ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

It must be over twenty five years ago that Vittorio Antonellini asked me if his orchestra could give Sunday morning concerts in my theatre in Rome . And so for many Sundays we had the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese anxious to have a prestigious presence also in Rome apart from their home city of L’Aquila where they had their own hall.

Many memorable concerts in spite of the difficulty to get an orchestra on stage when in the afternoon there was a stage performance of a play.

But where there is a will there is a way and we succeeded as indeed the orchestra have now in their earthquake torn city.

They have re- emerged to offer comfort as only music can to their strong but shaken citizens . In the Ridotto of the Teatro Comunale the Orchestra has found its home whilst the actual Theatre next door is being reconstructed after the terrible earthquake seven years ago that almost flattened this very important city.

By coincidence ,two young artists that were performing regularly in my theatre in the same period were Carlo Grante and Luisa Prayer.

Carlo born in L’Aquila gave several series of concerts playing a large part of the piano repertoire of which he was already master.

Luisa too a student of our near neighbour that magnificent musician Sergio Cafaro ,played many concerts demonstrating, as all Sergio’s students did, a rare musicality .

Another of his students to find a home in my theatre was in fact Roberto Prosseda.who recently recorded Mendelssohn’s third piano concerto with Riccardo Chailly ,performing it also with the LPO at the Festival Hall in London and many other prestigious venues throughout the world

So it was a great joy to hear Carlo Grante play the Emperor Concerto at the inaugural concert of the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese of which the new artistic director is Luisa Prayer. Directed by Marcello Bufalini the musician who had in fact recently completed from fragments Mendelssohn’s third piano concerto mentioned above. (Another coincidence was listening on the radio on my long trip back to Rome the opening concert from La Scala which was directed by Riccardo Chailly with Benjamin Grosvenor the much applauded soloist in Liszt’s first piano concerto)

.The world of great music making is very small indeed !

A splendid performance of the Emperor played with that great Beethovenian energy (that Pappano had too in Fidelio that was awaiting me on my return this evening on the television transmitted from the opening concert of S.Cecilia that I had attended the day before).

Some very fine playing form Carlo not least for his utmost attention to the bass – the very roots of the Beethoven sound.

It much reminded me ,in his mature innate musicianship,of that other renowned musician Paul Badura Skoda (who has just been performing in Carlo’s new Piano Festival Cristofori in Padua). The same clarity but at the same time extreme attention to detail as was obvious from a magical account of the slow movement.

The opening had all the majesty and command together with an impetus that propelled the music forward and swept us along with it too.

The Orchestra very well directed by Bufalini had found the same impetus that was also very well projected into the final Allegro con spirito that was in fact repeated as an encore from a very numerous and insistent audience.

An appeal from Carlo from citizen to citizen to spread the word about this wonderful music making in this strife ridden city and remind their friends that there was still time to buy a season ticket and thus give the maximum support to this splendid venture so ably directed by Luisa Prayer.

I should add also that three years ago we at the Keyboard Charitable Trust were invited by Guido Barbieri,the renowned critic,and artistic director of the Amici della Musica, a music society that goes back more than a century and where Rubinstein and many other illustrious musicians would return  year  after year.

Rubinstein was in fact an honorary citizen of this once noble city.

We too were invited to bring three young pianists to play and talk about our activity of encouraging and helping young musicians in the very difficult period between the end of studying and starting a career .

We performed in a new hall,designed by Renzo Piano(The Shard,Parco della Musica)and given to the L’Aquila by another earthquake torn city,that of Trento.

Claudio Abbado had agreed to give the inaugural concert donating also his services as a sign of solidarity and encouragement .

And so it was shortly afterwards that three very fine young pianists Pablo Rossi,Vitaly Pisarenko and Mei Yi Fou were chosen to come L’Aquila together with the founders of the Keyboard Charitable Trust –Noretta Conci-Leech and her husband John Leech.We all came to give comfort and a message of hope for the future to these very strong,courageous people .

What was it that Shakespeare said :” If music be the food of love …..play on …”

For music arrives where words are just not enough .

Founder

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► 3:22 Gilels plays the Prelude in B minor (Bach / Siloti) – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu06WnXlPCY Gilels for me too with Rubinstein was the greatest I have ever heard. An empty festival hall for Schubert and Shostakovich.The most magical Schubert imaginable-Moments Musicaux and the little A minor Sonata . Big memory lapse in Shostakovich 2nd Sonata….off with his head from the regime but what a performance . Probably the greatest performance of Brahms 2 and Tchaikowsky 3…great fight with Boult in the rehearsal about the opening horn in the Tchaikowsky. Boult was very impatient with Gilels who could not explain what he would like the horn player horn play to do exactly!Gilels was very silent after that rebuke.I felt sorry for him . His complete Beethoven with Boult of which number 2 will remain with me forever the simple ascending and discending arpeggio in the first movement was magic. Unbelievable Spanish Rhapsody in another recital ,that opened with Weber Sonata in A flat , had us all on our feet. Literally swept away by the unrelenting rhythmic energy and sheer beauty of this very grand piano. His Bach Siloti is probably one of the greatest performances on you tube with his Scarlatti…….. and Bach Busoni D major Organ Prelude and Fugue. It was Rubinstein who when he was dragged to hear the little boy Gilels by his teacher exclaimed that when he came to the west he would pack up his things and leave The Italian radio last night dedicated and hour to him with a rare interview in the Victoria Hotel where all the pianist in Rome went to use Mr Wird’s piano .I remember taking Vlado Perlemuter ,Annie Fischer and Shura Cherkassky there and hearing from the delightful Mr Wird (of Swiss origin as were nearly all the Hotel owners) about Serkin calling the doctor because he needed someone to talk to and calm him down. They played a wonderful Beethoven Waldstein from the Seattle recital.

And spoke about the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 1938 when Gilels won first prize, Moura Lympany second and Michelangeli seventh. I remember Moura telling me that Michelangeli practised so much that he completely blocked and could not play. Gilels used to play dance music for them all. And she learnt years later from Rospropovich that Yacob Flier who she was very keen on at the time was keen on her too and she never knew! I remember his last recital in Rome shortly before he died …….. the artistic director of S Cecilia being surprised at the liberty and freedom of Gilels ……..he just threw himself into the Schumann op13 and Brahms Paganini like a man possessed…to hell with the right notes ………..absolutely unforgettable . The grand manner as perhaps only Arrau could approach. It was the last time I heard him. He recorded the Mozart Double with his daughter……..she entered the Leeds Competition many years ago ….of course Emil was unique she was not. Gilels plays the Prelude in B minor (Bach / Siloti) Emil Gilels plays the Prelude in B minor (Bach / Siloti) From the recital at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory I didn’t find this on youtube so I dec… YOUTUBE.COM

Florian Heinisch at the Wigmore Hall today in a programme of Beethoven ,Schoenberg,Liszt. A fine musicianly account of Beethoven`s Appassionata immediately established this young German pianist`s credentials.

How many times has the Wigmore resounded to this much performed old war horse?But I do not think that many could have matched the solemn musicianship that was in evidence throughout the Andante con moto. An ideal tempo that allowed the string quartet type writing to procede without the usual disturbing variants in tempo.In fact it was Guido Agosti who likened this movement to a corteo. Florian within this framework was able to imbue the notes with great meaning ,showing off a notable musical personality.

Of course the first and last movements were played with all the accomplishment that today goes without saying. However even in the first movement he showed a rare awareness of Beethoven’s precise indications of dynamic and his extraordinary effects of pedal.No ritardando at the end led perfectly into the extraordinary Andante.

The final Allegro ma non troppo was just that with a measured tempo,showing great control and a mature understanding of this masterpiece that was after all the precursor of the sublime fourth concerto . Five pieces op.23 by Schoenberg were given a very clear and rhythmic performance in which the many colours of this multi strand work were beautifully realised. Very careful and sparse use of the pedal allowed this mixture of sounds to work together never loosing sight of the overall line of this remarkable work. This complicated score played with great conviction was also a tour de force of memory.

Of course the fireworks in the final work by Liszt were played with great aplomb. The Spanish Rhapsody was a great favourite of Gilels and recently also Murray Perahia (in his Horowitz period) and its continual exuberance needs not only great control but above all a variety of touch which in Florians youthful exuberance was sometimes too overpowering. More variety of sound and less pedal would have given even more effect to the great final climax. This ,of course will come with maturity when the pianists undoubted temperamental fire can be kept under control and unleashed when the intellect demands it. However a very exciting if overpowering end to a fine recital.

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By great demand an encore of one of Mendelssohn`s most melodious songs without words where a more subtle sense of balance would have allowed this heart-rending melody to reach even deeper into our soul. +9

Melvyn Tan 60th Birthday concert at the Wigmore Hall and Radio 3.

Great celebrations for this hugely popular musician at the Wigmore Hall today. Arriving on the platform with an almost innocent modesty to share his casket of jewels with us. A pupil at the Menuhin School of Vlado Perlemuter . It was such a coincidence to receive a telephone call from Vlado’s 104 year old companion to tell me that a pupil of his was playing on the radio.I know Joan because I am actually in the hall curious to hear this ex pupil of my old piano teacher. I remember Vlado telling me about Melvyn Tan at the Menuhin School and in the same breath telling me about another notable student of his in that period: Christian Zacharias. Let me say immediately that rarely have I heard such beautiful sounds and such fluidity of touch from both.

But the shock was that all the works that Melvyn Tan played were treated as a free fantasy to his romantic imagination. Whilst that can work wonders with such works as Czerny” Rode” Variations or his very interesting “Funeral March on the death of Beethoven” op 146. A very effective work completely new to me which made a perfect introduction to the Liszt B minor Sonata. The problem for me was with this free romantic liberty when applied to such master works as Beethoven op.109 and 126 or the monumental Liszt sonata . It can seem like a parody in the style of the “great”eccentric virtuosi of the 19th century.De Pachman type masters who would have their own particular interpretations especially of the smaller salon type pieces of Chopin,Liszt or Mendelssohn. Whilst there may be some wonderful things to savour and even admire after a while this self expression at the expense of what is written in the the score and liberty with the tempo and pulse becomes very hard to bear.

Having been brought up in the Schnabel/Pollini era where respect of the composers intentions are paramount and it only when these are mastered that a real interpretation can begin. Perlemuter and Agosti drummed this in to me as a student and so I can only beg to differ with what I heard this evening. I am very anxious to hear how the actual BBC live recording came across and I shall the first to re live this experience ,ready to be convinced . A perplexing evening that needs resolving. BBC.COM RADIO 3 for all those with the courage to listen to what I have this evening .

Florian Mitrea in recital at St Mary’s Perivale Another remarkable pianist in Hugh Pethers stimulating series featuring some of the most talented young musicians on the musical scene in London .

On tuesday it was the turn of a young Rumanian pianist who quite frankly had me pondering as to what I could say that could be constructive and at the same time respectful of his considerable talent. ” Bewitched,bothered and bewildered” as the song goes comes to mind and a glimpse of a “Paradise Lost”

Mozart Fantasy in D minor and Rondo in D major opened his programme intelligently introduced by this very ” simpatico” young man. It was clear from the start that we were in for a bumpy ride as the first notes of the fantasy were almost non existent and I could not understand why he repeated the left hand octave in the opening arpeggiandi .And so it continued with a barely audible piano- pianissimo that was not possible to control especially on this difficult Yamaha .The cadenza like flourishes that interrupt this very well known piece were played with a brilliance and transcendental technique that showed obvious very fine early training,what in German is called fingerfertigkeit .It was just that it bore no relation to the whole. Such were the exaggerations from a barely audible pianissimo to an explosive cadenza it was as though there was no anchor but just a series of episodes, some even extremely beautiful ,and others totally out of context.

Some really beautiful ideas in the D major Rondo the music really seemed at times to speak, but as soon as he played piano or with emotion he lost control and the whole boat started to capsize. It was exactly the same in Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata with some magnificent things in the more rhythmic,technically difficult sections but mixed with some totally uncontrolled ,emotionally unstable cantabile passages. I can understand the great Russian school personified by Radu Lupu or Sviatoslav Richter of trying to get away from the percussive side of the piano and arrive at an extreme legato( as in fact Kempff did in the latter part of his illustrious career) .This combined also with a fantastic digital control . There was a famous Rumanian teacher,the teacher of Lipatti and Lupu in fact, whose whole principal was to make the piano sing and to convince us that this black box of strings and hammers could sing as beautifully as a nightingale . But all these pianists had also in their mind and hearts the long sense of line and of the boat that must arrive at its destination in tact.

The little A minor Schubert sonata fared much better.Infact it was this very Sonata in the first round of the Leeds Competition that put Radu Lupu on the map as the extraordinary artist that we know today. There were in Florians performance some really beautiful things but also some very out of context sections in the fast more technically challenging section .The challenge magnificently mastered it was just it bore no context to the magical world that Schubert and Florian were obviously dreaming of .

In fact a Paradise Lost indeed.

Let there be no doubt this is a remarkably professional and talented young musician and there could be so many things to enjoy in his performances but in my opinion I think he should have a good listen to himself and decide if what he is producing is what is really in his intelligent head and big heart . Another very stimulating recital from that ever enthusiastic and ever ready to help Hugh Mather and tonight this remarkable doctor will join forces with one of the finest cellists and violinists (Jamal Aliyev and Yume Fujise) for an evening of real music making with Beethoven Archduke Trio and the Violin Sonata op 12 n.3 and the Cello Sonata op 102 n.1.

Hats off indeed Dott or should I say Maestro Hugh Mather

“Father Comes Home from The Wars ” Parts 1,2 and 3 by Suzan- Lori Parks

A long evening of great theatre. Freedom what does it mean? Royal Court great 10 pound theatre for all on Mondays

What a man ………if only Trump could paint!

As Gyorgy Sandor said to me at the time of the Klinton debacle :

”So he likes women,whats the problem!”

Well that is one way of defusing a very distasteful episode ……….

Picasso certainly liked women and here they are …… his inspiration ……..he ate them alive ,consumed them and two of them committed suicide.One had the cpourage to leave him and is still alive in New York- Francoise Gilot

As in Terry d’Alfonso’s film “ Loves of Picasso” shown in many galleries throughout the world Berlin/New York/London.

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Extraordinary recital by the seventeen year old Julian Trevelyan at St James`s Piccadilly today. Presented by Canan Maxton from Talent Unlimited that together with David McCleery ,concerts manager of St James’s and Heather J.Turnham of Bedford Concerts gave us the possibility to hear this still very young pianist.

The unknown young man who took the Marguerite Long Competition in Paris by storm last year.

And it was infact in “Warum” by Schumann ,played as an encore that showed to the full his remarkable artistry. A wonderful sense of balance that allowed this difficult Fazioli to sing as it very rarely does in other hands. Allied already to a great musical personality that was immediately obvious from the arpeggiated chords in the opening statement of Busoni’s great transcription of the Bach Chaconne.

Originally written for violin solo,his mentor Elizabeth Altman told me afterwards that he insisted in breaking the chords as would be done on the violin.Even Busoni did not do that on his famous piano roll performance but it just showed the sort of commitment from this young man.

His superb sense of balance meant that in the climaxes he was able to take us by storm with his generous but never percussive full orchestral sound. Of course in the final his youthful passion got the better of him and he lost some of his remarkable self control of tempo and pedal in his zeal.Surely the great final bass notes are organ stops and not percussive pillars ,as Agosti a pupil of Busoni was always keen to point out ,even though very excitingly played.Some very interesting re arrangements of the hands too showed a man born to play the piano.

Faure`s rarely heard but charming Valse Caprice op.30 was given a scintillating performance showing a real understanding of the style and subtle salon colours,but always within the bounds of the aristocratic good taste of the French.

Let me say straight away that Scarbo that completed his performance of Gaspard de la Nuit was one of the most remarkable that I have heard. Here the great final climax was given with such passionate restraint and real virtuosity .

But it was the central section that was remarkable seeming to enter like mist and the subtle slow awakening that led so magnificently to that final climax. Some very original colouring too in some of the most hair raisingly difficult escapades of this little demon.

Le Gibet was given with.such a consistent rhythmic impulse allied to the most subtle colouring around the insistent tolling bell.

Ondine that opens this extraordinary almost revolutionary work of Ravel was played with the restraint and undemonstrative virtuosity of a real master. Beautiful pedal effect of that final simple reappearance of Ondine,a not very nice accent on the penultimate note but even that was resolved on the last note by this young artist who actually listens to every note with technical and musical mastery that mark him out and will indeed be a name to watch in the near future as he makes his inevitable ascent .

Finally letting his hair down with a scintillating jazz etude by Kapustin,rather too long ,but when you are young and letting your hair down one can only stand and cheer