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https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/10/25/marcella-crudeli-launches-the-31st-edition-of-roma-international-piano-competition/

La musica per un mondo nuovo

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Il pianista Roberto Prosseda, già ospite di Roma Tre Orchestra in diverse occasioni, sarà il protagonista di questa serata al Teatro Palladium

Venerdì 11 novembre ore 20.30 Teatro Palladium
Phoenix
L. Dallapiccola: Piccolo concerto per Muriel Couvreux
M. Rubini: Phoenix per pianoforte e orchestra
A. Bruckner: Sinfonia n. 1 in do minore WAB 101 (trascrizione per orchestra da camera a cura di M. Rubini)
Roberto Prosseda, pianoforte
Roma Tre Orchestra
Massimiliano Caldi, direttore

In collaborazione con il Teatro Verdi di Pordenone, che ci ospiterà domani 10 novembre, questo programma prosegue il cammino del “Bruckner Project” che Roma Tre Orchestra dedica a trascrizioni delle sinfonie del celebre compositore austriaco, in vista dei 200 anni dalla nascita nel 2024.
La prima sinfonia è proposta in una trascrizione di Matteo Rubini che ne rielabora la scrittura per adattarla ad un organico strumentale più ristretto, sotto la sapiente guida di Massimiliano Caldi.
Rubini presenta inoltre un nuovo brano intitolato Phoenix, eseguito dal celebre pianista Roberto Prosseda. Versatile interprete attento alla musica moderna e contemporanea, Prosseda esegue anche il Piccolo concerto per Muriel Couvreux di Luigi Dallapiccola.

Questa partitura, dedicata alla figlioletta settenne di un’amica parigina, Lucienne Couvreux, nasce nei primi anni della seconda guerra mondiale, tra il 1939 e il 1941. Nulla traspare, in questa musica, della tragicità di quei giorni: la scrittura, ancora diatonica, ha la serenità che si conviene ad una musica scritta per una bambina. L’essenzialità delle frasi, la freschezza e la chiarezza degli impasti strumentali, il semplice dialogare tra il solista e la piccola orchestra sono le caratteristiche emergenti di questo lavoro, che pur presenta una tecnica canonica estremamente complessa. La prima esecuzione ebbe luogo al Teatro delle Arti di Roma il 1 maggio 1941 sotto la direzione di Fernando Previtali, solista l’autore stesso.Il curioso titolo di questa composizione porta il nome della dedicataria, figlia di un’amica parigina del compositore. Scritto tra il 1939 e il 1941, il brano ha ancora una scrittura diatonica (successivamente Dallapiccola sarebbe stato tra i primi italiani ad intraprendere la strada della dodecafonia). La prima esecuzione ebbe luogo presso il Teatro delle Arti di Roma il 1 maggio 1941, quando Parigi era ormai da quasi un anno sotto il giogo nazista.

The rise of the Phoenix the eclectic Roberto Prosseda surprises us again as he hovers over the keyboard with a little known concerto by Dallapiccola and a world premiere of a concerto by Rubini.
The ink still wet on the page as Roberto flew in from Stuttgart and Israel where he has been performing the Gounod concerto for pedal piano and orchestra before arriving back home for this world premiere.
A work which had arrived only during the last month with Roberto mastering it inbetween rehearsals and plane journeys .He arrived back only a few days ago to rehearse in Pordenone where his equally astonishing colleague Maurizio Baglini organises an extraordinary musical season.Pordonone was actually the world premiere and Rome the consolidated second premiere.

With the guardian angel of Roma 3 Valerio Vicari providing the orchestra that he has carefully formed and nurtured over the past 15 years he gave us the possibility to hear this concerto in the capitol.
Not an easy choice but then Valerio and Prof Pujia are intent on giving a platform not only to young musicians at the start of their career but also a platform for new music.
Even more surprising is that the score is also being published by Roma TrE-Press.

A programme that together with these concertos also included Maestro Rubini’s transcription for chamber orchestra of Bruckner’s First Symphony WAB 101.
Anyone familiar with the mighty symphonic output of Bruckner would know that to reduce this symphonic mastery to a chamber ensemble is no mean feat.
It just shows the technical mastery of Maestro Rubini that we had already appreciated in his concerto.

Phoenix is a concerto for piano and orchestra in two movements and is prefaced by a very suggestive phrase from Dante’s ‘Inferno’:
‘che la fenice more e poi rinasce,quando al cinquecentesimo anno appressa erba ne’ biada in sua vita non pasce,ma sol d’incenso lacrima e d’amomo,e nardo son l’ultime fasce’ Inferno XX1V,107-111.
Like the Dallapiccola that preceded it this is a work in which the piano and orchestra create a world of chamber music proportions listening and working together to create a whole.
It was obvious that from the sinister bass comments from the piano in Phoenix that this was a work of darkness where the chiselled sounds of the piano in Dallapiccola were all lightness and purity.
Strange as this little known concerto was written in 1939 with the clouds of an imminent war hovering above!
They were played with a conviction and mastery that was remarkable and luckily I saw microphones so imagine it can be available to the vast public that it deserves.
Roberto’s advocacy of contemporary and unknown music is becoming leggendary.
I remember him as a young student from the school of Sergio Cafaro trying out his programmes at the nearby Ghione theatre before his competition successes.He even gave a programme of contemporary Italian composers that the teenage Roberto insisted he wanted to present without the score!

He made a CD of all the works of Petrassi that I was happy to place in the blind composers hands who was our neighbour during the summer months in San Felice Circeo.
Fou Ts’ong would often give masterclasses at the Ghione theatre and he was always overjoyed when Roberto could take part.’He can do everything I suggest immediately’exclaimed Ts’ong. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/13/roberto-prosseda-pays-tribute-to-the-genius-of-chopin-and-the-inspirational-figure-of-fou-tsong/

It was only a year or two later that he was accepted to the International Piano Academy on Lake Como where he was able to perfect his playing under Fou Ts’ong and William Nabore.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/26/william-grant-nabore-thoughts-and-afterthoughts-of-a-great-teacher/

Not only an advocate of contemporary music but he also discovers in the musical archives music of the past that has been left on dusty shelves completely overlooked by less inquisitive eyes.
I have heard him in London play the completely overlooked pedal piano and give a remarkable performance of Gounod’s long forgotten concerto and as encore pieces written especially for this instrument by Schumann.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2018/11/17/roberto-prosseda-and-oleg-caetani-with-the-london-philharmonic-in-london/

The conductor with the LPO was Oleg Caetani ,the son of Igor Markevich.Caetani being the noble family owning much of the region of Latina where Roberto was born.
He has also uncovered so many forgotten works by the prodigious Mendelssohn and has recorded what might be considered the most complete survey of his music.
Fragments of a third concerto were pieced together by his colleague Maestro Buffalini,husband of Luisa Prayer also from the school of Sergio Cafaro ,and the work was played in London with the then little known Yannick Nezet – Seguin ( now the famous successor of Muti in Philadelphia ) and went on to record it with Riccardo Chailly.
Not content with all this performing activity he is also to be found publishing books on piano technique and running festivals such as Cremona Musica.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/26/cremona-the-city-of-dreams-a-global-network-where-dreams-become-reality/

He also has one of the most important classes in Rovigo Conservatory and also has an important piano duo with his wife Alessandra Maria Ammara . https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/22/duo-prosedda-amara-french-women-composers-for-four-hands-from-palazetto-bruce-zane-in-venice/

And last but not least a happy family man of three children who will have much to live up to in the future !

He is dashing off after this concert to be the only pianist jury member for the Premio Venezia in Venice at La Fenice ……the Phoenix ……coincidence or is it written on the cards!

An extraordinary display not only of great authority and total command of the keyboard.Above all ,though,this young man’s performances today will long be remembered for their aristocratic musicianship in which very note had a meaning and significance as it built to an architectural whole of great maturity.
From the very opening the power of the left hand gave such profundity to the sound giving it a richness of orchestral proportions adding such nobility and grandeur to Busoni’s recreation of Bach’s Toccata in C.
Twenty four preludes that were twenty four jewels in a crown that even the great Chopin player Fou Ts’ong declared were for most mortals twenty four problems.Not in Jacky’s poetic hands as the ravishing sounds and astonishing technical mastery allowed each individual prelude to become a miniature tone poem of simplicity and grandeur.
But it was the encore that was even more astonishing.
Mazeppa,one of Liszt’s most taxing of transcendental studies was played like the west wind blowing over the keys.A gust of wind that entered and built in power and brilliance that was breathtaking.
The ravishing beauty of the mellifluous central section was played with such subtle colouring and shape and was truly heartrending.
But as the west wind blew up again we were astonished at the volume of sound that this young man could produce without it ever becoming hard or ungrateful.
On the contrary it was the sound that only the greatest of players can find with such ease and refined brilliance and comes from very early training and an enormous amount of work and dedication to acquire fingers of steel but wrists of rubber.
Above all though to train ears that listen with the sensitivy of a poet and hands that caress the keys with the creativity of a sculptor.
A mentor of the stature of Dmitri Alexeev ‘non guasta’ as they say in my part of the world (I am listening from my home in Italy ) and who is also a long time resident of Ealing where a strange wind seems to bring the greatest of young musicians these days.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/22/the-back-of-beyond-bright-future-for-the-class-of-dmitri-alexeev-jacky-zhang-alexander-doronin-nikita-burzanitsa-thomas-kelly-junlin-wu/

This very Toccata was the one that Horowitz chose for his return to the stage in 1965 at Carnegie Hall.The great Horowitz not having been heard in public for 12 years,missed the opening flourish and it sent a shiver down everyone’s spine but which soon turned into delirium as the concert passed into history as the triumph it truly was.

Jacky at 14 gave a remarkable performance technically and musically.Impeccable but lacking the great organ sonorities that Busoni was trying to evoke on the piano.Bosendorfer had added another nine notes to their grand coda on Busoni’s quest for more sonority.The normal piano is of 88 notes and Bosendorfer could boast 97,the added bass notes usually covered with a wooden box but these days just painted black.The only composer I know who specifically used these extra notes was Bartok in his piano Sonata which most editors ignore !It was this great accumulation of sound that was missing whilst Jacky played with remarkable clarity and an enviable sense of contrapuntal lines.It lacked though the weight and mighty forward moving energy that is such an integral part of these organ works.

The Adagio was played with ravishing tone but without the weight of a deep legato that would allow the melodic line to soar on high as a prayer of thanksgiving in one great line above the rather urbane accompaniment.The Fugue was again played with exemplary clarity and non legato but as the ever contrapuntal texture became denser Jacky at last allowed himself to add more pedal and more sonority as well as conquering the transcendental difficulties that abound.A remarkable performance that will grow in stature as Jacky grows in years!

Let me just say that this performance of the Chopin preludes by a 14 year old boy was one of the most remarkable things I have heard for a long time.The concentration and aristocratic weight he brought to each of these twenty four tone poems was at times breathtaking as it was ravishing.A great diamond giving out rays of light as it slowly turned from one prelude to another.It was beautiful to see his long fingers poised on the keys as Chopin himself had explained to his pupils.Not the unnatural curved fingers of C major but the long caressing movement of C sharp!And what beauty he brought to the all too short introductory first Prelude.It is the one that Perlemuter could not capture in the recording studio but luckily at Nimbus a microphone had been left on while he was trying the piano and it was this improvised naturalness that had been so hard to find when the red light came on.Jackie understood this immediately which maybe goes to prove Schnabel’s famous line about Mozart being ‘too difficult for adults but too easy for children’.The deep brooding and flexible pulse of the second gave great shape to this rather bleak landscape.The left hand almost in duet with the long melodic lines bursting over only at emotional peaks which gave such impact to this usually rather bland opening prelude.The third was played with enviable clarity,the left hand in a continuous flow of notes with the melodic line played legato as it was shaped so beautifully above this gently flowing accompaniment.The beautiful fourth prelude started so slowly but gradually built in intensity always within an architectural shape that was so natural as it died away to a mere whisper.The gently flowing fifth was beautifully shaped and acted as a breath of fresh air as the sixth came sweeping in with unusual speed, it’s bass melody so delicately played with such flexibility.The little seventh was played with disarming simplicity with the eighth entering as a whisper as it grew in intensity and passionate commitment.It was played with astonishing control and sense of line and the mere vibrations of notes at the end created a magic atmosphere only broken by the final delicate chords .He brought great nobility and authority to the ninth before the scintillating Jeux perlé of the tenth as it commented on the rather capricious melodic line.The eleventh flowed beautifully as it was allowed to unfold so naturally before the final deep bass note out of which grew the frenzied dance of the twelfth.Here the transcendental difficulties were thrown off seemingly with ease but also with a rhythmic energy that was quite exhilarating.The sense of balance in the thirteenth allowed the melodic line to sing out beautifully with the transition to the central section played with the utmost sensibility.The very short fourteenth was barely a gust of wind before the sublime beauty of the ‘raindrop’ prelude.Played with mature simplicity and beauty with the deeply brooding central section suddenly becoming reminiscent of the opening prelude as it built in intensity before the return of the opening melody even more sensitively embroidered and a coda of quite extraordinary poignancy.Like with the ninth he added a quiet bass note before all hell let loose with the sixteenth prelude.After the opening declamatory chords there was the driving rhythmic energy of the swirls of notes that Jackie played with passionate involvement and an enviable technical prowess.The sweep and beauty of the seventeenth came as a great contrast with its beautiful coda where the melodic line floated on the deep bell like bass notes.The cadenza prelude of number eighteen was played with a declamatory display of dramatic effect.Number nineteen the most technically difficult of all the preludes was played with an ease and grace that belied it’s treacherous stretches and leaps as it flowed so mellifluously.There was grandeur and nobility in the twentieth variation which was later used by Busoni and Rachmaninov as a basis for their own variations .The chords imperceptibly dying away into the distance before the final chord placed with dramatic care by Jacky.There was a beautiful sense of balance to the twenty first with a flowing melody played with disarming simplicity before the octaves of number twenty two entered almost unnoticed as they built up to an exciting climax.The twenty third just flowed from his fingers with a grace and ease before the tempestuous final prelude.A prelude played with all the youthful passion and considerable technical control even adding a bass note at the moment of greatest intensity.Not sure why he would want to split the last great dive to the final three bass notes or play them all with the same intensity.But then I am forgetting that this is a boy of fourteen and not yet quite the mature master that I was convinced I was listening to today.

A Kreutzer from Kulibaev and Kondratiev that had us all on our feet after a three day tour de force of the complete piano and violin Sonatas of Beethoven.
Even the collection of Roman masks in this Museo Campano seemed to have a smile on their rather severe faces in this unique location .
Capua,a city that can boast 100 churches and a collection of Roman coins and effigies which is the envy of the world .

A Beethoven project which includes all the cello sonatas too that Antonino Cascio has programmed in his Autunno musicale series.
A full house here and at the nearby Reggio di Caserta with people obviously wanting more.

An eleventh sonata was not on the cards but the last movement of the G major sonata op.30 n.3 was!
It is the one in which Kreisler had got lost in his performance with Rachmaninov (it is a famous recording too ).
‘Where are we ?’ whispered the most loved of all violinists ‘Carnegie Hall’intoned the straight faced Rachmaninov!
No problem for this disciple of Zakhar Bron especially when the duo with Prof. Ilya Kondratiev had created a single glorious voice of such potency.

The Violin Sonata No. 6 in A major op.30 n.1, the first of his Opus 30 set, was composed between 1801 and 1802, published in May 1803,and dedicated to Tsar Alexander 1 of Russia.

1. Allegro
2. Adagio molto espressivo
3. Allegretto con variazioni

The Sonata op 30 n.1 where the Allegro immediately established a scintillating play between the violin and piano with such subtle phrasing.Each player trying to out do the other with superb musicianship and control that led to a continual musical conversation that kept the audience spellbound throughout the recital.There was an uninterrupted flow of mellifluous beauty in the Adagio as the melodic line was passed first from the violin to the piano.Whispered beauty from the violin too was answered with a such refined accompaniment from the piano.The finale that Beethoven had substituted for the Kreutzer was of a pastoral freshness.There was some truly virtuoso playing from the piano in the very first variation and just the start of a real question and answer between these two extraordinary musicians.The coda was of a ‘joie de vivre’ that was quite ravishing.

The Violin Sonata No. 3 in E flat major op.12 n.3 , the third of his Opus 12 set, was written in 1798 and dedicated to Antonio Salieri .

1. Allegro con spirito
2. Adagio con molta espressione – in C major
3. Rondo: Allegro molto

There was such effervescence in the Allegro con spirito which contrasted with the Adagio that was played with great intensity.The infectious rhythmic energy of the Rondo brought this early sonata to a brilliant end.

The Violin Sonata No. 9, in A major op.47 was written in 1803 and is notable for its technical difficulty , unusual length and emotional scope. It is commonly known as the Kreutzer Sonata after the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer , to whom it was ultimately dedicated, but who thoroughly disliked the piece and refused to play it

In the composer’s 1803 sketchbook, the work was titled “Sonata per il Pianoforte ed uno violino obligato in uno stile molto concertante come d’un concerto” The final movement was originally written for the Sonata n.6 op 30 n.1 ^.

The sonata was originally dedicated to the violinist George Bridgetower (1778–1860) as “Sonata mulattica composta per il mulatto Brischdauer [Bridgetower], gran pazzo e compositore mulattico” (Mulatto Sonata composed for the mulatto Brischdauer, great madman mulatto composer).Though Beethoven had barely completed the sonata it received its first public performance at a concert in the Augarten on 24 May 1803 at 8:00 am,with Beethoven on piano and Bridgetower on violin. Bridgetower had to read the violin part of the second movement from Beethoven’s copy, over his shoulder.

He made a slight amendment to his part, which Beethoven gratefully accepted, jumping up to say “Noch einmal, mein lieber Bursch!” (“Once more, my dear fellow!”). George Bridgetower was born in Poland of a West Indian father described as an African Prince and German mother described as a Polish lady of quality.They were probably both in service!

George showed considerable talent while still a child and gave successful violin concerts in Paris,London,Bath and Bristol in 1789. In 1791, the Prince Regent , the future King George IV, took an interest in him and oversaw his musical education.He performed in the Philharmonic Society of London’s first season in 1813, leading the performance of Beethoven’s Quintet,and subsequently married Mary Leech Leeke in 1816. He later travelled abroad, particularly to Italy , where his daughter lived. He died in 1860 in Peckham , south London and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.After the premiere performance, Beethoven and Bridgetower fell out.While the two were drinking, Bridgetower apparently insulted the morals of a woman whom Beethoven cherished. Enraged, Beethoven removed the dedication of the piece, dedicating it instead to Rodolphe Kreutzer , who was considered the finest violinist of the day.After its successful premiere in 1803, the work was published in 1805 as Beethoven’s Op. 47, with its re-dedication to Rudolphe Kreutzer, which gave the composition its nickname. Kreutzer never performed the work, considering it “outrageously unintelligible”. He did not particularly care for any of Beethoven’s music, and they only ever met once, briefly.

The concentration of Erzhan before striking the solo opening declaration was like a climber contemplating Everest before the ascent!There was a feeling as the pianist too replied with flourishes of nobility and grandeur that we were about to hear something very special.These are two superb musicians who have already given some recitals together in London but have never contemplated a complete cycle of Beethoven until persuaded by the indomitable Antonino Cascio to play them this weekend in Capua.

They will repeat the cycle in Thailand in December before inevitably embarking on tours of the capital cities of the musical world.Here they were now at the end of a third day immersed in Beethoven surrounded by Romanic history and about to climb Everest together.And what an exhilarating journey it was too with the sudden burst of electric energy after the opening nobility of the Adagio sostenuto.Amazing outbursts of virtuosity from both players but also the heart rending beauty of the second subject played so aristocratically by the violin and mirrored by the sublime beauty of the melodic line in octaves on the piano.But then the crazy outbursts of energy and the knotty twine of the development where they managed to play as one even in the most intricate of passages.The sudden burst of energy in the coda was breathtaking coming after the serene rest of the Adagio chords that preceded it.It was in fact the continual unexpected contrasts that had led Maestro Kreutzer to consider it simply ‘outrageously unintelligible’.There was an ideal tempo set by Ilya in the Andante and the beauty of his playing and the mellifluous unwinding of the trills was matched by the simplicity and aristocratic style of Erzhan.A first variation in which the violin just comments on the elaborate piano part.Of course the second variation given to the violin with the repeated violin notes played not only ‘leggiermente’ as the composer asks but with a shape and rhythmic impulse all sotto voce and staccato that is a real tour de force of technical prowess.The deep communing between them in the minor was answered by their ravishing interplay in the major.It showed the absolute mastery of Beethoven who could create so much from so little as is evident also in the 3rd and 4th piano concertos of this same period.The interplay between these two artists in the coda reached such sublime heights that the slap of the fortissimo A major .It was the opening cry of the Presto and was like a stroke of lightening before the ferocious cat and mouse of the infamous rhythmic propulsion of this final exhilarating movement.A technical mastery from both players,having shared this long three day journey together ,could now let their hair down (metaphorically speaking dear Erzhan ).An ‘all or nothing’ performance that brought this complete panorama of masterworks of a genius to a truly thrilling ending .

https://www.raiplaysound.it/audio/2022/11/Radio3-Suite—Il-Cartellone-del-04112022-cbac7261-716d-4864-8aff-2a4593d12aeb.html

It was in the little Romance in F sharp op 28 by Robert Schumann played as an encore by Beatrice Rana that shone a light on a genius.Such exquisite playing of whispered beauty,not playing out to the audience but drawing them in to her secret world of ravishing beauty.
Clara Schumann’s A minor piano concerto paled into the distance as try as she could Beatrice Rana could not turn a mere bauble into a gem.Some exquisite playing of rather empty uninspired music that seemed to be without any architectural shape or even a memorable melodic line. Some beautiful chamber music passages when she communed with the superb cello of Diego Romano or the filigree accompaniment of delicious delicacy as Pappano drew his forces to play with consumate style and passion.A finale to say bland would be too little but injected with the lifeblood of great artists Pappano and Beatrice did their best to inject some life into an empty vessel.Historically interesting,of course,to be reminded of the first woman virtuoso pianist writing her own concerto at only 16 .To discover an international performing career of over 61 years while breeding eight children.Amazing but do we really think we have struck gold?………..the only gold and silver streamed from the hands of one of the finest young pianists of her generation.

It is the first performance for the Accademy of the concerto whereas there is a list of almost three pages for the performances of the Unfinished Symphony since 1900.I think that says it all !

Wonderful sensitivity of an orchestra who have learnt in the past 20 years under Pappano to listen to each other.An orchestra that listens to itself is a force to be reckoned with as the superb performances of Schubert Unfinished and Schumann Second Symphony demonstrated.
Pappano will be much missed when after almost 20 years he moves permanently to London next year to guide the LSO following in the footsteps of Abbado.

Italy can be rightly proud of its musical legacy from Toscanini to our present day Pappano ……and from Busoni to Rana!
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/10/12/beatrice-rana-a-tornado-ignites-the-wigmore-hall/

The Piano Concerto in A minor op.7, was composed by Clara Wieck, better known as Clara Schumann after her marriage to Robert Schumann. She completed her only finished piano concerto in 1835, and played it first that year with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Felix Mendelssohn.

Clara Wieck was an accomplished concert pianist, trained by her father Friedrich Wieck.She was already making international tours at age eleven and composed piano pieces for her recitals.Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works She started receiving basic piano instruction from her mother at the age of four but after her mother moved out, she began taking daily one-hour lessons from her father. They included subjects such as piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint.She then had to practice for two hours every day. Her father followed the methods in his own book, Wiecks pianistische Erziehung zum schönen Anschlag und zum singenden Ton (“Wieck’s Piano Education for a Delicate Touch and a Singing Sound.”)Clara Wieck made her official debut on 28 October 1828 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, aged nine.The same year, she performed at the Leipzig home of Ernst Carus, director of the mental hospital at Colditz Castle.There, she met another gifted young pianist who had been invited to the musical evening, Robert Schumann , who was nine years older. Schumann admired Clara’s playing so much that he asked permission from his mother to stop studying law, which had never interested him much, and take music lessons with Clara’s father. While taking lessons, he rented a room in the Wieck household and stayed about a year.From December 1837 to April 1838, at the age of 18, Wieck performed a series of recitals in Vienna She performed to sell-out crowds to great critical acclaim; Chopin described her playing to Franz Liszt and a music critic, describing her Vienna recitals, said: “The appearance of this artist can be regarded as epoch-making… In her creative hands, the most ordinary passage, the most routine motive acquires a significant meaning, a colour, which only those with the most consummate artistry can give.” Clara Schumann first toured England in April 1856, while her husband was still living but unable to travel. She was invited to play in a London Philharmonic Society concert by conductor William Sterndale Bennett, a good friend of Robert’s to whom he had dedicated the Etudes Symphoniques op 13.In May 1856, she played Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the New Philharmonic Society conducted by Dr Wylde, who as she said had “led a dreadful rehearsal” and “could not grasp the rhythm of the last movement”.Still, she returned to London the following year and continued to perform in Britain for the next 15 years.

It was in January 1833, at age 13, she began composing a Piano Concerto in , completing it in November a single-movement Konzertsatz that she orchestrated herself. In February 1834, her future husband Robert revised the orchestration,and the 14-year-old prodigy then performed it in several concerts.She then expanded the work by adding two more movements, using the Konzertsatz as the finale. The new first movement was completed in June 1834, and the slow second movement “Romance” with its extended cello solo was finished the following year. She again orchestrated the work herself, including undoing Robert’s revisions of the original Konzertsatz, completing her new three-movement Piano Concerto on 1 September 1835, twelve days before her 16th birthday.Clara premiered the full concerto on 9 November 1835 as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Mendelssohn

Her life was punctuated by tragedy Not only did her husband predecease her, but so did four of their children.Their first son, Emil, died in 1847, aged only 1.Their daughter Julie died in 1872, leaving two small children aged only 2 and 7, then raised by their grandmother.In 1879, their son Felix died aged 24.In 1891, their son Ferdinand died at the age of 41, leaving his children to her care.In 1878, she was appointed the first piano teacher of the new Dr Hoch’s Knservatorium in Frankfurt.Among her 68 known students who made a musical career were Natalia Janotha, Fanny Davies, Nanette Falk, Amina Goodwin, Carl Friedberg, Leonard Borwick, Ilona Eibenschütz, Adelina de Lara, Marie Olson and Mary Wurm.She played her last public concert in Frankfurt on 12 March 1891. The last work she played was Brahms’s Haydn Variations , in a version for two pianos, with James Kwast.

Clara and Robert Schumann had eight children:

• Marie (1841–1929)
• Elise (1843–1928)
• Julie (1845–1872)
• Emil (1846–1847)
• Ludwig (1848–1899)
• Ferdinand (1849–1891)
• Eugenie (1851–1938)
• Felix (1854–1879).

A curiosity is the fact that Martha Noguera the distinguished Argentinian pianist was approached by her agent to play the Clara Schumann Concerto in Naples with the Alessandro Scarlatti Orchestra conducted by Carl Melles.Not finding the score in Buenos Aires she learnt the concerto by listening to a recording .When she came to the first rehearsal in 1990 in Naples she was relieved to find that she had been able to be faithful to the score …..this is a live recording of their concert : https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi6wsXowpf7AhVDhf0HHWz8BuAQtwJ6BAgLEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D37Zc-wWX-rY&usg=AOvVaw20MyXlqEtzCPOEOLRBlYU7

For his concert in the beautiful Harold Acton Library, Pedro played Haydn, Paderewski, Ginastera and Mussorgsky.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/07/30/pedro-lopez-salas-artist-and-musician/

The Haydn Sonata XV1 n.12 in A first appeared as a Divertimento in A and was written around 1767.It is thought the first movement may have been by C.P.E Bach.According to Grove Music, this is in the list of “early harpsichord sonatas attributed to Haydn”, but has the comment ‘I doubtful’ which may mean that the 1st movement is considered doubtful.

Franz Joseph Haydn,31st March 1732 – 31st May 1809,was one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet” because of his important contributions to these forms. He was also instrumental in the development of the piano trio and in the evolution of sonata form. A lifelong resident of Austria, Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family on their remote estate. Isolated from other composers and trends in music until the later part of his long life, he was, as he put it, “forced to become original”. At the time of his death, he was one of the most celebrated composers in Europe.

From the very first notes Pedro showed us that we were in for something very special tonight as everything he played was brought to life with such musicianship.Every phrase,every passage was given a life of its own in a musical conversation that is rare indeed.There was such delicacy in the opening Andante with jewel like ornaments that just sprang from his fingers with spring like brilliance.Sparkling and glowing with ever more meaning as he shaped the phrases with beauty and rhythmic drive.The Menuet was very simple and beautifully shaped contrasting with the music box sounds of the Trio played on the surface of the keys with long held pedals as Haydn himself had indicated.A similar effect to the later C major Sonata Hob XV1:50 written more that 30 years later in 1795/5 and one of Haydn’s four famous London Sonatas which are the distillation of the composer’s entire sonata-writing output .They were,though,written for an instrument of greater tonal range than the Viennese instruments of the day, with a wider palette of specified dynamic possibilities and pedal effects.The return of the simple black and white elegance of the Menuet was like reopening a window, having been taken on a magic dream world of make believe.The Finale was scintillating and exhilarating bursting with youthful energy but in Pedro’s masterly hands always given such shape and character .

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (18 November 1860 – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation’s Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War 1^.A favorite of concert audiences around the world, his musical fame opened access to diplomacy and the media.During World War I, Paderewski advocated an independent Poland, including touring the United States, where he met with President Woodrow Wilson who came to support the creation of an independent Poland at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, which led to the Treaty of Versailles.

His piano miniatures became especially popular; the Minuet in G Op. 14 No. 1, written in the style of Mozart, became one of the most recognized piano tunes of all time. Despite his relentless touring schedule and his political and charitable engagements, Paderewski left a legacy of over 70 orchestral, instrumental, and vocal works.All of his works evoke a romantic image of Poland. They incorporate references to Polish dances (polonaise, krakowiak, and mazurka) and highlander music (Tatra album [Album tatrzańskie], op. 12, Polish Dances [Tańce polskie], op. 5.

The two short pieces that Pedro chose were beautifully played and although they were obviously salon pieces written for Paderewski’s own tours he almost turned ‘baubles into gems’.His extraordinary sense of balance allowed the touching ‘bitter sweet’ melody to sing in an enchanting way that was of great effect.The Cracovienne fantastique on the other hand where the Gopak type dance was played with great energy and character.There was also scintillating jeux perlé effects that were ravishing and would have obviously thrilled the thousands of fans that flocked to hear the ‘greatest virtuoso of all time’.Pedro’s fingerfertigkeit was extraordinary in the way the notes just seemed to flow from his fingers with such charm and ease.Let us not forget that Paderewski was the first pianist to give a solo recital in the newly opened 3000 seat Carnegie Hall and 20000 people flocked to hear him in Madison Square Garden.A modern day Lang Lang one might say who like Paderewski has also put his quite considerable fortune amassed from his concert career to philanthropical use.

After the invasion of Poland in 1939, Paderewski returned to public life. In 1940, he became the head of the National Council of Poland , a Polish sejm (parliament) in exile in London. He again turned to America for help and his broadcast was carried by over 100 radio stations in the United States and Canada. He advocated in person for European aid and to defeat Nazism. In 1941, Paderewski witnessed a touching tribute to his artistry and humanitarianism as US cities celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first American tour by putting on a Paderewski Week, with over 6000 concerts in his honour. In 1992, after the end of communism in Poland, his remains were transferred to Warsaw and placed in St.John’s Archcathedral. His heart is encased in a bronze sculpture in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa near Doylestown,Pennsylvania.

Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22 by Ginastera is in four movements.It was commissioned by the Carnegie Institute and the Pennsylvania College for Women writing a piano sonata for the Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival. The first performance in 1952 was given by pianist Johana Harris, wife of American composer Roy Harris, and Ginastera’s intention for the piece was to capture the spirit of Argentine folk music without relying on explicit quotations from existing folk songs.Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires (April 11, 1916 – June 25, 1983) and is considered to be one of the most important 20th century classical composers of the Americas.He studied at the Williams Conservatory in Buenos Aires, graduating in 1938 and as a young professor, he taught at the Liceo Militar General San Martín. After a visit to the United States in 1945–47, where he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, he returned to Buenos Aires. Ginastera grouped his music into three periods: “Objective Nationalism” (1934–1948), “Subjective Nationalism” (1948–1958), and “Neo-Expressionism” (1958–1983). Among other distinguishing features, these periods vary in their use of traditional Argentine musical elements. His Objective Nationalistic works often integrate Argentine folk themes in a straightforward fashion, while works in the later periods incorporate traditional elements in increasingly abstracted forms.

There was playing of rhythmic precision and driving Latin fever mixed with episodes of ravishing colour.The legato meanderings of the second movement were of Chopinesque whispered mystery until sudden ferocious outbursts erupted before dissolving back to its atmospheric beginnings.There was startling intensity in the Adagio with its calm and crystalline melodic interruptions over exotic luxuriant arpeggiando chords.The final toccata was played with a ferocious outpouring of savage rhythms that were of great effect and brought this showcase work to a brilliant conclusion.Much to the relief of the director Simon Gammell who feared that his 1898 instrument might have collapsed in a heap at his feet!But Pedro is an artist who can feel the limits and possibilities of the instrument he is playing and can gage his passion with extraordinary sensitivity.

Pictures at an Exhibition is based on pictures by the artist, architect, and designer Viktor Hartmann. It was probably in 1868 that Mussorgsky first met Hartmann, not long after the latter’s return to Russia from abroad. Both men were devoted to the cause of an intrinsically Russian art and quickly became friends. They met in the home of the influential critic Vladimir Stasov, who followed both of their careers with interest. According to Stasov’s testimony, in 1868, Hartmann gave Mussorgsky two of the pictures that later formed the basis of Pictures at an Exhibition.

Hartmann’s sudden death on 4 August 1873 from an aneurysm shook Mussorgsky along with others in Russia’s art world. The loss of the artist, aged only 39, plunged the composer into deep despair. Stasov helped to organize a memorial exhibition of over 400 Hartmann works in the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in February and March 1874. Mussorgsky lent the exhibition the two pictures Hartmann had given him, and viewed the show in person, inspired to compose Pictures at an Exhibition, quickly completing the score in three weeks (2–22 June 1874).Five days after finishing the composition, he wrote on the title page of the manuscript a tribute to Vladimir Stasov, to whom the work is dedicated.The music depicts his tour of the exhibition, with each of the ten numbers of the suite serving as a musical illustration of an individual work by Hartmann.Although composed very rapidly, during June 1874, the work did not appear in print until 1886, five years after the composer’s death, when a not very accurate edition by the composer’s friend and colleague Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was published.

Mussorgsky suffered personally from alcoholism, it was also a behavior pattern considered typical for those of Mussorgsky’s generation who wanted to oppose the establishment and protest through extreme forms of behavior.One contemporary notes, “an intense worship of Bacchus was considered to be almost obligatory for a writer of that period.”Mussorgsky spent day and night in a Saint Petersburg tavern of low repute, the Maly Yaroslavets, accompanied by other bohemian dropouts. He and his fellow drinkers idealized their alcoholism, perhaps seeing it as ethical and aesthetic opposition. This bravado, however, led to little more than isolation and eventual self-destruction.

I have heard Pedro before,encouraged to listen to a very talented student by his teacher at the RCM Norma Fisher. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/05/12/norma-fisher-at-steinway-hall-the-bbc-recordings-on-wings-of-song-the-story-continues/. I could never have imagined that he would mature into an artist of such stature .Such weight and sensitivity where every note had a meaning in an overall architectural structure of remarkable maturity.Could it have been the times we are living as Semyon Bychkov said introducing Ma Vlast – My fatherland with the Czech Philharmonic?Maybe we listen in these terrible times to the music we have known for a life time in a different way.The Great Gate of Kiev we certainly listened in a different way today not only because of the terrible news from the Ukraine but also because this young man played it with such a sense of style and colour with real physical elan.An old much abused war horse was truly reborn as we hope a miracle might occur in real life to curb the zealous evil of a despot.

It had been from the very first luminous notes of the Promenade of Mussorgsky’s Pictures that our attention was immediately caught and we were held very much under the spell of the authority and extraordinary musicianship of this young artist.The character he brought to Gnomus was captivating as was the sublime beauty of the promenade 2 before the gentle flow of the Old Castle .It was played with such subtle colouring and a sumptuous sense of balance of utmost sensitivity.A promenade 3 of weight and determination led to the irresistible insistence of children quarrelling in the Tuileries only to be interrupted by the grandeur of Bydlo.Such delicacy and luminosity in the promenade 4 was followed by the rhythmic pointing and delight of the unhatched chicks pleasantly surprised to find such fingerfertigkeit!Has Samuel Goldenberg ever sounded so pompous and serious and Schmuyle so beseechingly humble?The dexterity in the market place was astonishing for the breath control at such a pace.His sense of colour in catacombae was truly kaleidoscopic where every note of every chord had such meaning.The sheer physical urgency of Baba Yaga was overpowering with an absolutely hypnotic energy that swept all before it.The contrast with the whispered terror of the central section sent a scriver down our backs and to any pianists present a lesson of control in pianissimo!

There was such grandeur in the opening statement of the Great Gate and a serenity and complete change of colour that was deeply moving for the two chorale episodes.The gradual tolling of the bells showed a quite extraordinary sense of balance and control without ever loosing the inner tension and energy.It demonstrated the total immersion of this young artist in his magic sound world that he was able to share so magnificently with us today.

A spontaneous standing ovation and insistence brought Pedro back with his castanets ,clicking his heels in an an absolutely scintillating performance of El Pelele by Granados .I never expected to hear it played with such charm and style again since Alicia de Larrocha used to seduce us with it in Rome.He could have played all night but with three quarters of a century still before him this is just the beginning of a long and illustrious career.What better after such a concert than a wine tasting organised by Simon and Jennifer Gammell of an excellent IGT merlot “Le Redini” from their partners Tenuta degli Dei.

“Perfect blend of musicality, personality, and brilliantly polished technique” (La Tribuna).

Born in 1997, Pedro is a Spanish pianist who is currently studying the Master of Performance Degree with Prof. Norma Fisher at the “Royal College of Music” of London (RCM), awarded with full scholarship and the title of the “Leverhulme Honorary Arts Scholarships”. He is a “Keyboard Trust” artist, as well as a “Talent Unlimited” artist, both from the UK.He has been awarded with more than 40 prizes at International and National piano competitions, among them, the First Prizes at the Malta International Piano Competition; “Composers of Spain” CIPCE International Piano Competition (Las Rozas, Madrid); “Joan Chisell” Schumann Prize of the RCM (London); César Franck” International Piano Competition (Bruxelles), Second Prize and four special Prizes at the Ferrol International Piano Competition, etc.He has also received crucial inspiration from internationally renowned masters such as Dmitri Baskirov, Dmitri Alexeev, Alexander Kobrin, Pavel Nerssesian, Pascal Nemirovsky, Pavel Gililov, Marianna Aivazova, Mariana Gurkova and Ludmil Angelov.He has performed throughout Spain and Europe in prestigious concert halls, such as the “Palau de la Música” of Valencia, “Teatro de la Maestranza” of Seville, “Miguel Delibes” Concert Hall of Valladolid, Ferrol Concert Hall, “Manuel de Falla” of Granada, “Teatro Circo” of Albacete, Theater of Aachen, “Wiener Saal” of Salzburg, among many others. He has performed as a soloist with the highest quality spanish orchestras, as the “Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia”, “Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León”, “Orquesta de Valencia”, “Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla”, etc.He has offered numerous interviews for international and national press, radio and television. “Three encores, standing audience and a long line of spectators lined up to congratulate the young Spanish pianist. Pedro López Salas brightened up the evening in Milan” (Cultura di Milano). “More than an excellent pianist, he is a soloist and almost a conductor, judging by his scenic development” (Ritmo magazine). “Enormous security and great capacity of the young pianist to endow Liszt’s concerto number 2 with expressiveness and poetry” (El correo de Sevilla).

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/14/the-gift-of-life-the-keyboard-trust-at-30/

Adrian Partington – conductor Misha Kaploukhii – piano Madeleine Boreham – soprano Redmond Sanders – baritone RCM Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Mark Biggins – chorus director Liszt Piano Concerto no 2 in A major S 125 Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony Continuing our celebrations for Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary, renowned choral conductor and RCM alumnus Adrian Partington leads the monumental work that firmly put the composer on the map. Alongside, RCM Concerto Competition Winner Misha Kaploukhii performs Liszt’s second and final piano concerto – an unconventional work in one single, sweeping movement, where piano and orchestra are woven together in expansive symphonic textures.

A Sea Symphony and much more at the RCM last night
https://youtu.be/x4L8MaAOga0
To see and hear all that youthful passion and energy in the Sea Symphony with a chorus and orchestra brought back such memories.All the concerts I had heard in this hall when as a schoolboy I discovered the wonders of music that were being offered to me by Sir Adrian Boult,Yehudi Menuhin,the debut of John Lill with Rachmaninov 3rd,George Barber,Dennis Lee ,Enloc Wu , Gwyneth Prior and many more.
All there for a schoolboy to enjoy and acquire a taste for music of great quality that together with my lessons with Sidney Harrison were to be the basis for a lifetime in music.

Today there was to marvel again at the 19 year old Misha Kaploukhii who opened the concert,an hors d’oevre you might say,with Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto.
Another performance of authority and class just as I had heard a few weeks ago when he played Rachmaninov First Piano Concerto at Cadogan Hall.Today was the prizewinners concert of the Concerto competition which he had won.
Under the scrupulous eyes and ears of his mentor Ian Jones he is revealing a potential that seems to have no limits.

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

The second concerto is much less of a showpiece than the first and it takes not only a virtuoso technique to do it justice but also a sense of architecture and musicianship that rarely go hand in hand.

It was from the opening flourishes in Mischa hands that you could feel his chamber music approach as he listened so sensitively to the opening clarinet and wind solo.
They were of course much too slow but Misha accepted the challenge and turned every phrase into a golden thread of beauty and style.

He continued with the superb cello solo in duet with the piano reaching a passionate conversation of red hot eloquence as the concerto gradually built in intensity.It was in the final part where Misha’s virtuosity was quite breathtaking as he let leash a series of octaves and glissandi as the concerto grew in pomp and circumstance with it’s rather military style brass band ending.Misha now at one with the conductor Adrian Partington and orchestra gave great style to this rather bombastic ending and together they brought an architectural arch to rest without any vulgarity or demonstrative virtuosity.There was excitement,intensity but above all an aristocratic style that gave great cohesion and class to what can so often turn into a showman’s warhorse.

The informal discussions and introduction by David Owen Norris were absolutely fascinating and an added plus to this live stream that I could listen to in the comfort of my own home by the sea in Italy with the log fire ablaze!

The Sea Symphony brought back memories of ‘A’levels where it was the set work in 1967!
What an impressive opening especially with a youthful chorus of 200 voices !And all through the superb style and authority they brought to this extraordinary work was a true revelation.The youthful chorus director Mark Biggins certainly had been hard at work with passion and intelligence as he explained to David Owen Norris.

It was though the extraordinary stage presence and overwhelming intensity of the baritone Redmond Sanders that took ones breath away.

Madeleine Boreham was the superb soprano soloist but with a much smaller role.It was fascinating to see them so simply in conversation and then to see what presence they had on stage under the authoritative baton of Adrian Partington.

A superb evening of music making of the highest order what a wonder that the world can hear via the superb streaming and direction from the RCM.

Liszt wrote drafts for his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in A major, S.125,during his virtuoso period, in 1839 to 1840. He then put away the manuscript for a decade. When he returned to the concerto, he revised and scrutinized it repeatedly. The fourth and final period of revision ended in 1861. Liszt dedicated the work to his student Hans von Bronsart , who gave the first performance, with Liszt conducting, in Weimar on January 7, 1857.Liszt called this work Concerto symphonique while in manuscript. This title was borrowed from the Concertos symphoniquesof Henry Litolff. Liszt liked not only Litolff’s title but also the idea for which it stood. This concept was one of thematic metamorphosis — drawing together highly diverse themes from a single melodic source .With his Second Piano Concerto, Liszt took the practice of creating a large-scale compositional structure from metamorphosis alone to an extreme level. Its opening lyrical melody becomes the march-theme of the finale. That theme, in turn, morphs into an impassioned theme near the end of the concerto. The theme which begins the scherzo reappears at that sections end disguised as a totally different melody in another key. This last transformation is so complete that it is easy to not recognize the connection. Key, mode, time signature, pace and tonal color have all been transformed. For Liszt to so radically alter the music’s notation while remaining true to the essential idea behind it shows a tremendous amount of ingenuity on his part.

Soirée Stravinsky opens the S.Cecilia Chamber Music Season in Rome with six graduates from Benedetto Lupo’s class

Leonardo Pierdomenico and Viviana Lasaracina moving with cat like virtuosity in Shostakovich’s youthful transcription of the much admired Symphony of Psalms.The pungent sounds played with such conviction as they weaved their way entwined through this transcendental transcription.
A mastery of clarity in which Piero Monti could allow his magnificent chorus to breathe and
allow every strand to be heard for the ‘glory of God’.

Costanza Principe,Gesualdo Coggi,Oxana Shevshenko and Federico Nicoletta were the four pianists in Le Noces.All graduates from the class of Benedetto Lupo at the Academy of S.Cecilia.They knew each other well having been together through Lupo’s musicianly rigorous training and as such played as one.
The moving story of a country wedding was vividly brought to life by the four solists .

Anna Samuil (a magnificent evening gown -hardly a country wedding dress ) but what a magnificent voice of enormous proportions and equally imposing Anna Goryachova ,John Irvin and Alexander Teliga.A chorus of great precision under the magnificent guiding light of Piero Monti.Who was equally at home conducting the 13 percussionists on 38 different instruments in the still outlandish score from 1933 of Varese :’Ionisation’

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/16/marcella-crudelis-gift-to-the-eternal-city/
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/07/31/sorrento-crowns-marcella-crudeli-a-lifetime-in-music/

The launch of the 31st edition of the Roma International Piano Competition known affectionately as the Marcella Crudeli Competition took place in Rome’s town hall.
It is her force and determination that has seen not only the birth of a competition but with the same energy year after year she has placed it firmly on the circuit of International piano competitions.

A competition is only as good as its contestants said Dame Fanny Waterman and Marcella Crudeli’s competition can boast past winners such a Boris Giltburg and Dmitry Masleev who went on to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth and Tchaikowsky International Competitions.Yuanfan Yang and Dmitri Choni have gone on recently to win Santander and Casagrande.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/10/29/yuanfan-yang-premio-chopin-2018-celebrates-the-30th-anniversary-of-rome-international-piano-competition/

In the 31st edition from 4-16 November will we find a new Rubinstein or Horowitz I wonder? But as Marcella pointed out it is the voyage of discovery that is so stimulating and to discover how many young pianists are dedicating their youth to art and are just in need of a platform from which to share the thing they love with such dedication.

A concert by Marek Szlezer winner of the 1993 Youth Competition at the age of only 12!
Now a Professor of Cracow Conservatory he gave distinguished performances of some of Chopin’s best loved works.

The very resonant acoustic suited the more lyrical side of Chopin with his ‘Raindrop’prelude and Nocturnes op.62 n.1 and op 48 n.1.
I swear that with the arrival of the cavalry in the Polonaise Héroique I could see the shadow of Marcos Aurelius passing through the hall!

Monday 24th October 2022 Lunchtime Recital Series – 1:10pm
Jose Andes Navarro (piano)

An unexpected but much welcome visitor to St James’s today . Jose Navarro standing in at the last minute for a Covid stricken friend Julian Trevelyan.
Making his London debut this young Bolivian pianist who made many waves in the final rounds of the Tbilisi Competition just ten days ago we could finally hear live in London.
A just tribute and thank you to his sick colleague in the form of a performance of a very suggestive piece which José had learnt over night ‘La Javelière ‘.
A piece which suddenly awakened all the subtle colours and unexpected shapes ready for the scintillating intensity of Villa Lobos.
What ravishing colours he brought to the red hot vibrant throbbing rhythms and the deeply felt murmurings that are obviously embedded in José ‘s DNA .
The sensitivity and shape he had brought to the opening Scarlatti K 208 was contrasted with the lightweight brilliance and infectious vitality of it’s twin K 209.
What nobility with improvised changes of colour and mood he brought to C.P.E. Bach’s Fantasy in F sharp minor that was a lesson in keyboard skill and real academic study that could allow him such freedom.
Liszt’s rather overlong Pesther Karneval Hungarian rhapsody must have surely been improvised too by Liszt and its was a scintillating display of piano playing of another era.

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) – 2 Keyboard Sonatas in A major, K.208 & 209

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) – Free Fantasy in F-sharp minor, Wq. 67

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) – Hungarian Rhapsody in E-Flat major “Pesther Karneval”, S. 244/9

Julian Trevelyan (*1998) – La javelière 

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
1. Plantio do caboclo
2. Impressões seresteiras
3. Festa no sertão
4. Dança do índio branco

The young Bolivian pianist has performed in different countries in venues and festivals in Europe, USA, and South America. Halls include the Teatro Municipal “Alberto Saavedra Pérez” in his hometown La Paz till the Musikverein in Vienna. As a soloist, he has performed with the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Georgian Philarmonic Orchestra, La Paz Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Jóvenes Musicos Bolivianos and Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Santa Cruz de la Sierra under the baton of Timothy Redmond, Markus L. Frank, Wojciech Rajski, Andreas Penninger among others. He is a prize winner at the Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition in Düsseldorf, 5th International Competition “Young Academy Award” in Rome, Tbilisi International Piano Competition in Georgia and Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition in Chile. In Bolivia he gave masterclasses in La Paz Conservatory, Sucre Conservatory Santa Cruz Fine Arts College and Laredo School in Cochabamba. He served as a jury member in national music competitions. He was mentored by Paul Badura Skoda, from whom he became a particular interest for period instruments. He studied with Balasz Szokolay at the Franz Liszt University in Weimar and with Claudio Martínez Mehner at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne. At the moment he is at the Artist Diploma programme at the Royal College of Music in London under the guidance of Norma Fisher and Ian Jones. He recives scholarships from RCM, Theo and Petra Lieven Foundation of Hamburg and the Herrmann Foundaiton Liechtenstein-Bolivia.

Presented in association with Talent Unlimited