Categoria: Senza categoria

Sensational would be too little to describe what we have heard today. I was here when Vengerov made his London debut at the age of fourteen and we stood on the chairs and cheered in disbelief at the end of Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy just as they did with Horowitz . It must have been like that with Liszt and Paganini with an overwhelming mastery and commitment that has a hypnotic effect on anyone within range.Tonight though was different because not only was there a violinist who could lean back with sounds of sumptuous piercing beauty but there was also a pianist whose mastery and humility are conquering the world.

A potent combination that now in the interval I can contemplate what wonders I have just experienced. Grieg and Schumann sonatas played with overwhelming power and united burning intensity, combined with a poetic beauty of ravishing authority .To see Daniel on his 24th birthday lean back just as actors are told to do arching their back to appear even more imposing than they are in life ,but playing with the intensity of an Arrau, with real weight .Yes I know Arrau was a pianist but he more than any other knew what weight and intensity allied to interpretative mastery really meant. Kantarow with streams of notes just thrown off as if he too was playing a magnificent Strad. Such was their unity that the actual instruments became one glorious voice of a communicative mastery that reached every one of us in this sold out hall .The unified silence and tension was more palpable than I have ever felt with such intensity. in the concert hall. Now after the interval our two young heros arrive without the score because they have the music engraved in their being .The magic opening notes of the Franck played with a glowing luminosity answered by the whispered barely audible reply of the violin . A continual building of intensity until reaching an unbearable pitch of passionate dynamism that I have rarely experienced in the concert hall. Unbelievable virtuosity in the second movement that made the mellifluous outpourings such a relief, as we could feel this turbulent cauldron about to erupt again. And erupt it certainly did where suddenly Kantarow reduced the sound to prepare us for the breathtaking race to the final dramatic note. A recitativo played with audacious authority by both players but diffused with the simple ravishing beauty of the Allegretto. Chasing each other with pastoral ease until they caught up with each other and sparks really were ignited in a burning passionate outpouring of quite extraordinary potency.

Liebesleid was the only antidote for such youthful passionate mastery and with a twinkle in their eye they played with irresistible charm and with a sense of colour and refined phrasing truly of the age of Kreisler

After a confab at the keyboard where someone from the audience shouted out Happy Birthday and Kantarow looking incredulously at his partner as this was news to him! So Brahms it was, the Scherzo from the FAE sonata, played with sumptuous sounds but of kaleidoscopic insinuation and the devilish rhythmic motif chiselled out of the bass by Kantarow like a devil in disguise enticing his partner to even greater heights. And heights there were with a climax to beat all climaxes leaving these two lads to go off arm in arm discussing what heights they had achieved together and judging by the queue of people backstage I should think this should be some birthday party .

Alexandre Kantorow bestrides the Wigmore Hall like a Colossus.

Tuesday 1 April 2.00 pm 

Sonya Pigot (piano)

Haydn: Sonata in B minor no 47 Hob:XVI:32
Allegro / Minuet / Presto

Chopin: 2 Nocturnes 
Nocturne Op 9 no 1 in B flat minor
Nocturne Op 48 no 1 in C minor  

Liszt: ‘Lyon’ from Album D’un Voyageur S 156/1

Weber: “Invitation to the Dance” Op 65   

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody no 17 in D minor  

Some very intense music making from Sonya Pigot today, but what an interesting choice of repertoire. Fresh from playing in the semi finals of the Utrecht Liszt Competition. Every year Leslie Howard delves deep into the enormous amount of works by Liszt that are still lying on dusty shelves in the archives and makes them obligatory set pieces to all those that wish to participate. It was the two works by Liszt that particularly ignited the fantasy and dynamism of this young pianist who has so much passionate commitment to share. On occasion it is this desperate need to communicate that can lead to moments of uncertainty but it is a small price to pay for the ravishing sound and beauty that she can combine with moments of real inspiration.

The Haydn B minor sonata showed off her well oiled fingers with streams of jeux perlé runs and trills that were like tightly wound springs that just gave a glitter to Haydn’s impish civilised sense of humour. If the Minuet was rather slow it was because she felt it more of a beautiful song than a dance. The Presto finale,however, took wing with dynamic drive and great character and was played with great style where even Haydn’s final declamation was played with the civilised voice of its time.

The Chopin Nocturne ,his first, was played with great expression but lost some of Chopin’s aristocratic nobility to more earthy emotions of dramatic intensity. A beautiful sense of balance allowed her to play with ravishing sound of glowing beauty. The C minor Nocturne is one of Chopin’s longest and a tone poem of majestic proportions. Nobility and beauty combined in Sonya’s performance and although rather slow at the beginning it was played with sensitivity and beauty.The gradual build up to the climax was played with masterly control as the octaves were just underlining the musical line that explodes into shimmering vibrations on which the melodic line floats with golden beauty.

Weber’s invitation to the Dance I think I have in Tausig’s arrangement but I certainly know Schnabel’s most unexpected recording.Weber is a composer much overlooked but which both Gilels and Richter were great admirers and would play the second and third sonatas which are of great originality and beauty.I remember hearing Claudio Arrau,another great thinking musician, playing the Konzertstück at the Albert Hall together with Liszt Totentanz .He is a composer that could well do with a revival and is a cross between Beethoven and Schubert with Sonatas in four movements even. The Invitation to the dance was often included in programmes of the virtuosi of the Golden age of piano playing and was played by Sonya with great style and charm and she even managed to catch the audience out with the surprise whispered coda that Weber adds mischievously at the end.

The two Liszt works are new to me and they were very impressively played even though they seemed rather bombastic showpieces rather than the introspective genius of Liszt’s later works or the ravishing beauty of Liszt the seducer of his early years.However well worth hearing them at least once and hats off to Sonya for presenting them with such conviction and authority.

In January 2025 sonya was a semi-finalist in the Liszt Utrecht International piano competition at the TivoliVredenburg, Netherlands and her performing career has taken her world wide to prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, Steinway Hall, the Royal Albert hall and concert halls throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. While studying her Undergraduate, Masters and Artist Diploma Degrees at the Royal College of Music she has studied and worked with renowned professors that include; Norma Fisher, Sofya Gulyak, Ashley Wass, Dimitri Alexeev and Ian Jones. She is now on a scholarship studying a PhD that explores the relationship between personality and the interpretation of music at the RCM. 

As well as having performed for members of the British Royal Family, Sonya has won and taken part in many international music competitions across Australia and Europe; most notably the Busoni International piano competition, semi-finalist in Liszt Utrecht International piano competition, First prize in the Grand Prize Virtuoso International music competition, Gold Medal in the Berliner International Music competition, First prize in the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Award piano competition and First prize in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Rising Star competition. She is generously supported by the Talent Unlimited Charity and she is looking forward to performing at Steinway Hall, London as a “New Artist” for the Keyboard Charitable Trust. 

Sonya has had concert engagements with orchestras since she was 15, most notably the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Gill AO and the Perugia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marius Stravinsky in Tuscany. Sonya has performed for and been in masterclasses with many international artists, such as: Alfred Brendel, Boris Berman, John Perry, Ewa Pablocka and Pavel Gililov. Alongside her solo career she is looking forward to performing with the violinist David Nebel, Concertmaster of the Berlin Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the upcoming 25/26 season. 

Sonya Pigot a magic wonderland of sounds at St James’s Piccadilly

A return to Bechstein Hall having opened the Young Artists Season and now returning in the ‘Roast’ Series on Sunday afternoon. Having heard the Haydn B minor Sonata last time Thomas opened this time with the most beautiful of Busoni’s transcriptions of Bach Chorale preludes, that of ‘Ich ruf zu dir,Herr Jesu Christ’. It was a sumptuous opening with beautiful rich sounds from which arose one of the most poignant of Bach’s chorale preludes. It was played with quiet authority as the melody was allowed to unfold with the heartrending beauty of a true believer.

There was a crystalline clarity to the Haydn B minor sonata with a rhythmic drive and sedate ornaments enriched by the scintillating passage work that they unravelled like a finely woven web from his delicate well oiled fingers. Grace and charm of the Menuet was contrasted with the turbulence of the Trio before the dynamic drive of the Finale.Here the brilliance of the jeux perlé was contrasted with the dynamic insistent drive of it’s surroundings, ever more impetuous as the final declaration was punched home with great style and authority.

In his last recital Thomas had played the Chopin B minor Sonata and today he chose the last of Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas op 111. In both works he showed his musicianship with an architectural understanding that allowed him to give an overall shape to these two monumental works without ever wavering from the great rhythmic wave that carries us through from the first note to the last. The opening of op 111 immediately showed his understanding of the struggle that Beethoven implies with the three great leaps fearlessly played with one hand, leading to the true opening of the sonata where at last we arrive at the home key.The ‘Allegro con brio ed appasionato’ was played with great clarity and the drive of water bubbling over at boiling pitch only to find relief in the recitativi that allow a breathing space before the struggle recommences.These recitativI were played with glowing beauty and a shape of improvised freedom.The development too was played with a clarity as it built up to the great declaration of the main theme.There was serene beauty to the coda that allowed the struggle to die down as we reach the major key for the peace of the ‘Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile’. Thomas played this opening theme with glowing beauty and a string quartet texture that gave great strength to this most poignant of melodies.The variations were allowed to evolve with a natural fluidity as more and more notes were added before the turbulent explosion of the third variation. Even here Thomas managed to keep the same sound world even though playing with such dynamic drive that he allowed to fall away so naturally leading to the gradual disintegration of the theme.

Whispered wafts of melody floating above a gentle murmured bass were played with great control and a perfect sense of balance.The dynamic interruptions were soon dispelled as Beethoven reached for the ‘star’ with a passionate outpouring of radiance and beauty.Thomas always playing with aristocratic control ,the music to dissolving onto gentle vibrations of sound where his beautifully pure trills allowed the theme to be heard on high for a final time.It was the true vision of the beauty that Beethoven could already foresee in the not too distant future.

Siloti’s transcription of Bach’s B minor Prelude was the ideal encore of refined sumptuous reverence where Thomas’s perfect balance allowed the melody to resonate with the purity and beauty that had pervaded the eternal magic of the final bars of Beethoven’s last monumental sonata.

Thomas Masciaga opens the Bechstein Young Artists Series with canons covered in flowers

A dream programme for the Bechstein Young Artists series this morning.

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring and Sheep May Safely Graze were the opening to Schumann’s most inspired ‘Davidsbündlertanze’.

Played by the recent winner of the Chappell Gold Medal at the RCM and just last week a top prize winner at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig

Mariamna Sherling seems to have been kissed by the Gods with beauty and talent in abundance.

Under the starlit sky at the New Bechstein Hall she opened with Bach’s chorale in the much loved transcription by Myra Hess of Jesu Joy of mans Desiring and she even added some further details that brought it even closer to Bach’s original. But it was the Petri transcription of ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ that showed off her true artistry with the noble poignancy of Bach’s simple melodic outpouring that she allowed to sing with flowing beauty ornamented by Petri’s discrete ethereal accompaniments. It is not quite as magical as Grainger’s ‘Ramble’ but both were influenced by Busoni,their mentor, in different ways. Petri is more sombre and respectful and it was this noble beauty that Mariamna showed us today.

Thanking Terry Lewis and the Bechstein Hall for giving her an opportunity to play three of the most cherished works in her repertoire.

Schumann opened with gasps of wonderment as Florestan and Eusebius competed with beguiling emotions. It was Eusebius who shone brightly with the second dance of whispered beauty of intimate secrets. Florestan springing onto the scene as Schumann indicates ‘mit Humor’ that Mariamna played with a capricious style of great drive and insinuating rubato disappearing fleetingly into the distance. She brought an unusually delicate opening to the fourth ‘ungedulig’ gradually becoming ever more passionate with sumptuous beauty of golden sounds. Freedom and poignant beauty brought Eusebius with a chiselled melodic line.

In fact every one of these dances was imbued not only with technical perfection but with a sense of style and very strong personal commitment. Mariamna gave Eusebius a ravishingly beautiful voice just as she gave Florestan a robust personal capriciousness.

Nowhere more was her technical mastery evident than in the sixth dance played ‘sehr rasch’ but with a clarity and scrupulous attention to Schumann’s very awkward phrasing.The coda was thrown off with a romantic abandon to the final tumultuous D where Eusebius was waiting with gentle beauty of hesitant expectancy. The question and answer of the eighth was played with disarming simplicity and a very strong personal identification.

Momentarily Florestan seemed to have taken over with the ninth of a playful dance duetting with itself with relish, and just disappearing to two final quiet chords played with insolent nonchalance, very similar to Carnaval’s Pantalon et Colombine, written shortly after this work. There were robust Brahmsian sounds to the tenth with a sumptuous richness of romantic fervour. Beseeching simplicity of Eusebius in the eleventh where slightly underlining the shadowing of the melody gave great depth to a sound of luxuriant beauty .The twelfth just flittered in gleefully capricious with playing of extraordinary dexterity. What wonders there were when Florestan and Eusebius combined in the thirteenth with the rich chorale beauty constantly moving forward to a coda of lightness and charm ‘immer schneller und schneller’ paving the way for one of Schumann’s most beautiful melodies .The fourteenth dance was played with ravishing beauty, the counterpoints just shimmering like gems from within .The fifteenth started in such a spiky decisive way before succumbing to a glorious outpouring of changing harmonies played with fervent conviction and passionate abandon. The playful sense of character of the sixteenth was played with extraordinary control as it dissolved into one of Schumann’s most heavenly inspirations.The seventeenth entering on a mist of sound where etherial recollections of the past waltzes are floated and which Mariamna played with a poetic mastery that could allow her to fearlessly take flight to the tumultuous climax that disappeared just as fast as it had arrived. The final waltz was played with hesitant beguiling nostalgia as we joined in the slumbers of Florestan and Eusebius in a land of dreams of wondrous beauty.

Mariamna played the entire recital with fervent conviction and a great musical personality whilst scrupulously following the composers very precise indications.

An encore of one of Beethoven’s most rumbustious bagatelles op 33 n. 7 was played with gleeful dynamic drive and exhilaration.

The New Bechstein Hall after its initial launching is now accessible to all with a Sunday morning Young Artists Series at only five pounds, with as much coffee as you need at 10.30am!
Thomas Masciaga opened the Bechstein Young Artists Series with canons covered in flowers
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/02/02/thomas-masciaga-opens-the-bechstein-young-artists-series-with-canons-covered-in-flowers/
Evening concerts starting from 18 pounds and a sumptuous restaurant that is also opening for luncheon.
A beautiful new hall that is just complimenting the magnificence of the Wigmore Hall and the sumptuous salon of Bob Boas.Providing a much need space for the enormous amount of talent that London,the undisputed capital of classical music,must surely try to accommodate
Here are some of the recent performances :

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/12/02/vedran-janjanin-at-bechstein-hall-playing-of-scintillating-sumptuous-beauty/ of a remarkable artist’

Axel Trolese at Bechstein Hall ‘Mastery and intelligence of a remarkable artist’

Diana Cooper ‘Miracles at Bechstein Hall’

Yukine Kuroki at Bechstein Hall ‘A star shining brightly with genial poetic mastery’

Federico Colli triumphs at the new Bechstein Hall as it comes of age

Nikita Lukinov conquers the Bechstein Hall with masterly music making

Guy Johnston and Mishka Momen Rushdie conquer Bechstein Hall in the name of Beethoven

Donglai Shi at Bechstein Hall ‘Young Artists Series’ with playing of clarity and purity of a true musician

Phillip James Leslie debut recital at the long awaited rebirth of Bechstein Hall

Dmitri Kalashnikov at Bechstein Hall ‘Canons covered in Flowers’ of poetic mastery

Andrey Gugnin at Bechstein Hall ‘The pianistic perfection of a supreme stylist’

Jeremy Chan Young Artists Recital at Bechstein Hall ‘Intelligence and Artistry combine with words in music’

William Bracken at Bechstein Hall Mastery and Mystery of a great musician

Margaret Fingerhut reminding us of the rich heritage that is gradually being devoured by aggressive neighbours

Playing of ravishing beauty where even Silvestrov has turned to whispered beauty, as an antidote to his previous percussive style, when the bombs started dropping on his homeland

A fascinating journey through works that were much influenced by Liszt, Rachmaninov , Scriabin and even Prokofiev.

But it was Lysenko who closed the programme being the first composer to express Nationalistic pride in music with a Ukrainian Fantasy much in the style of those of Liszt .

Beauty, mastery and solidarity shone through playing of searing commitment and glowing beauty.

A grandiose opening with Bortkiewicz dissolving into a chorale with droplets of water just suggested as the music opened to an expansive Lisztian outpouring and a heartrending duet of sumptuous rich romantic sounds. A grandiloquent ending worthy of the grandest of Liszt’s creations and was a beautiful way to end this great romantic picture. ‘Sorrow and Loneliness’ indeed of great density for one of the rare pieces to survive the cancellation of his works by an intolerant regime .Folk indioms were woven into the mellifluous outpouring of two preludes by Lyatoshinsky and there was Rachmaninovian inspiration for the virtuosity and sumptuous sounds of Kosenko’s ‘Nocturne Fantasie’ op 4 .’Three Bagatelles’ by Silvestrov, whose music I had heard from the hands of Boris Berman in Cremona and was surprised at the complete change in style as the invasion of his homeland was taking place.
(https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/26/cremona-the-city-of-dreams-a-global-network-where-dreams-become-reality/)

Works of percussive prickly violence are now so quiet with indications in the score never to be louder than the quietest whisper.They were pieces of ravishing beauty of glowing fluidity and romantic insistence. Anna Fedorova had recently opened her recital in Florence with barely audible sounds that drew us in and made us listen with new ears at such childlike musings of simple radiance. (https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/03/02/anna-fedorova-in-florence-the-triumph-of-a-supreme-stylist-in-la-pergola-the-temple-of-music/) The final work in her recital, Liszt springs to mind again ,as she played Lysenko’s ‘Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes’ with romantic fervour and sumptuous bravura and he was the first Ukrainian composer of note with a strong National identity. An encore of exquisite beauty by a composer whose name I did not catch but obviously of the Ukrainian romantic tradition and just showed us what we have been missing all these years. Let us open up our ears and hearts and include some of these beautiful works into our rather standardised concert programmes.

Here is her choice of composers and descriptions in her own words

A dream team at the Royal Festival Hall ……..the golden eagle of Petrenko swooping in with such elegance as he hovered over the Royal Philharmonic .Teamed with the refined playing of a young star Bruce Liu winner of the last Chopin Competition and shining now ever more brightly.

Korngold played with the swooping and swooning style of Hollywood as the film star good looks and masterly baton technique of Petrenko delved deep into the very soul of this magnificent ensemble.

Recreating the great era of Cinema when all the greatest composers were sheltering in California and providing funds for the inhumane suffering that was being handed out just the other side of the pond .

Bruce Liu with refined phrasing of exquisite delicacy delved deep into Rachmaninov’s score and revealed many gems that often go unnoticed by less sensitive artists.

Korngold and Rachmaninov were neighbours in Los Angeles and they have much in common with masterly orchestration and heart on sleeve sentiments.

Surrounded by fans at the end of a near perfect performance of the Paganini Rhapsody, Bruce did not need much persuasion to show us what he really could do!

Have Liszt’s bells ever sounded so luminous or perfect as they sparkled and shone in this young virtuoso’s delicate hands? Little did we expect the demonic roar of a Lion of the keyboard at the end of Campanella and an astonished audience, which by now included the players of the RPO, gave him a well earned standing ovation .

In the Green Room with Yisha Xue to thank Bruce before he flies off early tomorrow morning to delight of audiences in every part of the world.

Bruce Liu at the Wigmore Hall London A supreme stylist creating a new Golden Age of piano playing of mastery and refined good taste

Bruce Liu and Sir Antonio Pappano take Warsaw by storm

Stars shine brightly in Warsaw with Dang Thai Son,Bruce Liu and Lukas Geniusas

Bruce Liu’s triumphant debut at the Edinburgh Festival

Bruce Liu takes London by storm

Prokofiev from the hands of a young Tuscan artist with sounds sculptured in marble of authority and dynamic drive that he must have in his blood from his home town of Massa where Michelangelo would choose marble slabs that he would turn into statues that the world had never seen since Roman times.Baubles into gems ?

Nicolas Ventura was not only monumental but also possessed the refined beauty of Da Vinci that lays hidden in much of Prokofiev’s scores. They are also full of refined poetry and visionary sounds of extraordinary poignancy not only being manhandled by bombastic percussive declamations that many lesser artists would have us believe!

Playing with great authority as a star student has become an artist to reckon with .

His two mentors Tatiana Sarkissova and Dina Parakhina looking on with great admiration and awe of the sacrifice and dedication that true artistry demands.

Breathtaking virtuosity too as Prokofiev like Rachmaninov were both master pianists.

But they were above all poets of keyboard capable of reaching deep into their Russian souls to reveal the yearning nostalgia and pianistic genius that was their birthright .

There was the ravishing improvised beauty of the innocuous Andantino of the second movement to be transformed into tempestuous outbursts of extraordinary ingenious invention and vision.

Has the inquisitive questioning of the ‘meno mosso’ in the last movement ever sounded so chameleonic as it led to a melodic outpouring of Rachmaninovian fervour before shooting off with clusters of notes that would have put Charles Ives to shame.

An ovation that if we were in Italy would have been rewarded with many encores.

However the orchestra after warming up with a superbly Hollywoodian style Sicilian Vespers (surely the inspiration for Korngold’s magical Californian sojourn),were now raring to show us their true mettle with Mahler’s ‘Titanic’ Symphony that some have even considered as Beethoven’s 10th .

A performance of youthful energy and passion expertly guided by the veteran of this remarkable ensemble ,James Blair.

Shots below taken also in rehearsal which revealed the professional quality of this youthful orchestra funded only by private or corporate means that has for forty years provided a bridge between college and the profession giving students a real advantage with experience of the major classical repertoire, realistic rehearsal schedules and performances in the great concert halls of the country.

It also gives a magnificent opportunity for young soloists to perform with a major orchestra in London the recognised capital of Classical music.

And now Nicolas Ventura a star shining brightly indeed :

Nicolas Ventura at St Mary Le Strand Elegance and Beauty combine with intelligence and mastery

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/…/nicol…/

Here are the most recent , but there are many ,many more.

Gabrielé Sutkuté plays Grieg with the YMSO under James Blair at Cadogan Hall

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/…/gabri…/

Misha Kaploukhii plays Rachmaninov Beauty and youthfulness triumph

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/10/13/misha-kaploukhii-plays-rachmaninov-beauty-and-youthfulness-triumph/Gabrielé

Chamber music returns to its origins with sumptuous beauty from within and without.

Mozart Mendelssohn and Lili Boulanger from the Kong,Kaslin ,Sandrin Trio under the eagle eye of Mary Orr and with the eclectic good taste of Patrick Matthiesen .

Only the greatest music shall echo in the shadow of the masterpieces that adorn the silk clad walls and it was the refined good taste and the style of it’s age that Mozart’s C major Trio spun it’s magic web.

Embracing the prodigious Lill Boulanger whose short life we are just beginning to appreciate, with the few works that her sister Nadia promoted with such love and professional admiration . ‘D’un matin de printemps’ gave us a taste of what might have been. Played with the ravishing insinuation of Ravel or Debussy a sound world so particular to the turn of the century Paris and played with extraordinary colours and unity of intent.

But it was when Charlotte took front stage with the opening of Mendelssohn’s D minor Trio that the scene was set for some chamber music playing of passionate intensity and heart melting beauty. A composer who dare I say it was the Mozart of the Victorian Era and who knows what the works might have been bequeathed to the world had Mozart and Boulanger lived to experience middle age and maturity

The three superb players played as one ……I can say no more than that but it is much much more that sufficient ! Given a stage by the ever generous Patrick Matthiesen in his sumptuous gallery where music and art are inextricably entwined.

Trio :Cristian Sandrin -Enyuan Khong – Charlotte Kaslin ‘A feast of exhilaration and seduction for Mary Orr’ for the Matthiesen Foundation at the Matthiesen Gallery
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/09/20/trio-cristian-sandrin-enyuan-khong-charlotte-kaslin-a-feast-of-exhilaration-and-seduction-for-mary-orr-for-the-matthiesen-foundation-at-the-matthiesen-gallery/

Timeless Trios -Khong- Kaslin-Sandrin Celestial sounds of refined elegance and intelligence appease even Alexander Pope

Timeless Trios -Khong- Kaslin-Sandrin Celestial sounds of refined elegance and intelligence appease even Alexander Pope

Cristian has just launched his new CD and if his own notes are anything to go by they should be performances of insight and inspiration for the Genius of Beethoven’s last Trilogy of Piano Sonatas.

Cristian Sandrin Visions of Life dedicated to his father Sandu Sandrin .
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/04/26/cristian-sandrin-visions-of-life-dedicated-to-his-father-sandu-sandrin/

Cristian Sandrin a message of Hope and Peace in Florence the cradle of our culture
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/02/25/cristian-sandrin-a-message-of-hope-and-peace-in-florence-the-cradle-of-our-culture/

Cristian Sandrin the Beethoven Trilogy the birth of a great artist
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/02/03/cristian-sandrin-the-beethoven-trilogy-birth-of-a-great-artist/

Dominika Mak at the Matthiesen Gallery – Young Artists Concert Series ‘Dreaming of Utopia with playing of refined finesse’

Ignas Maknickas and Wouter Valvekens Music at the Matthiesen Gallery “If Music be the food of love please,please play on”

Lanyi-Berecz at the Matthiesen Gallery ‘Notre amitié est invariable’

Varvara Tarasova at The Matthiesen Gallery a true Oasis of beauty – If music be the food of Love – ravishing playing of refined artistry

Trio :Cristian Sandrin -Enyuan Khong – Charlotte Kaslin ‘A feast of exhilaration and seduction for Mary Orr’ for the Matthiesen Foundation at the Matthiesen Gallery

Nelson Goerner at the Wigmore Hall and the magic of Cherkassky returns with a refined multi coloured mastery of another age .

A seemless jeux perlé of silken whispered beauty and a reminder of a time when pianists were magicians who could turn baubles into gems and gems into sounds of breathtaking beauty .A time when the piano was an orchestra that could roar like a Lion or seduce with whispered secrets of intimate confessions .

The piano that we read about in books of the power that Liszt and Thalberg had over a high society audience turning them into a screaming mob trying to grab a souvenir of the wizard with such bewitching powers .

It was of course Horowitz in our day who was described on his arrival in Paris as the greatest pianist alive or dead .I remember Cherkassky telling me that on the death of Bolet, Horowitz declared that they were the only two left .

It was Nelson who many years ago had the same agent as Shura Cherkassky , Christa Phelps, who persuaded me to engage a very young Goerner because Cherkassky ( our hero of many recitals in Rome ) admired him so much .

Shura and Horowitz are long gone and I can now say that there is only one left to show us what it means to make the piano sing . Nelson Goerner ,a master pianist, who is a magician from the Golden age and many of those pianists adorn the walls of this much loved hall: De Pachman,Moiseiwich, Rubinstein ,Myra Hess etc. A programme of Ravel ,Debussy and Liszt ideal for a supreme colourist. I well remember a 45rpm recording of Cherkassky playing the Ravel Pavane coupled with the Chopin Study op 10 n. 6 in E flat minor in the magical left hand transcription by Godowsky. I have searched high an low for a recording that completely bewitched me as a teenager asI fell in love with that kaleidoscopic sound world.

Nelson played the Pavane as an opening piece with refined good taste and drew us in to his world of colour but also of a musician who allows the music to speak for itself with simplicity and beauty. It did not quite have the weight of Perlemuter and it is good to remember that this was the last piece he played in public in this hall suffering the ‘guillotine’ just one more time in remembrance of his agent Basil Douglas. It was the Valses Nobles that followed that immediately showed the world of Nelson Goerner inspired by the magic of the Golden age pianism.But Nelson also has the modern day approach, inspired by his mentor the late Maria Tipo, that the composers indications in the score are to be pondered over searching for the real meaning that inspired the composer to put the notes on the page. A ‘modéré’ that was a little too ‘franc’ but had a great orchestral sense to it and one can quite understand how Rubinstein was booed off the stage when he gave the first performance in Spain. He famously got his own back, though, by playing them again as an encore !.Even now it comes as a shock but the ravishing beauty and crystalline purity of the ‘assez lent’ really does have ‘une espressione intense’ just as there was simple playful clarity to the ‘modéré’ that follows,and a chiselled questioning beauty to the ‘assez animé’.An almost lumbering capriciousness to the ‘presque lent’ leading to the gradual build up of grandiose nobility of the ‘vif’ immediately dispelled in a wash of sumptuous sounds. It was in the ‘Epilogue’ where Nelson showed his true musicianship, holding together strands of the previous waltzes as the composer looks back placing them in magical cloud of sound but never loosing the masterly architectural shape of a genius . A masterly performance that was followed by a Debussy of great fluidity but always with a sense of line. Allied to a kaleidoscope of sounds and mastery of the keyboard that gave great strength to these ‘Reflets dans l’eau’ but also lent an aristocratic nobility to ‘Hommage à Rameau’.’Mouvement’had an improvised freedom of whispered beauty as notes became mere washes of sound of an orchestral richness and colouring.’L’isle joyeuse’ was played with extraordinary mastery as he created the atmosphere with chameleonic changes of character leading to a climax that was breathtaking for it’s passionate grandiloquence and insistence.It is hard to believe that Debussy could conceive such magic looking across at Jersey whilst holidaying in Eastbourne but then genius is only for the chosen few. I have rarely heard this work played with such a kaleidoscope of colour and burning intensity allied to sonorities of bewitching enticement.

The second half was dedicated to just four works of Liszt but that was a feast fit for a king and could well have been a typical Cherkassky second half. The ‘second ballade’ played with heroism and beauty as this great tone poem recounts the tragedy of Hero and Leander with the menacing waves embracing us from the very first notes. Sumptuous rich sounds and fearless technical mastery were at the service of this remarkable work where the genius of Liszt was becoming ever more divorced from Liszt the greatest virtuoso that has ever lived. Here the two worlds combine as they were to do in his B minor sonata and it is interesting to note that not only is it in the same key but also written in the same year. There are also two conflicting endings for both, and that Liszt chose the quiet more introspective one as opposed to and ending of blazing transcendental glory.The B minor Sonata is at the pinnacle of the Romantic piano repertoire.It was followed by a beguiling account of ‘La Leggierezza’ concert study that was every bit as wonderful as the piano roll recording of Godowsky that astonished me so much as a teenage student. Sidney Harrison,my mentor, was president of the piano museum in Brentford where the BBC discovered these gems in Frank Holland’s leaky old church ! Chromatic scales that are washes of golden sounds becoming ever more whispered as they are played with astonishing technical perfection. But there was also the elegant beguiling charm of all that surrounds these streams of gold and silver and an ending that was thrown off with the mastery of a lost age.

Nelson relished the impish humour of the Valse oubliée n.2 .I don’t ever remember Shura playing it but looking at Nelson and how he relished the dissonant impish capriciousness, I could envisage Shura on stage taking delight in sharing in such a musical joke and feeling the audience reaction to such audacious behaviour. The 6th Hungarian Rhapsody has long been a showpiece for virtuosi with is amazing display of octaves, but there is much more too it that, just as Nelson showed us today with the real Hungarian dance steps and enormous orchestral sonorities. A tour de force of fearless mastery but above all of musical understanding.

Nowhere was that more evident than in the two encores that were a ravishing outpouring of song. Rachmaniniov’s ‘Lilacs’ where the melodic line emerges from clouds of glowing sounds was followed by Brahms Intermezzo in A op 118 n.2. It was here that time stood still as we listened in breathless wonder to the colours and sounds that Nelson could find without ever loosing sight of the overall architectural shape. This stage has heard some of the finest musicians performing but doubt it has rarely, if ever, experienced such magic as flowed from Nelson’s whole being in this farewell encore today.

It was enough to hear Nelson’s final ‘words’ today with a glowing whispered Brahms A major intermezzo. The moments of aching silence after the final carefully placed note just confirmed what we had witnessed all evening that we were in the presence of a pianist who listens to himself and who truly loves the piano and is the last true heir to the tradition of Liszt.

The amazing thing is that he even resembles Cherkassky! …….could it be reincarnation? ……welcome back Shura we have missed you so much and the piano gave a great sigh of relief tonight treated with velvet gloves and a warm heart again.

Wonders in Gstaad Sommets musicaux Martha Argerich,Renaud Capucon,Nelson Goerner,Michel Dalberto, Victor JulienLaferrière Alexandre Kantorow
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/02/07/wonders-in-gstaad-sommets-musicaux-martha-argerichrenaud-capuconnelson-goernermichel-dalberto-victor-julienlaferriere-alexandre-kantorow/

Mihai Ritivoiu at Bechstein Hall ,an artist renowned in his homeland but has chosen to live in London where we hardly ever have a chance to hear him play.

A great artist who thanks to Terry Lewis has been given the chance finally to play in an important hall in London.

Two fantasy sonatas by Beethoven with his so called ‘Moonlight’ and Schubert’s G major showed us just what London had been missing. A graduate some years ago from the Guildhall where he studied with that great teacher Joan Havill. He has decided to make his home in London and recently got married too, but travels abroad for his concert tours. A real musician as you would expect from the teacher of Paul Lewis and Jonathan Ferrucci and many others of impeccable musical credentials. Beethoven’s Sonata quasi una fantasia was played from the bass upwards where the undulating accompaniments in the infamous first movement were merely shifting harmonies out of which emerged the melodic line. I found it a little fast but Beethoven does mark it in two not four but he also marks it ‘Adagio sostenuto’ .However Mihai brought a great sense of orchestral colouring to a movement that is so often played as a melody and accompaniment but is much more intense than that. Even the bass melody in the coda just emerged out of a haze of sounds. Played with aristocratic poise and seriousness like a slowly moving quasi religious procession. A minuet of refreshing grace and charm with its simple questioning and answer that Mihai played with disarming simplicity. The organ like interruption of lumbering capriciousness of the trio was answered but a tender pianissimo reply . A tempestuous final movement was played with searing passion and dynamic drive, but also a refined tonal palette that gave such shape and inner meaning to a movement that certainly was never moonlit! An extraordinary clarity at the opening contrasted with the pedalled answering phrases. Perfectly shaped streams of notes led to the excitement of repeated chords played with a driving rhythm of exhilaration and mounting excitement.There was beauty too as Mihai shaped the outbursts of mellifluous phrases first in the right hand and later in the left with extraordinary flowing beauty. A forward movement that finally exploded with cascades of notes over the entire keyboard, and its was interesting that the final burst was played quieter as he always had in mind the architectural shape of the music that gave such meaning to all he played. The whispered beauty of the final bars after the cadenza was immediately dispelled with the tumultuous final weight of two imperious chords played with burning authority.

There was magic in the air as Mihai intoned the miraculous opening of Schubert’s Fantasy Sonata. Sublime delicacy was contrasted with passionate Beethovenian outbursts, but it was the disarming simplicity of the dance that gave such a pastoral atmosphere to this master work.Suddenly we were thrown into the depths with the development that took us by surprise such was the sense of discovery that Mihai shared with us today. A tumultuous climax and one of the rare times that Schubert indicates fortissimo in the score but it was short lived as the intricate beauty returned taking us to a coda of sublime beauty and intense emotional impact. It was played with a mastery of control of sound as the opening gasps got ever more faint until we could barely hear the final breath.There was a simple beauty to the ‘Andante’ that again was played with a rich harmonic palette where violent outbursts were followed by beseeching asides. A ‘Minuetto’ of Beethovenian proportions was answered by the delicate ländler of the ‘Trio’ that Mihai played with a whispered luminosity of the beguiling insinuation of a music box. The sublime mellifluous outpouring in the final joyous dance was played with delicacy and richness and was a true celebration of intricate weaving between the hands played with a teasing forward movement before bursting into Schubert’s unstoppable and seemingly endless melodic invention. Ravishing beauty as Mihai allowed this miraculous vision of beauty to unfold with whispered luminosity contrasting with passionate outbursts .Our journey had only momentarily been interrupted as Mihai picked up the threads of the capricious infectious dance that took us to the totally unexpected questioning of the opening of this joyous pastoral ride.The genius of Schubert concluding his genial fantasy with five gently vibrating chords as if his heart had simply lay to rest with a gentle smile of satisfaction and thanksgiving for this wondrous journey .

Chopin’s waltz op 42 was played as an encore with the style and mastery of the great Chopin players of the past and just confirmed that we are in the presence of an important artist that I hope we in London will be able to enjoy more often. 

BEETHOVEN: Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No 2, “Quasi una fantasia” 

I. Adagio sostenuto 

II. Allegretto 

III. Presto agitato 

SCHUBERT: Sonata in G major, D 894 “Fantasie” 

I. Molto moderato e cantabile 

II. Andante 

III. Menuetto: Allegro moderato 

IV. Allegretto

London-based Romanian pianist Mihai Ritivoiu, first came to the attention of our director, Terence Lewis, when Mihai was still a student.Mihai is now a top prize-winner of several international competitions, including the George Enescu International Competition and leads an international career performing solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and Asia.Notable London performances include the Barbican Centre, the Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall. Mihai has also appeared live multiple times on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’.

 Mihai Ritivoiu started playing piano at the age of 6, and won his first competition at the age of 7, subsequently performing across Romania. He studied piano at the National University of Music in Bucharest and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, winning the Beethoven Society of Europe Intercollegiate Piano Competition while representing Guildhall. He has been taught by Joan Havill and mentored by Valentin Gheorghiu and Christopher Elton

In 2011, at the age of 21, Mihai was a top laureate of the George Enescu International Competition, and won a number of special prizes including best interpretation of a piano sonata by George Enescu and the best Romanian competitor.

Career: Mihai has performed at venues including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St Martin in the Fields and the Romanian Athenaeum, and played with orchestras such as George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the MDR Leipzig Radio Orchestra.

In addition to his solo recitals and concerto appearances, Ritivoiu has a rich chamber music activity, playing with Corina Belcea, Antoine Lederlin, Roland Pidoux and Alexander Sitkovetsky. He has also worked closely with the contemporary French composer, Stéphane Delplace, performing the world premiere of one of his pieces.

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https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/01/17/mihai-ritivoius-triumphant-recital-signals-a-musical-renaissance-at-the-national-liberal-club/