ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

The Arts Club of Washington and London’s Keyboard Trust are pleased to present the brilliant young pianist George X. Fu. The concert will be streamed live from the 12th century St. Mary’s Perivale Church in London.

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The Program

J.S. Bach/Sergei Rachmaninov – Gavotte from Violin Partita No. 3 by J.S. Bach
George Xiaoyuan Fu – Transformation on Gigue from Violin Partita No. 2 by J. S. Bach (2020, world premiere)
Franz Schubert – Sonata in C minor, D. 958 Allegro-Adagio-Menuetto,Allegro /Trio-Allegro
Sergei Rachmaninov – Selections from Études-tableaux Op. 39
No. 3 in F# minor
No. 5 in Eb minor
No. 8 in D minor
No. 9 in D major

Extraordinary recital by George Fu streamed live to the Washington Arts Club for the Keyboard Trust from the oasis of St Mary’s Perivale guided by Dr Hugh Mather and his valiant colleagues.
Playing of such delicacy and purity that his phenomenal control of the keyboard was taken for granted as his limpet type fingers carved such wondrous sounds from the keyboard.
The Bach Gavotte in a transcription by Rachmaninov played with the same charm and style that was Kreisler’s.His own transcription too full of the same charm ,if a different language , but both played with such artistry ,fleetness of finger and sumptuous sounds of a different age. George is a serious guy and said he thought he would open his programme with something light and airy.
Followed by Schubert’s C minor Sonata ,the last great trilogy of sonatas written just before Schubert’s untimely death ,was played with such purity and simplicity that it reminded me of Gilels rather than Richter’s more illusive performances.Where Richter’s slow movement was barely audible here it was played today with such simple beautiful whispered but luminous sounds, with a sense of line similar to the Arietta of Beethoven’s op 111.In fact the only other occasion I have heard George was in a performance of Beethoven op 109 where his luminosity and purity of sound have remained with all those that were present at Steinways in the good old days when artists could see and breath the music with the people they were sharing it with.Here there was an imaginary audience worldwide and judging by some of the comments as moved as we all were listening in our own homes.Four Rachmaninov Etudes Tableaux that were astonishing for their poetry as they were for their virtuosity.
Amazingly George arrived at the Royal Academy armed with a degree in economics from Harvard.I am not surprised to learn that he is now a fellow of my old Alma Mater .

It was in the Schubert Sonata that George’s exceptional musical credentials became apparent.An extraordinary sense of colour and architectural control ;an orchestra of ten wonderful players in his hands more the sumptuous golden Philadelphian sound that the bright New York Philharmonic.A remarkable sense of balance that allowed the musical line to sing out unimpeded by the underlying harmonies.There was a haunting magic to his chromatic scales as the opening motif was hinted at in the bass.Maybe something of the animal frenzy of Richter or Serkin was missing but there was a wonderful golden homogeneous sound that allowed us to wonder and be amazed as if listening for the first time to this extraordinary work.The beautiful coda was a revelation in his magical hands.There was an absolute stillness to the Adagio played with a luminosity of sound .A touching simplicity and purity that was truly wondrous.The questioning Scherzo resolved so mellifluously by his extraordinary finger legato that lends such clarity to every detail.The Rondò was played with a buoyancy and a haunting beauty that contrasted so well with the episodes .This was Schubert happy that the dark shadows looming in his life had disappeared for an instant.George has that rare gift of making the music speak so eloquently and the change of colour for Schubert’s unexpected explosion of melody he imbued with such golden sounds allowing it to glow full of wondrous poetry.They talk about Schubert’s sublime length and if music be the food of love as George demonstrated today please let it never stop in these bleak times.

Chinese-American pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu is establishing a reputation as a captivating performer with distinctive intelligence and sensitivity.He has performed as a piano soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and collaborated with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Stefan Asbury, Kensho Watanabe, Vinay Parameswaran, and Jonathan Berman. He has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood.  He has been heard  on BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio, and On Stage At Curtis Institute.

George is an active composer and performer of contemporary music, having collaborated with composers Krzysztof Penderecki, Harrison Birtwistle, George Lewis, Unsuk Chin, Tansy Davies, Phil Cashian, Matthew Aucoin, and Freya Waley-Cohen.

A Harvard University grad, George studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under Jonathan Biss and Meng-Chieh Liu, and then at the Royal Academy of Music under Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor. He has also worked intensively with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, specifically on the music of Messiaen and Debussy. George is currently the Hodgson Piano Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Mr. Fu has been selected by London’s Keyboard Trust for their artist development program. The Keyboard Trust celebrates their 30th anniversary in 2021, and supports the most gifted young pianists on stages in London, New York, Mexico, Berlin, Rome, Washington, DC, and other music capitals. The Trust has presented more than 250 international pianists, historic-keyboard players, and organists in nearly 1000 concerts. With such notable musicians as Evgeny Kissin, Alfred Brendel, and the late Claudio Abbado among its trustees, this formula has proved its worth. www.keyboardtrust.org

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Hats off to Alberto Ferro with his impeccable performance of the complete Etudes-Tableaux streamed live from Teatro Politeama in Tolentino ,Italy.Introduced inexplicably by a masqueraded hostess who obviously did not know who Rachmaninov was.Alberto on his honeymoon went on unheeded and unmasked to give a hair raising account of one of Rachmaninov’s most challenging works.Working with that magician Epifanio Comis in Catania he showed us just what it means to be an intelligent and passionate virtuoso.

Born in Italy in 1996, Alberto Ferro began his piano studies with his mother at the age of seven and gave his first recital at the age of thirteen. He achieved his Master’s degree under the guidance of Prof. Epifanio Comis, his lifetime mentor, at the “Vincenzo Bellini” Institute of Music in Catania (2018). He also attended several piano masterclasses held by very important pianists such as Michel Béroff, Dina Yoffe, Leslie Howard, Elisso Virsaladze, Joaquín Achúcarro, Richard Goode, Jörg Demus and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

He won many awards in national and international competitions, including: 2nd Prize, International Press Prize and Haydn Prize at the “Ferruccio Busoni” International Piano Competition in Bolzano (2015); 1st Prize at the “Premio Venezia” National Piano Competition at Teatro La Fenice in Venice (2015); 6th Prize and Musiq’3 Prize of the public at the “Queen Elisabeth” International Piano Competition in Brussels (2016); Finalist Prize and Children’s Corner Prize at the “Clara Haskil” International Piano Competition in Vevey (2017); 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn (2017).He is currently Professor of Piano at the “Umberto Giordano” State Conservatoire of Music in Foggia.

The Études-Tableaux (“study pictures”), Op. 33, is the first of two sets of piano études composed by Rachmaninoff.They were intended to be “picture pieces”, essentially “musical evocations of external visual stimuli”. But Rachmaninoff did not disclose what inspired each one, stating: “I do not believe in the artist that discloses too much of his images. Let [the listener] paint for themselves what it most suggests.”However, he willingly shared sources for a few of these études with the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi when Respighi orchestrated them in 1930.

There was a magical contrast between staccato and legato in the first study especially delicately played with the contrasts of the middle section question and answer.The second had a beautiful languid melodic line amidst magical arabesques played with extreme poetic care leading to the ethereal sounds that resolved on to vibrations as the piece melted so magically in Alberto’s sensitive hands.The contemplative third study growing in glowing intensity with such sumptuous sounds and the three final chords like the B minor sonata of Liszt disappearing into the distance.The delicately rumbustuous fourth as if undecided to be happy or sad as it almost burst into song before being reminded of it’s quixotic journey .Some dazzlingly fleet playing of the fifth,one of the most difficult of all the Etudes.Played with all the precision and lightness of the great virtuosi of the Golden era of piano playing of which Rachmaninoff was linked with the likes of Godowsky,Rosenthal and Lhevine with the legendary jeux perlé of an almost lost tradition.The subtle call to arms of the sixth was played always with a great sense of architectural shape and sounds that were very carefully judged with a sensitivity that never allowed him to make harsh sounds even in the glorious triumphant ending of this well worn study.The extreme beauty of the seventh a cantabile melody delicately accompanied by continual waves of sound gradually building in intensity until dissolving into a nostalgic melodic line with which it had begun.The final study disturbing in it’s Scriabinesque battle between major and minor.An amazing sense of colour and line amongst all the passionately pulsating chords

The Études-Tableaux (“study pictures”), Op. 39 is the second set of piano études composed by Rachmaninoff . They are even fuller, more finely textured and darker than the first set.

From the swirling anguish of the first exploding into tremulous chordal patterns dissolving into typical intricate webs of sound as in his Prelude in the same C minor key.Repeating even more insistently the chordal patterns with an astonishing sense of fantasy and virtuoso control of sound.It contrasted so well with the liquid mellifluous sounds of the second.A deeply brooding left hand gradually building to a climax with a superb sense of balance leading to the final magical chords and flourish that was made of pure gold.The remarkable continual butterfly movement of the third study was played with such a subtle sense of swirling colours.One of the longest and most intricate of the studies.

The almost Gavotte charm of the fourth was played with a clarity and dexterity that led to the remarkable burst of melodic outpouring of the famous fifth study.Played with such passionate aristocratic eloquence and a sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to be sustained by the throbbing multicoloured surrounding harmonies.One voice answered another in the darkly brooding middle section sustained by an ever more insistent rumble from the bass until the melody returns glowing as never before in the tenor register, dissolving into the depths with such beautiful sounds that Alberto found from his wondrous poetic vocabulary.The terror and animal excitement he generated from the first flourishes of the sixth is no wonder that this is known as ‘Little Red Riding Hood and the Woolf ‘ study.An amazing chordal dexterity with a display of phenomenal virtuosity.The impish chord after the final roar just showed the imagery that Alberto was able to portray.There was almost clockwork precision in the insistent chords of the seventh study.The repeated left hand notes like in the Appassionata Sonata were developed into something much more sinister.A beautiful legato tenor melody appeared as if by magic turning into the glorious pealing of church bells before dying away again to its opening gently menacing insistence.The beautifully fluid eighth study with its languid yearning was so well portrayed by Alberto with a heartbreaking nostalgia full of ravishing colours on a continual wave of emotion.The triumphant opening fanfare of the ninth was played with astonishing forward drive with a nice quixotic middle section to contrast with the blistering final outburst so masterly portrayed.Alberto demonstrating a mastery and maturity way above his actual age of only twenty four .

Il concerto, che propone (in collaborazione con il Club Rotary Roma-ovest)due giovanissimi e validissimi pianisti, Vincitori del Magisterium di interpretazione pianistica di Marcella Crudeli, vuole avere anche un alto valore simbolico perché in un momento cupo, come quello che stiamo vivendo, intende guardare ai giovani, luce e speranza del futuro.Emanuele Nazzareno Piovesan (quattordici anni) e Emanuele Savron (ventuno), vincitori, nonostante l’età, di numerosi concorsi nazionali ed internazionali e molto attivi nel concertismo, affronteranno un programma impegnativo e coinvolgente, dedicato a grandi e celebrati compositori.

Emanuele Piovesan, infatti, suonerà di Ludwig van Beethoven (in occasione del 250° della nascita) la Sonata in Fa minore op. 2 n.1; di Franz Schubert l’Improvviso op. 90 n. 4; di Fryderyk Chopin lo Studio in Fa minore op. 25 n. 2 e di Aram Chačaturjan la Toccata in Sol bemolle maggiore.

Emanuele Savron eseguirà, ancora di Beethoven la Sonata op. 27 n. 2 e di Chopin la Ballata n. 1, il Notturno op. 48 n. 1, lo Studio op. 10 n. 3, lo Studio op. 25 n. 12.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/marcella-crudeli-rome-international-piano-competition-the-fanny-waterman-of-rome/10154141668572309/
https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/yuanfan-yang-takes-rome-by-storm-the-xxviii-rome-international-piano-competition/10156076789642309/

The indomitable unstoppable Marcella Crudeli in her lifelong quest to help young emerging musicians .
Her annual course sponsored by the Rotary Club gives young musicians from all over Italy the possibility to benefit from her enormous experience as a teacher,organiser and above all concert artist who herself had benefitted from encouragement of Alfred Cortot.
In a short bathroom break in this final competition concert performances between her students she confided to me that young people just do not allow the music to breathe.
All of the students greatly talented but in the end lazy.
It was Curzon who said to become a pianists it is 90% work and 10% talent.Only one of these young musicians (a prodigy of Ciccolini it turns out) demonstrated this in a very fine performance of Beethoven ‘s Sonata op 2 n.2 (the one that Glenn Gould made very much his own).
.Here at last a hall that up until that moment had been so obviously constructed for military speeches and certainly not piano recitals appeared to have an acoustic where all the details and care over Beethoven’s indications were meticulously observed .Unfortunately even this young man given a Chopin Ballade or a Russian show piece immediately stopped listening as all these greatly talented you musicians did as they sailed up and down the keyboard in a very undisciplined manner. Of course in their home towns it might seem very impressive but the work needed to tame and control this youthful passion was missing.
Marcella is doing miracles but it is in the end in the practice room that true miracles are needed. The students were from 14 to 21 and it was right that the first prize should go to the youngest who has all the time ahead of him to work, work ,work.

Cari amici, ieri si è conclusa la serie di manifestazioni al Museo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, organizzate dall’Associazione Chopin in collaborazione con il Rotary Club Roma Ovest e dall’EPTA Italy.
Si sono svolti gli esami – recital del Magisterium di Approfondimento Pianistico dei sei giovani selezionati:
Michele Apollonio di 16 anni proveniente da Campobasso
Matteo Pierro di 17 anni proveniente da Potenza
Emanuele Nazzareno Piovesan di 14 anni proveniente da Gallarate
Emanuele Savron di 19 anni proveniente da Trieste
Marco Stallone di 20 anni proveniente da Avellino
Lorenzo Stasi di 17 anni proveniente da Rossano Calabro

La giuria, presieduta dal Prof. Franco Carlo Ricci, era composta da: M° Marcella Crudeli, M° Silvia Rinaldi, M° Maria Grazia Sorrentino e Amm. Giovanni Vitaloni.

Alla fine dei concerti, il Presidente del Rotary Club Roma Ovest Dott. Giovanni Grazioli, ha consegnato ai pianisti gli attestati con il giudizio.
Dopo la cerimonia di premiazione, il Rotary ha offerto un piccolo catering ai ragazzi e ai loro familiari in segno di augurio!

Si ringrazia il Municipio Roma IX EUR, il Direttore del Museo Dott. Filippo Maria Gambari e il Dott. Tagliero per l’affitto del Pianoforte.

Two young pianists Emanuele Savron and Emanuele Nazzareno Piovesano opening the first concert this year from Tuscia University in Viterbo streamed live at 17h every Saturday afternoon .

http://tiny.cc/stagione_concertistica
Next week the annual concert of the Keyboard Charitable Trust with Alberto Chines.
Now in it’s 16 year the season of concerts organised by the distinguished musicologist and author of many important volumes Franco Carlo Ricci aims to give a platform not only to established artists but also to young aspiring musicians.Two young pianists today of 14 and 21 years old,winners of the annual Marcella Crudeli Masterclasses held every year in Rome.

Some very fine playing from these two young students chosen from Marcella Crudeli’s Masterclasses in Rome last October to demonstrate the school of a woman who not only has been director of one of Italy’s most important conservatories but also created and watched grow ,strength by strength ,for 25 years the only International Piano Competition ever held in Rome.Not satisfied with that she has been celebrating this year her 80th birthday with a series of recitals and masterclasses from which the two young artists in today’s concert were beneficiaries.

Exemplary Chopin playing as one would expect with Savron playing the overplayed first ballade with impeccable good taste and control.Both had played two early sonatas by Beethoven with scrupulous attention to detail but also an architectural sense that gave great weight to their playing.Piovesano playing op 2 n.1 with envigorating rhythmic impetus with a Prestissimo finale that was quite enthralling.The opening of the so called ‘Moonlight’Sonata was played with mature feeling by Savron with some quite sumptuous and delicate sounds.The last few pages of the Sonata op 27 n.2 showed a remarkable sense of control as he built the excitement to the final dramatic embellishments.

Piovesano’s Schubert Impromptu op 90 n.4 was exquisitely played and the passionate middle section beautifully shaped.His performance of the Khatchaturian Toccata showed off his sensitivity to colour without ever loosing the driving forward movement.The Chopin studies from them both whilst showing a great sense of style showed that there is some technical work still to be done before their studies are completed.Very professional performances to an empty hall before the video camera shows great promise for the future.

Sir András Schiff performed a programme entirely dedicated to Bach, including the composer’s Capriccio in B flat, allegedly written to bid fond farewell to his brother, and his 1735 Italian Concerto.

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
  • • Capriccio in B flat major (Capriccio on the Departure of his Most Beloved Brother) BWV992
    • Sinfonia No. 5 in E flat BWV791
    • Sinfonia No.9 in F minor BWV795
    • Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV903
    • Italian Concerto in F BWV971
    • Ouvertüre nach französischer Art BWV831

Bach before the Mast indeed.George Malcom an almost forgotten musician but not by Andras Schiff who as a 14 year old boy came to study in London with this genial complete musician.The nearest we could have come to a Kapelmeister.It was very touching to see some years later when Andras Schiff had begun to make a mark in the music world,Master and pupil,now equals,performing Mozart G major concerto together at the Proms.It is obviously from Malcom that not only did he receive a most human and natural understanding of Baroque music but also inherited his wry,intelligent sense of humour.

I remember when we all used to flock to Dartington surrounded by the greatest musicians of the day :Vlado Perlemuter,Sandor Vegh,Ilona Kabos,George Malcom,Peter Maxwell Davis,Julian Bream,Harrison Birtwistle,André Tchaikowsky,Daniel and Enrique Barenboim,Stephen Bishop,William Pleeth,Lamar Crawson,Nell Gotkowsky,Youra Guller,Neville Marriner and his St Martin in the Fields ensemble and in residence the Amadeus Quartet.All these assembled for six weeks around the dream that had been started by William Glock at Bryanston with Schnabel and Busch just after the war.We seemingly talented students at the Colleges used to be offered scholarships to perform in masterclasses for six weeks in these blissful surrounding on the estate near Totnes in Devon that was owned by the Elmhursts.American philanthropists who believed in encouraging art and in particular local crafts and skills before they became totally commercialised and divorced from their roots.

I remember a very young boy who had been sent from Hungary to study and André Tchaikowsky was advised that he was a very special talent and to treat him accordingly.Well that was like a red rag to a bull for André especially when a very pretty Katie Kennedy arrived in the class with the Scherzo in E flat minor op 4 by Brahms with which she had recently been awarded a major prize at the Royal Academy.André with all his impish modesty admitted he did not know it.A voice from the back was heard to comment that it was a well known work.’Well you teach it to her then’he said to the now very embarrassed young Hungarian prodigy.Andras Schiff went on to play in the class concert Chopin’s third ballade that those present have never forgotten for it’s seamless legato and aristocratic control.Daniel Adni was another young prodigy in that period.A student of Barenboim’s father who went on to make his debut playing Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto with Klemperer at the Festival Hall -Geza Anda said he played like a young God.Martin Dorrié,another teenage prodigy whose mother asked André for advice as to the career that her son and star pupil of Kammerling in Germany should pursue .’Dentistry or music she asked?’’Well’,said André ‘I know about his beautiful playing but know nothing about his teeth?’Radu Lupu used to play chess with André on the lawn and sometimes wander into his class much to our trepidation.

Out of all these wonderful times the one thing that has remained constant is the artistry of Andras Schiff.The simplicity of someone where music is life and life is music.That same simple total mastery that had Wilhelm Kempff arrive at the recording studios and simply say:’What would you like me to record today?’The same total absorption with ‘Music’ of Badura Skoda or Demus.Today we appear to be obsessed with note picking perfection that is killing the very essence of the music and above all the humility wonder and daily use of mere performers.It was astonishing even for us musicians to hear Andras describe the works he was playing and without the score be able to pick out single voices,left hand,right hand passages as an architect might point out the foundations on which a monument had been constructed.The music was allowed to evolve so naturally and envelope this imaginary audience in ninety minutes of seamless streams of sounds played without any strange effects or rhetorical egoisms.

The music was allowed to speak for itself or so it seems .It is an Art that conceals Art.I was reminded of the 90 year old Artur Rubinstein on this very platform 45 years ago begging us not to allow this hallowed hall to be demolished.Sitting motionlessly as Andras Schiff today as he allowed the music to pour out of him with the directness that seems to nourish places that others do not know exist.It is not for me to describe how such an artist plays and there is an excellent summary by Jessica Duchen in her review today.But I have jotted down some of the eloquent simple words that Andras Schiff used to guide his imaginary audience through this short survey of Bach’s music.

’All Bach.Why?Because he is by far the greatest composer who ever lived.There is no need to prove it.All those that disagree do not have to listen!’The Capriccio one of the earliest known works of Bach and with a precise programme.Bon voyage indeed!Twenty years later Bach the educator wrote his two and three part inventions to educate his children to give them good taste in composition,control of independent voices .Stressing in particular the need to make the piano sing.’If you hit the piano it will hit back!’The Sinfonias n.5 and 9 played with his feet firmly on the ground and his superb finger legato demonstrated this without any fuss.Played with a simplicity and beauty.The alto melodic line in the 5th Sinfonia was astonishing in its richness and clarity.You could almost see the anguish on his face as he played the great lament of the 9th Sinfonia .As he said at the end this is one of the greatest of works that in only two minutes of music Bach is able to say so much with so little .In fact you have the whole meaning of the St Mathew passion in these few profoundly moving minutes.Introducing his performance of one of Bach’s most popular pieces according to his biographer Forkel in 1802.The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue where the Fantasy is a free improvisation but well organised!A strict and severe fugue but with certain licences.Quoting Casals ‘Freedom but with order’The animal excitement in the fantasy before the recitativi was breathtaking as were the surprising changes of harmony played as though he too were discovering them for the first time.The utter simplicity of the fugue subject made me so aware for the first time of the similarity to the fugue of Beethoven’s op 110.Gradually gaining energy as it led to the grandiose final bass D.

Bach was born in 1685 the same year as Handel and Domenico Scarlatti it was obviously a vintage year !The final two works were from the second part of the Klavierubung consisting of the Italian Concerto and the French Overture.Bach was not only a great composer but an encyclopedist and scientist looking at each composition and taking it to perfection and beyond.These two works were written for a harpsichord with two manuals so Andras said he is playing it on the wrong instrument.Adding with his dry humour ‘I apologise’’It is music so great that it transcends limitations of the instrument.Every instrument has it’s limitations even this Steinway piano.We try to overcome that with making illusions of legato and sustaining notes.’Bach is a German composer but not nationalistic.Nowhere do we see the word Deutsch.He is a European International composer- Italian Concerto-modelled on Vivaldi,Albinoni and Corelli and the miracle of creating the illusion of an orchestra and soloists from a single instrument. The French Overture with movements that are French,German,Spanish and Scottish, we have a perfect example of Europe and we should not forget that and be proud of it as a humble Hungarian Jew performs it in London!Influenced by Lully,Couperin and Rameau each of the eleven movements is repeated and it is not for us mere performers to know better.After all it is like the second serve in tennis where you can play better and here have different articulation or ornamentation.

Andras Schiff showing us that miracles do exist as he wished us a Happy New Year from a seemingly empty Wigmore Hall .Playing the Aria from the Goldberg Variations as a thank you to the invisible audience around the globe he demonstrated their bass foundation.Foundations on which all buildings are constructed and with the hope that something beautiful will be created from these disturbing times when they are just a terrible memory

Tuesday 5 January 4.00 pm

Noah Zhou (piano)

Schubert: Sonata in A D959 Allegro-Andantino-Scherzo:Allegro vivace Trio:Un poco più lento-Rondo:Allegretto/Presto

Rachmaninov: Sonata in B flat minor Op 36-_

Quite extraordinary playing by Noah Zhou at St Mary’s.An Ealing lad helped by the indomitable Eileen Rowe via her trust for young musicians.
A maturity and a poetic sense of wonderment of a story that was unfolding from his wonderfully flexible hands.Like a sculptor moulding the sounds for the poetic meaning within this box of wires and hammers.Who knows where his fantasy will take us and I get the feeling that for him too it is a voyage of magical discovery.

Opening with the Schubert A major Sonata D.959 part of the great trilogy that Schubert penned in the last year of his short life

Schubert had been struggling with syphilis since 1822–23, and suffered from weakness, headaches and dizziness. However, he seems to have led a relatively normal life until September 1828,and probably began sketching the sonatas sometime around the spring months of 1828; the final versions were written in September. These months also saw the appearance of the Drei Klavierstucke D.946 ,the Mass in E flat D.950, the String Quintet D.956, and the songs published posthumously as the Schwanengesang collection (D. 957 and D. 965A), among others.The final sonata was completed on September 26, and two days later, Schubert played from the sonata trilogy at an evening gathering in Vienna.In a letter to Probst (one of his publishers), dated October 2, 1828, Schubert mentioned the sonatas amongst other works he had recently completed and wanted to publish.However, Probst was not interested in the sonatas,and by November 19, Schubert was dead.In the following year, Schubert’s brother sold the sonatas to another publisher, Anton Diabelli,who would only publish them about ten years later, in 1838 or 1839.Schubert had intended the sonatas to be dedicated to Hummel ,a pupil of Mozart, whom he greatly admired.However, by the time the sonatas were published in 1839, Hummel was dead, and Diabelli, the new publisher, decided to dedicate them instead to Schumann, who had praised many of Schubert’s works in his critical writings.

Noah immediately opened the Sonata with great nobility but also deeply expressive and his intelligent architectural understanding allowed him to hold the movement together but without sacrificing any of the ravishing details.There was a throbbing sense of yearning and wonderment with some very expressive tenor voicing and his hands almost like rubber seemed to mould the sounds with naturalness and ease.It was Dame Fanny Waterman who confided to me that pianists do not seem to mould these days as Curzon ,Solomon or pianists of the Matthay school used to.Maybe in the quest for technical perfection the searching for sounds and colours has been neglected as pianos have become ever more brilliant and resilient.

The difference between music that talks and music that just astonishes.It is strange how the Chinese pianists seem to have the need to communicate and to tell a story.It was Fou Ts’ong who used to enlighten us in Rome with his comparison between Chinese poetry and that in the works of Chopin.It is the same soul and most beautifully expressed by both a Pole and a Chinese.Ts’ong created a sensation at one of the first Chopin Competitions in Warsaw and people could not understand how he could play the Mazukas with such understanding.They are,after all, miniature masterpieces in which all the deep Polish sentiments of nostalgia and longing for the homeland are expressed.Lang Lang too before his commercial success used to play every note with such pained suffering.’You can not play every note as if someone is sticking a knife into you’ exclaimed John Streets to the sixteen year old Graham Johnson at our chamber music lessons at the RAM.’Oh yes you can and must’added the actress Janet Suzmann in an evening of poetry and song that Graham had enchanted us with at the Wigmore Hall this time last year. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/12/23/ocome-all-ye-faithful-a-songmakers-christmas-carol/

It is just this idea of making the music speak that was so enthralling in Noah’s playing today.There was a wonderfully atmospheric coda to the first movement creating clouds of mysterious sounds.

A touching sense of desolation and bewilderment in his story telling of the Andantino with such purity in the melodic line and his great sense of balance allowing the details of the left hand to be heard so clearly and tenderly.There were startling eruptions in the middle section with the pleading recitativi answered so decisively.A whole operatic drama was envisioned evaporating and leading to the reappearance of the opening theme this time commented on with truly magical whispered comments.A remarkable sense of control of sound where every finger was an independent instrument ready to follow this young man’s poignant fantasy.The Scherzo burst in with almost ländler simplicity.The lyrical Trio with it melancholic legato horn melody commented on by such impish staccato interjections from the orchestra in Noah’s hands.A beautifully flowing Allegretto that reminded me of the nostalgic joy to be found in Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture .It was allowed to flow with such ease and with such an achingly nostalgic ending.Resolved with a Presto of a fleetness and dynamic play of lightness and the feeling that it was all only a dream as we came full circle to the majestic final chords.A fascinating journey in Noah’s hands where my imagination was simply stimulated by his.

Surely this is the real meaning of an interpreter who is just the medium between the composer and the listener.I quote from Tortelier’s marvellous book that I just picked up again ‘e voilà’as he would have said:’I feel that the instrumentalist is a kind of musical storyteller.Music speaks from the great masters to the performer,and through the process of telling a story his playing becomes inbued with life and character’

Enthralling Rachmaninov where I was made aware for the first time of the dark brooding of this rather overplayed work.Visionary indeed. Here was the same sense of discovery and wonderment with such subtle shading making the music really speak.Some sumptuous sounds and a sense of feeling for the inner colours but playing with a simplicity and directness that was quite mesmerising.Evelyne Beresowsky had bewitched us just a month ago in the same hall with this same sonata and did not think I would be easily as overwhelmed as I was again today.His overall vision and total dedication was quite remarkable as he led us to the breathtaking conclusion.All this in an empty hall where the interplay between audience and performer is usually an essential ingredient of this virtuosistic work.Horowitz had shown us the way in his Indian summer return to the concert platform when he astonished and bewitched the world with his rediscovery and demonic performances of what had been a much neglected work.Since then the sonata has been rediscovered and is understandably the goal of all aspiring young pianists.But it is a rare that young artists can bring it to life and keep us on the edge of our seats as Noah and Evelyne have demonstrate this past month at St Mary’s

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In this week when the great Fou Ts’ong was taken from us by the virus here is a young man with that same soul and sense of story telling that makes us aware of just how essential music is in these deeply disturbing times

Born in London, British-Chinese pianist Noah Zhou has since established himself as one of the leading talents of his generation. He began learning piano at age 5 with Tra Nguyen before moving on to study with Hilary Coates. Currently, he holds the full fees Margaret Kitchin Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he studies with the Emeritus Head of Keyboard, Christopher Elton. He is also generously supported by the Eileen Rowe Musical Trust, a fund headed by Vanessa Latarche, Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music. 

In 2018, Noah was awarded the prestigious Duet Prize for Best Young Instrumentalist by the Royal Philharmonic Society of Great Britain, before going on to be awarded the top prize at the first edition of Coach House Pianos’ UK National School Piano Competition a year later. He was awarded the Third prize and Bronze medal in Kiev at the 2019 International Horowitz Piano Competition (edition XII), where he was also awarded the Jury’s Special Prize for the best interpretation of a solo Ukrainian Work. Following this, he was invited to perform live on the Ukrainian Radio Channel ‘Aristocrat’, and his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 2 was featured on national Ukrainian Television. Later that same year he was also named as one of six finalists in the Manchester International Concerto Competition (edition VI).   

Noah frequently performs in concerts, and has appeared at many venues all over Europe, including London’s St John’s Smith Square, Southbank Royal Festival Hall, BBC Hoddinott Hall and Steinway Hall (UK), Kiev’s Philharmonia Hall (Ukraine), Gothenburg’s Operan and Konserthuset (Sweden), Budapest’s Danube Palace (Hungary) and Bayreuth’s Steingraeber Kammermusik-Saal (Germany). He was worked with many orchestras, including the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine, the Danube Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata, and similarly has performed under the batons of conductors such as Vitaliy Protasov, András Deák, Ronald Corp and Stephen Threlfall. As a growing talent, Noah has also participated in the masterclasses of many eminent figures of the musical world, including Leonel Morales, Andreas Weber, Pavel Gililov, Barbara Szczepanska, Pascal Devoyon, Craig Sheppard, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Imogen Cooper and Andreas Froehlich, to name a few.  

A concert under the title Homage to Ludwig 1770 and presented for the season of Mestre-Venice in Teatro Toniolo.It was streamed live on the 30th and 31st December at 20.30 , presented by Mario Brunello (winner of the Tchaikowsky International Competition in 1986).Ever generous he was giving a platform to three of the most talented artist of their generation.
Luca Giovannini (2000),Elia Cecino (2001),Giulia Rimonda(2002),in the name of Beethoven.A concert recorded just two days before Beethoven’s actual 250th birthday on the 16th December 1770.

And what better way than with one of the best known of the Trios to unite these three young musicians in an absorbing musical conversation.
It was Barenboim who exclaimed that when musicians get together they don’t make conversation but they make music .
They get to know each other in a far greater way than they ever would with words.
And so it was today with the first dynamic notes fired at us with all their youthful passion and rhythmic drive that created a call to arms from the very first notes. Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny wrote in 1842 that the slow movement of the Trio in D major op.70n.1 reminded him of the ghost scene at the opening of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and this was the origin of the nickname.It features themes found in the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 too.A deeply felt Largo assai ed espressivo where each of these young artist were looking at each other with searing commitment as they created such magical sounds.The Presto was played with a freshness and simplicity with a smile on Giulias face as she passed the notes to Luca who in turned shared them with Elia.
This was indeed a fine homage to Beethoven and to a youthful hope for the future!

But it had been prefaced with a short piece each in which they took it in turns to talk and then play with the great Italian cellist.Luca was playing the cello that had brought Mario Brunello his triumph in Moscow in 1986.An Ansaldo Poggi of 1927 generously on loan to this aspiring young cellist.Brunello now plays a Maggini of the 1600’s.

Elia had played a piece for piano and cello by the Russian Shchedrin.A spirited and stylish performance where Brunello had shown his unique sense of rubato and subtle colouring.

Not Love Alone (also translated Not for Love Alone or Not Only Love; Russian: Не только любовь ; Ne tol’ko lyubov’) is the first opera of Rodion Shchedrin (Russia 1932), written 1961, revised in 1971
A well-known piece from this opera (usually played by cello and piano) is the humorous Quadrille from the second Act (Scene 15: The arrival of Varvara Vasilyevna and quadrille).

Luca Giovannini played a work by the Ukrainian Silvestrov for two cello’s with infact Brunello’s two cellos blending so well together in the hands of his young passionate protogée.
Valentyn Silvestrov (Ukraine 1937)8.VI.1810…zum Geburtstag R. A. Schumann for two cellos (2004) realizes the composer’s goal for a “cello four-hands,” expanding the instrument’s possibilities by turning it inward. A feeling of euphoria locks flesh with shadows. Dances flit by like opportunities for melodic escape, while their after-images seek reciprocation in the listening. Lechner and Vesterman accordingly hang their spirits on easels and mark them with every brushstroke of the bow.

It was the beautifully elegant Giulia Rimonda who played a short piece by another Ukrainian composer with great musicianship and sense of enjoyment.
Victoria Polevà (Ukraine 1962) Gulfstream (2010) for violin and cello

The last concert of a very difficult year was streamed live for Roma 3 Orchestra from Teatro Palladium in Rome.Emanuele Stracchi ,a very popular former student of the University showed of his versatility as a composer,arranger and pianist.

In a programme that opened with a crystal clear account of Bach’s D major Prelude and Fugue Book 1 with the same majesty in the Fugue that he was to bring to the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue later.Not only clarity but he was obviously in his element with the chordal arpeggiated chords that led to the poignant recitativi .The fugue entering almost unnoticed grew to an ever more impressive conclusion.

Three very early works by Beethoven followed and were obviously written for his own early performances as a virtuoso.
The novelty was a first performance of the early variations in A,Unv.-14 written in 1794 and now reconstructed by Graziano Denini ,full of charm in the style of his master Haydn.
The rondò in A WoO49 written in 1783 was followed by the well known ‘Rage over a lost penny’ published as op 129 by Diabelli,after Beethoven’s death,but written in 1795-98. Robert Schumann wrote that “it would be difficult to find anything merrier than this whim… It is the most amiable, harmless anger, similar to that felt when one cannot pull a shoe from off the foot.”It’s full title is “Rondo alla ungherese quasi un capriccio” in G major, Op. 129 but is better known by the title Rage Over a Lost Penny, Vented in a Caprice (from German: Die Wut über den verlorenen Groschen, ausgetobt in einer Caprice).It is a showpiece for the likes of Evgeny Kissin and although Emanuele played with the same intelligent musicianship as his Bach he did not quite have the scintillating ‘fingerfertigkeit’that it was obviously written to show off.

The Bartòk Suite op 14 began to open a world that is Emanuele’s.
Abandoning the score he played the four short movements with a sense of wonder and improvisation.There was a clarity in the Scherzo and an unrelenting rhythmic impetus in the ostinato third movement from which emerged the magic sounds of the final sostenuto.

It was though in the unexpected encore that one could savour the true talent of this versatile young musician.
His own improvisations on Christmas themes.
Here a whole world opened up of subtle magic sounds with a freedom of expression and sense of natural rhythmic pulse.Even ending with a boogy-woogy version of White Christmas that out of the final reverberant chord appeared the bells on high,truly Jingling!
A fine pianist but when you let him free and off the lead I begin to see why he was chosen to give the final concert of the year.
Hats off indeed

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/11/15/ivan-krpan-in-zagreb-croatian-national-archive-hall-pridepassion-and-joy/

J.S.Bach Partita in B flat BWV 825 Prelude-Allemande-Courante-Sarabande-Menuetto 1-Menuett 2 Gigue; F.Chopin Nocturne op 9 n.1 in B flat minor;B.Bersa Nocturne op 38 ; F.Liszt La lugubre gondola n.1; B.Bersa Venetian Barcarolle op.58

As with his playing of the second Partita by Bach that Ivan played recently in Zagreb it is the absolute clarity,beauty of sound and crystal clear ornamentation that show off the maturity of a pianist who is still only in his early twenties.Today he chose the most calm and pastoral of the six partitas.It was with the Prelude of the first Partita that he created such a tranquil opening ,similar to the 5th French suite where Bach is leading us into a world of peace and almost Schubertian lyricism.There is a purity of line where you can almost hear the human voice which Ivan allowed to flow without any seeming interruption or unnecessary external influences.He brought the Prelude to a natural emotional climax from which poured the continuous web of streaming sounds of the Allemande.Very slightly holding the first note of the first few bars giving such poignant meaning to what is just a trickle of pure and simple sounds.His great sense of legato contrasted so well with the deliberate non legato of the Courante played with some very delicate phrasing always in perfect style.The luminosity of sound in the Sarabande was quite startling as was the almost operatic freedom of the long deeply felt singing lines.The Menuetto 1 was played with great buoyancy and a very deliberate crisp and clean non legato that contrasted with the musette of the Menuetto 2 played with much more lyrical freedom.The little glissando into the repeat of the Menuetto 1 was a deliberate and delicious addition.The Gigue was played with a well oiled precision almost without pedal except in the repeats where Ivan allowed us to treasure even more what Bach had only hinted at the first time around.

There was a complete change of scene for Chopin’s first nocturne op 9.A beautiful bel canto fully sustained by the subtle left hand harmonies.The middle section even more bathed in pedal.A wondrous melodic outpouring rising out of the water like some sunken cathedral!Rising above the mist with a passionate outburst of sumptuous colours.Only to die away to a whisper before the reappearance of our bel canto but this time with a reticence that was so touching as it moved to it’s magical ending.

It led so well to the beautiful sounds of Bersa’s Nocturne full of such subtle colouring and passionate outbursts.I have written just recently about Ivan’s performances of Liszt La lugubre gondola 1 and Bersa’s Venetian Barcarolle.Ivan’s playing of late Liszt is quite remarkable.Playing of such depth of feeling in it’s unbearable anguish and insistent longing .He makes us realise the true genius of Liszt who could portray so much with so little as his visionary search late in a very full life could lead the way for what was to come in the future.The ending was deeply moving as it was dramatic.

The Bersa Barcarolle was played with beautiful golden sounds on which floated a magical mellifluous outpouring .I have written above more fully about the almost unknown composer Blagoje Bersa much celebrated in Croazia.In fact the school where the six year old Ivan Krpan took his first steps in piano playing is named after him!

Ivan Krpan was born in Zagreb in 1997 into a musical family and began studying the piano at the age of six at the Blagoje Bersa Music School in Zagreb, under the tutelage of Renata Strojin Richter. From 2013 he has been studying piano with Ruben Dalibaltayan at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he obtained his master’s degree in 2019. He has won several first prizes in national and international piano competitions; prize wins of note include first prizes at the 12th Piano Competition “Les Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes” Grez Doiceau in Belgium in 2014, the International Piano Competition Young Virtuosi in Zagreb in 2014, the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede (Netherlands) and the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists. He achieved 2nd prize in the International Danube Piano Competition in Ulm in 2014 and same year he won a special prize awarded by the Dean of the Zagreb Music Academy and the 4th prize at the 1st International Zhuhai Mozart Competition in Zhuhai, China. He also won the annual Ivo Vuljević prize awarded by the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia for the best young musician in Croatia in 2015. In 2016 he won the 3rd prize at the 10th Moscow International Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra has granted him the Young Musician of the Year Award. At the age of twenty, Ivan Krpan has won the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition 2017, one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions. 2018/2019 season saw him performing in important Italian cities as Venice, Rome, Milano, Turin, in major music centers as London, Vienna and Hong Kong as well as a tour in South Korea in collaboration with the World Culture Networks Foundation and Steinway & Sons. He also had an important tour in Germany (Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dusseldorf, Dresden, Hanover), and an extensive tour in Japan. For the first time the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition Foundation has produced a studio album, which it has made available exclusively on IDAGIO, a leading streaming service for classical music. In May 2018 Mr. Krpan took to the legendary Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin to record Chopin’s 24 Préludes and Schumann’s Fantasie op. 17 and Arabeske op. 18. Classical music lovers around the world can hear this exceptional recording exclusively on IDAGIO.

Roma tre orchestra season streamed live from Teatro Palladium in Rome

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2020/12/18/roma-3-orchestra-comes-of-age-at-teatro-palladium-in-rome/

Hard to know where to look as the hands and arms of Adriano Leonardo Scapicchi and Francesco Bravi twisted and turned as they entwined in their unrelenting rhythmic journey in Stravinsky’s original four hand version of The Rite of Spring.

A formidable knotty twine of great precision and rhythmic pulse in which Stravinsky’s demonic vision of insinuated melodies and savage naked rhythms vied with each other in a tour de force that I have not witnessed since a young almost unknown Vladimir Ashkenazy fought it out with Daniel Barenboim in the first Summer Festival on the Southbank in London fifty years ago.
The same festival where that other unknown couple Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire also took the world by storm but on two pianos!
Ravel’s Rhapsodie espagnole usually played on two pianos was played today on one and showed such evocative sounds with their extraordinary control of the pedals ensuring that here is formidable duo who think and play as one …….no mean feat indeed.

A wonderful sounding Schimmel piano that sounded even more like a Bosendorfer makes me think that that magician Mauro Buccitti has waved his magic wand over the proceedings yet again.

Stravinsky in conversation at the piano with Robert Craft:
https://fb.watch/2zuUpyLrqM/

How many years have passed since meeting with this legendary figure in Oxford.Dame Fanny had always been part of my life but to meet her and get to know her,even though all too sporadically ,was a real joy.But it was the joy of music that she so generously shared with so many people.

‘My piano mummy ‘says Lang Lang.She was in reality the mother to so many pianist both big and small throughout the world.In Oxford at Mario Papadopoulos’s Philomusica Summer Festival I approached the great lady for the first time.

‘Dame Fanny,let me introduce you to the winner of your next competition!’Taken a little aback ,but intrigued,she immediately went into action as she took Vitaly Pisarenko to a piano and said:’play me something classical’He did:Beethoven Pathétique and went on to take her next competition by storm until in the final his colleague from Moscow,Anna Tsybuleva played such an extraordinary Brahms 2 that Vitaly’s Rachmaninov 3 was just not enough to satisfy the orchestra and jury.

At the end of the previous rounds I had been advised by a jury member friend to hurry up to Leeds for the final in which this young man was a hot favourite.He did win a top prize but Anna beat him to the ultimate winning post.Vitaly was sustained by the Keyboard Charitable Trust created by Noretta Conci and her husband John Leech,now in their nineties, they have entrusted the reigns to me,Leslie Howard and Elena Vorotko.

A few years later I invited Dame Fanny to the first concert of the KCT in collaboration with the Brazilian Embassy at the Cunard Hall in Trafalgar Square.She was already well into her 90’s but in London for a board meeting and staying at one of the exclusive clubs nearby.She said she would try to attend and lo and behold appeared at our concert given by the young Pablo Rossi.We were all surprised and enchanted that she could be with us and I seated her in the best seat next to the piano.Luckily Pablo had never met Dame Fanny so was blissfully unaware of such a renowned presence but he did notice this distinguished lady nodding her head with every sound he made.I introduced her afterwards to Pablo Rossi.Gabrielle Baldocci and many other distinguished pianists present and also the founders of the KCT and she was overwhelmed by the attention :’What a wonderful host you are’ she said to me as I escorted her to the waiting taxi.It sealed a friendship that was indeed a great honour for me.

I remember her being present in Oxford at Pressler’s memorable performance of Mozart’s K.488 concerto that she herself had played at the Proms as a young aspiring pianist long before she became a Dame.

Two of the most remarkable musicians who listen to every single note without a moment’s distraction discussing Mozart together in the green room afterwards.In fact it was Pressler who confided to me that Dame Fanny wanted him always on the jury of her competition.He remembered though the time he had accepted and Dame Fanny had insisted that he sit next to her.Well, whilst many jury members were able to occasionally nod off during many of the less sensational performances ,Dame Fanny was wide awake listening to every single note,good and bad,and poor Pressler sitting with her could not join ranks with his colleagues!

Living in Italy I sent Dame Fanny a birthday Email saying that I had just heard on BBC Radio 3 a remarkable concert by Graham Johnson with his Songmaker’s Almanac.She immediately wrote back to say that she too had listened to the concert and considered Graham to be the Gerald Moore of our time.’How eloquent you are Christopher’, she exclaimed as we exchanged views for some time afterwards.I was at the RAM with Graham and I told him of this long distance correspondence about his Wigmore concert.He got in touch with Dame Fanny and a friendship was sealed on wings of song one might say.

The last time I saw Dame Fanny was at a prize winners recital at Leeds University of Vitaly Pisarenko .Her longtime friend Linda Wellings gave me pride of place next to Dame Fanny but she was already not well and had to leave in the interval and sadly it was the last time I saw her.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/leeds-land-of-hope-and-glory/

She will be much missed and our only regret was that we did not share a punt together in Oxford much to her disappointment as her car had come to take her back to work in Leeds!

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/11/06/anna-tsybuleva-mastery-at-st-marys/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/09/21/pablo-rossi-takes-london-by-storm/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/leeds-comes-to-london/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/anna-tsybuleva-and-dame-fanny-waterman/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/louis-schwizgebel-at-the-wigmore-hall/

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