The Sublime Perfection of Sokolov

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary5 commenti
Pianistic Perfection of Sokolov in Rome tonight
It is always a guarantee of a special occasion when one sees Angelo Fabbrini in the audience.
Or even on stage as he was last time I saw him at Carnegie Hall preparing one of his marvellous instruments with meticulous attention to the artists wishes just as a great doctor would do for his patients.

                                         Sokolov with Angelo Fabbrini
On that occasion as with last night in London it was for Maurizio Pollini.
Tonight it was together with his faithful disciple Nino Bianchi for the recital by Grigory Sokolov in Rome.
Angelo who I had met forty years ago when I telephoned to dealers in Italy to buy a Steinway “D” for our newly opened theatre in Rome.
I drove over to Pescara where I was greeted by Angelo in his studio on the seafront in Pescara on the Adriatic coast – flat like Norfolk!
A studio full of fantastic instruments lovingly prepared by this man with an obvious passion.
The trusted friend of so many great pianists.
The trusted technician in his early years of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (who was also godfather to his children).
Michelangeli was notoriously meticulous not only about fine tuning and well being of pianos but also the fine tuning of his Ferraris !
Martha Argerich regularly locks herself into his studio all night to prepare for her concerts.

                                      In the green room with Sokolov
Of course I bought the most beautiful instrument at a very special price as he knew it was going to be in a our newly opened theatre in Rome.
We had the same passion and a bond was created then that has lasted all these years.
He would only give me the piano after he had spent a month fine tuning it especially for the theatre and then working on it when it had taken up residence.

                                                        Sokolov and Angelo Fabbrini
The piano has never moved from the theatre where it was inaugurated by my old teachers Guido Agosti and Vlado Perlemuter.
Followed over the years by names that have passed into history:Annie Fischer,Moura Lympany,Andor Foldes,Shura Cherkassky,Gyorgy Sandor,Tatyana Nikolaeva and many more not only established artists but those that were yet to establish themselves :Janina fialkowska Angela Hewitt,Leslie Howard and Roberto Prosseda are just a few.
I had heard Sokolov only on two other occasions.
Always in Rome as he avoids London and the UK since a problem arose with his visa.
Was it not Segovia who passing through passport control the innocent (not to say ignorant) official told his supervisor that this old man says he plays the banjo!
What a difficult life it can be to move freely for these artists that are requested world wide for their great unique artistry!
Brexit watch out indeed!
If you ask most very fine young pianists today who is the greatest of them all, many will reply Sokolov .
So it was with great anticipation that a few years ago I was glad to be able to hear him play Schumann Humoresque.
A very fine pianist but I was certainly not in agreement with my young friends.
He announced the Hammerklavier a year later and I thought I could not possibly miss any pianist who dares play this great monument in public.
It was one of the greatest performances that I have heard.
Easily on a par ,if very different from the recent ones of Murray Perahia or the past ones of Serkin,Richter,Pollini or Brendel.
So I was a bit perplexed when the programme this year was eventually announced,long after we had all bought our tickets.
                    Three Haydn Sonatas and the Schubert Impromptus op 142.
The public had trusted their idol and filled very generously this over two thousand seat hall .
In London they had been less generous for Gilels when he announced a programme of Schubert and Shostakovich in the Royal Festival Hall.
A programme that will remain with me for the rest of my life for the energy and sheer beauty in the Schubert Moments Musicaux and the little A minor Sonata .
Even a memory slip in Shostakovich’s mammouth 2nd Sonata could not dampen the aristocratic conviction and sheer animal energy of this much missed artist.
Hardly surprising that when Gilels’ early teacher had invited Rubinstein to hear a little red headed boy play he declared that if he ever came to Europe he may as well pack up his bags and leave!
Rubinstein and Gilels I would say could conjure such beauty from the piano that has rarely been equalled or surpassed………that is until tonight!
From the very first notes of the little G minor sonata n.32 ,that I have only heard in concert from Richter many years ago, to the final notes of the C sharp minor sonata n.49 Hob 36 forty five minutes passed in complete silence as we were all mesmerised by the sheer beauty of the sounds that were being conjured from the piano.
Every note was made to speak as one would not have thought possible.
All with a charm and grace that belies the appearance of this “gentle” giant.
Even the almost Beethovenian outburst in the B minor Sonata n.47 Hob 32 were included in a cocoon of sound.
A bubble that was never allowed to burst but was filled with all the character and personality that these neglected masterpieces can behold.
A heartrending question and answer between the hands with the gentle murmuring of sounds in the first of Schuberts’ last Impromptus was matched by the simplicity with which he sang the melody in the second .
A great wave of sound enveloped the middle section where we were not aware of notes just waves of the most beautiful sounds before the magical return in all its simplicity of the original melody.
The Theme and Variations that can in lesser hands seem rather out of place.
Here one was at last made aware of what is meant by Schubert’s heavenly length.
The Allegro scherzando of the fourth did not have the animal frenzy of Serkin or Fischer but it was a miracle to behold for the sheer perfect sense of balance between the hands.
I could not believe that forty minutes had passed .
Time had indeed stood still.
But Sokolov was warmed up and a magic had been created that no one wanted to dispel just yet.
The first of what were to be six encores followed in a seemingly marathon walk for Sokolov from the stage entrance to the lonely piano in this vast hall created by Renzo Piano.
Schubert’s fourth Impromptu from his earlier set op 90 was sheer magic.
Like water from a stream the notes that cascaded and alternated with the supremely delicate chords.
Can the central section ever have been played with more subdued passion?
A perfect sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to shine through over a passionately beating heart.
Rachmaninov came to mind in the old recordings that we have had to be content with all these years.
What can one say about the pianistic and musical perfection of his Rameau Les Sauvages and Le Rappel des Oiseaux.
These have long been marvelled at by a world that has been at Sokolov’s feet for many a year.
Little did I expect such an epic performance of Chopin’s little “Raindrop” Prelude.
The gradual build up in the central section was quite overpowering.
Always totally in context it allowed the innocent reappearance of the melody to shine through so delicately after such a vision of doom.
The last two encores from his Russian repertoire .
A little waltz so obviously a Chopin that had visited the vast spaces of the Russian steppes (Grigolis I think as I was told by the Maestro himself afterwards).
A whispered page of Scriabin sent us all home with an idea of what “Beauty in the eye of the beholder” really signifies

Ronan O’Hora at the Wigmore Hall

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
Ronan O`Hora at the Wigmore Hall
The Wigmore Hall was completely sold out for the recital by Ronan O’Hora whom I have known and admired for quite some time as The Head of Keyboard Studies at the Guildhall .
Ex students Sasha Grynyuk ,Thibault Charrin and others were lucky to find standing room in a hall that I have rarely seen so full.
I remember introducing myself at Richard Goodes masterclass as a fellow student of Vlado Perlemuter.
Ronan was also a former full time student of Ryszard Bakst at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Mihai Ritivoiu was playing the Polonaise Fantasie by Chopin and was later to join the Keyboard Trust playing in their special presentation concerts at the Reform Club and Romanian Centre and has now embarked on an important career.
I heard him recently with orchestra at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest
I knew and much admired Ronan O’Hora’s administrative and organisational skills at the Guildhall and I was often to be found at Masterclasses of some of the greatest musicians invited by him to share their skills and experience with the students. Murray Perahia,Richard Goode,Aquiles delle Vigne are just a few that I have heard recently.
This,however, was the first time that I was able to hear him live in concert in a programme of Brahms,Beethoven and Schubert.
I was not over enthusiastic to hear the Waldstein and Wanderer Fantasy as they are two rather overplayed works but by the juxtaposition of the two Brahms Intermezzi op 118 n.2 and n.6 one could see that this was a real musicians concert.
Seeing so many well known musicians in the audience I began to realise that we were perhaps in for something special.
It was obviously not just the coffee or sherry that had brought people out on a very wintery Sunday morning!
I was not disappointed and as I said backstage afterwards what a joy to hear these masterworks played in a masterly way at last.
A beautifully played Intermezzo in A op 118.n.2 opened the programme which by coincidence was the same piece that had closed the recital of Jeremy Denk the evening before at the Guildhalls’ Milton Court .
Here it was played with such sumptuous sound ,a full string quartet not just melody and accompaniment . It had a richness and at the same time an intimacy that is very hard to create from the first note in a major London recital with Joan Havill and Bryce Morrison in the audience too!.

                                  Joan Havill with Bryce Morrison
Infact Mr Denk had played it as an encore.preferring to start his recital with Prokofiev.
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Then came the really big surprise of Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata.
Anyone who can create the same surprise that must have greeted Beethoven when the ink was still wet on the paper is a rare artist indeed.
The almost animal like energy of the pianissimo opening and the sudden outbursts without for a moment allowing the energy or tempo to sag were even for today’s audiences quite startling .
The energetic build up to the recapitulation was overwhelming as was the clarity and sense of line in the left hand before the coda.
The Introduction that replaced the original slow movement – later to appear separately as the Andante Favori- was just that.
A preparation for the magical opening of the Rondo.
All of Beethoven’s many indications not just played but really digested and interpreted and it gave such significance to the long held pedal notes that allow the bell like motif of the rondo to appear like magic.
Yes there was magic indeed .
How many fine pianists follow to the letter Beethoven’s revolutionary pedal markings but not many actually understand and try to recreate the effect that the composer intended.
The great virtuosistic outbursts were quite as startling in that they were not just notes but a swirling tempest of sound.
So often this work and the Wanderer are given to students to build up their technique as they are both full of scales and arpeggios and very often sound like it too!
Not today though and that was the real discovery that everything was in the context of the whole with all the details of Beethoven’s wishes meticulously noted and miraculously interpreted .
A sense of line and driving inner energy that kept this very discerning audience very much on their toes.

                                       Joan Havill with Ronan O’Hora
A cheeky bass note added in the last movement brought a wry smile on the face of Joan Havill one of the very finest trainers today of musician pianists – Paul Lewis and many others have a lot to thank her for.
There was obviously a reason that he added it as some people do in other works of Beethoven where the original instrument would not allow for certain patterns to be repeated in different keys.
It is a delicate question as is the of question of ornamentation in Mozart’s Keyboard works.
The main thing is that one is not aware of these interpretative problems from an artist if they can totally convince us and hold our attention.
The famous glissandi would have had all the pianists watching out but they were so much incorporated into the general interpretation they passed completely unnoticed.
For the record he did not split them between the hands but played them as Beethoven had intended on his much lighter pianos (Serkin used to surreptitiously lick his fingers before attempting them on our modern day pianos ).
The Prestissimo coda was played almost like the music box it is and the long pedals that Beethoven asks for wonderfully realised and lead to a most exhilarating end to a memorable musical journey.
The desolation of the Intermezzo in E flat minor has rarely been so poignant with the filigree ornamentation so delicately encompassing Brahms’ innermost feelings.
The Schubert Wanderer Fantasy was as fine as the Waldstein.
The richness of the sound and architectural cocoon in which Schuberts’ imagination was allowed to express itself, as only the greatest of all lieder composers can, gave a great sense of direction and energy to the whole.
The final Fugato eruption coming as a natural relief from all that had come before.
The beautiful “Wanderer” and the variants played like a true lieder singer would have sung them.
Every note simply played but poignant with meaning.
Abschied from Schumann’s Waldszenen was a magical way to thank his audience that had battled the elements to enjoy an hour of magic in this hallowed hall.
Coffee and Sherry were offered afterwards but many of the audience preferred to go backstage to hug the artist that had held us so spellbound on this cold Sunday morning.

with Bryce Morrison

with Thibaud Charin

A Genius at the Barbican

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Jeremy Denk at Milton Court
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·DOMENICA 4 MARZO 2018

I have listened to Jeremy Denk’s fascinating interviews on the radio and heard such good reports about the arrival and discovery in London of this extraordinary communicator of searing intelligence .
Similar to the arrival of another great presence in recent times at the Wigmore Hall .
That of Igor Levit.
Pure genius of course amazing capacity to present us the entire piano repertoire as it has never before been done so easily.
One asks  – no demands- where have they been all this time  arriving out of the blue it would seem and taking the intelligenza of London by storm?
Jeremy Denk was giving the final performance in his Residency at the Barbican.
It was good to see so many young musicians in the audience even Jayson Gillham winner of the Montreal Competition and fast making a name for himself- relatively of course- but not at the speed of light of these two master musicians.
His rather improvisatory approach was best suited to 20 of Prokofiev Visions op 22 that opened the recital.
Picturesque images vividly played with all the colour and fantasy that brought these miniature masterpieces to life as Rubinstein had in his historic Carnegie Hall recitals many years ago.
The performances by Richter and Gilels of course have passed into legend but  these little miniatures are very rarely played these days.
All the sonatas and the 2nd Concerto too played endlessly and so easily these days .
It was refreshing to hear such beautifully shaped performances of these little gems.
A change of programme had brought us the monumental last sonata of Schubert in place of the promised Fantasie op 17 by Schumann.
The Schumann would have been a fascinating choice as it was to have been played after the Liszt arrangement of Beethoven’s “An die ferne Geliebte” .
It is quoted in the final heartrending pages of the first movement of the piece that Schumann had written as an outpouring of love for his Clara .
“The most passionate thing I have ever composed- a profound lament for you .”
So as Jeremy Denk announced there would be three works on the programme .
Prokofiev,Beethoven op 109 and Schubert D.960.
His effortless playing of these two monuments of the piano literature lead to some rather uneasy performances where the very backbone of these masterpieces was missing on his long searching journey of discovery.
Some wonderful things but all sounding so easy and untroubled.
Even the beautiful Intermezzo in A by Brahms offered as an encore to a public demanding even more!
Effortless is something you could have never said about Curzon,Arrau or Serkin who would sweat blood and tears over every note .
The audience too would come out of their recitals as exhausted as they.
But uplifted and transformed by what they had experienced.
With these two newly arrived “Geni” it is all so wonderfully effortless.
Amazed by their capacity to consume and play the entire piano repertoire without a hair out of place.
Searingly intelligent performances.
Total command of the instrument .
A few months ago igor levit performed the last three Beethoven Sonatas at the end of his marathon Beethoven Cycle at the Wigmore Hall .
First performance at 19.30 and another identical at 22 due to public demand.
All broadcast live.
Absolute perfection.
 Arrau could never have done that.
It would have killed Curzon
……….but…………………..!!!!?????
Different times of course.
The era of jet setting and communications at the speed of light.
Pity this music was not written for this fast food era that we are obliged to”live” in.
I am sure the genius of Beethoven or Schubert would have risen to the challenge too.
“Hats off gentlemen .A Genius”.
Schumann jumped off the bridge at the end and Beethoven took a hammer to break up the piano in frustration …………
Not these boys ….we live in a different era ……….or do we?

Mark Viner takes London by storm

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Mark Viner takes London by storm
Sensational is the only word for Mark Viners remarkable debut at the Wigmore Hall as winner of the Keyboard Charitable Trust Prizewinners concert.
Bryce Morrison on his feet cheering with the rest of us – a star is truly born tonight.
In memory of the distinguished friend and renowned critic Bill Newman who would have been so proud to see the legacy at work that he had left to Noretta and John Leech and their Keyboard Trust that he admired so much.
Wonderful celebration also of Noretta`s 87th in an after concert dinner party hosted by the indefatigable Gabriella Bassatne.

Gabriella Bassatne
 The same programme as his recent tour of Italy but with the ideal encore ,according to Bryce Morrison :Cecile Chaminade The Flatterer…………..which will appear on his new CD of the works of Cecile Chaminade
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Noretta Conci Leech with Bryce Morrison

Moritz von Bredow Linn Rothstein

Alberto Chines with Clare Packenham

Richard and Elena Bridges

Mark Viner with John Leech

                                                  Moritz Von Bredow and Partner and  Sasha Grynuk

John Leech and Albert Portugheis

George Linardakos Mark Viner

Mr A.Brendle at Steinway Hall

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Mr A Brendle at Steinway Hall

CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·GIOVEDÌ 1 MARZO 2018

Adrian Brendle at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Charitable Trust.
Some very fine playing of Beethoven op 57 “Appassionata” Sonata in F minor and the complete Rachmaninoff Preludes op 32.
Showing off all his superb technical and intellectual skills.
Very taut rhythms in the Beethoven and nice to see that the complicated arpeggios in the first movement were played with one hand as Beethoven wrote it and as Arrau insisted it should be played.
The second subject rhythm could have been even more marked as the motif of the sonata is based exactly on that insistent rhythm in all its forms .
The Andante played con moto as Beethoven indicates.
A real cortege as Agosti used to describe it .
Some unusual pointing of the left hand in the second variation but played with such authority it was totally convincing .
Never sentimental as is so often the case but with noble sentiment.
The astonishing link to the last movement was just that!
The Allegro maybe not quite non troppo as Beethoven indicates but played with an enviable precision and authority.
It would have allowed even more of a surprise with the coda Presto and the off beat “sfp” syncopation.
There was no question of not playing the repeat with this thinking musician and it lead inexorably to a Presto of quite extraordinary rhythmic power.
Beethoven’s pedal marks were scrupulously noted and in a more resonant hall would have been even more startling.

                                                  Elias Corrinth
But it was the piece especially written for him that brought out all the fantasy and colour that had been difficult to find in such a small hall.
Fou Ts’ong always used to say that it was easier to be intimate in a very big rather than a small one .
A very interesting piece dedicated to him and having its UK premiere:”Invocation,Intermezzo” by Elias Corrinth.
The composer an old school friend was also present.
The Rachmaninoff complete Preludes op 32 had a colossal performance of great brilliance and subtlety.
From the opening in C major to the monumental last Prelude in D flat major.
The wonderful “return” as Moisewitch described n 10 in B minor and the mellifluous B major could have had more tenderness and nostalgia but the last study was breathtaking in its monumental power and authority.
I was not at all surprised to see Ian Fountain in the audience as he is Adrian Brendle’s teacher at the Royal Academy .
He is the only British pianist to have won the Rubinstein Competition in Israel and glad to share his knowledge with such a talented young colleague.
The last of the Gesange der Fruhe op 133 as a rarely played encore.One of the last pieces that Schumann wrote and that my old teacher Guido Agosti loved so much

The Fantasie of Louis Lortie

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The “Fantasie” of Louis Lortie

CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·MERCOLEDÌ 28 FEBBRAIO 2018

The Fantasie of Louis Lortie
Two pianos on the stage of the Wigmore Hall and a note in the programme to explain why.
I remember a while back him playing a monumental performance of the Brahms F minor Sonata and pointing to the name on the side of the piano to demonstrate what a wonder the Bosendorfer was.
In Rome the same Brahms this time on Steinway. You can see his reasoning here .
So tonight we were treated to the magical Schubert Fantasie Sonata on the Bosendorfer and the equally imposing Chopin Fantasie on a Fazioli.
Both superb performances from this real thinking musician .
Rather a delusion hearing him play all the 27 Chopin Studies in Rome recently and thinking that this is the realm of the young virtuosi.
Although each study was played magnificently I could not help thinking all the way through of what we were missing from this remarkable musician in terms of intelligence and architecture.
The real all too rare realm of the Gods.
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Could there be a more magical opening than the Schubert G major Sonata?
Here there was just that magic where every note spoke in a musical journey that filled the entire first half of the concert at the Wigmore Hall.
The Bosendorfer gave just that ring to the treble because of the resonance from the bass so much part of this piano.A ring that allowed an almost complete legato that allowed the long lines of Schubert to be just as expressive as the human voice in his lieder.
The spell only slightly broken in the few moment when Lortie allowed himself a little too much muscle for this great elusive song.
There are passages that could almost be Beethoven but they are still pure Schubert and you have to be a very sensitive trapeze artist to venture into the realms of the Gods without breaking the spell.
So many memorable things from the magical opening to the almost teasing Allegretto final.
The final few bars almost Mendelssohnian in their lightweight fantasy played to absolute perfection .
And the final nostalgic few bars allowing its whispered farewell to float into the absolute silence of an audience mesmerized by this extraordinary performance .
Only Mitsuko Uchida recently in the Festival Hall could captivate an audience for the almost forty minutes of concentration needed.
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The second half dedicated to Chopin on the equally magnificent Fazioli piano that was patiently waiting in the wings.
He is recording the entire works on Chandos.
Interesting recordings in that the Ballades and the Impromptus are alternated with the Nocturnes and not just lumped together as is usually the case.
A real thinking musician who wants to share his musical journey with us.
And so it was tonight the Fantasie op 49 and the Polonaise in F sharp minor op 44 alternating with mazukas not only by Chopin but also by Thomas Ades.
Like his great predecessor Artur Rubinstein who in the middle of an all Chopin recital would play four Mazurkas by his friend Karol Szymanowski.
Almost like having a lemon sorbet in the middle of a sumptuous feast .Opening ones ears even more attentively to the marvels that were on display.
Some amazing sounds from the Ades Mazurka op 27.n.2 .
Almost like Ligeti in its spider like escapade over the entire range of the keyboard.
Some wonderfully luminous sounds from this very fine instrument too.
The actual Chopin Mazukas were a little too explosive for my taste and I would have appreciated a little less richness in the louder sections.
A very strange staccato opening of the Fantasie made me want to rush and look at the score.
Otherwise it was a very powerful poetic performance almost taking a wrong turning which would have taken us back to the beginning and an expert change of gear brought us to the magical final bars.
The second Mazurka by Ades op 27.n.1 did sound a little like a nightmare dream where everything bar the kitchen sink was thrown very expertly at us.

Edward Leung,winner of the Liszt Society Competition who come from Birmingham to applaud
The Polonaise in F sharp minor I felt could have had a more sonorous sound to the octaves that abound and maybe the Bosendorfer might have been better.However the elusive mazuka like middle section was made to speak as rarely it can in lesser hands.
A single encore of one of the 27 studies I had heard in Rome recently. An absolutely magical performance of the “Aeolian Harp” so aptly described by Charles Halle when Chopin himself played it in England and was here brought to life again in the hands of this great musician.

Giving away leaflets for Mark Viners Winners Recital for the Keyboard Charitable Trust

Julian Trevelyan Work in Progress at St Mary’s

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Julian Trevelyan Work in progress at St Mary’s
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·MERCOLEDÌ 28 FEBBRAIO 2018

Julian Trevelyan at St Mary`s
It is always refreshing to be in the presence of true intelligence.
Everything is simplified in the logic and wish to communicate and share information with others.
I have heard Julian Trevelyan on many other occasions since being curious to hear the 16 year old who had taken everyone by surprise in 2015 sweeping the board to win top prize in the Long Thibaud Crespin International Competition in Paris.
Knowing that Stephen Kovacevich,that great musician,star pupil of Dame Myra Hess,was chairman of the jury made me even more anxious to hear him.
As you can see from the links below I was as impressed as obviously that jury had been by the simple unaffected musicianship allied to a remarkable command of the keyboard. An intelligence that was apparent from his musicianship even before talking to him.
Genius is always surprising and so it was today that I was pleasantly taken by surprise by the “work in progress” that was offered by this now 19 year old young man eager to share his musical discoveries with whoever was willing to listen.
I have only had that same experience in the past few years from Daniil Trifonov and to a slightly lesser extent from Olli Mustonen .
It is both refreshing and exhausting for us mortals.
Always surprising however.
Very eloquently introducing the programme that he admitted he had wanted to prepare instead of just regaling us with facts.
But what facts!
Did we know of the quotes of the St John and Matthew Passions in Beethoven op.110 that Julian considers Beethovens triumph over death?
Or likening L`Isle Joyeuse (that incidentally was written by Debussy on a trip to Jersey) to Scriabin Vers la flamme in its reaching out to the sun.
Or Granados never arriving in America to play The Maiden and the nightingale, which had been transformed into an opera, as his boat was torpedoed in the first world war.
And many other interesting points thrown in with a charm and innocence that was very refreshing.
A new programme still in gestation and so playing from the score with his ever vigilant father turning pages.
Let us say straight away that most convincing performances were those where he did not use the score.
The first movement of Mozart Sonata in F K. 333,offered as an encore, was remarkable for its almost Horowitzian sense of colour and flexibility always allied to a complete understanding of the style.The delicious embellishments so tantalizingly hinted at.
A Brahms Intermezzo in C op 119 n.3 was played with that infectious sense of rhythmic pulse and a quite extraordinary ending that I have only heard before from Curzons’ hands.
Ligeti “Die Zauberlehrling” even if the score was before him there was no way he could have looked at it whilst coping with Ligetis’ quite outrageous demands.
Of course, as to be expected, a very interesting programme that started with Alborada del gracioso from Miroirs by Ravel.
Usually a finishing piece but not for our artist today who wanted it to be a wake up call for him and for us!
It certainly was that with the double note glissandi dispatched with ease.
Great rhythmic precision and very clean and clear, the magic will come as he grows with it.
A very beautiful rarely heard Adagio in E major D.612 by Schubert probably the slow movement of the unfinished Sonata in C D.613.
Beautiful “fioritura” almost Bellini like bel canto reminiscent of the refined use in Chopin.
Beethoven’s penultimate Sonata op 110 so interestingly introduced was played cleanly and clearly with some beautiful cantabile playing.
This will eventually be a great performance and is obviously very dear to his heart but with a very precise road plan in mind.
Still in early stages it lacked the ebb and flow that this above all the Sonatas of Beethoven needs.Like a plasma where Beethoven enters into regions where few if any before have dared to enter.
Etherial is the key word for this sonata and Julian still has his feet very firmly planted on the ground.
New “ground ” for Julian Trevelyan and his recent discovery of the enormous amount of keyboard works by Byrd.
A very clear performance of the especially difficult ornamentation on an instrument that was yet to be discovered .No use of either pedal – the two feet very firmly resting!
We discussed it afterwards and I asked him why did he want to play these works on the piano if it was not to subtly use all the colours and sounds of the piano which in a way substitute the stops of the original instrument for which they were written?
The most prolific composer for the keyboard until the arrival of Scarlatti surely the colours of the piano could be an addition to the composers extraordinary invention .
The Scarlatti of Horowitz or even Sudbin sprang to mind.
The Maiden and the Nightingale and Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse brought this very interesting programme to a close.
Without being tied to the score these works will gain in all the colour and excitement that we were treated to in the two extra works played by public demand.
Numerous public that had braved the snow storm that was raging outside this beautiful little wooden church that has become the haven for anyone interested in great piano playing.
Much looking forward to hearing the definitive performances from this thinking musician in the near future.
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                                                   Julian Trevelyan

A Doctors’ Cure Jayson Gillham at Cadogan Hall

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A Doctors’ Cure Jayson Gillham at Cadogan Hall
CHRISTOPHER AXWORTHY·MARTEDÌ 27 FEBBRAIO 2018

The Doctors cure
Jayson Gillham and The Doctors`Orchestra in aid of Freedom from Torture
Superbly lyrical performance of Brahms D minor Concerto and astonishing Bach Busoni Choral Prelude :”Rejoice,beloved Christians”(Nun freut euch BWV.734a) as an encore for an audience dedicated to the Freedom from Torture cause so eloquently and movingly presented by Sherine Krause.
Stephen Brearley a consultant surgeon at Whipps Cross University Hospital and The Royal London Hospital who in partnership with the late Dr Michael Lasserson created the European Doctors Orchestra in 2004.
Dr Brearley in his youth was a member with Simon Rattle of the Merseyside Youth Orchestra.
Simon came to the Royal Academy and was in Gordon Greens class.
Dr Brearley went on to study medicine in Cambridge.
Gordon was always complaining about this very gifted boy that did not practice the piano and was always in a corner conducting some student groups.
There is obviously something about the air in Liverpool as in Cambridge Stephen Brearley was doing the same thing.
Simon has become a world famous conductor and Dr Brearley a very distinguished surgeon but their love for music is the same.
This was obvious from the results that we heard last night with the “Doctors’ Orchestra” conducted by Stephen Brearley .
Always in control sometimes even reduced to visibly counting up to six in the difficult first movement of the Brahms Concerto.

           Janina Fialkowska and Jayson Gillham in Montreal 2014
I am not sure if all the orchestral members are doctors .
I suspect the whole orchestra would have rushed to the aid of any audience member taken ill!
I wonder how many musicians could do the same and play as well as they did last night!
A very moving address about the aims and results in the more than thirty years that The Freedom from Torture movement has been helping survivors of torture to recover from the pain and humiliation they have endured.
Supporting them as they rebuild their lives in the UK
Who better then than Doctors to support and help this noble cause with their music played with a passion and quite some professional skill that only non professional players possess in great quantity.

                     Jayson Gillham Bach Busoni encore
And who better indeed than Jayson Gillham so affectionately and aptly described by the founder of the Keyboard Charitable Trust, Noretta Conci-Leech ,as “Sunny” Jayson.
Winner of the Montreal International Music Competition in 2014 and much admired by Janina Fialkowska a jury member and protege’ herself of Artur Rubinstein when she was a top prize winner in his first competition in Israel.
Fast building a reputation for not only his technical command but also for his musicianship and radiant performances .
He graduated from the Royal Academy in London under that distinguished pedagogue and former student also of Gordon Green: Christopher Elton.
Small world indeed!
Below is a link to  a recent recital he gave in London .

                   Noretta Conci and John Leech with Jayson Gillham
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/…/…

Benedetto Lupo at the RFH London

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Benedetto Lupo at the Royal Festival Hall LPO Juanjo Mena conductor
Ravel Concerto for Left Hand

Great performance of the concerto from Benedetto Lupo who although being left handed says quite rightly that that does not make this concerto any easier to play!

Fantastic sense of colour replying to Ravel’s very large orchestra full of the most wondrous sounds.

Amazing bass notes from the piano as he literally launched himself at the keyboard .

Meltingly beautiful the second subject,the same exotic beauty that lead into  the most sensuous of cadenzas building up to a lush full orchestral participation almost” alla russe” before the final explosive ending .

Glad to see Umberto Jacopo Laureti a student of Benedetto’s at the Accademia in Rome and now completing his studies for a doctorate in Busoni at the RAM .
He was recently accepted for help by the Keyboard Charitable Trust and is one of the superb musicians coming from Benedetto’s class in Rome.Beatrice Rana is perhaps the best known so far.A BBC young artist is rapidly making a great name for herself.

No encores expected in the UK although Benedetto received a real ovation from a very full RFH.

The series Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey included tonight The Rite of Spring in which Juanjo Mena lived and acted every minute to great effect.
Chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic he conducted two little known very early works by Debussy:Printemps:Symphonic Suite and Delius Idylle de Printemps.

L'immagine può contenere: 3 persone, persone sul palco e spazio al chiuso
L'immagine può contenere: 1 persona, sul palco, sta suonando uno strumento musicale e spazio al chiuso
L'immagine può contenere: 2 persone, persone che sorridono
L'immagine può contenere: una o più persone e folla

 

The Supreme Mr Pisarenko

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary1 commento
The Supreme Mr Pisarenko
Vitaly Pisarenko at Parliament Chamber,Inner Temple
It is Sir Geoffrey Nice that the Keyboard must thank for his just insistence that an important presence from the KCT stable should be part of this prestigious institution : Temple Music

                                     Sir Geoffrey Nice QC
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, long term friend of the founders of the Keyboard Trust was happy to introduce them this evening to a very select audience in the hallowed hall of Parliament Chamber,Inner Temple.
Sir Geoffrey was also very happy to tell them about the very first concert of the KCT that was a surprise 60th birthday gift to Noretta Conci-Leech from her husband John Leech.
That was 27 years ago today as today is amazingly Noretta Conci-Leech‘s 87th birthday.
Noretta found to her complete surprise three concert grand pianos on stage of an institution similar to todays august surroundings.
Seven of her pupils from her star studded studio were there to celebrate the official founding of the Keyboard Charitable Trust.
A birthday gift from her husband to cement what Noretta had already been doing for a long time .
Leslie Howard at the helm with Andrew Wilde ,Maria Garzon amongst the pianist gathered to say thank you for all the help and encouragement that they had received and continue to this day to receive.
Both Leslie Howard and Sir Geoffrey Nice are founder members and long term trustees.
It was 33 years ago too that Noretta and John accompanied Leslie Howard to play in the theatre that I had created with my wife Ileana Ghione in the centre of Rome.
It was John’s retirement present from Noretta for “his” 60th birthday!
I had of course known and admired Leslie Howard since our Siena days where he was very much admired and helped by Guido Agosti who was notoriously famous for seeing only the composer and the score and heaven help anyone who thought they could get away with less!
Claudio Abbado had agreed to head a body of Trustees which enabled Alfred Brendel to announce the official creation of the Keyboard Charitable Trust .
The funds created from a concert at the RFH in London two years later with Claudio Abbado ,Evgeny Kissin,Mark Wigglesworth and the ECYO allowed it to be registered with the Charity Commission.
Alas Claudio Abbado is no longer with us but his spirit very much remains in the principles that he had so readily accepted from his lifelong friends.
What could be more fitting than to have at the helm now Sir Antonio Pappano as Patron and with Evgeny Kissin happily joining the rank of Trustee for an institution created by his friends that he had until now admired only from afar.

              Evgeny Kissin at home with John, Noretta and Vitaly
Friends and admirers have been only too happy to accept the founders request to take on much of the workload and responsibility of what has become a welcoming and helpful stepping stone for over 200 aspiring young musicians in the 50 venues offered worldwide.
The aim being to help give a platform and much needed experience to the enormous amount of exceptional talent that abounds these days.
With Sarah Biggs and Sarah Moyse keeping order the KCT is growing rapidly in strength.
An MBE from the Queen for our founders ,a just recognition for all they have been doing for so many young artists for over a quarter of a century.
Many friends and admirers present today were happy to join the founders in this first joint venture between Temple Music and the KCT.

                     John and Noretta Leech with Bryce Morrison
The renowned critic Bryce Morrison and the authoress Claire Packenham were amongst many of the friends who had followed the progress of the KCT as it has inevitably grown over this past quarter century.
What better way to start than with a star indeed .
Noretta and I had heard this young Russian pianist during a special weekend devised by Valentina Lo Surdo in L’Aquila.
A weekend to give hope and encouragement to the people so cruelly marked by a recent earthquake.
So it was in this noble city reduced to a ghost town that three top pianists from the KCT stable:Pablo Rossi,Mei Yi Fou and Vitaly Pisarenko were invited to give morning concerts that were introduced by the well known critic and radio broadcaster Guido Barbieri.
A very moving occasion that will be remembered for a long time by all those who gathered to receive some relief from the strife that had so unexpectedly hit them.
Pablo Rossi I knew well as he was the first of a series of young artists to play in Rome since cementing the partnership between the Ghione Theatre and the KCT.
Vitaly Pisarenko we had not heard before but when he started the Prelude in B minor by Bach/ Siloti Noretta and I looked at each other and it was love at first sight.
Such a extraordinarily subtle sense of balance on the wonderful Fabbrini Steinway Concert Grand that had been donated to this hall that Claudio Abbado had so wished for this cruelly tarnished city.
Designed by Renzo Piano it had been donated by the city of Trento to this strife torn city and built outside the city gate.
If Music be the food of love………….music can enter where words are just not enough.
Vitaly has since gone on to win recognition from his performances worldwide.
Winner at only 20 of the Utrecht Liszt Competition he was a top prize winner in the last Leeds international Piano Competition.
Recognition too from the Royal College of Music where he completed his studies with Dmitri Alexeev and where he is now combining a busy concert career with a doctorate in Anton Rubinstein.
A new Steinway piano,a beautifully appointed intimate hall and an audience suitably welcomed with a glass of much appreciated nectar on this very cold winters day.
Not a spare seat in the house for a programme of Schubert and Liszt.
From the very first note Noretta and I looked at each other as we had done in L’Aquila .
Schubert’s very elusive 12 German Dances that can so easily in the wrong hands sound heavy and ungrateful were here give a performance of such subtle colours and shaping. The viennese lilt to them was quite irresistible.
The most noticeable thing of course was that every note was given a life of its own.
You could almost see on his face how a great story teller was sharing this intimate tale with us.
The music spoke as only music can in the hands of a great interpreter.
A great lesson learnt from our illustrious founder member and trustee Alfred Brendel.
I was not expecting to hear in this repertoire such a refined sensibility with so few notes from this extraordinarily sensitive artist.
Artist he certainly is as the two impromptus that followed confirmed.
Has the G flat impromptu ever been played with a such aristocratic sense of line?
A very loud new piano did not allow for all the subtleties that he was striving for but it was nevertheless a performance to cherish.
The wash of sound given to the opening of the fourth impromptu sounded just like a very gentle wash of water contrasting with the chordal interruptions.
An almost superhuman sense of touch allowed this sheen of sound to glisten as it has rarely done in lesser hands.
The passionate middle section played with just the right amount of feeling that held this elite audience in complete silence enthralled by what was unfolding before them.
Liszt filled the rest of this short one hour programme.

                 Noretta Conci- Leech and Bryce Morrison
Leslie Howard pointed out in his very informative programme note quoting from the editors Zoltan Gardonyi and Istvan Szelenyi in the introduction to the Neue Liszt- Ausgabe:
“…it is intended to put and end to the various and often completely contradictory interpretations of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies,,,,,,,,,,,,to this day these works are principally but erroneously looked on as more or less trivial products …the reason for the general inaccuracy in performance and the tendency to indulge in vivid though rough showmanship……….despite all the virtuosity they demand,mere technical bravura should never predominate”.
Who better to describe what we heard this evening.
A revelatory Liszt.
Leslie Howard long time mentor to Vitaly since he was on the jury of the Utrecht Liszt Competition that he won ten years ago .
It is hardly surprising that we were completely overwhelmed by the performances not only of the Hungarian Rhapsodies n.10 and 13 but also by the two Ballades that have lain in the shadow of Chopin’s four masterpieces for too long.
A respect for the score that we all learnt to appreciate via Busoni in the studio at the Chigiana in Siena where musicians flocked to hear the equally revelatory performances of Guido Agosti.

Lidia Stix Agosti   Guido Agosti   Ileana Ghione in the Ghione Theatre in Rome
It is hard to believe that the first Ballade is very rarely,if ever heard, in concert .
Together with its partner it showed to the full the musicianship but also the supreme command of the keyboard and just that right amount of showmanship that could bring these masterpieces to life.
Octaves played with such an overall sense of line and colour one was not aware of the transcendental technique required to interpret and really make these pieces speak.
Claudio Arrau and Alfred Brendel were our two models in my youth that restored Liszt to his rightful place amongst the giants of all time.
And tonight there were so many wonderful things to admire.
One was never aware of the superlative technical control and digital brilliance because there was a musical mind of such overpowering authority one was completely absorbed in the story that this artist was imparting.
Of course the triumphant metamorphosis of the simple melody in the second ballade was quite overwhelming in its power and sheer sumptuousness.
The amazing control of the glissandi in the 10th Rhapsody or the enormous full but never hard sounds in the 13th were all things one can think about in retrospect.
The fact was that here was an artist with a story to tell and the means to hold us spellbound whilst he shared it with us.

         Vitaly Pisarenko with Sarah Biggs ,General Manager of the KCT
How we would have like to have more but the lawyers have to have supper and an early night to do battle for us all early next day.
Happy to realise that it is the quality not the quantity that counts !
However Mr Pisarenko can be heard again for the KCT with the Manchester Camerata on the 17th April in Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio and in June in Cadogan Hall with Ravel G major Piano Concerto and The London Mozart Players.
Having made his debut at the Wigmore Hall at the KCT’s annual prizewinners concert two year ago .
We await this years winner Mark Viner on the 2nd March .
Another eclectic programme of Liszt,Alkan and Thalberg from the chairman of the Alkan and Liszt Societies and like his mentor Leslie Howard only in his twenties he already shares the accolade with him of being a world authority on Alkan to Leslie Howard‘s undisputed authority on Liszt.

Mark Viner this years Prize Winners concert at the Wigmore Hall 2nd March