. A gently teasing ‘Arlequin’ lead to a truly noble ‘Valse’ which she suffused with delicate beauty and shaped with whispered tones which fitted well with the sultry delicate beauty she gave to ‘Eusebius’. ‘Florestan’ was allowed to take the stage with radiance and insistence only to be greeted by the delicacy and charm of ‘Coquette’ with her beguiling shades of insinuation looking nostalgically over her shoulder with ‘Réplique’. Anna chose not to play the ‘Sphinxes’, as Rachmaninov did to such overwhelming effect, because they are rarely played by others as they are the outlines of Schumann’s construction and are probably not meant to be included in performance. ‘Papillons’ came flitting onto the scene with a gossamer lightness which burst into ‘Lettres dansantes’ where Anna’s ‘joie de vivre’ was allowed full reign. Finishing with a flourish that announced the entrance of ‘Chiarina’ with all her radiance and shy beauty. Anna brought a subtle rubato to ‘Chopin’ with its exquisitely beautiful outpouring, played with freedom but also simplicity. ‘Estrella’ on the other hand entered with dynamic drive and passion before the beauty of the melodic line in ‘Reconnaissance’.The inner repeated notes and technical difficulties were hardly noticed as a beautifully robust duet between tenor and soprano opened up to fill the central episode. After the opening was repeated ‘Pantalon et Colombine’ could be heard squabbling with a furious debate that Anna played with astonishing precision, allowing these two squabbling characters moments of gentile reflection before finally calling it a day with a quiet aside to finish. What style Anna brought to this episode with the two quiet chords just thrown onto the scene with nonchalant ease! A beautifully insinuating ‘Valse allemande’ was the frame into which Paganini was drawn to astonish and overwhelm.The violinist of the devil and the example that Liszt was to follow and where he learnt that showmanship and mastery could hold a public, and beautiful ladies, in their spell. Anna played this technically challenging episode with admirable command but it was her addition of pedal that showed us the true beauty and shape that Schumann could give to even Paganini! The final crashing chords giving way to an echo effect and a trick of the pedal that Anna showed us with rare perfection, an effect that is usually hit and miss in most performances! The inner counterpoints that she found in the beautiful ‘Aveu’ I have rarely heard played with such loving beauty and it lead into the ‘Promenade’. It was played with a capricious freedom before the ‘Pause’, that was in fact a record amount of notes played at breakneck speed! The triumphant ‘Davidsbündler’ March was played with clipped military indifference and was a call to arms contrasting with a finale of changing moods and an astonishing range of sounds.The final bars were played with bravura and showmanship as she brought this ‘Cirque du solei’ to an exhilarating end.
Three encores, and there could have been many more,but alas Pirandello was waiting in the wings for an evening performance in one of the most important theatres in Italy.
De Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ , again bathed in pedal but with a throbbing insistent rhythm over which rose passionate melodic outpourings. Rubinstein was famous for playing this crowd pleasing piece and his performance is renowned for his alternating high flying arms as he played the pungent rhythms with astonishing energy. Anna too followed the great master and afterwards told me that he was quite right because it added an extra sound and rhythmic dimension and it was not just a circus trick! Rachmaninov’s G sharp minor Prelude was played with supreme style and colour and a delicacy that was breathtaking for its audacity. For a final encore Anna decide to play one of the pictures of Mussorgsky’s suite.The ‘Ballet of Unhatched Chicks’ was an ideal and scintillating end to a memorable afternoon of real music making.
The wonder of what will obviously be the first of many Florentine concerts was with a performance of Carnaval that reminded me of the style of Giuomar Novaes and the simple musicianship of Myra Hess . A supreme stylist who is also a great musician where every one of Schumann’s characters was given a unique voice of its own. Greeted by an ovation she was persuaded to play three encores having flown in only this morning from Madrid where she had been playing Ravels G major concerto.
Domitilla Baldeschi former artistic director of the Amici and with whom I shared Tureck,Perlemuter,Cherkassky bringing them for the first time to Florence in their Indian Summers with Domitilla Baldeschi e Stefan Passigli former artistic directors of the Amici della Musica Anna signing CD’s and happy to pose for selfies even though on a very tight schedule .In life as on stage with a joie de vivre that is so refreshing
“Anna Fedorova’s beautiful sound and natural freedom in making music with total technical security makes for one of the finest Chopin performances I have heard in a long, long time.”
– Menahem Pressler, September 2022
with Menahem Pressler
From an early age, the Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova showed an innate musical maturity and amazing technical abilities. Her live recording of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto has over 43 million views on YouTube and is highly acclaimed by critics and world-renowned musicians. She regularly performs at the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, New York’s Carnegie Hall & Lincoln Center, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Tonhalle Zürich, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, and London’s Barbican Centre & Royal Albert Hall.
As a soloist, Anna Fedorova has performed with many wonderful orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Yomiuri Orchestra, Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Netherlands Philharmonic with conductors such as Daniel Harding, Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, Jaap van Zweden and more. Nicknamed the ‘house pianist’ (Telegraaf) of the Concertgebouw, Anna Fedorova has given over 45 concerts in this prestigious concert hall in Amsterdam, often live broadcasted. She is a regular guest at leading music festivals such as Verbier and Menuhin Festivals in Switzerland, Stift Music Festival in the Netherlands, Festival de Sintra in Portugal, and Ravinia Festival in the US. In July 2022, Anna performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda at the opening of the Verbier Festival. And a week later, she made her debut at the international piano festival La Roque d’Anthéron with a solo recital, to much acclaim in both local and international press.
On 6 March 2022 she was one of the first to initiate a charity concert to raise money for the victims of the war in Ukraine, together with her musician friends, Interartists Amsterdam and the Concertgebouw. Having raised over 100,000 Euros on that first night, she has continued to perform in benefit concerts for Ukraine ever since. During the summer of 2022, she was the solo pianist with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, performing under the baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson at Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera, Royal Albert Hall London (televised BBC Proms concert), Munich, Chorégies d’Orange, Konzerthaus Berlin, Edinburgh Festival, Summer at Snape Maltings, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Lincoln Centre New York (twice) and Kennedy Centre Washington. The New York Times noted that “The pianist Anna Fedorova was a sensitive, poetic soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, a nod to the Polish support for the Freedom Orchestra project.”
In 2018, Anna Fedorova signed with Channel Classics Records. By the beginning of 2023, she will have released three solo piano albums, four chamber music albums, and all of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos with the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen under Modestas Pitrenas. BBC Music Magazine gave a 5-star review for the first album with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Preludes, and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. BBC Music Magazine also published a 5-star review for Anna Fedorova’s rendition of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4, noting that “the clear thinking and feeling behind these Rachmaninoff concerto interpretations are refreshing indeed: this certainly isn’t just yet another ‘Rach 2’.” It was Classic FM’s Album of the Weekend, received Luister Magazine’s 10 star-review, and it became Album of the Week on Scala Radio as it was released in October 2022. Anna Fedorova, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen and Modestas Pitrenas recorded Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in November 2022, which will complete their Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos cycle in May 2023; the 150th birthday year of the composer.
Anna Fedorova graduated from the Lysenko School of Music in Kyiv with Borys Fedorov and the Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, with Leonid Margarius. She received her Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music, London, under the guidance of Norma Fisher. Her mentors include Alfred Brendel, Menahem Pressler, Steven Isserlis, and Sir András Schiff.
In 2022, Anna Fedorova and double bassist Nicholas Santangelo Schwartz founded the Davidsbündler Music Academy in The Hague. Before the Academy’s door officially opened in September 2022, the Davidsbündler Foundation already started to provide top quality musical education to Ukrainian refugees who had fled to the Netherlands. They continue to do so in 2023 and provide full scholarships to young talented pianists and string players from low-income families, among which are 12 young Ukrainian pianists.
Dal più tenera età, la pianista ucraina Anna Fedorova ha dimostrato un’innata maturità musicale e sorprendenti capacità tecniche. La sua registrazione in diretta del Concerto n. 2 per pianoforte e orchestra di Rachmaninov ha superato i 40 milioni di visualizzazioni su YouTube ed è stata molto apprezzata dalla critica e dal pubblico. Si esibisce regolarmente nelle sale da concerto più prestigiose del mondo, come il Concertgebouw di Amsterdam, la Carnegie Hall e il Lincoln Center di New York, il Palacio de Bellas Artes di Città del Messico, la Tonhalle di Zurigo, il Théâtre des Champs-Elysées di Parigi, il Bunka Kaikan di Tokyo, il Barbican Centre e la Royal Albert Hall di Londra. Come solista, Anna Fedorova si è esibita con rinomate orchestre come la Philharmonia Orchestra, la Verbier Festival Orchestra, la Royal Philharmonic, la Tokyo Symphony, la Yomiuri Orchestra, la Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, la Utah Symphony, la Dallas Symphony, la Hong Kong Philharmonic e la Netherlands Philharmonic. È ospite regolare di importanti festival musicali come i Festival di Verbier e Menuhin in Svizzera, lo Stift Music Festival nei Paesi Bassi, il Festival de Sintra in Portogallo e il Ravinia Festival negli Stati Uniti. Fedorova è stata una delle prime musiciste a proporre l’idea di organizzare concerti di beneficenza per le vittime della guerra in Ucraina. Insieme ad amici e noti musicisti, il 6 marzo 2022 ha raccolto oltre 100.000 euro per le organizzazioni umanitarie al Concertgebouw di Amsterdam. Da allora, si è esibita in oltre 20 concerti di beneficenza nei mesi di marzo e aprile 2022. Durante l’estate del 2022, è stata la pianista solista dell’Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, esibendosi sotto la direzione di Keri-Lynn Wilson al Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera, alla Royal Albert Hall di Londra (concerto trasmesso dalla BBC Proms), a Monaco di Baviera, alle Chorégies d’Orange, alla Konzerthaus di Berlino, al Festival di Edimburgo, al Summer at Snape Maltings, al Concertgebouw di Amsterdam, alla Elbphilharmonie di Amburgo, al Lincoln Centre di New York e al Kennedy Centre di Washington. Nel 2018 Anna Fedorova ha firmato un contratto con Channel Classics Records per una serie di registrazioni. Ha pubblicato tre album di pianoforte solo, quattro album di musica da camera e tutti i Concerti per pianoforte di Rachmaninov con la Sinfonieorchester di San Gallo. La rivista BBC Music Magazine ha assegnato una recensione a 5+5 stelle al primo album con il Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra n. 1, i Preludi e la Rapsodia su un tema di Paganini di Rachmaninov A novembre 2023 è uscito l’album Fathers & Daughters con Anna e Dana Zemtsov e i loro padri. Anna Fedorova si è diplomata alla Scuola di Musica “Lysenko” di Kiev con Borys Fedorov e all’Accademia Pianistica di Imola con Leonid Margarius. Ha conseguito il Master e il Diploma di Artista presso il Royal College of Music di Londra, sotto la guida di Norma Fisher. Tra i suoi mentori figurano Alfred Brendel, Menahem Pressler, Steven Isserlis e Sir András Schiff.
Anna Fedorova: il contributo concreto della musica
Nel suo concerto di debutto per gli Amici della Musica di Firenze accosterà opere di Chopin, Beethoven e Schumann a quelle del compositore e pianista ucraino Valentyn Silvestrov. Come ha concepito questo programma?
Nel mio recital presento una raccolta di brani che hanno un significato molto profondo per me. La Sonata Appassionata di Beethoven, che suono fin dall’adolescenza, è una delle mie preferite e rappresenta un viaggio emotivo potente, arricchito dagli insegnamenti di Sir András Schiff. Non smetto mai di stupirmi della straordinaria intensità spirituale che la attraversa. I Notturni di Chopin, tra mistero e luminosità, offrono un contrasto perfetto, mentre il Carnavaldi Schumann, con i suoi ritratti musicali e la celebrazione dello spirito libero, si lega all’ispirazione che mi ha portata alla fondazione della Davidsbündler Music Academy all’Aia, assieme a mio marito. Il recital si apre con The Messenger di Silvestrov, un brano carico di emozione e speranza, nato da un’esperienza di lutto e percepito come un messaggio dall’aldilà. È un programma che esplora intensamente la forza interiore, l’immaginazione e la connessione tra passato e presente.
Ha organizzato concerti benefici e iniziative di raccolta fondi a sostegno del popolo ucraino.
Dall’inizio della guerra nel 2022, per tutto il primo anno mi sono dedicata all’organizzazione e all’esecuzione di concerti di beneficenza. Il primo evento è stato organizzato appena una settimana dopo lo scoppio del conflitto, e in pochi giorni siamo riusciti a realizzare due grandi concerti di raccolta fondi: uno ad Amare, all’Aia, e l’altro nella Sala Grande del Concertgebouw di Amsterdam. L’energia e il senso di unità tra musicisti e pubblico in quelle occasioni erano indescrivibili. Nonostante la paura e la tristezza del momento, è stato straordinario vedere così tante persone riunite con lo stesso obiettivo. Più di 20 musicisti di fama internazionale hanno partecipato gratuitamente, alcuni viaggiando persino da altri paesi. Anche alcuni membri dell’Orchestra del Concertgebouw hanno formato un piccolo ensemble per accompagnare le esibizioni. Abbiamo suonato molta musica ucraina e altri brani dal forte valore simbolico. Grazie a questi due concerti, siamo riusciti a raccogliere oltre 150.000 euro. È stato un risultato incredibile per un evento di musica classica e un’esperienza indimenticabile. Soprattutto, mi ha dato la sensazione di poter contribuire concretamente in un momento così difficile.
with John Leech founder with his wife Noretta Conci of the Keyboard Trust in London .He died last November on S. Cecilia Day, the patron saint of music.A commemoration in London was on Valentine’s Day with many distinguished guests including a tribute from Evgeny Kissin who played Brahms to celebrate a great man and close friend. johnleechvr.com
Valentyn Vasylyovych Silvestrov was born on 30 September 1937 in Kyiv and began private music lessons when he was 15. After first teaching himself, he studied piano at the Kyiv Evening Music School from 1955 to 1958 whilst at the same time training to become a civil engineer. He attended the Kyiv Conservatory from 1958 to 1964, and was a freelance composer in Kyiv from 1970 to 2022, when he fled from Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February.. He lives in Berlin. He is perhaps best known for his post-modern musical style; some, if not most, of his works could be considered neoclassical and post-modernist. Using traditional tonal and modal techniques, Silvestrov creates a unique and delicate tapestry of dramatic and emotional textures, qualities which he suggests are otherwise sacrificed in much of contemporary music. “I do not write new music. My music is a response to and an echo of what already exists,” Silvestrov has said.
Silvestrov demands from his performer in the score of The Messenger,that alludes to Mozart , nuances ranging from mp to pppp, and the score is replete with meticulously detailed instructions with Silvestrov’s request to make the piano as muffled and quiet as possible (keeping the lid closed, using soft pedal) The Messenger for synthesizer, piano and string orchestra (1996–1997)Alexei Lubimov provides the most authoritative interpretation available on CD , both of the piano solo version and the one for piano and strings. Here is an artist truly in the service of the composer, acting as his messenger between the here and now and the beyond and bygone.
Domitilla Baldeschi with Anna Fedorova in that same corridor where I was accused of bringing Perlemuter, Tureck and Cherkassky to Florence Domitilla and Stefano Passigli with son in background
Wonderful to see Domitilla Baldeschi and Stefano Passigli who ARE the Amici della Musica ……..and we recognised each other too. I remember bringing Vlado Perlemuter to substitute for Claudio Arrau in 1985. Vlado already in his 80’s making his debut in Florence ( due to the sudden death of Arrau’s wife who had to cancel the opening concert of the season) and a public who in the interval were so angry that Perlemuter had never been invited before !!!! Rosalyn Tureck too became the Diva of Florence when I brought her here, already in her Indian Summer.She had given a lecture in Florence for Stefano Fiuzzi’s Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori but had not been invited to play. She played a week later the Goldberg Variations in the Teatro Ghione in Rome and her glorious Indian Summer in Italy,Russia and Argentina began. The High Priestess of Bach whose role has now passed to Angela Hewitt who plays every season in what is still the Temple of classical music.
Domitilla’s role has been passed to Andrea Lucchesini whose teacher, Maria Tipo died just a few months ago. I remember Cherkassky playing in Empoli and Luciano Berio sending a car to bring him to his house to hear Andrea play his Wassermusik . Shura was of course very impressed by this winner of the Dino Ciani competition as we all have been since. Shura even learnt the Berio and played it in his recitals that year. In his Indian summer Shura set himself a goal to learn a new contemporary piece every season to add to his programmes.
And the day after La Pergola a Schubertiade for the Amici della Musica with the Trio di Parma in the beautifully restored Teatro Nicolini
Teatro Niccolini just a stones throw from Santa Maria dei Fiori in the centre of Florence .
A Schubertiade offered by the Trio di Parma with the two piano trios op 99 and 100.
An outpouring of mellifluous invention and subtle refined music making that was to be Schubert’s swan song before leaving this world for a far better place than we could ever imagine but that he he could already forsee in the not too distant future
A Trio that after thirty-five years together play as one, with Alberto Miodini piano, the lid fully opened giving a knowing glow to all he did .The violin of Ivan Rabaglia playing with unobtrusive radiance and subtle beauty and the cello of Enrico Bronzi living every moment with the joy and grief that is at the very heart of Schubert.
famous 1959 photo of Tureck directing the Philharmonia in London Rosalyn Tureck with Ileana Ghione with the Maga Circeo looking on Vlado’s last concert in London where I was backstage with Joan to help him fight his nerves ,as right until the last he complained that the distance from the Green Room to the piano was like going to the guillotine. The last concert of his career was in Geneva a few months later and a brief appearance at a memorial concert in the Wigmore Hall together with Larry Adler and Victoria de Los Angeles for Basil Douglas,his agent. Ileana and Joan 3rd December https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/12/05/ileana-and-joan-3rd-december-2023/
The historic Sala del Notari in the centre of Perugia
A concert of simple great artistry from Chloe Mun in Perugia. A ‘Building Bridges’ concert in which her mentor Andras Schiff brings to public attention artists who are ready to share the true message of music with the world. Haydn,Debussy and Schubert of intensity and beauty with a control and mastery that allowed these great works to live and breathe with a natural musicianship. An artist who with humility and integrity can delve deep into the scores to find the secrets bequeathed to us by the composers.
Winning both Geneva and Busoni competitions as a teenager, a distinction that she shares only with Martha Argerich and whose mutual love and passion for music is their raison d’etre, that with generosity share with a public hungry for masters who will never let them down!
Haydn’s two movement late C major Sonata opened with an ‘Andante’ of delicacy and etched beauty of a continual questioning as the beautifully shaped melodic line was imbued with a subtle sense of colour. A ‘Rondò’ that sprang from her fingers with a refreshing ‘joie de vivre’ and impish sense of humour of scintillating rhythmic drive. Fluidity and golden delicacy she brought to Debussy’s ‘Estampes’ with a kaleidoscope of sounds bathed in pedal,creating the same magic and ethereal perfection that Richter was to seduce us with on his first visits to the West. ‘Pagodes’ with a sheen of magical sounds that were wafted into the air with a mixture of melody and mist that became ever more intense, bursting into passion and fire only to disappear to the wondrous land from which it had been born. Whispered haunting sounds of a ‘Soirée dans Grenade’ seen in the distance as it gradually came into view with its rhythmic insistence wrapped in a warmth of ravishing beauty. The pitter patter of rain in ‘Jardins’ was of gentle persuasion as its velvet clarity gave way to a vision of childish wonderment. Chloe demonstrated her masterly control of sound and transcendental command as she brought these three etchings to us as if newly minted, with a freshness and perfection of rare sensibility. There was delicacy and a perfection of art that conceals art but there was also passion and intensity as Chloe kept her eyes glued to the keys with daggers drawn. Looking down at her hands as they delved deep into the keys with selfless authority commanding them to show us what was in her heart and mind. Her work with Andras Schiff at the Barenboim-Said Academy has only intensified her wish to delve ever more deeply into the scores of the great masters and share them with a public hungry for the message that is hidden within.
Schubert’s C minor Sonata was lain bare with its deep brooding Beethovenian declamation that Schubert was immediately to diffuse with a mellifluous outpouring of disarming simplicity. What contrasts Chloe brought with her burning intensity of orchestral sounds mixed with the ethereal beauty of Schubert’s seemingly endless mellifluous invention. A mastery that could allow Chloe to unravel the contrapuntal complexities of the developments with simple, unadorned mastery. Fingers that could extract rich orchestral sounds with never a trace of hardness or words spoken in haste . An ‘Adagio’ of monumental proportions as the melodic line built to a climax of searing intensity only to return ever more beautifully with a delicate filigree accompaniment that showed Chloe’s transcendental control of the pedal.
It brought to mind Anton Rubinstein’s declaration, that was surely that of his mentor Franz Liszt, that the pedal is the soul of the piano. It was the mastery of the pedals tonight that illuminated all that Chloe did as she so unobtrusively used them to illuminate and ignite the wishes of the composers of which she was merely their devoted servant. A beautiful fluidity to the ‘Menuet’ was complimented by the subdued beauty of the ‘Trio’ with its very subtle bass counterpoints.
A last movement that sprang from her fingers with a rhythmic drive and vervet fluidity that gave no indication of the irascible Beethovenian interruptions it would receive before being allowed to weave it’s way to the final chords of this masterwork written in the final years of the composers thirty one years on this earth.
As Maude Tortelier once said Schubert is one of the angels bequeathed to us on this earth for a short period to enrich and illuminate our lives forever.
After such a monumental performance Chloe could only share with us Chopin’s vision of paradise with a recreation of his D flat nocturne where time stood still. Here in just a few moments her mastery and musical integrity illuminated one of Chopin’s most beautiful bel canto creations.
We shared one of those rare moments where people are united in the strage alchemy that only music can provide.
United under a roof of peace and sublime beauty.
morning rehearsal in the Sala dei Notari Ravel Left Hand Concerto for a performance in Seoul shortly
Venerdì 28 febbraio 2025 ore 20:30 Perugia, Sala dei Notari Chloe Mun, pianoforte
Programma F.J. HaydnSonata in do maggiore Hob. XVI: 48 C. DebussyEstampes (1903) F. SchubertSonata in do minore D. 958
Classe 1995, la sudcoreana Chloe Mun ha iniziato lo studio del pianoforte all’età di cinque anni, distinguendosi con la vittoria a due importanti Concorsi europei, a Ginevra (2014) e a Bolzano (“Busoni”, 2015). Da allora si è esibita in numerosi paesi europei, nonché in Corea e in Giappone, sia in recital che come solista con orchestra sotto la direzione di Myung-Whun Chung, Alexander Shelley, Yuri Bashmet, James Judd, Mario Venzago, Eiji Oue e altri ancora. Per l’etichetta DGG ha registrato un primo cd dedicato a Schumann (la Sonata op. 11 e la Fantasia op. 17). Attualmente è allieva di Sir András Schiff alla Barenboim-Said Akademie di Berlino e la sua attività della stagione in corso fa parte del progetto “Building Bridges”, con il quale il maestro ungherese invita organizzatori musicali internazionali a voler dare spazio ai suoi allievi più meritevoli.Molto articolato il programma della serata, che ha inizio con una delle ultime Sonate (1789) di Joseph Haydn, in do maggiore Hob. XVI:48. Due soli i movimenti, ma di una grande originalità: una serie caratteristica di “doppie variazioni” (tra maggiore e minore), seguito da un animato Presto dal clima innegabilmente “orchestrale”. Seguono le Estampes (“stampe” o “incisioni”) di Debussy (1903), le prime delle sue escursioni coloristiche in paesi “esotici”: l’Estremo Oriente per Pagodes e la Spagna per i ritmi suggestivi di habanera nella Soirée dans Grenade, mentre sono più vicini a casa i Jardins sous la pluie, quando i giochi di bambini vengono interrotti da improvvisi scrosci di pioggia. Decisamente turbato – quando non tragico – il clima espressivo della Sonata in do minoreD. 958 di Franz Schubert. Stati d’animo che a momenti rasentano la disperazione, che nelle successive due Sonate si trasformeranno in un’atmosfera più rassegnata, seppure sempre inquieta. Andrew Starling
An indisposed Bronfman in Rome, and after Kholodenko’s recent success with Pappano of the Busoni Piano Concerto , it provided the ideal opportunity to be able to hear this 2014 Van Cliburn Gold Prize Winner in a programme of entirely his own making .
I have heard Vadim recently playing the Rzewski Variations in London and was completely won over by the kaleidoscopic range of sounds that he was able to find in a marathon work of transcendental difficulty that was commissioned by Ursula Oppens in 1975. In fact Ursula was in Siena in the class of Agosti in 1968 before going on to win first prize in the Busoni competition . A pianist much admired by Agosti for her respect for the composer’s wishes and her very intellectual and serious preparation of all the works she played. I remember Siena resounded to her continuous practicing of a Prelude by Busoni that was one of the set pieces that she had obviously decided to prepare in Siena. Her Chopin Fourth Ballade, her teacher Rosina Lhévinne had advised her never to play in public was praised to the skies by Agosti for its lack of adherence to tradition but total respect for what the composer actually wrote. Ursula now in her 80th year is a legendary figure amongst contemporary composer who she has been championing all her life. She has recorded the Rzerwski Variations twice since its commission in 1975. But it was Kholodenko who could add fantasy and colour that illuminated a rather intellectual score. He paired it in London with the transcription of the Mozart Requiem by Karl Klindworth ,a pupil of Liszt. And I remember that the strict construction of the Requiem was lost with Kholodenko’s searching for hidden sounds and colours instead of etching out the great architectural contour of such a masterpiece.
Today he had chosen three pieces to open the programme that demonstrated his extraordinary sense of colour and a range of sounds from pianissimo to mezzo forte that are remarkable. Byrd with its renaissance meanderings was an ideal way to prepare the audience for Kholodenko’s unique sound world. Sokolov has recently brought the Renaissance music into the concert hall, after the pioneering work of Glenn Gould, with works by Purcell and Byrd. Sokolov,though,was able to bring a sense of line and architectural shape to these works written for keyboard instruments where colour and variety were provided by the change of manuals and ornamentation. Kholodenko brought us into a sound world that was the same as the contemporary Saariaho’s Ballade which was played without a break after the Byrd. A world of wondrous whispered sounds, but music is made of the song and the dance and it is this sense of rhythm or pulse that creates an architectural line giving order to the sounds, however magical that are being produced.
This was the world of Kholodenko that was to pervade the whole of his programme. Even the miniature tone poems that are Chopin’s Mazurkas were treated to sounds and beguiling whimsical half lights, but the overall shape of these ‘canons covered in flowers’ was sacrificed for a palette of sounds that had a momentary pleasing effect but sounded more as though they were a personal gratification rather than an interpretation of what the composer had written in the score. An improvised freedom that in the hands of a true servant of the composer becomes a freedom as one discovers the inspiration that was behind the notes that were still wet on the page. But to take the notes of the composer and use them for a free improvisation is something that the pianists of the 19th century used to do as they discovered more and more the possibilities of a instrument with touch and pedals. De Pachman would talk to the public to tell them about the wonders he was producing from a box with strings and hammers. Anton Rubinstein described the pedals as being the ‘soul’ of the piano. These were artists that excelled in miniatures of whispered asides contrasted with bombastic showmanship. Liszt and Thalberg had a pianistic duel to decide who was the better of the greatest pianists before the aristocratic audiences of the day. They had invented the three handed pianistic technique of allowing a melody to be sustained by the pedal with the melody shared between alternating hands while notes were awash all around the keyboard. A pianist of the calibre of Artur Schnabel was to appear on the scene ,who even his teacher Leschetizky said that he was not a real pianist. It was Schnabel himself who said that usually the programmes of pianists of the day were with a serious,boring first half and and crowd pleasing second.His programmes were with both halves equally boring!
I was hoping that Kholodenko with masterpieces such as Beethoven’s Sonata op 31 n. 1 and Chopin’s B minor sonata that have such an architectural shape would be where Kholodenko’s palette of colours could illuminate and bring fresh life to such well know and often played works. On this occasion Kholodenko was in contemplative mood and the Beethoven suffered from a lack of shape and became a series of disjointed episodes where Beethoven’s continuous undercurrent of rhythmic pulse was sacrificed for colourful episodes and a continual change of tempo disturbing the very structure of Beethoven’s edifice. Nowhere was it more apparent, though, than in the Chopin B minor Sonata.The second subject of the first movement was slowed down and played as a delicate nocturne having been prepared for by a cloud of delicate filigree notes that completely lost the sense of structure of this monumental work.The Scherzo was played like a charming encore piece of glistening bravura ,juggling notes , and the opening of the rondò with whispered insinuation bore no resemblance to what Chopin had indicated.
Two Bagatelles by Beethoven were encores that Kholodenko generously offered to this rather small audience and they ideally suited his mood today .They were played with bewitching colour and the same whimsical fantasy with which Beethoven had penned them to please a public that often thought his music was too long and serious for their taste !
Jed Distler writes of the 2023 London Piano Festival performance:
Boundaries between ideation and execution do not exist for Vadym Kholodenko. He can do whatever he pleases on the piano, and his interpretations, like them or not, draw attention to that fact. To be sure, his kaleidoscopic shades, half tints and boundlessly nuanced voicings in Handel’s Suite in B-flat HWV 434 will cause Baroque purists to squirm, yet they are catnip for piano connoisseurs. Haydn’s C-sharp Minor Sonata Hob. XVI:36 unfolded with similar pianistic orientation. In Beethoven’s Sonata No. 27 in E Minor Op. 90, Kholodenko’s penchant for arpeggiating left hand chords grew increasingly predictable and without purposeful intent in the first movement, while his animatedly glib Finale bounced through one ear and out the other.
Still, Kholodenko’s total independence between hands and multi-leveled separation of melody and accompaniment must be acknowledged. So does his ability to toss off octave passages in both the Liszt Dante Sonata and Tarantella with more speed, suavity and proficiency than most pianists can handle single notes. Kholodenko also is fond of playing rapid decorative passages in tempo. Such technical feats, however, ultimately amount to tricks, drawing attention away from the music’s drama, dynamism and raving harmonic genius. By contrast, the disarming simplicity of Silvestrov’s Bagatelles Op. 1 and the complex, leisurely unfolding textures through Thomas Adès’ Traced Overhead easily absorbed the pianist’s one-size-fits-all interpretive game plan. In sum, this rather odd assemblage of works added up to a pianistic version of a line from a Leonard Bernstein song: “I hate music, but I love to sing.”
Fascinating to discover yet another very fine young artist via Dr Mather and his team in Perivale. Here is a young lady who quite simply loves the piano and who with humility, musical integrity and refreshing innocence played a varied programme of Haydn, Chopin and Stravinsky with a quite remarkable musical and technical perfection. She reminds me very much of one of Gordon Green’s star pupils Anne Shasby, a musicians’ musician, similar in many ways to the artistry of Andras Schiff where music seems to pour so naturally out of their sensitive fingers. It is playing ,above all, of a musician delving deeply into the scores to find the intentions of the composer with the ink still wet on the page. This is Art that conceals Art with a subtle mastery where showmanship or mere note spinning have no place.
The Haydn E flat Sonata was played with great weight with her fingers delving deep into the keys with brilliance and delicacy. There was a clarity and beauty to all she did with scales that just flew from her well oiled fingers with a shape and colour that brought them vividly to life. A beauty to the ‘Adagio’ of disarming simplicity allowing the music to speak eloquently for itself, bringing an extraordinary sense of character to the final Presto. This was a very particular sound world where everything she played made musical sense and was imbued with a beauty of sound and a very definite personality of great conviction and quiet authority.
The six Preludes from Chopin’s op 28 and the Third Ballade op 47 showed the beauty and a disarming simplicity of her playing, allowing the music to flow naturally and without any unnecessary excesses.The prelude op 28 n. 13 flowed faster that I am used to hearing which gave her greater freedom to shape the melodic line with style and good taste. Golden sounds and a beautiful timeless rubato gave an architectural shape to this most beautiful of preludes. N. 14 usually rattled off at tempestuous speed was here played with a clarity, beautifully phrased and shaped with great musicality.There was a glowing beauty to the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude where even the central episode was played with great sensitivity and eloquence.The 16th was played with dynamic drive but phrased so musically that one forgot about the transcendental difficulty of notes that stormed up and down the keyboard. There was radiance and style to the 17th that she shaped as a real tone poem of wondrous beauty.The 18th usually played as a dramatic cadenza was played like the 14th, with measure, where every note was shaped with eloquence and unusual beauty.
The third Ballade is the most pastoral of all four ballades and it suited her playing with its perfect legato allowing the music to unfold so naturally. The final climax was played with restrained passion and fearless brilliance as the final flourish was thrown off with remarkable mastery. I was reminded of the fourteen year Andras Schiff playing it at André Tchaikowsky’s Masterclass in Dartington and being so astonished by such a perfect legato and the lack of hard edges or ungrateful sounds. A beauty that is formed by fingers that have been trained to caress not hit the keys with a weight that can suck the lifeblood out of each note.
Having listened to such musicianly playing I was curious to hear her Stravinsky Petrushka. Usually a showpiece for pianists who battle with the piano to show off their stamina ,technical mastery and transcendental command. Ekaterina showed us a Petrushka that is above all a ballet and whilst her technical mastery was in no doubt it was the musical values she gave to the streams of notes that allowed us to appreciate Stravinsky’s extraordinary musical invention and imagination. An architectural shape of relative values that each note had a very definite place in an overall plan. There was excitement and dynamic drive but Ekaterina sees more of Eusebius than Florestan in her music making. I remember Joan Havill telling one of her students that he would have to put on a few more muscles before attempting Brahms Second Piano Concerto and maybe this side of Ekaterina’s playing is lacking too. Her sense of style and love of music though, makes her, like Schiff an ideal interpreter of the classical repertoire. Piano bashing virtuosi abound but real musicians like Ekaterina are rare indeed.
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Her encore of Chopin’s op 10 n. 4 study showed a transcendental mastery but where Rubinstein would stand up in the seat in the final page to inject excitement and not a little showmanship, Ekaterina chose to play it with clarity and restrained brilliance which in its way was just as breathtaking !
Katya Grabova is a young pianist based in London, currently studying under Professor Mei-Ting Sun at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is pursuing her master’s degree. In recognition of her achievements, Katya has been awarded the Michael Gilsenan Named Scholarship. She was born in Moscow, Russia, and began her musical education at the age of six. Katya graduated from the Gnessin School of Music, where she studied with Professor Tatiana Zelikman and the renowned pianist Boris Berezovsky.
As an active pianist and chamber musician, she frequently collaborates in many music festivals, including the Rheingau Music Festival in Germany, the Gijon International Piano Festival in Spain, the Tel-Hai Piano Masterclasses in Israel, “Bezszady bez granic” in Poland, and the Bowdoin Music Festival in the United States. She has also performed at various festivals and concert series at the Royal Academy of Music, such as the Summer Piano Festival. Katya is a winner of numerous competitions, including “Mlody Virtuos” in Poland, “Sforzando” and the Rubinstein International Music Competition in Germany, and the “Steps to Mastery,” Neuhaus Music Festival, and Nutcracker TV Competition for Young Musicians in Russia. In 2019-2020, she was awarded the First Prize Grant from the Mayor of Moscow.
Throughout her participation in different festivals and masterclasses, Katya has worked with esteemed musicians such as Dmitri Bashkirov, Robert McDonald, Andrzej Jasinski, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron, Christopher Elton, Vanessa Latarche, Mikhail Voskressensky, Vladimir Tropp, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Victor Derevianko, Soyeon Kate Lee, and Ran Dank. Her recent recital appearances include performances at the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre, St James’s Church Piccadilly, and Southwark Cathedral in London; the Shanghai Concert Hall and Wuxi Theatre in China; the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Russia; the Lielais Dzintars Concert Hall in Latvia; Mozarthaus Vienna in Austria; and various venues across the United Kingdom, USA, Israel, Spain, Germany, and Poland.
Most recently, in March 2024, Katya was awarded First Prize at the Coulsdon and Purley Festival Concerto Competition and was invited to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Dominic Grier, during the 2024-2025 concert season. Katya is incredibly grateful to be a part of Talent Unlimited.
A remarkable recital for the BBC lunchtime series. Steven Osborne was able to seduce a full hall from the very first notes, drawing in the audience to share with him the discovery of whispered glowing sounds rather than projecting the performance out to them.
It was the arrival of Richter in the west whose control of sounds from mezzo forte to pianissimo was so astonishing for us used to hearing pianists project the sound out with a rich concert cantabile. It was this magic world of whispered glowing sounds that made everything Osborne did glow with a luminosity and beauty that with a very sensitive sense of balance created a continuous mellifluous outpouring. No rough hard edges – this was no longer a percussion instrument but he had found the secret, all too rare these days, of making the piano sing. Of course there were contrasts especially in the rumbustuous outbursts of the last movement of the B flat Sonata but there was a sense of line and a relationship between the notes that never exceeded the natural voice limit of the phrase.
Photos courtesy of Nikita Lukinov
Opening with the Myra Hess transcription of ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring ‘ and immediately establishing a luminosity of sound and an intimate world of subtlety and beauty. A flowing tempo allowed Bach’s glorious chorale to rise above the continuous accompanying flow of notes with respectful but also seductive beauty.There was a sense of balance that added a timeless beauty to every strand that sang with the fervant conviction of a true believer. A coda of magical bell like sounds interrupted only to make way for the music box folk song simplicity of MacMillan’s ‘Lumen Christi’. Judith Weir’s ‘Chorale for Steve’ was an alluring chattering of questioning sounds and answered by a chorale of poignant simplicity with a beguiling Scottish accent. The scene and the atmosphere was set for one of the most miraculous works ever written for the piano. Could Schubert have known that he had only a few months left on this earth? For this is truly a ‘Song of the Earth’ reaching out as Beethoven was to do in his last Sonatas to share with us their vision of Paradise. It was a pity to have to break the atmosphere that had been created, but the BBC obviously had to leave time for Fiona Talkington to present the sonata to the listeners, like me, at home.
The Schubert B flat Sonata has no real beginning as it has started somewhere else and just passes in front of our eyes like a heavenly vision of glowing beauty. There was a wonderful sense of legato with no rough edges as everything was allowed to sing. Even the playful duet between the hands was shaped with bucolic delicacy and refined restraint. An almost operatic flourish leads momentarily to a moment of assertion immediately defused with rests that became even more meaningful that the notes they separate. What a wonder were the bars leading to the repeat ,how could they ever be disregarded on the pretext of length? In Steven Osborne’s hands they became gasps of questioning until disposed of with a wave of the hand, as the deep rumbling of the bass could be heard in the distance.The sudden change of key for the development was played with breathtaking beauty as the opening melody was transformed into a bel canto of meditative poignancy. A magic land of ravishing beauty that brought us to a well tempered climax and the disarming preparation for the reappearance of the opening. It was very moving to hear how Steven Osborne interpreted ‘forte’ by just slightly giving more weight to the bottom notes of the chords. Time stood still for the ‘Andante sostenuto’ with its deeply moving lament of yearning and searching beauty. The gentle entry of the chorale and the magical change of key was played with subdued passion and when the melodic line was allowed to float above the quivering accompaniment Osborne produced sounds of extraordinary beauty. A bel canto of the voice of a Caballé ,an unforgettable timbre of glowing warmth, produced by a masterly use of the pedals and an extraordinary sense of balance. The ‘Scherzo’ burst onto the scene with a joyous simple outpouring: ‘Allegro vivace con delicatezza’, where the quavers were given their rightful measure of three in a bar and not allowed to run away too lightly. A ‘Trio’ where Schubert’s sforzando markings were merely gasps accompanying the mellifluous chords.There was a gently buoyancy to the ‘Allegro,ma non troppo’, last movement that was played with music box simplicity, interrupted only by an interrogative ‘G’ that just provided a resting place between such joyful playfulness. Schubert bursting into song that was played exquisitely but with a burning forward movement that was to take us to the only really Beethovenian outburst in the whole sonata. It brought us to the triumphant final notes that Osborne played with masterly abandon. An ovation from a public that had been overwhelmed by such mastery and beauty as we too over the air had experienced some of the atmosphere that exploded at the end with a vociferous ovation rarely experienced over the air.
Danny Driver with the Midas touch of a great artist bewitches and bewilders the Chopin Society with wondrous Chopin and monumental Beethoven mixed with superhuman feats of transcendental pianistic control in Adès, Ligeti and Frank
photo Marek Ostas
Adès’s ‘Darknesse Visible’ immediately demonstrated the mastery of the pianist before us today .Reverberations of barely audible notes of Scarbo like intensity. Visionary atmospheres resounded around the hall with subtle delicacy and radiant glowing beauty. A ‘tour de force’ of control and musical imagination and above all a magic sound world of beauty and passionate persuasion that was to be experienced throughout this very varied programme. It is an explosion of John Dowland’s lute song ‘In Darknesse Let Mee Dwell’ (1610). “No notes have been added; indeed, some have been removed,” Adès writes. “Patterns latent in the original have been isolated and regrouped, with the aim of illuminating the song from within, as if during the course of a performance”.
‘In darknesse let mee dwell, the ground shall sorrow be, The roofe Dispaire to barre all cheerful light from mee, The wals of marble blacke that moistned still shall weepe, My musicke hellish jarring sounds to banish friendly sleepe. Thus wedded to my woes, and bedded to my Tombe, O let me living die till death doe come.’ Dowland ends the song with a restatement of the opening line.
And Danny Driver played the ending like a Bach Chorale with whispered intensity that created a magic spell that only Handel could break . Adès transforming the piano into an instrument that’s alchemically capable of sustaining a continuous line of melody; the technique of ceaseless tremolo that he demands of the player conjures a ghostly shimmer from the instrument.
Photo by Marek Ostas
Handel’s Suite n. 5 is best known for its ‘Harmonious Blacksmith’ Air and Variations final movement.The magic sounds of Adès gradually became clearer as the mellifluous meanderings of this suite were played with a beautiful fluidity. No jagged edges but a pure simple outpouring of ingenious counterpoints. The ‘Allemande’ had the same fluidity and it was not until the ‘Courante’ that we began to experience a busy weaving of joyous outpourings with some subtle ornaments just glistening like jewels. A great cadenza like flourish announced the well known last movement often given to valiant learner pianists together with simplified versions of the ‘Moonlight’ or ‘Liebestraum’. Little could they have imagined where the variations would take them. A gradual build up of more and more notes that Danny D played with a disarming mastery, where the streams of notes seemed to pour from his fingers with such ease. Among the eight suites published for harpsichord in 1720, Handel published his Suite no. 5 in E major, HWV 430 it was promulgated a year after Handel became Master of the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music, also known as the first Italian opera company in London. Handel lived the remainder of his life in London after leaving Germany to work as resident composer for Earl of Carnarvon .
These two works were a gradual build up to Beethoven’s last Sonata op 111. A truly masterly interpretation of intelligence and integrity as Beethoven’s meticulous indications were not just followed but interpreted with intelligence and poetic understanding. An architectural shape and dramatic tension from the first to the last note. Not only the first movement that is an introduction to the theme and variations that follows but with the Arietta rarely heard so beautifully played with such inner strength. A strength that unwound as one variation lead into the other floating on a great wave that was to explode in the third variation and the pieces magically reassembled as it reached it’s passionate climax before the celestial vision of the paradise that awaited Beethoven. This was the conclusion of thirty two steps that he had made over a turbulent troubled life. Danny D realising that the leaps at the beginning are the same struggle as at the beginning of the Hammerklavier and that this is no play safe music. A first movement like water bubbling over at 100 degrees, as Perlemuter described it to me, and that even as it draws to a close there is no rallentando as the Arietta appears as a miraculous vision after such turbulence.The beauty that Danny D brought to the final pages was quite memorable with an audience in total silence as they waited for the final silence to be savoured with poignant emotion after such a voyage of discovery.
The second half opened and closed with Chopin.The two nocturnes op 27 were played with great beauty as there was a sense of balance that allowed Chopin’s bel canto to ring out with glowing luminosity. Op 27 n.1 was played with passion and poetry with a brooding whispered opening gradually building in turbulence, played with unexpected passion.It gradually took on a mazurka feel of improvisatory freedom and a cadenza as Chopin writes ‘con forza’ of quite breathtaking vehemence before the magic that Danny D could draw from the piano with bell like sounds of exquisite beauty.The D flat Nocturne opened with a whispered glowing luminosity of timeless beauty. A breathtaking arrival on C flat out of which grew streams of sounds of fluidity and extraordinary delicacy.
Three studies by Ligeti were played with quite extraordinary rhythmic precision and clarity but played by a musician who could bring this extraordinarily complex music to life with a vital vibrant musical line.
The ‘Nocturno nazqueňo’ by Gabriella (?) Frank was given an equally committed performance by a composer that I can find no trace of, but it completed the shape of a programme that this extraordinary thinking musician had pieced together to make one architectural whole. Chopin’s First Ballade was seen in a fresh light where the composer’s indications were interpreted with poetic mastery. Gone was the rhetoric of the so called Chopin tradition and now there was revealed an astonishing masterpiece where even the return of the main theme before the coda took us by surprise for its whispered beauty and kaleidoscope of colour.
A recital of quite extraordinary mastery from a musician who is above all at the service of the composer. Nowhere more than in the encore of Chopin’s ‘Aeolian Harp’ study op 25 n. 1 that was played as Chopin’s own playing himself had been described by Sir Charles Hallé. A melody of glowing beauty that was floated on top of changing harmonies with sounds that just vibrated as in the Adès work that had opened this quite extraordinary revelatory recital.
with Lady Rose Cholmondeley With Bobby Chen who will be performing at the next Chopin Society Concert on 23rd March
The New Bechstein Hall rapidly taking its place in London as a unique venue for young musicians Magnificent Beef Roast with bread and roast potatoes to die for.All served with elegance and refined simplicity at easily affordable prices
Nikita Lukinov with a dish fit for a dashing Russian Prince. A triumph of cuisine and masterly music making
I have heard Nikita many times since listening to his first recital for the Keyboard Trust in 2021. Since then he has gone from strength to strength with tours in Germany, Italy,Switzerland and all over the UK with engagements designed to give experience to young star pianists who in order to progress on the first steps of a career need an audience. It is only with an audience that artists at this stage can learn from listening to themselves and experiencing the magic of live performance.
Nikita this year has organised a 20 concert tour of Scotland taking music to some of the most beautiful places on earth but with rare access to live performances. Bringing his music to communities that are deprived of live music and at the same time gaining experience of playing to different audiences.
The concert at the Bechstein Hall was a culmination of this experience and thanks to Terry Lewis and Luka Okras for providing a much needed space in London for young musicians to be able to play in what is regarded by many as the capital of the music world
Nikita had come armed with Mussorgsky and Debussy, the works he had been playing on tour. I had heard his performances before and during the the tour and my words of praise can be read in detail below.
But today there was a different Nikita. Still the same dashing Russian Prince with impeccable musicianship and technical training, mostly at the Purcell School and Royal Scottish Academy with teachers from the Russian school, but now there was added an authority and sense of communication that all those present at the Bechstein were immediately aware of.
His playing of Rimsky Korsakov /Tchernow transcription of ‘A Night on the Bare Mountain’ was played with breathtaking brilliance and rhythmic energy from the very first notes. Nikita had a full orchestra in his hands as he delved deeply into this magnificent Bechstein Concert Grand and found a glorious luminosity with a natural fluidity of rare beauty. Full sounds never hard or ungrateful went side by side with barely whispered asides.
Debussy’s ‘ Reflets dans l’eau’ was given a ravishing performance of brilliance and subtle beauty. Streams of notes just flowed from his hands but always with the melodic line glowing above this torrent of fleeting water. The ending was pure magic as Nikita barely touched the keys, but with his supreme sense of balance could guide us through this extraordinary page of ravishing imagery.
A monumental performance of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ showed off Nikita’s extraordinary self identification with the pictures that had so inspired the composer to write what is his undisputed masterpiece. But it was his arrival to ‘Catacombs’ after an extraordinarily brilliant ‘Market Place at Limoges’ that one was suddenly aware that there was magic in the air. One of those rare but miraculous moments when strangers are united by the magic that only music can hold. From here, together with Nikita we were even more aware that the only thing that mattered was the music that was filling the room. Nikita felt it too because his fearless performance of ‘Baba Yaga’ and the ‘Great Gate of Kyiv’ were played as I can never remember hearing before.
Nikita from being a star student of great promise has become a great artist who will go from strength to strength bringing such moments to a world at a time when quantity reigns over quality. People will realise the need for shared experiences and the isolation that media can provoke will be interrupted only by shared human experience. As Gilels so wisely said, it is the difference between canned and fresh food!
Talking of which the cuisine at the Bechstein is also a unique experience!
Nikita was so inspired by this shared experience that for the first time in public he risked improvising an encore on the notes of the promenade we had just heard. Magical sounds wafted through the hall with the same atmospheric intensity as the music of Pärt or Adès. Another shared experience from the hands of this valiant Knight of the Keyboard .
Sir Edward Fox wonderful to listen to such beautifully spoken English with his housekeeping instructions
Another fine concert in the Young Artists Series at the Bechstein Hall. Jeremy Chan a young pianist I had first heard in the summer master classes that Angela Hewitt holds in her hometown of Perugia . I later discovered that he had been at school with the daughter of my first cousin, Michael Axworthy who I had become very close to in Rome where his love of music made his cruel journey with pancreatic cancer more acceptable. His wife was Ambassador to the Holy See and they were living in the Eternal City with their four children, Michael being wonderfully looked after in the ‘Pope’s’ hospital Gemelli. (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Axworthy&ved=2ahUKEwiyp7XA49mLAxVgYEEAHZeZGb0QFnoECCcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0YhlvKhH-Yoe3SJDSJ9qIb).Triffy one of his four children with his Ambassador wife studied Japanese in University and is actually pursuing her passion in Japan.
Jeremy after his degree in English Literature at Durham is pursuing his advanced piano studies, and the start of a career in music. Having more time to dedicate to the keyboard his piano playing is fast catching up on his formal intellectual studies .
His learned introductions to the two works he played today were a revelation of poetic intelligence where his formal studies are combining with interpretative skills allowing him to communicate both in words and in music .
Franck’s ‘Prelude Chorale and Fugue’ he described as being in three sections : ‘Gloom and Doubt -Triumph and Glory – combining to produce an ending like no other.’ Words worthy of Cortot .
Words reflected in playing of great weight and nobility, worthy of the resident organist of Saint Clotilde in Paris. Some very sensitive playing and a kaleidoscope of colour gradually allowing the music to take wing as the magical opening returned building with architectural integrity always from the bass. An almost colourless simplicity to the Chorale until the celestial harps brought the vision of beauty of a fervent believer with melodic notes that glowed like jewels. Gradually the passionate intensity increased as passion and power combined with fervent conviction and brilliance, laying spent preparing for the monumental rejoicing of the Holy Trinity.
Rhetorical outbursting glimpses of what was to follow just allowed the simplicity of Franck’s knotty twine to expose the third strand of the genial leit motifs that are to combine to create ‘ an ending like no other ‘ and the transformation of a work into the Glory of God. And what a climax Jeremy produced building the sound with musicianly intelligence but also with youthful passionate energy.
The final chords placed with masterly precision after such improvised reckless brilliance.
Fantasia Baetica was commissioned by Rubinstein who rarely played it as he found it too long, actually not having learned it in time for the proposed Spanish first performance which he gave at a later date in New York.
The composer stated that he was inspired by Rubinstein’s own personality and maybe it was this mirror to the world that the great master was not happy to publicise! He never recorded it either ! But at least it did not receive the ignominious fate of his Stravinsky commission of the ‘Piano Rag Music’ that he refused to play ! Petrushka was the pardon that his great friend was to concede.
It is a work of great effect and as Jeremy said :’Dark,Passionate and very exciting’.Jeremy also told us that he had visited Andalucia and had not realised with what emotion the flamenco rhythms were lived.
He gave a brilliant performance playing with fearless abandon. A piercing shout of joy and suffering as melodies were etched at the octave with extraordinarily evocative sounds.There were beautiful lazy moments of beguiling musings. Streams of glissandi and pungent rhythmic frenzy always building from the bass that gave an overall architectural shape to a work that can so often sound like a collection of separate episodes. Animalistic emotions and technical brilliance living together under one roof!
No encores encouraged as the next pianist needs to practice for the ‘Roast’ concert, this was after all just the ‘hors d’oeuvres’. Can’t wait for the main course after that ………Mussorgsky Pictures from Nikita Lukinov promises to be monumental!
A sumptuous Roast of Beef and vegetables cooked to perfection.The bread and roast potatoes were memorable as was the wonderful Salento wine.All served with linen and crystal with impeccable service and very reasonably priced.
Viva the Bechstein Hall and the platform that they are offering to the great talents of the next generation.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 