The Price of Genius…… Jean-Selim Abdelmoula at theWigmore Hall
Hats off to YCAT – Young Classical Artists Trust.
A charitable trust founded in the UK in 1984 that builds the career of emerging artists that are selected by rigorous final public auditions.
Daniel Lebhardt ,Michael Petrov and Alexander Ullman are just three of the recent artists to have been launched successfully.
Daniel Lebhardt and Michael Petrov being signed up by major agents and Alexander Ullman going on to win the Utrecht Liszt Competition which has opened up a worldwide career for him.
But there are those artists that do no fit easily into the convenient package of pianist,cellist,conductor etc.
They are the genial figures of musicians who happen to play an instrument supremely well but their minds are elsewhere in the world of creating music…..their own music.
Thomas Ades is a prime example today as was Benjamin Britten of course.
There are less well known musicians that have appeared on the scene and been taken under the wing by great musicians who can understand and learn from these remarkable naturally gifted musicians and want to help them in their struggle to express themselves and to find their own musical language.
Olli Mustonen
I remember a few years ago Olli Mustonen being taken under the wing of Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Gianluca Cascioli with Luciano Berio.
And now I have seen the same fascination that Andras Schiff has with Jean-Selim Abdelmoula.
Gianluca Cascioli
And so it was with great courage that YCAT seemingly allowed Jean-Selim free range to make up a programme that in itself would show all the propective organisers present exactly who he was and what he could do.
Which is exactly what he did today to an enraptured audience that sat in total silence completely absorbed by the genial sound world in which this young man lives and has a need to share with others.
Jean – Selim Abdelmoula at the Wigmore Hall today
Searching in vain in the programme to understand his age and where he was born and spent his formative years.
Is he from a musical family and who had been his mentors from an early formative age?
Essential information if one is to understand how such a talent is born and nurtured until the moment he appears on a major London stage.
Instead we get very general information all wrapped up as they are fond of saying at Kings Place in a beautifully produced product but woefully empty.
Marketing and packaging need only to know where they are playing and with whom.
It is a pity that this information is not readily available in a programme that should be there to inform especially on an occasion such as this important presentation.
A concert that has been conceived as a whole with a beginning piece that is then completed at the end after a long journey in a magic world of sound.
This is Jean- Selim’s sound world and his trailer of A Piece(2017) that started this journey and A Piece (2018) that finished it displayed to the full sounds that could range like the running of water,broken glass or the very precise detached sounds that contrasted so well.
Occasional full climaxes but always well judged and never percussive drawing the audience in to listen to and savour the variety of sounds that were being produced on this black box full of strings and hammers !
Sounds that linked up so perfectly with the Berg extraordinary one movement sonata op.1.
As Glenn Gould exclaimed on first hearing it :”the most auspicious Opus One ever written!”
The Sonata was written probably in 1909 and first performed in Vienna in 1911 .A time when Berg was having lessons in harmony and counterpoint from from Arnold Schoenberg.
It would have been very interesting to know from Jean-Selim in the programme what is meant by the second edition of 1926!
This extremely complex one movement sonata was played with great authority and any little blemishes on the way were of no importance to us or the performer in a performance of such stature.
A little piece by Kurtag from his “Games” entitled Hommage a Schubert was an ideal prelude into the world of Schubert.
The six moments musicaux by Schubert inhabited the same sound world where the audience was once again drawn in to listen to the most ravishing sounds.
An amazing sense of balance that was more the very special sound world of a Radu Lupu than a Curzon or Brendel.
The different layers of sound were quite remarkably revealed in the first moderato in C major.
The bell like sounds pure magic.
The charm of the Allegro Moderato was as memorable as Curzon.
Leading into the beautifully shaped Bachian Moderato in C sharp minor.
The outburst of the Allegro vivace in F minor was restrained and perfectly belonged to this almost whispered sound world of Jean- Selim.
The final sad return of the melody in the Alegretto in A flat was quite magical.
An ovation from an audience that had been listening in rapt silence throughout this hour long journey were rewarded with another hearing of the evocative piece by this quite remarkably original musician.
Judging from the reaction of the audience I think that the battle of recognition and acceptance of such an original talent is already well on the way to being won by the many organisers that were gathered today to listen.
For many years now John and Noretta Conci-Leech have made the pilgrimage from their country home in Trento to Bolzano to listen to the array of pianistic talent that flocks to this town on the border of Italy and Austria for the Busoni International Piano Competition.
Busoni although born in Italy in Empoli from a very early age the family moved via Trieste to Vienna and on to Graz, where he received his early training.
Leipzig,Helsinki,Boston,New York followed but he finally settled in Berlin where he died in 1924.
So it is quite fitting that Bolzano should have named their competition after one of the most visionary composer virtuosi since Franz Liszt.
Ivan Krpan with John and Noretta Leech
One of the oldest established competitions with the first in 1949.
No first prize was given in the first three competitions or 31 out of 61 editions.
The first prize winner was in 1952 and was Sergio Perticaroli and in the fifth competition in 1957 Martha Argerich ran away with first prize at the age of 16.Many of the other competitors have gone on to establish themselves on the world stage.
They include: Alfred Brendel,Bela Siki,Bruno Mezzena,Walter Klien,Karl Engel,Ingrid Habler and many others.
It is exactly this element of the competition that is so interesting.
A chance to hear some of the finest young pianistic talents in the world.
Some of the most talented are not necessarily equipped in every way to impress a jury or to be ready to accept the many engagements and chances that would be offered to he who seems to have all the elements at his fingertips!
John and Noretta Leech with co artistic director of the KCT Leslie Howard
The Keyboard Charitable Trust was established by John and Noretta Leech to select those with exceptional talent that with the right encouragement and practical help of experience of public performances could eventually blossom into an important career.
A career Development Prize is offered to the Busoni Competition by the KCT.
Many have been helped over the years in this way: Alexander Romanovsky,Michail Lifits, Emanuel Rimoldi,Gala Chistiakova,Gesualdo Coggi,Maurizio Baglini to name but a few Recently Jiyeong Mun and now Ivan Krpan.
So it was at the 2017 competition that Noretta immediately noted the extraodinary talent of a young Croatian………much too young to win but together with an equally youthful Korean boy 김은성 EunSeong Kim undoubtedly talent that might benefit from the help of the KCT.
A cruel twist of fate has taken EunSeong from us and a great talent will forever be mourned.
But Ivan Krpan much to the delight and surprise of everyone present was voted first prize by an enlightened jury and it was London this week that has been overwhelmed by this twentyone year old pianist.
Bryce Morrison the distinguished critic and world expert on all things to do with piano and pianists
Bryce Morrison together with Alberto Portugheis,Canan Maxton,Hugh Mather ,Bob and Elisabeth Boas ,Martin Campbell- White are some of the distinguished guests who together with the Artistic Directors and founders of the KCT were able to witness the arrival of an important new talent in our midst.
Invitations to play for the KCT in place of Steinway Hall that is being renovated were very gratefully received from the very prestigious venue that is the home in the centre of London of Bob and Elisabeth Boas.
An invitation too to perform in that Mecca for pianists created by Dr Hugh Mather in Perivale.
Steinway versus Bosendorfer indeed!
Both fine instruments with very different voices that Ivan was able to share with small but very distinguished audiences.
Alberto Portugheis,the distinguished musician and seeker of peace,founder of HUFUD with Ivan Krpan after the concert in Perivale
A very well thought out programme for which Ivan was only too willing to share his raison d’etre.
It was no programme thrown together solely to demonstrate his remarkable gifts.
Beethoven’s late Sonata in E minor op 90 was paired with op 109 in E major.
The lyrical two movement sonata op 90 infact ends in E major and leads so well into the lyricism of op 109 the first of Beethoven’s trilogy that ends his final thoughts on his 32 Sonatas.
After the interval the visionary Sonatina seconda by Busoni written quite amazingly in 1912.
It incorporates many of the themes from his unfinished opera and life’s work Doktor Faust and is an incredibly modern piece for its time.
Ivan with Elisabeth and Bob Boas ever generous hosts to some of the most extraordinary musicians of our time
“Pensee de morts” of 1834 by Liszt from his series of 10 Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses.It already forsees the visionary works of his later period.
It led so naturally to the Dante sonata which ended this fascinating programme.
But not before even offering as an encore Busoni’s extraordinarily moving transcription of “Ich ruf zu dir Herr Jesu Christ.”
Ivan Krpan playing Hugh Mathers’ Bosendorfer
The first concert included the Beethoven sonata op 90 which was played on Bob Boas’ fine Steinway,
The first movement played with a precision and sense of dynamic contrast and a scrupulous regard for Beethoven’s very precise markings.
But there was also a fantasy and a certain flexibility that marked out a very particular musical personality.
” Nicht zu geschwind” indicates Beethoven in this almost Schubertian second movement.I found it just a shade too fast to allow the melody to unwind naturally without doing anything except to allow the music to sing.
His reasoning is in the contrasted more rhythmic episodes that alternate but as in Schubert this can be accomodated with a more flexible tempo as he infact did a few days later in his magical performance of Schumann Arabesque op 18 played as an encore in Perivale.
Here the change of tempo before the coda created a magic that was unforgettable.
The use of silence too with pauses that were so pregnant with meaning.The coda of the Schumann every bit as unbearably beautiful as the ending of Liederkreis where words are just not enough.
Here the Bosendorfer came into its own and I would have liked to hear Beethoven op 90 on Hugh Mather’s piano that had a much more singing tone as suits the world of Brahms,Schumann and Beethoven.
However in discussion afterwards he was quite adament that this is what he wanted and gave me the reasons why.
In someone so young I was quite taken aback in admiration with such a mature and definite musical decision in someone barely 21.
Infact one of the remarkable things about this young man was his absolute command and musical intelligence.A personality that is ready to be convinced but only if convincing.
It is this conviction that makes his performances so full of authority and hats off to the jury in Bolzano that had noted this in someone seemingly so young.
Ivan Krpan on Bob Boas fine Steinway
The vivace ma non troppo of the Sonata op 109 was beautifully shaped with great fantasy.The build up and passion of the triumphant exposition of Beethoven’s seemingly dream like melody was quite overwhelming.
Even more so on Hugh Mathers’ Bosendorfer that gave a much wider range of dynamics and a richness of sound that the clarity of a Steinway could not match in this music.
The arpeggiandi I found a little too slow in unwinding but could see his musical reasoning and was almost convinced although my teacher Agosti would not have been so accomodating!
The “prestissimo” second movement was ideally suited to the clarity and precision of the Steinway.
Always moving foreward relentlessly .Sometimes with his youthful zeal making little of the forte and fortissimo differences but bringing it to the abrupt ending that made the appearance of the Andante seem even more cantabile ed espressivo as Beethoven asks.
Here the Bosendorfer came into its own and the slight overpedalling on the Steinway was here translated into the most sublime sense of phrasing.
Time seemed to stand still for all those fortunate enough to be present.
Ivan is his own man and it was a performance by a supremely intelligent stylist.
Serkin was of course unique but there were no compromises for him.
Beethoven was a bible written in stone.
For Ivan it was written in sand and for me was even more remarkable because of that.
Ivan in Perivale
The first variation – molto espressivo- was played with a weight and meaning that led so naturally into the second variation- leggiermente .The third showed his enormous assurance in an Allegro vivace that sounded almost Presto.
But the unfolding of the fourth was pure magic probably because of that contrast that he had chosen.
The great fugato, so similar to that same moment in the Goldberg variations, was played with breathtaking authority and assurance and it was the same orchestral sound that he maintained for the sixth where the trills create an uncontainable tension that spins out into the air like the Bach variations and like Bach leading to a magical reappearance of the theme where Ivan’s control of sound was quite remarkable.
An unforgettable performance from someone so young.
Foto by Geoff Cox of manager of the KCT Sarah Biggs ,Ivan and me
The Busoni sonatina showed off his transcendental technique and kaleidoscopic sense of colour.
The rhythmic precision ideally suited to the Steinway.
A work from a composer who like Liszt could see into the future and anticipate the trends in music that were still to come.
His performance of the Liszt Dante Sonata was quite simply the most convincing I have ever heard in a live performance.
The wonderfully incisive performance on record of the young Ogdon was balanced by the weight and authority that Arrau gave in his leggendary performances.
with Canan Maxton of Talent Unlimited
It was also his choice of Liszt that was so remarkable -The “Pensee des morts” very rarely heard in the concert hall but already evokes the Liszt of Nuages gris and En reve.
Some magical sounds and a great sense of drama prepared us in such an intelligent manner for the astonishing performance of the Dante Sonata that was to follow.
Perhaps it is the fourth time this this week I have heard the Dante Sonata but today in Ivan’s hands I was rooted to the spot.
An astonishing sense of drama allied to a truly transcendental technique.
But as Hugh Mather so rightly pointed out it was the pauses that were so extraordinary.
Creating such great contrasts it was as if we were hearing this work for the first time restoring it to its rightful place next to the mighty B minor Sonata.
He threw himself into the final astonishing bars and we were mesmerised by the energy that he had generated and was allowed to explode with such virtuosity.
The final few chords in a seemingly endless crescendo brought this extraordinary performance to a close.
I have already spoken of the Schumann Arabesque played as an encore in Perivale.
Mention should be made of his performance of the Bach Busoni Chorale Prelude which received a very original performance obviously conceived by him with the rich sounds of the organ in mind.
Gone were the usual rather beautiful piano sounds of Jesu Joy or Gluck/Sgambati Orpheo so often offered as encores.
Here was a full blooded performance where one could appreciate the true Glory to God of Messiaenic fervor.
I have rarely seen after a debut recital such excitement and exchanging of visiting cards.
It was hardly suprising that he also received a telephone call from one of the major agents the next day too.
I am much looking forward to his next performance in Rome on the 12th February at the IUC La Sapienza University Series as winner of the Busoni Competition.
I am sure that this is just the beginning of many performances that await in London,Rome and elsewhere.
The world has been waiting indeed for an interpreter of such stature !
In the foto above John Leech and Canan Maxton.”Birds of a feather” one might say.
John with his wife Noretta Conci-Leech is founder of the Keyboard Charitable Trust.
Canan Maxton founder of Talented Unlimited .Both dedicated to helping young talented musicians receive the recognition they deserve and need by bringing them before the public .
So it is Christmas for Canan Maxton’s remarkable array of talent that she so unselfishly helps and promotes all year round.
In the beautiful church of St James’s in the heart of London where the Christmas frenzy is on as are the beautiful lights too in full blaze.
Every year Talent Unlimited too blazes the Christmas Trail to show off a few selected artists from the roster of young musicians that it helps in so many different ways.
With encouragement,promotion via public concerts and sometimes even some financial help for studies.
But above all knowing that there is someone to whom they can turn on their long sometimes lonely journey to realises their search for the impossible.
Perfection!
It does not and cannot exist in art and one can only strive to reach out for the end of that rainbow.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it is here that Canan Maxton via her Talent Unlimited aims to help.
Canan Maxton, Yuanfan Yang Paola Gorbanova Stavros Dritsas
Three very talented young artists shared the stage before a very large audience.
In the organ loft,unknown to all, were two other TU artists Petar Dimov and Thibault Charrin professionally recording the concert in audio and video.
Thibault’s own violin sonata ,still fresh on the page, he will be performing in this same space on Wednesday 5th December at 1 .10 pm.
Petar Dimov,a disciple of Norma Fisher shared a concert a month ago too playing Schumann Carnaval Jest from Vienna.
Both are composer pianists but today helping to record their colleagues in such an enthusastic and unselfish way following the example of their adored leader Canan Maxton
Petar Dimov Ivan Krpan Thibault Charin a workers late supper. Ivan winner of the 2017 Busoni International Competition playing in London twice this week
The concert began with the young Greek pianist Stavros Dritsas playing Liszt Ballade n.2 in B minor followed by two movements from Bartok Suite Out of Doors.
Having studied in Athens and Paris now still only 22 he is completing his studies in London at the Guildhall under the renowned pianist and sometimes BBC commentator Lucy Parham.
Stavros Dritsas
Immediately evident was the beauty of sound and great sense of balance in the Liszt.
Some wonderfully suggestive sounds in the Bartok “Night Music” where the magical sounds he created wafted into the vast space of St James’s creating a very special atmosphere.
To be broken by the” Chase” where all of Stavros’ remarkable technical skill was needed in this pianistic show piece.
He was joined by the violinist Paula Gorbanova for a deeply felt performance of the Franck violin sonata.
Paula the daughter of the ballet dancer Gennady Gorbanev at only 20 is completing her studies too at the Guildhall here in London.
Some beautiful playing from the question and answer of the opening through the extremely exciting technical demands of the Allegro second movement to the wonderfully lyrical interplay of the Allegretto finale.
A very fine ensemble in which the piano was never allowed to overpower the beautiful sounds of the 19th century Italian violin on loan to Paula from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.
Paula Gorbanova and Stavros Dritsas
After the interval the well known Scottish pianist Yuanfan Yang took the stage.
At only 20 he is fast making a name for himself and only last month took first prize in the Rome International Piano Competition.
A student now at the RAM of that renowned teacher of so many remarkable pianists :Christopher Elton .
Yuanfan Yang
Yuanfan took Rome by storm recently not only with his very fine performance of Beethoven Third Piano Concerto but also by improvising on a theme given to him by the distinguished jury.
He is at 20 not only a remarkable pianist but a composer too as we were able to hear tonight.
A glittering performance of the Haydn Sonata in E minor played with such subtle colours and ornaments that seemed to glisten under his hands.
The multi coloured charm of the final Vivace was irresistable.
The slow movement sang beautifully shaped but always perfectly in style.
“Scarborough Fair “alla Yang (as was his Waves from Three Aquarelles) was a kaleidoscope of magical sounds.
Sometimes thunderous but mostly etherial from which a slight hint of our old favourite would emerge and almost be discernable to all of us that were drawn into his magic sound world of fantasy.
Schubert/Liszt Litanei of such ravishing beauty was a remarkable way of leading us into a truly monumental performance of the Brahms Handel Variations op 24.
It was quite simply one of the most convincing performances I have ever heard.
Not the great Brahms sound but the subtle sound world of his later pieces op 116/117
The great Brahms of course was present and even the more impressive because like all great pianists was held back until the absolute right moment.
With the triumphant appearance of Handels little melody it was allowed to blaze out in all its glory with quite extraodinary full orchestral sound.
Sir Norman Rosenthal another great promoter of young musicians congratulating Yuanfan Yang
Never a harsh sound always careful as one must be on a fine Fazioli piano never to force the sound.
Some ravishing sounds in the variations alternating with some really transcendental piano playing.
Never relaxing the tempo but always pressing forward to the triumphant final appearance before the Fugue.
A quite extraordinary performance from someone so young .
Both mature and tender but with the same youthful passion and virtuosity that must have been so much part of Brahms’ early world.
Here is Sir Norman Rosenthal in a concert in Rome promoted by him.
He also promotes young musicians in Valerie Solti’s house in London.
Chiyan Wong will be giving a recital in Bob Boas house ( by invitation by application …see web site ) on the 4th December .
Elisabeth and Bob Boas are other untiring promoters of young talent in London and Ivan Krpan,2017 winner of the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano was invited by them to their beautiful home to make his London debut this week.
Hats off to them all ……and a Merry Christmas to you all
John Leech at 93 not missing an occasion to support young artists pictured with with Canan Maxton
Another very fine pianists in Hugh Mathers’ series at St Mary’s.
Keishi Suzuki graduated from Tokyo College of Music and went on to study at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and obtained his Masters degree with highest honours at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.
He was the winner of the Liszt Society International Piano Competition in 2017.
This year the competition was hosted for the first in St Mary’s Perivale and it was here that we were able to hear him in recital.
Some very refined playing of great style in works by Debussy,Beethoven and Liszt.
A very well oiled technique ,that I mean as a great compliment and it is something that one often notices in Hungarian born pianists.
I am thinking of course of Geza Anda, who had a very clean and clear sound capable of many colours but always very incisive.
His performances of Schumann Davidsbundler,Chopin Studies ,Beethoven op 110 or the Brahms B flat Concerto are some of the finest on record.
He was a disciple of Ernst von Dohnanyi.
Keishi with Dr Hugh Mather introducing his programme
It is then no coincidence that Keishi Suzuki is preparing for his doctorate on Dohnanyi and it is obviously this influence that has very much shaped his musical taste for sound.
It was obvious from the first of two Preludes by Debussy that opened the programme
”Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest” was played with a clarity that is very rare to hear in this particular prelude.The pedal at a minimum but just the right amount to create the atmosphere of the slow rising of the west wind building to a tumultuous climax showing off all his remarkable command of the keyboard.
General Lavine was truly” eccentic” and played with a great sense of style that really brought the title to life.
It is interesting to note that Debussy gave titles to the preludes at the end of each prelude.
It is the music that talks and suggests the title.
The mighty Sonata in D op 10 n.3 by Beethoven was given an incisive performance in which Beethoven’s precise indications were scrupulously noted.
A rhythmic drive that did not exclude the many surprises that Beethoven has in store in the first movement.
Great attention to the bass especially in the development section gave a weight and importance to the arresting chord before the reappearance of the first theme.
The beautiful second subject was played with a lyricism that did not interfere with the continual drive that is starting to be so characteristic of Beethoven from this early sonata from op 10 onwards.
The mighty Largo e mesto that followed had a perfect sense of both weight and balance that allowed the melodic line to sing out in a most subtle way with the sudden outbursts played with a rarely heard precision and clarity.
Beethoven’s very particular pedal effects over a long held note were beautifully managed and the lead up to the climax was quite overwhelming in its intensity that made the final notes disappearing into thin air so extraordinary.
The Trio section of the Menuetto -Allegro that followed was played with a quite infectious sense of bucolic fun all the more so for his scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s legato and staccato markings.
The Rondo too was remarkable for his absolute attention to the rests which are every bit as important as the actual notes especially in this surprising movement.
The disappearance of the final notes in a haze of chromatic scales and arpreggios was even more remarkable for his ability to maintain the tempo to the very end with some very subtle colouring and balance between the hands.
The second half of the programme was dedicated to Liszt.Some beautifully poetic playing in the rarely heard Faribolo Pasteur S 236 n.1 and the Schubert /Liszt “Der Muller und der Bach.”
The Hungarian Rhapsodies n.12 and 13 were played with superb virtuosity and sense of style.
The climax of the 12th Rhapsody was played with all the passionate involvement that these bravura showpieces demand and the repeated notes in the 13th played in true virtuoso style.
Widmung by Schumann/Liszt was the beautiful encore offered to a very enthusiastic audience.
Wonderfully shaped with a subtle clarity leading to a sumptuous climax before dying away to a murmur .It showed of all the artistic qualities of this remarkable young pianist
It was under the banner of War and Conflict that H.E .The Hungarian Ambassador presented the programme with the RPO at Cadogan Hall last night.
Three Hungarian composers Kodaly,Liszt and Bartok to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end first world war – the war to end all wars!
Who better to be at the helm with the Liszt First Piano Concerto than Mariam Batsashvili The young winner a few years ago of the Liszt Competition in Utrecht and fast making a name for herself after a London debut a few years ago that seemed to go un noticed.
She is now receiving the world recognition that this minuscule Piaf like power house truly deserves.
Selected by the BBC as a Young Generation Artist,tours in the USA for the Keyboard Charitable Trust and now in demand to play with the major Orchestras throughout the world.
She completed her studes at the Weimar Liszt Academy and she now lives in Budapest as near as is possible to the roots of her beloved master : Franz Liszt .
In only twenty minutes she had shown us the grandeur,supreme delicacy and a her total mastery of the piano.
An aristocratic Liszt that only Arrau used to show us.
Even in the thundering octaves and glittering passage work there was a total respect for the composers wishes.
Restoring the sometimes superficial sounding Liszt to his place with Beethoven as one of the most revolutionary and visionary composers of all time.
It was a remarkable display of intelligence ,passion and delicacy .
She had the audience in her hand from the first to the last note.
Very well aided by Alexander Shelley ,a conductor fast making a name for himself as befits the son of such a distinguished father as Howard Shelley.
An encore of the famous Paderewski Minuet in G .
Played with such subtle rubato and an infectious sense of dance.
The fast embellishments thrown off with an ease and charm that is of the great pianists of the past.
She plays it better than the great pianist/ statesman himself and I can only imagine that that might have very well been the case with the concerto too!
It was very moving to see the spontaneous standing ovation given to Dmitri Alexeev at the end of his recital for the Chopin Society in the Westminster Hall in London.
In their series of past top prize winners of the Leeds International Piano Competition it was the turn of Dmitri Alexeev who had won first prize in 1975.
Mitsuko Uchida and Andras Schiff were second and third.
He has gone on to a worldwide career.
He played for us in Teatro Ghione in Rome some memorable recitals in 1996 and 2003 always represented by Donatella Brizio his adorable old style agent in Milan who is much missed
Dmitri Alexeev with Ileana Ghione Rome 2003
He was a favourite soloist for the artistic director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Rome,Lanza Tomassi.
It would be hard to ever forget his memorable performance of Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto with them.
Listening some time ago to a radio interview he explained that he had decided after years of travelling the world playing with the greatest orchestras and conductors that he would dedicate himself to travelling and playing less in order to help talented young musicians- the next generation.
Infact he is one of the most sought after and renowned teachers at the Royal College of Music in London .
Vitaly Pisarenko top prize winner at Leeds in 2015 arriving from Paris to thank his friend and mentor
It was at this rare appearance in London where many of the finest young pianists came to applaud and thank their dedicated mentor.
Jun Lin Wu remarkable winner of the Jaques Samuel Competition thanking his teacher
It was a display of piano playing that London is all too rarely used to hearing.
It had a sense of weight and commitment that allowed the piano to sing in a way that we are not used to hearing these days.
A cantabile sound of such richness that it would have carried with the same intensity to the back of the largest halls as it would appear to the nearest .
Alexeev in concert
With actors it would be the use of the diaphram to allow the voice to be modulated and projected.
A tender “I love you” would be appreciated by the public in the front row as it would in the last.These days actors rely on artificial means of amplification and only the greatest of stage actors seem to know what a diaphram is and its importance.
Richter described with great admiration the magical sound of Rubinstein as “the good old professional cantabile.”The Russian school was more preoccupied with the sounds from pianissimo to mezzo piano.
Richter and Gilels were the magicians that could conjure up both.
Richter was of course unique in his own magic world of pure genius.
Gilels was much less “Russian” in his approach to sound and it was Rubinstein who on hearing a young red headed boy play in the class of a teacher in Russia had exclaimed that if he ever came to the west he would pack up his bags immediately!
And it was of Gilels that I was reminded today.
The total commitment combined to a sound world in which anything was possible.
Like a beautiful cocoon that has he created in which the musical intelligence of Alexeev could operate with a freedom and sense of direction without ever the possibility of seeming indulgent or in bad taste.
There was never a doubt of his musical intentions in a long programme of Scriabin and Chopin.
I believe he has embarked on recording all the works of Scriabin which include many of the smaller works rarely performed in the west.
It was a revelation to hear the little waltz op 38 with its charming “tinkerbell” type call to order .
Together with the Mazukas played with the same charm and colour that he later reserved for the much better known ones of Chopin.
What was truly a revelation was the Vers la Flamme op 72 following on from superb performances of the two better known poems op.69 .
Vers la Flamme I had heard recently from a very fine french pianist at the Wigmore Hall A very clean and clear performance in which the two note motif was hammered out incessantly.
In Alexeevs hands we heard the gurgling of murky waters in which the motif was revealed.As the water got hotter and hotter so the motif became more urgent until a boiling point of such overwhelming intensity was reached and there was a gasp from an audience totally mesmerised and involved as Alexeev was.
Throwing himself at the desperate trills in the end it was a harrowing and unforgettable experience for us all.
The Fantasie too received a very involved performance.
A work which is played a lot these days as it is has become a showpiece for advanced students and is the more accessible early Scriabin.
Here was a lesson of how to blend together all the many strands of knotty twine that Scriabin weaves but at the same time to follow the direction of each with an almost Wagnerian subtlety.
A very powerful reading of great passion when needed but also of such sumptuous sounds.
Interesting to see that Alexeev has no worries about dividing the hands at the beginning of the Polonaise- Fantasie by Chopin .More preoccupied about the actual sounds than the way they are produced.
It was an opening of pure magic where the opening fanfares seemed to reverberate throught the piano as I am sure Chopin intended.
Fantasie indeed.
The return of the fanfare too in which time seemed to stand still such was his aristocratic understanding throughout of Chopins world.
The wonderful sculptured cantabile of the yearning almost mazuka type nostagic motif and the build up to the end was extraordinary.
Without any hardness but through a subtle use of the pedal and sense of balance he brought the final few bars to a truly triumphal ending.
The Rondo op 1 rarely heard since the passing of Magaloff.
It is a charming early work and was played with just the charm and style of the great pianists of the past.
No jeux perle though but cascades of notes and a subtle use of the pedals that made the return of the rondo theme seem like an old friend returning with a simplicty and clarity that contrased with the showpiece that Chopin had obviously written for his early appearances in the salons of Paris and Warsaw.
The four Mazukas were treated as a whole with the op 30 n.3 leading into the op 63.n.2.
A wonderful sense of rubato never sentimental but with great inner profound meaning
.The Polonaise op 53 brought the house down as it always did for Rubinstein.
The famous octaves were dispatched like the triumphant troups they are supposed to represent.
The melodic line always foremost in mind with a very subtle sense of balance that never allowed us to be outside the cocoon that he had created.
There was an aura created around the piano from the first note to the last where the magician Alexeev could cast his spell on us as he wished.
A spell that had the usual rather well behaved Chopin Society screaming for more.
The Noctune in C sharp minor op posth was the first of four encores and exemplified all that had so enraptured us.
A standing ovation from the Chopin Society audience
Never since Rubinstein or Gilels have I heard the piano sing with such beauty and nobility.
Aristocratic one might say but never detached but totally committed from the first to the last note.
Following with another Mazurka by Scriabin and the E minor Waltz of Chopin .
The final D sharp Study by Scriabin had the usually rather well behaved audience on their feet to thank the Master that had given them so much this afternoon .
Lady Rose Cholmondeley and Lisa Peacock congratulating Alexeev
The programme
Disciple Denis Maslov with Alexeev after the concert
Salih Can Gevrek flown in from La Chappelle in Brussels where he is a pianist in residence to hear his former teacher
The Liszt Society International Competition was held this year at the “other” St Mary’s.
It has found it’s home in the charming “redundant”chuch in Perivale that Hugh Mather has transformed into a mecca for young aspiring pianists.
The ever generous physician together with his team which includes his wife doctor Felicity and Roger Nellist have been giving an average of three concerts a week of recitals by the most talented young musicians in London and elsewhere.
A professional engagement is offered with video recording and more importantly a large discerning audience.
It was now the turn of the Liszt Society to be invited to move down the road from the other St Mary’s ,part of the West London University, to this Mecca.
This is what I wrote last year (last year’s winner Keishi Suzuki will give a solo recital at St Mary’sPerivale on Tuesday 27th November at 14h):
Liszt Society publications available from the Hardie Press and on show rare publications edited by the President Leslie Howard
A day dedicated to Liszt and who better to host it that Leslie Howard the President who has recorded all the works of Liszt on 100 Cd’s.
Only one work is missing and was sold at auction and not available ….the search is on!
The Annual General Meeting at mid-day followed by an hour’s recital by Luca Monachino the young Italian pianist who was runner up in the 2017 Competition.
I think this extract from the Liszt Society web site explains fully the raison d’etre of the AGM.
“The Society’s activities have included piano recitals and masterclasses (especially by the late President of the Society Louis Kentner, and by Leslie Howard, the Society’s current President), members’ soirées, lectures, organ and song recitals, and chamber music. The Annual General Meeting, far from being just the gathering required by statute, has always been a very happy and musical encounter of friends with a shared and deeply-felt enthusiasm for Liszt.”
Co sponsored by the Keyboard Charitable Trust as is also the recital that Keishi gave in Vienna recently .
Dr Felicity Mather being affectionately thanked by Chairman Mark Viner
Today they were given a magnificent welcome by Hugh Mather and his fellow enthusiasts .
His wife providing refreshments that started with very welcoming hot soup and sausages after the AGM and followed with wine and tea during the two short intervals between the recital and the competition .
Luca had flown in especially from Messina with an interesting programme starting with the Sonata in G minor op 7. n.3 by Clementi taken from his vast and realtively unknown output of Sonatas.
Finishing of course with Liszt: the rarely heard “Marche heroique dans le genre hongrois” S231.
Corbin Beisner from the USA who had studied in Hungary and in fact gave a very assured performance of the Dante Sonata that won him first prize.
Phillip Leslie UK 1994
Phillip Leslie from Trinity Laban a student of Philip Fowke in an interesting programme that included Csardas obstinee S.225/2 and Aux cypres de la Villa d’Este- Threnodie 1 and was voted second prize
Pascal Pascaleff from Bulgaria studying in Birmingham with Pascal Nemirovski
Pascal Pascaleff 1991
A very fine technique able to produce the most liquid sounds from the piano gave a fine performance of the Dante Sonata and finished with Liszt’s amazing Nuages gris.
Raymond Wui Man Yiu
Wui Man Raymond Yiu an ex student of Joan Havill that was evident from his performances of La lugubre gondola and the Weinen,Klagen,Sorgen Zagen variations .S.180
His class shone through but with a rather patchy performance of the Liszt Variations.
A unanimous decision and an fascinating afternoon in the presence of Liszt .
The beautiful St Mary’s Perivale only 20 minutes from the centre of London
Last years winners Keishi Suzuki and Luca Monachino
The jury : Mark Viner Leslie Howard Melvyn Cooper
Corbin Beisner First Prize winner with Felicity Mather and Ludovico Troncanetti
Phillip Leslie Pascal Pascaleff Raymond Wui Man Yiu
Prize giving ceremony with Leslie Howard,Mark Viner and Melvyn Cooper
And so Hugh Mather’s amazing season just gets better and better.
With Hugh at the helm and Roger Nellist directing the video recording in the organ loft and Lara Melda at the piano not even the terrible weather could keep a capacity crowd from coming on a very cold and wet Tuesday afternoon.
We were indeed warmed by Lara Melda’s very simple beautiful playing of Chopin Four Ballades .
The Liszt Ballade n.2 acting as contrast between 1/2 and 3/4.
Simplicity is the hardest thing to acquire for a real interpreter and so it is with real admiration that I congratulated and thanked her at the end of the recital.
I have never had an opportunity to listen to Lara before and asked her if she was receiving guidance still .
Oh yes she modestly replied :with Alfred Brendel.
The same programme will be repeated at the BBC radio 3 lunchtime concerts from the Wigmore Hall at 1pm on Monday the 3rd December
Of course it all fitted into place.
As students we used to buy the Turnabout recordings for 50 pence of a virtually unknown pianist to hear such illuminated , intelligent and simple performances of Beethoven and Liszt.
That pianist was of course the now legendary Alfred Brendel.
At Dartington in 1968 at the masterclasses of Perlemuter I well remember the young daughter of the critic Martin Cooper playing Valses Nobles by Ravel to this disciple of Ravel.
I was a first year student at the RAM but I have never forgotten that exceptionally he had nothing to say except to compliment her not only on her superb musicianship but also on her perfect French!
Imogen Cooper was also taken under the wing of Alfred Brendel and not only has gone on to a worldwide career but has found time to share her knowledge with others by forming the Imogen Cooper Trust of which Lara is the first scholarship holder
I read too that Lara graduated from the RCM with first class honours in 2016 where she studied with Ian Jones.
Already before entering the RCM she had won the BBC Young Musician 2010 Competition.
Only in her mid- twenties she already has an enviable curriculum of playing with some of the finest orchestras and in the finest venues.
It is this experience and supreme professionalism that shone through a recital that reminded me of the Matthay school as exemplified by Dame Myra Hess and even more of Dame Moura Lympany.
Moura Lympany I knew well and when she could no longer play or travel away from her home in Montecarlo I used to send her a video recording of our concerts in Rome and we would discuss the performances on the telephone.
On hearing Peter Frankl play the Liszt Sonata magnificently as only a true musician could, she even wrote to him personally to thank him.
He of course had not known that Dame Moura was present!
All this to say that Lara plays with that same beautiful simplicity that is so hard to achieve especially at such a young age and especially with Chopin and Liszt.
So often the red hot passion of youth in these romantic masterpieces can lead to exaggerations where the heart takes precedence over the mind.
Where the passion of the moment takes over from the absolute control that is necessary and is evident with the experience gained by more mature players.
Here were the four ballades played beautifully and simply.
There was delicacy, feeling and passion too but a control and sense of musical command that is unusual in someone so young.
This was also the hallmark of the young Imogen Cooper and why she received such praise from a mature master as Perlemuter.
The overall architecture and shape were so clear.
Some small blemishes were of no importance on a musical journey of this stature.
Technically she is not of the dynamic Russian school but like Moura and Myra she has a real technical command and can produce the sounds that she hears.
One of the rare occasions of a pianist that actually listens to herself whilst she is playing
Cherkassky often used to say after listening to the latest whizz kid “ but I don’t think they are listening to themselves.”
Mention should be made of the beautiful and intelligent performance of the Liszt Ballade n.2 in B minor.
A true masterpiece revealed in her intelligent hands with sumptuous sounds of delicacy and grandeur just as I remember Brendel all those years ago.
She will choose her repertoire carefully as Imogen Cooper ,Paul Lewis and Alfred Brendel do to share their discovery of music with us.
The Realm of the Gods indeed !
The recital can be heard on BBC radio 3 on the 3rd December at 1 am live from the Wigmore Hall.
The next concert in Hugh Mathers series will be a day dedicated to Liszt on Saturday 24th November at 1.pm and onwards .
It is nice to see that Professors at Trinity Laban are being given the platform in a new series of “Profiles” which was opened by Gabriele Baldocci.
I was last at Trinity on the invitation of the then head of keyboard Deniz Arman Gelenbe retiring to concentrate on her own magnificent chamber music activities:
Her successor Peter Tuite had invited Boris Petrushansky to give a masterclass.
Petrushansky was a top prize winner in one of the first Leeds Piano Competitions and has since combined an International career with his teaching at the renowned Academy in Imola created by Franco Scala.
Many of the finest young pianists playing today have benefitted from his guidance.
It was a fascinating masterclass but just a pity that it was in russian with a rather intimidated student translator that slowed the whole process down.
Teaching on this level is one to one so a third party as in all intimate relationships can be one too many and create problems!
The statue in the Peacock Room at Trinity Laban in their new home that was the magnificent old Martime Base in Greenwich
All this to say that Gabriele I heard for the first time some years ago when he was one of the privileged few to be accepted to the “other” Piano Academy,that in Como, created and directed by William Grant Nabore.
(Imola and Como are two of the most important advanced piano academies in the world – both founded by former students of Carlo Zecchi in Rome).
These superb young pianists would come regularly to play in Rome in Teatro Ghione to give them a platform before they went on to great careers.
I well remember Davide Cabassi and Alessandro Delvayan (both top prize winners at Van Cliburn )Roberto Prosseda,Michelangelo Carbonara and many more.
Above all I remember Gabriele Baldocci a young lad from Livorno who bewitched Dino Villatico the renowned critic of La Repubblica with his magnificent playing allied to sculptured good looks.
It is hardly surprising that the Honorary President of the Piano Academy in Como,Martha Argerich,has taken him under her wing and they regularly give chamber music concerts together.
The last time I saw Gabriele Baldocci was in the green room at the Festival Hall with his beautiful young son bouncing on the knee of Martha Argerich.
His lovely spanish wife looking on at this happy family scene.
It was today too that Gabriele chose to play a piece especially written by a colleague Anthony Phillips for a two piano recital tour of Spain with Martha Argerich.
Under the title Gemini ( the sign
Anthony Phillips
of the zodiac of Martha Argerich of course).
Gabriele played it today in a transcription for solo piano.
Lasting only a few minutes.It is a short encore piece that could have almost have been written for a film by Oscar Hammerstein.
Beautifully played by Gabriele even if the composer thought it had more effect on two pianos.
It came as a breath of fresh air after the 6 Moments Musicaux D 780 by Schubert on a rather ungrateful Steinway D that almost turned Schubert into Beethoven.
Gabriele tried his best to tame this beast but when he attacked the 5th “moment” we literally jumped in the air !
He was though able to find some beautiful “moments” not least the weaving of the fourth or the gentle lilt of the third.The last was beautifully sung but again the middle section suffered and Gabriele wisely sought to unexpectedly change the tempo to create more contrast.
Gabriele has embarked on a very successful series of recordings of the Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven Symphonies.
So it was to Liszt that he turned for the second half of this short Profile recital.
Some beautiful weaving of counterpoints in Wagner’s intricate Liedestod.
A simple transciption from Lohengrin where Liszt allowed the sublime melodic line to sing unimpeded by the usual funambulistic fireworks that abound as in the famous Don Juan Reminiscences.
The deeply felt ostinato bass from Parsifal was allowed to unwind so beautifully in Gabriele’s hands.
The enormous difficulties that abound were dispatched with ease and we could only look on astounded.
A young italian student Giulio Poggia exclaimed to his friends that he has the best left hand in the business!
We could only look on in admiration but the great sumptuous sounds that are the real heart of these pieces was missing on a piano so ungrateful as to be almost unbearable.
Maybe its next door neighbour on stage would have been more appetizing?
It was only the great artistry of Gabriele that saved the day.
An improvisation of his own on Don Giovanni revealed all the subtle secrets that we were were not able to fully appreciate in Liszt.
Abandoning the score at last he was lost in a secret world of wondrous sounds treading carefully so as not to wake the “baby” again.
So pleased to see and hear Professor Gabriele Baldocci who had beguiled us all as an aspiring young pianist in Rome all those years ago.
I very much look forward to hearing his CD’s of the Beethoven Symphonies that have received such rave reviews from the critics recently.
Martha too would be so proud of “ her family.”
Prof.Sergio De Simone florentine colleague of Gabriele at Trinity Laban introducing his colleague to the public.
The famous Cutty Sark in the Maritime Museum where Trinity Laban has its magnificent new studios
“Get Closer” Roberto Prosseda and Oleg Caetani at the Festival Hall
As always a fascinating journey of discovery with Roberto Prosseda with his appearance with the London Philharmonic introducing the pedal piano to London audiences.
The last time he was here was with the then unknown conductor Yannick Nezet Seguin with Mendelssohn’s 3rd piano concerto ( fragments of a third concerto never finished but assembled and completed by Marcello Bufalini).
Roberto went on to record it with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for Decca.
(The unknown Nezet Seguin has since become director of the Philadelphia Orhestra after Riccardo Muti!)
And this time he brings to London Gounod’s Concerto for Pedal Piano in E flat -1889.
He was shown the then unpublished score in 2010 by Gerard Conde who explained that Gounod had given the original manuscript to Lucie Palicot for whom his four works were written.
The Pinchi system brought especially to London by Roberto Prosseda
The Pinchi pedal board
A student of the son of Alkan ,Elie Dalaborde It was her appearances in Paris at the Salle Pleyel in 1882 ,having also heard Alkan himself in 1875 , that inspired Gounod and he gave her sole rights to the concerto.
Unfortunately she retired from the concert stage in 1895 when she married for the second time and the manuscript disappeared.
A report from the musicologist Paul Landormy recalled :”I remember what a strange impression was produced by the sight of this graceful and dainty person perched on a huge case containg the lower strings of the pedal-board beneath a grand piano resting on it.What surprised us above all,pleasantly enough to be sure,was to see Mme Palicot wearing a short knee-length skirt ( entirely necessary but astonishing in those days),and her pretty legs darting most adroitly to reach the different pedals of the keyboard she had at her feet !”
Roberto Prosseda has recorded all four works by Gounod for Hyperion directed by Howard Shelley in his Romantic Piano Concerto Series.
He had commisioned from the Italian organ builder Claudio Pinchi an innovative system so that a pedal piano can be created from any two grand pianos.
Two Steinway D pianos one on top of the other with the Pinchi system that allows them to be transformed into a pedal piano.
The problem is that the pedal technique used for the organ cannot be applied since it requires a particular sensitivity of touch,as the pedals control a piano with hammers and strings.
The artistic balancing act of Roberto Prosseda
So a more pianistic approach is required,using the weight of the leg and transferring the weight from one note to another in order to achieve a legato and enable a rich sonority and good control of dynamics.
The sustaining pedal is seldom used as both feet are often busy playing the pedal board.The hands are required to play differently than on a normal piano as the player’s balance and seating position are often altered by the constant movement of the legs!
No one was aware of all these difficulties listening to the superb performance of Gounod’s long lost concerto.
The outer movements were extremely rhythmically controlled in their question and answer between pianos and orchestra .
It was in the beautiful Adagio and in the Schumann encore – the fourth of the six Canonic studies for pedal piano – that one could appreciate to the full the supreme artistry and superb sense of style of Roberto Prosseda.
Roberto discussing the pedal piano with his colleagues and sponsors after his superb London premiere performance of Gounod’s Pedal Piano Concerto
Infact I was witness backstage to the orchestral players coming one by one to congratulate Roberto especially for the beauty of his performance of the Schumann encore.
Praise indeed coming from his colleagues in the London Philharmonic.
It is very nice to see the success of the young pianist who studied in the Sergio Cafaro/Martinelli household a stone’s throw from our theatre in Rome(Teatro Ghione) and was reared by the Campus Musicale in his home town of Latina.
He often used to play in our theatre in Rome as ” try outs ” for his appearances in International Competitions .
I well remember the joy of Fou Ts’ong on hearing that Roberto would be playing in his Masterclasses.
He also went on to study with Fou Ts’ong and William Grant Nabore at the International Piano Academy in Como created and run by William Nabore a former disciple of Carlo Zecchi (Martha Argerich is honorary President).
For some years he was artistic director of the Pontine Festival together with Fabrizio von Arx continuing their great tradition by bringing Elisso Virsaladze,Charles Rosen and many others to the summer festival in Sermoneta in the grounds of the Caetani Castle.
A festival started in the 60’ by Menuhin/Szigeti and Alberto Lysy.
Oleg Caetani son of Igor Markevitch one of the last of the noble Italian dynasty of Caetani
By coincidence the concert was the symphonic debut with the LPO of Oleg Caetani.Renowned in the opera houses throughout the world he is one of the last surviving members of the noble Caetani family.
His father was Igor Markevitch and his mother was Donna Topazia Caetani from whom he chose to take his name to prolong the family lineage.
Not only with a renowned father whom I heard many times on this very stage but also with a superb pedigree of studies with Nadia Boulanger and Franco Ferrara.
He gave some superb performances of Messiaen : Hymne and the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz that I well remember his father performing with such electricity here all those years ago.
We await many new discoveries from Roberto Prosseda in London on his remarkable journey in the music world where he delves with such intelligence and artistry .
The rather complicated removal in the interval of the two Steinways and Pinchi system
Roberto explaining the Pinchi system during the interval backstage
The rapt attention of his colleagues in the LPO during the Schumann encore that Roberto very spiritedly introduced .
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 