Beethoven Sonata in B flat op 106 ‘Hammerklavier’ Allegro ; Scherzo,Assai vivace;Adagio sostenuto;Largo-Allegro-Allegro risoluto

Rachmaninoff.Etudes-tableaux op. 33 no. 2
Moment musicaux op. 16 no. 4
Preludes op. 32 no. 10
Preludes op. 32 no. 5
Moment musicaux op. 16 no. 6

Liszt Hungarian rhapsody no. 12

Rachmaninoff preludes op 32 no. 12
Preludes op. 32 no. 13

A master at Milton Court.Ka Jeng Wong astonished this morning in London having amazed in Cremona on Saturday
A Hammerklavier at 10 am to just a handful of people but he played with total concentration as the mammoth work was etched out with masterly control and sense of balance.With all his astonishing mastery I was surprised he opened with two hands but as it was 10 am all is overlooked with an understanding that Serkin would not have shared . But that is an obvious comment when the Adagio lasting almost twenty minutes was played with a stillness and range of colours that was overwhelming.It was the same sense of wonder and discovery that illuminated the B minor Prelude by Rachmaninov that followed.Amazing technical mastery but above all a musical intelligence with his youthful passion and even showmanship.It must have been what Liszt demonstrated as sedate society ladies were reduced to wild animals after such performances as today of the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody that ended his recital.
Well almost ended because he saved the poetic G sharp minor Prelude to close together with the mighty D flat major Prelude by Rachmaninov
We were only missing the op 3 n 2 that he had played in Cremona to show the remarkable transition that Rachmaninov had made from his first to the last prelude.
Unbelievable pyrotechnics in the two moments musicaux with his youthful passion and showmanship but above all musicianship.

Thoughts from my notebook:A Hammerklavier of heroic proportions – two hands at the beginning playing safe at 10am!This is not a play safe sonata and the leap gives you the tempo of the movement despite Beethoven’s seemingly impossible metronome mark (Schnabel almost makes it and I just wonder if he risked the treacherous leap too!).There was youthful passion with extraordinary rhythmic impetus and some quite magical contrasts …….maybe forte and fortissimo contrast would give greater clarity to the musical line.Scherzo : the lighter texture created a great contrast to the monumental first movement.A trio of moving harmonic blocks creating a timelessness before the frenzied reawakening and explosion.The silences we’re projected with meaning and menace!The Adagio sostenuto had great stillness and sublime colours as it shifted continuously with passionate outbursts contrasted with wondrous introspection and moments of absolute magic whilst always moving forward carried along on a great wave.A wonderful sense of improvisation as the false start leads to an ecstatic climax and instantly sublime peace reigns with some very interesting bass counterpoints leading to an truly wondrous ending.It suddenly comes to life again with startling contrasts where Beethoven is still coming to grips with his demons before finding peace in his final great trilogy of thanksgiving.There was astonishing rhythmic energy and precision in the Allegro risoluto fugue -a full orchestra at the limit of the possibilities of a mere piano.Some much welcome moments of fleeting lightness were short lived as Beethoven turns the fugue upside down and inside out much like the mastery of Bach in the Art of fugue.It is where no conclusion is possible as it is at the limit of genius pointing to the future.A tumultuous climax before absolute peace reigns with an amazingly evocative coda on cloud of resonant bass notes.

A remarkable performance that I will long remember for its unrelenting youthful passion and energy.I well remember too Richter repeating the fugue in London as he had not been happy with his performance.Annie Fischer standing in for an indisposed Kentner played the fugue as an encore.Serkin was still kicking and spitting long after he struck the last chord.It is a monument that one tries to scale ….some get further than others and KJ is up there with them.

Rachmaninov after that reveals a completely different world with KJ’s mastery of texture and balance combined with a sense of showmanship that really was quite sensational.Astonishment,beauty and magic after the Hammerklavier at 10 am was indeed a remarkable tour de force.The few people present were treated to unforgettable performances destined to be shared in the world’s great concert halls in the future.The wizardry and volume of rich full blooded sound in the Moments musicaux n.4 and 6 could not have been bettered by the sumptuous Philadelphia as was the great final prelude op 32.There was sublime beauty and simplicity too in the ravishing op 32 n.5 and 12.But it was op 32 n.10 that will remain in my memory for a long time – The return – Rachmaninov admitted to Moiseiwitch was the inspiration.And inspired it was today with a luminosity of sound and wondrous sense of balance building up the sonorities with masterly control that evaporated in a cloud of smoke before the beseeching sounds of the final heartbreaking nostalgia of return.The Liszt 12th Hungarian Rhapsody was played with all the showmanship heart-on-sleeve ravishment and animal excitement that had us cheering Rubinstein when he was well into his 80’s.KJ has many years ahead of him but I imagine the young Rubinstein would have had much in common with this remarkable young artist.

Biography

KaJeng Wong

KJ’s career has manifested beyond his training as a professional pianist. Besides performing music, he curates innovative programme at the annual Music Lab Festival as the Artistic Director, organises oversea tours, writes prolifically for publications, as well as hosting his own music programs. Largely due to his ambition to connect with others through music, he continues to surprise his audiences with ideas and projects.KJ rose to public’s attention due to an unexpected welcoming of his documentary “KJ: Music & Life” in 2009, which won Best Documentary at Golden Horse Awards. He spent four years studying under Prof. Emile Naoumoff at the Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) after trainings with Nancy Loo and Gabriel Kwok; participated in festivals such as PianoTexas and Verbier Festival Academy; received guidance from masters such as Menahem Pressler, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Claude Frank, John O’Conor; awarded twice as the concerto competition winner at IUB; proceeded to Semi-Finals at competitions such as Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, PianoFerrol, Hong Kong International Piano Open Competition, awarded Special Prize at the Los Angeles International Piano Competition, advanced to Finals at the Young Concert Artist Audition in New York. Recently, he was voted first prize and chamber prize at the Alaska International E-Piano Competition in 2018, as well as Third Prize and Special Student Jury Prize at Maria Canals International Piano Competition 2019.At Music Lab, he built a creative hub where he can attempt for concerts of unconventional forms and ideas. Over the years, he has already presented solo programmes exploring themes such as “Seasons of Life”, “Tribute to Death”, “Fingerman – Fast & Difficult”, “Fingerman – God or No God”; chamber programmes such as “Freedom of Shadows”, “Beloved Clara”, “So French”. In 2017, he also founded the trio SMASH with saxophonist Timothy Sun and world harmonica champion, CY LEO. As a local creative force, Music Lab has grown its own festival, celebrating artists with creative thoughts and promoting cultural talents of Hong Kong. Approaching the third edition of Music Lab Festival, Music Lab and KJ continues to develop original programme as well as ambitiously touring cities in Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia and China.

Maxim Kinasov – Streamed Recital

22nd September 2021 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Franck-Bauer Prelude, Fugue and Variation, op.18

Rachmaninov – Etude-tableau No. 2 in C Major, op.33
Etude-tableau No. 3 in C minor, op.33
Etude-tableau No. 9 in C-sharp minor, op.33

Liszt Après une lecture de Dante (Fantasia quasi sonata)

Barber Sonata for Piano, op. 26 Allegro energico – Allegro vivace e leggero – Adagio mesto – Fuga Allegro con spirito

From the very first notes of Bauer’s transcription of Franck’s Prelude Fugue and Variation it was obvious that here was an artist painting in colours and sounds.A transcendental technique at the service of allowing the music to speak with such subtle beauty and colour.It was a lesson in itself to see this Sokolov type figure hovering over the keys just as the great master himself does.Imperceptible continuous circular movements like a bee hovering around the hive waiting to bring home the nectar to make their unique honey.This was just as Rubinstein had likened style and personality in trying to explain the unexplainable to the very first young musicians competing in his competition.It is a God given gift – the search for beauty and to be able to tell a story in all it’s forms from the tempest,through inferno to paradise and sublime love.And it was all here in Maxim’s extraordinary performances .A vast bare canvas that he proceeded ,without any extrovert showmanship,to fill with the most subtle ravishing sounds.The fluidity of the haunting theme of the Franck was followed by the luminous clarity and full organ like sonorities in the fugue.A sense of balance that allows the musical line to be revealed without disturbing the shape and form of the underlying counterpoints.An orchestra in his hands led by someone who is listening so attentively to every strand as the music takes on its architectural shape and form.A continuous forward movement of absolute authority as he takes us by the hand and leads us through this magical landscape.The reappearance of the haunting theme is in this Bauer transcription even more beautiful than the Prelude chorale and fugue.An ethereal apparition of pure magic that gradually builds in intensity with its obsessive almost Scriabinesque insistence that blows itself out leaving a mere whisper of the magic land we have been allowed a glimpse.The work was written by Franck for organ in 1860/62 and dedicated to Saint Saens ,although originally conceived for piano and harmonium.Both Harold Bauer and Ignaz Friedman transcribed it for solo piano.Bauer was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1873 and Paderewski persuaded him to leave the violin and take up the piano which he did very successfully.He moved to the USA after having made his debut in Brahms n.1 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and giving the world premiere of Debussy Children’s Corner Suite in Paris in 1908. He was a very influential teacher at the Manhattan School of Music and Universities of Miami and Hartford – he died in Miami in 1951.

Maxim’s performance was indeed the sumptuous velvet sound of Ormandy’s Philadelphia but there is also a brass section to every orchestra that sometimes I felt Maxim neglected.Music is made of contrast and we had to wait until the glimpse of Dante’s inferno before Maxim chose to include the brass band too! ’Darkness to be able to perceive light ‘. It is not meant as a criticism and is obviously the choice and sensibility of the interpreter.Volodos indeed plays so beautifully that you sometime wish he would just throw himself occasionally into the piano like a sledgehammer – but can too much beauty ever be criticised ?It is a question of an introvert personality of a modesty and ultra sensitivity to sound allied to a transcendental technical mastery which is quite remarkable in a pianist still in only his 20’s .

The three Etudes Tableaux by Rachmaninov are described by the composer himself as pictures in sound – the fact that he never disclosed what the pictures were we might assume that he did not want to limit the listeners own fantasy.As he himself said:”I do not believe in the artist that discloses too much of his images. Let [the listener] paint for themselves what it most suggests.”Like Debussy where the name of each of his 24 Preludes is printed at the end not at the beginning of each one preceded by dots as though this is just a suggestion of something written in sand not stone!

Op.33 n.2 was of haunting beauty and a subtle sense of balance which gave such luminous sound to the melodic line and created an atmosphere in which the ending was simply a golden stream of sounds like smoke dissolving into thin air.An extraordinary technical feat of jeux perlé of fleeting lightness and colour not least helped by his mastery of the pedals.

There was menace in op 33 n.3 played with total concentration as the sumptuous arpeggios revealed the melodic line in their midst and was re used in the Largo of his Fourth piano concerto written fifteen years later.

Op 33 n.8 was played with turbulence and Scriabin like menace where his control of sound was quite extraordinary as he brought this miniature tone poem vividly to life.

Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata is also known as the Dante Sonata and is in one movement .It was completed in 1849 and first published in 1856 as part of the second volume of his Années de pèlerinage.It was inspired by the reading of Dante’s Divine Comedy and as Leslie Howard pointed out in his introduction it obviously depicts l’inferno with the souls of hell wailing in anguish.It received a remarkably vivid performance from Maxim with a great sense of character from the very first notes shaped with great care before the menacing scales in the base that herald the unveiling of events.There was a gradual build up of intensity shaped like a true musician with a transcendental control where technique and music are fused into one.There was utmost delicacy too in the central episode- Beatrice?-where his fingers barely touched the keys as the colours from the accompaniment we’re wondrously revealed like jewels sparkling as they caught the light.There was excitement,too,generated by an accumulation of sound that became quite overwhelming as the full orchestra – brass and all- was revealed.Octaves that were screams from hell dissolving into vibrant chords on which the melodic line was revealed as if on a magic cloud of sounds.He fearlessly plunged into the final few pages with a triumphant outpouring of sounds which knew no technical limitations.A remarkable performance in which every detail of the score had been scrupulously incorporated into a fantasy world that more than explains the composers own title of Fantasia quasi Sonata

The Piano Sonata in E flat minor Op.26 was written by Samuel Barber in 1949 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the League of Composers aimed at promoting new American works . It was commissioned by Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers and first performed by Vladimir Horowitz in Havana, Cuba, on December 9, 1949, followed by performances in Cleveland and Washington, DC,before presenting the work at Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1950.It was received with overwhelming critical acclaim and has been part of the piano repertoire ever since.It is a complex work in four movements and although extremely difficult technically , the sonata is much more than a virtuosic showpiece. Barber integrated many 20th century musical ideas into the sonata, including extended chromaticism and tone rows.Pungent rhythms alternate with mystery and menace in the first movement and the second, Allegro vivace a perpetuum mobile played with startling rhythmic energy to the final bars thrown off with transcendental lightness.The subtle beauty of the Adagio mesto was played with such extraordinary colouring and a sense of architectural shape constantly moving forward with great intensity .The Fugue showed all his amazing agility in a ceaselessly busy embroidery of notes of transcendental difficulty.

A New Artist recital is offered to selected young artists to introduce themselves to the Keyboard Trust and the public .A programme that is varied,imaginative and thought provoking is suggested which is exactly what Maxim so valiantly and superbly offered today.As Leslie Howard remarked in his after concert discussion with the artist it is a pity that there was no live audience to give him the standing ovation that he so obviously deserved.

Maxim Kinasov is an award-winning solo and chamber musician who performs a wide range of repertoire from Bach to Shostakovich. Born in Moscow, he began piano lessons at the age of five, making his concerto debut at the age of nine and his recital debut a year later.Awarded a scholarship, he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree with Distinction from Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. His teachers there included Sergei Dorensky, Nikolai Lugansky, Pavel Nersessian and Andrei Pisarev, who are his greatest musical influences.During his studies, he won several music competitions including Second Prize and Audience Prize at the 2015 International Gian Battista Viotti Piano Competition in Vercelli, Italy, Grand Prix and Special Cuomo Foundation Prize at the 2014 International Chopin Piano Competition in Rome and Grand Prix, First Prize and Special Prize ‘For the best performance of a work by Tchaikovsky’ at the 2013 International Konstantin Igumnov Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Lipetsk, Russia.In 2019 Maxim completed his Master of Music in Performance degree, also with Distinction, at the Royal Northern College of Music in the class of Ashley Wass, supported by a Leverhulme Arts Scholarship. Last year he studied on the International Artist Diploma course at the RNCM, supported by the FM Wright Piano Award. Now he is studying on the Postgraduate Diploma Advanced Studies course at the RNCM, supported by the Anderson Powell Prize, and the Helen Rachel Mackaness Charitable Trust.In 2018, Maxim won the RNCM’s most prestigious award, the Gold Medal and played in the Gold Medal Winners concert at Wigmore Hall in the Spring of 2019. He most recently won First Prize and Special Jury Mention at the Cantù International Piano and Orchestra Competition (Italy, 2019), Runner-up Prize at the Bromsgrove International Musicians Competition (2019, United Kingdom), and Second Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Prize at the 2019 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition.In April 2020 Maxim has been named as an Artist of the Month of the Talent Unlimited Music Charity and in May won an Ian Fleming Award at the Help Musicians Postgraduate Awards. Also, he was selected as a Kirckman Concert Society Artist for 2019-20 and played his full-length solo debut at Wigmore Hall in October 2019.Maxim has been a soloist of the St Petersburg House of Music since 2012 and has performed in prestigious venues across Russia, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil and US, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. He has performed internationally with orchestras including the St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and The Hallé, among others.At the invitation of Nikolai Lugansky Maxim took part in the 35th International Rachmaninov Music Festival in Tambov, Russia (2016). Other festival appearances include the ‘Gathering Friends’ International Music Festival at the Moscow Conservatory, South Downs Summer Music Festival in Alfriston, Chester Music Festival, Battle Festival and Hastings International Piano Digital Festival.As a chamber musician, Maxim won the 6th International Sergei Taneyev Chamber Ensembles Competition in Kaluga, Russia (First Prize, Special Tatiana Gaydamovich Award and Special Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory Prize ‘For the best performance of a work by Taneyev’, 2017) and has worked with Henk Guittart of the Schoenberg Quartet and Alexander Bonduriansky of the Moscow Trio.Maxim has broadcast on Italian TV channels TG2 RAI and TGVercelli, and on BBC Radio 3.

This is the free link to the concert please feel free to make a donation that will enable other remarkable musicians to perform in KCT venues

https://youtu.be/WyVos6oiQNQ

The Keyboard Trust is entirely dependent on donations from our friends for its work in supporting outstandingly talented young musicians and so we’d be especially grateful to you for your support of this venture.Please feel free to make a donation via this website.

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Any contributions will go towards creating new performing opportunities for these remarkable young musicians at the start of their careers,

Thank you and best wishes from The Keyboard Trust for Young Professional Performers
30th Anniversary Year
Patron: Sir Antonio Pappano

Tuesday 28 September 3.00 pm

 

Schumann: Kinderszenen Op 15

Chopin: Etudes Op 10

Gershwin: 3 preludes

Here is the HD link https://youtu.be/MtUFETMWAgA

Miracles do not often occur but today at St Mary’s a light was shining brightly as we were treated to such wondrous playing of total mastery that I was reduced to tears by the sheer perfection and beauty.
Not since Geza Anda have I heard such luminous sound and technical mastery allied to a musical imagination that brought everything so vividly to life.
I sat mesmerised listening to pieces I have known all my life as though for the first time as streams of poetical sounds flowed from his fingers with such well oiled ease.
Kinderszenen was unbelievably beautiful as each of the thirteen episodes was revealed with a sheen of sound that bound them into a wondrous whole.Chopin studies,that as he said , were a collection of jewels hidden in technical difficulties.Poetry for those that can master the difficulties , full of colour and magical sounds.
Gershwin played like Art Tatum in some dive in New York where all the great pianist used to go to marvel.
And marvel we did today.
There is only one word to describe what we heard today …sensational.

Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version of 1838.The unused movements were later published in Bunte Blatter op.99 and Albumblatter op 124.He initially intended to publish Kinderszenen together with Novelletten op 21 where the shared literary theme is suggested by the original title Kindergeschichten (Children’s Tales). He told his wife Clara that the “thirty small, droll things”, most of them less than a page in length, were inspired by her comment that he sometimes seemed “like a child”. He described them in 1840 as “more cheerful, gentler, more melodic” than his earlier works.

From the very first liquid notes we were immediately transported into a magic world of wondrous sounds and eloquence.The final piece is called the Poet Speaks but it was apparent from the very first note,and throughout the recital of short pieces,that each one was a jewel that was made to sparkle and shine,whisper and shout with loving care, as this young man delved deeply into the soul of each piece with a transcendental mastery of sound that was mesmerising.I remember Shura Cherkassky telling me that he did not think that young pianists listen to themselves – I just wish he could have been here today! https://youtu.be/QsEfoSCfJ1s

‘Of foreign lands and peoples’was played very slowly and simply with his extraordinary sense of balance that let the melody shine out above a whispered flowing accompaniment – sometimes the melodic line and accompaniment get mixed up at the end of the phrase but not for an artist who is listening like a Gerald Moore as he accompanies a Schwarzkopf or a de Los Angeles!There was charm and character as he deliberately played with the dotted rhythm in such a teasing way – ‘a curious story’ indeed as it alternated with exquisite legato comments.The feather light jeux perlé of ‘Blind man’s bluff’was not the usual explosion we so often hear but a child creeping and peeping into every corner.It led so naturally into the gentle ‘Pleading child’ who was ‘Happy enough’as the child obviously awoke amidst magic colours and sounds.A pompous ‘Important event’ but always within the context of the overall architectural shape of this fairy story.It is,after all, a dream as his exquisite sense of meaning ,full of shape and style,gave great delicacy to this most beautiful of pieces-‘Traumerei’.Creeping in to be ‘by the Fireside’ with its wondrously delicate ending before being interrupted by the ‘Knight on the hobby horse’ so deliberately careful as it rocked gently to and fro.Things we’re now getting ‘Almost too serious’ with its wondrous syncopated melodic line – as he hinted at the beautiful tenor counterpoint at the end.His mastery of balance gave such meaning to the ‘frightening’ interruptions as the melodic line passed from treble to tenor then bass as if by magic.With such sublime beauty and delicacy it is hardly surprising that the ‘Child falls asleep ‘ was dreaming of all these wonders that have appeared from the opening magic of foreign lands to paradise .There was a sublime ending before leading quite simply to the ‘Poet speaks’ played such simple beauty and subtle wisdom.A quite extraordinary performance that I have only once heard equalled by Guiomar Novaes

The first set of Études was published in 1833 (although some had been written as early as 1829). Chopin was twenty-three years old and already famous as a composer and pianist in the salons of Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Franz Liszt. Subsequently, Chopin dedicated the entire opus to him – “à mon ami Franz Liszt” .They are generally thought to be not quite as poetic as the second book op 25.Rokas today showed us just how much poetry there is in this first book hidden behind transcendental technical difficulties.The difficulties just disappeared in Rokas’s hands as he himself had said that his lockdown project had made him realise just how much poetry there is in these 12 miniature tone poems.With a circle of tonality that links them into a whole ,making the 6th study the focal point in the complete architectural conception.And it was this study above all the others that received a quite remarkably poignant performance of aching beauty.In the key of E flat minor and played with a subtle sense of shape and flexibility as it spoke so eloquently with such luminosity and intensity.It is like the 16th variation of Bach’s Goldberg -the real centre point of a great arch.The first study was a series of shifting harmonies in which neither the great anchor of the bass or the filigree accompaniment of the treble were given a priority but the shifting harmonies they produced were shaped into great arches of sound.The second study of chromatic scales in the right hand was played with such delicacy with the same irresistible lilt that I have never forgotten from the hands of Jan Smeterlin over fifty years ago.

Smeterlin had studied with Godowsky who had written fifty three studies based upon Chopin’s studies.It is interesting to note in the introduction to these studies that their aim is to develop ‘the mechanical,technical and musical possibilities of piano playing,and to expand the peculiarly adapted nature of the instrument to polyphonic,polyrhythmic and polydynamic work ,and to widen the range of it’s possibilities in tone colouring’.Anyone who has had the fortune to hear Shura Cherkassky play the sixth study for the left hand alone will realise what subtle shading and colour can be found by true masters of the instrument.It was just this mastery that was quite breathtaking today from Rokas as one sparkling jewel linked with another to be crowned by the final great added octave C at the end of the final ‘Revolutionary’ study.In the eleventh there were sounds woven in the air with the melodic line floating on a continuous harp like accompaniment.The acciaccaturas so clear were helped by the resonance he gave to the deep bass notes as it drew to a coquettishly delicate ending.Chopin’s very meticulous phrasing in the tenth study I have only heard so clearly and poetically realised from Geza Anda.This was preceded by the dark seriousness of the ninth played with a wonderful sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to float on a wave of sound.The absolute clarity of the ornaments incorporated into the return of the opening melody had me searching in the score as I had never been aware of this delicate touch before.Murray Perahia often has me searching in the score as he too illuminates details in works that I have lived with for a lifetime but have passed over unaware of their significance.Rokas showed us today that he has the great gift of illuminating details in scores as he digs deep into their poetical content.The seventh was strangely non legato but contrasted so well with the lyricism of the middle section.The eighth just sprang out of his fingers with an ease as if turning on a tap.Streams of golden sounds accompanying the delicacy of the left hand melodic line .The beautiful third study,sometimes known as ‘Tristesse’ ,was shaped with aristocratic style of such flexibility and good taste.The technically challenging middle section was incorporated into the overall shape instead of seeming like a rude interruption before the continuation of the sublime opening melody.Number four and five were played with extraordinary agility.There was passion and excitement in the fourth and irresistible sparkle in the fifth -the famous black key study that Myra Hess used to play for fun with an orange and two carrots!A quite extraordinary performance from Rokas who restored these often misunderstood ‘studies’ to their true realm of tone poems every bit as poignant as the Mazurkas that Schumann so rightly described as cannons covered in flowers.

The three preludes by George Gershwin were first performed by the composer at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City in 1926. Each prelude is a well-known example of early-20th-century American classical music as influenced by jazz.They were dedicated to friend and musical advisor Bill Daly.He originally planned to compose 24 preludes for this group of works but the \number was reduced to seven in manuscript form, and then reduced to five in public performance, and further decreased to three when first published in 1926.

What fun Rokas gave them as he let his hair down letting rip as he brought these three charmers vividly to life in great style.There was a full orchestra in the first one with rhythmic energy and a fantastic ending like a rocket taking off as he shot up to the top of the keyboard.Sleeze and decadence in the second, Rokas even added some of his own embellishments as he dug deep into the bass producing sounds of pure magic.A truly hypnotic sense of energy in the last famous prelude brought this short jazz interlude to a truly brilliant end.

Praised for his “liquidity of sound” and “devilish performances”, Lithuanian pianist Rokas Valuntonis has drawn admiration for his imaginative interpretations and striking virtuosity. A laureate of more than 20 international competitions, Valuntonis won 1st Prize at the 2018 Campillos International Piano Competition (Spain) and previous victories include both the International Music Competition “Societa Umanitaria” (Italy) and the Nordic Piano Competition (Sweden). Valuntonis has performed all over Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, and Portugal, in venues such as Milton Court (Barbican Centre), La Sala Verdi, The Wallace Collection, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall, and La Sala Casella Accademia Filarmonica Romana. He has also performed with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Lund Symphony Orchestra, St Christopher Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and Panevežys Chamber Orchestra. Aside from traditional concerts, Valuntonis has collaborated with both actors and presenters. His most recent collaboration, with the celebrated Lithuanian actor Kostas Smoriginas, explored the characters and emotional lives of great composers like Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninov. The 2020/21 season sees Valuntonis present solo recitals around Europe in venues such as Lithuanian National Philharmonic (Lithuania), Klaipeda Concert Hall (Lithuania), Harpa Concert Hall (Iceland) and festivals such as Deal Arts and Music festival (UK), Barnes Music festival (UK), Summer of Piano music in Druskininkai (Lithuania). Growing up in Lithuania, Valuntonis studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy under Aleksandra Zvirblyte, before attending the Sibelius Academy (Finland), followed by studies with Eugen Indjic in Paris and Artist Diploma studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under Peter Bithell. Rokas joined the City Music Foundation Artist Programme in 2017. For his many achievements, Valuntonis has been honoured with the prestigious Queen Morta Award and acknowledgements by two Lithuanian Presidents. This year Rokas was awarded with “Jung Artist Grant” by Lithuanian Ministry of culture.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/07/14/rokas-valuntonis-at-st-marys/

Cristian Sandrin in concert for the Imogen Cooper Music Trust.In the sumptuous new concert venue in Knightsbridge that can boast a magnificent piano and unique atmosphere for chamber concerts.

It is a major addition to the London concert scene with its warm friendly atmosphere and perfect acoustic . Lord Burlington would take his guests after dinner ,to a concert with Handel performing ,to the copy he had made of La Rotonda of Vicenza transplanted into the countryside of Chiswick.Mozart tells us in his letters of going for a ride in the countryside of Chelsea!

This beautiful house just behind Harrods has just such an atmosphere of rare friendly elegance .
We were able to be ravished tonight by Chopin B minor Sonata and Beethoven op 111 separated by C.P.E Bach Sonata in C minor.

Great works that need a master musician to bring them to life and Cristian showed off his aristocratic good taste and intelligence in performances where the architectural line was of fundamental importance.

This in Chopin is no mean feat and it was enough to see how he linked the end of the Scherzo with the mighty opening of the Largo or how he opened the Finale with a crescendo to the rondo that grew ever more in intensity until it’s final ecstatic explosion and triumphant final declaration.
There was sublime beauty too with the intense simplicity of the first movement second subject or the ravishing nobility of the Largo.
The scintillating jeux perlé of the Scherzo was contrasted with the clarity of line in the trio.

Beethoven’s last Sonata was played with great clarity.The opening three mighty declarations played with such weight only to dissolve into magical vibrations before the startling arrival home to C. There were arresting contrasts between water at boiling point finding refuge in moments of sublime repose.The Arietta was played with a luminosity and simplicity out of which the variations evolved so naturally before exploding into rhythmic turmoil and disintegrating before our very eyes .It wound its way ever more on high in its ethereal journey lost in a magic stream of trills above which the angels had the last word.Beethoven after a tormented life had finally found peace.No ritardando at the end of either movement showed his remarkable intelligence as he followed the great architectural line to its inevitable conclusion.

C.P.E Bach is a well constructed sonata for keyboard by a craftsman but not the genius of his father.It was played with a innocent simplicity.The seeming solo and tutti in the Andantino gave great character to an otherwise rather uninspired work.The rondo had grace and energy and all the character that Cristian was able to portray.A nice interlude between two master works just made us appreciate the genius of Chopin and Beethoven even more.
An encore of une barque sur l’océan from Ravel’s miraculous Miroirs allowed this magnificent piano to illuminate the room with scintillating colour and ravishing virtuosistic washes of sound.

In the whole recital one was aware of the natural way that Cristian could play with such clarity and simplicity.A technical mastery that knows no difficulties but gives him the possibility to conduct like a great maestro with his ten marvellous fingers replacing the magnificence of a full symphony orchestra.It was refreshing to see the way he sat at the piano and the way that his hands,arms and whole body would carve the great curves of sound out of the piano as a master sculptor would create such wonders out of a block of marble.
The next concert on the 14th October is another great young musician Ariel Lanyi who will be playing Beethoven’s mighty Hammerklavier Sonata op.106.

Master musicians playing master works is only to be expected with Dame Imogen Cooper at the helm!

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/06/06/sandrin-plays-mozart-simplicity-and-purity-in-bucharest/

Jamal Aliyev (cello)
Hugh Mather (piano) 

A wonderful afternoon of music making .Two sublime masterpieces played with such unassuming humility and joy – music making as Jamal has often told me ‘to play with Hugh is the joy of being able to make music without any pressure – real Hausmusik’.

And what a treat for us to be able to hear Amal as he has matured over the years from an exceptionally talented young musician – one of the stars of the Royal College – to a great artist.Such refined artistry without any histrionics but with such deep meaning . I have rarely heard the Arpeggione played with such sublime beauty.Or the grandiose opening of Beethoven’s A major Sonata played with such aristocratic nobility.The sheer exhilaration and heart on sleeve emotion of the Popper Hungarian Rhapsody not to mention the supreme virtuosity in the perpetuum mobile was something to marvel at.I heard traces of Liszt’s Rhapsodies too – n.12 and n.6 so expect they were traditional Hungarian folk songs used by Popper in this showpiece for cello.

None of this would have been possible ,of course, without the superb collaboration of Hugh Mather.Always there with Jamal in every twist and turn – and there were many- in Popper.But his musicianship and beauty of sound in Schubert and Beethoven were something to marvel at.Amazing the activity of Dott Mather – from consultant physician at Ealing hospital to pianist,organist,organiser,father and grandfather.

Behind every great man,though,there is invariably a great woman .His wife Dott Felicity Mather is always there with her wonderful tea and cakes not to say so much more behind the scenes.What a pair they are and how lucky Ealing is to have them bring such glory as they help young musicians reach out to a world that awaits.

Schubert: Sonata in A minor D821 ‘Arpeggione’
Allegro / Adagio / Allegretto

Beethoven: Cello sonata in A Op 69
Allegro / Allegro / Adagio – Allegro

Popper: Hungarian Rhapsody Op 68

Jamal Aliyev was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and at the Royal College of Music with Thomas Carroll, where he completed his Masters. He is currently undertaking an Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. In 2017 Jamal made his BBC Proms debut and won the Arts Club – Sir Karl Jenkins Music Award. His debut CD Russian Masters was released by Champs Hill Records to critical acclaim. He was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust in 2017 and Concerts Artists Guild in New York in 2019. He has appeared as soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, CBSO Youth Orchestra, Istanbul Symphony, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey and the Symphony Orchestra Simón Bolívar of Venezuela. Highlights include performances of the Elgar Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tomsk Philharmonia, the latter as part of the Trans-Siberian Festival. He gives recitals throughout the UK including Wigmore Hall and Saffron Hall, and records with Fazil Say. 

Hugh Mather studied the piano and organ from an early age, gaining the FRCO and the ARCM piano performers diplomas. He then pursued a medical career and was Consultant Physician at Ealing Hospital from 1982 to 2006, before retiring to pursue his musical interests. He continued his piano studies with James Gibb for many years, and gave countless concerts at St Mary’s Perivale, St Barnabas and elsewhere, as concerto soloist, recitalist, accompanist and chamber musician. More recently he has concentrated on organizing concerts. He has been Chairman of the Friends of St Mary’s Perivale since 2005, and has organised over 1100 concerts there, as well as a further 600 at St Barnabas Church.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/dr-hugh-mather-1000-not-out/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/jamal-aliyev-and-daniel-hyun-woo-evans-at-the-wigmore-hall/

Tuesday 21 September 3.00 pm

Evelyne Berezovsky (piano) 

I was on my way home from the airport sorry not to have been able to listen this time to Evie’s recital live from St Mary’s.I have heard her many times here and in Italy and have always been totally enraptured by her compelling magnetism and total concentration when she plays .She has that God given gift of living the music a fresh as though on a voyage of discovery.She shares her quite unique spontaneity with her astonishment for the beauty she can conjure out of the keys.’Je joue,je sens,je trasmet’ was the title of an article about Shura Cherkassky in Le Monde de la Musique – Martha Argerich was quoted as describing him as :’The man I love’. He often used to say that young pianists these days do not seem to listen to themselves! Cherkassky and Argerich certainly do or did! Evelyne Beresovsky is one of the few of the younger generation that listens to every note joining them together into a musical conversation of such conviction that can bring even the most popular works vividly back to life. I was surprised to receive a message as soon as I stepped off the plane saying she had not been happy with the recital and not to bother listening to it in play back. Red rag to the bull indeed! Bemused and intrigued I thought I would discreetly take a peek…………and this is what I found……………….

Mozart Piano Sonata in D K576
Allegro / Adagio / Allegretto

The last of Mozart’s 18 Sonatas opened the programme played with a clarity and simplicity,so difficult for many,that had Schnabel exclaim that Mozart was too easy for children and too difficult for adults.Here she allowed the music to speak so naturally with an exhilarating effervescence that gave such character to a work that was enacted before our very eyes as if on stage.There were some very subtle contrasts in dynamics and slight inflections that just brought the notes vividly to life.Such luminosity to the melodic line in the Adagio with some very delicate filigree passages played non legato that contrasted so well with the delicacy of the melodic line.There was sheer ‘joie de vivre’ in the Allegretto that was played with an hypnotic rhythmic energy and passages of such ebullience that could have come straight out of a Mozart Piano Concerto.

Scriabin: Feuillet d’album Op 45 no 1

Scriabin: Poème Op 32 no 1

Scriabin: Piano Sonata no 3 in F sharp minor Op 23
Drammatico / Allegretto / Andante / Presto

The little Feuillet d’Album op 45 by Scriabin was full of ravishing colours and sense of improvisatory wonder as was the Poème op 32 n.1 that followed.Played with less coquettish charm than Horowitz it was played with a sense of line and musical shape that was indeed refreshing. These were just two little ‘tasters’ of Scriabin’s world of the ravishment and torment of his 3rd Sonata as he reaches for that star which is his ultimate goal.The opening movement was imperious and brooding with a constant forward movement contrasted with moments of ravishing introspection and delicacy.The Allegretto was played with great rhythmic impetus with a momentary respite in the ‘con grazia’ soon overtaken by the driving rhythms of the return of the opening.An Andante of sumptuous beauty with the melodic line returning in the tenor register accompanied by magical streams of golden sounds.This led to the menace of the opening theme and furious driving rhythms of the Presto con fuoco before the radiant ecstasy of the star is revealed and its final imperious comments.

played with the score which she hardly glanced at,as opposed to Dr Mather who had his eyes glued onto the complex score with the very ungrateful task of finding the right moment to turn the pages!

Rachmaninov: 4 preludes
Op 23 no 4 in D Op 23 no 6 in E flat major Op 23 no 5 in G minor Op 32 no 5 in G major

There was ravishing beauty in the selection of four preludes by Rachmaninov.And if the sumptuous beauty of the D major was momentarily lost in a moment of panic it was nothing compared to the sheer romantic beauty and subtle flexibility that she brought to the following E flat minor Prelude.The restrained opening of impish good humour of the G minor made its climax even more exciting and the mellifluous middle section even more of a contrast.The ending was thrown of with the consummate ease that only a great artist could ever offer.The ravishing sounds of water in the G major Prelude was just the bed on which jewels were allowed to float with such magic.

Debussy: L’isle joyeuse

Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse was played with an alternation of dance and ecstasy.There was great rhythmic energy in the opening with layer upon layer of sound delicately added as a sumptuous melody appears.The dance builds gently ever more frenzied until the final climax of excitement and passion played with aristocratic grandeur until it final bursts into flames.

It may not have been the finest recital she has ever given but her artistry and God given gift of communication transcend any momentary defiance that to a true artist can be so unsettling .I was lucky enough to hear Rubinstein many times in his 15 final years on stage and his was the greatest lesson that could be offered as he would risk all for that magic moment of feeling that the audience was listening to the story you were discovering together.Today when we think we have to know and order everything in advance it is refreshing to live dangerously in the search for utopia. I enjoyed immensely my peek………what the butler saw indeed !

Evelyne Berezovsky was born in Moscow in 1991, the daughter of the eminent pianist Boris Berezovsky. She started playing the piano at the age of five and two years later joined the Purcell School of Music. She then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne, in Italy with Elisso Virssaladze, and with Rena Shereshevskaya in Paris. She has played in public since she was 7 years old and appeared with the orchestra for the first time at the age of 11. Since then she has performed at major venues in London, including the Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and the Southbank Centre, and at concert venues in Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Norway, Russia and Japan, including a recital at the prestigious piano festival in La Roque d’Antheron. In February 2012 she won First Prize in the Lagny-sur-Marne International Piano Competition in France. Following this, she has been regularly invited to play on Radio France, including a performance at the Fête de la Musique which took place at the Olympia, Paris. Evelyne has given concerts and recitals in the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and the USA, including performances at Lorin Maazel’s Festival in Castelton, VA and Steinway Hall, New York.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/12/04/evelyne-berezovsky-at-st-marys-a-new-golden-age-takes-us-by-storm/

A recital of refined intelligence and sumptuous piano playing.A pianistic perfection of kaleidoscopic colour and elegance that is a rarity indeed where mediocrity passes for the norm.Here is a unique example that sets a standard by which lesser mortals should be judged .

http://www.pisarenkovitaly.com
PROGRAMA
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828)
Sonata in C minor D 958 Allegro-Adagio-Menuetto/Trio Allegro-Allegro
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828) transcribed for piano by FRANZ LISZT
Gretchen am spinnrade Auf dem Wasser Zu singen
FRANZ LISZT (1811 – 1886)
Valse oubliée No. 1
Funérailles ( Harmonies poétiques et Religieuses)
Transcendental Etude No. 12, “Chasse neige” Faribolo pastour
Totentanz (piano solo version)
LUIS ANTONIO CALVO (1882 – 1945)
Arabesco

Some remarkable playing from Vitaly Pisarenko who I have heard many times over the past few years.But in this recital there was all the precision and pianistic perfection that one would expect from someone who had taken the Utrecht Liszt competition by storm at the age of twenty.But there was also a finesse and intelligence allied to a poetic intelligence that made his performance of Schubert’s C minor sonata quite riveting.From the very first opening declaration of intent there was a driving rhythmic force – an undercurrent that was ever present and which kept us mesmerised from the first note to the last.This did not preclude the absolute fidelity to the very precise phrasing and dynamic indications that Schubert had meticulously written into the score of the first of his last trilogy of Sonatas .It was written in the last year of his life when he was suffering the final fatal symptoms of syphilis .The last three sonatas D.958, 959 and 960, are his last major compositions for solo piano and were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828.Schubert died on 19th November at the age of 31 but his Sonatas were not published until about ten years after his death.I have heard Vitaly’s fine performance of the Drei Klavierstucke also from the last period of Schubert’s all too short life but the performance of this most Beethovenian of Schubert’s Sonatas had the same rhythmic drive and finesse that I remember from Richter many years ago.It is like a tornado that even before the first mighty declaration in C minor you can feel the energy that is about to be released in the opening bars.I remember being overwhelmed by Richter’s performance in the Festival Hall in London and catching the Brighton Belle to hear him play it again the next day!

In Vitaly’s performance there was the same clarity and precision – the extraordinary phrasing in the menacingly quiet passage before the beauty of the second subject that Schubert writes ‘ligato’( his Italian like Beethoven’s was never perfect).The contrast was quite overwhelming as the beauty of the melody,like one of Schubert’s songs was allowed to sing with such eloquence .There was a scrupulous care of detail as it built up to a Beethovenian climax to die away to a mere whisper.The development explodes only to die away to a murmur with the melodic line in the bass so menacing as the seemless streams of chromatic scales accompany this force that leads into the recapitulation.Like Richter ,Vitaly has a phenomenal control of sound – a jeux perlé that was played with such poetic precision and clarity as it passed from piano to pianissimo and even pianississimo.The Adagio was played aristocratic poise with the brooding episodes played with an obsessive insistence that was almost orchestral in its sense of colour where every note had its just weight and place with an overbearing sense of desolation.The return of the theme after each menacing episode was ever more full of subtle radiant beauty with the legato melodic line accompanied so magically by the staccato left.The Menuetto was full of the same Beethovenian urgency of the first movement but mixed with uncertainty .It was followed by a trio of radiance and bucolic pastoral colour.The final tarantella was played with a continuous drive of great character and even humour.There was magic too in the sudden unexpected melodic outpouring in B major before the final relentless return of the tarantella to the final two mighty chords.

The transcriptions by Liszt of two of Schubert’s lieder were played with a sensitivity and a refined technical control .The sheer delicacy of the lapping water in Auf dem Wasser zu singen was something to marvel at.There was a sumptuous beauty of sound as it built to a climax with a wondrous sense of balance and unrelenting flow of mellifluous sounds.Played with the finesse of the virtuosi of another era,where fleeting lightness and subtle colours could bewitch and enchant an audience much more than barn storming octaves.Gretchen am spinnrade was played with the same wonderful sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to emerge above the continuous stream of accompanying notes . Building up to a sumptuous climax and the questioning start of the spinning wheel to the mighty final declamation before disappearing into the distance.

There was such grace too in the questioning Valse oubliée n. 1 played with scintillating rhythmic energy

Ravishing beauty in the shimmering scales of Chasse neige that just seemed to emerge from a distance where it eventually disappeared after passionate outpourings of romantic sounds of quite extraordinarily subtle virtuosity.

Faribolo pastour (‘Pastoral Whimsy’) is the title of a song by Jacques Jasmin (1798–1864) who wrote the dialect poem Françouneto in 1840 and may have invented the melody himself or else adapted it from a folk song. Liszt met Jasmin whilst touring at Agen in September 1844 and improvised upon Jasmin’s romance. Jasmin returned the compliment with an improvised poem which was later published with a dedication to Liszt.It is a beautifully delicate piece and was played with such ravishing charm and beauty before the extreme technical and emotional demands of Funerailles and Totentanz.

Funérailles subtitled October 1849,is the 7th and one of the most famous pieces in Poetic and Religious Harmonies.It was an elegy written in October 1849 in response to the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by the Habsburgs .It is a great tone poem from the opening brooding Adagio played with truly devilish concentration -the bass notes resonating as it built to its inevitable climax and the call to arms on D flat -fortissimo and marcatissimo as Liszt marks.Expiring to leave the subtle colour and resonance of the bass melody,with the gently placed comment from the right hand chords.There was an aristocratic sumptuousness to the climax immediately giving way to the ravishing beauty of the lagrimoso and it’s passionate outpouring before the arrival of the troups . A central episode very similar to Chopin’s Polonaise Héroique op 53 which after a tumultuous display of octaves leads to the grandiose statement of the opening theme before dying away on a wave of distant memories .It was played with remarkable control and technical mastery,where musical values and architectural shape restored this work to one of the most original and perfect of Liszt’s vast output for the solo piano.

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. Liszt 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.

Totentanz in Liszt’s own arrangement for solo piano was originally written for piano and orchestra .I remember hearing Claudio Arrau play it in the Albert Hall with Weber Konzertstuck – both works absolute rarities these days.I do not know this version for solo piano but as played by Vitaly I am surprised it is not more often included in recital programmes . Totentanz (English: Dance of the Dead): Paraphrase on Dies irae, S.126 is based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Iraeb. It was first planned in 1838, completed and published in 1849, and revised in 1853 and 1859.Every variation discloses some new character—“the earnest man, the flighty youth, the scornful doubter, the prayerful monk, the daring soldier, the tender maiden, the playful child.”A work of great technical difficulty played with such mastery and transcendental virtuosity .An ease and clarity that was remarkable with a sense of shape and colour of a true musician.An astonishing display of spectacular piano playing greeted by an ovation from an amazed and bewitched audience.

Luis Antonio Calvo (1882-1945) is one of the most celebrated Colombian composers. He wrote innumerable romantic works for piano in a “salon” style. Most of these works he wrote from the leper colony at which he was confined for most of his life. In the town where he was confined now stands a monument to his musical achievements.This beautiful arabesque was played by Vitaly as a homage and thank you for the series which is dedicated to him

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/vitaly-pisarenko-conquers-st-marys/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/the-supreme-mr-pisarenko/

Standing ovation in Paradise
Yuanfan Yang at La Mortella The Walton Foundation Ischia meets the Keyboard Charitable Trust

Miracles are rare but not when you are in the paradise that Susana Walton created in celebration of her husband.

They are both here Sir William and Lady Susana Walton ,their ashes interred in the place that they created and shared together.
Susana after the death of Sir William in 1983 created a foundation so that their paradise could live on forever as a lasting legacy of their life together.

Lady Walton died in 2010 and in the 27 years alone not only augmented La Mortella as a botanical garden but also built a concert hall where her series of concerts for young musicians is an inspiring venue for some of the finest young musicians of the day. All in the name of Sir William and a lasting testimony to one of the finest composers of the twentieth century.

She created an amphitheatre too overlooking the bay like in nearby Ravello where youth orchestras from around the world could also play.
A magnificent programme of music organised by the distinguished musician Lina Tufano with the whole amazing complex overseen by Alessandra Vinciguerra with her team of dedicated helpers that have all been inspired by the untiring dedication of Lady Walton.

There is a family atmosphere where every minute detail is treated with such loving care that creates a magic atmosphere from the moment one steps into the wondrous gardens of tropical plants .
The first collaboration with the Keyboard Trust allowed me to accompany Yuanfan Yang to give two afternoon recitals in the concert hall next to the music room where Sir William used to compose.I
had been to La Mortella several times when Susana was alive who was a close family friend.
Susana and my wife Ileana Ghione were both admirers of each other-birds of a feather you might even say.They both had the indomitable spirit that would never think anything was impossible as they reached for their seemingly impossible dream with a passion and business acumen that is rare indeed.
My wife created a theatre in Rome that became a cultural beacon in Europe as Susana had done likewise on Ischia.
Two remarkably courageous women in what was very much a man’s world!

It was in Yuanfan’s second recital that a miracle occurred as he had obviously been inspired by the atmosphere of this very special place.
From the exquisite delicacy of Debussy.La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune played with sounds that seemed to appear and disappear like magic as the radiance of sensual passion unwound in La puerta del vino.This was played with a kaleidoscopic sense of colour vanishing into thin air leaving the stillness and poignant chords of Canope Harmonies mingling in the refined air and the shrill comments of such aching nostalgia high in the distance so reminiscent of the atmosphere created in the sea preludes from Grimes by that other great British composer Benjamin Britten.
But the true miracle was yet to come.
After Yuanfan Yang’s own prize winning composition ‘The Waves’ he gave a truly inspired performance of Chopin’s 24 Preludes.

The Waves – written ten years ago describes in sound a rock thrown in the water that produces waves of ever growing intensity.There were such subtle colours and ravishing cascades of notes very much inspired by the sound world of Debussy with maybe even a touch of Messiaen.A remarkably descriptive work of great effect.

Indeed on the same crest of a wave the first prelude of Chopin created immediately an atmosphere that was to hold the audience spellbound through the long journey that Chopin too had been inspired to write on an island ,that of Majorca.There was such beauty in the second prelude with the brooding murmuring bass and the swirling left hand of the third on which the innocent melody rode unimpeded.The gentle inflections in the fourth just added to the ravishing atmosphere with it’s three sumptuous final chords.The busy meanderings of the fifth we’re played with fleeting lightness leading to the touching melancholy of the tenor melody with its gentle sighing accompaniment in the sixth.A pity he did not note Chopin’s final pedal marking which would have taken him to even more ravishing heights.Chopin knew best!There was grace and charm in the seventh played with a touching simplicity.The passion of the eighth was disguised in a haze of romantic sounds shaped with such care and breathing control and there was some wonderful tenor pointing that gave a subtle pregnant meaning to this sudden outpouring of romantic fervour.There was a rich sound from the very first notes of the ninth,with some wondrous changes of colour and it’s passionate build up of such aristocratic poise .The tenth ,as contrast was thrown off with consummate ease and charm leading to the radiant sounds of the eleventh.Passion and virtuosity combined in the twelfth played as a true musician with real control and shape -the final phrases played with moving dignity.There was poise in the thirteenth – a beautifully shaped melodic line and a middle section that shone like jewels as a subtle duet was allowed to play out so naturally.The fourteenth crept in with is gradual build up before blowing itself out and leaving the field to the heart melting beauty of the so called’Raindrop’prelude.I have never heard the middle section chorale played so poetically with almost religious dedication.

The treacherous sixteenth prelude was thrown of with great virtuosity , swirls or waves of sound of breathtaking brilliance led so inevitably to the two final mighty chords.It was the same virtuosity that he had brought earlier in the recital to the study op 10 n.1 with cascades of notes accompanying the deep bass melody .There were magical bass notes too in the seventeenth over which the melodic line reappeared as if in a dream ‘un sentiment de regret ‘as Cortot would have described it .A remarkably operatic recitativo followed that could have been straight out of a bel canto opera.The mellifluous melodic line of the nineteenth was allowed to hover over the ever changing harmonies as it had in the study op 10.n.11 that Yuanfan had also played earlier in the recital.There was majestic dignity to the great C minor prelude as it gradually died away to a whisper showing Yuanfan’s quite superb control of sound. Subtle rubato in the magical cantabile of the twenty first was followed by the octaves of the twenty second creeping in with passionate fervour.The gentle streams of pure gold in the twenty third only prepared the scene for the youthful passion of the great twenty fourth prelude.Wonderfully shaped the initial subdued passion boiling over with some extraordinary changes of colour before the final desperate ending.
The spirit of Chopin was evidently hovering in the air as each prelude revealed jewels that glittered and shone as they led to the crowning glory of the last prelude.
The final three mighty D’s deep in the bass resonated with an emotional force that was the culmination of this extraordinary journey that we had been treated to today.

https://youtu.be/et3nbeoVL-4

A standing ovation was greeted with Yuanfan asking the audience to take part themselves in this party atmosphere that had been created.
Fur Elise in Scott Joplin style was greeted by Night and Day in Straussian style .
Yuanfan proceeded to improvise on these themes that had the audience on their feet cheering this young musician and the miracles that he had created in this paradise…….

His first recital had included the Haydn’s sonata in E minor Hob XVI:34 played with great character and charm with crystal clear ornaments .The last movement played with impish good humour after an Adagio of great clarity and simplicity.Chopin’s Polonaise Fantasie the second Ballade and the F sharp minor Polonaise were given very robust performances of startling virtuosity and poetry.The Polonaise Fantasie one of Chopin’s last works was played with a vibrant sense of magical sounds from the very first great chords that were allowed to vibrate over the whole keyboard.The F sharp minor Polonaise was given a performance of heroic proportions and the contrasts between the gentle opening of the second Ballade and the tempestuous interruptions was quite overwhelming in its intensity and sheer brilliance.The four Mazurkas op 33 were played with touching simplicity and aristocratic control as was the Waltz op 42 with which he ended the programme.

And so on to the mainland and Sorrento,just an hours journey on the hydrofoil passing by the smaller island of Capri.The opening of a new series invented by the indefatigable deus ex macchina of all things musical in Sorrento – Paolo Scibilia.

‘Homage to Chopin’ on the terrace of the Villa Fondi de Sangro overlooking the bay of Naples.

This was the culmination of the short tour of the bay of Naples before Yuanfan flies off the Paris – the Salle Cortot and at the end of the month to Warsaw where he has been selected to take part in the International Chopin Competition presided over in by the legendary Martha Argerich astonishingly in her eightieth year.

Yuanfan’s Chopin is not the sickly delicate Chopin of a certain tradition but a Chopin of aristocratic strength.Delicacy,tenderness and nostalgia have their part to play but with vigour,strength and above all respect for what Chopin actually wrote.Rubinstein and Pollini have long been our guiding light out of a tradition of sickly charm and disrespect for the score and a thing called rubato that became,in many traditional hands, complete distortion!

Throwing down the gauntlet with the study op 10 n.3 .One of Chopin’s most played (excluding the transcendental middle section,of course) and best loved melodies ,which even became a best seller song.It was often given the title ‘Tristesse’ which was certainly not Chopin’s as is evident from his indications in the score – an invitation not to drawl indeed

Yuanfan played it with aristocratic beauty and simplicity and it created a special atmosphere on this balmy night with water all around!

There was no terror of the middle episode that grew so naturally out of the first,dissolving into the magic return of what Chopin himself considered one of his most beautiful melodies.The mellifluous study op 10 n.11, the melodic line was allowed to float over the gentle harp like harmonies similar to the study op 25 n.1.The study op 10.n.1 was played with astonishing clarity and a sense of musical line in the bass accompanied by arabesques thrown off with the sumptuous ease of a master musician.

The group of four Mazurkas op 33 are miniature tone poems and part of the 56 jewels that Chopin penned over his short life.Works where he could say so much in such a short space.The first, just disappearing into the heights followed by the stamping rhythms of one of his most popular mazurkas before the pure theatricality of the third (hardly surprising it was used for the ballet Les Sylphides) .The last of the set is one of the longest with it’s captivating melody that returns over and over again after each varying episode.

The three ‘major’ works on the programme included the Ballade n.2, op 38,the Polonaise Fantasie op 61 and the Polonaise in F sharp minor op 44.They were played with scrupulous attention to Chopin’s very precise indications and with an authority and transcendental command that never excluded the supreme poetry or ‘canons covered in flowers’ to quote Schumann.An exquisite flexibility that allowed this ‘bel canto’ to sing so naturally without any distortion or unrelated showmanship.These were great performances of pianistic masterpieces played with love,respect and passion.

The waltz in Aflat was played with scintillating jeux perlé of beguiling charm and grace – the same that was so unforgettable from the hands of Artur Rubinstein.The final comment in the bass just bringing this hour of music to a noble end.

By great demand a series of improvisations suggested by the audience – ‘O sole mio’ was an obvious choice as was ‘Torna a Surriento’.Astonishing ability to play in any style gave him another standing ovation.Ending with his own composition : ‘The Waves’ surrounded as we were in the magic Bay of Naples,surrendering to the sheer beauty of it all.-Torna a Surriento -yes please!……per la vita!

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/sorrento-crowns-marcella-crudeli-a-lifetime-in-music/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/yuanfan-yang-in-italy-part-1-vicenza-and-rai-radio-3-part-2-viterbofrascati-and-rome/

Grand Final of the Busoni International Piano Competition
1st prize Jae Hong Park
2nd Do-Hyun Kim
3rd Lukas Sternath

Should music be put on the Olympic stage and have musicians competing against each other for a medal?
For what ?
For playing faster,slower,louder or quieter something that can be anyway very subjective.
In every competition there is always a winner and that is the Circus element that can creep in.

But as both Louis Lortie,president of the jury and Peter Paul Kainrath,Artistic director pointed out,a competition must be a global platform for the great young talent that come with programmes that demonstrate their interpretative skills.
It is exactly for this reason that Louis Lortie praised the Italian public television for their live relay of the final of the competition.
Of course the media usually look at the number of spectators that can be captivated as this in turn is what interests the sponsors who contribute to the all important financial aspect.
Quantity rather than quality is often the guiding light.
So it is very refreshing when enlightenment raises its head and a cultural event can be given the same attention as a football match!

Dott. Kainrath has for some years been convinced of the world platform that a competition should offer to young musicians.It is,in fact,via the superb streaming of the Busoni that every note from the first to the last day can be listened to worldwide.

I had written earlier in the week listening from the comfort of my own home :
‘To put pianists trained in the east from birth with ours in the west who are trained too late means that they play better because they are better pianists not better musicians.Look at many great pianists on the world stage like Paul Lewis,Angela Hewitt or Imogen Cooper with their definitive performances but can you compare their sound to a Richter or a Gilels?
I think each performance should be judged for what it is in that moment and not placed side by side with others.
This of course is the bad thing of competitions…..how fast is your Feux Follets and all that nonsense’

I had also written after the selection of the final 7 to a very fine young pianist who at this point had be excluded :
‘…your performances were superb and will be remembered by many.I did not hear many of the other contestants,a refined Liszt Sonata,a monumental Hammerklavier or astonishing Petroushka but find it hard to imagine more beautiful performances than yours.’

And so the Busoni competition via its inspired use of streaming and information on social media is helping to launch so many young musicians.
During the lockdown, streaming was the only way forward when live performances were not possible when suddenly the presence of public augmented as a great void had been opened.
I know of one small but distinguished music society which usually have a public of at most a few hundred but can now boast via streaming of thousands worldwide.
This was one of the very few good things to come out of the pandemic.
But now the worst seems to be over and public is being allowed back to live performances ,streaming should not be considered an optional but a necessity.
Live performances with public but also streamed seems a logical conclusion.
Of course nothing can take the place of a live performance and the atmosphere created in the concert hall can be vibrant and stimulating for both performer and public.
And so it was that I left home at four in the morning to be able to be present at the final concerto round of the Busoni Competition.
Having listened to many of the contestants from the comfort of my home I wanted to be part of the atmosphere that had been created by these young artists over the past couple of weeks.
The excitement of a competition can also stimulate young musicians into giving performances that inspire them to even greater heights.
And so it was to the final chosen three to do the honours for the 31 young musicians who had given some memorable performances during their stay in Bolzano.

Of course it is not easy for these young artists when they come to the competition not knowing how much of their prepared repertoire they will actually be called on to perform.
Pacing themselves becomes another hurdle they have to face as they advance through the rounds.
So hats off to the valiant final three that were called on at a days notice to perform their chosen concerti.
And what concerti they were: Rachmaninov 3,Prokofiev 2 and Beethoven Emperor.With the superb Haydn Orchester under Arvo Volmer they gave very professional performances but on this occasion did not create that electric atmosphere that we were all hoping for.

Jae Hong Park,who was awarded first prize, is from the school of Daejin Kim in South Korea.He had given a monumental performance of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and had been given the Schumann Quartet’s own prize for his Brahms Quintet.He will perform his ‘ Hammerklavier’ in London at Steinway Hall on the 12th October 2022 as winner of the Keyboard Trust Career Development Prize.So it was no surprise that the Rachmaninov concerto was missing some of the colour and excitement that will come in later more considered performances.

Do-Hyun Kim,his fellow countryman,was awarded second prize for his performance of Prokofiev’s second piano concerto.He threw himself into the enormous difficulties with animal like participation that was greatly appreciated by an audience who gave him an ovation.
He is a young virtuoso who seems to know no difficulties as we had seen from his performances of Schumann Toccata,Stravinsky Petrouchka and Chopin studies op 25.
Rachmaninov 3rd and Prokofiev 2 were both works that were considered insuperable hurdles when I was a student.That is until Vladimir Ashkenazy appeared on the scene and made his London debut playing both on the same night!
It has now become part of the standard repertoire of young pianists.

The young Austrian Lukas Sternath was given third prize for his musicianly performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto.
A youthful performance that will grow in weight as this twenty year old musician grows in stature.
It must be said that the orchestra was an exhilarating partner playing with real weight and fervour under the superb baton of Arvo Volmer.

Vladimir Petrov was voted the favourite of the audience on line and he was awarded fifth prize by the jury too.

Serena Valluzzi was awarded fourth prize having given some fine musicianly performances of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Rachmaninov second sonata.

Iliia Ovcharenko was awarded 6th prize,together with Francesco Granata, with Illia’s refined performances of Les Adieux and Liszt Sonata and Francesco’s irresistible jazz studies by Kapustin

A recent article of 2014 winner Chloe Jiyeong Mun including articles about past competitions

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/08/31/the-sublime-perfection-of-chloe-jiyeong-mun-in-warsaw/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/viva-busoni-the-final-parts-1-2-3-with-interlude/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/the-busoni-competition-all-the-fun-of-the-circus/

Chloe Jiyeong Mun in Warsaw with playing of such subtle artistry,ravishing colours and passion.

From three Mazurkas op 56 played with an improvisatory freedom of such colour and fantasy with a pervading feeling of nostagia and yearning.There was frenzy too in the folk dance of the second but such a wondrous sense of the subdued passion of a great statement in the last.

This was just a preparation for the 24 Preludes op 28.
A series of jewels that were allowed to sparkle and shine with such subtle poetry.An aristocratic sense of line that allowed her to shape what Fou Ts’ong described as 24 problems into an architectural whole that was quite enthralling.

The opening improvisatory statement was followed by a barely whispered second prelude.The third of a melodic line over a gentle breeze to be followed by the almost heartbreaking simplicity of the fourth.The gentle unravelling of the 5th led so naturally into the yearning beauty of the 6th with it’s sublime final breathtaking comment.The little waltz that follows just bridged the gap to the passionate outpouring of the 8th spilling over to the ecstasy of the 9th.

Such beauty and subtle colouring of the 11th before unleashing the controlled passion of the 12th.Sublime beauty and aristocratic shaping of the 13th led to the breeze that takes us to the simplicity and subtle beauty of the so called ‘raindrop’ prelude .Sokolov turns this into a great drama but Chloe’s vision is of a more pastoral and intimate scene.The B flat minor was thrown off with such passionate assurance and led to deep bass notes of rare eloquence of the seventeenth.Passion was unleashed with the octaves of the 22nd before the gentle mellifluous stream of sounds of the twenty third that just unleashed all the turbulent passion of the twenty fourth and the final three great gongs each played with growing intensity.

The two books of Images by Debussy were played with a luminosity of sound,crystal clear purity,subtle colouring and startling changes of mood.Have Gold-fish ever been treated to such a luxuriant bath with water reflecting radiance and bells appearing as if by magic as the moon glowed over the temple?Sounds and movements of jewel like precision and beauty and the Hommage à Rameau had the same aristocratic perfection and simplicity that was so unforgettable in Artur Rubinstein’s performances.

The same passion and colour that she brought too,to Scriabin’s fourth Sonata were reminiscent of Emil Gilels with its undercurrent of energy about to explode.It was Rubinstein who was beseeched to listen to a teachers star pupil.On hearing the young red headed boy he announced that if he ever came to the west he would pack his bags and disappear.There was room for them both and as today has proven artists of such inspiration are a rarity and a joy forever in any age Ravishing fragments,in this sublime Scriabin sonata,gradually uniting with the building up of turbulent energy played with such subtle transcendental mastery until the ‘star’ is unleashed shining with burning intensity.

Claire de l’une as an encore was of such wondrous magic and subtle control of sound as her unshakable concentration kept us mesmerised throughout all these performances of quite sublime beauty.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/03/08/chloe-mun-in-budapest/