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Tuesday 25 October 3.00 pm

Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 15 in F major K. 533/494 (finished 3 January 1788)is in three movements :Allegro – Andante – Rondo: Allegretto.The Rondo was originally a stand-alone piece composed by Mozart in 1786 (Rondo No. 2, K. 494 ).In 1788, Mozart wrote the first two movements of K. 533 and incorporated a revised version of K. 494 as the finale, having lengthened it in order to provide a more substantial counterpart to the other two movements.There was clarity and a disarming simplicity to Hao Zi’s playing with crystal clear articulation and a rhythmic drive that was spellbinding from the first notes.Great elegance in the beautifully shaped Andante was played with an aristocratic sense of style.There was drama too but always within the confines of the overall shape of the movement that unlike Beethoven was just a passing cloud until returning to the serenity of the opening melodic line.The cascading arpeggios replying one to the other at the end were played with a refined delicacy that was absolutely ravishing.The purity of sound and child like simplicity gave such charm to her playing of the rondo.The ever more vivacious ornamentation just added to the rhythmic impetus with her sparkling jewel box full of kaleidoscopic colours.A coda deep in the bass in such reflective mood as the rondo theme just dissolved before our eyes with the magic that Hao Zi had recreated.

The Novelletten, op 21, is a set of eight pieces written by Schumann in 1838 and is dedicated to Adolf von Henselt.February 1838 was a period of great struggle for Schumann who originally intended the eight pieces to be performed together as a group, though they are often performed separately.The concluding piece of the set that Hao Zi played is actually two pieces in one. The first part is a passionate etude in 2/4, the second has the nature of a march ending in D major, the principal key of the cycle.There was a romantic outpouring of sumptuous beauty with some pungent harmonies within the alternating legato and staccato.She brought such clarity as she pin pointed the melodic line in the first episode made up of the dotted rhythms that Schumann was so fond of.She brought an equally infectious rhythmic drive to the second where the gradual diminuendo created a magical base on which floated one of Schumann’s most heavenly melodies.Nobility and passion marked the final episode of the best known of these eight novelettes.It was the one together with the fourth that I have never forgotten from the hands of Sviatoslav Richter on one of his first visits to London in the 70’s.If Hao Zi did not quite have the animal like rampage of Richter she made up for it with her sumptuous sounds and an architectural shape that makes one wonder why it is not more often played these days.

Miroirs has five movements, each dedicated to a member of Les Apaches.Around 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians referred to as Les Apaches or “hooligans”, a term coined by Ricardo Vines to refer to his band of “artistic outcasts”.To pay tribute to his fellow artists, Ravel began composing Miroirs in 1904 and finished it the following year

“Noctuelles” (“Night Moths”). D♭ major. Dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue and is a highly chromatic work, maintaining a dark, nocturnal mood throughout. The middle section is calm with rich, chordal melodies, and the recapitulation takes place a fifth below the first entry.”Une barque sur l’océan” (in English “A Boat on the Ocean”). F♯minor. Written for Paul Sordes , the piece recounts a boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean. Arpeggiated sections and sweeping melodies imitate the flow of ocean currents. It is the longest piece of the set.There was a fluidity of sound together with the fleeting lightness of Noctuelles.A deeply brooding atmospheric middle section with a completely different sound colour from the Schumann that one could only describe as unmistakably French.These moths flittered around the keyboard with kaleidoscopic colours that just seemed to flow so naturally from Hao Zi’s hands.The final flourish as they disappeared into the night air was of quite ravishing beauty.One could almost see the waves splashing about in ‘Une barque’with an astonishing fluidity out of which emerged a gentle melody that gradually became ever more turbulent.Storm clouds of mysterious sounds were played with astonishing technical prowess with streams of wonderful sounds just cascading from her fingers with such ease.What beauty she brought to the left hand melodic line as the waves weaved their delicate way in the right and calm was restored as rays of sunlight seemed to appear between the clouds with such subtle radiance.

The Masques op. 34 by Szymanowski was written from 1915 to 1916.In 1914, the composer took refuge in his home village in Ukraine and remained there until the Russian Revolution. He had returned from a long stay in Europe, Sicily and North Africa, where he drew his inspiration for these years’ works. Here his style approached the Impressionism of Debussy.The Masques were written in a different chronological order than that of their publication, with Scheherazade initially completing the cycle. Tantris is a corruption of Tristan, taken from the myth of Tristan and Iseult and retold in a piece by Ernst Hardt where Tristan masquerades as a jester to meet his sweetheart.A fascinating glimpse of this still elusive composer.There were the capricious sounds of the jester alternating with passionate outpourings and a spectacular final flourish.of transcendental difficulty.Hao Zi seemed to delight in bringing such character to this very evocative piece.

Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor op.19, also titled Sonata-Fantasy) took five years for him to write. “The first section represents the quiet of a southern night on the seashore; the development is the dark agitation of the deep, deep sea. The E major middle section shows caressing moonlight coming up after the first darkness of night. The second movement represents the vast expanse of ocean in stormy agitation.”There was sumptuous beauty of the opening statement with gentle meanderings of ravishing sounds and delicacy.A melodic line embroidered in Hao Zi’s hands with streams of gold and silver.The second movement with its cascades of notes was played with such ease as they slowly shape themselves into a sumptuous melody of romantic sweep.A tumultuous climax was allowed to die away to a mere whisper before the final triumphant chord.Bringing this extraordinary recital to an exciting conclusion.

Malaysian pianist Hao Zi Yoh was born in 1995 and began her music studies at the age of 3. By the age of 12, she already performed at Carnegie Hall as a gold medallist of the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. Most recently, Hao Zi is selected as participant in the Preliminary Round of Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw 2021. In Malaysia, Hao Zi studied under Chong Lim Ng, who showed her the path into the classical music world. She explored composing and her composition “Bustling City and Peaceful Suburb” was selected to represent Malaysia at the Yamaha APJOC concert 2007. At the age of 14, she moved to Germany to study with Prof. Elza Kolodin at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. It was then she won top prizes in many international competitions including EPTA Belgium, Enschede, RNCM James Mottram (Manchester, 2012) and Concurso internacional de piano Rotary Club Palma Ramon LLull, Mallorca (Spain 2013). This led her to performing as soloist in festivals around Europe, USA, China, Japan and Malaysia. Besides, she also performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Nova Amadeus and Baleares Symphony Orchestra. In 2014, she came under the tutelage of Prof. Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music, London, generously supported by Lynn Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, Countess of Munster and Craxton Memorial Trust. She received 3rdPrize at Roma International Piano Competition, the Phillip Crawshaw Memorial Prize for an Outstanding Musician from Overseas at the Royal Overseas League Competition. She was also recipient of prestigious Martin Musical Scholarship Trust Philharmonia Piano Fellowships on the Emerging Artists Programme 2017/18. During her studies, she explored her relationship with music and her interest in creating sound colours: her MMus Project 2016 involved collaborating with percussionist Daniel Gonzalez to create a version of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit for Piano and Percussion. In her interpretation of “A Distant Voice of the Rainforest” by Chong Lim Ng, she included improvised extended piano techniques as well as improvised singing to draw the audience into the soundworld of a rainforest. Apart from this, Hao Zi also participated in creative outreach projects led by the Open Academy for children and elderly with Dementia, where she performed in Music for Moment Concerts at the Wigmore Hall. She collaborated with author-illustrator David Litchfield and improvised to his storytelling of award-winning book “The Bear and the Piano”. Hao Zi remains in close contact with the music scene in Malaysia. She has given talks, performances and masterclasses to the students of University of Malaya, Bentley Music and Persatuan Chopin in hope to share her experiences and help the younger generation. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Hao Zi held online livestream and fundraiser for St. Nicholas’ Home for the Blind, Penang, Malaysia. A Young Steinway Artist, Hao Zi is currently based in London and has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Southbank Royal Festival Hall, Salle Cortot, Steinway Hall London, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (Malaysia) and Teatro Quirino (Italy). She is further developing her performing career being part of the Keyboard Trust London, Talent Unlimited. Hao Zi is also a piano tutor at King’s College London and gives masterclasses at Imperial College London. Currently she is studying with Martino Tirimo, after being awarded full scholarship to pursue an Artist Diploma at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, generously supported by the Bagri Foundation and Gladys Bratton Scholarship .

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/07/01/hao-zi-yoh-the-luminosity-and-delicacy-of-a-great-artist-at-cranleigh-arts/

 

A seventeen year old pianist who can play the Appassionata with such intelligence and control followed by Liszt’s Paganini Studies is a pianist to be reckoned with.Especially when Flavio Tozzi also plays Liszt’s Mazeppa as an encore!
Long spindly fingers play with great clarity but in Beethoven you need also intelligence and to know how to delve into the score and find all Beethoven’s very precise indications of fingering,pedalling and phrasing.
There was no rearranging of the rapid arpeggiandi passages in the first movement of the Appassionata where he played them as written by the master himself.It is there to imply the struggle that is so much part of this first movement.Flavio Tozzi is a good actor as he understood the struggle even though there were no technical fears for his well oiled fingers.There was beauty too in the Andante con moto where he allowed the variations to evolve so naturally leading to the shock of the two chords that herald the last movement.Many pianists do not heed Beethoven’s Allegro ma non troppo marking as they tear away at breakneck speed.Flavio took it at a very even pace which gave him time to allow the more melodic episodes to evolve without any tempo changes.The only tempo change he allowed himself was that indicated by the composer where the sempre piu allegro to the presto coda created great excitement as did the long final pedal where Beethoven builds the sonority to the final two calamitous chords.

Liszt’s Paganini Studies held no fear for our young virtuoso which allowed him to concentrate on the musical values of these six miniature tone poems.
There was great beauty in the first study that after the opening flourishes entered the baritone with a beautiful melody played with the left hand which Flavio shaped with real artistry.A great Neapolitan song that gradually builds up to a demonic climax with both hands greatly involved in the continuous tremolando accompaniment before the return of the opening flourishes that close this first picture postcard.What charm he brought to the second study before the entry of the transcendental octaves that Liszt adds as contrast.The famous La Campanella was played with great delicacy and refined artistry as he shaped the technically difficult phrases with such beauty.There was great power and passion too in the triumphant final pages of these very well known ‘bells’.His long fingers brought remarkable clarity to the violinistic writing of the fourth study.Even here amongst all the difficulties he could shape the phrases with such delicacy and subtle rubato.There was great beauty in La Chasse with the delicate flute being answered by the horn.The strident middle episode with its demonic technical surprises of agility and ability with glissandi thrown off with lightness and ease.The famous variations of the last study in A minor were played with great character and style.From the teasing first variation to the energetic second.The nobility of the third and fleeting lightness of the fourth.The flow of the fifth over the entire keyboard and the ‘con brio’ of both hands almost on a collision course.Etherial beauty of the seventh was contrasted with the driving rhythms of the eighth and ninth.A momentary release of tension with the music box of the tenth led to the grandiloquence of the eleventh and final variation.All played with extraordinary control and musicality.
One would have thought that an encore of a nocturne or consolation might have been on the cards but not for our young virtuoso.
Nicely warmed up on the Paganini studies he jumped in with the fourth and most athletic of the set of twelve transcendental studies by Liszt.
Mazeppa was played with great rhythmic energy and control and the beauty he brought to the mellifluous central section demonstrated once again that his quite considerable technical prowess was at the service of the music.
As Flavio matures he will find more weight and solidity thinking up from the bass always which will give much more architectural shape to all that he does.However as he demonstrated today he has a remarkable technique allied to a musical intelligence that will be his guiding light for a successful future.

Flavio Domenico Tozzi nasce a Taranto nel 2005.Si avvicina alle discipline musicali e al pianoforte all’età di otto anni. Nel 2015 è ammesso all’I.M.G. Paisiello ove completa con votazione massima il percorso pre-accademico già nel 2021, sotto la guida della professoressa Alba Noti. Ha partecipato a concorsi importanti quali, nel 2015, Concorso Nazionale G. Paisiello, Primo premio, poi al “First International Musical Competition” D. Savino (primo premio 2017 e 2018) ed al “Pietro Argento Competition” (2017).È vincitore del Primo premio assoluto sia al Concorso internazionale “Musica Mundi” sia alConcorso internazionale “Mediterraneo” nelle edizioni del 2018 e 2019.Nel 2019 è Primo premio al “19° Concorso Internazionale per giovani musicisti – LAMS Matera” ed è Primo premio all’“11° Concorso musicale internazionale A.GI.MUS – Francavilla Fontana” nel 2019 e nel 2020. Nel 2021 consegue il 1° Premio nel concorso internazionale SilkWay di Artnet Russia (Russia-Cina-Italia). Dal 2021 è pianista in organico della “Orchestra giovanile della Magna Grecia” a Taranto. Ha partecipato con profitto a Masterclass di alto livello coi maestri R. Cappello (2018) e O.Sciortino (2019), K. Lifschitz (2020) e F. Libetta (2021) ottenendo ottimi apprezzamenti da parte dei maestri come promessa nell’ambito concertistico. Flavio Tozzi nell’attività concertistica propone gli autori preferiti: Chopin, Listz, Beethoven, Rachmaninov.Ha partecipato a Pianolab 2018 (Martina Franca), al Francavilla Classica Lab 2018, alla 4° edizione “Sinfonie d’autunno” (Laterza 2018), al concerto premio “Mediterraneo” (Teatro Petruzzelli Bari 2019), al concerto “Orchestra Giovanile Magna Grecia” (Teatro Fusco – Taranto 2021), alla stagione concertistica Amici della Musica – Arcangelo Speranza (concerto solisti sezione Young – Teatro Fusco – Taranto 2021).

Jonathan Ferrucci in Decatur House Washington for the Keyboard Trust. whha.org
It’s one thirty here in the UK and how could one sleep after that.
Well it was written for an insomniac!
Quite extraordinary.
The simplicity and jewel like perfection was a continual prism of rays of light.
Such subtle ornamentation just made the notes even more poignant
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/10/27/jonathan-ferrucci-the-return-of-a-warrior-the-goldberg-variations-in-florence

The Keyboard Trust is proud to present in its 30th anniversary year

Jonathan Ferrucci – Goldberg Variations: a Voyage of Discovery
New York debut of a remarkable young musician
Thursday 20th October at 7 pm
Klavierhaus,790 11th Avenue corner West 54th street

“A spiritual journey of awakening, an inquiry into humanity and the nature of time, a round-trip Odyssey. This masterpiece is a search for freedom that will lead us back to our true self, back home.” Jonathan Ferrucci

As Jonathan Ferrucci says a lifetime may not be enough to enter completely into the genial mind of J.S.Bach. One can but try and this is the start of a remarkable voyage of discovery. On his fifth public performance in Florence last winter I think that from the spell that he created it was evidence enough that he is on the right trail. Seventy-five minutes of total silence from an elite audience surrounded by the books of that remarkable aesthete Harold Acton. Jonathan like Acton was born in Florence both bringing back their experiences from abroad to the cradle of culture in what Rostropovich described as the Museum of the World. Jonathan is now being mentored by Angela Hewitt who has indeed inherited the mantle of Rosalyn Tureck as the High Priestess of Bach. Rosalyn Tureck came to Florence in the 1990s when she was 78 to play these very variations at La Pergola and she became immediately the ‘Diva’ of Florence’. This mantle has now passed to Angela Hewitt whose approach to Bach is more human and less monumental than Tureck’s but their total dedication allows them to get as close as is possible to the core of the genius of J.S.Bach. Jonathan is being mentored by Angela Hewitt and is fast on this trail too as the minutes of aching silence that greeted the end of the Goldbergs in Florence was proof enough. His performance has the authority of someone who is living with the music and it is gradually but surely entering his being as it directs his spirit to the glory of the soul of Bach which is of course To the Glory of God!

In celebration of the Keyboard Trust’s 30th Anniversary and the launch of a new history of the Trust written by co-founder John Leech and artistic director Christopher Axworthy,
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/14/the-gift-of-life-the-keyboard-trust-at-30/
We are proud to present Jonathan Ferrucci in a full performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The concert will take place on Thursday, October 20th at 7pm at Klavierhaus, 790 11th Avenue at the corner of West 54th Street. Please note that the program will run approximately 75 minutes with no intermission.

Free entrance but reservations necessary from the Keyboard Trust – Caroline von Reitzensteinmailto:cvonnyc@gmail.com
donations to the trust are recommended

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/10/27/jonathan-ferrucci-the-return-of-a-warrior-the-goldberg-variations-in-florence/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/06/30/goldberg-in-the-land-of-perugino-jonathan-ferrucci-in-citta-della-pieve/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/03/25/goldberg-ferrucci-at-st-marys-the-start-of-a-glorious-journey-of-discovery/

THE TOUR from 14 to 21st October 2022

Friday 14th October Dvorak American Heritage Associazione Bohemian National Hall 321E 73rd Street NY

Sunday 16th October Castletown Theatre House Maazel Estate Virginia

Monday 17th Decatur House Museum Washington

Tuesday 18th October Beaumont Bryn Mawr Philadelphia

Wednesday 19th Oaks Cloister Philadelphia

Thursday 20th October Klavierhaus New York

Friday 21st October Cokesbury Village Wilmington Delaware

Milda Daunoraite piano recital

20 October – 18:30

For her concert in the beautiful Harold Acton Library, she played Bach, Bartok and Schumann.

Born in Lithuania and now based in London, Milda Daunoraite has won prizes at numerous international competitions in recent years, as well as performing was a soloist with the Lithuanian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. She has also given recitals at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and numerous other performances throughout Europe.

Programme:

 

Milda Daunoraite is a remarkable Lithuania born pianist and one of three that I have met in London where they have come to perfect their studies.Milda,Gabrielé Sutkuté and Rokas Valutuonis all have one thing in common a fluidity of sound and an ease in performance that is very similar to the remarkable Hungarian school of Geza Anda.

Why should that be,I have no idea except all three have a very open easy going spontaneity that may be to do with their early upbringing and studies in their native country.Milda at the age of 16 was brought by her then Lithuanian teacher to the Purcell School in England where he had taken up a teaching post.It was there that she met that remarkable trainer of young musicians Tessa Nicholson with whom she continued her studies and continues with her at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded a full scholarship.Milda still only in her 2nd year of a 4 year programme has already been singled out by the Keyboard Trust to give concerts on their various tours worldwide offered to exceptionally talented young artists at the beginning of their careers.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/06/26/milda-daunoraite-live-stream-concert-for-the-keyboard-charitable-trust-youthful-charm-and-ease-at-the-service-of-music/

Schoenberg the master of the Second Viennese School, called J.S.Bach the first 12-tone composer. It was his treatment of chromatic themes that prompted that statement. One of the works that prompted that label was his Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903, which begins with not one but two ascents up different parts of the chromatic scale.

It was probably composed between 1717 and 1723 while Bach was in Köthen and it is its chromatic nature, which explores all keys, that causes scholars to link it with his experiments while in Köthen. Although Bach’s original manuscript is lost, the extraordinary nature of the work has caused it to survive in 16 different copies, five of which date from Bach’s lifetime. Not all of the versions are the same and it is assumed that Bach was the source of the various versions.The Fantasia is in three parts: the first is a prelude, filled with arpeggios; the second part is more recitative-like, and the third a combination of the two.The Fugue, on the other hand, is strict by its very nature but then relaxes, seemingly in response to the freedom of the Fantasy section.The work as a whole is remarkable – it has an harmonic boldness unexpected in the music at the time, but, on the other hand, may be very representative of what Bach normally achieved in free improvisation at the keyboard.The first biographer of Bach, Johann Nikolaus Forkel , wrote: “I have given much effort to find another piece of this type by Bach. But it was in vain. This fantasy is unique and has never been second to none.”

Milda gave a performance of virtuosity and expression playing with clarity and fluidity but at the same time giving such shape and meaning to all she did.The ending of the fantasy was so poignant as it gradually lost its vital energy and with it’s dying breath emerged the new life of the fugue.The energy and architectural shape she gave to the fugue was remarkable for its clarity and control as it gradually built up to it’s final burst of glory.

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The Piano Sonata No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 11, was composed by Schumann between 1833 to 1835 and he published it anonymously as “Pianoforte Sonata, dedicated to Clara by Florestan and Eusebius”.It has been described as ‘the most unconventional and the most intriguing’ of Schumann’s piano sonatas due to its unusual structure.The Aria is based on his earlier Lied setting, “An Anna” or “Nicht im Thale”.Schumann later told his wife, Clara, that the sonata was “a solitary out cry for you from my heart … in which your theme appears in every possible shape”.

It is in four movements the Scherzo having an intermezzo central episode of complete contrast before the return of the Scherzo allegrissimo.It is a very complicated work with its continual fleeting contrasts that need to be given an overall shape and form.Milda confided that this was the first time she had performed the work in public and it was the work that had brought her finally close to the world of Schumann with his dual personality of Floristan and Eusebius very much in conflict with each other.She brought great passion to the opening introduction with the theme that permeates the entire sonata.There was subtle virtuosity to the fleeting changes as she entered the Allegro vivace start of the first movement .The Aria was played with a ravishing sense of balance,fluidity and purity of sound that allowed this all too short lied to create a magic oasis before the rumbustuous rhythmic energy of the Scherzo and the rhetorical almost operatic Intermezzo that interrupts it’s mischievous journey.The last movement was played with great nobility and a quite remarkable control as this long movement unfolds with continuous changes of character and colour.Even Schumann seems to loose his way but finally takes an almost unexpected leap from what seemed a dead end but infact becomes a coda of great excitement and transcendental difficulty which Milda played with passionate commitment.

The Piano Sonata, BB 88, Sz. 80, is a by Bela Bartok was composed in June 1926. 1926 is known to musicologists as Bartók’s “piano year”, when he underwent a creative shift in part from Beethovenian intensity to a more Bachian craftsmanship.

In three movements :

1. Allegro moderato
2. Sostenuto e pesante
3. Allegro molto

It is tonal but highly dissonant (and has no key signature ), using the piano in a percussive fashion with erratic time signatures Underneath clusters of repeated notes, the melody is folklike. Each movement has a classical structure overall, in character with Bartók’s frequent use of classical forms as vehicles for his most advanced thinking.Dedicated to his second wife. A performance generally lasts around 15 minutes although Bartók wrote the duration as around 12 minutes and 30 seconds on the score.He wrote it with an Imperial Bosendorfer in mind, which has extra keys in the bass (97 keys in total instead of the usual 88)The second movement calls for these keys to be used (to play G sharp and F)

It was Leslie Howard who had pointed this out to Milda in her recital for the KCT a few months ago.I was hoping that Michele Padovano the piano technician /composer might have the two extra notes in his pocket!Michele has performed miracles with this fine old Bechstein piano but I think this was expecting too much even from such a genial musician!The piano under his hands and ours is fast turning into the noble instrument that it was born to be .It is admired by all the young musicians who are now being invited by Simon Gammell to fill this extraordinary library with the sounds of music.Milda after the sumptuous sounds of Schumann let forth with a savage attack on the piano with its insistent Hungarian folk rhythms.The sostenuto e pesante second movement was just that, but it had a line where Milda was able to guide us through this maze of strangely oblique sounds.The energy and attack of the Allegro molto took even Milda by surprise but the driving rhythms and insistent virtuosistic octaves never let up in a fearless journey to the final tumultuous ending.

What exhilaration and fun she was having but it was the subtle beauty of Chopin’s mazurka in F minor op 63 n.2 that calmed the red hot atmosphere.A few notes of whispered beauty with subtle rubato reminded us of the poetry and singing qualities that can be found in this box of hammers and strings by a true artist. https://youtube.com/watch?v=W6poGmGiBQM&feature=share

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

Supported by the Keyboard Trust –www.keyboardtrust.org

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/05/16/milda-daunoraite-at-st-marys-refreshing-simplicity-and-beauty-of-a-musician/

P.S. Lovely to know that Milda sightseeing in Florence the day after the concert got talking the following lunchtime to the staff of a bistro who turned out to be Lithuanian .She explained that she was a pianist who was in town for a concert and they persuaded her to tickle the keys of the piano that was is the shop.She had such an overwhelming success that they offered her a roast lunch,a red rose and an enormous glass of limoncello!On the house ….cheering indeed !

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/emanuil-ivanov-at-la-scala-to-the-glory-of-god-and-beyond/

Recording a recital thanks the generosity of Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust today.It will be streamed in the near future with Emanuil Ivanov ,Premio Busoni 2019 playing and includes a fascinating interview with Christopher Axworthy in which he talks about his eclectic programme choices and his early training from the Russian school of Daskalova and Kurtev in Bulgaria to his advanced studies with Pascal Nevirowski and Anthony Hewitt at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory.

The only presence allowed was for the venerable founders of the Trust who in their 90’s had ventured out to greet the young twenty year old pianist who they had heard winning the Busoni competition in Bolzano in 2019.A prize which for some years also includes the Keyboard Trust Career Development Prize.
Some truly phenomenal playing not least of the Hamelin studies but also the rarely played ‘Il Lamento’ by Liszt-the poor relation of his set of Three concert studies of which La leggerezza and Un sospiro are it’s glittering companions.

A towering performance of the Norma Fantasy that I have not even heard so thrillingly played from Emanuil’s idol Marc André Hamelin.
Ornaments in Rameau on this magnificent Steinway D that were just as clearly articulated as only Sokolov has shown us in the past.
Arpeggiando chords in Beethoven?
Why play on historic instruments when the modern one’s have so much more to offer especially in the vast halls like La Scala?
Exciting future projects including Saint Saens 5th concerto and a monumental contemporary work lasting 75 minutes that he will perform in February.
In the meantime he is on his was to a tour of Puglia with this programme including also the Brahms Handel variations that we had admired in Bolzano.
All freely discussed with simplicity and humility from this young twenty three year old musician just happy to be sharing his music with others at last and playing for the KCT after many postponements due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control – better known as Pandemic COVID 19!

Jean-Philippe Rameau – From Suite in Sol (Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin): “L’Enharmonique”, “L’Egyptienne”, “Les Sauvages”
Marc André Hamelin – Etude n. 11 “Minuetto”, etude n. 12 “Prelude and Fugue”
Franz Liszt – Trois études de concert, S. 144: Il lamento, La leggierezza, Un sospiro & Réminiscences de Norma, S. 394

https://www.facebook.com/christopher.axworthy/posts/10227268516961326

Wonderfully radiant Angela and the million dollar question at the end :what do you think of Rosalyn Tureck?Who could not have been influenced by the High Priestess …monumental I chipped in…..but Angela’s Bach as she so beautifully replied is based above all on the song and the dance.
Nice to know that at the final concert of the Leipzig Bach Competition which she was chairing it was a choir that sang and had the last word in the celestial world of JSB ………..with the human voice !Q.E.D. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/11/18/angela-hewitt-for-the-glory-of-bach-the-pinnacle-of-pianistic-perfection/

It was this the message that she shared with an enthusiastic audience at the RCM in three hours of masterclasses with performances of two Bach preludes and Fugues with Daniel Can playing with great seriousness …..Too much,complained Angela ,Bach can be joyful and fun too!

Reiko Makita with Une Barque and Alborada from Ravel’s Miroirs …pointing to me as a fellow student of Vlado Perlemuter at his home in Paris in Rue Ampere ,who could confirm that he was the prime example of the true French style …sentiment but no sentimentality …..the weight of a true legato where you must have fingers of steel and a wrist of rubber not only to play loudly but above all to be able to play quietly.
Angela had done her homework too as she had heard Reiko’s complete Miroirs on you tube (from a performance in 2018) before meeting her today.

Paul Mnatsakanov gave a brilliant performance of the Italian Concerto that Angela having lived with for a lifetime could show him some telling details of phrasing and dynamic that could turn a bauble into a gem.
What fun we had with question and answers and meeting of old friends before dashing off to her next port of call in a wonderfully frenetic life dedicated above all J.S Bach

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/03/19/angela-hewitt-at-the-wigmore-hall-a-moment-to-cherish-in-difficult-times/

Fascinating to see the woodwinds in a circle behind the piano with the strings behind .I know Andras Schiff does that with Bartok 2 but what a genial idea for Beethoven 4 where there is so much dialogue between wind and piano.

And dialogue there truly was with a crystalline account by Thomas Kelly who is evolving by the minute and becoming one of the most exciting talents of his generation ………..there seems to be no limit to his talent that is taking him in directions that not even he is aware of.A true voyage of discovery every time he sits in front of that black box that he obviously loves so much.
I had heard him five years ago on this very stage play Schumann Carnaval in the Joan Chissell Competition.He was head and shoulders above his colleagues for the kaleidoscopic range and the richness of sound that never became hard or ungracious but grew in luminosity and sumptuous beauty.
I am reminded very much of the Scaramuzza school with the seemingly rubber limbs of an Argerich or Gelber.
A superb collaboration with a genial Sakari Oramo who was obviously enjoying allowing these super talented young musicians to listen to each other and be free as they were at one with one another.Such wonderful sounds from Thomas in the slow movement but why interrupt the precise pulse that the conductor has set up with a vision of Hades which is only answered by the beseeching plea of the piano.It is as though Thomas does not feel the pulse in the bottom of his heels and his rather bolt upright stance at the keyboard (reminiscent of Rachmaninov according to Perlemuter ) does not permit the cat and mouse anticipation of an animal ready to pounce.Of course Thomas is listening with great sensitivity to the sounds he is making but sometimes these sounds have to be incorporated into a whole – chamber music is where it is absolutely fundamental.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/03/thomas-kelly-at-the-royal-college-of-music-a-star-shining-brightly/
I was one of the four people present to hear this young star a few weeks ago on this same stage …….tonight I could not find a seat and was reduced to watching the superb streaming at home ………word is obviously spreading like wildfire that there is someone special to watch at the RCM these days .

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/04/18/thomas-kelly-takes-florence-by-storm-music-al-british/

I was very privileged to be able to attend the rehearsal of the Rachmaninov Concerto,invited by the young soloist together with his teacher Prof Ian Jones to listen to the balance and the acoustic. I remember doing the same for Trifonov a few years ago at the Festival Hall.Misha is only 19 and Trifonov was 21 and we had a birthday party for him afterwards.In the rehearsal Lady Weidenfeld and I were sitting near the stage and the balance sounded fine and what could we say but just marvel,as I did today with Ian,at the fluency and absolute youthful mastery.

At Trifonov’s concert though in the evening the BBC had discovered that the sound of the piano did not carry into the notoriously difficult acoustic of the hall.The public were kept waiting for half an hour whilst they tried to resolve the problem by moving the position of the piano and the microphones.This was not the case today with Misha in the smaller Cadogan Hall although I remember other problems with this work that Alex Ullman,also an alumni of the RCM a student of Ian Jones together with Dmitri Alexeev,found on playing this same concerto in the Keyboard Trust Complete series in Italy.Three performances of each of the five works for piano and orchestra culminating in the final performance in Rossini’s own theatre in Pesaro.After the first performance in Fabriano Alex was not happy with his performance as he realised that it was not the great heroic romantic concerto that he had thought .Although there are moments of youthful grandeur and romantic fervour the interplay between the piano and the orchestra is really of chamber music proportions.Alex’s second performance was a triumph.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2015/05/26/rachmaninoff-festival-ancona-2015/

It was the performance of Richter of such power and delicacy that pointed the way in modern times .Byron Janis had given a quicksilver electric performance for RCA as you would expect from a disciple of Horowitz.I always found it strange that Horowitz never seemed to play it in public especially as Rachmaninov always said that his best friend plays him well!Of course the composers own recorded performance with his favourite Philadelphia Orchestra is a great guide.

It was obvious that this young man today had the same youthful spirit as Rachmaninov allied to a remarkable pianistic mastery that allowed him to play the intricate webs of sound with such clarity .There was sumptuous beauty too with the great romantic melodies that ravish and seduce almost Hollywood style. The grandiloquence of the opening in reply to the orchestras opening fanfare was remarkably assured but it was the authority and colour of the cadenza that really showed his artistry. Ravishing beauty and projection in the slow movement reached moments of sublime inspiration in the lyrical central episode of the devilishly tricky last movement .Misha at only 19 is a great artist who saved something very special for the performance with public with a gargantuan cadenza of great intensity leading to a thrilling first movement finish.A ravishing opening solo in the slow movement which was extremely moving and a scintillating last movement where he really let go and had fun, scampering around with great playfulness but without losing an ounce of crispness and clarity.It is the sign of real artistic temperament that the finest performance was with the stimulation of a live audience.

Misha winner of the Royal College of Music Concerto Prize will be playing Liszt 2nd Piano Concerto on the 27 and 28th October in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall.The concert will include Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony as a 150 anniversary tribute to the composer.It is strange that today the 12th October, Vaughan Williams’s 150th birthday the orchestra chose to play Elgar!They had though started with a deliciously idiomatic performance of Lehar’s Merry Widow Overture and how wonderfully and with what beguilingly stylish passion these young musicians played.After the concerto an encore was requested but we had in a sense had the encore already with Lehar at the beginning!A first half,that dare I say it,was like showtime!

Pianist and flautist Misha Kaploukhii was born in 2002 and is an alumnus of the Moscow Gnessin College of Music, where he studied in the piano class of Mikhail Egiazarian. Misha is currently studying at the Royal College of Music; he is an RCM and Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation scholarship holder studying for a Bachelor of Music with Professor Ian Jones. He also gained inspiration from lessons and masterclasses with musicians such as Claudio Martínez Mehner, Dmitri Bashkirov, Jerome Lowenthal and Konstantin Lifschitz. Misha already has experience of performing with orchestras internationally and his overall repertoire includes a wide range of solo and chamber music. Recently, Misha has won prizes in the RCM concerto competition (playing Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto) and in the International Ettlingen Piano Competition.

Misha writes : ‘It is my first Rachmaninov concerto to learn and play with orchestra, despite also studying Paganini Variations with Prof.Ian Jones.
I always felt connection with the 1st one because of its prodigious harmonic language due to the fact it was orchestrated and edited after 25 years, when the 2nd and 3rd were already completed, yet some people would call the architecture of the concero “disjointed” I find beauty and youthfulness in it.It is rarely played in the uk and it was such an amazing opportunity to work with great James Blair. It was also a privilege to be on one stage with taleneted musicians of YMSO who I suppose didn’t know the concerto before, but understood all the difficult tempo changes and challenges of polyrhythms with a high level of professionalism

The Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra (YMSO) is distinctive in being the only full-size symphony orchestra based in London which provides orchestral training, performance experience and professional development opportunities to outstanding young classical musicians from across the UK, between the ages of 18-25. The YMSO is a registered Charity and has never received any statutory funding. For nearly 50 years it has successfully bridged the gap between college life and the orchestral profession.By the time a student leaves music college they will have committed at least fifteen years to developing their skills as a musician. Abruptly, competition for the small number of performance opportunities against several hundred other musicians in the same position becomes a fact of life.The number of students destined for a solo career is limited. Instead, the majority will end up as freelance musicians. They will have to be equally at home in a string quartet, a chamber or symphony orchestra. Today’s musician must be versatile, flexible and thrifty in order to survive. They will be required to reach public performance standard after minimal rehearsal and be available in the most disparate venues from one day to the next.The YMSO provides a bridge between college life and the profession. The richness of London’s musical life is world-renowned, but the musical education system does not have the resources to address these issues. Many students find themselves abandoned in a world of work without being equipped to handle it. The YMSO gives students and graduates the advantage of experiencing the major classical repertoire, realistic rehearsal schedules and public performance.

James Blair, Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, was born in Scotland. Whilst studying in London with Bernard Keefe, Sir Adrian Boult and in Italy with Franco Ferrara, his talent was soon recompensed with numerous awards including the Ricardi Conducting Prize and an Italian Government Scholarship to study in Sienna, Rome and Venice.James has been associated with the YMSO since 1971 and has established it as the UK’s leading training orchestra. He has received particular renown with the orchestra in two areas; the interpretation of large-scale romantic works and the rediscovery of and, in some cases, British and World Premieres of neglected works by a variety of important composers.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 1, was started in 1891 at age 17-18 (the first two movements were completed while he was still 17; the third movement and the orchestration were completed shortly after he had turned 18). He dedicated the work to Alexander Siloti

The public was already familiar with the Second and Third Concertos before Rachmaninoff revised the First in 1917. The First is very different from his later works incorporating as it does elements of youthful vivacity and impetuosity.The differences between the 1890–1891 original and the 1917 revision reveal a tremendous amount about the composer’s development in the intervening years. There is a considerable thinning of texture in the orchestral and piano parts and much material that made the original version diffuse and episodic is removed.Of all the revisions Rachmaninoff made to various works, this one was perhaps the most successful. Using an acquired knowledge of harmony, orchestration, piano technique and musical form, he transformed an early, immature composition into a concise, spirited work.However as Rachmaninov himself said :”I have rewritten my First Concerto; it is really good now. All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays itself so much more easily. And nobody pays any attention. When I tell them in America that I will play the First Concerto, they do not protest, but I can see by their faces that they would prefer the Second or Third.”

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/09/04/busoni-international-piano-competition-2021/

Jae Hong Park as winner of the Busoni Competition in Bolzano was invited by the Keyboard Trust to play in London as their Career Development Prize offered to the winner.
Jae Hong not only astounded with his monumental performance of the ‘Hammerklavier’ he also seduced and ravished with Schumann’s Arabesque.
In the very interesting talk after the performance he explained that this combination is part of a full length recital which includes Schumann’s Sonata op 11.Recitals he was flying off the next day to give in Zurich,Germany and Italy.
A very big piano with a big pianist in a small hall,but when you are a real artist you listen to yourself and regulate the sound.
As he very spiritedly said the piano is his best friend that he loves more and more and it is in the practice studio that he has such fun experimenting without being judged by an audience.Just him and his best friend the big black box of hammers and strings.
In fact he was advised not to play the Hammerklavier in the Busoni Competition but he just wanted to share it with an audience, politics were of no importance to him.
It was this total dedication to music that won him first prize in Bolzano and was so evident with his performances last night.What better way to finish than with Siloti’s magical Prelude in B minor some say by Bach and so be it ……..sublime it is always !
‘A voyage of discovery ‘……..playing Beethoven’s longest sonata :‘ It is like climbing Everest …….you can never reach the top but the journey is so amazing and Beethoven is the best teacher ever’
The performance to a small but distinguished audience was recorded and together with the very spirited and articulate talk with Elena Vorotko will be streamed at a later date.

Beatrice appeared on stage looking like a thousand dollars but playing like a tornado .
Unleashing an electric energy that started with the ravishing beauty of a mixture of Preludes op 11 and 16 culminating in the study in C sharp minor op 42 of red hot blazing energy.It blew itself out with searing passion but out of the ashes arose the other C sharp minor study op 2 with a whispered insinuating beauty that was as breathtaking as it was ravishing.The opening Prelude op 11 n.16 misterioso indeed as it shadows the funeral March that is still to come.
What a start to a journey of discovery that was to leave us astonished bewitched and bewildered.
A Chopin B flat minior sonata with an imperious opening declaration before a rhythmically aggressive doppio movimento that had unexpected drive and overwhelming authority .Of course she repeated the opening at the ritornello and for once there was no doubt that this is what Chopin wanted of this overdebated detail.
Unbridled aggression in the development dissolved into a second subject of such contrast as it was barely whispered leading inexorably to the final tumultuous chords .The scherzo just grew out of the last chord being almost a continuation of the red hot flame that had been ignited.Momentarily calmed by a più lento of such subtle colouring and sensual rubato before the return of the scherzo but remembered like a dream in the coda with a final gentle chord and two bass notes plucked out of thin air
And then a miracle occurred with the Funeral march.Expressionless as it made its relentless journey to the trio where Beatrice Rana barely touched the notes with a transcendental control of barely audible sounds.The return of the funeral March and its massive climax was quite overwhelming in its emotional impact as was the harrowing stillness of the final few emotionless gasps.
The wind on the graves was just that,with sounds puffing and blowing over the keys.Suddenly out of the mist there was the throbbing of a heartbeat of such intensity before blowing itself out.Not before the dying breath had some unimaginably expressive counterpoints that I had never been aware of before.The final explosion was a tumultuous release.

I thought overwhelming until after the interval when Beatrice unleashed the opening of the Hammerklavier like an atomic explosion .Using two hands right over left to get more power that I think even Serkin would have approved because she had truly understood this monumental opening as Beethoven could only have imagined it in his head.She did not play it at Beethoven’s metronome marking as Schnabel tried to do but she did play it with the implied wild struggle contrasting with moments of sublime release.
No repeat meant that this monumental movement arrived immediately at the release of the fugato played with astonishing clarity even at this demonic speed .The alternating interjected chords over a rumbling ostinato base in the coda was astonishing and terrifying at the same time.
The cadenza of the Scherzo too saw a wild abandon as she raced to the top of the keyboard with a dynamic athleticism that was truly astonishing .The trio just floated on waves of shifting harmonies.
The astonishing stillness that she created with the opening two chords of the Adagio created a magic atmosphere for one of Beethoven’s most sublime utterances .The end of the Adagio after moments of searing passion and religious meditation was a miracle of sounds where there was an aching silence created in a hall full to the rafters for this beautiful young pianist.
The fugue was taken at an astonishing speed but it was not the speed but the energy that was unleashed with pungent punched out declarations of the fugue subject that was so astonishing and that led to a tumultuous climax.Total silence that seemed like an eternity Beatrice barely touching the keys in a religious communion like a plain chant which built up to the final explosion where Beatrice really let us have it as Serkin had done all those years ago at the Festival Hall .
I have never forgotten Serkins performance as I shall never forget todays .

Beatrice receiving the standing ovation with such simplicity and even able to offer a thank you to a public in delerium.
What to play after the Hammerklavier ?
The dying swan of course in the bewitching transcription of Godowsky that Cherkassky used to play and who even played it at his own funeral!
The same ravishing sounds and beguiling rubato .Shura would have been 113 only 3 days ago and is still much missed.
I begin to believe in reincarnation though but then I am totally drunk on what I have experienced this evening

Beatrice Rana at San Carlo. A golden web of glorious sounds

Rana and Spada – The crossing of swords with sublime music making in Viterbo