Categoria: Senza categoria

Some extraordinary playing of great authority from this young Italo Romanian pianist Herman Med Cerisha studying at the Royal Academy with Florian Mitrea. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/03/02/florian-mitrea-born-free-at-st-marys/

A distinguished colleague had heard him in a prize she was judging and told me he was good. In fact he won the Beethoven Prize at the RAM .

‘I think he will be one of these unique pianists! He stands out in my mind for the originality and sincerity of his playing.’ Deniz Gelenbe

She did not tell me how good, until I heard him today playing Brahms op 119 , Schubert ‘ little ‘ A minor Sonata and Prokofiev 7th Sonata. Playing of overwhelming authority and poetic beauty but also of passionate intensity and fearless brilliance.

Brahms of sumptuous beauty but also of refined elegance and aristocratic authority. The Intermezzo in B minor was played with crystalline clarity and touching beauty. A radiance that comes from delving deep into each note and extracting a multitude of sounds from each one. The E minor entered with a whisper as it gradually grew in intensity only to be resolved with an ‘Andantino grazioso’ of pastoral beauty. The C major could almost be called a capriccio such was the beguiling elegance and teasing mastery of art that conceals art and which I have only heard similarly from Clifford Curzon and Myra Hess. Sumptuous sonorities in the final E flat ‘Rhapsodie’ were played with driving aristocratic energy with streams of notes just thrown off as they accompanied the noble outpouring of the chorale. Passionate pulsating rhythms were played with remarkable architectural shape and led so beautifully into the simple beauty of the ‘grazioso’ central episode. A complete change of timbre where Herman produced a liquid fluidity of sounds contrasting so well with the glorious nobility of its surrounds.

Schubert that reminded me of Gilels where the golden sounds and rare monumental beauty had moments of heart rending delicacy without ever loosing sight of the great architectural outline. Gilels had arrived in London to find a poorly attended concert in the Festival Hall! A programme of Schubert and Shostakovich which obviously was not box office but which I will remember for the rest of my life!

I was reminded of his playing of this A minor Sonata D 784 as I listened to Herman today. Playing of beauty but also of solidity and never dwelling on detail but letting the music speak for itself without any unwanted assistance from interpreters eager to point out or underline the beauty that is already there. After the etherial opening, Beethovenian declamations and following dotted rhythmic chords were played with a limpet type touch never vertical but always horizontal and deep into each key. The touching vibrancy of the second subject must be one of the most beautiful things that Schubert ever wrote. Herman played it with whispered glowing delicacy but never altering the rhythmic undercurrent that holds the structure together. The ‘Andante ‘ sang with simple beauty and the rhythmic comments that could interrupt the flow were played with extraordinary rhythmic precision so the melody was allowed to flow on one level whilst being comment on from afar. The radiance and beauty of the shadowing of the melodic line when it appears in the tenor register was one of those magic moments of ravishing monumental beauty, never sugar sweet or sentimental, but deeply moving. It showed a remarkable technical control of a pianist who actually listens to himself and can find the beauty that is hidden within every piano for those that care to seek. The ‘Allegro vivace’ was streams of sounds chattering away to each other with delicacy and brilliance. Bursting into dynamic outbursts with sumptuous fullness of sound never hard but rich in sonority. And it was noticeable that Herman rarely played vertically but his fingers clued to each key and arms wading like in water with horizontal strokes of natural elegance. There was a crystalline beauty to the lyrical episodes of grace with insinuating undulations.The final notorious double octaves were played with the same horizontal attack with the four final chords phrased by a musician who is also a poet of sound.

A savage demonic attack in Prokofiev ‘s most bombastic of the three war sonatas was breathtaking in its audacity and daring. The pulsating rhythm of the last movement was maintained heroically to the very last terrifying note. But it was the ‘Allegro inquieto’ that was quite remarkable for the intensity where his fearless abandon and fiery temperament was matched by his extraordinary technical mastery. Again never hard or ungrateful sounds but even if the attack was often vertical it was a blow given from a musician listening and feeling the music with searing conviction. The ‘Andantino espressivo e dolente’ was a magical moment of calm before going to the front again with even more ferocity. The ‘Andante caloroso’ was of Hollywoodian beauty and simplicity before bursting into flames of imploring beauty dissolving into glowing whispers of bewitching bewilderment. The ‘Precipitato’ began as a murmur and finished with all the guns ablaze. A control of tempo and sound that was remarkable and his total abandon at the end was a tour de force of daring of breathtaking excitement.

This is a young man to watch and nice to know he comes from a land kissed by the Gods. Puglia is where many great musician were born from Muti to Rana , Rota to Lupu, De Barberiis to De Vita ,Libetta to Grassi. Lecce the capital of Puglia ( the heel of Italy ) is quite rightly known as the Florence of the south. Putignano, Herman’s hometown, is renowned for its famous Carnaval procession forty days before Easter.

Thanks to the tireless promotion of Canan Maxton’s Talent Unlimited I was able to hear this great talent for myself at last. It was streamed live and the recording is in the link under the poster above.

Herman Med Cerisha, a 20-year-old pianist from Putignano, Italy, began studying piano at age 6. At 8, he was accepted into the top piano class at the George Enescu National College of Music in Bucharest after achieving full marks in the entrance exam. There, he trained under Elisa Barzescu, receiving a strong foundation rooted in the Eastern European musical tradition.

In 2020, Herman won a scholarship to study at The Purcell School and, in 2021, was named Bechstein Scholar Student of the Year. In 2024 he received multiple offers from leading UK conservatories and accepted a full scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music under Professor Florian Mitrea.

Herman has claimed over 40 international competition titles, including distinctions in the Chopin Junior Competition, Berman Competition, and Orbetello Competition. His 2019 win at the Pianisti i Ri competition in Kosovo led to a solo performance with the Philharmonic of Priština, where he performed Grieg’s piano concerto.

He has participated in masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Boris Petrushansky, Dmitri Alexeev, and Noriko Ogawa. He has also worked with Leonid Margarius and Franco Scala at the Imola Piano Academy.

He has performed in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall playing Beethoven’s 3rd piano concerto, the Romanian Athenaeum, and Moscow’s Svetlanov Concert Hall. Between 2018 and 2022, he collaborated annually with the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania as a soloist. In 2025, Herman became a Talent Unlimited Artist, where they kindly support his musical journey.

www.hermancerisha.com

Interview

1- Aged 8 you began training under Elisa Barzescu, receiving a strong foundation rooted in the Eastern European musical tradition. How do you recall your time under this master?

Training with Elisa Barzescu was a huge part of how I understand music today. It was a really solid and sometimes quite strict education, but it taught me discipline and how to really approach new pieces with depth.

2- Is your family musical?

My dad and brother are both violinists — that’s actually why I started with violin before switching to piano.

3- You have recently embarked on a full scholarship studying at the Royal Academy of Music under Professor Florian Mitrea. How is this progressing?

It’s going really well! The Academy offers so many opportunities to learn new things, especially with such incredible teachers around. I’m learning a lot from my wonderful teacher, Professor Florian Mitrea.

4- You have won an impressive number of competitions and have held Young Musician titles. Does any one of these particularly stand out for you?

Every competition has been special in its own way, but the Chopin Competition for children and youth stands out — that’s when I first thought, “maybe I want to do this for real.”

5- Between 2018 and 2022, he collaborated annually with the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania as a soloist. How enriching was this experience?

Playing with the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra was unbelievable. You learn so much from working with conductors and other musicians — it’s a completely different kind of listening. Since pianists often play solo, those collaborations really feel like a celebration.

6- What are your fondest musical memories, privately or performing?

My favourite musical memories include performing with orchestra for the first time, and moments in practice when something finally clicks or a piece suddenly makes sense.

7- How often do your practice?

I try to practice every day, aiming for about 5 hours on average — but it really depends on the week!

8- Would you consider teaching in the future?

Yes, absolutely. I think teaching and sharing what we’ve learned to the next generations is one of the most meaningful things a musician can do.

9- How do you balance your time and commitments. What are the biggest sacrifices?

There are definitely many sacrifices — being away from family, lots of travelling, and spending endless hours in a four-wall room with your instrument. Finding balance is really important. I don’t think it’s healthy to only practise or think about music all the time, so taking breaks and stepping away every now and then is essential.

10- What advice would you give to young musicians at the start of their journey?

Believe in yourself and in what you’re doing. And always play because you love music — never because you feel you have to.

Rubinstein. had something to say about that too :

https://youtu.be/gex0sOR7XZ0

Kit Armstrong with playing of Mozart of luminosity and scrupulous attention to detail . Playing a Bechstein piano which gave a radiance and clarity to all he did .

It was in the last Mozart Sonata in D K 540 that he really could show his architectural sense of shape and a musicianship mentored by his close relationship from a very early age with Alfred Brendel.

Beginning with the Adagio in B minor grouped with the Minuet in D and the little Gigue penned late in life, which showed remarkable musicianship and mastery but missed the sense of improvised discovery that he was to find later in the two sonatas. A crystalline clarity and scrupulous attention to detail but seemed a little too earthbound missing the etherial mystery in the Adagio. The Gigue was a ‘tour de force’ of dynamic playing that reminded me of Serkin but it sounded a little too well oiled and breathless at this tempo. However remarkable playing of extraordinary intelligence and sensibility but on this occasion just missed the magical improvised invention and simplicity that Mozart had distilled in the last years of his life.

An eclectic musician of extraordinary mastery and authority. A kaleidoscope of colour of refined good taste and knowing scholarship which he brought in particular to the two main works on the programme: the Sonata in D K 576 and that in F K 533/494.

He brought a fluidity to the D major Sonata giving a beautiful shape to the teasing brilliance that Mozart imbues with such subtle meaning and charm. A sense of phrasing the allowed the music to breathe without interrupting the continual forward flow. There was an absolute clarity that allowed us to appreciate the intricate genius of Mozart as the voices converse with each other before dissolving into a whisper, where the final notes are indeed the two rests in the final bar. A beautifully expressive ‘Adagio’ where Mozart’s Bel Canto was shaped with radiance and teasing beauty. I could almost imagine Brendel listening with a twinkle in his eye as Kit played the last two bars with such a subtle jeux perlé touch. The ‘Allegretto’ was played at a courtly pace that allowed the brilliant passages that followed to be shaped with radiance and style. Mozart is enjoying himself playing with this innocent theme, juggling with it in many different and enticing ways. Kit seemed to relish and understand that this was Mozart at play and was pure opera.

The F major Sonata he played with child like innocence. The intricate counterpoints played with a clarity and brilliance but it was more an intellectual journey than freely inspired . The ending of the first movement was a tour de force of brilliance but owed more to Rachmaninov than Mozart. I found it suddenly became rather overpowering and pianistic rather than charming and operatic. More Serkin than Kempff but nevertheless always remarkable totally committed playing. The ‘Andante’ was played with simplicity and beauty and the extraordinary development almost Beethovenian in the majestic contrasts, making the return so much more beautiful and radiant. The very intricate Rondò was played with beguiling simplicity as it was allowed to flow with charm and grace in two. A tour de force of style and understanding that made this for me the absolute highlight of a very remarkable recital.

The Fantasia in F minor K 608 could almost have been written by Beethoven such was the imposing majesty of the opening. This was a true discovery from a pianist who is above all a musician of scholarship and refined good taste.

In this week when only last Monday we celebrated Alfred Brendel’s 95th at the Barbican, it was refreshing to hear this thirty year old artist continuing the message that Brendel had bequeathed to him of humility, simplicity and dedication to the composers wishes with a selfless technical mastery that rightly passes unnoticed.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/01/09/the-age-of-embrendelment-a-celebration-and-thanksgiving-on-alfred-brendels-95th-birthday/

Kit Armstrong writes and performs : ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s work for mechanical organ, faithfully reproduced as a piano piece. The limited compass of the original instrument notwithstanding, I find that the original score is much to be preferred to the various transcriptions generally played (of Clementi, Busoni, et al.). It sets “some amusing problems of digitation”*

.https://youtu.be/YsOY7WXM6g4?si=wuGmxwa8FPnT-cee

And after Mozart this eclectic young musicians chose Liszt’s Eight Variations on an original theme op 1 as an encore which had us all guessing as to who the composer might be.

The very first Liszt work published along with his variation on Diabelli’s theme, composed in 1824. This really sounds more like Mendelssohn , and one could never have imagined that a thirteen-year-old Liszt composed such an extraordinary work written no doubt for his own use and dedicated to Sébastien Erard As Leslie Howard points out the work is also of interest because the theme turns up in the so-called Third Concerto.

Born in 1992 in Los Angeles, Armstrong has been described by Alfred Brendel as ‘the greatest talent’ he has ever encountered, not only demonstrating extraordinary aptitude at the piano but also at the organ and as a conductor, as well as being a composer in great demand.

https://youtu.be/JLu9jt4p7jU?si=-i01SqnFu9PaZUfH

Kit Armstrong collaborates with many of the world’s most sought-after conductors and has been a guest at some of the world’s finest orchestras. In summer 2018, he was Artist in Residence at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and he is ‘Artist in Resonance’ at the Musikkollegium Winterthur. In the same year, he received the Beethoven-Ring by the German society, Bürger für Beethoven.

Recent and upcoming highlights include concerts with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester, Stuttgart Kammerorchester and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and piano recitals at Wiener Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center, Rheingau Musik Festival, Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Ruhr Piano Festival and Schubertiade Hohenems, among others. He has appeared as organist with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and Wiener Konzerthaus, and is scheduled to appear at the Bruckner Festival Linz. He gave his acclaimed debut as conductor at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2018 and recently was guest conductor with the Bochumer Symphoniker.

Armstrong’s debut recording with works by Bach, Ligeti and Armstrong was released in 2013 by Sony Classical, followed two years later by his second album, Liszt: Symphonic Scenes. His own compositions are published by Edition Peters.

Armstrong studied music at the Curtis Institute of Music and continued the Royal Academy of Music. Aged seven, he started studying composition at Chapman University and physics at California State University, followed by chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and mathematics at Imperial College London. He earned a Master’s degree in pure mathematics at the University of Paris VI. At the age of 13, Armstrong met Alfred Brendel, who has guided him as a teacher and mentor ever since. Their unique relationship was captured in the film, Set the Piano Stool on Fire, by Mark Kidel.Ever since Kit Armstrong entered the global music stage twenty years ago, his activities have exerted an enduring fascination upon music lovers. He performs recitals in major series, appears with the world’s finest orchestras, and has developed close artistic partnerships with leading instrumentalists and vocalists. He has held artist-in-residence appointments incorporating a wide spectrum of musical formats, combining his roles as composer, pianist, conductor, and organist. His project Expedition Mozart, traversing Mozart’s music in various genres with an international group of distinguished chamber musicians and soloists, is a main feature at prestigious festivals and venues.

Armstrong came to classical music through composition at the age of five. He has since created a broad oeuvre of vocal, instrumental, chamber, and symphonic works, many of which have been commissioned by notable European cultural institutions. His compositions are published by Edition Peters. 

Armstrong’s piano recordings include the albums Bach, Ligeti, Armstrong (2013) and Liszt: Symphonic Scenes (2016) on Sony Classical, various live recitals on DVD, such as Bach’s Goldberg Variations and its Predecessors at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Unitel, 2017), Wagner – Liszt – Mozart at the Bayreuth Margravial Opera House (C-Major, 2019), and 1520-2020: A Musical Odyssey (Damis Films, 2023), a double CD dedicated to a panorama of works by William Byrd and John Bull: The Visionaries of Piano Music (2021) on Deutsche Grammophon, and Mozart’s violin sonatas with Renaud Capuçon (2023).

Born in 1992 in California, USA, Armstrong pursued undergraduate studies in physics at California State University, chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and mathematics at Imperial College London. Alfred Brendel has guided Armstrong as a musical mentor since 2005. In 2008, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and in 2012 a master’s degree in pure mathematics at the University of Paris VI.

In 2012, Kit Armstrong purchased the Church of Sainte-Thérèse in Hirson, France, and transformed it into a hall for concerts and exhibitions, and outreach. This cultural centre has become home to interdisciplinary projects, including the yearly Semaine de la Voix, reaching a regional as well as cosmopolitan public.

Albeniz a bit too vulgar for the refined taste of the Wiggies. Nelson Goerner looking ever more like Shura Cherkassky and more importantly playing like him . A sense of style and kaleidoscope of colour bringing a timeless beauty and radiance, in between clicking his heels and stamping his feet.

By coincidence it was Shura who introduced him to me when they shared the same agent Christa Phelps almost thirty years ago. He has since astounded the public and his colleagues ever since. No less than Martha Argerich regularly shares the platform with him and today he held us spellbound with the perfection of his playing.

A vibrant and ravishing sense of discovery . Not stale perfection but the remarkable beauty of recreation.

As Davide Sagliocca rightly points out : ‘ To call Albéniz’s sophisticated piano landscapes, vulgar , so admired by Debussy, who was famously particularly fond of ‘El Albaicin’, as were many others at the turn of 20th Century, is such a misnomer. It is like saying that Vaughan Williams symphonies or Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance marches are vulgar!’

But the last and only world must go to the mastery of Nelson Goerner who delved into this magic world which was obviously deeply ingrained into his being. No sign of any ‘aide memoire’ which could have been easily forgiven with a programme that is of such rarity. To present it without the score is a homage indeed to the genius of Albeniz.

There was a languid timeless beauty to ‘Evocación’ bathed in a mist of pedal out of which emerged the most haunting tenor melody accompanied by whispered asides like raindrops or the patter of footsteps in the distance. A barely audible ending drew us in, to overhear such wonders, only to be greeted with glee by two impish pizzicato final notes. Almost Beethovenian in showing us that the final notes are indeed the most unimportant and merely an ending to the wondrous sounds that have been witnessed within. The sun was shining brightly for ‘El Puerto’ with a kaleidoscope of colours and chameleonic moods and with the same impish no nonsense ending to this radiant temperature. There was real stamping of feet as the ‘Fête- Dieu à Séville’ gradually was streaked across the keyboard with athletic virtuosity as the passionate outpouring of the Corpus Christi procession was upon us with pride and exhilaration.

A tour de force of virtuosity and knowing use of the pedals with music that needed another stave in order to fit on the page.

Who could ever forget that dashing young Spanish pianist (to use Annie Fischer’s words) Rafael Orozco who ran off with the Leeds Gold Medal with many performances of burning passionate intensity especially memorable of ‘Fête- Dieu’. He lived in Rome and would come to Alicia de Larrocha’s performances and would sail off in the car with her to his sumptuous apartment overlooking the Trevi Fountains. Alas a tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet proportions cut his life short much too soon.

‘Rondeña’ saw a pulsating melody amidst a driving dance of rhythmic insistence with another whispered ending and impish farewell.Played with an extraordinary sense of character each one of these twelve tone poems was treated with delicacy and poetic fantasy apart from quite considerable technical mastery. ‘Triana’ was a great way to close the first half of the complete Iberia. A flamenco with strumming guitars and snapping castanets and a hypnotic sense of dance. After the interval ‘El Albaicin’ was played with a whispered almost inaudible pitter patter bursting into flames of passionate decadence, interrupted only by its calming quasi religious recitativi. He brought a languid beauty to ‘El polo’ with an outpouring of extraordinary almost vulgar familiarity! Bursting into song and excitement with ‘Lavapiés’ with its impish good humour played with enticing exhilaration – how Shura would have loved these devilish leaps as he did in Copland’s El Salon Mexico! ‘Málaga’ was played with deep brooding of intense intimate meaning. ‘Jerez’, perhaps the most extraordinary and original of all Iberia, obviously a great influence on Debussy , with its fervent outpouring of simplicity and great burning intensity. Finally the extraordinary energy of ‘Eritaña’ depicting an inn on the outskirts of Seville. The ‘Venta Eritaña’ where ‘sherry is drunk, jamón crudo consumed , flamenco danced, castanets clicked as a rollercoaster ride of deliciously modern ,ever nostalgic Spain reaches its close’ .

An extraordinary ‘tour de force’ from Nelson Goerner who presents year after year interesting programmes prepared with scrupulous intelligence and mastery. We were thinking what could he play as an encore after this ninety minute marathon of poetic gymnastics. Nelson, a consummate artist knows when to stop, as he sent us away happily stamping our feet and clicking our heels with a soul full of sumptuous insinuating sounds ringing in our ears.

Albeniz’s Iberia  was  composed between 1905 and 1909 and is composed of four books of three pieces each; a complete performance lasts about

It is Albéniz’s best-known work and considered his masterpiece. It was highly praised by Debussy and Messiaen, who said: “Iberia is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of instruments”. Stylistically, this suite falls squarely in the school of Impressionism , especially in its musical evocations of Spain.It is considered one of the most challenging works for the piano: “There is really nothing in Isaac Albeniz’s Iberia that a good three-handed pianist could not master, given unlimited years of practice and permission to play at half tempo. But there are few pianists thus endowed.”The twelve pieces were first performed by the French pianist Blanche Selva , but each book was premiered in a different place and on a different date. Three of the performances were in Paris, the other being in a small town in the south of France.

Book IV: February 9, 1909, Société Nationale de Musique, Paris.

Book I: May 9, 1906, Salle Pleyel, Paris

Book II: September 11, 1907, Saint – Jean – de- Luz

Book III: January 2, 1908, Palace of Princess de Polignac, Paris

Nelson Goerner at the Wigmore Hall Supreme mastery of a Golden Age reborn

Wonders in Gstaad Sommets musicaux Martha Argerich,Renaud Capucon,Nelson Goerner,Michel Dalberto, Victor JulienLaferrière Alexandre Kantorow

A sublime timeless Schubertiade from Dame Imogen Cooper. An outpouring in which a whole world was described in music from ethereal to dramatic from poignant to heart rending. Aristocratic playing of poise and great humanity where there was no note that was not of significance and meaning in these tone poems that were to be the last ‘miniatures’ to pour from a genius in his final year on this earth.

I am reminded of that other great Dame, Myra Hess, whose musicianship distilled over a lifetime as a dedicated and loyal servant to the composer, was where the piano was merely the medium to communicate the message behind the notes. The place where secrets are hidden from all but those who have found the magic key to Pandora’s box of jewels and the very heart of the composer. It was Nadia Boulanger who used to quote Shakespeare to aspiring young musicians who flocked to her studio in Paris :’Words without thought no more to heaven go’. The thought behind Imogen’s notes are surely guaranteed a place in heaven.

The two books of Impromptus D 899 and D 935 were written in the same period but are two collections of four Impromptu’s that are quite different in length and depth. Poetry and drama live together in sublime harmony in the first Impromptu with Imogen’s scrupulous attention to Schubert’s very precise instructions that she has distilled from a lifetime digging ever deeper into the mysterious vision of Schubert’s last days on earth. The opening ominous single G reappears so poignantly in the coda of this impromptu. It is the same G that beckons us in the last sonata D 960 , with this single note lurking always in the wings. Imogen found a veiled beauty to the single note of a melody that is heard from within the very vibration of this note ,seemingly coming from afar and answered by dry staccato chordal comments. Of course eventually bursting into song but with refined reticence.The ominous vibrating G becomes more apparent as the music becomes more agitated and dramatic, only to be calmed by one of Schubert’s most persuasive melodic outpourings of Viennese charm. The second Impromptu was made of streams of undulating gold and silver sounds where Imogen’s control and perfect finger legato created a sense of harmonic contentment. It lead so naturally into the robust almost military outbursts that Imogen played with passionate abandon and a remarkable sense of balance. Schubert’s swirling counterpoints were never clouded but suggestively revealed from within.The coda was played with dynamic drive and vehemence and the final two chords had the same finality of Beethoven’s no nonsence endings.

The G flat Impromptu was played with sublime timeless wonder with a sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to sing with a ravishing voice but also the harmonies on which it floated creating a sumptuous bed on which to lie. Drama built up from the bass with a beseeching duet between two worlds conversing so eloquently together. A powerful climax where Schubert writes ‘sforzando’ in the bass and gradually it leads to a deeply felt sigh, out of which the sublime opening is allowed to return. This time as if in a dream of whispered wonder ‘avec un sentiment de regret’. Imogen timed this moment to perfection and the silence and concentration from a full hall was one of those magic moments of collective emotion that only live performance can sometimes offer.

The last Impromptu could almost be called Schubert’s ‘Jeux d’eau’ such was the luminosity and fluidity that Imogen brought to the trickle of watery sounds that she conjured with transcendental mastery from the keys. A perfection of detail but above all an architectural understanding that could give such an overall shape to this extraordinary tone poem. Her wonderful sense of balance where the melodic line emerged from its surroundings but was part of a harmonic whole. Nowhere more was this apparent than in the Trio section where the ever more passionate pulsating of the heart beating chords sustained a melody of passionate vehemence.This cloud soon passes in Schubert ( not so quiescent Beethoven though) and we return to the mellifluous beauty and radiance that were ultimately to fill Schubert’s short life with joy and on occasion grief.

The second set of Impromptus are much longer than the previous ones and were only published many years after Schubert’s death in 1839, with a dedication by the publisher to Liszt. The first Impromptu opens with passion and dynamism dissolving into the etherial. Dramatic flourishes and octave declamations give way to a duet between the hands of haunting beauty. Imogen played the opening flourish with real weight but as she showed us, it is only ‘fp’ and the dotted scale that follows was played like mere rhythmic pulsations.The question and answer of the sublime central duet was played out on an undulating flow of perfectly balanced sounds. Imogen’s remarkable sense of architectural shape allowed her to show us this extraordinary Impromptu as the tone poem of haunting beauty that it truly is. The final three chords were placed with aristocratic perfection where the rests were revealed to be as poignant as the chords.The second Impromptu opened a completely different world. From the orchestrally conceived first we were now in the whispered opening of a ‘lied’ with a solo voice and accompaniment. Playing of great delicacy and beauty of poignant whispered simplicity.There was a flowing beauty to the central episode that was of freedom and plasticity with waves of sound , the bass holding the reins but the notes above allowed to flow and breathe so naturally.

The theme of the variations of the third impromptu was allowed to flow in two with beauty and refined charm. The variations emerged, each out of the previous one, which allowed for a continuous flow where the sense of character that Imogen brought to each variation was so enticing. The drama of the third variation was soon forgotten as the pastoral charm of the left hand melody of the fourth took us to the streams of jeux perlé of the fifth. Notes of such simple fluidity of undulating shapes of whispered beauty. The almost too serious coda was played out with nostalgic poignancy. The fourth Impromptu was played with remarkable control with the excitement very much within the notes. The perfect rhythmic stability that Imogen brought was quite exhilarating and equally as exciting as Serkin’s hysterical dynamism. All through the recital there was a sense of control that in no way restrained the music but gave it a nobility and inevitability of refined maturity. The character she brought to the central episode of this Impromptu was quite exhilarating and even charming and darkly dramatic. It was a kaleidoscope of emotions and a demonstration of Imogen’s mastery of allowing the music to speak with apparent simplicity and directness as it always was with that other Dame ,Myra Hess. Uncle Tobb’s ( Tobias Matthay, Myra Hess’s mentor) used to say that within every note there are hundreds of possibilities and inflections that can illuminate and reveal things where words are just not enough. Imogen has been mentored for a lifetime by Alfred Brendel one of the greatest musicians of our time.

It was only a few days ago that she and her illustrious colleagues celebrated what would have been his 95 th birthday. It was with gratitude and joy, a celebratory gala concert at the Barbican to create funds for the Alfred Brendel trust that will help young musicians of the next generation.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/01/09/the-age-of-embrendelment-a-celebration-and-thanksgiving-on-alfred-brendels-95th-birthday/

Imogen’s recital tonight was a memorable evening of music making and alarmingly we note that it is part of Imogen’s farewell tour!

Schubert’s Allegretto in C minor played with luminosity and simplicity was indeed a sad farewell.

Imogen Cooper in London – There is nothing like a Dame to enchant and enrich the spirit.

Imogen Cooper Heart to Heart at the Wigmore Hall

Imogen Cooper at St.John’s Smith Square

Nothing like a Dame!Aidan Mikdad ignites the Imogen Cooper Music Trust – part 1 and 2

Ignas Maknickas fluidity and romance for the Imogen Cooper Music Trust

Ariel Lanyi – Imogen Cooper Music Trust The trials and tribulations of a great artist

Cristian Sandrin – The Imogen Cooper Music Trust

Thomas Kelly ,a musical genius flying high as he spreads his wings this week starting at St James’s in Piccadilly to St Pancras in Euston and finishing at St Mary’s with quite staggering playing all streamed live ……. no words from me necessary or could do justice to such performances that can be enjoyed here

St Mary’s https://www.youtube.com/live/5i8auTZdAp0?si=hZZZdHk2oTK039vq

St James’s https://www.youtube.com/live/-YfHfnXR6CY?si=dnTuqRW903jhHFcp

St Pancras https://www.youtube.com/live/YGTxLevRpnM?si=kqnjei1uGtG7qUhR

Anyone who can play the Liszt Sonata with the intelligence mastery and showmanship that we heard today belongs in the same category as the great interpretations of Curzon, Gilels or Arrau. Hats off Tom you have made it and the sky is the limit now

Thomas Kelly Astonishes and excites, tainted by the genius Ogdon and served up for New Year at St James’s

Thomas Kelly started playing the piano aged 3 and aged 9 performed Mozart’s 24th Concerto with Orchestra. Thomas studied at the Purcell School for Young Musicians and is currently the Benjamin Britten Fellow at the Royal College of Music, (the highest award for any pianist at the RCM) where he is guided by Professors Dmitri Alexeev and Vanessa Latarche. 
Thomas was a prizewinner at the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition, enjoying critical recognition and in 2022 won 2nd Prize and the semi-final concerto prize at Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition. He has won numerous international competitions including 1st prizes at the Pianale International Piano Competition (2017), Kharkiv Assemblies (2018), Lucca Virtuoso e Bel Canto Festival (2018), Theodor Leschetizky Competition (2020), and Intercollegiate Sheepdrove Piano Competition (2022). In 2024 Thomas was awarded the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Rose Bowl upon graduating the RCM, and most recently became a finalist of the International Liszt Competition in Utrecht which will take place in January 2026. 

Past performances include Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Steinway Hall, Leighton House, St James’ Piccadilly, Stoller Hall (Manchester), West Road Concert Hall (Cambridge), Leeds Town Hall, Kammermusiksaal Berlin Philharmonie, Paris Conservatoire, the TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the Lunel-Viel festival near Montpellier, StreingreaberHaus in Bayreuth, Teatro Del Sale and the British Institute in Florence. Thomas was also recently featured on the BBC Arts In Motion documentary series in a masterclass with Yuja Wang. 

He regularly collaborates with fellow musicians, including stepping in for Nikolai Demidenko alongside Dmitri Alexeev in his transcription of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite for 2 pianos in 2021, and performing Messiaen’s Turangalila-Symphonie with Jac van Steen conducting the RCM Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

Thomas has also been a C. Bechstein Scholar supported by the Kendall-Taylor award, generously supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust, and is grateful for the generous support of Talent Unlimited  . Thomas is currently looking forward to a solo Wigmore appearance and regular concerto appearances among other upcoming performances.

Thomas Kelly at the Wigmore Hall Britten Fellow astonishes with pianistic genius of another age

Thomas Kelly on Ischia – The Walton Foundation at La Mortella -‘The Devil and the Deep blue Sea’

Thomas Kelly at the National Liberal Club The ‘outrageous’ virtuoso with a heart of pure gold.

Christopher Maltman and Graham Johnson ‘Myth Fable and Folksong’. A Schubertiade of probing significance and mastery. Graham illuminating the extraordinary artistry of his partner. This was a duo between equals glorifying the genius of Schubert who could delve so deeply into the human world with poetic meaning. Graham played wonderfully. Imaginative and beauty combined …..piano playing just did not apply here …….a singer who knew and lived every word without any third party. No I pad in Schubert’s day !!!!

Graham had a page turner but that used to be the norm.

And both impeccably dressed in tails for a special occasion, which is so rare these days, and to be cherished as part of the debt we owe to be able celebrate at the shrine of Schubert’s genius .

Hugo Wolf – Graham Johnson and his Song Guild at Milton Court – Barbican

The shining light of Mahler at the Wigmore Hall Alice Coote-Graham Johnson-Marta Fontanais-Simmons-Fleur Barron

Graham Johnson and the Songmakers’ Almanac

THE ROTHSTEIN SCHUBERTIADE Happy Birthday Mr Goethe with respects to Mr Schumann

An unforgettable send off for a man who has enriched our lives for generations . A message of humility, integrity and above all simplicity, always with a twinkle in his eye.

A concert that will create so many opportunities for young musicians via his Trust founded in 2004. What better legacy could there be than to sow seeds that will grow and enrich a world where quantity rather than quality is becoming the norm .

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/08/28/julian-kainrath-rides-high-on-the-wings-of-ulisse-some-enchanted-evening/

This is just one of the young players chosen to take part in a hand picked orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle who I well remember in Gordon Green’s class at the RAM when he too was an aspiring young musician. The Age of Embrendelment Orchestra I can see our hero looking on with a knowing nod of enlightenment!

Can it be coincidence that three of the greatest pianists of our time were born on the same day ?

As Brendel famously said in one of his essays ‘I

‘There are no bad pianos, only bad pianists.’ An impressive statement, one that looks round for applause. A statement that will at once ring true to the layman and make him feel initiated as well as amused. A statement addressed perhaps to some revered virtuoso who did not refuse to play at a private party — Busoni would have left the house right away — and who, in spite of the detestable instrument, managed to hold his audience spellbound.’

No problem about pianos or pianists tonight …….but what about the piano stool …………..!!!! Brendel would have loved that !

The three Petrarch sonnets played with disarming simplicity and radiance. There was passion and astonishing feats of subtle pianistic mastery as explosions of sentiment were spread over the entire keyboard like a flame of pulsating abandon. The ending of Sonetto 123 after such a passionate explosion did not want to say adieu such was the reticence and whispered insistence of a long drawn out farewell .

The Dante Sonata like Gerstein’s B minor Sonata in this very hall was monumental . From the opening harrowing outburst to the passionate pulsating of shimmering menace contrasting with passages of whispered disarming beauty . This was a tone poem as rarely conceived by a pianist who sees not notes but landscapes and who sees not octaves but vibrations of sound. A harrowing tale and a towering recreation by one of the great Lisztians of our time . https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/07/03/kirill-gerstein-busoni-is-alive-and-well-and-returned-to-the-wigmore-hall/

How could one ever forget the understanding that he demonstrated to us of Liszt’s disciple, Busoni , who was the continuation of the future world that Liszt already inhabited . Here is a master musician completely entering the world of Liszt ,the innovative poetic genius , and not the empty note spinner that many would have us believe.

After the interval Brahms entered but not the shy intimate secret lover but a towering figure of blistering dynamism.

The much overlooked Scherzo op 4 was given a new life with orchestral colours and a kaleidoscope of changing character. It was the ideal partner for op 5 not because of numerical ordering but because it prepared us for a symphony that was anything but ‘veiled.’ An opening of aristocratic grandeur that was played with mesmerising mastery. An ‘Andante espressivo’ that was bathed in an aura of harmonic sounds as the melodic line was etched with poignant simplicity. Passionate outburst were played with a sumptuous fullness and radiance as they lay spent only to be reborn in one of the most magical codas of all time. A ‘Scherzo’ that shot from Kirill’s fingers with Olympic dynamism and the Intermezzo to the Finale was a harrowing tale indeed. A Finale that began on earth and was a continuous ascension into the tumultuous explosion of Brahms’ final exultation and naked abandon to his senses, declared with searing intensity.

After Liszt and Brahms, Schumann was ever present in their circle as was Chopin. It was to these two companions that Kirill reserved his two hard earned encores extracted only by an insistent public !

Schumann’s undeservedly neglected Blumenstück op 19 was recreated with subtle half colours and insinuating whispered asides. Gerstein restoring this work to its rightful place beside the C major Fantasy op 17 and the Arabesque op 18. Gerstein more like Serkin than Horowitz not savouring or dwelling on sounds of perfumed beauty but reaching more for the earth bound beauty of intellect.

With Chopin we could have danced all night in the arms of such a perfect partner. The waltz op 42 was played with such beguiling insinuation and mastery that one was reminded of the greatest Chopin players of the past whose presence today we could feel as here was an artist worthy to join their ranks.

Busoni Piano Concerto – Life begins at 100 as Gerstein and Oramo take London by storm

Gerstein-Fejérvàri at the Wigmore Hall -Overpowering Mastery of two pianos

The sublime mastery of Kirill Gerstein at the Wigmore Hall

It is fascinating to follow the evolution of young pianists and see what influences they follow during their long training in many of the finest music institutions of the land. William has been studying for the past years with Martin Roscoe and I was with Martin last summer to applaud William’s final graduation recital at Milton Court . I had heard William for the first time when he won the Beethoven prize at the Guildhall playing a very fine Beethoven ‘Les Adieux’ Sonata. A musical pedigree nurtured by Martin Roscoe, that superb musician who many moons ago we both played to Stephen Kovacevich at the Dartington Summer School in the era of William Glock. Martin has gone on to be not only a celebrated solo pianist but also a much sought after chamber music player. Spending much time walking in the Scottish Highlands where he lives he still finds time to help nurture talented young musicians at the Guildhall. The last time I heard William he played Messiaen with extraordinary conviction and technical mastery and I was sure this would be the path his talent would lead him. Today I heard a completely different pianist ,one completely immersed in the magic world of pianists from the Golden Era of piano playing when pianists were magicians. Godowsky,Lhevine,Rosenthal,Levitski, Moiseiwitch and Cherkassky. I was lucky to live close to the Brentford Piano Museum and my teacher and father figure Sidney Harrison was President of Frank Holland’s extraordinary collection of player pianos. They were kept in a leaky church and there was no way that Frank would allow his ‘babies’ to end up in the V&A as was on the cards. Frank was an engineer and could not appreciate, as Sidney could, the gold mine of piano roll recordings that he had in his cupboard. Frank was interested in the mechanics not the music. Sidney had been the first teacher to give piano lessons on the BBCTV when it was a box that sat in the corner of a few houses and with a giant magnifying glass attached would transmit programmes for four hours a day! Thanks to Sidney the BBC recorded some of these piano roll performances and they were heard late at night on the third programme and were even issued as 33rpm records. The refined piano playing from these pianists, mainly of the Russian school, was something that we were not used to. A black box of hammers and strings that could be made to sing?! These pianists were illusionist who could create sounds with subtle piano playing and a sense of balance and touch that I had never heard before. They were musicians ,some more capricious than others, who were also showmen and would play a repertoire of short pieces, often their encores, that could fit easily into the limited time span of the rolls. It was much later with the arrival in the west of Richter ,Gilels and Ashkenazy that we could full appreciate this ‘Russian’ school of playing. The astonishing thing about Richter for example was not his astonishing mastery and virtuosity but was how quietly he could play and project sounds into the hall that were within the range of piano and pianissimo rather than forte and fortissimo.

From the very first notes today there was a crystalline clarity to the playing of delicacy and sensitivity.Variations that gradually unfolded without ever loosing the clarity or luminosity due to a very precise sense of touch and mastery of the pedals. Playing of great poise and aristocratic simplicity with moments of sublime almost religious reflection. Ornaments that shone like jewels but that were always part of the musical line giving poignant meaning and expression to the simple outpouring of Bach’s masterly knotty twine.

It was interesting to hear Schubert’s Impromptu followed by an improvised link to Chopin’s G flat Impromptu . Pianists of the Golden era and before, when a keyboard player was also a kapellmeister. would often improvise between pieces to link the key changes into one harmonious music journey. William brought great fluidity to this theme and set of variations. A subtle kaleidoscope of colours was played with extraordinary sensitivity and with a jeux perlé of beguiling charm and grace.

Chopin was played with more robust passion but also with a sense of improvised freedom and irresistible charm. The subtle beauty of the central tenor melody was a moment to cherish as great artistry was combined with simplicity and radiance.

Ravel’s Jeux d’eau had the same clarity and delicacy as “Dieu fluvial riant de l’eau qui le chatouille” (“river god laughing at the water that tickles him”), which is inscribed on Ravel’s manuscript, and is the epigraph to the printed score. ‘Tickles’ with masterly pedalling that added a subtle sheen to William’s playing without ever clouding the luminosity of the overall texture. As my old teacher Perlemuter said “this work opens up new horizons in piano technique, especially if one remembers that Debussy’s ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ was not written until two years later, in 1903”.There was a beautiful radiance as the swells of sound spread over the keyboard as the golden light of the sun shines down on such marvels.

More marvels were to follow with Saint -Saens ‘The Swan’ in the magical transcription by Godowsky, perhaps the most subtle of all pianists of the Golden age and certainly one of the most reticent. I first heard this from the hands of Cherkassky on a 45rpm recording on which there was this and the Ravel Pavane and I have never forgotten the impact of that discovery when I was a student.

https://youtu.be/Ur7LCtKPzzA?si=A10GdtoucuG882be

Cherkassky even played it at his own funeral ……..as Sidney Harrison played Funerailles at his ! William played it with the same beguiling insinuating half colours and whispered counterpoints imbued with a rubato of enticing decadence.

What fun the piece by Sciarrino is taking Ravel’s water works and having them singing in the rain. I spotted ‘Jeux d’eau’ and ‘Une barque sur l’océan’ and of course this : https://youtu.be/swloMVFALXw

It just shows William’s inexhaustible curiosity to search for unknown works and to include in this context what is obviously an improvised piece of fun by a serious contemporary composer.

William who holds a class at the Guildhall in improvisation explained that the three Chopin Waltzes he would play were linked by his own improvisations to make one unified whole almost as a Sonata – fast- slow -fast. This was in fact the tradition in Chopin’s day and so it was a return to the original moment of creativity in an age when instrumentalists were musicians with a capital ‘M’.

Substituting Chopin’s own opening flourish in the E minor with his own, leading into the waltz played with a sense of style and beauty that he was to bring to all three. Ravishing beauty to the languid A minor was followed by a beautiful improvisation that took us to E flat and the famous Grand Waltz Brillante op 18 of ‘Les Sylphides’.

Scintillating playing of buoyancy and brilliance but also of quite extraordinary musicality where even the acciaccatura’s we could have danced to with elegance and grace.

 

Pianist William Bracken’s creative voice stems from a deep fluency with the language of music itself, dissolving musical boundaries through improvisational state of mind, curiosity and acute contextual awareness. A visionary musician with a vast repertoire of classical masterworks, contemporary works and equally at home in jazz and improvised music, the Wirral-born pianist has won numerous awards including 1st prize at the 2022 Liszt Society International Piano Competition, 1st prize, press prize and audience prize at the 2023 Euregio Piano Award international piano competition, 2nd prize at the 2023 Livorno international piano competition 3rd prize at the 2024 UniSA international piano competition. He currently holds a position as a member of teaching staff in the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. 

Concert highlights include concerto performances at The Barbican, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York, Chipping Campden Festival, LSO St. Luke’s and Wigmore Hall, where he was praised by the Telegraph for his “ courage and stamina and musicality in abundance ” and “ an ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand ”. He is also active as a core member of the improvisation group Ensemble+ and bandleader of the Will Bracken trio. 

Bracken has collaborated with conductors such as Nicholas Collon (Aurora Orchestra) and Domingo Hindoyan (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic) and his chamber partners have included Michael Barenboim, Angela Hewitt and Jonathan Aasgard. During his studies in London William was made a scholar of the Imogen Cooper Music Trust which involved participating in a week of intensive study in the south of France with renowned pianist Dame Imogen Cooper. He also won a full scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Summer School in Colorado U.S.A in 2022, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Fabio Bidini. 

William Bracken at the Guildhall ‘ Intelligence and genial mastery combine’

Martin making his Wigmore debut with a first half of Bach and Mozart with playing of great character and very personal interpretations . Very robust sounds for Bach’s ‘Wachet Auf’ had me hunting in the programme for an answer to the unexpected rather thick over romanticised sounds with a bass of Philadelphian proportions . Busoni of course! Which Martin played with a kaleidoscope of colour and romantic flair and an undeniable authority which for me did not suit Bach’s magical aria. Passing on to the beautiful transcription by Kempff of the Siciliano from Bach’s Flute Sonata where Martin’s sense of colour and character were able to float the magic theme with disarming simplicity on a bed of sumptuous sounds. Bach’s C minor Toccata, pure and unadulterated , was given a performance of radiance and rhythmic drive. Delving deep into the contrapuntal texture but never loosing sight of the architectural shape and maintaining the improvised nature of these early keyboard works designed to show off the instruments and the invention of the kapellmeisters of their day.

It was Schnabel who famously said Mozart was too easy for children but too difficult for adults and it was here that Martin’s deep love for Mozart and need to imbue it with character sacrificed the jewel like precision which is fundamental to it’s architectural shape and is the very backbone of his genius .Variations that were so varied with ornamentation and fluctuations of tempo that distorted rather than enriched the musical meaning. In Martin’s effort to characterise every phrase he lost the undercurrent of rhythmic drive that Chopin likens to a tree with roots firmly embedded in the ground but with the branches free to move. The ‘Menuetto’ lacked this same jewel like precision with notes thrown off with undoubted intention to illuminate but had the opposite effect. The ‘Trio’ too was far too free and wayward and lost its shape to a refined sense of colour . The Turkish March fared much better and Martin’s idea to play the acciaccaturas in two different ways was a novel idea but not over convincing.

After the interval Martin entered another world that suited him much more and was of fantasy and showmanship. Liszt’s ‘Vallée d’Obermann’ was give a poetic and heroic performance and if some of the detail in the tempestuous central episodes were covered by enormous sounds from the bass it was always of great effect. The final bars suffered from some clipped rhythms but the passion and romantic abandon that Martin imbued was of great effect and brought this great tone poem to a triumphant ending. ‘El Amor y la muerte’ from Goyescas was perhaps the highlight of the evening, as the improvised nature and showmanship found in Martin an ideal partner. Streams of notes flowed from his agile fingers with ravishing sounds and half lights illuminating every note. It was a fitting title for the ending of Granados and his wife in the English Channel with their boat torpedoed by a German submarine after the triumphant success of Goyescas in America. Martin chose to finish his recital with the Fourth Sonata of Scriabin. This is a Sonata that Gilels made his own and Martin played the first movement with the same glistening beauty and kaleidoscope of sounds, with a sensitivity and refined tonal palette that was of ravishing beauty.The dynamic drive and rhythmic precision of the Prestissimo, second movement, was played with passionate drive and like in his Liszt building up giant sonorities in the bass that obscured the Mozartian precision of Scriabin’s volando indication.

Greeted with an ovation by a very warm and generous public, Martin who loves his public and is ever ready to please and charm them, chose a paraphrase of Die Fledermaus by Grunfeld to appease their greed for more. Of course the famous melodies were played with beguiling charm and seduced his public as only Martin knows how.The refined technical finesse and superhuman subtlety of the pianists of the golden age of piano playing and the very raison d’être for these showpieces belongs to a bygone age though.

Martins charm and showmanship are beyond reproach and earned him a well deserved ovation from a packed hall on this the coldest night of the year.

A Rose for Martin Bartlett