ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Beethoven glorious Beethoven Hin Yat Tsang at St Mary`s

We are so used to hearing Beethoven’s last three sonatas op 109,110 and 111 that it came as a surprise to see the three Sonatas op 101,109 and 110 grouped together in today’s programme …….. …..that is until one heard Hin Yat Tsang’s revelatory performance today for Dr Hugh Mather‘s extraordinary season of great young pianists in the beautifully welcoming wooden church in the middle of Ealing golf course!

It was many years ago that I studied with “Freddie” Jackson at the Royal Academy.

Sidney Harrison ,my professor from my youth,had gone away for a term to adjudicate in Canada and he sent me to that remarkable musician who had recently awarded me the Liszt Scholarship.

I would practise every evening in the Royal Academy and one day a young chinese girl shyly knocked on my door.

She too was studying with Professor Jackson and she had heard a lot about me and could she play through her programme that she was about to play at the Vercelli International Competition in Italy.

She was in her final year and I was in my first.

I remember it well.How could I forget?

She won the silver medal.

She played Beethoven op 110,Schumann Kinderszenen and a Bach Prelude and Fugue.

It was wonderful musicianly playing,beautiful sound and of such intelligence.

I was overwhelmed and full of compliments.

Her name was Eleanor Wong who has gone on to make a big name for herself in her home in Hong Kong. Not only as a pianist but as a trainer of young very gifted children. She is an important part of the very prestigious Hong Kong International Piano Competition …the only competition where the jury are asked to give concerto performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Recently she was also invited onto the jury of the Leeds International Piano Competition.

So it came as no surprise to learn that Hin-Yat Tsang was just such a gifted child in Hong Kong when he started his studies with Eleanor at the age of four.

Today in his twenties having graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts with a B mus he went on to study at the Royal College of Music with Dmitri Alexeev.

Supported by the Harold Craxton Trust,Worshipful Company of Musicians and Constant and Kit Lambert Junior Fellowship winning many important prizes and graduating last year.

He is now completing his studies in Berlin with Klaus Hellwig.

A real thinking musician his reasoning became perfectly clear with his unusual grouping together of these three sonatas from Beethoven’s final output of five from op 106 to 111 .

It all fell so clearly into place as these three sonatas each starting in a pastoral mood ever more serene as they progress from op101 to 110.

Of course it was obvious as op 106 and op 111 both start in an imperious mood throwing all caution to the wind as Beethoven asks the player to risk all with the opening fanfares in the “Hammerklavier” as in the last Sonata op 111.

It became  clear as Hin-Yat Tsang caressed so lovingly the opening phrase of op 101.”mit der innigsten Empfindung ” with innermost sensibility exactly as Beethoven had indicated .

It was as though the bar lines did not exist as this great song unravelled with all Beethoven’s indications , digested and interpreted so naturally.

The throbbing syncopated rhythms where Beethoven marks espressivo and semplice so gently telling.

The climax dissolving into almost a murmur. An extraordinary control on this not easy piano was so evident from the very first notes.

I was reminded of the masterclass with Andras Schiff on the Schumann Humoresque at the RCM a year or two ago.

One of the most inspired I have ever witnessed where the student and master were on such a level that it became a truly unforgettable experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdqiQ9VQxrE

His performances of the Rachmaninov 2nd Sonata and the Scrabin Studies at his graduation concert showed a trascendental technique .

A technique that gives him complete command of the sound and allied to a musical intelligence of extraordinary sensibility it lead to an unforgettable hour of music today.

The extraordinary concentration from this charming young man I have only seen once before recently and that was from Chloe Mun the winner of the Busoni Competition who made her debut for the Keyboard CharitableTrust at Steinway Hall last summer and thanks to the generosity of Dr Hugh Mather in Perivale too.

Like her his head bowed, watching like a hawk every move .

Such beautifully natural movement of the hands as they hovered over the keys almost like a sculptor bringing a work of art to life.

Taught rhythmic control in the march never allowing the tension to lag leading to an adagio of such longing as Beethoven asks each hand to beseech the other so clearly and tenderly.

The opening theme erupting into a final movement that bubbled over with an almost pastoral charm and joy .Played with just the right aristocratic determination on the questioning chordal interruptions .

The Sonata op 109 floated in as though it had already begun afar .

The Prestissimo played with all the Beethovenian energy and rhythmic assurance of the greatest players .

The theme and variations beautifully shaped.

The voicing in the second variation so unusually clear showed a real musical mind at work.The transcendental precision of the Allegro vivace 3rd variation and again the clarity of the part playing in the 4th .

The majestic statement of the Allegro,ma non troppo of the 5th leading to the celestial return of the main theme .

The extreme attention to the the left hand rhythm allowed for the natural disintegration with the trills superbly controlled and leading to the final magical reapparition of the theme.

No pause between this sonata and the heavenly opening of op 110 was possible.

The capacity audience spellbound hardly daring to breathe as he played with the true “amabilita’” that Beethoven asks for.

The whole Sonata unfolded and time seemed to stand still as it had when his teacher Eleanor Wong all those years ago played it to that first year student who listened as overwhelmed as we all were today.

A Prelude from the 48 in F minor Bk 1 was the only possible encore for an insistent public .

I was hopefully expecting op 111 that Dr Mather had told me he had been playing in his warm up before today’s concert.

Next time we will be waiting with great anticipation for the reappearance of this remarkable young musician.

London Music Foundation first concert to create funds for a proposed London International Piano Competition in 2020

With Ilya Kondratiev as artistic director presided over by Vanessa Latarche the first concert for the launch of this new project took place in the Russian Cultural Centre in Kensington.

London the undisputed capital for music strangely does not have an International Piano Competition of its own.

A few years ago there was the London Power Piano Competition the brain child of Sulamita Aronovsky .

The Honorary Patron was Prince Charles and the finals took place in the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic .

I well remember the year that the 19 year old Behozod Abduraimov won with a stunning performance of Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto – Alessandro Taverna gave a memorable performance of Chopin 1st Piano concerto in the final too.

A glittering audience including many renowned musicians including Dame Fanny Waterman founder of the Leeds Piano Competition which has been for many years one of the very best competitions in the world.

I well remember a party afterwards that went on late and Peter Frankl having his car locked up for the night in the RFH garage that like Cinderella at the midnight hour was nowhere to be seen!

Unfortunately like so many worthy cultural initiatives it has not continued as  hoped it might.

Rome too was sadly lacking until the indomitable Marcella Crudeli came along with Carola Grindea from EPTA to found the Rome International Piano Competition now an established part of the International music scene

So Vanessa Latarche,head of Keyboard Studies at the Royal College of Music has taken on the burden of putting this matter right.

Tonight was the first of a series of fund raising events for the first competition that will take place in 2020.

Who better that Vanessa to lead London into victory.

Having studied from an early age with the indomitable Eileen Rowe in Ealing .

A shining example of what passion,resilience and intelligence could do in a West London suburb.

We all flocked to her home to help her cope with her very large teaching practice.

Pianos in every room we could help with her students and earn some money for our own studies as well as enjoy the roast lunch that was part of the deal too.

Danielle Salamon,Katherine Stott,Tessa Nicholson and me too were just a few that were happy to help this remarkable lady who had dedicated her life to her students with a rigour discipline and kindness that will not be forgotten.

She left all her worldly goods to a Trust to help young musicians in Ealing.

A Trust administered with great affection by Vanessa Latarche and that other remarkable benefactor in West London Dr Hugh Mather.

There must be something in the air in those parts that rings to the sound of music!

Tonight abetted by her own star students Ilya Kondratiev and Martin James Bartlett and with the kind help of the Russian Cultural Centre we were treated to the launch of this new project.

Milana Sarukhanyan, soprano was magnificently accompanied by Ilya Kondratiev Chappell Gold Medal Prize winner of the RCM.

Lid on full stick we were treated to some beautiful Russian Romances by Rimsky- Korsakov and Tchaikowsky.

I am so used to Russian songs in my theatre with Christoff,Ghiaurov or the much missed Hvorosovsky full of pessimism and doom that it was so refreshing to hear this beautiful young lady singing about love!

I had no idea of what the actual words were but the sentiment was just as compelling. Beautiful voice with such passion and feeling and rich velvet sound where the Russian language is  so obviously expressive.

The moment Renate Sokolovska appeared with her flute I knew that I had heard her before at the Wigmore Hall.

The instrument is such a part of her it is something so rare that one does not easily forget

Lenski’s aria from Eugene Onegin was followed by a full blooded performance of Prokofiev Sonata op 94.

A real duo played with great technical assurance and passion very expertly shared with our artistic director .

Martin James Bartlett,winner of the BBC Young Musician of the year in 2014 when he was 17 now under the expert guidance of Vanessa Latarche he is standing on the threshold of a very important career.

Already noted for his superb performances at the Van Cliburn Competition.

Just last week he played Mozart C minor Concerto with the distinguished conductor Bernard Haitink in a performance streamed worldwide.

Three of the best known Preludes by Rachmaninov from op 32- n.10,5 and 12 superbly played and lead to a totally convincing account of Scriabin’s magical 4th Sonata .

Martin on the cover of the Lark Music magazine of the Lark Insurance Co Uk was very happy to turn pages for his colleague tonight demonstrating the simplicity that surrounds great talent very much on display tonight.

Nice to be back at St Mary’s Perivale on this wintery day and to be greeted so warmly by our host Dr Hugh Mather the “Deus ex machina” of this veritable mecca of major pianistic talent .

A great pleasure to hear Bobby Chen a well known figure on the musical scene in London but that I have never had the chance to hear until now.

A notable curriculum in which in particular his appearances with Lord Menuhin in Beethoven’s Triple Concert immediately takes the eye.

Having studied at the Menuhin School he exemplifies the very reason that Menuhin wanted to start a school where very talented young musicians could from childhood receive a normal school education alongside a very specialist musical one as befits these precociously gifted children often misunderstood and trained too late to be able to compete with the children from Eastern Countries.

Completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music he has gone on to play with many major orchestras under renowned conductors.

He has represented his home country of Malaysia for their 50th Anniversary as a nation in 2007 performing the world premiere of a newly written piano concerto at the Royal Festival Hall.

In 2010 he founded his own Overseas Malaysian Winter Academy based at the Menuhin School.

With four solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall and a duo recital with Leslie Howard it was indeed with great interest that I was at last able to appreciate his great musical pedigree at close hand

His musical credentials were evident from the first notes of the Haydn Sonata in C Hob XV1:50.

Here was a piano sound reminiscent of Myra Hess and Moura Lympany rather than the usual barnstormingly proficient performances we are so often subjected to these days .

He has that rare gift of being able to make the music speak and his variants of tone colour were almost as multifaceted as the human voice. The magical music box effect was beautifully realised as was the impish good humour in the Allegro finale .

It made one wonder why these masterpieces are not played more often .Haydn,Mozart and Beethoven what amazing genius and true understanding of the instrument.

Of course it takes a great musician to be able to interpret these works to allow them to speak naturally instead of taking off like a box of fireworks.

Paul Lewis is playing two recitals of Haydn Sonatas and Beethoven Bagatelles in the Royal Festival Hall something that would have been unthinkable, especially for a British pianist, a few years back.

The Liszt Sonetto del Petrarca 104 was beautifully shaped the intricate embellishments incorporated into the long melodic lines as if a great Bel canto aria.

The Busoni arrangement of Bach’s moving “Ich ruf zu dir Herr Jesu Christ” played with a stillness and such subtle tone colours even the final chord placed with just that perfection of a real musician that is listening intently to himself .

In fact in all these pieces I found myself wishing that there could have been a bit more Florestan to his ultra sensitive Eusebius.

Surely within the notes of Bach’s sublime Cantata there is also an underlying passion of a true believer and not just a devout follower.

The great Bach- Busoni Chaconne followed.

It is every bit Busoni as it is Bach .

To think that a piece for solo violin could be transcribed so perfectly as to be almost reinvented .

And it was just that reinvention that was so obvious in Bobby Chen’s performance .

None of the usual barnstorming presentation of the theme but played with an unusual quiet calm that lead quite naturally into the left hand staccato octaves played quarter bow as the Chaconne lead us to its obvious conclusions. Some beautiful contrasts with sumptuous tone from the middle register of the piano and a general sense of shape a direction that lead into the almost organ like writing before the triumphant return of the opening theme.

The great bass notes deep down in the piano played as a real musician who is aware that these notes are only to enrich the noble sounds and not like guns being fired as is too often the case.

Sometimes rhythmically not always impeccable it was a small price to pay for such musicianly playing.

The Liszt second Ballade in B minor charmingly introduced by this “gentle ” man was played with great command.

Right from the swirling left hand on which the theme emerges as if on some great wash of waves to the sublime first appearance of the second subject there was always a musical sheen and never just empty virtuosity.

Astoundingly musical octaves and an appearance at last of Florestan in the great heroic outpourings of Liszt’s magical metamorphosis that conjures up an almost operatic melody from its first innocent appearance.

An encore of Schumann’s Widmung in Liszt’s beautiful transcription brought this recital to a magical end.

Aleksandar Pavlović at the Royal Albert Hall

Nice to be back in the Elgar Room again where the Royal College of Music have been giving concerts since 1884!

Mr Barton played the Chopin third Ballade in that very first concert and it was indeed Chopin that struck gold today too.

Students or I should say young artists from the Royal College now have the opportunity to play to a sold out audience on Sunday mornings in what is billed as “Classical Coffee Morning “.

A full house today where obviously many had come for the coffee and cakes on offer in these very august settings together with an hour of music.

Little were they expecting to hear such impressive performances  such as we were treated to today.

I doubt anyone would have dared lift their cup whilst they were listening to the young Serbian graduate from the class of that very distinguished trainer of real musicians Norma Fisher

And it was indeed in the middle section of the Chopin Polonaise Fantasie that his aristocratic and mature understanding became truly enthralling.

Having seen Aleksandar recently in an archive film shown before the Rome International Piano Competition now in its 25th year .

A young boy of 12, winner of the Junior Section of this relatively unknown competition which Marcella Crudeli with her intrepid resilience and enthusiasm matched only by that of Carola Grindea combined with EPTA to give the stage not only to mature artists but also to those youngsters with major talent as we have seen today.

Having heard Aleksandar Pavlović in this very hall two years ago I was immediately struck by his great musicality and sensitivity but also felt it missed the architectural solidity and control that a mature artist must acquire.

Hats off to Norma Fisher for giving him the time to study under her expert guidance and mature into the artist that was before us today .

Norma Fisher herself ,as our mutual “piano daddy”Sidney Harrison had done for her as a school girl, has allowed the freedom for the talent to develop naturally but with great patience to point the direction and convince (not always easy with such talent) him to listen to himself and acquire his own musical taste and personality.

It is no coincidence that at the Chopin Society later this afternoon another of Sidney Harrisons students Ian Hobson is playing.

We were teenagers together studying in Chiswick ,as Norma before us, with the first man to give piano lessons on the television at a time when one looked into that brown box in the corner of a few privileged homes .

Ian Hobson from a talented youth from Coventry ,thanks to that same very careful training, has since gone on to win the Leeds International Piano Competition and create an important career in America as Professor,Pianist and Conductor.

Many of the public told me afterwards today of how they had noted my concentration on Pavolvic’s performances and I explained that it was so involving that I and I am sure many others present had found a cup of cold coffee untouched at the end of his astounding performance of the Scriabin Fantasie that finished this all too short programme.

Twice in this Elgar room but next time for a sure we will be applauding in the 6000 seat hall next door known as the Town Hall of London.

The Royal Albert Hall that thankfully no bomb or demolition squad has had in its sights. What better memorial could a loving wife leave her adored husband.

United forever in this unique space .

Not an easy task to present yourself at 11 am impeccably dressed in a dinner jacket and to sit down in front of a full hall and be confronted with a bright red Yamaha grand piano.

The piano donated to the Elgar Room by Markson Pianos was in fact used by Elton John on his Big Red Piano Tour.

Starting also with one of Beethoven’s most allusive openings to be played ” with innermost sensibility” .

Hats off to this young artist ,still only 24, that he could create the atmosphere immediately.

The hands caressing the keys and allowing the melody to evolve almost as a great lieder singer might have done.

Some exquisite phrasing and very delicate use of the sustaining pedal gave a very liquid un percussive sound to this great song like opening.

Hinted at in the previous little sonata op 90 but now fully born in the first of the last five great sonatas where Beethoven could only imagine the celestial sounds he had in his head.

The Schumanesque type march that followed was played with great rhythmic control only very rarely did Pavlovic’s youthful temperament disturb the unyielding flow that Beethoven demands.

“Slow and longingly” Beethoven asks for in the third movement and this young artist certainly treated us to that today with such a beautifully modulated melodic line leading to the last movement played with great deliberation as Beethoven asks and here Pavlovic’s great temperament finally caught fire.

Great control in this very difficult movement with the typical Beethovenian outbursts played with such full rich orchestral sound.

This in turn lead to an extraordinary performance of Chopin’s Polonaise Fantasie.

So often played with more Fantasie than Polonaise and as the opening great expanse of sounds unravelled out of the majestic opening chords I thought we were in for another of those interpretations from the so called Chopin specialist.

Those that specialise in playing with great feeling but rarely in time.

However in this late work of Chopin one was aware of a very serious musical mind much like that of a Perahia or Zimerman where there can be flexibility and passion combined with great control and sense of architectural shape.

Yes the roots in the ground and the branches free to move naturally in the wind as Chopin would describe his so called rubato to his aristocratic but rather poor lady students that he was forced to teach to survive.

Unfortunately the tradition from these second rate amateur pianists has been passed down as the authentic Chopin.

Nothing could be further from the truth as Artur Rubinstein and many after him have since shown us.

The build up to the final outburst was very well judged and kept excitingly under control.

Never have I heard the Scriabin Fantasie played with such a clear sense of line and direction.

A very passionately felt performance in which control, musicianship and sense of balance gave a commanding vision to this often fragmented piece that comes between the 3rd and 4th sonatas.

In a single movement it is a challenge for the performer to bring all the various strands and contrasting episodes together making the final passionate explosion so inevitably right.

It brought this short hour long programme to a sumptuous romantic finish .

Despite insistent applause no encore was possible after such a trascendental exhibition of such mastery.

Camerata in Love

Stoller Hall Manchester

Rebecca Bottone,Ilya Kondratiev,Caroline Pether,Hannah Roberts. …..and an unexpected visit from Callum Mclachlan.

Now in its second year the inspired and inspiring collaboration between the Keyboard Charitable Trust and the Manchester Camerata opened its second year last night in the magnificent new Stoller Hall that is a great and much needed addition to Chethams Music School.

This remarkable school that like the Purcell and Menuhin schools further south have been responsible for the early training of so many talented young children .

A training sadly lacking for so many years in England that allowed too often in the past, an unfair advantage from young early trained musicians from the Eastern countries. This is now no longer the case and it is no coincidence that there has been an explosion of english trained talent on the International Music scene in the past few years.

One of three orchestras in this enlightened (literally) city.

The Camerata is the only one to maintain the cities name according to Geoffrey Shindler,their honorary chairman who was so proud to inform me.

The Halle created by Sir John Barbirolli whose statue stands outside the relatively new Bridgewater Hall that it shares with the BBC Philharmonic.

Manchester an industrial city that had been treated so cruelly in the second world war and even recently suffered a devastating bomb attack from terrorists right in its very heart only a stones throw from the Cathedral and Chethams.

The brave and resilient Mancunians with that noble working spirit of the north have come back stronger and more determined than ever.

A city full of new concert halls,theatres,art galleries and astonishing commercial centres incorporating the old with the new.

Last year the Keyboard Trust collaborated with the Manchester Camerata in three different venues with three young stars from the KCT stable . The Whitworth award winning Art gallery with Alexander Ullman the only British pianist ever to have won both Liszt International Competitions in Budapest and Utrecht

Home a cultural centre that has grown out of the old leather foundry with Emanuel Rimoldi,winner of Tromso Top of the World International Competition .

Manchester Cathedral,devastated in the war and brought back to life as a symbol of this brave City with Iyad I. Sughayer,recent winner of the Trinity Laban Gold Medal. It was an inspired choice of programme with Haydn`s Last Words on the Cross and Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time. Geoffrey Shindler and many in the vast audience were deeply moved and had tears in their eyes.

 https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/upclose-the-next-generation/

It cemented a relationship that was the brain child of Geoffrey Shindler passionately believing in “The Next Generation “and sponsoring it from his own pocket too.

But then the hardy folk from the “North” have never been afraid to bare their souls with actions rather than words.

And so the new season with Ilya Kondratiev , Chapell Gold Medal Winner at the Royal College of Music and a top prize winner too in the Budapest Liszt Competition,joined two of the magnificent players from the Camerata to form a piano trio in a concert dedicated to Valentine`s day under the charming title “Camerata in Love” .

The idea of bassoonist and now enlightened Head of Artistic Development and Programming,James Thomas.

At the head of a young team of passionate music promoters in the name of the Camerata under their chief in command Bob Riley.

All with that warmth and intelligent common sense that is so much part of these extraordinary “down to earth” folk.

A programme made up of Romances for violin.and piano with Caroline Pether`s superb violin and the renowned cellist Hannah Roberts.

A Salut d`Amour ,of course,could not be missing and neither could Il Bacio sung by the daughter of Bonaventura Bottone the renowned coloratura soprano Rebecca Bottone.

All this only a prelude to the” sturm und drang” of Brahm`s passionate youthful masterwork the Trio in B major op.8.

The beauty of the sound of Caroline Pethers violin filled the hall with all her subtle and intelligent artistry that she had already revealed in the final rehearsals that afternoon.

The Beethoven Romance n.2 in F op.50,too rarely heard these days and given a suitably warm and loving performance as was befitting an evening dedicated to love and lovers.

A full orchestra provided by Ilya Kondratiev on a Steinway D on full stick.

Never overpowering the violin this fine musician was listening always attentively as the refined and sensitive driver of this Ferrari of all instruments.

Hannah Roberts followed with the Romance in A major by Faure .

A refined and passionate performance playing without the score that gave full reign to her complete participation .

I remember Perlemuter asking me to tell the public in Rome before he played some nocturnes by Faure of how the director of the Paris Conservatoire would pass the music down to him in the house they shared with the ink still wet to try out on their piano.

His music shows just that intimate love of Hausmusik that was so much part of all the performances this evening.

Little could we have expected the bomb shell that a little blond haired lady was about to treat us too.

Rebecca Bottone,figlia d`arte of the renowned Bonaventura Bottone and Jennifer Hakin treated us to three show stoppers indeed.

Vilja from Lehar’s Merry Widow sung with a subtle charm reciprocated by our young russian pianist in a duo of give and take that kept the Valentine audience spellbound.

“O mio babbino caro”from Gianni Schicchi did its trick as it had done in the many memorable performances I heard in my student days of Caballe.

Just as beautiful and sustained and quite as moving as I remember those performances.Backed by some beautiful sounds from the piano.

They launched into Arditi`s Il Bacio with all the energy and transcendental technique of the greatest coloratura sopranos for whom it was written.

An amazing performance in which Ilya and Rebecca tried to out do each other in funabular trickery.

An amazing high C showed just who won!

A standing ovation and time for an interval in what was really just the Hors d’oeuvre to our Valentine treat.

I well remember Michael Aspinall the well known – infamous one might almost say-“Gentleman Soprano” who performed it regularly in Rome with the Adelina Patti embellishments .

Sutherland and Caballe used to come and cheer his performances and recognised his absolute authority in the repertoire of the Golden Age of singing.

Having started as a joke at the British Council in Rome dressed as “Britannia” and impersonating to the letter Dame Clara Butt’s inimitable performances he found he could earn  enough money from his performances worldwide to help with his musicological studies in the archives of S.Carlo in Naples and elsewhere.

He appeared a few years ago dressed as Britannia at his old Grammar School in Manchester much to the amazement and amusement of his fellow old boys.

Now in his 80th year he is a much sought after singing teacher in Naples with many illustrious students of his singing in the Opera houses around the world.

Elgar’s sublime Salut d’Amour op 12 opened the second half in a trio version arranged by Hannah’s composer husband.

Elgars hymn to love with some intricate counterpoints with some suggestion of the violin and cello concertos.

 Elgar’s song to love so beautifully played by all three as the melody passed from one to another in a real amorous tete a tete .The intellectual refinement of the counterpoint was a little bit lost as the violin and cello soared into the perfect acoustic of this beautiful hall.

The main work on the programme was still to come with Brahms passionate and youthful early Trio in B major op 8 .

Played with red hot passion in an exciting and stimulating performance with three players who had only played together for a the past three days .

The beautiful opening on the piano echoed hauntingly by the cello ,passionate and refined.

When the violin enters in unison with the cello and the melody soared with such intensity one could see the almost aching agony on the faces of these dedicated artists.

The Scherzo played with real rhythmic energy the piano answered so perfectly by the cello.

The Trio section sang in stark relief to the impish energy either side.

Some wonderful jeux perle playing from the piano gave an exquisite sheen to this movement.

The serenity of the slow movement was almost as a relief from the intensity of the outer movements .Choral like in its religious calm.

Hannah’s cello slipped in almost unnoticed on the last chord and lead to a tumultuous final movement full of the typical dance like energy that was to mark so many of Brahms’ final movements .The cascading final notes of the piano echoed by the passionate chords from the cello and piano brought an ovation from an audience overwhelmed by a really exhilarating performance.

Manchester the city where music abounds and in the Summer months becomes a mecca for the greatest musicans from around the globe.

The Chethams Summer Piano Festival devised by Murray McLachlan bring the greatest talents in a breathtakingly unique programme which last year included Peter Frankl,Dmitri Alexeev,Craig Shepherd,Leslie Howard ,Carlo Grante,Leon McCawley,Norika Ogawa,Dina Parakhina,Norma Fisher and many many more besides All the Beethoven Concertos played by a selection of these great artists.

Murray McLachlan an ex student of Norma Fisher at the Royal Northern College of Music where she has now transferred her London Masterclasses celebrating it’s 30th year and bringing even more illustrious music to this remarkable city.

Murray McLachlan with his family of musicians too and we were delighted to be able to listen to his very talented eighteen year old son Callum play so beautifully Chopin op 35 and Beethoven op 7 in a pause between rehearsal and concert.

The Hills certainly are full of the Sound of Music which by coincidence is playing at the Palace Theatre and only goes to mirror a fraction of the exciting things that are happening in this remarkable city.

Enlightened indeed ….it is positively gleaming

Louis Lortie in Rome …The Complete Chopin Studies

Not many pianists can approach all the Chopin studies in one sitting and so it was with some trepidation that I entered that hallowed S.Cecilia Hall and saw just a piano on its own.

Admittedly a Steinway D of Fabbrini so I knew we were in good hands.

Having heard Louis Lortie recently too in Saint- Saens fourth piano concerto in Turin and last year  in two truly monumental performances of Brahms F minor Sonata in London and Rome

I was sure we were in for a memorable occasion.

I well remember my wonder on discovering as a boy the recording of Alfred Cortot.

All the studies plus the Preludes op 28.

It had passed into history his public performances of this programme.

Each little tone poem full of glittering jewels and subtle poetry.

Vladimir Ashkenazy in my youth gave memorably poetic performances of the studies op 10 and 25 together with the Beethoven Sonatas op 31 in two recitals at the Festival Hall and was his visiting card in London together with Rachmaninoff Concerto n.3 and Prokofiev n.2.

We tend to forget what a poet he was at the keyboard now he is more often seen with a baton in his golden hands.

Stefan Askenase too gave a memorable performance of the complete studies as did Fou Ts’ong in London and for us on my request in Rome.

I will never forget Jan Smeterlin in op.10 n.2.One of the most transcendentally difficult studies in chromatic notes played with a beguiling charm and some unexpected but beautiful pointing of inner parts as befitted a disciple of Leopold Godowsky.

Godowsky ,the pianists pianist ,made notorious arrangements of all the studies sometimes combining two together,but always maintaining and sometimes augmenting their poetic content.

Artur Rubinstein stuck to those few where he felt he had something to say.”You have to love what you play” he is famously quoted as saying  and op 25 n.5 in E minor was truly memorable as was the excitement he generated at the end of op.10 n.4 in C sharp minor. We were all astonished when in his final recital at the Wigmore Hall he played so beautifully op 25 n.2 that we had never heard him play before.

He could not see out of the corners of his eyes and so abandoned his 2nd Scherzo a lifetime warhorse that alas he could not longer tame .

The study lies beautifully in the middle register of the piano and there was certainly nothing wrong with his magical fingers even in his 90’s

Richter ,of course,arrived late in life with his Yamaha piano and little light on the score and proceeded to astonish us with his choice of some of the most difficult studies.

Strange that Piero Rattalino in his learned programme notes “Chopin entre deux ages” had forgotten to mention what is generally recognised as the finest modern account of the studies on record.

That of Murray Perahia.

I doubt he would play them complete in concert but has preferred to play a few at a time nurturing them with all his masterly musicianship,control and delicacy.

Shura Cherkassky’s 1955 account so lauded by Rattalino but strangely disowned by Shura when he heard it had reappeared on the paper stall in Italy.

Like Arrau whose masterly account of op 25 he was not at all happy with.

These are indeed the pinnacle of the pianistic repertoire and each of these master pianists have had different peaks in view.

Today listening to Louis Lortie playing with astonishing precision and startling speed, whilst I could understand his wish to present the studies as an architectural whole I felt it was at the expense of the poetic content of each individual study.

Some of the studies in particular from op 10 whilst marvelling at the performance no real characterisation or sense of colour was possible.

Even the beautiful study in E major op 10 n.3 played with an admirable cantabile was somehow never allowed to flow simply and the accompaniment sounded strangely agitated.

Nothing to do with the tempo which has always been in discussion since Chopin changed Vivace ma non troppo to Lento ma non troppo.

This is to do with simplicity and getting away from the Chopin tradition which is the opposite of Chopin’s distinct wish for the roots to be always firmly planted whilst allowing the branches to sway naturally.This was surprisingly also in evidence in the Nocturne offered as an encore

The dramatic contrasts in the “Revolutionary”study were strangely missing too.

However there were many memorable things such as the sweep and passionate shaping of the final study op.25 n.12.

The beautiful simplicity of the sublime central section of op.25 n.5 in E minor.

The lack of sentimentality and sense of forward drive of the beautiful op 10 n.6.

Surely the melody is in the left hand in the double third study op 25 n.6 in G sharp minor.Not evident here although the treacherous double thirds were thrown off with admirable ease.

I well remember Perlemuters memorable performance of this one in particular when he played the op.25 set at his debut in Italy at the age of 81!

Agosti was unforgettable in his studio in Siena pointing out with such passion the left hand melody in the scintillating op.10 n.8 in F major .

It was just this that was missing in spite of an astonishingly accurate jeux perle in the right hand .

Some beautiful sounds in the Trois Nouvelles Etudes although the middle one -legato/staccato – was a rather too rumbustious bed fellow for these three most poetic studies written for the Methode des Methodes of Fetis and Moscheles.

After such a tour de force Louis Lortie still had the strength to offer an encore. Chopin’s most magical nocturne in D flat played with a haunting sense of colour that held the audience at last mesmerised by the true poet that is Louis Lortie.

Maybe it is time to leave these complete performances of studies, whether Liszt ,Chopin .Rachmaninov, as a visiting card for the latest “whizz kids” who have the energy and time to prove their laurels.

If they are photogenic the record industry will have a field day in marketing them!

Artists of the stature of Louis Lortie need no better proof of their mastery than the magisterial performances of the great master works such as Brahms F minor Sonata which are but of a chosen few.

Sunday Music with the Amici della Musica of Padua Carlotta Dalia guitar

Wonderful to know that Filippo Juvarra after his dedication to the piano for so many years is opening up the Amici della Musica di Padova to the much neglected world of the guitar.

After the opening concerts of the season dedicated to the piano we were now treated to another of the eight musicians featured in this series of Sunday morning concerts that gives a much needed platform to young competition winners

The wonderfully resonant acoustic of the historic Sala Dei Giganti are just perfect for these plucked instruments and I am much looking forward to hearing that dynamic young harpsichordist, Jean Rondeau, playing the Goldberg’s in this wonderful setting later in the season here too.

It was obviously no coincidence that today the eighteen year old guitarist Carlotta Dalia from Grosseto should present a programme of composers ranging from 1685 to 1872- Scarlatti,Sor and Regondi.

Finishing only with a final flurry into the 20th century with Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Hollywood style indeed for Castelnuovo -Tedesco born in Florence in 1895 emigrated to Hollywood in 1939 and wrote music for over 200 films for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

He did though also find time to write concertos for his neighbours Heifetz and Piatigorsky as well as being a prolific composer for the guitar.

Nice to read that Carlotta is now studying with Frederic Zigante one of the many very fine guitarist who played in the Ghione Theatre in Rome.

Many now famous names were given a platform in Rome in seasons that still unbelievably neglect the guitar .

We had in Rome such artists as Oscar Ghiglia, Manuel Barrueco,Duo Assad,John Williams,David Russell ,Julian Bream,Yamashita,Andrea Vetoretti …..the list of great artists is endless and I just hope that here in Padua at least they might start to find a platform as they have in a little private theatre in Rome.

Frederic Zigante introduced to me in Rome by Griselda Ponce de Leon who organised for us memorable concerts and masterclasses with Zigante and Russell before being struck down by a banal minor operation where she never recovered from the anethestic.

How could I forget Zigante’s moving recital in her memory.

She will not be forgotten.

Some beautifully musical playing from Carlotta today that will grow in stature as her fingers mature and obtain that weight that is so essential, especially in the fast moving figures that alternate with touchingly expressive cantabile.

The guitar has a way of being even more expressive than the piano and  could that have been the reason of the myth that has grown around Schubert and Berloz writing with a guitar by their side?

Carlotta Dalia already at her tender age winner of First Prizes in the Giulio Rospigliosi and Uppsala Competitions last year showed all her professionality as we battled with a persistent cougher throughout the first half of the programme.

Thankfully we were able to listen without this interruption after an irate Filippo Juvarra asked the offending young lady to control or leave.

Some beautiful shading in the three Scarlatti Sonatas and a great sense of line in the Gran Solo op 14 by Fernando Sor.

Some very pleasing variations by Giulio Regondi a composer much appreciated by Sor when his father brought him as a child prodigy to Paris.

The Fantasia op 46 “Souvenir d’Amitie'” by Sor is dedicated to him.

His picture looks remarkably like David Russell with whom I was at the Royal Academy in London and who regularly came to the Ghione theatre in Rome for concerts and masterclasses.

Regondi abandoned by his father in 1831 fled to London and probably as a reaction took to the concertina!

The Castelnuovo- Tedesco of course showed off the remarkable credentials of this young player to the full.

Greeted by a peal of bells as she went into overtime she offered a single encore to an insistent and by now silenced audience! I look forward to hearing this young artist in the great music that abounds for this delicate instrument.

Even if she can turn baubles into gems it is sometimes nice in a programme to have a real genuine gem too.

A wonderful pork sandwich and glass of Merlot in the beautiful square was a sad farewell to Padua sharing the tables with the pigeons and our persistent cougher who seemed to have been miraculously cured by the sublime sounds from Carlotta Dalia‘s guitar.#

Arrivederci,as they say in these parts, a presto!