Listening to Anna Geniushene playing Chopin Mazurkas last night those words became so true and as I said to her afterwards:
‘Your mazurkas are still ringing in my soul which you touched deeply and your humanity even more ….you are a real person motherhood has uncovered what was in your genes and it took Mother Nature to make you break away from tradition and follow your genius’
‘ Thank you so so much for coming yesterday and torturing yourself voluntarily with my music I was so happy to see you!!!’
‘ Not as much as me. What a wonder you are and to come all this way for Mary.
Humanity, simplicity, honesty and integrity all ingredients of Genius’
the indomitable Mary Orr with Dame Imogen Cooper
‘ Mary is a treasure of our times! One of a kind!’
‘ Oh thank you so so much for these words! I actually have a dream to make a recording of a full set of Mazurkas as it turned out I played so many opuses and this is the hardest ever task for every single musician. How to transmit complexity through simplicity while staying absolutely sober minded and not forgetting about the shape and the actual form of the every single miniature. Thank you dear Christopher! You are too kind!
Anna had flown in from Berlin obtaining with great difficulty and only at the last minute a visa to come to what has become a third world country . Originally she had concerts arranged with her husband and had planned to spend time in London with their two children of 3 and 5 .
Unfortunately the planned concerts were cancelled but Anna could not let down the indomitable Mary Orr or Imogen Cooper and came alone leaving her family behind in Berlin.
I knew that Anna played the final of the Van Cliburn when she was 8 months pregnant with her first born in the green room waiting for his mummie !
Anna in discussion with Dame Imogen Cooper
But I did not realise that motherhood had unleashed a musical genius that had lain dormant for too long .
Works by Brahms followed with three of his hauntingly beautiful Choral Preludes .With the barely murmured beauty of n. 9 with its deep inner doubling of the melodic line and the imperious voice of n.10. out of which grew the moving wave of sounds of n. 1 from which evolves the radiant beauty of the melodic line.
Two works by Kreisler in the famous transcriptions for piano by Rachmaninov. ‘Liebesleid’ and ‘Liebesfreud’ played with all the charm and subtle beauty that Kreisler was justly feted for. They played often together in recital programmes and it was during one of these concerts that Kreisler got completely lost and whispered to Rachmaninov :’Where are we’ “Carnegie Hall’ growled Rachmaninov !
Two transcriptions or paraphrases by Liszt of Verdi operas followed . There are seven such ‘transcriptions ‘ and they are remarkable for the atmosphere of the entire opera that Liszt could recreate in just a few pages on the keyboard. The mighty ‘Miserere’ from ‘Il Trovatore’ was played with massive tone and great authority .The transcription of the Danza sacra and the final duet from Aida is a true tone poem where Liszt choses not the Triumphant march but the final bars of what is fundamentally a chamber opera of heartrending delicacy. Anna played it with ravishing colours of poetic beauty.
The ‘Firebird’ suite by Agosti was written in 1928 and has become a showpiece for piano written by a man who was a magician of the piano and one of the greatest musicians of his age. Musicians would flock from all over the world to listen to sounds in his studio in Siena that have never been forgotten. One of whom was Christopher Elton who had been Anna’s teacher at the Royal Academy in London. Anna played it with fearless abandon combined with ravishing beauty in an overwhelming performance of total conviction.
It was ,however, the Mazurkas that will remain in my heart and soul as the true canons covered in flowers that Schumann described so perfectly.
Angela Hewitt sharing spirituality, humility and generosity with the people of Haslemere helping to create funds for the Meath Epilepsy Charity .
St Christopher’s Church Haslemerte
One of the first places that Angela had visited as a teenager was to the Dolmetsch family in Haslemere having been an avid recorder player in her childhood
Today she returns as a star shining brightly , constantly illuminating the lives of so many people on many continents .She has infact been described as the busiest pianist on earth !
But never too busy to help people in need as today, donating her services to raise funds for a noble charity. She came with a big case ready to fly off to Japan tomorrow but not before one of the most spiritual and masterly performances of the Goldberg Variations that I have ever heard and she still found time to enjoy the company of a community dedicated to helping those in need .
Stephen Dennison the tireless organiser of HHH concerts in Haslemere writes : ‘Angela Hewitt’s performance was very very special. The long silence at the end marvellous. Well done to the Haslemere audience. Not one cough in the whole 82 minutes. I will catch up with Meath next week to check how much the concert raised.’
In fact it was Prince Donatus von Hohenzollern who turned to me at the end , after an interminable silence , and murmured obviously very moved, that Angela’s performance had been for him such a spiritual journey.
Not only for him as the minutes of absolute silence after the whispered return of the Aria created an atmosphere where people are united in one of those magic moments that only live music making can reserve.
Dr Prince Donatus von Hohenzollern in discussion with Angela after the concert
The generosity of Angela to agree to play for Charity was repaid by the shadow of Bach looking on in a performance that even for Angela, who has been playing these variations for fifty years, was something very special. Eighty two minutes and thirty variations on, where Angela had played all the repeats with an invention and fantasy that recreated the greatest variations ever written.
From the opening Aria played with simplicity and beauty opening to the rhythmic drive of the first variation played with buoyancy and clarity. Riding on a great wave that was to take us on a journey together of exhilaration, poignancy and even tragedy until the joyous outburst of the quodlibet after the final variation n. 29 had resounded round this beautiful church with such nobility and glorious sonority.The whispered return of the Aria ,where Angela’s fingers barely touched the keys, was of quite extraordinary potency that one dared not breath for fear of breaking the spell she or rather Bach had created.
Angela was the medium between Bach and the listeners, never interfering, but illuminating with extrordinary fantasy as in the unforgettable seventh variation where she played the repeat at a different register.They were notes that Bach would not have had on the pianos of his day but would have had on the different register of the organ or harpsichord.To hear the question and answer of the voices was a stroke of genius as was the whispered insinuating twenty second variation.This is where suddenly a ray of light can be seen on the horizon as we become ever nearer to the core of a work which explodes with searing intensity in the twenty fifth variation.
Angela had pointed the way at the end of the fifteenth variation that was suspended in mid air with such daring timing.The French overture of the sixteenth ( the half way mark) breaking the spell with nobility and refined aristocratic timelessness. Angela has a technical mastery that was so complete that it passed unnoticed such was the overall musical line and architectural shape, where the extraordinary technical difficulties were just not a consideration. Swept away on a wave of musical genius played with an unassuming mastery that allowed the music to speak for itself.
Angela visibly moved as we all were after such a mementos journey together
I have heard Angela play many times before but tonight for us all there was something very special in the atmosphere that will long be remembered by all those present. As another great lady pianist Mitsuko Uchida once said that a memory is much more important than a recording because it becomes ever more beautiful as time passes,where a printed copy with time fades and turns brown at the edges.
With Stephen Dennison
Thanks must go to Stephen Dennison who has dedicated a year of his life to bring a dream to reality ……….and ‘If music be the food of love play on …………..perchance to dream ‘.
Angela I have known for over fifty years and her joie de vivre has always been an inspiration – the red scarf I had lent Angela and it had been given to me by Vlado Perlemuters companion Joan Flockart Booth.Angela had also had some lessons with Perlemuter whilst she was studying in Paris
Angela was whisked away on a magic carpet to share her love and devotion for Bach worldwide and uniting peoples from many different continents allowing them to share something so beautiful that words could never describe a land where peace and goodwill to all men is still a possibility .
Angela’s energy and enthusiasm are only equalled by her mastery and generosity. Her festival in Umbria in Italy where she lives is now in it’s 20th year.
Lucas Krupinski at the The Chopin Society UK with playing of radiance and glowing beauty. A mastery of the pedals that made Anton Rubinstein’s words come vividly to life as never before .
From the very first notes of Busoni’s Chaconne with a beautiful fluidity and a vast range of colour and whispered counterpoints that erupted into the passionate outpouring of a fervent believer . From barely audible sounds to an overpowering exuberance of Philadelphian sonorities, never hard or ungrateful but under the same sonorous umbrella that shielded Lukas from all but sublime beauty.
Nobility and fragility with a wondrous sense of balance living together under the same architectural roof of the great Gothic cathedral that Lucas constructed with such mastery . Bathed in pedal like a halo glowing brightly above this Steinway that I have never heard sound so beautiful.
It was the same radiance that he brought to Chopin’s F major Nocturne that made it shine every bit as beautifully as its more famous twin. Even the tempestuous middle episode grew out of these subtle opening sounds of delicacy and demonstrated how glowing radiance can suddenly turn into a storm. No accents or hard edges but a great wave of sounds that overwhelmed and reached the very soul of Chopin.
Fascinating information , from the President to the Honorary President, often overlooked by more serious musicologists but that fascinated Murray and he wanted to know more – Lebrecht eat your heart out !
The Chopin nocturne had created just the atmosphere for Scriabin’s smouldering ‘Fantasie’ played with beautiful fluidity and a kaleidoscopic range of colour with insinuating counterpoints bubbling over in a cauldron of emotions as Scriabin’s turbulent search for the ‘star’ reached boiling point, before lying exhausted at our feet.
This was truly a world that Lucas understood with diabolical ravishment of the senses and the decadence of a world of extraordinary turbulence .
photo Marek Ostas
It was the same colour he brought to the much earlier Preludes op 11 . Twenty four in all the keys obviously inspired by Chopin . Lucas played the last twelve with innocent subtle colouring and short lived outbursts where Scriabin’s turbulent vision of the world had not yet taken hold of his whole being . Played with exquisite colouring and an extraordinary range of character that showed us a demi monde rather than a complete one, that can require too much from the listener to really appreciate as we did today, these jewels shining brightly from a chest of true gems.
‘Ich ruf zu dir Herr Jesu Christ’ opened the second half and this most beautiful of all Bach’s organ preludes was played with the same glowing beauty that I remember from the much missed Nelson Freire. A beauty where surely the melody was sent by the angels and just emerged on earth with the radiance of a true believer. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/02/nelson-freire-rip/
photo Marek Ostas
The last work was the Chopin Fantasy that started with a strange staccato first note that was a bit disconcerting . Chopin marks staccato on the first notes but surely it means more marcato or detached but with the weight for such a noble opening. The reply was of such delicacy and beauty that nobility and order were immediately restored in a masterly performance that risked occasionally to be over pedalled. But this was the world of an artist who was prepared to risk all for beauty and the love that is inborn in a fellow countryman
photo Marek Ostas
The waltz in C sharp minor op 64 was played with that subtle rubato that Rubinstein meant when he said that talent cannot be taught but you are born with it .
A gentle whispered ‘Arietta’ by Grieg was the only way a true artist could finish such a recital of intimate music making. Grieg’s Lyric pieces were much loved by Rubinstein but all too rarely heard in the concert hall.
Hats off to Lucas for sharing such beauty today in the presence of Murray Perahia the greatest and much loved pianist of our ( all) time .
The master of ceremonies Charles Grant presenting Lucas with Chopin’s Swansong The indomitable and indispensable Gillian Newman with equally indomitable Lisa Peacock Lisa Peacock distinguished concert manager greeting Lucas Beauty everywhere in Westminster Cathedral Hall today with flowers by Marina Chan
Three beauties at my old Alma Mater today with some superb playing of the greatest works ever written for the piano,
Sherri Lun with the Schumann Fantasie dedicated to Liszt who in turn dedicated his Sonata to Schumann, that was played by Stephanie Ding Draughton.
And all this was possible because Schubert had forged the way with his Wanderer Fantasy that was played by Milda Daunoraite.There were side plates too of ravishing playing of great style and beauty . Sherri even included a Nocturne by Schumann’s wife Clara who had declared the Liszt sonata to be a horrible noise , luckily Robert was already on his painful way to a better world . Milda too gave ravishing performances of French music with a kaleidoscope of gleaming jewels that just balanced her heroic performance of Schubert .
Stephanie on the other hand decided that the only partner for Liszt was that other masterpiece by Chopin in the same key
Flowers excitement and tears of relief as their long journey to Parnassus was coming triumphantly to a close .
This is just the first step in the very steep ladder that awaits these star students on their long and difficult journey to share their music with anyone willing to listen
Sacrificing their youth to art but repaid in full with the fulfilment of having a treasure trove in their hands with jewels gleaming brightly and the satisfaction of having found their ‘soul’ and awaiting now ‘kindred spirits ’ to share it with .
My own journey started in 1972 winning the Macfarren Gold Medal on this very stage and following my heart to Italy where my music has always been a light shining brightly in a wonderful and unexpectedly colourful life! I am the happiest person I know ……to quote the greatest pianist I have ever heard.
Neo Hung at 10 am played the opening fanfare of Bach Busoni C major Toccata , Adagio and Fugue better than Horowitz did at 4 pm in 1965!
Authority and mastery of the Gilels school of limpet like fingers that suck every sound out of the notes they cling too with nobility and sumptuous beauty
A mastery from this unassuming young man, a student of Dina Parkhina and the great Russian school born of hard work, dedication and talent.
A radiant beauty to the Adagio with the breathtaking daring of Bach’s extraordinary interruptions .
All recreated by this young man with the same impact it must have had with the ink still wet on the page .
A fugue played with fearless clarity and exhilaration . Even Bach’s revolutionary juxtaposition of keys came across with the same terrifying impact it must have had in its day .
His jump from the furness of a fervent believer into the cool running stream of ‘An Autumn Moon on a Calm Lake’ was with liquid sounds of velvet beauty. I have never forgotten the sound that I thought only Gilels could make.
Hollywood style , as is Chinese classical music, but of fantasy and refined good taste .
I was cheer leader and purposefully did not applaud because Liszt ‘s Auf Wasser was exactly a perfect twin as a combination.
These Liszt reworkings of Schubert Lieder are every bit of genius as Schubert’s with poetry attached .
They have long been a favourite of the great Russian pianists of the past when mastery of subtle sounds and a magical sense of balance gave way to the revolutionary sound world of the twentieth century composers brought up in the rugged and brutal air .
And it was this that is ever present in Prokofiev’s War Sonatas of which Neo played the second – n 7
But Neo played it with an unexpected lyricism from the very first notes . Of course there was a whole orchestra in his hands but always with a kaleidoscope of colours of the greatest of orchestras . A sense of colour and line that leads us on a journey in a maze of wonders .Canons. there were indeed, but unlike Chopin not covered in flowers but with the suffering of the imminent holocaust in the composers soul .
I have never heard the second movement played with such an aching pulsating sense of line and inevitability . When the opening melody unexpectedly appears on the horizon it was somehow transformed for us by what we had suffered on the way back.
The last movement was a relentless tour de force of mastery and dynamism and the painting of Munch came to mind as Neo’s mastery seemed to know no limits .
A scream indeed, of unbridled mastery
And what better way to diffuse such astonishing barberism than a Barcarolle by Fauré ( one of many sadly neglected by pianists these days) . It was like a breath of rarified French air with the refined beauty and elegance that was to disappear after the two world wars.
French perfume was in the air and nullified the stench of the rage that man can still be capable of.
Mercoledì 21 maggio ore 19, Rettorato Università Roma Tre
Simone Librale, Young Artists Piano Solo Series 2024 – 2025
Chopin and Ligeti combine.
Worlds apart but both were the technical innovators of their time, as Simone Librale demonstrated at Roma 3 University in the last concert of their official season.
A remarkable feat of memory and intellectual curiosity allowed Simone to show us the technical innovations of Ligeti with his studies Book 1.
Contrasting them with the Chopin studies op 25 and alternating the different worlds with an astonishing ease and clarity
It was this clarity that he brought to the extraordinary rhythmic juxtapositions in Ligeti.
With Chopin he chose a freer more improvised approach but it was obvious that Simone’s heart lay elsewhere.
A quite extraordinary brain that can decipher Ligeti’s diabolically innovative inventions with an astonishing facility .
A technique that uses parts of a piano that neither Liszt,Chopin, Thalberg , Czerny or even Alkan had ever dreamt of.
Simone’s remarkable brain could cope in a masterly way with Ligeti’s gleeful rhythmic juxtapositions practically without pedal. Pedal only added where Ligeti allows himself to wallow in sonorous vibrations rather than get twisted in knotty twine.
It was the intellectual architecture that did not allow much scope for any personal intervention but ‘merely’ to state the facts on the page, which was no mean feat. His diabolical ‘Désordre’ coming after Chopin’s Octave and Ocean Etudes was like a mad man’s ranting. It was a composer determined to eliminate any personal interventions or unnecessary distortions.
It was here from the very first notes of Ligeti versus Chopin that the duel personality of Simone became alarmingly apparent .
Where in Ligeti there had been no room for any rhythmic distortions, in Chopin Simone allowed himself a freedom that distorted the equally important architectural structure .
Whereas in Ligeti Simone’s technical mastery had never been in doubt in Chopin one began to feel that he had entered a world of which he was an obedient observer and not a fervent admirer.
I remember Simone’s masterly account of the ‘Concord’ Sonata by Ives broadcast live on the RAI and see on his latest CD he has combined it with Liszt’s innovative transcription of Beethoven’s Fifth. In between Ives revolutionary cacophany Beethoven 5th makes a startling entrance together with many other cameo appearances in a work that astonished and admonished an audience at the start of the twentieth century. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/03/12/aimards-hammerklavier-and-concord-sonatas-in-london/
I had just heard it in London from Emanuil Ivanov who played the remarkable Ives Sonata which is gradually taking its place in the repertoire 125 years on ! Only Bach and Schubert were to suffer the same fate!
Simone is like a Roger Woodwood character who took London by storm in the 70’s with three hour programmes that ranged from Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ to the Baraqué sonata for piano ,chain and hammer. A pianist who like Simone is interested in the intellectual and cerebral rather than style and tradition.
Listening to Simone’s stimulating juxtaposition I could not help feeling that a worthy experiment could be to play Ligeti like Chopin and Chopin like Ligeti as it might illuminate both without separating the two worlds so definitively as Simone did today.
The whole point of the technical innovations of Chopin was the invention of the pedal, which Anton Rubinstein described as the ‘soul’ of the piano. It allowed Liszt and Thalberg to invent the three handed piano technique where a melody could be floated in the middle of the keyboard , by a sleight of hand ,whilst notes were flying all around.
Chopin of course was the greatest innovator who with the use of the pedal , very precisely noted in the score and too often overlooked, allowed a sense of touch and poetic fantasy that had not been possible before. Beethoven too would use the pedal to create very special effects that are too often overlooked !
Ligeti seems to break away from the freedom that the pedal could give and puts the performer in a straight jacket where there is no room for manouver.
There are moments in Ligeti , though, when like Berio he experiments with sound as in ‘Cordes à vides’ or even ‘Arc-en – ciel’ ( that interestingly Nikola Meeuwsen had played as an encore here before reaching the final of the Queen Elisabeth Competition this week, where he is actually locked up for a week to learn a commissioned 21st century concerto for the final round ).
It was here that Simone’s remarkable precision and digital and cerebral mastery did not contemplate a depth of sound and a weight where in every key there are infinite gradations of tone. When Simone was playing just black and white it showed an extraordinary cerebral dexterity but when a more intense palette of sounds was needed he lost his architectural sense of control .
Simone offered an encore after an ovation for such a ‘tour de force’, allowing us to see another side of this remarkable artist. A simple ‘song without words’ was allowed to unfold with beauty and subtlety and was where Simone’s two conflicting worlds were finally united with Wagner’s ‘In das Album der Fürstin Metternich’ WWV 94
with fellow pianist Alfredo ConteIng Tammarow who with his wife have an important concert series in Velletri on his Erard 1879 piano Valerio Vicari ,Artistic director of Roma Tre Orchestra
Simone Librale, ha studiato pianoforte all’ISSM “Pietro Mascagni” di Livorno sotto la guida di Daniel Rivera e Maurizio Baglini, conseguendo il diploma accademico con lode e menzione d’onore. Specializzatosi nel repertorio moderno e contemporaneo, ha proseguito gli studi presso l’Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo con Emanuele Arciuli e Ralph van Raat. Ha debuttato come solista con la Roma Tre Orchestra nel 2020, eseguendo il “Mozart Project” sotto la direzione di Sieva Borzak. Ha partecipato a festival di rilievo come il Bari Piano Festival, il Festiva Liszt e il Festival Luciano Berio. Nel 2022, ha eseguito la Quinta Sonata di Salvatore Sciarrino al Teatro Verdi di Pordenone, ottenendo il plauso del compositore stesso. Nel 2023, ha partecipato alla prima mondiale di “11.000 Saiten” di Georg Friedrich Haas al Bolzano Festival Bozen. Nel 2024, ha tenuto un recital trasmesso su Rai Radio3 per “I Concerti al Quirinale,” eseguendo la Sonata n.2 di Charles Ives, ricevendo ampi consensi. Ha frequentato masterclass con Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Louis Lortie e Andrea Lucchesini.
Below is a fascinating discussion with Maurizio Baglini and Simone Librale
György Ligeti 28 May 1923 Transylvania Romania – 12 June 2006 (aged83) Vienna, Austria
The Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti composed a cycle of 18 études for solo piano between 1985 and 2001. They are considered one of the major creative achievements of his last decades, and one of the most significant sets of piano studies of the 20th century, combining virtuoso technical problems with expressive content, following in the line of the études of Chopin,Liszt,Debussy and Scriabin but addressing new technical ideas as a compendium of the concepts Ligeti had worked out in his other works since the 1950s. Pianist Jeremy Denk wrote that they “are a crowning achievement of his career and of the piano literature; though still new, they are already classics.”.
There are 18 études arranged in three books or Livres: six Études in Book 1 (1985), eight in Book 2 (1988–1994), four in Book 3 (1995–2001). Ligeti’s original intention had been to compose only twelve Études, in two books of six each, on the model of the Debussy Études, but the scope of the work grew because he enjoyed writing the pieces so much.] Though the four Études of Book 3 form a satisfying conclusion to the cycle, Book 3 is in fact unfinished—Ligeti certainly intended to add more, but was unable to do so in his last years, when his productivity was much reduced owing to illness. The Études of Book 3 are generally calmer, simpler, and more refined in technique than those of Books 1 and 2.
The titles of the various études are a mixture of technical terms and poetic descriptions. Ligeti made lists of possible titles and the titles of the individual numbers were often changed between inception and publication. He often did not assign any title until after the work was completed.
Book 1
Désordre. Molto vivace, vigoroso, molto ritmico, = 63A study in fast polyrhythms moving up and down the keyboard. The right hand plays only white keys while the left hand is restricted to the black keys. This separates the hands into two pitch-class fields; the right hand music is diatonic, the left hand music is pentatonic. This étude is dedicated to Pierre Boulez
Cordes à vide. Andantino rubato , molto tenero, = 96Simple, almost Satie-esque chords become increasingly complex. These chords are built primarily from fifths, reminiscent of open strings, hence the title. This étude is also dedicated to Pierre Boulez.
Touches bloquées. Vivacissimo, sempre molto ritmico – Feroce, impetuoso, molto meno vivace – Feroce, estrepitoso – Tempo ITwo different rhythmic patterns interlock. One hand plays rapid, even melodic patterns while the other hand ‘blocks’ some of the keys by silently depressing them. This is the last étude Ligeti dedicated to Boulez.
Fanfares. Vivacissimo, molto ritmico, = 63, con alegria e slancioMelody and accompaniment frequently exchange roles in this polyrhythmic study which features aksak-influenced rhythms and an ostinato in 88 time, dividing the bar of 8 eighth notes into 3+2+3. This ostinato is also used in the second movement of Ligeti’s Horn Trio ] This étude is dedicated to Volker Banfield .
Arc-en-ciel. Andante con eleganza, with swing, ca. 84The music rises and falls in arcs that seem to evoke a rainbow. This étude is dedicated to Louise Sibourd.
Automne à Varsovie. Presto cantabile, molto ritmico e flessibile, = 132Its title, Autumn in Warsaw, refers to the Warsaw Autumn, an annual festival of contemporary music. Ligeti referred to this étude as a “tempo fugue”. A study in polytempo, it consists of a continuous transformation of the initial descending figure – the “lamento motif” as Ligeti called it – involving overlapping groups of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ending up at the bottom of the keyboard. This étude is dedicated to Ligeti’s Polish friends.
From 1985 to 2001, Ligeti completed three books of Études for piano (Book I, 1985; Book II, 1988–94; Book III, 1995–2001). Comprising eighteen compositions in all, the Études draw from a diverse range of sources, including gamelan. African polyrhythms, Béla Bartók,Conlon Nancarrow,Thelonius Monk and Bill Evans . Book I was written as preparation for the Piano Concerto, which contains a number of similar motivic and melodic elements. Ligeti’s music from the last two decades of his life is unmistakable for its rhythmic complexity. Writing about his first book of Piano Études, the composer claims this rhythmic complexity stems from two vastly different sources of inspiration: the Romantic-era piano music of Chopin and Schumann and the indigenous music of sub- Saharan Africa.
The difference between the earlier and later pieces lies in a new conception of pulse. In the earlier works, the pulse is something to be divided into two, three and so on. The effect of these different subdivisions, especially when they occur simultaneously, is to blur the aural landscape, creating the micropolyphonic effect of Ligeti’s music.In 1988, Ligeti completed his Piano Concerto, writing that “I present my artistic credo in the Piano Concerto: I demonstrate my independence from criteria of the traditional avantgarde, as well as the fashionable postmodernism.” Initial sketches of the Concerto began in 1980, but it was not until 1985 that he found a way forward and the work proceeded more quickly. The Concerto explores many of the ideas worked out in the Études but in an orchestral context.
As Dr Mather said today it is unusual to find a recital of just Beethoven Sonatas with the exception of the last trilogy. I remember artists such as Serkin, Arrau ,Foldes and Kempff playing recitals of four Beethoven sonatas. Occasionally we would get a cycle of all 32 Sonatas from Arrau, Barenboim and these days from Igor Levitt and Boris Giltburg. It is rare to hear the early Sonatas in concert programmes, yet they are some of the most startlingly original works, where youthful elegance and beauty are starting to feel the eruptions that are in Beethoven’s soul. The real revelations or revolutions are in the slow movements of op 2 n. 3, op 7 and op 10 n.3 where one can see the genius of Beethoven taking the form from his teacher Haydn but adding a density and profundity that was not part of the eighteenth century. where elegance and refined formality was the norm.
Cristian has started at the top having just recorded the last three Sonatas dedicated to his father Sandu Sandrin’s memory. And only now I hear him play from the bottom, and judging from his masterly playing of these early op 2 Sonatas and the Trilogy, I hope he will now fill in that vast gap which is the map of Beethoven’s life in 32 steps.
There was an elegance and exhilaration to the first of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas with a clarity and always beauty of sound. The hand of Cristian paints the same beauty as the sound he is creating and he has a noticeable way of allowing his hands to look at the keys like a bird eyeing their prey. An extraordinarily natural way to play where everything he plays is like swimming in water with beautiful horizontal movements of complete relaxation. I have often remarked on his trills, where he holds his arm up high and lets the fingers just vibrate over the keys. It was this simple beauty added to his intelligence of following all the indications left by the composer, not only on the printed page but also within the spaces, which are the meaning behind the notes. An ‘Adagio’ of refined subtle beauty and purity, followed by the elegance of the ‘Minuet’ with its beautifully flowing ‘Trio’. The ‘Prestissimo’was played with controlled brilliance and clarity with the opening bubbling over like water boiling at 100 degrees and then bursting into a melodic outpouring of noble beauty. I remember Serkin playing this with fearless abandon and hysterical intensity which was like an electric shock. Serkin was unique and Cristian played with the intensity and intelligence of Arrau which was controlled but still of great drive and brilliance.
The very capricious opening of op n 2 n. 2 became ever more serious and demanding with its burning question and answer.There was an orchestral colour to the ‘Largo’ with its pizzicato accompaniment to the nobility and radiance of the melodic line. Delicate playfulness to the ‘Scherzo’ contrasting with the flowing passion of the ‘Trio.’ The swooping flourish of the Rondò played with charm and restraint before the ‘Sturm und Drang’ of the central episode, contrasting always with the elegant entry of the rondò theme with flourishes ever more prolonged. Played with masterly simplicity and radiance where Beethoven was allowed to speak for himself without any extraneous interventions from the performer.
Op 2 n. 3 is notorious for its opening double thirds and I have seen Nikita Lukinov play it even with a helping hand from his left ! Cristian played it with gentle elegance with one hand and it was this return of the opening elegant declaration that was so touching after the dynamic outbursts of a Beethoven who was already feeling the vast canvas that was opening up from his heritage. Full robust sounds where every note had its just weight but without any hardness or brittle percussive brilliance.There was beauty too, with Beethoven’s beautiful mellifluous outpouring of Schubertian proportions. An architectural shape to this, the longest first movement of these first three sonatas. This is the first really important Sonata that became a favourite of the great pianists such as Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Claudio Arrau.There was a timeless beauty to an ‘Adagio’ of extraordinary poignancy and importance demonstrating the pupil breaking out of the shell of his teacher. There was a rhythmic insistence to the ‘Scherzo’ and an enviable sweep to the Trio.The ‘Allegro’ was played with infectious dance rhythm where the chords were played with a lightness and elegance that was quite remarkable for its shape and beauty. There was dynamic drive too that brought us to a tumultuous ending, but always within the sound world of Beethoven’s architectural mastery.
Born into a family of musicians from Bucharest, Cristian Sandrin has been surrounded by classical music all his life. His frequent visits to the historic Romanian Atheneum concert hall and his attendances at the prestigious Enescu Festival shaped his musical aspirations from early childhood. Years later, he would have his own debut at the Atheneum at the age of 13. Cristian is especially devoted to the Classical and Romantic repertoire. His passion for Mozart’s piano concertos led him to direct from the keyboard several concertos during Summer Festivals at the Royal Academy of Music, as well as for the official opening of the Angela Burgess Recital Hall. From 2018–2020 he was privileged to tour the UK as an artist of the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme. Additionally, He is a scholarship holder of the Imogen Cooper Music Trust benefiting from her unique one-to-one guidance and mentorship since 2017. He graduated in 2019 from the Royal Academy of Music, receiving a DipRAM, MMus later being part of the prestigious Advanced Diploma programme.
In 2023 he was invited to become the co-Artistic Director of the much-admired Kettner Concerts which are held in the David Lloyd George Hall of the National Liberal Club, Rachmaninov’s favourite London recital room and the venue where he performed his European farewell concert. In 2021 Cristian travelled to Romania for his debut with the acclaimed George Enescu Philharmonic performing Mozart’s K 503 Piano Concerto in C major at the country’s foremost music venue: The Romanian Atheneum.Since 2020, Cristian has performed challenging solo programmes including Beethoven’s last three sonatas and Bach’s Goldberg Variations in famous venues across Europe from Berlin’s Konzerthaus, the Radio Hall in Bucharest to London’s LSO St Luke’s and Holywell Music Room Oxford, Sinfonia Smith Square and Sala Puccini in Milan. In July 2025 Cristian will have his debut at Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Germany.
His debut CD Correspondances (Antarctica Records 2022) featuring music by Ravel, Enescu and Cyril Scott has been highly acclaimed in Europe and accross the Atlantic: the German Magazine Piano News selected it as the CD of the Month whilst the American Record Guide named it “the highlight of this month’s listening. Cristian’s performances have been broadcast on major radio and TV stations in Europe and Canada, from Bayerische Rundfunk, to Rai Tre, Radio France Musique, Radio Romania Muzical and Stingray Classica.
Beethoven with the Manuscript of the Missa Solemnis (1820) Born in Bonn Baptised 17 December 1770. Died. 26 March 1827 (aged 56) Vienna Cover of 1862 edition of Beethoven’s first three piano sonatas (Breitkopf & Härtel)
The conventional first period began after Beethoven’s arrival in Vienna in 1792. In the first few years, he seems to have composed less than he did at Bonn, and his Piano Trios, op.1 were not published until 1795. From this point onward, he had mastered the ‘Viennese style’ (best known today from Haydn and Mozart ) and was making the style his own. His works from 1795 to 1800 are larger in scale than was the norm (writing sonatas in four movements, not three, for instance); typically he uses a scherzo rather than a minuet and trio ; and his music often includes dramatic, even sometimes over-the-top, uses of extreme dynamics and tempi and chromatic harmony. It was this that led Haydn to believe the third trio of Op.1 was too difficult for an audience to appreciate.
He also explored new directions and gradually expanded the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the early period are the first and second symphonies, the set of six string quartets op.18 , the first two piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the famous Pathétique sonata, Op. 13.Beethoven’s earlier preferred pianos included those of Johann Andreas Stein ; he may have been given a Stein piano by Count Waldstein. From 1786 onwards there is evidence of Beethoven’s cooperation with Johann Andreas Streicher , who had married Stein’s daughter Nannette. Streicher left Stein’s business to set up his own firm in 1803, and Beethoven continued to admire his products, writing to him in 1817 of his “special preference” for his pianos. Among the other pianos Beethoven possessed was an Érardpiano given to him by the manufacturer in 1803. The Érard piano, with its exceptional resonance, may have influenced Beethoven’s piano style – shortly after receiving it he began writing his Waldstein Sonata – but despite initial enthusiasm he seems to have abandoned it before 1810 when he wrote that it was “simply not of any use any more”; in 1824 he gave it to his brother Johann. In 1818 Beethoven received, also as a gift, a grand piano by John Broadwood & Sons. Although Beethoven was proud to receive it, he seems to have been dissatisfied by its tone (a dissatisfaction which was perhaps also a consequence of his increasing deafness), and sought to get it remodelled to make it louder. In 1825 Beethoven commissioned a piano from Conrad Graf, which was equipped with quadruple strings and a special resonator to make it audible to him, but it failed in this task. Beethoven wrote 32 mature piano sonatas between 1795 and 1822. (He also wrote 3 juvenile sonatas at the age of 13 and one unfinished sonata , WoO. 51.) Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, as a set they comprise one of the most important collections of works in the history of music.Hans von Bülow called them “The New Testament ” of piano literature (Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier being “The Old Testament “).
Beethoven’s piano sonatas came to be seen as the first cycle of major piano pieces suited to both private and public performance. They form “a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall”.[2] The first person to play them all in a single concert cycle was Hans von Bülow; the first complete recording is Artur Schnabel’s for His Master’s Voice.
The first three sonatas, written in 1782–1783, are usually not acknowledged as part of the complete set of piano sonatas because Beethoven was 13 when they were published.
WoO 47: Three Piano Sonatas (composed 1782–3, published 1783)
Piano Sonata in E flat major
Piano Sonata in F minor
Piano Sonata in D major
Beethoven’s early sonatas were highly influenced by those of Haydn and Mozart. Piano Sonatas No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 15 are four movements long, which was rather uncommon in his time.
Opus 2: Three Piano Sonatas (1795)
Piano Sonata n. 1 F minor
Piano Sonata n. 2 in A major
Piano Sonata n. 3 in C major
After he wrote his first 15 sonatas, he wrote to Wenzel Krumpholz, “From now on, I’m going to take a new path.” Beethoven’s sonatas from this period are very different from his earlier ones. His experimentation in modifications to the common sonata form of Haydn and Mozart became more daring, as did the depth of expression. Most Romantic period sonatas were highly influenced by those of Beethoven. After his 20th sonata, published in 1805, Beethoven ceased to publish sonatas in sets and published all his subsequent sonatas each as a single whole opus. It is unclear why he did so.
Ivan Donchev performing Schubert and Stravinsky on Ing. Tammaro’s prize Erard of 1879 today in Velletri
Ivan who is playing two separate complete Beethoven cycles this season, not on Erard though, but had played the ‘Diabelli variations’ on this very instrument a while ago .
Ivan is a master musician who I have heard many times over the years and admired him for his intelligence , musical integrity and pianistic mastery. Also for his large repertoire, always impeccably prepared and played with an extraordinary mastery. I just missed his ‘Hammerklavier’ last Autumn, but was glad at last to catch up now, even though I was very surprised to see in the programme Stravinsky’s ‘Petrushka.’
It was the work that Stravinsky dedicated to his friend Artur Rubinstein when he had complained that the commissioned work, ‘The Piano Rag Music’, was not music ! Stravinsky and Rubinstein had always disagreed about the piano being a percussive or singing instrument. Rubinstein never played the ‘Piano Rag Music’ that was based on percussion but he loved the ‘Petrushka Suite’ and played it often , but not with the note picking accuracy. Stravinsky wrote the suite knowing that his friend would have to spend many more hours at the piano than usual to master it. Rubinstein played his own version, sanctioned by Stravinsky, that was pure theatre rather than the transcendental note picking that Stravinsky had written. Even the composer admitted it was too difficult for him to play because he had no left hand technique !
Now here was Ivan not only prepared to add one of the most notorious war horses to his repertoire but to play it on a piano that was certainly not built for such excess. It is a work in progress and with Ivan’s poetic sensibility it highlighted many beautiful moments that are usually glossed over by more zealous virtuosi, anxious to flex their muscles on one of the most difficult works in the piano repertoire. A ‘Danse Russe’ that was a true dance with moments of striking changes of colour in Stravinsky’s extraordinary score commissioned by Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes. ‘Petrushka’s room’ was brought vividly to life with capricious changes of temperament with their sudden outbursts contrasting with glances of bewitching melancholy. ‘The Semaine Grasse’, though, is where fearless abandon and dynamic drive are on the horizon and will be provided by Ivan when he finds a great black box built like a tank at his feet instead of the sweetest most refined piano of another age.
It was though just this sweetness and mellow sound that added such strength and beauty to works that Schubert had miraculously penned in the last years of his short life on this earth.
Ing Tammaro prepares a programme for his season that is to be cherished and studied and is full of intelligence and the passionate conviction of a man dedicated to sharing his love with others. Infact it is this dedication that is transmitted as he reads to his public extracts from these volumes that he prepares every year. He reminds me of Mario Carotenuto, though, who used to tell his public off every performance for not being more numerous.
Tammarow too who reprimanded those present saying he would like to see more local citizens involved in this cultural adventure that he brings to their beloved city every Sunday morning for several months a year !
But it was just the few words allowed to an artist of Ivan’s stature ,though, that illuminated many of the things that he was then to demonstrate in poetic performances of visionary simplicity. In particular his pointing to the bell that rings out in the very first impromptu and then is heard in the distance as this miniature tone poem sees the paradise that is awaiting just around the corner for Schubert, ‘for whom the bells was indeed tolling.’ Playing the simple opening octave with a flourish that resounded around the piano and as the vibrations lay exhausted a plaintive voice of poignant simplicity emerged. Transforming this arresting opening into a mellifluous outpouring of emotional impact that under Ivan’s hands and with the sound of a faded postcard, especially poignant the distant tolling bell to be heard in the coda.
I had heard Leonskaja play these very Impromptus in London less than a week ago and she with the same poetic mastery recreated them as Ivan today, but this difference of timbre between a Steinway ‘D’ of the twenty first century manufacture and Erard of the nineteenth added a poignancy today that in London was missing.
The second impromptu just flowed from his fingers with mellifluous simplicity and a sudden change of character that was underplayed. The exhilaration and excitement were kept for the final few bars giving an architectural shape to a work too often played as a Mendelssohnian spinning song. Schubert imbues even this simple flowing ‘brook’, to used Ivan’s words, with melancholy and moments of unexpected beauty as the light catches the bubbling cascade of water in so many different ways.
Ivan unusually with the score but with many different programmes and a three year old child his prodigious memory is being put to the test for works new to his repertoire .there may be two people too many on stage this morning but Ivan’s poetic integrity shone through as brightly as ever.
The third impromptu was played not with the usual heart on sleeve cantabile but with an authority and a message that was more of poetic reasoning than conciliatory prayer. It was the quality of these period instruments that they can sing without hardness but with a sound that resembles a photo in brown and white rather than the glossy multicolour of today. Within the notes, as with these daguerreotype photos, there is a hidden message that is not stated openly but it is there for all those with a soul in tune with such subtle messaging. The fourth Impromptu just flowed from Ivan’s hands but where the cascades of notes were of the same sound as the melodic line that they surrounded. On modern instruments these two elements can seem strangely detached form one another but like in Chopin’s third Scherzo there is a chorale that is merely illuminated but the cascades of etherial notes in which it bathes.The dark brooding of the passionate central episode with Ivan’s intense playing combined with the mellow sound of the Erard made and emotional impact that on modern day instruments is completely lost.
Between these two monumental works, Francesco Marino had dedicated one of his eight Harmonies delle Sfere to the poetic sensibility of Ivan.
Particularly moved by his Liszt playing he had remodelled one of these works ,written between 2018 and 2020 , around the poetic fantasy of such a refined poet of the piano.Today was a world première of a work that owed more to Medtner than Rachmaninov but was of a similar rhapsodic beauty that Ivan shaped with loving thankfulness.
A simple children’s song was an encore that Ivan played to reminds us of the suffering of children in the conflicts around the world where making war makes more financial sense for world powers than making music. A deeply felt message from a poet of the keyboard and the father of three year old Leo and aware of what suffering there is still in a world where our cultural heritage is being ignored and where quantity rather than quality is the ethos.
Ivan writes :
‘Caro Chris, ti ringrazio della bellissima e dettagliata recensione! Grazie davvero!
The reason for my encore (il piccolo montanaro) were they – the children of Palestine .Obviously I love and cherish all children in the world ,but in this moment these are in the worst situation and it is no secret of anyone.
Il motivo del mio bis (ll piccolo montanaro) erano loro – i bambini della Palestina. Ovviamente amo e compatisco tutti i bambini del mondo, ma in questo momento loro sono nella situazione peggiore e questo non è un segreto per nessuno!!
Obviously the responsibility for what I think and say is just mine ,and no-one elses ( if that should worry you) .But for me it is important that it is stated clearly as I said yesterday on stage. (Naturally I remember that even the young Pollini was not indifferent to humanitarian causes and it is right to cite a great artist)
Potresti aggiungerlo? Anche tra parentesi va bene.
Ovviamente, la responsabilità di ciò che penso e dico è soltanto mia, e di nessun altro (se questo ti preoccupa). Ma per me è importante che sia specificato, così come l’ho detto ieri.
(Naturalmente ricorderai che nemmeno Pollini in gioventù era indifferente alle cause umanitarie giusto per ricordare un grande).
Grazie di cuore
Dear Ivan ,I wanted to add this but was wary as I had not heard completely what you had announced from the platform.You have confirmed what I thought you said .
I wanted to add that on Thursday in Milan there was a protest in the square outside Steinway Hall for Palestine for the reasons you have so sincerely outlined. If only more people would have your sensibility and willingness to speak out.You are a great artist and how could you be indifferent ……it is part of greatness that within lies a soul that feels and cares about their neighbour’s suffering.
Some refined piano playing from Pavle Krstić who had just driven down from Salzburg ,where he lives and teaches, to play a programme that turned out to be a celebration of Artur Rubinstein.
Pavle was unaware that he had chosen all the works of Chopin that were particularly associated with the greatest pianist I have ever heard. He also added an encore of the Ritual Fire Dance that one of the audience remembers hearing Rubinstein play in his last appearance at La Scala.
with Maura Romano director of the Flagship Steinway & Sons Milan Artur Rubinstein
The temple of music that is just a stones throw from the Flagship Steinway that with Maura Romano at the helm is fast becoming one of the most important cultural centres in Milan . The choice of programme may have been a coincidence but his playing of refined aristocratic elegance was of the same musicianship of simplicity , intelligence and artistry.
From the very first notes of the C minor nocturne there was the same unmistakable golden sound, that with his superb sense of balance resounded around this hall full of pianos and a much larger audience than usual. A glowing beauty of refined music making of the true bel canto with the same inflections as the human voice.
There was a political rally just outside in the square that after Pavle’s masterly performance of the Polonaise Héroique decided that they had had enough and we could see the military police stacking away all the barriers and driving off with the magnificence of Pavle’s playing ringing in their ears . ‘Make music not war’ as Barenboim and Said were desperately insisting on demonstrating with otherwise inconsolable disputes. Rubinstein whose ashes were scattered in his homeland of Israel and whose memory lingers on in so many poignant ways. Finishing his first Chopin group with the Scherzo in B flat minor played with ravishing beauty and a musicianship that recreated afresh this much abused masterpiece.The sumptuous beauty of the sound and a central episode played with whispered confessions that gradually were built up with supreme mastery and control into a climax of exhilaration and excitement.It brought spontaneous cries of approval from an audience that was not expecting such a feast of music today . This was in fact the last work that Rubinstein ever played in public. It was a concert that he had been asked to play in 1976 to save the Wigmore Hall from developers ! He was partially blind and stopped half way through the Scherzo after having played Schumann Carnaval, Beethoven op 31 n3 and much else besides, it was just his vision in this piece that betrayed him. He played instead some Chopin studies that we had never heard him play in public before. A triumph and he made a speech saying he had started his career in 1904 in this hall and was happy to finish it in 1976 but please don’t let them demolish it . The hall since has been reborn and is now the major chamber music hall of worldwide renown and much loved by the greatest musicians of our time. Rubinstein was 90 and Pavle just 27 and like Rubinstein at that age could hold his public with playing of mastery and simplicity. Pavle, like Rubinstein, looks at what the composer has written on the page and does not rely on the so called Chopin tradition of distortion and vulgar crowd pleasing rubato. There is the same strength to Pavle’s playing that is of startling originality as he allows the composer to show him the way.
Of course Pavle also has the charisma of a performer who can hold his public, never leading them astray but taking them directly to the heart of a composer that was always in his his homeland that he was destined never to see again. Stravinsky had written Piano Rag Music for his friend Rubinstein which just added to their difference of opinion about the piano being a percussion or singing instrument . Rubinstein never played it in public and to make amends his dear friend Stravinsky wrote a piano transcription of three of the movements from his ballet suite Petrushka dedicating it with impish glee to his friend. Rubinstein loved it and played it in many of his concerts worldwide with a freedom sanctioned by the composer that was never recorded for the stale studio. This for Rubinstein was pure theatre and he was not going to spend hours in note picking accuracy to play crisp and cleanly one of the most transcendentally difficult pieces ever written for piano ( there does exist a pirate performance that Rubinstein gave during his ten historic recitals in Carnegie Hall ,the proceeds of which went to charities, and was Rubinstein’s way of thanking America for giving him a home when Europe was under siege in the Second World War) Pavle today not only played all the notes but he brought a sense of dance and character to each of the three episodes that belied their technical difficulty . The ‘Dance Russe’ that just jumped for joy as the printed page became dancers before our very eyes . ‘The house of Petrushka’ played with poignant significance and the hussle and bussle of the Semaine Grasse just burst into a joie de vivre of scintillating exhilaration and excitement .
A superb Steinway D piano for the concert
Masterly playing and an audience that would not let him go . He sat at the piano one last time and struck up the frantic boiling trill of the ‘Ritual Fire Dance’. Naked passion and dynamic drive but no copy cat Rubinstein arm movements, but in the central episode boiling sounds of ferment out of which arose the passionate cry of the flamenco dancer. Two Moments Musicaux by Rachmaninov were the bridge between the two Chopin selections.
a drinks reception with the artist after the concertthe infectious enthusiasm of Maura Romano
The nostalgic elegie of Rachmaninov’s homeland that he fled as the Russian hierarchy were so cruelly eliminated .Played by Pavle with a legato that was so perfect that it seemed like a human voice in anguished yearning. The second was n .4 usually played as a ‘tour de force’ of pianistic gymnastics but that Pavle, with his acute sense of balance, played with quite extraordinary mastery that could let us appreciate Rachmaninov’s total mastery of the keyboard and his passionate feeling for colour.
Pavle Krstić drove to Florence for the repeat performance in the ‘Room with a View’ on this all too short Keyboard Trust tour. A recital in the Harold Acton Library of the British Institute where Simon and Jennifer Gammell had arranged a Gala Concert for their special guests of friends and sponsors of the Institute. Pavle completing the magic with playing of Mozart . The sublime second movement of the concerto K 488 ‘ dictated by God’ and played without any added ornamentation but allowing Mozart’s notes to speak with purity and beauty from the hands of a poetic master.
Simon Gammell ,director of the British Institute presenting this special gala concertA Room with a View ‘the Harold Acton library’Sir David Scholey congratulating Pavle Miracles do happen in a room with such a view, transformed from a concert hall to a hall for a sumptuous after concert feast Pavle played a Mozart Concerto K488 slow movement as a thank you for such hospitality
The Keyboard Trust presents a New Artist Recital by Alessio Masi Steinway Hall, London – Wednesday 14 May 2025.
Alessio Masi at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust ,substituting at short notice an artist who had not received her visa.
Alessio had flown in from Florence where he is studying with Roberto Prosseda and Alessandra Ammara, and is shortly to continue his studies in the Manhattan School of Music in New York
A programme that was particularly interesting for two rarely performed Italian composers, one from the seventeenth century and the other from the twentieth.
A programme that also included his own transcription of Bach’s ‘Es ist Vollbracht’ from the St John Passion, that acted as an introduction to César Franck’s ‘Prelude,Chorale and Fugue’ and Chopin’s greatest work:the ‘Barcarolle ‘ op 60 .
From the opening notes of the Sonata by Giustini, one of the many Italian baroque composers who have lain in neglect for too long, Alessio imbued it with such character. The opening ‘spiritoso ’ of capricious invention followed by a ‘Corrente’ that just burst into life with its infectiously busy chattering. A ‘Sarabande’ of a delicacy of crystalline purity and fluidity with an ending of ravishing whispered beauty. The dynamic rhythmic drive of the ‘Gigue’ was strangely followed by a Minuet with Giustini tip toeing to the final chord of a sonata showing us a composer who deserves to be heard more in the concert hall.
Alessio’s playing with an extraordinary clarity and a kaleidoscope of colour of a chameleonic sense of character.
It was this mastery that he brought to the 15 Preludes by Nino Rota. A composer of ‘Godfather’ fame who was also a remarkably original composer.
Fifteen miniatures each one imbued with character that reminded me of Prokofiev’s ‘Visions Fugitives’ in the way that so few notes could immediately be imbued with an ever changing character. Mellifluous , capricious , ponderous , exhilarating , monumental, pompous and brilliant ,Alessio managed to bring a different colour and sound to each little bauble that he , with his always beautiful chiselled sound, could turn into gleaming gems .
As Leslie Howard pointed out in his short post concert ‘meet the artist’ conversation the works of Rota have yet to be discovered and it is thanks to Alessio and the Robert Turnbull Foundation that what we heard tonight will soon be a precious and overdue addition to the CD catalogue .
Alessio with Rupert Christiansen Artistic director of the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation
Alessio is also a composer and it was his transcription of the Bach aria that showed his mastery, able to convey the poignant poise of one of Bach’s most potent moments of the St John Passion with playing of the extraordinary conviction of a true believer . Bursting into life with vibrant, robust sounds of joyous elation before dying away to a place of peace and refined beauty. All this played by a composer who could convey so poignantly Bach’s intentions on a single modern day instrument.
Out of the meditative silence of Bach the sublime beauty of César Franck was heard. Franck, the organist of Sainte Clotilde in Paris , could translate the sounds of the organ to the piano with ravishing effect. A performance remarkable for the whispered sounds and poignant silences that made the passionate outpourings so much more imposing. A chorale that glowed with golden beauty as it built to an overpowering outpouring of fervent aristocratic conviction . A fugue where Franck’s knotty twine was played with a whispered clarity as the opening theme returned on a wave of golden sounds .
A technical mastery that allowed him to combine the three themes with transcendental control and majesty never allowing the sounds to harden, but to become ever more richer with his slender spindly fingers that could dig deep into the keys without ever becoming percussive. Adding the occasional deep octave notes to give more sound at moments of powerful emotional impact and gave great depth and breathtaking potency when added with the discreet good taste of a true musician. Nelson Freire and Rubinstein often would take that liberty in public performances depending on the atmosphere in the hall and the vibrations from the audience.
Admonished,though , by Leslie Howard who suggested that the composer was quite capable of adding an octave or two if he wanted to! Leslie was taken under the wing of Guido Agosti and is very much influenced by the musical integrity and humility of a disciple of Busoni where the composers wishes are like the bible and we are merely servants trying to communicate their genius without any extraneous interventions.
In a private pre dinner master class Leslie gave some invaluable advice to this young very talented Sicilian.Alessio with youthful passion in his heart and quite considerable mastery in his fingers
But it was some of this youthful passion that betrayed him in Chopin’s great wave of song.However if he allowed youthful passion to overpower such a masterpiece it was only because he loved it too much and did not allow his head to offer advice to the passion in his Sicilian heart.
Leslie explaining about Chopin’s fingering to C.E.O Sarah Biggs Roy Emerson our masterly sound engineer
Another gem of Nino Rota was added as an encore with a work constructed on the letters of Bach’s name. A tongue in cheek passacaglia, one might surmise, of brilliance and effervescence to complete this surprising young man’s unexpected debut recital for the keyboard trust.
Alessio Masi was born in Sicily. In September 2025, he will begin a Professional Studies course at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, studying with Daniel Epstein. He is currently studying piano with Alessandra Ammara and Roberto Prosseda in Italy. Alessio has attended masterclasses with Roland Pöntinen, Inna Faliks, Jed Distler, Maria Narodystka, William G. Naboré, Alexander Malofeev, Andrea Lucchesini, Pietro De Maria, Maurizio Baglini and others. He won First Prize in the Hermès for Talents Competition, which granted him a three-year sponsorship from Hermès Italia and a European tour organized by the H.Y.T.A. project. He also attends the Verbier Festival Academy annually. Alessio was awarded the Second Prize, the Audience Prize, and a Special Mention for the performance of a contemporary work at the Premio Brunelli in 2025. This recognition also marked his début at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza where he was the soloist in Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto. Alessio has performed in numerous prestigious venues and theatres in the UK, Portugal, Spain, USA, Germany and Italy, sharing his interests in Italian piano music and the musical legacy of Bach through recitals of music with strong thematic connections. In 2025, his album dedicated to the piano music of Nino Rota will be released on the Brilliant Classics label. Alessio is also active as a composer and will soon release his first album of original piano music.
Composer Nino Rota (1911 – 1979) was born into a family of musicians in Milan. He was initially a student of Giacomo Orefice and Ildebrando Pizzetti until he moved to Rome while still a child and completed his studies under Alfredo Casella at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929. In the meantime, he became an enfant prodige, famous as both a composer and a conductor. His first oratorio, L’infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, was performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923, and his lyrical comedy, Il Principe Porcaro, was composed in 1926.From 1930 to 1932, Rota lived in the U.S.A. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia and studied composition under Rosario Scalero and orchestra under Fritz Reiner.
Rota returned to Italy and earned a degree in literature from the University of Milan. In 1937, he began a teaching career that led to the directorship of the Bari Conservatory, a title he held from 1950 until his death in 1979.After his ‘childhood’ compositions, Rota wrote the following operas: Ariodante (Parma 1942), Torquemada (1943), Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (Palermo 1955), I due timidi (RAI 1950, London 1953), La notte di un neurastenico (Premio Italia 1959, La Scala 1960), Lo scoiattolo in gamba (Venezia 1959), Aladino e la lampada magica (Naples 1968), La visita meravigliosa (Palermo 1970), and Napoli milionaria (Spoleto Festival 1977).
He also wrote the following ballets: La rappresentazione di Adamo ed Eva (Perugia 1957), La Strada (La Scala 1965), Aci e Galatea (Rome 1971), Le Molière Imaginaire (Paris and Brussels 1976) and Amor di poeta (Brussels 1978) for Maurice Bejart.
In addition, countless of Rota works are performed worldwide.
Rota’s work in film dates back to the early forties and his filmography includes virtually all of the noted directors of his time. The first of these is Federico Fellini. Rota wrote the scores for all of Fellini’s films from The White Sheik in 1952 to The Orchestra Rehearsal in 1979.
Rota also collaborated with other directors, including Renato Castellani, Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, Mario Monicelli, Francis Ford Coppola (he received the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Godfather II), King Vidor, René Clément, Edward Dmytrik and Eduardo de Filippo. Additionally, he composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zefirelli and de Filippo .He is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli’s Shakespeare screen adaptations , and for the first two installments of Francis Ford Coppolas’s The Godfather Trilogy , earning the Academy Award for the Best Original Score for The Godfather Part II in 1974
A prolific composer :
Musica for pianoforte
1919: Il Mago doppio – Suite per quattro mani
1920: Tre pezzi
1922: Preludio e Fuga per pianoforte a quattro mani (Storia del Mago Doppio)
1924: Illumina Tu, O Fuoco
1924: Io Cesserò il Mio Canto
1924: Ascolta o Cuore June
1925: Il Presàgio
1925: La Figliola Del Re (Un Augello Gorgheggiava)
Allegro danzante per clarinetto e pianoforte (1977)
For strings and pianoforte
Improvviso in re minore per violino e pianoforte (1947)
Improvviso per Violino e Pianoforte (Un diavolo sentimentale) (1969)
Intermezzo per viola e pianoforte (1945)
Sonata in sol per Viola e Pianoforte (1934-35, revised 1970)
Sonata per Viola e Pianoforte della Sonata in Re per Clarinetto e pianoforte (1945)
Sonata per violino e pianoforte(1936-37)
For wind and pianoforte
Castel del Monte – Ballata per Corno e Pianoforte (1974)
Cinque Pezzi facili per flauto e pianoforte (1972)
Elegia per Oboe e Pianoforte (1955)
Pezzo in Re per clarinetto e pianoforte (agosto) (1977)
Sonata in Re per Clarinetto e Pianoforte (1945)
Toccata per Fagotto e Pianoforte (1974)
For flute and harp
Cadenze per il Concerto K299 di Mozart per flauto e arpa (1962)
Sonata per flauto e arpa (1937)
Trios
Trio per clarinetto, violoncello e pianoforte (1973)
Trio per Flauto, Violino e Pianoforte (settembre, 1958)
Quartets
Invenzioni per quartetto d’archi (1932)
Quartetto per archi (1948-54)
Miscellaneous
Il Presepio: Quartetto d’archi con voce (1929)
Il Richiamo: Quintetto d’archi con voce (1923)
Minuetto (1931)
Nonetto, per flauto, oboe, clarinetto, fagotto, corno, violino, viola, violoncello e contrabbasso (1959, 1974, 1977)
Piccola Offerta Musicale per flauto, oboe, clarinetto, corno e fagotto (1943)
Quintetto per flauto, oboe, viola, violoncello e arpa (1935)
Romanza (Aria) e Marcia (1968)
Sarabanda e Toccata per Arpa (1945)
Sonata per Organo (1965)
Vocal music
Perché Si Spense la Lampada (Quando Tu Sollevi la Lampada al Cielo) August 1923)
Vocalizzi per Soprano leggero e Pianoforte (1957)
Tre liriche infantili per canto (soprano, tenor) e pianoforte/Three childrens’ lyrical poems for voice and piano (1935)
Le Prime Battute di 6 Canzoni e un Coro per “L’Isola Disabitata” April 1932)
Mater fons amoris per Soprano (o tenore) solo, coro di donne e organo (1961)
Canto e Pianoforte/Voice and Piano (1972)
Ballata e Sonetto di Petrarca (1933)
Mysterium (1962) per coro e orchestra su testi scelti da Vincenzo Verginelli, tratti dal Vangelo di Giovanni e dai primi scrittori cristiani, commissionato dalla Pro Civitate Christiana di Assisi
la Vita di Maria (1970), rappresentazione sacra in 16 parti più l’interludio, per soli, coro e orchestra, con scelta di testi sacri dal Vecchio Testamento, i Vangeli ortodossi e quelli apocrifi di Vincenzo Verginelli
Roma capomunni (1970-71), vocale corale cantata per solo, coro e orchestra, su testi scelti da Vincenzo Verginelli tratti da Belli, Virgilio, Orazio, Byron, Goethe, Dante, Servio, Macrobio, Vigolo
Orchestral music
Infanzia di S. Giovanni Battista oratorio per soli, coro e orchestra (1922)
Balli per piccola orchestra (1932 al Teatro La Fenice di Venezia)
Sonata (Canzona) per orchestra da camera (1935)
Variazioni e fuga nei 12 toni sul nome di Bach per orchestra (1950)
Concerto in Fa, Concerto Festivo per orchestra (1958-61)
Concerto per archi (1964-65, nuova revisione 1977)
Due Momenti (Divertimenti) (1970)
Fantasia sopra dodici note del “Don Giovanni di Mozart” per pianoforte e orchestra (1960)
Fuga per Quartetto d’Archi, Organo e Orchestra d’Archi (1923)
Guardando il Fujiyama (Pensiero per Hiroshima) (1976)
Lo scoiattolo in gamba, libretto di Eduardo De Filippo (1959 al Teatro La Fenice di Venezia diretta da Ettore Gracis)
Aladino e la lampada magica, fiaba lirica in tre atti e 11 quadri su libretto di Vincenzo Verginelli (da Le mille e una notte); (1963-1965), prima rappresentazione assoluta al Teatro di San Carlo nel 1968, diretta da Carlo Franci con Franco Bonisolli
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).
Sonate frontispiece, 1732.
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.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 
