‘Parting is such sweet sorry so we will say adieu until the morrow.’
Víctor Braojos pays Homage to Alicia de Larrocha at the Matthiesen Gallery.

Adieu to the piano in storage at the gallery on loan from the Imogen Cooper Music Trust where Mary Orr courageously has continued the Young Artists Series . There may be no more piano concerts but there are many magnificent ensembles awaiting to play in such sumptuous surrounds in the heart of Mayfair.

Victor playing with such sumptuous beauty and intelligent musicianship that his homage was doubly significant. ‘Sins of Youth’ might be the title of compositions written by the great pianist between the age of 7 and 30 but when played so persuasively I look forward to hearing more of her ‘sinning’ past .

Alicia the great pianist we all know and loved for her humility, integrity and reverence for music with a capital M. She was the simplest most lovely of people off stage, but in front of the piano she was totally dedicated to serving the composer to the best of her ability.

From the school of Frank Marshall a remarkable pianist from the turn of the last century, who had created his own Academy of which Alicia later in life became director.

Victor had chosen works with which she was mostly associated.
Beginning with ‘Estampes’ that he played with the same simplicity and kaleidoscopic palette of colour as I imagine Alicia would have used. ‘Pagodes’ of radiant beauty and a wondrous sense of balance in which the musical line was inextricably entwined in a magic web of sounds with notes that were merely vibrations of extraordinary golden mastery. ’La Soirée dans Grenade’ was full of mystery and beauty added to a nostalgia and a memory of past experience. What ravishment there was with the tenor melody accompanied by the beguiling dance rhythms glistening above such decadence. Victor’s rain drops were of the same crystalline purity that I remember was so much part of Alicia’s playing . Gradually building in intensity until the purity of a child’s song appears in its midst as if by magic.

Alicia’s sin was called ‘Spring Song’ which Victor played with simple beauty with its rhapsodic mellifluous unfolding. There was the same simplicity and beauty to the ‘Maiden and the Nightingale’ that brought back memories of standing in the wings where I could appreciate the simple purity of her playing.The purity and simplicity of Granados’s Nightingale was certainly not the same one as in Berkeley Square! The Ballade of Love and Death is a tone poem of whispered profundity of deep contemplation and played by Victor with extraordinary poignancy and deeply felt concentration .

I cannot recall Alicia playing much Chopin but Schumann I could never forget . And neither could I forget the Schumannesque encore that Victor repeated today .The ‘Epilogo’ from Granados Romantic Scenes.

As Victor said maybe the Chopin Fantaisie was not in Alicia’s programmes but I am sure I had heard her play it together with the Fourth Ballade . I can imagine her supreme musicianship and remarkable technical mastery giving strength to the two Chopin Sonatas and will search for her recordings inspired by this Homage to one of the great pianist of our age. Victor’s performance of the Fantasie restored an often maligned masterpiece to the pinnacle that it surely deserves.

I have heard Victor many times over the past six years when he had been studying in a London with Martin Roscoe at the Guildhall
A talented student transformed into the great artist we heard tonight, on the wings of his revered Spanish idol, Alicia de Larrocha

Victor Braojos at Imperial College ‘The voice of Spain with love,authority and passion’

Victor Braojos at St Mary’s The intelligence and aristocratic authority of a true musician

Alicia de Larrocha, Composer

Jed Distler

Yes, it’s the same Alicia de Larrocha. Few knew that the 20th century’s foremost Spanish pianist wrote music. She started composing at age seven and continued on and off until her 30th year, with a prolific spurt in her late teens. Admittedly, she composed for her own private pleasure, mostly for family and friends, and not for public performance. While the pianist played down her creative efforts as sins of her youth, she didn’t entirely disown them, and allowed her family to decide whether or not to make these works available after her death.

The majority of pieces are solo-piano miniatures, along with eight songs, a Romance for Cello and Piano, and a three-movement Violin Sonata. Although the music’s ambitions are modest, every piece communicates charm and sincerity, not to mention Larrocha’s command of keyboard texture and excellent harmonic sense influenced in part by early- to mid-20th century Spanish piano music by Turina, Mompou, and Nin. Listen to Aiguablava’s disarming melodies and sophisticated manipulation of registral extremes, or to Burlesca’s rhythmic snap and suave chromatic sleights-of-hand, and you’ll understand what I mean.

Ten Inventions and a four-movement Suite from 1939, plus the 1941 Sonata antigua add up to delightful faux Scarlatti. Sandwiched between the Violin Sonata’s two bland outer movements is a gorgeous Adagio packed with harmonic intensity. It’s let down, however, by violinist Ala Voronkova’s ugly tone and wobbly vibrato. It’s the complete opposite of cellist Peter Schmidt’s elegance and control in the little Schumannesque Romanza. Marta Zabaleta does an admirable job with the solo piano selections, especially in slower, lyrical works. However, faster virtuosic fare would have benefited from more lightness and élan on the level of a pianist like…hmmm…let me see…Alicia de Larrocha.

For me, the songs represent Larrocha’s strongest compositions. I love the folksy tunefulness and neo-Gershwin chords in Canço d’un doble amor and Maite, and admire how the rippling extroversion of Hoy creo en Dios never becomes cloying. Inspiration flows freest when Larrocha lets her dark and brooding side emerge in the desolate Tal vida tal fin, and in Mi vida es un erial, where soprano Marta Mathéu gorgeously floats the long lines as if she never needs breath. Her lovingly characterized performances further stand out by virtue of Albert Guinovart’s world-class accompaniments. Indeed, Guinovart ought to have been recruited for some of the solo pieces; he’s an underrated artist whose terrific Harmonia Mundi solo CDs deserve serious attention.

The booklet notes couldn’t be more informative, and there are full texts and translations for the songs. Had the performances been uniformly consistent, I’d be able to recommend this release without qualification. At the very least, it’s worth it for the songs.

Recording Details:

Album Title: Pecados de Juventud
Reference Recording: None for this collection

• LARROCHA, ALICIA DE:
  Chamber & Piano works

• Record Label: Columna Musica – 001
• Medium: CD

Frank Marshall King (November 28, 1883 – May 29, 1959), was a Spanish Catalan pianist and pedagogue born to parents of English heritage.

Marshall was born in Mataró, Catalonia, Spain . He attended the Conservatori Superior de Musica del Liceu and then began studying with Enrique Granados . Marshall and Granados became close musical associates, and Marshall became Granados’s teaching assistant at the latter’s academy.

When Granados died in 1916, Marshall became its director; he remained director until his death in 1959, and the institute’s name was eventually changed to Académia Frank Marshall. Its administrators and faculty included Alicia de Larrocha and Mercedes Roldós Freixes. Among his pupils at the school was the composer Vincente Asencio. He published two pedagogic works, Estudio práctico sobre los pedales del piano(Madrid, 1919) and La sonoridad del piano, which attempted to notate piano pedalling  more precisely.

Marshall’s influence as a pianist and teacher impacted Catalan piano playing heavily; his approaches to pedaling and voicing helped refine the distinctive style of piano playing from the region. No. 3 of Federico Mompou’s Cancons I Danses  was dedicated to him. His students included Alicia de Larrocha, Mercedes Roldós Freixes, and the Catalan pianist Albert Attenelle, who premiered Mompou’s Chopin Variations.

Marshall died in Barcelona  in 1959, aged 75.

There is only one other person who used to regularly finish his marathon programmes with the Polonaise Héroique when he was well into his 80’s. Martha at 84 showed us that they don’t make them like she and Rubinstein any more.

A programme that would have struck fear into a pianist half her age. With Chopin’s monstrously unpianistic ‘Allegro de Concert’ and Ginastera’s explosive first sonata. Including also Mozart’s Duport variations of punctilious fingerfertigkeit , so exposed but with such delectable style.

Sumptuous almost decadent Debussy with his Suite Bergamasque played with expansive improvised freedom.
A first encore of a Guastavino dance,Bailecito, and finally the explosion of dynamic drive and sumptuous rich sounds of Chopin’s Polonaise.

What a marvel for the opening concert of the Festival of Nations at the Tempietto in the centre of Rome. In collaborazione with Prof Ricci’s Centro Musicale Internazionale ( Francesco Siciliani ) that filled this unique courtyard surrounded by the grandeur of Il Tempio di Marcello and attached to the most beautiful baroque church in Rome.

Martha very generously sharing her music with the birds who were obviously happy to find a fellow musician in their midst . More used to police sirens and helicopters that seem to be de rigeur in all the major cities these days. Mozart variations played with a crystalline clarity of purity and childlike simplicity. Appearances can he deceptive as Schnabel was to point out with his much quoted remark about Mozart being too easy for children but too difficult for adults. This veteran pianist was able to play with a refreshing sense of improvisation as indeed must have been the case at their birth. Extraordinary precision and depth of sound allowed her to play with very sparing use of the pedal that gave a sparkling jewel like feel to the mischievous meanderings that Mozart would have improvised much to the amazement of his contemporaries.

There is truly glorious melodic invention to what may well have been the first movement of Chopin’s intended Third Piano Concerto. It was wonderful to hear the majestic nobility and touching bel canto pour from Martha’s hands with the same aristocratic nobility that was Arrau’s. Rarely played in the concert hall probably because of the stamina and technical mastery required for music that is often more orchestral than pianistic. After the opening sumptuous tutti there was a lone voice high in the keyboard as the soloist was about to make her appearance. Ravishing beauty and a beguiling freedom of exquisite good taste allowed Chopin’s poetic web of bel canto to ring out much to the joy of the birds in the giant pine that sits so regally in this historic garden.A glorious ending of nobility and sumptuous virtuosity brought this one movement work to a triumphant end.

A short break for a piece of chocolate and a glass of water that was waiting for her at the back of the courtyard .

Her long time colleague Hector Pell was holding fort, amazed as we all were, by Martha’s stamina and infectious enjoyment of sharing her music with us all : public, birds, sirens, helicopter and even Gus the theatre cat. ( I often in exasperation describe the Eternal city as the Infernal city )

Another work all to rarely heard these days, is Debussy’s early Suite Bergamasque. A suite of four pieces of evocative and insinuating beauty. This too was played with an air of expansive improvised freedom. From the nobility of the opening Prélude with its grandiose flourishes and a Menuet of capricious beauty expanding to a wondrous pulsating melody of romantic outpouring. Clair de lune was the ideal work for this balmy night in Rome. Magic sounds glowed with subtle inflections of palpitating emotions, with the central episode a wave of sounds on which Debussy places one of his most enticing melodies with inner counterpoints just hinted at with the refined artistry where things are suggested rather than stated. A masterly use of the pedal allowed Martha to float sounds into this balmy air with the magic of the ‘feux follets’ that were attracted to such a magically illuminated scene. ‘Passepied’ was played with an impish sense of fun and character which underlined her masterly use of touch and palette of colour that had brought this suite vividly to life -A Midsummer Nights Dream indeed !

Last year Martha surprised us with a ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata of dynamic strength and intellectual understanding .This year she astonished us with the call to arms and breathtaking physicality of Ginastera’s Sonata n 1 op 22. Prokofiev had written his three ‘War ‘ Sonatas too during the war years ,with the conviction and percussive barbarity mingled with deeply contemplative reflections of heart rending poignancy. Martha had studied this work of Ginastera with the composer and is a work so similar in many ways to Prokofiev.Martha’s performance was obviously definitive with the composer‘s voice speaking through Martha’s masterly hands.

A call to arms of dynamic drive and insistent animalistic cries took many by surprise, as our ‘Signora’ of the keyboard proceeded to pound the very life out of the keys with a percussive brilliance that would have had Stravinsky applauding and Rubinstein sobbing! But Ginastera has a secret up his sleeve with a ‘Presto misterioso’ of whispered murmurings. The hands playing in unison, reminiscent of the last movement of Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata, that has been likened to the wind blowing over the graves. Martha played with a remarkable whispered spidery legato that almost caught her out for a second, but a momentary lapse of concentration was a wake up call to what was a ‘tour de force’ of transcendental playing. There was a languid beauty to the Adagio expanding to passionate outbursts and the shrieks of horror from Ginastera’s tormented soul.The naked barbarism of the ruvido ed ostinato was of passionate dramatic effect.

Not expecting such an overwhelming success Martha had to rack her brain to think of a suitable encore to offer as a thank you to Prof Ricci and his faithful followers, who had invited her to play for them. An insinuating little dance by Guastavino was the ideal antidote to a Ginastera of such overwhelming potency.
Martha was enjoying herself and with a twinkle in her eye announced she would now end with Chopin’s Polonaise Héroique.The same energy and noble drive that I remember from many of Rubinstein’s recitals where life truly began at 80!

Martha Noguera in Rome and Sorrento ‘The authority and passionate conviction of a great artist.’

Homage to Lya De Barberiis Martha Noguera al Ghione

‘Kenny offered the audience, who filled the Steinway concert room to capacity, a very attractive programme, starting with the gem that is Bach’s Prelude No 10 in E minor arranged – and transposed to B minor – by Russian pianist, conductor and composer Alexander Siloti. Kenny Fu gave a tasteful account of the piece, although to me it wasn’t clear Kenny understood ‘why’ Bach’s left hand became Siloti’s right hand.

Haydn E minor Sonata was technically excellent and the Adagio had that feeing of improvisation, though the Presto and Vivace molto could have benefited for some of the wit and humour of the recently departed Alfred Brendel. 

The first Transcendental Etude by Liszt, in G minor was delivered with all the virtuosity required, but the fully-opened magnificent Steinway Model D was too loud for the room. Finger virtuosity is a gift that comes naturally to Kenny ; he now needs to refine his ”ear’ virtuosity, that is, listen to the balance of the voices in the music. Liszt’s 104 Soneto del Petrarca was expressed eloquently but will in time gain the intimacy it calls for.

Kenny Fu is a natural Chopin player and the selection of Masterpieces he offered proved that. My personal view is that the left hand in the ‘Revolutionary’ Etude, Op.10 No.12 ought to be more turbulent and dramatic and the right hand octaves and chords should add ‘colour’ to the left hand. And the ‘accelerando’ also has a meaning.The second Scherzo had drama and suspense. I’d suggest that Kenny takes heed of the fact that the desperate cry is in the 6th bar chord, not on the B flat of the preceding bar, which is a mere upbeat to the chord.  An exquisite Mazurka in C minor, Op 56 No.3, preceded the final Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Op.22, played with authority and conviction.’

Alberto Portugheis    

https://hufud.org/. 

https://albertoportugheis.com/opusmusica/. https://www.facebook.com/alberto.portugheis

From his early solo debut at the Wigmore Hall to his attainment of the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship, Kenny Fu holds much potential and promise for a bright future.He has given concerts on three continents and has already performed extensively throughout UK’s distinguished halls including St Martin-in-the-Fields, Kings Place, Worthing’s Assembly Hall, St James’s Sussex Gardens. He regularly appears in London, Oxford, Brighton and the South of England for more private concert engagements. His repertoire choices gravitate toward the late Classical and Romantic Eras where he brings an intense and captivating temperament to the works of Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov. Recently, Kenny has been awarded First Prize at the Norah Sande International Awards, Second Prize in the Croatian Piano Loop Competition and Third prize at the Fifth Vigo International Piano Competition where Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire and Cyprien Katsaris were on the panel of judges.During his earlier years, he was the winner of the Solihull Young Musician of the Year, Silver medalist at the Cyprus International Piano Competition, semi finalist at the Sussex International Piano competition and a quarter finalist at the BBC young musician of the year.He has received guidance from numerous esteemed musicians such as Dimitri Alexeev, Evgeny Sudbin, Natalia Trull, Pascal Devoyon, Richard Goode, Tim Horton, Imogen Cooper and Angela Hewitt during his studies at the Purcell School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.Kenny was born in Leamington Spa and is currently in the Advanced Diploma program at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Tatiana Sarkissova and Ian Fountain. He is generously sponsored by the Countess of Munster Trust, Warwick Arts Fund and Talent Unlimited.Another superb concert presented at Steinway Hall by the unique Keyboard Charitable Trust. This time it was the turn of a remarkable young pianist KENNY FU, born in the UK, to Chinese parents. 

Kenny Fu at St Mary’s ‘Rachmaninov ignites and inflames an artist of impeccable musicianship’

Kenny Fu at St James’s Lancaster Gate ‘clarity and intelligence of refined brilliance’

 

Masterly playing of great authority and aristocratic good taste. A curious opening, though, with the deep bass D flat of the nocturne op 27 n. 2 played by the right hand ! Luckily it was the only eccentricity in a recital where it would have been hard to change a single note. The nocturne is one of Chopin’s most beautiful Bel Canto melodies and Michal played it with restrained elegance ,where everything was given time to sing with timeless beauty. Some very discreet ornamentation where it might have been better to leave Chopin’s notes,like Mozart, with the purity of an instrument that can sustain without the need of added notes to fill up the lack of resonance! Ravishing playing that could have flowed more naturally but where every note was a jewel to be savoured.

The Scherzo in B flat minor was played with great authority where even the central chorale was played with weight .It unfolded with streams of wondrous sounds that were played with great control and ravishing beauty.There were slight hesitations and expressive punctuations that added such meaning and poignancy to this often distorted work. Exhilaration and excitement at the end of a work restored to the pedestal that it possessed from the hands of Artur Rubinstein. It was ,in fact, the final work in his last recital in 1976 when he had to abandon it, as almost blind he could no longer negotiate the treacherous skips, as he had in a career that had spanned over sixty years.His generosity at the age of ninety saved the Wigmore Hall from the greedy hands of the developers.

There was a leisurely opening to the F sharp Impromptu and a languid beauty to the melodic line that grew imperceptibly in nobility and sonority before bursting into a brilliant jeux perlé. Masterly playing as the streams of notes accompanied the melodic line with limpet like insistence as it disappeared into the distance with the opening chant returning like a dream of distant bells before the gloriously sonorous final chords.

The F sharp minor Polonaise just grew out of this window that had been opened. Wonderful solid playing that I remember too from Rubinstein and Askenase,with fingers like limpets digging deep into the keys and extracting golden sounds of passionate authority. Sounds that were from within the notes themselves played with aristocratic nobility. Extraordinary rhythmic precision as the central mazurka flowered into a melodic episode of nostalgic beauty.

The C sharp minor prelude op 45 is always a wonder to behold with its meandering changes of harmony magically spread across the entire keyboard. Michal played them with a wondrous sense of discovery with the final cadenza of moving harmonies arriving so naturally to the opening deep C sharp octave of the Barcarolle.

One of Chopin’s last and most perfect creations ,the Barcarolle is a great song from beginning to end , of timeless beauty, as the gentle lapping forward movement is a wave on which Chopin could carve out some of his most heavenly melodic creations. There was a deep yearning to the final pages as the music expanded in an explosion of beauty. The final cascade of notes with the gentle rocking theme barely suggested in the left hand was the example that Ravel was to follow and to add to his own magic sound world a century later.

After the Venetian Lagoon what better than a work by a Polish composer Rózycki with the name ‘Lagune’. A romantic tone poem of flowing beauty and sumptuous sounds of passionate persuasion.It was played with great conviction and was a very interesting addition to a programme of well known classics and a good bridge between the Genius of Chopin and the Genius of Debussy. A refreshing intermezzo played brilliantly with a kaleidoscope of colour of romantic exuberance.

Wonderfully atmospheric Debussy’s’ Sunken Cathedral’ ,and very interesting to note that Michal was using the middle pedal that gave great clarity to the chordal sounds out of which the Cathedral emerges. Wonderful deep gong sounds in the bass played with great authority as the bells ring out and the Cathedral disappears into the mist with the plaintive chant of evocative beauty reduced to a wondrous glowing whisper.

What a change of character with Minstrels with it’s chameleonic changes and capricious uncontrolled exuberance. It was immediately transformed into the refreshing simplicity of Chopin’s ‘Maidens Wish’ in Liszt’s authoritative transcription.

A work that used to be a regular encore for pianists of the Golden Age of piano playing, in particular Moritz Rosenthal but also Claudio Arrau. A much neglected jewel that was played with wondrous beguiling mastery by Michal.
What a treat to hear Paderewski’s once much loved Minuet in G played with the same mastery as the great master, who was considered to be the greatest pianist of his day and would have played this piece as an encore on his famous tournées in America

A Polish pianist and conductor, Michal Szymanowski was born in 1988 into a musical family. He graduated with honours from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied piano with Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron and symphonic and opera conducting under Zygmunt Rychert. He honed his skills with Eldar Nebolsin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. At present he works as an assistant lecturer at his alma mater. He has won top awards in a number of national and international music competitions, including Darmstadt International Chopin Piano Competition (2017), MozARTe International Piano Competition Aachen (2016), Asia-Pacific International Chopin Competition in Daegu (2015), International Juliusz Zarebski Music Competition in Warsaw (2012), Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe in Katowice (2011), International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2010), International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz (2007). In 2015 he was the highest placed quarter-finalist in the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. 

Michal Szymanowski has performed in many concerts across Europe and throughout the world, including the Palace of Nations, the Paul VI Audience Hall, Belvedere Palace, numerous philharmonic halls as well as major festivals in Poland and abroad, among them Oficina de Música de Curitiba, Chopiniana in Buenos Aires, Festival Europeo de Jóvenes Solistas in Caracas, Festival Pianistico di Roma, LongLake Festival Lugano, and the Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw, where he brilliantly performed piano concertos by Paderewski, Wieniawski and Stojowski. Apart from solo repertoire, he also frequently performs chamber music. He has released two solo albums featuring compositions by Chopin, Paderewski, Szymanowski and Wieniawski. The recordings were critically acclaimed.

Chopin alive and well at St Mary’s in the masterly hands of Michal Szymanowski.The aristocratic simplicity of a great artist

 

A quite monumental performance of the Liszt Sonata from Dmitri with his guns blowing fast and furious. But also with intelligence and aristocratic poetic playing of nobility and extraordinary clarity. The torrid heat may have lead to a moment’s lack of concentration but Dmitri’s masterly understanding brushed all aside as he filled this little redundant church with orchestral sounds that it has rarely heard before.

Opening with Bach Fantasia and fugue in C minor of utmost clarity and exemplary intelligence. A fluidity and great rhythmic impulse with a grandiose opening flourish leading to a knotty twine of exemplary precision. A fugue of whispered meanderings but where every strand was a voice of its own uniting to create another monumental fugue from the pen of the genius of Köthen.

Brahms mighty Handel variations were given a ‘short back and sides’ performance of total mastery, but I missed the sumptuous orchestral sounds and total commitment that he was to reserve for his quite extraordinary performance of Liszt. Lacking the orchestral weight this was a performance of quite extraordinary mastery from a musician who had seen the work more in pianistic than orchestral terms. It is indeed a ‘tour de force’ of varying technical problems and is often given to advanced students together with the Schubert Wanderer Fantasy to show how technical and musical problems can be shared and mastered together.

The opening theme from Handel’s Suite n. 1 in B flat HWV 434 was allowed to unfold with refined elegance and perfectly balanced ornaments.The first variation beautifully phrased with gently underlined bass notes just highlighting the whirlwind cadence. Contrasting with the gentle meandering of the second where Dmitri highlighted inner voices to great effect. A deliberate lilt to the third was played with great character before bursting into flames with the brilliant octaves of the fourth.Played with a lightness that allowed Dmitri to shape the phrases with musical imagination. A beguiling flow to the beautiful melodic outpouring of the fifth and the legato octaves shadowing each other of the sixth. A call to arms with the strident seventh which ignited the impetuous rhythmic elan of the eighth.A great rhetorical cry to the ninth as each gasp reached ever higher .What fun Dmitri had chasing up and down the keyboard in a cat and mouse game of demonic energy. A beautiful contrast of radiance from the eleventh and twelfth was played with a glowing beauty.

The great majestic thirteenth was beautifully shaped but I feel it just lacked that sumptuous richness that he was to save for Liszt .The fourteenth and fifteenth just flew from his fingers with mastery and dynamic drive before the lightweight meanderings of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth. There was a delightfully refreshing interlude with Brahms’s Siciliana that had been inspired by Couperin ( Brahms had edited Couperin’s music). Followed by a radiance to the music box variation of the twenty second before the dynamic build up of dramatic tension leading to the final exultant twenty-fifth. A final variation where I missed the sumptuous orchestral nobility which Dmitri preferred to play with exemplary taught rhythms of great clarity missing the glorious point of arrival of the twenty four previous variations. A contrast too, to the simple opening of the fugue where Dmitri did now open up to a finale of astonishing nobility and grandeur born on the wings of Handel’s innocuous B flat theme.

I bow to the choice of a master musician but also one that can dispatch Brahms’s ingenious variations with such musicianship of clarity and precision.

The Liszt Sonata seemed to unleash in Dmitri a demonic mastery and poetic freedom that had been kept under control in the Bach and Brahms. A dramatic opening where the three main characters are presented as a great story about to unfold. Sumptuous full sounds and passionate commitment were contrasted with a kaleidoscopic rich palette of colours .A sense of balance where Liszt’s seemingly overpowering chordal accompaniments were a heart beating fast, but allowing the melodic line to sing out in its midst with quite extraordinary intensity. Dmitri had a whole orchestra in his hands but not sacrificing his enviable technical mastery and clarity. The final octaves I have never heard played with such mastery or intensity. A slow movement that was of heartrending aristocratic poise as sounds were barely whispered with extraordinary innermost meaning. A monumental performance marred only by a moment of distraction towards the end where the temperature must have been reaching boiling point in every sense of the word.

Dmitrii Kalashnikov began postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music, London, in 2018, in the class of Professor Vanessa Latarche as a Ruth West Scholar, supported by the Neville Wathen Scholarship, and more recently as a Blüthner Pianos scholar. His earlier studies began at the age of five at the Moscow secondary special music school named after Gnessin, in the classes of Ada Traub and Tatyana Vorobieva. In 2017, he graduated with honours from the Moscow State Conservatory P I Tchaikovsky, where he was taught by Professor Elena Kuznetsova. His prizes have included the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Rosebowl at the RCM, awarded to a student of distinction, the winner of the 2019 final of the Jacques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition (London), and, in the same year, the first prize at Les Etoiles Du Piano International Piano Competition (France). In 2021, he won first prize in the Junior Intercollegiate Piano Competition (Beethoven Piano Society of Europe). 

Dmitrii performs regularly with the Russian National Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev. In December 2014, Mikhail Pletnev and Dmitrii Kalashnikov gave a two-piano recital in the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory. He graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2021 with distinction, and the University of Music and Performing Arts (Vienna) in 2022, under the guidance of Professor Anna Malikova. In July, he participated in the Lille’s piano festival in Louvre 2 (France), and a concert in the Wigmore Hall, London. Additionally, he had performances in the USA in 2022. More recently, in May 2022, he played the accompanying concert in the presence of HRH Prince Charles, now HM King Charles III, following the annual awards ceremony at the Royal College of Music in London.

Dmitri Kalashnikov at Bechstein Hall ‘Canons covered in Flowers’ of poetic mastery

Simone Tavoni in the church where Sigismund Thalberg was married to Francesca Lablache in July 1843. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/01/04/a-la-recherche-de-thalberg/

St James’s Piccadilly just a stones throw from the Circus and the statue of Eros.

An oasis of peace in its own grounds slightly set back from the hustle and bustle all around. Simone Tavoni giving a lunchtime recital for the Talent Unlimited organisation of Canan Maxton.

Mendelssohn, the favourite at the court of Queen Victoria, opened the concert with his ‘Variations Sérieuses’ and the Nocturne from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in the arrangement by Moszkowski. There was a continual forward movement to the Variations following the theme that Simone played with subtle delicacy and exquisite phrasing. Variations propelled forward by an inner force of a dynamic drive of ease and extraordinary invention. A coda that just exploded with energy and scintillating brilliance before dying to a mere whisper.

It was on this peaceful note that the beauty of the Midsummer Nocturne was allowed to unfold with beguiling natural beauty.

Three mazurkas by Chopin were played without a break and were a lesson in style and subtle flexibility where the dance was always present. Surrounded by the nostalgia that Chopin was to carry in his heart until at the age of only 39 when it was brought back to rest in his homeland where it truly always belonged. Schumann quite rightly described these 52 short tone poems as ‘canons covered in flowers’.

Rachmaninov’s Second sonata has become a concert favourite since Horowitz reminded us of it in his Indian Summer concerts in the 70’s and early 80’s. He had been persuaded to return to the concert platform to remind a distracted world that he was still the greatest pianist alive or dead!

Simone played the original 1931 version that Rachmaninov had sanctioned and decided to leave the souped up Horowitz version to the undisputed pianistic genius that Horowitz was until the very end.

It is a work that played as today by a true musician can stand on its own merits and not rely on just empty showmanship. Simone played with passion and brilliance but there was a beguiling subtle beauty to the slow movement before the exhilaration and excitement of the Allegro molto.

An ovation from a very attentive audience was rewarded with a glistening Mazurka that this time could well have been by Scriabin ?

Simone Tavoni in Perivale ‘A musician of poetic insight and curiosity’

Simone Tavoni at Livorno Classica flying high with poetic reasoning and with Dinosaurs overhead

Simone Tavoni triumphs on the Italian tour for the Keyboard Trust – part 1 Florence – part 2 Venice and Padua

Simone Tavoni a Poet speaks at the 1901Arts Club

A triumphant Tchaikowsky and heart rending Liszt closes five years of close bonds and friendships as the world awaits the arrival at only 17 of a star shining brightly. A brilliant performance of great conviction from the very opening chords played like a great eagle hovering over the keys ready to devour them. Octaves played with the weight and dynamic drive that had Beecham declare to Horowitz that he should be ashamed at putting his orchestra into the shade! But it was the encore of Liszt Liebestraum that revealed the unique personality and poetic sensibility of this young man about to venture into the world,having been sustained for his past most formative five years, by his friends and superb trainers at Eton.

Talent cannot be taught as Rubinstein has bequeathed to us :

https://youtu.be/gex0sOR7XZ0?si=Y8IA0o529YqazAES

And Ryan is certainly born under a very special tree indeed. May it flourish and grow as it did indeed for the greatest pianist I have ever known.

Ryan Wang takes Windsor Castle by storm

Montecatini International Piano Competition Final in the historic Teatro Niccolini in Florence.

Ryan Wang for the Vuitton Foundation in Paris – The genial artistry and mastery of a remarkable young musician

Ryan Wang ‘A star is born on the Wings of the Dragon’ at the National Liberal Club

It was refreshing to read these very deeply contemplative thoughts of a young musician about to graduate with honours from the Royal Academy of Music in London where she has spent the last seven years of her life. Dedicating her youth to a search for artistic freedom and mastery I was delighted to have a preview of her actual Graduation performance at the National Liberal Club.

‘ Some beautifully crafted playing of great intelligence.Her Mozart was simple and beautiful with sparkling playing of great weight.Playing of great poise in the slow movement of aristocratic beauty.The last movement sprang from her agile fingers with a ‘joie de vivre’ that was of great rhythmic energy and finesse.
The Chopin Variations op 2 are the ones that Schumann on hearing Chopin play them in Paris was to remark ‘Hats off a genius’.A very well prepared performance of great musicality and intelligence where the technical difficulties were incorporated into a musical shape of beguiling style.A jeux perlé that flowed with teasing ease from her agile fingers.A fine performance that just missed the charm and grace of a show piece written especially as a visiting card for the young Chopin as he played in the Salons of the aristocratic Parisian families of his day.’
Christopher Axworthy Florence October 2023

The Asia Circle is directed by Yisha Xue who dedicates her time to helping exceptionally talented young musicians.

Choosing an eclectic programme from composers who at her same age had written the works that she was now playing with the mastery and insight of a young musician about to embark on the greatest adventure of her life – that of sharing her music with others on the world stage.

‘ Helen Meng gave a ravishing performance full of subtle beauty and a kaleidoscope of bewitching sounds. A scintillating sense of style and a masterly command of the keyboard from a young artist recently graduated from the Royal Academy from the class of Joanna McGregor. Helen had also studied at the International Piano Academy Lake Como whose president is another lady pianist Martha Argerich’. Christopher Axworthy June 2025

Young musicians flying high at the National Liberal Club thanks to Yisha Xue and the NLC Asia Circle

Montecatini International Piano Competition Final in the historic Teatro Niccolini in Florence.

Helen had been a finalist in the Montecatini International Competition that I had written about a few years ago

The plot thickens with the discovery of another historic Caetani Palace on the outskirts of Rome.

A Collard and Collard piano of 1889 that once stood in the Savoy Hotel in London but above all a masterly Sicilian pianist playing not only his own compositions but even more importantly the works of Nino Rota. Justly famed for his film scores but his classical compositions are practically unknown .

Alessio had already played Rota’s preludes recently in London

Alessio Masi at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust ‘Passion and curiosity with Poetic Mastery’

Now he played his masterly Fantasia of 1945 and the extraordinary Variations and fugue in twelve keys on the name of BACH of 1950 (?)

Opening his programme with an early Sonata by another unknown Italian composer of two centuries ago Lodovico Giustini. Played on this very mellow sounding single strung Collard and Collard it had a refined elegance of its age and was played with a rhythmic elan and great sense of character. A scintillating ‘joie de vivre’ to the ‘Corrente’ was followed by the expressive gently moving ‘Sarabande’ of subtle beauty.The dynamic drive of the ‘Gigue’ was diffused by the elegance and refined beauty of the ‘Minuet’. Played with great authority and conviction by a young man who listens carefully to all he does and with long agile fingers and an intelligent sense of style can bring this early work vividly to life and make one wonder why this composer is so unjustly neglected.

Two centuries later Rota was to pen his Fantasia in G during the war years.It is a tone poem of dramatic Lisztian power combining also the typical nonchalant simplicity of a composer who was also to be revealed as a supreme melodist. Alessio played it with fearless bravura and power combined with a poetic sensibility of a young artist who truly understands this very particular Italian landscape.

I was particularly overwhelmed though by the Variations and Fugue on the name of Bach (written just four years before Rota’s death in 1979? Surely a printing mistake because they result in his complete works as from 1950, long before his Cinematographic fame). Like the Preludes that Alessio had played in London that so impressed Leslie Howard, I too was overwhelmed by such mastery and total commitment .These Variations came across as a real neglected masterpiece alternating virtuosity with poetic intensity and a writing that was so essential that the sense of line and shape was of a true master.

The Toccata by Sollima was a brilliant ‘tour de force’ played with mastery and impeccable technical perfection.

The Italian Premier of 5 pieces played by the composer were remarkable for their fluidity and sense of atmosphere. A haunting ‘La Foresta’ of floating sounds of lilting persuasion. ‘La Nebbia’ with its dissonant Debussian range of sounds were matched by the final insinuating jazz idiom as suggested by Debussy’s ‘Minstrels’. A single encore by Couperin : ‘Les Barricades Mystérieuses’ was played with beguiling insistence.

What an extraordinarily complete artist this young Sicilian is. Not only very complex works played without the help of the score but with an enviable mastery and dedication and he is also a remarkable composer in his own right. A quarter of a century spent well and it is time to spread the word.

Hats off Alessio you are a worthy heir to your teacher!

At only 25 this young man is busy recording the complete master works of Rota, many on CD for the first time. This evening presenting an eclectic programme that included his own work and that of another Sicilian Eliodoro Sollima. His daughter,Donatella Sollima is now an important part of the musical life of Sicily, being Artistic Director of the Amici della Musica di Palermo and an important jury member of the Trapani International Piano Competition Domenico Scarlatti

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/04/11/trapani-a-diamond-shining-brightly-for-the-3rd-international-piano-competition-domenico-scarlatti-part-1/

Alessio writes :

‘ Eliodoro Sollima was director and teacher at the Conservatorio of Palermo, where I completed my undergraduate studies in piano. He passed away in the year 2000, the same year I was born, and I found it meaningful to include in this programme works by two Sicilian composers who, in a way, have passed the torch from one generation to the next.’

‘The pieces I present are part of a project titled “Lascari”, inspired by memories from my childhood and teenage years spent at my family’s seaside villa. That place, surrounded by lush Mediterranean vegetation and the ever-present sound of the sea, continues to shape my imagination.’

‘ The musical language of Lascari draws on impressionist colours while embracing contemporary influences. Claude Debussy is a natural, almost unconscious, point of reference for me. I aim to continue his harmonic world, projecting it into modern territory with a touch of jazz idiom and current harmonic explorations.’

‘The title of each piece evokes an image, like a dreamlike glimpse of moments passed in Lascari: fragments of memory and imagination intertwined with the distinctly Sicilian landscape that marked my early years.’

Roberto Prosseda pays tribute to the genius of Chopin and the inspirational figure of Fou Ts’ong

The remarkable Roberto Prosseda a distinguish Professor of the Rovigo Conservatory who together with his wife Alessandra Maria Ammara and their Musica Felix https://www.musicafelix.it/ help numerous talented young musicians and promote neglected repertoire. His Cremona Fair has become and annual institution https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/09/30/a-letter-from-cremona-the-eternal-city-of-music-where-dreams-become-reality/

During his long career, Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979 – an average of three scores each year over a 46-year period, and in his most productive period from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s he wrote as many as ten scores every year, and sometimes more, with a remarkable thirteen film scores to his credit in 1954. Alongside this great body of film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works, the best known being his string concerto. He also composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zeffirelli and Eduardo De Filippo as well as maintaining a long teaching career at the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy, where he was the director for almost 30 years. His piano music is listed below :

• Il Mago doppio-Suite per quattro mani (1919)
• Tre pezzi (1920)
• Preludio e Fuga per Pianoforte a 4 Mani (Storia del Mago Doppio) (1922)
• Illumina Tu, O Fuoco (1924)
• Io Cesserò il Mio Canto (1924)
• Ascolta o Cuore June (1924)
• Il Presàgio (1925)
• La Figliola Del Re (Un Augello Gorgheggiava) (1925)
• Ippolito gioca (1930)
• Ballo della villanotta in erba (1931)
• Campane a Festa (1931)
• Campane a Sera (1933)
• Il Pastorello e altre Due Liriche Infantili (1935)
• La Passione (poesia popolare) (1938)
• Bagatella (1941)
• Fantasia in sol (1945)
• Fantasia in do (1946)
• Azione teatrale scritta nel 1752 da Pietro Metastasio  (1954)
• Variazioni e Fuga in dodici toni sul nome de Bach (1950)
• 15 Preludi (1964)
• Sette Pezzi Difficili per Bambini (1971)
• Cantico in Memoria di Alfredo Casella  (1972)
• Due Valzer sul nome di Bach (1975)

Lodovico Giustini (12 December 1685 – 7 February 1743) was an Italian composer and keyboard player of the late Baroque  and early Classical eras. He was the first known composer ever to write music for the piano.

Giustini was born in Pistoia, of a family of musicians which can be traced back to the early 17th century; coincidentally he was born in the same year as Bach,Scarlatti and Handel . Giustini’s father was organist tat the Congregazione dello Spirito Santo, a Jesuit -affiliated group, and an uncle, Domenico Giustini, was also a composer of sacred music.

In 1725, on his father’s death, Giustini became organist at the Congregazione dello Spirito Santo, and acquired a reputation there as a composer of sacred music: mostly cantatas and oratorios. In 1728 he collaborated with Giovanni Carlo Maria Clarion a set of Lamentations  which were performed that year. In 1734 he was hired as organist at S Maria dell’Umiltà, the Cathedral of Pistoia, a position he held for the rest of his life. In addition to playing the organ at both religious institutions, he performed on the harpsichord  at numerous locations, often in his own oratorios.

Giustini’s main fame rests on his work 12 Sonate da cimbalo di piano e forte detto volgarmente di martelletti, Op.1, published in Florence in 1732, which is the earliest music in any genre written specifically for the piano. They are dedicated to Dom António de Bragança, the younger brother of King Joäo V of Portugal (the Portuguese court was one of the few places where the early piano was frequently played).

These pieces, which are sonate da chiesa, with alternating fast and slow sections (four or five movements per sonata), predate all other music specifically written for the piano by about 30 years. Giustini used all the expressive capabilities of the instrument, such as wide dynamic contrast: expressive possibilities which were not available on other keyboard instruments of the time. Harmonically  the pieces are transitional between late Baroque and early Classical period practice, and include innovations such as augmented sixth chords  and modulations to remote keys.

James Parakilas points out that it is quite surprising that these works should have been published at all. At the time of composition, there existed only a very small number of pianos, owned mainly by royalty. He conjectures that publication of the work was meant as an honor to Giustini; it “represents a gesture of magnificent presentation to a royal musician, rather than an act of commercial promotion.”

While many performances of his large-scale sacred works are documented, all of that music is lost, with the exception of fragments such as scattered aria. Giustini’s fame rests on his publication of his set of piano pieces, although they seem to have attracted little interest at the time.

A short extract of an exchange that Benedetto and I shared during the month of May, when there was an explosion of competitions in Brussels, Fort Worth, Vienna, not to mention the enormous amount of less clamorous events in Trapani, Grossetto, Val Tidona, Thalberg/Naples etc:

‘However, my reason for not going to competitions is even deeper….. ………… I think that we should always praise the incredible efforts that these young artists are doing, whether we like them at this stage of their lives or not… going to competitions like those ones is surely something different from playing a nice recital, and we should always keep this in mind, especially when commenting their performances. This is why I keep so private about this, it is very easy to be misunderstood.’ B.L.

‘What a wonderful person you are exactly my sentiments but of course you are a great pianist and are making a great sacrifice for the sake of young musicians who should be praised and honoured for the sacrifice they are making no matter how they play. C.A.

‘https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/12/07/lupo-gatti-in-florence-lift-up-your-hearts/

‘I do remember pretty well, my efforts and my feelings while being in those competitions… those kinds of feelings may make you either more compassionate or vice versa, from what I have seen until now in several competitions. On the other hand, it is true that sometimes judging is not so easy’ B.L.

The extraordinary class of Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has access to the complex of concert halls that make up the unique Parco della Musica. Benedetto is a remarkable performing musician with eclectic programmes and a discerning choice of concertos.He is indeed part of that elite group of musicians descendants of Liszt ,Czerny,Beethoven ,Haydn and Busoni where humility, honesty and integrity are hallmarks of interpreters not just entertainers.

Here in Rome are a remarkable group of pianists, united in every sense under the influence of Benedetto Lupo …………….many winners of important International Piano Competitions …..but realise that winning is an enviable achievement that may lead to momentary fame and even fortune, but is not necessarily the door to delving deep into the scores and finding treasures that are there only for the chosen totally dedicated few. The road of a true artist is hard to follow, but one that Benedetto, like the pied piper of ‘Hamelin’, is determined to tread and happy to allow anyone with the same dedication to follow.

This what I recently wrote about Alfred Brendel :

‘Alfred Brendel friend and admirer of Noretta Conci and John Leech,founders of the Keyboard Trust of which he was an esteemed trustee from the very first day of its creation.He was a pinnacle to which all those that believed in Music with a capital M would refer to for guidance and inspiration . From his very early recordings of Beethoven but also Balakirev Stravinsky and above all Liszt here was a musician of great musical integrity that one could trust. Together with Serkin and Pollini they were were an elite group of masters who could show generations what it means to be an interpreter of humility honesty and integrity . It is no coincidence that Pollini, Brendel and Michelangeli shared the same birthday Brendel will remain a beacon whose flame will illuminate and inspire musicians for generations to come.

Benedetto is also part of this elite group of great musicians as was Guido Agosti and Menehem Pressler. Benedetto writes: ‘ I will be forever grateful for his insights in a lot of repertoire, many of his recordings, especially the ones he did when he was younger, were truly exceptional… I remember that he was a good friend of Noretta’.

Due to a transport strike in Rome, as often happens on a Friday, I was only able to hear the two pianists of the morning session : Nicolas Giacomelli and Dmitri Malignan. Francesco Maria Navelli I was sorry to miss on this occasion but am happy to include my thoughts pre Benedetto Lupo! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/08/francesco-maria-navelli-a-star-shining-brightly-at-teatro-palladium-for-roma-3/

Dimitri Malignan I had heard a lot about from Lina Tufano the Artistic Director of The Young Artists Series at the Walton Foundation on Ischia, where he had played the same recital two weeks ago. By coincidence I had been there just the week after with Kasparas Mikužis invited on an annual invitation as one of the stars of the Keyboard Trust https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/06/15/kasparas-mikuzis-at-la-mortella-creating-magic-sounds-in-waltons-paradise-on-ischia/.

By coincidence Kasparas had played in a masterclass in Pinerolo with Benedetto Lupo a short while before.

‘ Kasparas has come this year to Pinerolo for my light course… a talented young pianist with a lot of potential and obviously a lot of work to do. Give him my best regards! He’s a very smart and nice person, sometimes I have been a bit harsh and demanding with him in Pinerolo, but it was just to have him reach an higher level of artistry.’

An eclectic musician, this young Parisian pianist chose a programme with a secret link between the works of Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. A trio that were indeed to suffer ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’. With the theme of the fourth of Robert’s Bunte Blätter being taken by Clara, first, and Brahms ,second, for a series of variations. The theme from the little Nocturne by Clara was incorporated into the last movement of Robert’s Fantasy op 17. Dimitri ended this carefully thought out programme with Robert’s masterly tone poem of the Novelette op 21 n. 8. There was remarkable beauty where the variations by both Clara and Brahms were played with beguiling mystery and poetic understanding. A beautiful jeux perlé where notes were turned into streams of magical sounds. There were passionate outbursts too especially in the Brahms but always with an architectural shape and masterly control. A stronger rhythmic propulsion from within especially in the more etherial variations would have made for a more varied palette of sounds. Brendel and Serkin showed us that the contrast of an almost brutal attack on the keyboard made the resolution even more unexpected and seductive. There was never a doubt of Dimitri’s technical mastery as was made abundantly clear from his astonishing performance of the two set pieces : ‘Fuoco’ and ‘Mirroring’ by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Nicolas Giacomelli placing the two set pieces at the beginning and end of his programme that included Schumann Kreisleriana and Brahms Seven Fantasie’s op 116. Playing the two set works without the score with total commitment and remarkable poetic fantasy showing a real understanding for a world tainted by Ginasterian gymnastics but also beguilingly insinuating sounds. The Mozart Fantasy in D minor was a little too slow and deliberate for the improvisation that it obviously is.Played with great poise and beauty of sound adding some delicate embellishments tastefully but in my opinion unnecessarily .The cheeky one in the left hand almost had me smiling out loud – I loved it almost as much as he obviously did.

Many beautiful things in the Schumann but I found he had not judged the acoustic and a lot of the faster passages were played often too fast to allow any breathing and were rather hazy and indistinct. It was however exactly this orchestral use of the pedal that illuminated his Brahms which I have rarely heard played with such sumptuous rich sound and real Brahmsian drive. As I said to him afterwards ,as the lads were off to have a sandwich together , you made that Fazioli sound like a sumptuous Bosendorfer, which is no mean feat !

Two fine artists ready now to take their first steps on the long and arduous ladder that will bring them great artistic satisfaction, They have been shown the road for their search for a poetic Nirvana that they may never reach but will certainly glimpse ever nearer, as their communication with the public becomes ever more profound (In Buddhism, Nirvana (or Nibbana) is the ultimate goal, representing the end of suffering and the cycle of rebirth (samsara) . It signifies the extinguishing of greed, hatred, and ignorance, leading to liberation and a state of profound peace and freedom. Nirvana is not a place, but a state of being, often described as bliss, security, and unconditioned. 

Martha Noguera the veteran 84 year old Argentinian pianist has just been on the jury on 21/24 May in Naples at Francesco Nicolosi’s Sigismund Thalberg International Piano Competition.This was followed by a recital in Warsaw and a performance of the two Chopin Piano concertos in the Opera House in Lodsz. Her festival Chopiniana in Buenos Aires is now in its tenth year.

Her last performance in Europe this year will be in Rome on the 26th June at the historic Tempietto https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/06/21/martha-noguera-in-rome-and-sorrento-the-authority-and-passionate-conviction-of-a-great-artist/

Einojuhani Rautavaara 9 October 1928 Helsinki Finland – 27 July 2016 ( aged 87) Notable works include Piano Concerto n. 1 Cantus Arcticus and Symphony n. 7 (Angel of Light) In the performance notes of his 1999 piece Autumn Gardens , Rautavaara writes, “I have often compared composing to gardening. In both processes, one observes and controls organic growth rather than constructing or assembling existing components and elements. I would also like to think that my compositions are rather like ‘English gardens’, freely growing and organic, as opposed to those that are pruned to geometric precision and severity.” He has also described that he would first pick the instrumentation of a piece, where the music could then “grow organically” as a concept.