The Haydn sonata Hob XVI:49 was written in 1789/90 and marked the beginning of Haydn’s late, mature style.It opened the lunchtime recital of Asagi Nakata at St James’s Piccadilly.Streamed live I was able to listen from afar to a performance of Haydn of rare elegance and poetry.Not since Sokolov have I been so enraptured by a performance of such character but above all scrupulous attention to detail that brought this little masterpiece vividly to life.Of course Asagi has all the technical resources at her fingertips which allowed her great musicianship to bring a kaleidoscopic sense of colour and shape to all that she did.From the energetic opening that just seemed to spring so naturally from her fingers to the complete contrast of the second subject played with a sense of legato and line that contrasted so well.The playful return of the first subject where the duet between the bass and the treble just seemed to bubble over with such joie de vivre.A sense of balance that allowed the accompaniment to sustain rather than overpower the delicacy and playfulness of the melodic line .The seemingly lost almost searching nature of the development was played with just the right sense of discovery as the delicate cadenza led back to home ground once again.An Adagio that was like a bel canto aria such was the subtle shape that she brought to the radiant melodic line.Even the brooding middle section had a radiance and poetic sense of colour that brought even more poignancy to the return of the main subject with Haydn’s own embellishments played with such subtle delicacy.A coda that threatens seriousness but resolves in such a simple harmonious way to the final two barely whispered chords.The finale – Tempo di Minuet was played with a childlike simplicity with such refined ornamentation and play between legato and staccato.There was whispered delicacy as it touches the minor key before the extreme charm of the final few bars
With three symphonies transcribed by 1837 – n.5,6 and 7 Liszt set aside the work for another 23 years. It was not until 1863 that Breitkopf & Härtel suggested to Liszt that he transcribe the complete set for a future publication. For this work, Liszt recycled his previous transcriptions by simplifying passages, stating that “the more intimately acquainted one becomes with Beethoven, the more one clings to certain singularities and finds that even insignificant details are not without their value”. He would note down the names of the orchestral instruments for the pianist to imitate, and also add pedal marks and fingerings for amateurs and sight readers. They are though among the most technically demanding piano music ever written.There was an immediate change of colour as Asagi brought a rich orchestral sound to this first movement of the first symphony.There was great rhythmic impetus and sense of character to her playing.A clarity that allowed the playful answer and question between instruments to be so full of orchestral colour.There were great contrasts too in the development section before the rhythmic outburst of the return of the recapitulation.An ending of breathtaking rhythmic urgency just made one wish we could hear the whole symphony from her musicianly hands.
“Waldesrauschen”,is the first of two concert studies that were composed in Rome around 1862/63 by Liszt : “Waldesrauschen” (Forest Murmurs) and “Gnomenreigen” (Dance of the Gnomes).Rarely performed in concert these days although ‘Gnomenreigen’ is played more often by virtuosi and is known for its technical difficulty in its fast and soft passages, where the pianist imitates the sound of gnomes.’Waldesrauschen’ on the other hand is a tone poem of rare beauty that I have not heard in public since Perlemuter played it as an encore in London many years ago.So it was refreshing to hear the beautifully fluid accompaniment just flow from Asagi’s delicate hands as she moulded the melodic line with such beauty shaping it with refined flexibility and a ravishing sense of balance as the music became ever more passionate.It led to a sumptuous climax of aristocratic control and technical command dying away to a mere whisper.
There were grandiose sounds and also great clarity to Rachmaninov’s technically challenging Etude Tableaux op 39 n.9. Played with great style and character as she brought this virtuoso piece vividly to life.The five movements of Ginastera’s Suite de Danzas Criollas op 15 were played with sultry melodic line of pure magic alternating with savage rhythmic energy of exhilarating excitement and brought the concert to a sumptuous close.
A transcription by Cziffra of Vecsey’s La Valse was offered as an encore and played with all the charm and jeux perlé of another age.A haunting beauty with bewitching ornamentation of the great virtuosi of the past that Asagi played with a ravishing sense of style that was true magic.
A regal bearing of someone who with simplicity and humility is there to serve music and convey this message in an immediate way. It is as if discovering the wonders that she is producing for the first time. A burning intensity and luminosity of sound that could turn the Wigmore piano into a wondrous Bosendorfer such was the sumptuous bass sonorities she could draw from the instrument before her as if by magic. It was not ,though ,the regal presence of a Bachauer or Tureck -she is no High Priestess-but the presence of a Nikolaeva or a Virsaladze just born with music so naturally at their very roots.Where a farmer might toil on the land to bring wondrous things to fruit so they on the keyboard bring to us the same heavenly miracle of life.
Straight down to the important work of making music with no fiddling with the stool or waiting for the moment of concentration.From the first deep notes of the Mozart Fantasia in C minor she held us enthralled as she proceeded to enact this drama ,and show us the operatic characters that inhabit it ,as she allowed the music to speak in such an immediate way. This was Mozart on a grand operatic scale. Even the slow movement of the C minor sonata had much of the richness that she was to find in parts of the Brahms Andante in his Sonata op 5. If the Allegro assai of the Mozart sonata seemed surprisingly underplayed it was because it made the passionate outbursts even more astonishing.
The Schoenberg Suite op 25 showed off her intellectual prowess as she shared his infernal mathematical meanderings with an authority and driving energy. Even here she found magical colours and contrasts that made this intellectual exercise jump off the page into an architectural shape every bit as gripping as her Mozart.
It was composed between 1921 and 1923 and is the earliest work in which Schoenberg employs a row of “12 tones related only to one another” The basic tone row of the suite consists of the following pitches: E–F–G–D♭–G♭–E♭–A♭–D–B–C–A–B♭.In form and style, the work echoes many features of the Baroque Suite .There are six movements:Praludium,Gavotte,Musette,Intermezzo,Menuet,Gigue.The Gavotte contains, “a parody of a baroque keyboard suite that involves the cryptogram of Bach’s name (B flat,A,C, B natural – BACH in German nomenclature) as an important harmonic and melodic device and a related quotation of Schoenberg’s Six little pieces op 19
Schoenberg the score in hand -no page turner even that had been meticulously organised.
But it was the Brahms F minor sonata that received a fearlessly majestic performance turning this black box of hammers and strings into the Philadelphia orchestra. The opening founded on enormous bass sonorities that allowed her such freedom to find sounds that could ravish and seduce.An Andante of such sublime beauty that time seemed to stand still until the coda where she unleashed a passion of burning intensity that erupted into the rhythmic drive she gave to the scherzo. She struck fear into our hearts with the extraordinary intermezzo that depicts both desolation and menace. A finale that seemed so innocent and innocuous with the miraculous whispered appearance of the chorale that was to explode into a coda of burning passion with astonishing sonorities of transcendental virtuosity and control. Fireworks indeed. And it is exactly what we got as an encore with Debussy’s depiction never before sounding so vivid where even the hint of the Marseilles seemed more menacing in her hands than ever before. A scintillating last movement from the Mozart sonata K576 in D major was a second encore to a demanding insatiable audience.
Op 20 in B Minor Op 31 in B Flat Minor Op 39 in C Sharp Minor Op 54 in E Major
Scriabin: 2 Mazurkas Op 40
Balakirev: Toccata in C Sharp Minor
Glazunov/Blumenfeld: Concert Waltz Op 47 no 1
Some phenomenal playing from Thomas Kelly not only of transcendental piano playing but of sublime beauty.A fluidity of sound and sense of colour of another age. Four Scherzi by Chopin where each one was given such character that they became four tone poems each with their own extraordinary sense of discovery and daring. The same daring that he brought to two war horses of another era .The Balakirev Toccata was an astonishing perpetuum mobile of feather light sounds with an irresistible rhythmic drive .But it was the Glazunov Waltz in the transcendental arrangement of Blumenfeld – who was Horowitz’s first teacher before he left Russia – that was played with ravishing style and colour as I imagine only Horowitz could have played it .Thomas threw it off with the nonchalance and old world style that we have only heard from the great virtuosi of the past on piano rolls or the very early recordings of pianists like Rosenthal,Levitski,Lhevine or Moiseiwitch.And if we were reminded of Horowitz with this waltz we were certainly reminded also of Moiseiwitch’s historic recording of Mendelssohn’s Scherzo in the arrangement by his friend Rachmaninov.This was every bit as phenomenal and even more so for being a live performance and thrown off as an encore with the same ease and charm of sparkling jewels that Moiseiwitch threw off in desperation at the end of a recording session. Two little Mazukas op 40 by Scriabin were slipped in like a sorbet between courses to whet the appetite for even more astonishing performances. Here there was a teasing and beguiling sense of colour as the innermost counterpoints were allowed to glisten and gleem with such tantalising charm.
Unlike the classical model of the Scherzo the musical form adopted by Chopin is not characterised by humour or elements of surprise, but by highly charged “gestures of despair and demonic energy”.Schumann wrote about the first scherzo: “How is ‘gravity’ to clothe itself if ‘jest’ goes about in dark veils?”Although various Beethovenian features of the scherzo are preserved—an A–B–A structure with sections A and B contrasting, triple time, pronounced articulation and sforzando accents—in terms of musical depth, Chopin’s four scherzos enter into a different and grander realm. They are all marked presto or presto con fuoco and “expand immeasurably both the scale of the genre and its expressive range”. In these piano pieces, particular the first three, any initial feeling of levity or jocularity is replaced by “an almost demonic power and energy”.
In fact from the very first notes of Thomas’s performance there was an overwhelming rhythmic energy with his unique sense of colour and voicing that never allowed him to force the tone but only to make it richer and more vibrant.The great pianists of the past we’re masters of this like the master illusionists they were .Not the all too often : ‘I plays mainly by strength’ as the modern piano can withstand the cruellest of beatings but by highlighting certain elements one can give the illusion of making the piano roar and sing by a refined sense of balance and an acute sensibility to colour.There was too from Thomas scintillating passage work of transcendental control and passion.The beautiful middle section, based on an old Polish Christmas song (Lulajże Jezuniu) ,was played so poetically with an aristocratic sense of colouring where the perfect timing of a single note in the bass could add such colour and meaning to the beauty of the melodic line.The coda was played with astonishing excitement and virtuosity.There was great clarity with the opening triplets of the second Scherzo answered by the imposing majesty of the chordal declaration.It was though the beauty of the melodic line that was so moving as it was played with a fluidity and flexibility with a great sense of line and forward movement.There was such serene beauty too in the middle section which alternated with a Mazurka like rhythm that I had never been aware of previously.There was even Horowitian devilry in the climax that just dissolved to a mere whisper before the return to the beautiful opening melody,played again with a wondrous sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to sing with such fluidity.The astonishing excitement in the coda where the same way of lightening the octave texture at the very climax was reminiscent of Horowitz and allowed a driving ecstatic forward movement without any hardening of texture.
There was an unusually mysterious opening to the third Scherzo as it led into the dynamic octave outcry and the beauty of the chorale with its glistening cascades of embellishments.It was played though with an overall architectural line that shone through all the extraordinary embellishments where Chopin adds his unique magic to the simple grandeur of the chorale.The fourth Schero of a pastoral serenity but with its capricious fleeting interruptions.It was ,though,the great central song that was so ravishing etched in velvet as he dug into the melodic notes with such weight.There was such poignancy and beauty as it built up to the flights of jeux perlé notes that take us back to the opening motif. A coda that opens like a ray of light gleaming ever more radiantly as it explodes into the final octave grandeur before shooting off a a scintillating rocket of notes to the final sumptuous chords.
Alexander Scriabin wrote his two Mazurkas, catalogued as Op. 40, in 1903 and they were first published a year later. This was a prolific period for Scriabin writing many preludes, etudes and piano pieces. The first Mazurka, in D flat major is marked Allegro and shows a use of harmony typical of Scriabin played by Thomas with a teasing and beguiling sense of dance and extraordinary feeling for the layers of colour that are so much part of Scriabin’s fantasy.The second mazurka was beautifully mellifluous as it meandered to a merely whispered ending .
Mily Balakirev (1837–1910) – the leader of the group of Russian composers known as ‘the Five’ which included Mussorgsky,Cui,Borodin and Rimsky – Korsakov – who wrote of Balakirev ‘who had never had any systematic course in harmony and counterpoint and had not even superficially applied himself to them, evidently thought such studies quite unnecessary…. An excellent pianist, a superior sight reader of music, a splendid improvisor , endowed by nature with a sense of correct harmony and part-writing, he possessed a technique partly native and partly acquired through a vast musical erudition, with the help of an extraordinarily keen and retentive memory, which means so much in steering a critical course in musical literature. Then, too, he was a marvelous critic, especially a technical critic. He instantly felt every technical imperfection or error, he grasped a defect in form at once.’The toccata is a virtuoso work of infectious rhythmic energy a perpetuum mobile of technical brilliance played by Thomas with an alluring sense of style and of course amazing virtuosity.
The waltz by Glazunov in the transcription of Blumenfeld was an astonishing display of playing of another age – the Golden age of piano playing.It showed off to the full the amazing bravura and kaleidoscopic sense of colour as there was a seemless flow of effortless jeux perlé which every time it seemed to draw to a close erupted into an even more funabulistic display of transcendental piano playing.
The rhythmic drive and absolute charm of the Rachmaninov transcription of the Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s ‘A midsummer night’s dream’ offered as an encore,just makes me repeat what I wrote last time I had listened to Thomas’s playing.He is the third element in a remarkable chain of pianists – all British to boot – who have returned to the Golden age of piano playing.Stephen Hough,Benjamin Grosvenor and now without a doubt,after today’s extraordinarily assured display ,Thomas Kelly.His recognition in Leeds was the spark that was needed to give him the authority and assurance that his artistry has for some time demanded.
Thomas Kelly was born in 1998. He passed Grade 8 with Distinction in 2006 and performed Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre two years later. After moving to Cheshire, he regularly played in festivals, winning prizes including in the Birmingham Festival, 3rd prize in Young Pianist of The North 2012, and 1st prize in the 2014 Warrington Competition for Young Musicians. Since 2015, Thomas has studied with Andrew Ball, initially at the Purcell School for Young Musicians and now at Royal College of Music, where he is a third-year undergraduate. Thomas has won first prizes including Pianale International Piano Competition 2017, Kharkiv Assemblies 2018, Lucca Virtuoso e Bel Canto festival 2018, RCM Joan Chissell Schumann competition 2019, Kendall Taylor Beethoven Competition 2019 and BPSE Intercollegiate Beethoven Competition 2019. He has also performed in venues including the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Holy Trinity Sloane Square, St James’ Piccadilly, Oxford Town Hall, St Mary’s Perivale, St Paul’s Bedford, Poole Lighthouse Arts Centre, Stoller Hall, Paris Conservatoire, the StreingreaberHaus in Bayreuth, the Teatro del Sale in Florence, in Vilnius and Palanga. Thomas’ studies at RCM are generously supported by Pat Kendall-Taylor, Ms Daunt and Ms Stevenson and C. Bechstein pianos. He recently won 5th prize at the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition, and was the first British pianist to reach the finals of this prestigious competition for 18 years.
Ravel: Miroirs Noctuelles (‘Moths’) Oiseaux tristes (‘Sad birds’) Une barque sur l’océan (‘A boat on the ocean’) Alborada del gracioso (‘The jester’s aubade’) La vallée des cloches (‘The valley of bells’)
Chopin: Ballade no 4 in F minor Op 52
More superb playing from Perivale. George X Fu in a game of opposites with mirror images evoking the senses. Kaleidoscopic sounds of subtle transcendental piano playing. From the amazingly modern sounds of Tailleferre’s bell like Pastorale of 1919 through the Messiaenic sounds of Dutilleux to Ravel’s magical menagerie of moths birds amidst the wild swirling oceans and the desolation of the final tolling of distant bells. It was the same luminosity of sound he brought to Rachmaninov’s beautiful G major Prelude but it was the continuous outpouring of liquid sounds in Chopin’s fourth ballade that left one breathless and uplifted. Clad in red like a ‘young eagle who has sprung like Minerva fully armed from the head of the son of Cronus’to quote Schumann.
Bell like sounds of a delicacy and luminosity which created the atmosphere that George was seeking to evoke in his stimulating programme of the senses.It must have sounded just as audacious to her public in 1919 as it did today and Tailleferre is indeed a composer whose works demand to be heard more often.It was played with a clock work precision and a sense of shape and colour that brought it vividly to life.
Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse was born in 1892 at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés,Val-De-Marne, France, but as a young woman she changed her last name from “Taillefesse” to “Tailleferre” to spite her father, who had refused to support her musical studies.She died in Paris in 1983 at the age of 91 and was the only female member of the group of composers known as Les Six -Poulenc.Milhaud,Durey,Auric and Honegger.It was in the Montparnasse atelier of one of her painter friends where the initial idea for Les Six began. The publication of Jean Cocteaus’s manifesto Le coq et l’Arlequin resulted in Henri Collet’s media articles that led to instant fame for the group, of which Tailleferre was the only female member.The pastoral in D 1919 was dedicated to Milhaud
Dutilleux’s ‘Game of opposites’ or mirror images evoking the senses with a fascinating use of the pedals and a mixture of sounds of such resonance.There was a juxtaposition of colour with the Messiaenic explosion of dissonance contrasting with the atmosphere which led into the seemingly different world of Rachmaninov.
Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013 was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of Ravel,Debussy,Roussel and Messiaen.Some of his notable compositions include a piano sonata two symphonies, the cello concerto :A whole distant world,the violin concerto The tree of dreams,the string quartet Thus the night .Some of these are regarded as masterpieces of 20th-century classical music and were commissioned from him by such major artists as Charles Munch,George Szell,Mstislav Rostropovich,Isaac Stern,Simon Rattle,Renée Fleming and Seiji Ozawa
The beautifully mellifluous Prelude in G was bathed in moonlight after the tumultuous stormy Dutilleux.There was a beautiful sense of balance that allowed the melancholic melody to float on a liquid wave of gently lapping sounds.As George rightly says :Rachmaninov feels and suffers and one can feel the yearning nostalgia and innate sadness.Whereas Ravel is an observer who looks on happy to describe in minute and ravishing detail what he sees in the distance.
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”.He gave the first performance in 1906 .Miroirs has five movements, each dedicated to a member of Les Apaches:
“Noctuelles” (“Moths”) is dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue.It is a dark, nocturnal mood throughout with the moths flitting about with a lightness and improvised sense of direction.The middle section is calm with rich, chordal melodies played with sumptuous sultry sounds.
“Oiseaux tristes” (“Sad Birds”) is dedicated to Ricardo Vines, this movement represents a lone bird whistling a lonely tune of such desolation which others join in. The rambunctious middle section is offset by a solemn cadenza which brings back the melancholy mood of the beginning.
“Une barque sur l’océan” (“A Boat on the Ocean”) was written for Paul Sordes, the piece recounts a boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean.The great sweeping melodies imitate the flow of ocean currents with streaks of lightening and turbulent waves .Played with transcendental control and sumptuous sense of colour and it led to a magical melodic line over the peaceful lapping waves with the beseeching voice from the depths .It is the longest and technically most challenging piece of the set with its constant juxtaposition of rhythm seemingly so simple in George’s magic hands.
“Alborada del gracioso” (“The Jester’s Aubade”)is dedicated to Michel-Dmitri Calvocoressi,It is a technically challenging piece as only Ravel could have imagined with its rapid repeated notes (like Scarbo of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit ) but also glissandi and double glissandi the evokes the ever changing Spanish mood.From the sultry recitativi to the exuberant passion and fire.
“La vallée des cloches” (“The Valley of Bells”) is dedicated to Maurice Delage, Suddenly the bells are chiming peacefully in the distance with the appearance of a languid melody opening out a vision of this sultry landscape ( similar also to Le Gibet of Gaspard).This is a magic land of peace and harmony quite the opposite of the frightening landscape of Le Gibet. George gave us a magical display of transcendental playing full of intelligence and kaleidoscopic sense of colours.It evoked and enhanced our senses showing us the absolute mastery of Ravel in creating atmosphere full of insinuating sounds and atmospheres hidden in piano playing of deliberate transcendental difficulties.
One of the true pinnacles of the romantic piano repertoire is the Fourth Ballade of Chopin.George played it with a disarming simplicity in which the gentle opening gradually led to a subtle build up of mellifluous sounds that created the great wave that brought us to the inevitable passionate outpouring of exhilaration.Five gentle chords led us to the technically challenging coda played by George with the same wonderful liquid sounds with which he had shaped in an extraordinary way this masterpiece.Subtle detail were incorporated into one great architectural whole with a mastery that left us all breathless and uplifted .
Described by the Boston Music Intelligencer as a “heroic piano soloist” with “stunning virtuosity”, George Xiaoyuan Fu is establishing a reputation as a captivating, versatile musician with distinctive intelligence and sensitivity.George has performed as a piano soloist with orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and collaborated with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Stefan Asbury, Kensho Watanabe, Vinay Parameswaran, and Jonathan Berman. He has appeared at international venues such as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Phillips Collection, and Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, while his live performances and interviews have been featured on several public television and radio broadcasts around the world, such as In Tune on BBC Radio 3, Performance Today on National Public Radio, and On Stage At Curtis in Philadelphia.George continues a busy performance schedule in 2021. Highlights include important solo piano recital debuts at Kings Place in London and at the Presteigne Festival in Wales. Following a successful tour of Latin America with violist Roberto Díaz, George will also perform in two tours of Europe led by Curtis On Tour, in a trio with violinist Andrea Obiso and cellist Timotheos Petrin.Passionate about the creation of new work, George is a composer and an avid performer of contemporary music. He has collaborated with eminent composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Harrison Birtwistle, Tansy Davies, Philip Cashian, George Lewis, Unsuk Chin, Matthew Aucoin, and Freya Waley-Cohen. Interested in collaborative work, George is a conductor, an active chamber musician with duo partners and ensembles around the world, and collaborator with artists of many disciplines.After receiving a bachelors in economics from Harvard University, George studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under Jonathan Biss and Meng-Chieh Liu, and then at the Royal Academy of Music under Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor. He has also worked intensively with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, specifically on the music of Messiaen and Debussy. George is currently the Hodgson Piano Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, and receives career support as an artist of the Kirckman Concert Society, the City Music Foundation, and the Keyboard Charitable Trust.
Soirées de Vienne – Valse Caprice d’apres Schubert No 6 S427/6
Two Schubert song transcriptions : ‘Horch, Horch! Die Lerch, S558/9 Rastlose Liebe, S558/10
Vexilla Regis prodeunt S185
Totentanz S525
Some extraordinary playing from the ‘local boy’ playing on home ground in Ealing.I had heard Andrew Yiangou in a previous all Liszt recital in preparation for the Utrecht International Competition. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/03/07/andrew-yiangou-liszt-is-alive-and-well-and-in-ealing/ Due to the pandemic it was a competition that never took place.Some very fine solid performances but that did not completely convince or excite . Andrew now almost two years on is all set for the next Utrecht Competition with playing of such mastery and mature musicianship that has just proven that there have been one or two good things that have come out of this world wide catastrophy. One is the chance to hear so many performances in various parts of the world from our homes.And it is thanks to Dr Mather who is one of the few that has continued live streaming even though audiences are now allowed in person. The other is that it has given us the time to consolidate and contemplate as time was brought to a stand still and we could concentrate on the things that were dearest and closest to us. Andrew’s already musicianly playing,as you would expect from the class of Norma Fisher,has taken on a new dimension of maturity and mastery that is astonishing. There was no moment in the recital that was not played with a clarity and musical line where these rarely heard works of Liszt were brought to life in an astonishingly authoritative way. Leslie Howard the chairman of the competition suggests works for the rounds from Liszt’s vast output that have been totally neglected. Leslie is in the Guinness book of records for having recorded on 100cd’s the complete output of the still underrated genius of Liszt.He is an authority on the works of Liszt and has brought to light many works that have lain dormant for over a century.
Nowhere more so than in the ‘Faribolo pastour’a continuous outpouring of song every bit as beautiful as the infinitely better known Liebestraume. It was played with a sense of balance of such richness as the melodic line emerged and was embellished with a sumptuous support from the bass
Liszt wrote it during a concert trip to Southern Europe in 1844. At a concert series in Pau in October that year, Liszt was reunited with his childhood love Caroline Dartigaux (née Saint-Cricq). During his two week stay at Pau, Liszt created two compositions which he dedicated to Caroline.Although dedicated to Caroline Dartigaux, there is no indication that she ever heard these compositions other than as improvisations at Liszt’s Pau recital. In fact, in a letter to Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein from 1858 Caroline stated about Liszt: “one of the regrets in my life is not to have known the fruits of his work”.
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I have heard many of the Schubert song transcriptions but today I heard for the first time the radiant ‘Rastlose Liebe’ (Restless Love) of such rhythmic and melodic energy that made you wonder why it is not more often -if ever- played.Ständchen” is known in English by its first line “Hark, hark, the lark” or “Serenade”), D 889 was composed in July 1826 and is a setting of the “Song” in act 2, scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.It was first published by Anton Diabelli in 1830, two years after the composer’s death.Liszt’s transcription for solo piano, published by Diabelli in 1838 as no. 9, “Ständchen von Shakespeare”, of his 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S.558.It is much better known but makes a perfect partner with Rastlose and was played with a beautiful sense of balance with such elegance and buoyancy.
The noble ‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt’was played with such authority one could almost see the pompous occasion that must have inspired it.Vexilla regis prodeunt, S. 185 is a ‘sacred’ piano piece originally written by Liszt in 1864 .Venantius Fortunatus’s hymn introduces Via Crucis, but in the earlier piano work upon the same theme published in 1970 ,which also exists for orchestra, the procession is not that of the Via Dolorosa, but a real crusaders’ march, full of power and vigour, with just one gentler variation before the coda.Vexilla regis prodeunt, this version too, remained unpublished until 1978.
The Soirées de Vienne on the other hand is a famous show piece of the virtuosi of the past.Lhevine and Horowitz have charmed us with their will o’ the wisp jeux perlé that they used to ravish their audiences with. Andrew gave us a more grounded musicians view never lacking in the true Viennese dance but he was far too serious to tease and beguile us.
Totentanz (Dance of the Dead): Paraphrase on Dies irae, S.126 is the name of a work for piano and orchestra by Liszt and is notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Irae as well as for stylistic innovations. It was first planned in 1838, completed and published in 1849, and revised in 1853 and 1859.Some of the titles of Liszt’s pieces, such as Totentanz, Funérailles,La lugubre gondola and Pensée des morts,show the composer’s fascination with death.In the young Liszt we can already observe manifestations of his obsession with death, with religion, and with heaven and hell. He frequented Parisian “hospitals, gambling casinos and asylums” in the early 1830s, and he even went down into prison dungeons in order to see those condemned to die.Liszt also wrote versions for two pianos (S.652) and solo piano (S.525) which is the one we hear today. It was the Totentanz that received an astonishing performance of Arrau proportions.I remember Arrau playing the Totentanz and the Weber Konzerstuck in the Albert Hall both for piano and orchestra.His playing had a solidity and breadth together with phenomenal feats of virtuosity that made one realise what an underrated work this is.Lesser hands have tainted Liszt’s Temple with a lot of showy tinsel in the name of the Liszt tradition.In the same way that poor Chopin has had to suffer for too long as well.Arrau studied with a pupil of Liszt and like Andrew today played with a sense of architectural line and of orchestral balance that was remarkable.Above all there was the respect for the composers wishes as written in the score. Glissandi like streaks of light passing almost unnoticed as they embellished the noble Dies Irae.Repeated notes that were mere vibrations of sound and not record breaking finger exercises. This was indeed the crown that I would not be surprised if it were placed on the worthy Emperors head in Utrecht. A competition though is like a circus and it is not the end result that is necessarily just or the raison d’etre but like the Olympics it pushes the athlete to superhuman feats as they reach for the stars. Andrew got pretty close today.
International Concert Pianist, Andrew Yiangou, has recently been selected as one of the fourteen semifinalist’s to participate in the 12th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition 2020 in Utrecht. He was a recipient of the prestigious Mills Williams Junior Fellowship whilst studying at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Professors Norma Fisher, Vanessa Latarche and Gordon Fergus-Thompson. He was awarded multiple scholarships including support for his studies from the Tillet Trust and Eileen Rowe Musical Award Trust. Andrew has worked with artists such as Robert Levin, Ya-Fei Chuang, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Charles Owen, Kathryn Stott, Peter Jablonski and Boaz Sharon, and is a prize winner of many international competitions. He has performed at many venues in the UK including Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, St. James’s Piccadilly, Steinway Hall, St. Lawrence Jewry, St. Barnabas Ealing and St. Mary’s Perivale. He has travelled all over the world to perform in countries including USA, Serbia, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France and Poland. Alongside mainstream repertoire he has a particular affinity for the music of lesser known composers such as Nikolai Kapustin, Leopold Godowsky, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Nikolai Medtner, Georgy Catorie and Sergei Lyapunov.
Thank you Christopher as always. And what a wonderful recital by Andrew Yiangou. A great start to 2022. Only another 130 live streamed concerts to go ! Here is the link to Andrew’s performance https://youtu.be/nsiVMxTWnfo
Daniel Lebhardt is an Emperor for the night at the Barbican with the RPO under Christopher Warren Green.A superb performance of great clarity and precision with a crystal clear sound that even in the quietest of passages reached the furthest corners of this vast hall. Aristocratic nobility as befits a true Emperor with all the dynamic rhythmic drive of a dashing young virtuoso.
Cheered to the rafters (where I was seated in ‘paradiso’ or ‘Gods’ faites vos jeux) he was asked by the orchestra themselves to play some more. The Beethoven Bagatelle op 126 n.3 was of searing beauty with great waves of sound just interrupting this mellifluous landscape depicted by this superb musician.He knew how to interpret Beethoven’s final pedal points and created an atmosphere that entranced even this festive audience. Minutes of aching silence,such were we bewitched,before the deluge of cheers and even cat calls just demonstrating what magic atmosphere a real artist can create. This was a Raymond Gubbay event bringing music to the masses who in fact were far more attentive than the usual Barbican ‘sophisticated’audience that more often than not clap between movements. Hats off to Raymond Gubbay for offering such an opportunity to young musicians at the start of their career.
As a curtain opener to the much vaunted Beethoven’s ninth it did In fact steal the show from a Choral Symphony that seemed to lack a clear architectural line and consequently the burning rhythmic tension that is only released in the final triumphantly joyous bars.
As Jessica Duchen so astutely comments Marios Papadopoulos’s book is about a remarkable adventure in music that is still evolving and ever growing:
‘This forthright memoir casts rare and valuable perspective on what it really takes to create a life in music’ Jessica Duchen.
It tells the story of a young pianist in Cyprus playing at the age of 7 to Gina Bachauer who immediately spotted his talent and brought him to London to study with Ilona Kabos.I remember a young olive skinned boy named Marios carrying Madame Kabos’s enormous handbag for her in Dartington.She was quite a formidable lady and when I played the Schumann Fantasie to her she told me that I feel it well.It was so beautiful ……….disgustingly beautiful …….darlink,it was disgusting and you would play it better if you were a better pianist! ( it upset a lot of people including John Amis who gave me another weeks scholarship to study with André Tchaikowsky ,who became a great friend).It was tyrannical teaching of the old school that we have experienced a few years ago from the late Dmitri Bashkirov at the RCM.But Madame Kabos had a pair of superb ears and a sense of style that was extraordinary and you either adored her or hated her,there was no half way mark.Gina Bachauer also found sponsors for his studies and even promoted his New York debut recital.After his fifth Queen Elisabeth recital in London in 1984 though he realised that :’Music is my life support …….it has brought me great happiness ,but also considerable distress…….I felt I had reached high levels of achievement but at other times I knew I had failed miserably’ and he explains that ‘the life of a globe -trotting international concert artist was not for me and I longed for a platform of my own where I could share my musical ideas ‘ and one might add ideals.
It is this journey that is described as he is bewitched by the magic world of Oxford where he can envisage his utopia on the distant horizon.It is this voyage with its inevitable ups and downs that is told with the same precision and order which he himself says he must have around him in order to survive.None of this could have been done without the team effort of his family.As Marios himself says:’Anthi worked as a full-time volunteer for 10 years …….over the years she has grown to be highly respected and admired by everyone.Her judicious handling of the finances has saved the orchestra from collapse …….’At the 90th birthday celebrations for the veteran violinist and teacher Vahan Bedelian in 1985 :’I played a Beethoven sonata with Manoug Parikian….a young woman arrived to turn pages for me .Her name was Anthi Anastassiades!With her arrival ,my existence changed immediately ……. she devoted herself to bettering our lives and to furthering my career .Anthi was to become the pillar of my life and a beacon of light in the years ahead’.
Marios giving a masterclass
It is a story of passion,courage and humility as they searched for people that could sponsor their voyage to find the utopia that has been keeping them going with great sacrifices but also with great artistic satisfaction.Enriching the lives of all around them by creating not only an important symphony orchestra – the only permanent orchestra of Oxford University but also a series of events both educational and social that have enriched the musical world of Oxford and beyond.Some of the most revered musicians of our time have been involved and many return year after year to enjoy this warm intimate atmosphere of music making .
Jessica Duchen’s word of ‘forthright’ is exactly the spirit that Marios has adopted in his journey and in his description.What is missing are the human elements,the anecdotes,the many fascinating and moving details that have encircled and enriched this remarkable journey.As Marios says he is a man of action,precision and dedication and it is exactly this,without any frills,that he has tried to convey in his description of all that he has achieved in Oxford.
Peter Frankl masterclass
I too have been associated with Oxford for many years since I was a trustee of Rosalyn Tureck’s Bach Research Institute.Rosalyn was a great personality who lived in Oxford and would walk around the ancient city in her cloak and top hat.She took part in the first of the Oxford Philharmonic festivals and had a festival of her own too and I cannot believe that Marios does not have some personal memories of such an extraordinary encounter.I would often stay in Ewelme,the nearby village of my old piano teacher Vlado Perlemuter with his companion Joan Booth.I would come to the Summer Piano Festival which gives opportunities to young musicians to gain knowledge and experience playing in the masterclasses of artists of the calibre of Rosalyn Tureck,Menahem Pressler,Andras Schiff,Peter Frankl,John Lill,Stephen Kovacevich,Dame Fanny Waterman and many more besides.I would often come to Oxford during the year to hear the orchestra in the magnificent surroundings of the Sheldonian.
Maria Joao Pires and Julian Brocal
I remember very well coming to hear Maria João Pires play the Mozart Double concerto with Julian Brocal ,an aspiring young pianist who she was helping forge a career.I had heard Julian in a competition in Monza and he had asked me what advice could I give him to pursue a career in music.Shortly after he met Madame Pires who took him under her wing and he is now flying high on his own.I thanked Madam Pires after the concert for all she was doing to help young musicians.’But it is what they do for me and it is I who should thank them!’Another lady pianist also associated with Marios and the Oxford Philharmonic -Martha Argerich has the same simplicity and humility.Qualities that Marios too has in abundance even though he is too modest to mention all the young musicians that he has helped on his upward journey.
I once mentioned to Marios that there was a young Russian pianist who would love to come to his Summer Piano Festival but was in need of funding.Marios not only gave him a full scholarship to study but became a mentor of his for several years just as Gina Bachauer had been to him in his youth.
Dame Fanny enthroned in Oxford
I mentioned that summer to Dame Fanny Waterman that she might like to meet the next winner of hero competition in Leeds.’Come with me’ she said as she ushered the young Russian pianist into a room with a piano.’Play me something classical’.He did and although she had many things to tell him he did go on to win a top prize in her next competition.
Mozart in rehearsal
I was present too at the rehearsal of an all Mozart programme in the Sheldonian.Mozart Requiem and his last piano concerto with the ninety year old veteran Menahem Pressler as soloist.The orchestral musicians had come down for the final rehearsal from London and obviously just thought they would run through the concerto and then have a break in the pub before the main rehearsal of the Requiem.Well they had not counted on the perfectionism of Pressler who wanted to rehearse every bar and phrase with the loving care that his genius requires.Pressler was extremely upset at this rather cavalier attitude and Marios found himself torn between trying to avoid a revolution with the orchestral players or a walk out of the soloist.
Luckily we were able to calm Pressler and make him realise the historic importance of his playing in such a hallowed hall and to reassure him that the orchestra was full of the finest players who unfortunately had only a certain number of hours to rehearse! The concert was a wonderful success and not only the orchestra and Pressler were united in their praise for each other but also Dame Fanny Waterman gave her nod …or should I say many nods …..of consent.
Dame Fanny with Menahem Pressler
It was only in Oxford chez Marios that one could get to know so intimately these renowned figures of the music world.I said to Pressler that ‘ you have so much in common with Dame Fanny in that you are the only two people I know that concentrate so fully on every single note that they listen to’.Pressler of course realised that but complained that when he was on the jury of Dame Fanny’s competition in Leeds,she insisted he sat next to her.Fanny never has ‘fifty winks’ in the afternoon,like many of the jury members during the very long and sometimes boring afternoon rounds of the competition.’Sitting next to Dame Fanny I have to stay 100% awake too!’affectionately moaned Pressler.
Much in common Pressler and Dame Fanny
It is just these sort of anecdotes or personal recollections that are missing from an otherwise wondrous tale of a true giant bestriding the hallowed city of Oxford and way beyond in the name of music.
Pressler giving masterclasses to that Russian on Prokofiev 6th.A work he had discussed in detail with his great friend Sviatoslav Richter!Dame Fanny in her element with wonderful young talented children
The final three chapters are dedicated to the ‘Thoughts on music ‘ from a thinking musician.There are some practical ideas and solutions that have been matured over a life time of music making at a very high level.Architectural Design – Motion in Music and Tonal Body are some in depth thoughts and solutions to musical problems.There is an added afterthought too of ‘Beat patterns and their application’ describing where the conductor’s beat lies!
Descriptions follow of the Oxford Philharmonic’s Outreach Work for Local Schools and Young People by David Haenlein and their Outreach Programme in Hospitals by Tony Robb and it just goes to show the scope that this remarkable activity has in the community it serves.Marios had the idea of a filmed concert streamed on YouTube which was made in December 2020 to thank the scientists for their Herculean efforts in producing a vaccine against COVID 19.A concert that included a work specially written for the occasion by John Rutter .Together with Sir Bryn Terfel it was initially intended as a thank you gesture for the scientists to view,but it attracted the attention of the national media and was watched by over 160,000 people worldwide.
The team of Marios and Anthi with Stella and Michael Christmas 2019
Last but not least is the Coda in which Marios describes his aspirations for the orchestra and its work.He and his team have created the foundation stone of a monument that should continue it’s exemplary work long into the distance for future generations.
From the seven year old pianist being discovered by Gina Bachauer in Cyprus to the creation of the Oxford Philharmonic it has been a long and glorious journey indeed.
Sidney Harrison often used to talk about two of his prize students -Norma Fisher and his mature Canadian student Malcolm Troup at the Guildhall,just after the war. He boasted that Malcolm had married a Chilean princess which did not surprise him in the slightest,as he had quite a unique character.
His daughter Wendela confirmed that today in her moving eulogy,where she described him on his last journey,with a wink,asking for a glass of champagne.
Champagne was offered to all those present in the vestry after the service today,as a loving gesture from his family. Malcolm undoubtedly enjoying every moment of it too. I took refuge in the nearby Coach and Horses to write a few heartfelt words about a friend while Champagne was being offered to his friends in the vestry! What a life! It was many years later that Sidney boasted about another student of his,who graduating with him at the RAM ,went on to build and run a theatre/concert hall in Rome with his famous Italian wife Ileana Ghione.She had been his pupil in Siena -he rarely returned to England for almost 30 years.
It was in the 80’s that Ileana and I were invited to the Troups house in Gloucester Road for a private recital for EPTA of the renowned Italian pianist Marcella Crudeli. At last I got to meet Malcolm Troup and his adorable wife Carmen. Malcolm and I became colleagues and I would often see him at the annual recitals of our mutual friend Alberto Portugheis. I remember one memorable occasion where Malcolm sat,unshakable,like the perfect gentleman he was ,during an unforgettable performance of the Liszt Sonata with nine fingers -the tenth had a trigger in it ! His lovely wife died and he somehow never forgave himself that they had been on a holiday just before,which he thought had tired her unnecessarily.
My wife died too -on stage – and Malcolm and I became friends. Today I said goodbye to a friend with the celestial sounds of the Fauré Requiem in the sumptuous surrounds of Farm Street Church in Mayfair. It had been a haven for him and his wife for their many years together and at last,this Christmas,they are united there again.
Sep 09, 2021
A care home in Newbury has captured the moment a resident heard his favourite piano piece, after introducing them to music therapy.
The emotional video was taken as the team at Care UK’s Winchcombe Place, on Maple Crescent, played his own rendition of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus to resident and former professional pianist, composer and Head of Music Department at City, University of London, Malcolm Troup.
The regular session now forms part of the home’s efforts to encourage residents to reminisce while enjoying old hobbies. Music therapy, which Malcolm championed throughout his life as Governor of the Music Therapy Charity for 30 years, is especially powerful for residents like him, whose life has revolved around an instrument for many years, and can trigger happy memories while giving residents an alternative way to communicate their thoughts and feelings.
The home has also hosted a number of music-themed events this year, including a World Piano Day celebration and World Music Day event.
Malcolm said: “I was delighted to hear my recording again.”
Kerry Thompson, Home Manager at Winchcombe Place, said: “We always go above and beyond to support residents, encouraging them to continue enjoying old hobbies where possible and helping them to do so.
“Malcolm has lived an incredibly rich life – he’s travelled across the world, and his list of achievements, whether academic or musical, is nothing short of extraordinary. A large part of his life has revolved around playing piano, so it’s no surprise music therapy has proven so beneficial for him.
“It was heartwarming to witness Malcolm’s reaction to his favourite piece being played, and you could see from the look on his face just how much it meant to him. We’re looking forward to continuing implementing music therapy at the home and supporting Malcolm to enjoy the thing he loves most – the piano.”
Born in 1930 in Toronto, Canada, Malcolm’s interest in piano started when he very young. A talented pianist, he began composing his own songs aged nine, quickly earning a scholarship at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, then making his debut as a professional pianist in Germany eight years later, having studied with some of the country’s most famous musicians.
Throughout his critically-acclaimed career, Malcolm received a number of distinctions, including a Commonwealth Medal in 1955 as well as an International Music Award. Praised for his technical skills, he also travelled across the world to play, in locations including South America, Eastern Europe, Middle-East and Europe.
A scholar, Malcolm was also the Director of Music of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama between 1970 and 1975, and remains an Emeritus Professor at City, University of London, where he created a BSc Honours Degree Course in Music. He also chaired many high-profile music societies, including the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, the European Piano Teachers’ Association and the International Ernest Bloch Society.
Malcolm Troup
The pianist, academic and teacher Malcolm Troup was born in Toronto on 22 February 1930. He studied with Alberto Guerrero and later with Walter Gieseking. He has performed all over the world and recorded for RCA Victor and Continuum. His performance of Messiaen‘s Vingt Regards was judged ‘notably perceptive … with splendid panache’ by The Financial Times.
Troup has been Director of Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was awarded his own chair at City University. He holds the Commonwealth Medal, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Memorial University of Newfoundland and the 1998 Liszt Medal from the AmericanLiszt Society. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1999 and is a former chairman of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe.
Malcolm Troup, music educator, concert pianist. Recipient Commonwealth medal Harriet Cohen International Awards, 1955, Liszt medal American Liszt Society, 1998.
He was born on February 22, 1930 in Toronto, Canada. Son of William John and Wendela Mary (Seymour-Conway) Troup.
Associate degree, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, 1948. Fellow, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, 1952. Professor (honorary), University Chile, 1966.
Doctor of Philosophy in Music, University York, England, 1968. Doctor of Laws (honorary), Memorial University Newfoundland, 1985. Doctor of Music (honorary), City University, London, 1995.
Concert pianist, worldwide, 1954-1970. Director music Guildhall School of Music & Drama, 1970-1975. Professor music City University, London, 1975-1995, head department, 1975-1993, emeritus professor music, since 1995.
Leader international delegation of piano teachers Citizen Ambassador Program People to People, People’s Republic of China, 1995. Board management London International String Quartet Competition. President Oxford International Piano Festival, since 1999.
Member executive committee Anglo-Chilean Society, London, since 1990. Freeman City of London, since 1971. Trustee Jewish Music Institute, since 1991.
Fellow Royal Society Arts. Member Royal Society Musicians, Worshipful Company of Musicians (liveryman, member court assistants since 1973, master 1999), European Piano Teachers Association (chairman since 1978), Beethoven Piano Society Europe (chairman since 1991).
Married Carmen Lamarca Subercaseaux, February 24, 1962. 1 child, Wendela Colomba Troup Lumley.Father:William John Troup
Saint-Saëns specified in his will that his Carnival should be published posthumously. Following his death in December 1921 it was published by Durand in Paris in April 1922; the first public performance was given on 25 February 1922 in Paris It was rapturously received. Le Figaro reported:We cannot describe the cries of admiring joy let loose by an enthusiastic public. In the immense oeuvre of Camille Saint-Saëns, The Carnival of the Animals is certainly one of his magnificent masterpieces. From the first note to the last it is an uninterrupted outpouring of a spirit of the highest and noblest comedy. In every bar, at every point, there are unexpected and irresistible finds. Themes, whimsical ideas, instrumentation compete with buffoonery, grace and science. … When he likes to joke, the master never forgets that he is the master.
But I was not prepared for the even more regal splendour of another age of the National Liberal Club for two of the star pianists from the Keyboard Trust stable:Tyler Hay and Cristian Sandrin.They too had kindly invited me to hear them play this amusing Zoological Fantasy.
The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London a private members club was established by Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate following the Third Reform Act in 1884, and was envisioned as a more accessible version of a traditional London club.
The club’s Italianate building on the Embankment is the second-largest club-house built in London. (It was the largest ever at the time, but was superseded by the later Royal Automobile Club building completed in 1911.) Designed by Alfred Waterhouse it was completed in 1887.Its facilities include a dining room, a bar, function rooms, a billiards room, a music room with a splendid Steinway ‘D’ concert grand,a library and an outdoor riverside terrace.
Cristian Sandrin feeling at home in the NLC
The club’s foundation stone on the modern clubhouse was laid by Gladstone on 9 November 1884, when he declared “Speaking generally, I should say there could not be a less interesting occasion than the laying of the foundation-stone of a Club in London. For, after all, what are the Clubs of London? I am afraid little else than temples of luxury and ease. This, however, is a club of a very different character”, and envisioned the club as a popular institution for the mass electorate.However, another of the club’s founders, G.W.E.Russell, noted “We certainly never foresaw the palatial pile of terra-cotta and glazed tiles which now bears that name. Our modest object was to provide a central meeting-place for Metropolitan and provincial Liberals, where all the comforts of life should be attainable at what are called ‘popular prices'”, but added “at the least, we meant our Club to be a place of “ease” to the Radical toiler. But Gladstone insisted that it was to be a workshop dedicated to strenuous labour.”
The vast oven at the back of the David Lloyd George Room
Waterhouse’s design blended French, Gothic and Italianate elements, with heavy use of Victorian Leeds Burmantofts Pottery tilework manufactured by Wilcox and Co.And in the music room – concert hall -‘The David Lloyd George Room’- the Victorian tiles were very much part of the decor as was a vast oven of another age at the back.A fascinating venue for a concert dedicated to the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saens .
I was sorry to miss the ‘Danse bacchanale’,from Samson et Dalila and even more so the Second Piano concerto which I remember from the aristocratic performances of Artur Rubinstein just the other side of the Thames in the Royal Festival Hall .But I was glad to be able to hear two world premières both presumably with some connection to Saint Saens.
Simon Proctor’s beautifully mellifluous ‘Baacharolle’ it was easy to see the connection.
Simon Proctor with Ben Westlake
But Philip Dutton’s Méduses even though conducted brilliantly by the composer was less obvious.It is sometimes a good thing to play a contemporary work twice – if short- as the first time there can be a general shock wave but with the second comes real understanding .
Philip Dutton
Rubinstein realised that,when he gave the Spanish premiere of Ravel’s Valses Nobles which was greeted in true Latin manner by hisses and boos.Not deterred the great pianist played the entire work again as an encore!No one was sure if the silence that greeted it was shock or true understanding !
Ben Westlake spirited introduction .
But hats off to the conductor and master of ceremonies for including two contemporary composers in a concert d’epoque. The droll sense of humour with which Ben Westlake introduced the works was every bit as characterful and amusing as his expert conducting of these 14 animal episodes that make up this amazing zoological collection.
Yisha Xue the organiser with Ben Westlake of nearly 20 concerts since 2019 at the NLC
An ensemble of brilliant young musicians – two superb pianists at a magnificent Steinway encapsulated – or do I mean encaptured in a hall that must have been similar to where it was first performed in 1922.One could almost envisage the ghost of Saint-Saens looking on ,bemused,that this little ‘ divertissement’could have overshadowed all his more ‘serious’ compositions.The same fate as William Walton’s Facade where the cabaret appeal,however intellectually stimulating,is far more far reaching that the greatest of his Symphonic or Operatic output!There is the story too of Busoni’s wife being introduced as Mrs Bach-Busoni as her husbands vaste original output was overshadowed by his more accessible transcriptions of Bach!
Tyler Hay and CrIstian Sandrin joining the Kettner Philharmonic players in some magnificent playing of transcendental virtuosity and not a little exhilaration and enjoyment
I. Introduction and Royal March of the LionThe introduction begins with the pianists playing a bold tremolo, under which the strings enter with a stately theme. The pianists play a pair of glissandi going in opposite directions to conclude the first part of the movement.Introducing a march theme that they carry through most of the rest of the introduction.
II. Hens and Roosters Strings without cello and double bass, two pianists , with clarinet: this movement is centered around a pecking theme played by the pianists and strings, which is quite reminiscent of chickens pecking at grain. The clarinet plays a small solo above the strings. The piano plays a very fast theme based on the crowing of a rooster’s Cock-a-Doodle-Doo.
III. Hémiones (animaux véloces) (Wild Donkeys Swift Animals) Two pianists the animals depicted here are quite obviously running, an image induced by the constant, feverishly fast up-and-down motion of both pianos playing figures in octaves. These are dziggetai, donkeys that come from Tibet and are known for their great speed.
IV. Tortoises Strings and piano: a satirical movement which opens with a piano playing a pulsing triplet figure in the higher register. The strings play a slow rendition of the famous “Can-can from Offenbach’s comic opera Orpheus in the Underworld.
Lon Fon Law the brilliant double bass Elephant
V. The Elephant Double bass and piano: this section is marked Allegro pomposo, the great caricature for an elephant. The piano plays a waltz-like triplet figure while the bass hums the melody beneath it. Like “Tortues,” this is also a musical joke—the thematic material is taken from the Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Berlioz’s “Dance of the Sylphs” from The Damnatiin of Faust .The two themes were both originally written for high, lighter-toned instruments (flute and various other woodwinds, and violin, accordingly); the joke is that Saint-Saëns moves this to the lowest and heaviest-sounding instrument in the orchestra, the double bass.
VI. Kangaroos Two pianists:the main figure here is a pattern of “hopping” chords (made up of triads in various positions) preceded by grace notes in the right hand. When the chords ascend, they quickly get faster and louder, and when the chords descend, they quickly get slower and softer.
Part of the original manuscript score of “Aquarium”. The top staff was written for the (glass) “Harmonica”. Violins, viola, cello , two pianists flute, and glass harmonica.The melody is played by the flute, backed by the strings, and glass harmonica on top of tumultuous, glissando-like runs and arpeggios in pianos. The first piano plays a descending ten-on-one, and eight-on-one ostinato, in the style of the second of Chopin’s Studies , while the second plays a six-on-one. These figures, plus the occasional glissando from the glass harmonica towards the end and are evocative of a peaceful, dimly lit aquarium.
VIII. Characters with Long Ears Two violins: this is the shortest of all the movements. The violins alternate playing high, loud notes and low, buzzing ones (in the manner of a donkey’s braying “hee-haw”). Music critics have speculated that the movement is meant to compare music critics to braying donkeys.
IX. The Cuckoo in the Depths of the WoodsmTwo pianists and clarinet: the pianos play large, soft chords while the clarinet plays a single two-note ostinato; a C and an A♭, mimicking the call of a cuckoo bird. Saint-Saëns states in the original score that the clarinetist should be offstage
X. Aviary Strings, pianos and flute: the high strings take on a background role, providing a buzz in the background that is reminiscent of the background noise of a jungle. The cellos and basses play a pickup cadence to lead into most of the measures. The flute takes the part of the bird, with a trilling tune that spans much of its range. The pianos provide occasional pings and trills of other birds in the background. The movement ends very quietly after a long ascending chromatic scale from the flute.
Superb pianists trying their best!
XI. Pianists Strings and two pianists this humorous movement (satirizing pianists as animals) is a glimpse of what few audiences ever get to see: the pianists practicing their finger exercises and scales. The scales of C, D♭, D and E♭ are covered. Each one starts with a trill on the first and second note, then proceeds in scales with a few changes in the rhythm. Transitions between keys are accomplished with a blasting chord from all the instruments between scales.
Title page to “Fossils” in the manuscript including drawing by the composer
XII. Fossils Strings, two pianists , clarinet, and xylophone: here, Saint-Saëns mimics his own composition, the Danse macabre, which makes heavy use of the xylophone to evoke the image of skeletons dancing, the bones clacking together to the beat. The musical themes from Danse macabre are also quoted; the xylophone and the violin play much of the melody, alternating with the piano and clarinet. Allusions to “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” (better known as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), the French nursery rhymes “Au clair de la lune”and “J’ai du bon tabac” (the second piano plays the same melody upside down [inversion]), the popular anthem “Partant pour La Syrie” as well as the aria “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville can also be heard. The musical joke in this movement, according to Leonard Bernstein the musical pieces quoted are the fossils of Saint-Saëns’s time. The movement ends with the xylophone theme first played by the xylophone and strings, but is soon taken over by almost all the instruments.
Thomas Vidal – superb swan
XIII. The Swan Two pianists and cello: a slowly moving cello melody (which evokes the swan elegantly gliding over the water) is played over rippling sixteenths in one piano and rolled chords in the other.
XIV. Finale Full ensemble: the finale opens on the same trills in the pianos as in the introduction,Many of the previous movements are quoted here from the introduction, the lion, the donkeys, hens, and kangaroos. The work ends with a series of six “Hee Haws” from the donkeys, as if to say that the donkey has the last laugh, before the final strong group of C major chords.
Our host Peter Whyte of the Kettner Society and sponsor of the NLC French Circle thanking the artists for their magnificent performances Tyler Hay Cristian Sandrin
HFUK Represents The State Hermitage Museum in the United Kingdom, facilitating cultural exchange and supporting a range of Hermitage activities including exhibitions and loans, acquisitions and a curatorial exchange programme. In addition, the Foundation is responsible for the management of the Hermitage’s international endowment fund, and for a major publishing programme translating the Hermitage collection’s catalogues into English. Alongside these activities, the Foundation runs a busy Friends organisation that is closely linked to the museum in St Petersburg and which organises regular events in both the UK and Russia. Projects undertaken by The Hermitage Foundation UK include ‘Hermitage 20/21’. Initially launched in 2007, the project’s goal is to collect, exhibit and study contemporary art, as well as to build the museum’s contemporary art collection; the programme has since resulted in exhibibitions by artists including Anthony Gormley, Zaha Hadid, Henry Moore, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Anselm Kiefer and Tony Cragg.
The Hermitage Museum
The Foundation’s publishing programme has produced valuable English translations of many of the museum’s collections including those of Flemish paintings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, British painting, British engraved gems and Persian painting; current volumes in development include French paintings from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries and Iranian bronzes of the 14th to the 18th centuries. Recent projects in the UK include the exhibition of Francesco Melzi’s (1493–1570) recently restored masterpiece Flora at the National Gallery as the centrepiece of their focus exhibition Francesco Melzi and the Leonardeschi (2019); and ‘The Empress and the Gardener’, an exhibition at Hampton Court Palace in 2016 which showed 70 drawings of the Palace’s gardens by Capability Brown’s draughtsman, John Spyers, recently discovered in the Hermitage Museum having been acquired by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. The Foundation also supported ‘Houghton Revisited. The Walpole Masterpieces From Catherine the Great’s Hermitage’ in 2013.
James Dawnay chairman of the Hermitage Foundation UK
It was such a surprise to receive two invitations to hear concerts by friends both on the same day and almost the same time.I was delighted to be able to listen to Yulia Chaplina first but had no idea that it would be in such a sumptuous setting.It must be in just a setting that the young Chopin had his overwhelming success in the salons of the aristocracy in Paris.Yulia appearing in an evening gown from a couturier collection played to a select group of guests celebrating the work of the Hermitage Foundation UK .A short speech by the chairman James Dawnay immediately made one aware of the valuable work that they are doing in forging cultural exchanges between our two great nations.
A short recital which included the fourth Ballade op 52 by Chopin – one of the pinnacles of the romantic repertoire together with the Schumann Fantasie and Liszt Sonata in B minor.It is a very difficult work to hold together as one.The theme and variations are episodic and full of such ravishing beauty that one is tempted to dwell on detail instead of seeing the whole architectural shape of which the details are but the bricks of the temple.The opening was played with such delicacy and fluidity that it created the magic on which the theme was allowed to float.Utmost delicacy and sensitivity are required but also the same simplicity that Mozart requires that can be too easy for children or two difficult for adults.Yulia found just the right amount of freedom without anticipating the transformation that will eventually bring us to the passionate climax.There was sumptuous beauty in the first variation where the subtle counterpoints were like streams of sound gradually building to the first real climax.Streams of silver lined notes take us to the second main subject that was played in a very simple chorale like way as the music was gradually transformed into a polish dance.The return of the introduction as Cortot says was ‘avec un sentiment de regret’ and the way she played the gently magical embellished cadenza created the absolute calm before the storm.The simplicity of the theme was gradually transformed into a whirlwind of passionate sounds where Yulia’s transcendental technical command allowed her to plunge passionately into Chopin’s great romantic effusions .The five gentle chords just calmed the red hot fires before the final ecstatic outburst of exuberance and emotion was allowed to spill over with overwhelming effect.The final great chords bringing this masterpiece to a triumphant ending .
This short recital ended with the delicious ‘Pas de deux ‘ from Pletnev’s magnificent transcription of Tchaikowsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite’.A sumptuous outpouring of ravishing sounds building up to an overwhelming climax of transcendental difficulty and emotional impact that in Yulia’s hands was a true tour de force.If I had not been so entranced I would have worried about the well being of her delicate lace evening gown in such an orgy of seduction.A performance to cherish and one in which Russian culture was seen to shine brightly in the name of the Hermitage Foundation.
Yulia is a Steinway artist based in London. She initially studied in Russia with classical pianist Naum Shtarkman before moving to Berlin in 2006 to study with Klaus Hellwig at the University of Arts in Berlin. She holds a Master of Music (MMus) degree from the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Dmitri Alexeev. She has performed in some of the world’s most famous concert halls, including Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and the Grand Halls of the Moscow Conservatory among others.She has released a number of recordings, and writes for multiple publications in her spare time.
Described by International Piano Magazine as ‘quintessentially Russian’ and ‘with technical fluency and rich tonal shading reminiscent of the great Communist era artists such as Emil Gilels’ and held by Paul Badura-Skoda in ‘highest regard as a concert pianist’, Yulia is the winner of 7 international piano competitions. Since winning the First Prize & the Gold Medal in the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians, she has performed regularly as a soloist in many of the world’s finest venues, including the Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre in London, Berlin’s Philharmonie, the Grand Halls of the Moscow Conservatoire and the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo and many other concert halls.Yulia’s solo CD of Russian Music, recorded by Champs Hill Records, was described by the American Record Guide as “….an outstanding disc and one I’ll return to often”, adding that “Russian born and trained Yulia Chaplina brings to her playing more than a lifetime of acquaintance with this music.”Yulia holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arts (Berlin), Masters in Music & Fellowship from the RCM (London). Yulia received music coaching from Mstislav Rostropovitch, Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Paul Badura-Skoda, David Waterman, Steven Isserlis, Thomas Adès and Liliya Zilberstein.
Yulia with the distinguished pianist Piers Lane
Yulia is a passionate piano teacher herself and has given many recitals, masterclasses, lectures and webinars in international music festivals and for students of the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Tokyo College of Music, Tokyo University of Arts, Yehudi Menuhin Music School and many other students in specialist music schools and junior departments of conservatoires in Russia, UK, Japan, China, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic.
Mikhail Pletnev (born 1957 in Archangelsk) is one of the outstanding pianists of his generation and a conductor in great demand. He received the gold medal in the 1978 International Tchaikovsky Competition and has subsequently made numerous recordings of music including Scarlatti, C. P. E. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Prokofiev and Shchedrin. In 1990 he founded the Russian National Orchestra, serving as its chief conductor until 1999.As an arranger for piano he has transcribed—in addition to the Nutcracker Suite recorded here—suites from The Sleeping Beauty and from Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella. His transcription of seven movements from The Nutcracker (published 1978) represents a personal choice rather than adherence to the sequence familiar from Tchaikovsky’s orchestral suite. In Pletnev’s piano version the Overture from the orchestral suite is omitted, the remaining movements being March, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Tarantella (Variation 1, which follows the Pas de deux), Intermezzo (No 8 from Scene II of the ballet, with its wonderfully spacious and dignified melody), Trepak (Russian Dance, with Pletnev’s brilliant additions), Tea (Chinese Dance) and the rapturous Pas de deux (Andante maestoso) with its overwhelming climax. Only movements 1, 2, 5 and 6 are from the orchestral suite. Pletnev’s magnificent arrangement, while vividly orchestral in effect, enhances the virtuoso pianist’s repertoire in the tradition of all the greatest transcriptions.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 