ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Matteo Bevilacqua at Teatro Palladium Rome for the Young Artist’s Piano Solo series of Roma 3 University.
Amazingly assured Scarlatti and Beethoven with crystal clear articulation and rhythmic drive.
But it was Liszt’s strangely haunting Sunt Lacrymae Rerum that lit a spark that illuminated from that moment on everything that he did.The sparkling opening of El Puerto with the sultry atmosphere of Spain to the high jinx of the clowns that Debussy depicts on Eastbourne Promenade.There was magic in the air as he discovered a kaleidoscope of colours with playing of fantasy and total conviction as his imagination was ignited.Ravishing sounds and astonishing virtuosity was enthralling as it was mesmerising to see this young artist illuminate this magnificent piano as he recounted such magic tales.

Matteo Bevilacqua made his debut at age of ten as an actor, performing in theater productions for “CSS Teatro stabile di Innovazione” travelling around Italy on several tours.He studied with Ferdinando Mussutto and Luca Trabucco in “J. Tomadini” conservatory and obtained Bachelor with highest marks and “cum laude”, then Master degree with 110/110, laude and special mention.Continuing his studies also with Luca Rasca.
He obtained more than 20 awards in International piano competitions such as: “Ars Nova, Paolo Spincich” in Trieste; “Nuova Coppa Pianisti” in Osimo; “Giuliano Pecar” in Gorizia; “Premio Filippo Trevisan” in Palmanova; “Tomaz Holmar” in Malborghetto; “Empoli “; “premio isola del sole” in Grado; “Don Oreste Rosso” in Martignacco; “Maria Grazia Fabris” in Trieste. In 2017 he was awarded with the 3rd prize in the “Murai Grand Prix” International piano competition in Varaždin and 2nd prize in “Palma d’Oro” international competition in Finale Ligure. In 2018 he was given the special prize at “Stefano Marizza” International competition in Trieste. In 2019 he won the 3rd prize and the public award at “S. Donà” International piano competition, the 3rd prize at Albenga International piano competition, and a special mention at Vienna piano prize (cat. Virtuoso)
He is the winner of the 46^ edition of the “Palma d’oro ” International piano competition.
He performed more than 50 solo/chamber recitals, around Europe (Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Republica Moldova) for prestigious festivals and season such as “Mittelfest”; “Carniarmonie” ; “Festival dei suoni nei luoghi” , “Roma Tre Orchestra” and others. In 2016 he played in duo 4-hands with M° Bruno Canino at “Palamostre” theater in Udine.
He has also attended several masterclass with renowned pianists such as Maurizio Baglini, Bruno Canino, Massimiliano Damerini, Johannes Kropfitsch, Daniel Rivera, Jerome Rose, Daniel Rivera, Pierluigi Camicia. in 2015 he was assigned a scolarship from the International Keyboard Institute & Festival to take part at the festival and study in New York with Arnaldo Cohen, Alexander Kobrin and Victor Rosembau

Looking at Matteo’s CV I could not help but be struck by the name Luca Rasca who I remember playing the Brahms 1st Piano Concerto in the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic in the presence of Prince Charles who was honorary patron of Sulamita Aranowsky’s London Power International Competition.http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2000/05/ppldnipc.htm.He won a top prize for his brilliant performance as the 18 year old Behzod Abduraimov was to do in the subsequent competition in 2009.It is nice to know that he is sharing his knowledge and experience with young artists such as Matteo.

The Sonata in B minor by Scarlatti is one of the most beguiling of Scarlatti’s vast output of over 500 sonatas.It showed off Matteo’s superb crystalline fingers that can play with such clarity and precision.It was a favourite of Emil Gilels who playing at a slower tempo was able to turn a bauble into a real gem.Matteo adopted a very fast tempo that did not allow time to savour the beautiful modulations in the midst of such an intricate web of notes.The choice of tempo may have been attributed to nerves at the beginning of a recital without the company of an audience but only cameras following your every move and taking your performance in that very instant who knows where!

The Sonata op 31 n.1 was well suited to Matteo’s crystalline technique.A very rhythmic performance although somewhat lacking in Beethoven’s very precise dynamic indications.A movement in which Beethoven is playing with the syncopated rhythms and Matteo did not seem to fully enter into the spirit of the fun of being continually wrong footed .Nevertheless there were some beautiful moments,in particular the transition from the development to the recapitulation and the final tongue in cheek coda.He gave an exemplary clear account,that is no mean achievement,but just missed the sense of character that he was to find later with the more atmospheric works in the programme.The long operatic Adagio grazioso -almost Rossinian as the op 106 is Verdian- sang beautifully with a very fine sense of balance that allowed the staccato bass to follow the beautifully mellifluous melodic line.I think for that reason the staccato note embellishments should have the weight of a singer rather than the staccato of a pianist.The longer fiortiori were played with a clarity and flexibility especially in the two beautiful cadenzas.The scintillating Rossiniana question and answer over repeated notes,though,was rather disturbed by sforzandi where Beethoven only asks for forte piano and it stopped the charming natural flow that Matteo had created with the outer melodic episodes.The Rondo was given a scintillating performance even though Beethoven’s indication of two instead of four would have given the lift that Schnabel describes as ‘con buon umore,senza pensieri,un poco capriccioso.’It was however a ‘tour de force’ how he maintained the tempo and rhythmic pulse with such an intricate web of notes certainly an inspiration to Mendelssohn with its scintillating jeux perlé.

Années de pèlerinage is widely considered as the masterwork and summation of Liszt’s musical style. The third volume is notable as an example of his later style and includes the better known ‘Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este.Composed well after the first two volumes, it displays less virtuosity and more harmonic experimentation.Lacrimae rerum is the Latin phrase for “tears of things.” It derives from Book I, line 462 of the Virgil’s Aeneid.’Sunt lacrimae rerum’means ‘there are tears of (or for) things.’It is the fifth piece in the suite of seven and is dedicated to Liszt’s son in law Hans von Bulow (who gave the first performance of Liszt’s masterpiece the Sonata in B minor).Suddenly it ignited the imagination and commitment of Matteo who until now had seemed to be afraid of allowing himself to get too involved in the more classical works.If only he could have experienced the extraordinary commitment that Serkin astounded us with on his all to infrequent visits over the Atlantic.He would throw himself into the fray and come out as exhausted as his audience after a complete emotional and physical experience (memorable were his performances of this and the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonatas).Matteo has learnt his lesson well and can now put the rule book to one side and allow himself full reign to his considerable artistry as he demonstrated with a highly charged performance of this rarely heard work of Liszt.It was played with a sense of mystery illuminated by a sense of fantasy and colour.

‘El Puerto’ too was played with biting rhythms and crystalline ornaments like rays of sunshine but with such a feel for the style and the sultry moods of Albeniz’s Iberia with an ending full of sensuality and melancholy.Here was a story to be told by a true raconteur.I am not surprised to read that Mattheo started his career as a child actor!

The five Preludes from the first book by Debussy were pure magic in his hands especially on a piano so lovingly cared for by Mauro Buccitti.’Voiles’ was bathed in atmosphere through a superb use of the pedals,with strands of sound like boats passing in the night and intermingling in the breeze.Sails or veils as Debussy suggests at the end,but does it matter which ,where imagination and sound are so much more evocative than the printed word.’Les collines d’Anacapri’ was full of light at the awakening of the day and the bustling of the crowds.There were sultry nightclub sounds in the sleezy middle section too.‘C’è qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest’ was a tour de force of brilliance and a technical control of notes and sound that was as terrifying as Debussy intended.Following with the complete stillness of ‘La Cathédrale engloutie’ with the mysterious sonorities of the spires appearing through the mist.The atmospheric plain chant contrasted so well with the amazing bass notes on this magnificent Schimmel piano.Given the chance,in this artist’s sensitive hands,to ring out in all their glory as the Cathédrale gradually disappeared into the depths.Some wonderfully suggestive sounds very reminiscent of Michelangeli who could play with such clarity combined with such multifaceted colours.In ‘Minstrels’ that ended this group he could have had even more fun as Debussy depicts the black faced clowns on Eastbourne Pier.If Paderewski could let his hair down there is no excuse for this brilliant young artist now he has found his way!

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/alberto-chines-a-musician-in-viterbo-for-the-keyboard-trust/https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/universita-della-tuscia-opening-concert-2021/

After two solo recitals it was refreshing to hear a true chamber music ensemble in two of Mozart’s early Piano Concertos. Mozart decided in the autumn of 1792 to start composing three new works, K. 413, 414, 415. Mozart in a letter to his father: “The concertos are just a cross between too complicated and too easy – are very brilliant – easy to listen – of course without the feeling of emptiness – here and there – can provide satisfaction for connoisseurs, too – but in a way – the amateurs might be pleased even without knowing why”. Like all three of the early Vienna concertos that Mozart wrote, it is a modest work that can be performed with only string quartet and keyboard (i.e., “a quattro“). As per 18th century performance practice a string orchestra could also have served as a suitable option for the “quattro” accompaniment.

Two Mozart Piano Concertos played with great sensibility by Sebastiano Brusco with string quintet.An ensemble that really listens is the greatest compliment that one can pay to an ensemble that can even cope with one or two uneven passages and never loose sight of Mozart’s genius.
I remember hearing Fou Ts’ong play the three concertos that Mozart conceived also for this chamber formation K 413,414,415.It has stayed in my memory all these years as being one of the most beautifully satisfying concerts. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/roberto-prosseda-pays-tribute-to-the-genius-of-chopin-and-the-inspirational-figure-of-fou-tsong/
It was a great treat to be reminded of that in the splendid season on line devised by the artistic director Prof.Ricci.

K 414 was the first of a set of three keyboard concertos (with K. 413 and 415) that Mozart performed at his Lenten concerts in 1783. The concert rondo in A, K. 386, has often been discussed as an alternative finale to the work; however, K. 386 cannot be performed a quattro, and autograph evidence shows that the current finale starts on the same sheet as the end of the slow movement. Despite the modest nature and scoring of this concerto, it stands out in Mozart’s early production. Although the three early Viennese concertos (Nos 11, 12 and 13) represent in some senses a formal regression compared to their immediate predecessors, especially No. 9 in E-flat major K 271. ‘Jeunehomme’ which is a remarkable forerunner of the mature works in terms of its musical effect. The second movement of K 414 is notable for its quotation of a theme from the overture to La calamita de’ cuori by J.C.Bach, Mozart’s former mentor in London, who had just died on 1 January 1782.In view of the fact that at this point Mozart also wrote back to his father concerning Bach’s death, saying of it ‘what a loss to the musical world!’, we may also regard the moving Andante as a musical epitaph by the younger man for the old master.

Today too even though only time for two concertos K 414 was given a beautiful sparkling performance the conductor/soloist playing without the score as Mozart himself would have done – probably improvising the cadenza too.The highlight of the two concertos is without doubt the beautifully simple but poignant slow movements played with a freedom and sensibility that only a chamber music ensemble can allow.The very fine Harmoniae Aureae Ensemble followed every note of the soloist as they listened so intently in true chamber music fashion.It was in the slow episodes of the last movement of K 415 where moments of sublime beauty were reached that only the genius of Mozart could capture with so few notes meaning so much.

Mozart and Befana an interesting mix in Piazza Navona in Rome with Martha Noguera and Franco Carlo Ricci. A concerto using the old pitch of 432 that gave a more mellow sound to Mozart as Curzon too used to prefer

https://youtu.be/9KWIDClZYhM

Fascinating …Music of French female composers unknown to me but then Roberto Prosseda and Alessandra Ammara are always full of inspired new discoveries from the vaults of forgotten archives.Roberto had found Mendelssohn’s 3rd Piano concerto in manuscript,had it pieced together by M°Buffalini and recorded it with Mendelssohns Leipzig Gewandhaus under Chailly.He recently brought Gounod’s Concerto for pedal piano to London with the London Philharmonic under Oleg Caetani…….. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/roberto-prosseda-and-oleg-caetani-with-the-london-philharmonic-in-london/. unstoppable and insatiable …….

A refreshing new discovery in duo with his wife and mother of their three beautiful children!For the French Academy in the beautiful Bru Zane Palace in Venice .Some superb playing as one -what more can one say.Such sensitive playing by two musicians listening so intently to the music with a sense of balance and ensemble that was remarkable as it was ravishing.

All works that had me running to the encyclopaedia after having heard such a collection of short but sometimes ravishing pieces that have been much neglected by the established piano duos .A careful selection from this collection of some thirty short pieces could indeed be a great addition to a repertoire that has become overloaded with the more predictable master works of Schubert,Schumann,Mozart,Debussy,Bizet and Poulenc.The pieces by Chaminade in particular were to be appreciated for the charming salon pieces that they are.The first played with such a superb sense of balance that allowed for a kaleidoscope of subtle sounds.The delicacy and luminous playful melodic line of the second.The sumptuous melodic line on a wash of delicate sounds in the third or the almost Indian dance of the fourth played with great rhythmic impulse with mighty bass gong notes to set the ball rolling.The final piece a touching lullaby played with a simplicity and charming immediacy .Mel Bonis outlines her first collection as four hands of which two are very easy.The two collections are well worth discovering although not quite as convincing as those of Chaminade .The pieces by Marie Jaell a student of Liszt are well worth a voyage of discovery.Hats off to Roberto and Alessandra showing us yet again that there is still so much music to discover in the archives.

Cécile Chaminade was born in Paris,she studied at first with her mother, then with Le Couppey on piano.Savard and Marsick on violin and Godard for composition, but not officially, since her father disapproved of her musical education.Her first experiments in composition took place in very early days, and in her eighth year she played some of her music to Bizet,who was much impressed with her talents. She gave her first concert when she was eighteen, and from that time on her work as a composer gained steadily in favor. She wrote mostly character pieces for piano, and salon songs, almost all of which were published.She toured France several times in those earlier days, and in 1892 made her debut in England where her work was extremely popular.Isidor Philipp,head of the piano department of the Paris Conservatory championed her works. She repeatedly returned to England during the 1890s and made premieres there with singers such as Blanche Marchesi and Pol Plancon, though this activity decreased after 1899 due to bad critical reviews.

Mélanie Hélène Bonis, known as Mel Bonis (21 January 1858 – 18 March 1937), was a prolific French late-Romantic composer. She wrote more than 300 pieces, including works for piano solo and four hands, organ pieces, chamber music, mélodies, choral music, a mass, and works for orchestra. She attended the Paris Conservatoire where her teachers included Cesar Franck,Ernest Guiraud and Auguste Bazille.Bonis was born to a Parisian lower-middle-class family and was educated according to the strict norms of the Catholic morality of the time. Of great talent and musical sensitivity, she taught herself the piano. Initially her parents did not encourage her music, but when she was twelve, they were persuaded by a professor at the Conservatoire to allow her to receive formal music lessons.At the age of sixteen, she began her studies at the Conservatoire, and attended classes in accompaniment, harmony and composition, where she shared the benches with Debussy ,Pierné , and others.Due to the difficulties encountered by women who wished to compose, she adopted the more androgynous form of her first name, “Mel”At the Conservatoire, she met and fell in love with Amédée Landély Hettich, a student, poet and singer, setting some of his poems to music. Unfortunately, her parents disapproved of the match and, in 1883, arranged for her to marry the businessman Albert Domange, who was 25 years her senior, and a widower with five children from two previous marriages. After that, she disappeared into domesticity and had three children. For Bonis it was not an ideal marriage because Domange did not like music.^[3] In the 1890s, she met Hettich again, who encouraged her to return to composition, after which her career took off. She also began an affair with Hettich, which led to the birth of an illegitimate child, Madeleine. The child was put into the care of a former chambermaid, whilst Bonis devoted all her energies to composition, becoming a member of the Société des compositeurs de musique and a published composer with Editions Leduc.

Marie Jaëll (née Trautmann) (17 August 1846 – 4 February 1925) was composed pieces for piano, concertos, quartets, and others,She was the first pianist to perform all the piano sonatas of Beethoven in Paris.She did scientific studies of hand techniques in piano playing and attempted to replace traditional drilling with systematic piano methods.Her students included Albert Schweitzer,who studied with her while also studying organ with Widor in 1898-99. She died in Paris.Her father was the mayor of Steinseltz in Alsace, and her mother was a lover of the arts and became her manager She began piano studies at the age of six with F.B. Hamma and Ignaz Moscheles in Stuttgart and a year after she already gave concerts in Germany and Switzerland.In 1856, the ten-year-old Marie was introduced to the piano teacher Heinrich Herz at the Paris CobservatoireParis. After just four months as an official student at the Conservatory, she won the First Prize of Piano. Her performances were recognized by the public and local newspapers; the Revue te gazette musicale printed a review on July 27, 1862 that reads: “She marked it [the piece] with the seal of her individual nature. Her higher mechanism, her beautiful style, her play deliciously moderate, with an irreproachable purity, an exquisite taste, a lofty elegance, constantly filled the audience with wonder.”On August 9, 1866, at twenty years of age, Marie married the Austrian concert pianist, Alfred Jaëll. She was then known variously as Marie Trautmann, Marie Jaëll, Marie Jaëll Trautmann or Marie Trautmann Jaëll. Alfred was fifteen years older than Marie and had been a student of Chopin. The husband and wife team performed popular pieces, duos, solos, and compositions of their own throughout Europe and Russia. As a pianist, Marie specialized in the music of Schumann,Liszt and Beethoven.They transcribed Beethoven’s “Marcia alla Turca Athens Ruins” for piano; the score was successfully published in 1872.Alfred was able to use his success and fame to help Marie meet with various composers and performers throughout their travels. In 1868, Marie met the composer and pianist Franz Liszt. A record of Liszt’s comments about Marie survives in an article published in the American Record Guide: “[Marie Jaëll] has the brains of a philosopher and the fingers of an artist.” Liszt introduced Marie to other great composers and performers of the day—for example, Brahms and Anton Rubinstein.By 1871, Marie’s compositions began to be published.With the death of her husband in 1881, Marie had the opportunity to study with Liszt in Weimar. She also had piano and composition lessons with Franck and Saint- Saens, who dedicated his Piano Concerto No. 1 and the “Étude en forme de valse” to her.Saint-Saëns thought highly enough of Marie to introduce her to the Society of Music Composers—a great honor for women in those days.She was well respected, both as a performer and a composer, by her contemporaries. Lea Schmidt-Roger states “Four-handed literature was as much a part of Jaëll’s repertory as solo literature. She concertized with duo piano and four-handed pieces from the age of fourteen, and later she and husband Alfred transcribed and performed much of the contemporary four-handed literature.”After struggling with tendonitist, Jaëll began to study neuroscience. The strain on her playing and performing led her to research physiology. Jaëll studied a wide variety of subjects pertaining to the functioning of the body,and also ventured into psychology: “She wanted to combine the emotional and spiritual act of creating beautiful music with the physiological aspects of tactile, additive, and visual sensory.”Dr. Charles Féré assisted Jaëll in her research of physiology. Her studies included how music affects the connection between mind and body, as well as how to apply this knowledge to intelligence and sensitivity in teaching music. Liszt’s music had such a tremendous influence on Jaëll that she sought to gain as much insight into his methods and techniques as possible.

This research and study led to Jaëll creating her own teaching method based on her findings.Jaëll’s teaching method was known as the ‘Jaëll Method’. Her method was created through a process of trial and error with herself and her students. Jaëll’s goal was for her students to feel a deep connection to the piano. An eleven book series on piano technique resulted from her research and experience. Piano pedagogues have since drawn insight into teaching techniques of the hand from her method and books. In fact, her method is still in use today.As a result of her studies, Jaëll was able to compile her extensive research into a technique book entitled L’intelligence et le rythme dans les mouvements artistiques. This text is used by pianists and piano pedagogues as a reference, specifically with hand position and playing techniques.

A fascinating look into the archives which I simply reproduce here that may stimulate the imagination for piano duos looking for some new interesting pieces to add to their repertoire .The Duo PROSSEDA- AMMARA – I had heard in the Piano Barga Festival a few years ago and is obviously establishing itself as an ensemble that is going from strength to strength.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/08/04/piano-barga-the-jewel-in-the-crown-parts-onetwo-and-final-three/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/roberto-prosseda-pays-tribute-to-the-genius-of-chopin-and-the-inspirational-figure-of-fou-tsong/

Wednesday 20 January 2021, 7.15pm

Please join us for this live, online recital from Steinway Hall, London featuring Keyboard Trust “New Artist” Thomas Kelly who will perform works by Busoni, Britten and Reubke.

PROGRAMME:
•Busoni -Sonatina n.6 Chamber Fantasy on themes from Bizet’s Carmen
•Britten / Stevenson – Fantasia on Themes from Peter Grimes
•Reubke – Piano Sonata in B flat minor

BIOGRAPHY:
Thomas Kelly was born in 1998. He passed Grade 8 with Distinction in 2006 and performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury two years later.Since 2015, Thomas has been studying with Andrew Ball, initially at the Purcell School of Music and currently at the Royal College of Music where he is a third year undergraduate.Thomas won Third Prize in the Young Pianist of The North Competition in 2012. He has subsequently won many First Prizes including at the WACIDOM in 2014, at the Pianale International Piano Competition in 2017, the Kharkiv Assemblies in 2018, at the Lucca Virtuoso e Bel Canto Festival in 2018, the RCM Joan Chissell Schumann competition in 2019, the Kendall Taylor Beethoven Competition in 2019, the BPSE Intercollegiate Beethoven competition in 2019 and the fourthTheodor Leschetizky competition in 2020.He has performed in a variety of venues, including at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Holy Trinity Sloane Square, St James’ Piccadilly, Oxford Town Hall, St Mary’s Perivale, St Paul’s Bedford, the Poole Lighthouse Arts Centre, the Stoller Hall in Manchester, the Paris Conservatoire, the StreingreaberHaus in Bayreuth, the Teatro Del Sale in Florence, and in Vilnius and Palanga.Thomas’s studies at the RCM are generously supported by Ms Daunt and Ms Stevenson, Pat Kendall Taylor and C. Bechstein pianos.

You might also be interested in Thomas’s interview for The Cross-Eyed Pianist blog: https://crosseyedpianist.com/2020/08/06/meet-the-artist-thomas-kelly-pianist/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/11/13/thomas-kelly-at-st-marys-for-the-beethoven-piano-society-of-europe-prizewinners-recital/

Fascinating recital streamed live for the Keyboard Trust ‘New artists’ series.Thomas Kelly playing an eclectic choice of some of the most complex and for that reason little played works in the repertoire.
Busoni 6th Sonatina Chamber Fantasy on Carmen was more than just a ramble but an intellectual précis by a pupil of Liszt .Peter Grimes Fantasy by Scotland’s modern day answer to Busoni ,and the Reubke Sonata by the pupil of Liszt who died so prematurely.
Talk about a kitten on the keys.Here was an amazing natural talent,a prodigy of Andrew Ball ,who dazzled us with a dizzying collection of notes,sumptuous colours and a kaleidoscope of sounds.Above all there was a musicianship and clarity of thought that could guide us through such a maze with the same authority that only Busoni himself could have done.
Like a contemporary music recital,now I have got over the shock I will listen again to savour the full artistry of this amazing English gentleman!

A talk with the distinguished Liszt expert Leslie Howard was indeed a rare cherry on the cake and not to be missed.
A bulls eye for this series that is helping to promote important young talent at the beginning of their career.The distinguished keyboard player Elena Vorotko presented the concert as co artistic director of the Keyboard Trust together with Leslie Howard and myself.

Busoni transcribed many works especially of Bach.The Kammer-Fantasie über Carmen uses ideas present in the opera that he admired so much.Bizet’s melodies are sculpted with breathtaking creativity. It was written in 1920 and first performed in the Wigmore Hall by Busoni himself. It takes thematic material from the opening chorus of the fourth act, Don José’s ‘Flower song’ in Act II, the Act I ‘Habanera’ (in its minor and major forms), and the prelude to Act I.Ending with the final whispered sounds of the final tragic bars -the three final heart beats so poignantly played by Thomas after a scintillating display of his subtle artistry typical of the great virtuosi of Golden age of piano playing.It was quite usual for the greatest of pianists to play some crowd teasing lollipops to finish their recitals and whip their adoring audiences into a frenzy.Schultz-Evler Arabesques on The Blue Danube was a favourite of Josef Lhevine,Carnaval de Vienne of Moritz Rosenthal ,Vladimir Horowitz even wrote his own hair raising Carmen Fantasy.It is in fact a bit of a shock to see such a piece from the hands of such an intellectually serious musician such as Busoni.It has all the hallmarks though of a serious musician just wanting to pay homage to a masterpiece.The fact that it ends quietly too is very significant.But it did give Thomas a chance to show off his scintillating piano playing.From the bustling opening crowd scene played with great rhythmic drive and sparing use of the sustaining pedal as a sudden wind passes across the scene to the sumptuous outpouring of melody with magical arabesques barely noticeable with some scintillating jeux perlé playing.The Habanera barely hinted at on the horizon until it came fully into view with some diabolical embellishments thrown off with nonchalant charm that was every bit as beguiling as the recording of the young Ogdon.There was a great sense of the excitement of the theatre in his playing but at the same time an intellectual control of line and architecture that gave great weight to what could seem in lesser hands a mere Bon-Bon .Busoni would never have condoned that but neither would his disciple Ronald Stevenson.

It was cleverly programmed with the Peter Grimes Fantasy and although another sound world from that of Busoni it showed the same transcendental control of sound with the composer/pianist Ronald Stevenson’s admiration for Britten’s masterpiece shining through.The same admiration that Busoni had shown for Bizet and that Stevenson too was able to focus on with the amazingly atmospheric intervals that Britten uses to depict the desolation and grandeur of the sea.A fascinating work that deserves to be played more often especially when played with the kaleidoscopic range that Thomas could show us today.

The Piano Sonata in B-flat minor is a work written by Julius Reubke between December 1856 and March 1857. It is an absolute rarity in the concert hall and Thomas’s enterprising choice of programme gave us the chance to hear this monumental work written just three years after the Liszt B minor Sonata that in part it much resembles.Combining his teacher Franz Liszt’s technique of thematic transformation, colourful harmonies, virtuosic piano writing and a wide array of characters and sentiments.When Liszt visited Berlin in December 1855, he arranged, on the recommendation of Bülow, to teach Reubke from February 1856 in Weimar and allowed him to live at the Altenburg house he kept. It was here that he composed his two major works, the Piano Sonata and the Organ Sonata in C minor on the 94th Psalm in C minor,which is considered one of the pinnacles of the Romantic organ repertoire.The piano sonata has remained in obscurity,no doubt due to it extreme technical difficult.A dazzling and at times bewildering array of notes obviously greatly influenced by his master’s great masterpiece the B minor sonata.Listening to it for the first time I was struck by many similarities not least the central slow section and many of the passages in which he allows the opening motif to evolve.It was played with astonishing command and control of sound that even with the enormous technical hurdles involved Thomas was able to forge a coherent line that one could follow.This was amidst many of the more rhetorical outbursts of a youthful disciple of Liszt who at only 24 would die of tuberculosis.He was one of Liszt’s favourite pupils; after his death, Liszt wrote a letter of sympathy to Reubke’s father: ‘Truly no one could feel more deeply the loss which Art has suffered in your Julius, than the one who has followed with admiring sympathy his noble, constant, and successful strivings in these latter years, and who will ever bear his friendship faithfully in mind’

An amazing accomplishment to master such a long and complicated work and to play it without the score for what must be one of the very rare outings for such an unknown work.Combined with the Busoni and Stevenson it showed a rare attention to programming in an age when most young pianists are tied to competition repertoire instead of exploring the vast amount of music that needs to be heard.It was this amongst many other problems facing young musicians that formed the basis of the informal talk between Thomas and the distinguished Liszt scholar and pianist Leslie Howard

Tuesday 19 January 4.00 pm 

Mihai Ritivoiu (piano)

Haydn: Sonata in C major Hob. XVI:50 Allegro-Adagio-Allegro molto

Ravel: Ondine from Gaspard de la Nuit

Schubert: Impromptus D 935 nos 1 in F minor and 2 in A flat   

Beethoven: Bagatelle in A Op 33 no 4 

Liszt: Mephisto Waltz no 1 S514

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/mihai-ritivoius-blazing-trail-at-st-marys/

A superb concert from St Mary’s Perivale.Mihai Ritivoiu a true poet of the piano from the crystal clear hi-jinks of late Haydn through the magic swirling and swishing of Ravel’s Ondine to the sublime simplicity of Schubert.Beethoven too in almost Schubertian mood and finally the devilry of Liszt for which he was to pay dearly in his later years.
All played with sumptuous sound and total mastery.
Mihai’s playing just grows in stature from the first time I heard him in his first year at the Guildhall with Richard Goode almost ten years ago to today’s performances from an established artist graduated with honours from the school of Joan Havill.

Born in Bucharest, the multi-awards pianist Mihai Ritivoiu won the Dinu Lipatti National Competition in 2010 and was laureate of numerous international competitions including the George Enescu Competition in 2011 (Bucharest), Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artist Competition in 2014 and Teresa Llacuna Competition in 2015 (Valence). Most recently, he was awarded the Gold Medal at the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Intercollegiate Competition. Mihai leads an international career performing solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and Asia. He also played concertos with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the MDR Leipzig Radio Orchestra. Regularly invited to play on BBC Radio 3’s programme ‘In Tune’, his performances have been broadcast on Radio Romania Muzical, Radio Television Suisse and Medici TV. His debut album released under the label Genuin with solo works by Franck, Enescu and Liszt has been praised as “beautifully recorded, handsomely played – a solo recital to cherish” (The Arts Desk). Graduated with the highest distinction from the National University of Music in Bucharest and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, Mihai studied with Professors Viniciu Moroianu and Joan Havill. He also had the privilege to take part in masterclasses led by Dimitri Bashkirov, Dominique Merlet, Emmanuel Ax, Richard Goode and is mentored by Valentin Gheorghiu. Mihai is a City Music Foundation artist and a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He has received generous support from the Liliana and Peter Ilica Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts, Erbiceanu Cultural Foundation and Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation.

A perfect sense of style in the Haydn C major Sonata Hob XVI:50 and as Mihai explained is a late work that shows off all Haydn’s mischievous sense of humour.From the bare opening notes to the bubbling energy and sense of character full of sparkling ornaments and the humorous questions and answers all played with such delicacy and musical understanding .There was a beautiful change of colour for the development and surprising pedal effects that Haydn writes in the score anticipating his illustrious pupil.The exquisite delicacy of the Adagio was played with such simplicity and sense of colour where the music really was allowed to speak for itself.Deliciously descending staccato scales after a trill that just seemed to dissolve in a moment of sublime beauty.Sensitivity and sense of discovery with astonishing key changes and a magical coda leading to the final deep breath.There was a great sense of humour in the Allegro molto where Haydn at a certain point seems to be taking the player astray only to rejoin the fun with the final chords thrown off with whimsical nonchalance.

Gaspard de la nuit (subtitled Trois poèmes pour piano d’après Aloysius Bertrand),is a suite of three pieces by Ravel written in 1908.Of the three pieces Ondine,Le gibet.Scarbo,Mihai played the first and perhaps most ravishing of the suite:Ondine. It is the tale of the water nymph singing to seduce the observer into visiting her kingdom deep at the bottom of a lake:’I thought I heard A faint harmony that enchants my sleep.
And close to me radiates an identical murmur Of songs interrupted by a sad and tender voice.’A beautiful melodic line above the splashes of swirling water that surround the water nymph Ondine was played with sumptuous sound where the melodic line seemed to emerge from the watery sounds that were so beautifully played.With complete technical command even the glissandi seemed to be just waves of colour that Mihai added to his magic palette.Building to a tumultuous climax always with such radiant tone colours as he threw himself into the quite extraordinary hurdles that Ravel purposefully places before any pianist who tries to play this suite that was written with the idea to out do Bakakirev’s notorious Islamey.The virtuoso Ricardo Vines gave the first performance in Paris in January 1909.It was though Vlado Perlemuter who sought out Ravel to get his advice on giving the first complete Ravel recitals in Paris in 1929.Here is the link to his historic performance recorded in 1991:https://www.facebook.com/legendarymusicians2020/videos/444771353608392/

The first two of the ‘late’ Impromptus by Schubert made up this very well thought out programme.The first is one of the longest of the set of four D.935 published after Schubert’s early death and were probably written in his last year of 1828.There are haunting seamless streams of melody that seemed to pour from Schubert’s pen with such ease and simplicity.These four Impromptus were thought by Schumann to be a Sonata in disguise much like the Drei Klavierstucke D.946.In fact the first two impromptus that Mihai had chosen for his programme could almost be the first two movements of a sonata with the first long almost in Sonata form without development and the second a simple Minuet and Trio.The first Impromptu was played as if Mihai was telling a story with such an imperious opening dissolving into landler played with such delicacy and flowing tempo.It dissolved to the the magic duet between bass and treble voices over a constant stream of waves of sound played with such colour and sensitivity by a true poet of the piano.A duet between voices just as poignant as in Schubert’s songs.Songs without words indeed,but just as eloquent when played with such sensitivity.

There was an almost string quartet texture to the A flat Impromptu that followed not just as a melody and accompaniment but gave great depth to this seemingly innocent opening.There were some very poignant bass notes too that gave great meaning to the upper voices.Schubert deliberately rewrites the same time signature for the flowing Trio section and I would have kept more strictly the same tempo as at the opening even though Mihai played it in a lovingly flowing way.Almost Beethovenian in its unsentimental sentiment it was beautifully realised and made this the ideal companion for the charming almost Schubertian Bagatelle op 33 n.4 by Beethoven.As Mihai said ‘this is a piece of sunshine on a beautiful bright day where all the worries are left long behind’and it was part of this carefully constructed programme that he offered today.

After all this charm and pastoral peace Mihai chose the devil himself to finish.Liszt’s demonic Mephisto Waltz n.1. written originally for orchestra in 1859 is one of Liszt’s most popular show pieces for piano .It is pure programme music and tells the story of a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing.’Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song.’It certainly must have been quite a party that Mihai envisaged as he opened at high speed with a delicacy but rhythmic urgency that immediately set the scene.Some amazing pyrotechnics were thrown off with aplomb but with such musical understanding.Here again was a poet of the piano with a technical mastery that the story was allowed to unfold with mounting excitement and even the nightingales seemed happy allowed to warble within his scintillating fingers.A truly exciting finish to an extremely enjoyable programme.

In fact as I told Mihai this lockdown is obviously doing you good – ‘what is your secret?’: ‘It must be Yoanna’s superb cuisine.’Charming and spirited in life as on the platform.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/yoanna-prodanova-and-mihai-ritivoiu-at-st-marys/

Missing an actual biography of this very talented young pianist I came across this very interesting interview instead.It was obvious from her very sensitive musicianship that although no longer studying officially with Maurizio Baglini she obviously has been very influenced by his musical values which have established him as one of the foremost pianists of his generation.

It was apparent from the very first notes of the F sharp Prelude and Fugue that here was a pianist of unusual sensitivity that allowed this most pastoral of Preludes to be shaped with such luminous tone and sparkling ornaments.The Fugue too had a sense of serenity as the subject was allowed to sing so naturally unimpeded by the knotty twine of the counterpoints

The Three Intermezzi for piano, were described by the critic Eduard Hanslick as “monologues”… pieces of a “thoroughly personal and subjective character” striking a “pensive, graceful, dreamy, resigned, and elegiac note.”It was exactly this atmosphere that Ilaria created with her barely whispered sounds where the first Intermezzo is prefaced by two lines from an old Scottish ballad, Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament: Balow, my babe, lie still and sleep!It grieves me sore to see thee weep. There was a beautiful question and answer in the più Adagio middle section and a truly magical return of the opening melody in the poco più Andante.The second Intermezzo in B flat minor flowed beautifully although I fear in a big hall her intimate style may not have reached far into the audience.Luckily in these strange times her beautiful sounds are captured and transmitted to our homes by the superb streaming facilities of the Roman3 University.I missed the contrast of the middle section which portrays a “man as he stands with the bleak, gusty autumn wind eddying round him.”A magical end though led straight into the haunting unison octaves of the third Intermezzo which also has an autumnal quality suggesting the cold wind sighing through the trees as leaves are falling.Beautifully suggested in Ilaria’s sensitive hands with a flowing sense of shimmering colour in the più molto ed espressivo disappearing so magically as it prepared the subtle colours of the water splashing and shimmering in the fountains of Villa d’Este that Liszt visited on his grand tour of Italy

– Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este Liszt placed the inscription, “Sed aqua quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam” (“But the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life,” from the Gospel of John).It was well suited to her exquisite delicate playing and sensitive musicianship missing slightly the more explosive gusts of water it nevertheless created the atmosphere of tranquility and beauty of Liszt’s extraordinary vision of eternal life.

Summoning all her strength for the opening of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy it came as a shock Schubert’s youthful call to arms.It is widely considered Schubert’s most technically demanding composition for the piano. Schubert himself said “the devil may play it,” in reference to his own inability to do so properly. It is not only a technically formidable challenge for the performer, but also a structurally formidable four-movement work combining theme-and-variations with sonata form. Each movement transitions into the next instead of ending with a final definitive cadence, and each starts with a variation of the opening phrase of his lied “Der Wanderer”.The second movement, marked “adagio,” states the theme in virtually the same way it is presented in the song, whereas the three fast movements begin with variants in diminution:the first movement, “allegro con fuoco ma non troppo,” a monothematic sonata form in which the second theme is another variant, the third, “presto,” a scherzo in triple meter, and the finale, marked simply “allegro,” starting as a quasi-fugue and making increasing demands on the player’s technical and interpretive powers as it storms on to its conclusion.

All Ilaria’s musical pedigree was evident in the way she kept the structure together with an overall architectural understanding.Her beautifully mellifluous playing allowed Schubert’s second subject in the first movement to sing so beautifully and even the rhythmic outbursts were played with great sense of contrast and unusually musical solutions to the ‘devil’ that Schubert describes.Schumann called it Floristan – the devil and Eusebius – the introspective angel.The lead into the Adagio was finely managed and the Wanderer theme was played with magic sonorities and beautiful shading.The Presto interrupted the brooding tremolandi at the end of the Adagio as she threw herself into the fray.But it was in the more melodic sections that she distinguished herself so well.Throwing herself into the swirling arpeggios leading up to the Allegro finale she managed to galvanise all her energy for the great technical challenges of the Fugue.Having to rely on the sustaining pedal to give her the force that Schubert demands from the pupil of the virtuoso Hummel to whom Schubert dedicated it .Schubert had hoped of obtaining a good fee and if one counted all the notes involved a tidy sum should have been assured!

It was the final piece of a recital that was a lesson in beauty and subtle musicianship.The Wanderer together with Brahms Handel variations and Beethoven 32 variations in Cminor(that the composer hated hence posth. publication) are all works given to advanced students of the piano to acquire a musical piano technique.Advice and encouragement coming from Maurizio Baglini is advice to write in gold indeed .

Some beautifully delicate playing from Ilaria Cavalleri ,the young pianist chosen to appear on the live stream from the Teatro Palladium in Rome for Roma 3 Orchestra.Florestan got short shrift this time!A very sensitive musician who when she has had time to acquire more weight to her delicate touch she will discover the full orchestra that she has in her hands.This Schimmel concert grand beautifully restored by Mauro Buccitti is a very powerful instrument and sometimes the bass overpowered the extreme delicacy of Ilarias very sensitive playing.Bursts of fire in the Wanderer Fantasy were short lived but give hope that her great talent will mature as she acquires more fingers of steel and wrists of rubber,to quote Guido Agosti.Hats off to Valerio Vicari to allow us the chance to hear a talent in the making.Only 19 and inspired by Maurizio Baglini,I am told.It was Clifford Curzon who said piano playing was 90% work and 10% talent.Ilaria certainly has great musicality and a sensitivity to sound but as Joan Havill said to Jonathan Ferrucci when he declared that he was preparing Brahms 2nd concerto.Oh,she said,you’ll need a lot of muscle for that.Luckily Jonathan is an expert in Yoga.I wonder if Ilaria could be too,one day.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/universita-della-tuscia-opening-concert-2021/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/01/13/puttin-on-the-ritz-chines-shines-in-padua-for-the-keyboard-trust/

A beautiful programme for the Keyboard Trust’s annual concert this year in Viterbo with the superb Sicilian pianist Alberto Chines.There are not many musicians who would risk improvising the ornamentation in Rameau during a concert broadcast live.And programming two suites by Rameau with two important early works of Beethoven.The beautifully mellifluous Pastoral Sonata op 28 seemed the ideal coupling for the 2nd suite and the 5th was rudely awakened by Beethoven’s call to arms of his Eroica variations op 35.

La Villageoise sprang to life from the very first notes with a clarity and eloquence of another era.The famous ‘birds’ from Sokolov’s hands was here allowed to sing so delicately as the magic world of Couperin was unravelled by a true musician rather than technician.With ornaments that were as crisp as they were clearly part of the musical conversation.A gently insistent Musette was followed by the rhythmic energy and sheer joy of the Tambourin.It is hard to think that this young musician was prepared to spend the entire day on the train from his home in Milan to have the joy of sharing music at last with others in this bleak period.I remember standing backstage in Rome as Alicia de Larrocha played the Pastoral Sonata op 28 and being reminded today by Alberto of the sheer beauty of this work.An oasis for Beethoven with a walk in the Viennese woods between the fantasy op his sonatas op 27 and the tempestuous brilliance of op 31.

Strangely the piano in Viterbo that I have enjoyed playing many times with Lya de Barberiis today via streaming seemed at times strangely muted and without that resonance that I well remember from our live performances.The ‘Pastoral’Sonata whilst superbly played by Alberto seemed to lack that resonance that can elimimate the bar lines and allow the music to breath in long phrases.Alberto played exactly as Beethoven intended with one in a bar but the sound would not dissolve into the air as I imagined it was doing in this University Hall that has an unusually resonant acoustic.

As Prof Ricci said in his filmed presentation of the concerts,the microphone and streaming can never be as good as a live performance. In these difficult times,though,we have to adapt and accept some not totally convincing aspects.Necessità virtù.Alberto’s scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s indications and sense of architectural shape were very positive sides of the equation,as was the superb forward movement of question and answer in the development section.The Andante we are told was one of Beethoven’s favourite pieces and Alberto kept the Andante moving ( Andras Schiff pointed out recently that ‘andare’means moving as he demonstrated at the Wigmore Hall his choice of tempo for the second movement of Bach’s Italian Concerto).As Alberto pointed out to me when I told him that he played the movement faster than many other pianists.’Just listen to the non legato Alberti bass and the tempo finds itself’- what it is to be a simple true thinking musician!Everything seemed to make such sense with the capricious scherzando episode riding on the same constant beat.Even the ornamented variations of the theme seemed to flow so naturally to it’s final disintegration before the ever busy Scherzo and even busier Trio.The beautiful pastoral simplicity of the last movement was again lacking the resonance of the open countryside even though played by Alberto with such precision and loving care.The passionate central outburst was the only outward sign of the temperament of Beethoven that in this sonata he had managed to keep under control as he admired the beautiful Viennese landscape that he was to capture only more magically with his sixth symphony.Great dexterity and energy in the coda which bubbled over with the simplicity of water over the stones of a brook .

It was the same pastoral feel that Alberto brought to the 5th suite by Rameau as one began to appreciate even more the choice of programme by this thinking musician.Crystal clear ornaments played with an elegance and fluidity and an ever more increasing excitement as the elaborations progressed.The return to the simplicity of the Gavotte was even more elaborately embellished than at the opening.An ornamentation that even astonished Alberto,such was his voyage of discovery and informed improvisation.

Of course it was Beethoven of a few years after the pastoral tranquility of his op 28 Sonata that brought us to order.A mighty call to arms with the fortissimo E flat chord that opens the 15 Variations and Fugue op 35.A fine performance that had a great architectural shape to it as well as moulding each variation with intelligence and care.The first four variations bubbled over with rhythmic energy before coming to rest with the beautiful legato of the fifth.Great turbulence in the left hand insistence of the sixth before the teasing scherzando of the 7th,9th and the cat and mouse of the tenth.The music box of the eleventh was answered by the rhythmic drive of the twelfth.The ‘cheeky’ thirteenth was played with ‘serious’ clarity,the acciaccaturas only adding to the fun.The beautifully melodic fourteenth in the minor was the preparation for the longest and most moving of the variations with a mellifluous Largo in the major.The fugue burst in out of the final long held pedalled note.It built to an orchestral climax that was to dissolve with all Beethoven’s unexpected humour to a joyful play on the opening theme.In turn it gradually built up to the ravishing final flourishes of this,Beethoven’s first important set of variations.A form that was to be elaborated on all his life until that final great work with 33 variations on an innocent little melody by his publisher Diabelli op 120.

Una formazione solida e il confluire di tante esperienze didattiche e professionali assai diversificate hanno contribuito a fare di Alberto Chines un artista vivace e poliedrico.Il giovane pianista palermitano si è formato presso l’Accademia di Imola con Franco Scala e Piero Rattalino e al Conservatorio di Bolzano con Davide Cabassi.A quindici anni ha esordito al Teatro Massimo di Palermo e nel 2011 ha vinto il primo premio al Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Palma d’Oro” di Finale Ligure. Nel 2013 è stato vincitore del Sony Classical Talent Scout di Madesimo e, nel 2014, del secondo premio all’EuregioPiano Award (Geilenkirchen, Germania).L Si è esibito nella Sala Mozart dell’Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna, al Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, al Politeama Garibaldi di Palermo, alla Van Cliburn Recital Hall di Fort Worth (Texas) e in Spagna, Portogallo, Inghilterra, Francia e Germania.Ha recentemente debuttato a Londra per il Keyboard Charitable Trust e al Tiroler FestspieleErl (Austria), ed è da poco stato pubblicato il suo primo CD con musiche di Bach, Schumann, Ravel e Bartók (BAM International)Alberto Chines è molto attivo anche nell’ambito cameristico: collabora con la violista Anna Serova, col chitarrista Eugenio Della Chiara, col Quartetto Nôus e con il pianista Emanuele Delucchi, e ha negli anni seguito diversi progetti in trio (Trio Casa Bernardini), quartetto e quintetto.Ha inoltre ideato la rassegna concertistica internazionale Musica Manent Festival (Ustica) e collabora con la Primavera di Baggio di Milano.Alberto Chines è Steinway Artist dal 2020.

https://youtu.be/wxdtKSE5J3o

‘I imagine this is how Chopin would have played – a marvel’ Herman Hesse

These were the words to describe Fou Ts’ongs playing of Chopin and it was a privilege for me to be able to invite him to Rome to the Teatro Ghione year after year not only to give recitals but to share his inspirational gifts with young musicians in the masterclasses that he held there too.Roberto Prosseda a young very gifted pianist from Latina was studying piano in the Cafaro household with Sergio and Mimmi just a stones distance from the theatre.This was somewhat equivalent to the Craxton household in London where all the most talented young musicians would be befriended and enriched with the warmth and unique musical pedigree that was the Cafaros creed.Roberto would often frequent the theatre and the masterclasses held there and would often ask me if he could try out new programmes for competitions.

I remember a remarkable Chopin recital that he took to the Competition in Warsaw and a duo recital with Francesco Libetta for Sergio Cafaro’s 80th birthday.Whenever Ts’ong came to Rome Roberto would always play in his masterclasses where he was received with such joy because he was able to do whatever Ts’ong asked immediately.Roberto ultimately went on to study with him in the only European institution where he taught regularly on the shores of Lake Como.Roberto played all the Chopin Nocturnes in 2006 for the Piano Academy that had been established a few years after the birth of the Ghione Theatre in the 80’s by William Naboré on the invitation of the philanthropist Theo Lieven .Bill a student of Zecchi and a friend from my student days in Rome would ask if many of the great artists giving concerts and classes in Rome would give classes for him too.Ts’ong loved the mutual stimulation so much that he returned for over 25 years.

Ts’ong followed in the footsteps of Karl Ulrich Schnabel and was in turn followed by Fleischer,Bashkirov,Brendel,Perahia,Frankl,Tureck, Lympany,De Larrocha and many others in an oasis of serious preparation of the next generation.I was very touched when Roberto contacted me to say he was giving an all Chopin concert in Pisa dedicated to his beloved mentor who had passed away at the age of 86 in London from COVID complications.Playing in the magnificent Teatro Verdi in Pisa it had been organised by the artistic director Carlo Boccadoro in the concert series of the prestigious University of Pisa that was founded in 1810 with a decree by Napoleon as a branch of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris.It is generally considered to be the most prestigious university in Italy somewhat on a par with Oxbridge.

Roberto is now a father of three and married to Alessandra Amara,also a former student of the Cafaro household and Lake Como.Roberto as Ts’ong had foreseen is one of the most versatile young musicians of his generation.Concerts worldwide solo and in duo with his wife but also tireless organiser of festivals and events and and an author of many authoritative tomes,regularly talking and playing on the Italian radio and television.He has even invented the best system for on line teaching that he has patented to many of the major institutions worldwide.He had invited both Ts’ong and also Elisso’Virsaladze to give concerts and masterclasses at the Pontine Festival founded in the 60’s by Menuhin and Szigeti in Sermoneta in the hills above his home town of Latina.His pedigree is assured indeed.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/roberto-prosseda-and-oleg-caetani-with-the-london-philharmonic-in-london/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/08/04/piano-barga-the-jewel-in-the-crown-parts-onetwo-and-final-three/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/a-city-in-love-cremona-music-festival-parts-12-and-3-the-day-of-reckoning/

Above gives you some idea of Roberto’s recent activities that I have been delighted to follow and be invited to comment on.Now today he was alone in this vast opera house just him,a beautiful Steinway and the genial music of Chopin paying homage to the man that had inspired him and many others with his passion,inspiration and total dedication to music and in particular Chopin.

Three nocturnes op 9;Two waltzes op 64;Two nocturnes op 27and op 62 ;Fourth Ballade op 52 and an encore of the nocturne op posth in C sharp minor.Between the nocturnes op 27 and op 62 there was a world premiere of a work written by the composer in residence Virginia Guastella called ‘ Quella che resta ‘ .

A composer writing a nocturne with new piano techniques of plucking and stroking the strings to produce magical new sounds.Rubinstein would often play Mazukas by Szymanowski in his all Chopin programmes that had the effect of a sorbet ,renewing the taste buds at a particularly rich banquet.Roberto had explained that he had some very fruitful rehearsals with the composer.Insistent repeated notes like the ‘Raindrop’ prelude of Chopin on which appeared fragments of mellifluous sounds over subtle clouds that Robert had achieved by running his fingers over the strings inside the piano.

Sounds purposfully muted by striking the key whilst blocking the string with his hand.It had the same delicacy and magic that Roberto had demonstrated in his performances of Chopin but with an augmented kaleidoscope of sounds that was every bit as poetic.

It was Fou Ts’ong who would liken the works of Chopin to the poetry of Chinese poets telling us that it was the same message whether in China or wherever.A soul is unique and has no boundaries which is why indeed music is a universal language. https://youtu.be/6SJ5uvghRfUn

A very personal and ravishing sound in the opening Nocturne op 9 n.1 but with a scrupulous attention to Chopin’s indication with so many magical moments.The opening had seemed a little agitated until he reached the pianississimo,legatissimo horn like passage before the return of the main theme where the sounds seemed to float into the air into this enormous space.As Roberto later confided it was bitterly cold due to the theatre lying obsolete for so long in these barren times.However now fully acclimatised he gave a truly aristocratic performance of the famous E flat nocturne op 9 n.2.Such extreme elegance and simplicity with the bel canto embellishments worthy of a Caballe or Sutherland .There were such subtle inflections in the third of this first set of op 9 that it reminded me of the famous recording by Josef Lhevine with its haunting nostalgia and beguiling barely whispered sounds of another age.Even the turbulent middle section was played with a fluidity and delicacy but always with such scrupulous respect for the score.

The waltz in C sharp minor op 64 n.2 was shaped with such beauty and care,each note a pearl in his sensitive hands.Thanks to his superb sense of balance the melodic line sang so naturally with a feeling of timelessness in a journey where we could savour the gems that Chopin had strewn in our path.A ‘minute’ waltz played in ‘two’as Roberto spiritedly remarked,but played with an irresistible forward movement and a beautiful sense of cantabile in the middle section.There was mystery in the opening of the Nocturne op 27 n.1,the melody emerging on a sea of sounds obviously the inspiration for Debussy.A melodic line played with such delicacy with great sentiment but never dissolving into sentimentality.The bass in the middle section,on the other hand,was played with a remarkable clarity with the più mosso played with great passion and mazurka like in its rhythmic impulse.The imperiously rhetorical bass cadenza dissolving so magically to recreate the atmosphere of the opening.The extraordinarily beautiful final chords prepared the scene for the opening of the following nocturne op 27 n.2.The final C sharp becoming the opening D flat of what must be one of Chopin’s loveliest creations.It was played with a radiance and heart rending simplicity that reminded me of the many memorable performances by Artur Rubinstein.Barely touching the keys after the momentary turbulence of the middle section as it gave way to a deep D flat held by the pedal for many bars at a time as Chopin most precisely indicates .The final few bars were of a whispered magic and as Roberto said afterwards where even he could feel the baited breath of this invisible audience.

The final works in the programme were those with which Fou Ts’ong was particularly associated.I remember the memorable suggestions that he shared with Roberto for the fourth ballade ,one of the greatest works of the piano repertoire.But also the last two nocturnes where Chopin had created a world in which every note and every inflection has a significance but with an architectural shape and direction that all truly great works of art must have.Robert gave exemplary performances of which I am sure Ts’ong would have approved.Maybe Ts’ong would have played with more passion and abandonment but certainly not with more loving care.

This beautiful article was written by Jessica Duchen after an interview with Fou Ts’ong at the Piano Academy in Lake Como. https://jessicamusic.blogspot.com/2020/12/farewell-to-fou-tsong-1934-2020.html

The final word though must go to Ts’ong which I am sure Roberto would more than agree with. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EqDJVUfqLPg

Tuesday 12 January 4.00 pm 

Ljubica Stojanovic (piano) 

Mozart: Rondo in A minor K511

Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a theme by Handel Op 24

Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit

Some very fine musicianly playing of three of the most complex works in the piano repertoire.A Mozart played ‘in one heartbreaking breath’;a magnificent present for Clara from her devoted admirer Brahms with his Handel variations and Fugue ,and Ravel’s poetic vindication of Balakirev’s Islamey with his magical vision of Aloysius Bertrand’s Gaspard de la nuit.

The Mozart Rondo was given a ravishing performance with such delicate tonal phrasing and such an astonishing change of colour from minor to major.It was the ideal opening work that set the scene for some beautiful musicianly playing of delicate luminous sounds.It was the same clarity that she brought to the Handel variations by Brahms. They were written in September 1861 after Brahms, aged 28, abandoned the work he had been doing as director of the Hamburg women’s choir.It is dedicated to a “beloved friend”, Clara Schumann,widow of Robert Schumann.It was presented to her on her 42nd birthday, September 13. The theme of the Handel Variations is taken from an aria in the third movement of Handel’s Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B♭ Major, HWV 434 (Suites de pièces pour le clavecin,).While Handel had written only five variations on his theme, Brahms, with the piano as his instrument rather than the more limited harpsichord enlarged the scope of his opus to 25 variations ending with an extended Fugue.

A crystalline performance of the theme that allowed the first variation to enter so naturally and led to the beautiful legato of the second.The quixotic elegance of the third before the entry of the full orchestra with octaves was played with great rhythmic impetus but slightly missing the weight to give full power to Brahms’s obvious orchestral conception. What she missed in weight she more than made up for with her refined detailed playing .The beauty of the 5th and 11th variations were contrasted so well with the intricate 7th and 8th.The quixotic outburst of the tenth was perfectly judged as was the extreme legato of the octaves in the sixth and ninth.A beautifully grandiose thirteenth variation before the acrobatics of the variations leading to the triumphant twenty fifth.There were ravishing sounds in the music box of the twenty second before the exciting build up to the twenty fifth.The triumphant fugue was beautifully clear and perfectly judged but sometimes missing the feeling of full orchestral colour.

Gaspard de la nuit (subtitled Trois poèmes pour piano d’après Aloysius Bertrand),was written by Ravel in 1908. It has three movements , each based on a poem or fantaisie from the collection of the same title by Bertrand.’Ondine,’the water nymph. singing to seduce the observer into visiting her kingdom deep at the bottom of a lake with the sounds of water falling and flowing, woven with cascades. ‘Le Gibet’ with the view of the desert, where the lone corpse of a hanged man on a stands out against the horizon, reddened by the setting sun. Meanwhile, a bell tolls from inside the walls of a far-off city, creating the deathly atmosphere that surrounds the observer. ‘Scarbo’depicts the nighttime mischief of a small fiend flitting in and out of the darkness, disappearing and suddenly reappearing. Its uneven flight, hitting and scratching against the walls, casting a growing shadow in the moonlight, creates a nightmarish scene for the observer lying in his bed.With its repeated notes and two terrifying climaxes, this is the high point in technical difficulty of all the three movements and the one that Ravel intended to be more difficult than Balakirev’s Islamey.It is in fact considered to be one of the most difficult solo piano pieces in the repertoire.

Ljubica’s palette of delicate ravishing colours were just right for Ravel’s remarkable tone poem.Ondine ,with its washes of colour and superb passionate outburst with Ondine disappearing to a whisper having cast her spell.The mysterious bells of Le Gibet were allowed to chime in such a beautifully atmospheric panorama that led so naturally to the diabolical Scarbo.One of the most difficult works for the piano played with complete technical command .A sense of line and musical understanding that brought this piece vividly and excitingly to life.

Ljubica Stojanovic started to play piano at the age of 6. She graduated with a Masters from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying with Prof. Caroline Palmer, and subsequently studied on the fellowship programme, with Professor Ronan O’Hora. Her studies were generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust and Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s scholarship fund. Ljubica is a 1st prize-winner of over 20 national and international competitions. She is a very active musician who performs regularly as a soloist as well as with European chamber ensembles. Ljubica has performed in the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. James’s Piccadilly, St. Martin in the Fields, Mozarteum University Hall in Salzburg, Philharmonia Hall in Ljubljana, Slovenia,Thonex hall in Geneva, and in Kolarac Hall in Serbia. She has collaborated with the Witold Lutoslawski Philharmonia from Wroclav, soloists from Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Serbian Radio Television Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade, and with Nicholas Daniel and Andrew Marriner. In 2015 Ljubica became an artist for the KNS Classical record label in Spain. Ljubica would like to thank Ronan O’Hora, Henning Kraggerud and Christian Petersen for their guidance, inspiration and support.

Axel Trolese, pianoforte

Some remarkable playing from Axel Trolese at Roma 3 University streamed live in Rome from the Teatro Palladium.This young musician from the hills around Rome showed off his scrupulous musicianship and refined virtuosity in a flowering of music by Beethoven,Liszt,Fauré and Albeniz.
I have heard Axel before in the final concert of Benedetto Lupo’s master course at the Academy of S.Cecilia and was astonished then by the crystal clear clarity that he brought to the Chopin B minor Sonata.Of course he graduated with honours and went on to play a memorable Beethoven 4th piano concerto with the Roma 3 Orchestra.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/benedetto-lupos-final-diploma-recitals-for-the-accademia-di-s-cecilia-in-rome/

Now invited to give an on line recital he chose an eclectic programme in which his crystalline playing allied to his extreme sensitivity to sound allowed him to bring vividly to life the music with an aristocratic control and respect for the composers wishes which was worthy of the teachings of Claudio Arrau.Beethoven’s Sonata quasi una fantasia op 27 n.1,the twin of the so called ‘Moonlight’Sonata.All the startling originality of this work was expressed simply by following so closely the precise indications of the composer.From the very first notes there was a delicacy of sound but with a very clear sense of direction as the music flowed in two with the question and answer in the left hand melodic line so poignantly played.There were some sumptuous sounds from the sombre chordal motif that appears throughout the sonata.The allegro interruption was played with a crystalline clarity with Beethoven’s bold chordal comments allowed to burst in on this seemingly pastoral scene.The Allegro molto e vivace flowed so beautifully from Axel’s sensitive hands and there was an infectious rhythmic drive to the trio section where his precision and attention to detail were quite remarkable.The hauntingly beautiful Adagio made one realise just how similar it is to the third piano concerto that was shortly to follow.It was played with such sensitive control and scrupulous attention to detail that the rumbustuous Allegro vivace completely took us by surprise after the delicate final cadenza of the Adagio.There was a relentless forward movement and clarity of detail to this movement played with a continuous input of energy never allowing a moment of respite until the miraculous reappearance of the Adagio.Played with ever more tenderness and inner feeling until the rude interruption of the Presto played with astonishing rhythmic drive until Beethoven’s final slam of the door.Beethoven with these sonatas had broken loose from his Haydnesque heritage and was beginning to point the way to the visions that were as yet on the horizon.A remarkable performance that I remember Arrau playing in London on one of his memorable visits when he show us as today what wonders these early sonatas can be when interpreted with scrupulous attention to the composers intentions.

It was the same attention to detail that brought so vividly to life the Liszt second Ballade in B minor.This miniature tone poem that Claudio Arrau who studied under Liszt’s disciple Martin Krause said that the Ballade was actually based on the Greek myth of Hero and Leander, with the piece’s chromatic ostinati representing the sea: “You really can perceive how the journey turns more and more difficult each time. In the fourth night he drowns. The last pages are a transfiguration”The opening swirling bass sounds created the atmosphere for this remarkable work with the melodic line emerging from the depths.Answered by such fluid magical sounds before the military interruption of astonishing virtuosity.There was great control and musicianly sense of style that never allowed this miniature tone poem to turn into a mere showpiece as is so often the case.A simplicity and sensitivity to sound and colour where his complete technical command with seamless streams of notes thrown off with a knowing ease,allied to a musical understanding of architectural shape together with a real sense of fantasy ,was able to bring this much neglected work to life.

The Fauré nocturne in E flat minor was played with an aristocratic sense of style .Sentiment but never sentimental as his pupil Vlado Perlemuter used to insist.In fact I was following from Perlemuter’s own score with all his fingerings that searched for that perfect legato that the fingers would play with weight deep into every note where the true meaning lay.Perlemuter when he played for us in Rome wanted me to tell the audience that he lived in the same house as Fauré.The composer would send his works down to the very young student of the Conservatoire where he was director to try out whilst the ink was still wet on the page!Too rarely performed these days it was refreshing to hear such a sensitive musicianly account from Axel today.

The three pieces that make up the first of the four books of Iberia by Albeniz were played with the brooding contemplation of Evocacion through the evocative El Puerto to the glorious beatification of Fete -dieu à Seville.A remarkable sense of colour and feeling for atmosphere and a technical command that one just took for granted as he portrayed these musical sketches so ravishingly.It is interesting to note that the first performances in 1906 were given by the completely forgotten Blanche Selva whose historic recordings to be found on YouTube can still astound! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlM-nK8ppM

The Italian pianist Axel Trolese was born in Genzano, near Rome, in 1997 and started to play the piano at the age of five. Since then, he’s followed the natural path for a musician in Italy, achieving the Conservatory Diploma in Cremona with Maurizio Baglini. He’s just graduated from Paris’s Conservatoire National Supérieur, studying with Denis Pascal, and from Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia, with Benedetto Lupo, obtaining both times the highest grades. He’s now an “Artist in Residence” at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, studying with Louis Lortie.
Being a fine interpreter of French music, he recorded in 2016 his first album “The Late Debussy: 12 Etudes & 6 Epigraphes Antiques”, which was praised with numerous reviews in La Repubblica, Musica and Amadeus.
Also after becoming a laureate of the “Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competition”, the “Grand Prix Alain Marinaro” and the “Premio Venezia”, Trolese has performed in many important concert halls as a soloist, with orchestra and as a chamber musician, including Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica, Venice’s La Fenice Theatre, the Italian Cultural Institutes of Paris and Budapest, Beijing’s Millennium Concert Hall, the Beaulieu Abbey in the Hampshire, Paris’ Salle Cortot, the Académie de France, the Quirinal Palace, the Amiata Piano Festival, Weimar’s Weimarhalle and the Fazioli Concert Hall. Some of his concerts have been broadcasted by some of the most important radios, such as Radio3, France Musique and Venice Classic Radio. He has also performed with the Jenaer Philharmoniker, the Roma 3 Orchestra and worked together with conductors such as Massimiliano Caldi, Jesús Medina, Pasquale Veleno and Ovidiu Balan.
Trolese has attended masterclasses of some of the most important pedagogues and concert pianists in the world, such as Arie Vardi, Pavel Gililov, Michel Béroff, Philippe Entremont, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Roberto Prosseda, Joaquín Achúcarro and Jerome Rose.
Axel Trolese has appeared in a documentary by ARTE about the Italian composer Roffredo Caetani (explaining and playing his pieces on his Bechstein grand piano gifted by Franz Liszt) and in the masterclass-documentary “Inside the music” with Roberto Prosseda by SkyClassica. He’s the main character and pianist in the short film “Danse Macabre” by the Italian director Antonio Bido, which is inspired by Saint-Saëns homonymous tone poem.