Playing of beauty and poetry from the very first notes of the sublime Prelude in B minor by Bach.Immediately apparent was his delicacy and beautiful colours with playing of timeless beauty of reverent solemnity.This poetic sensitivity was the mark of all that Connor did from sublime Bach to diabolical Liszt.
Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Sonata is based very much on scales and arpeggios ,to quote Delius. Here it was given a more subdued poetic reading than usual from the very first notes that were played like mere vibrations before opening out to the beauty and intricacy of the mature Beethoven.Sometimes missing the clockwork rhythmic precision where Connor preferred to turn corners with more romantic style than Beethoven’s sometimes abrupt irascible change of gear. There was a poignant beauty to the Adagio introduction to the final Rondo.Bathed in pedal it was more conceived in pianistic terms than the orchestral that was obviously Beethoven’s inspiration.It was in the last movement ,though, that Beethoven does indeed ask for long pedal notes as the bell like first note rang out so beautifully in Connor’s hands before the undulating wave of accompaniment became alive and the melodic line was allowed to float on magical sounds as it was to do later in the coda suspended in air on a cloud of trills. The dynamic drive to the alternating episodes were beautifully contrasted of technical mastery and excitement with the wonderland surrounds that Beethoven had tried to express in sound.The famous glissandi in the coda were accommodated a little too romantically though to allow the savage drive of the coda to continue unabated to the final heroic bars.
It was in Schubert’s G flat Impromptu that Connor returned to the world of his opening Bach where his playing was of ravishing beauty and refined poetry.There was a beautiful dialogue between the hands and a sense of balance that allowed the musical line to sing with such a sublime voice.
Liszt’s Dante Sonata opened with drama and mystery.Sumptuous rich sounds contrasted with sublime whispered secrets of poetic beauty. Fearless octaves were thrown off with dynamic drive and brilliance but always within the context of a great drama that was unfolding before our eyes.An ending of exhilarance and technical mastery with the final notoriously treacherous leaps played with musical understanding and the poetic shaping of a drama that was unfolded with musicianly architectural understanding and poetic beauty.
Connor Heraghty is a distinguished British concert pianist and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at some of the most prestigious venues in the UK and Europe. Notable UK venues include Wigmore Hall, Milton Court Barbican, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, and Buckingham Palace, where he performed in the presence of King Charles. Internationally, he has performed for audiences at The Fazioli Concert Hall in Venice, The Lithuanian Music Theatre & Academy Hall, and Radziejowice Palace in Poland.
Connor was awarded a scholarship to study piano performance with Valéria Szervánszky at the Purcell School of Music. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under the guidance of Senior Professor of Piano, Joan Havill, where he completed his B.Mus (Hons), Master of Music, and Master of Performance postgraduate degrees, followed by the prestigious Artist Diploma. He currently studies with Norma Fisher.
Connor was appointed Junior Artist Fellow at Guildhall and has been supported by scholarships from The Guildhall Trust, Leverhulme Arts Trust, Countess of Munster, and the Alec Beecheno Bursary Award. Connor’s career has been shaped by mentorship from renowned musicians such as Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri, Sir Stephen Hough, Peter Frankl, and Michel Béroff.
His solo career is complemented by his role as co-founder of the prize-winning London Piano Duo with pianist Daisy Ou. Connor is represented by Piha Entertainment and is supported by Talent Unlimited Musicians.
Yoav Levanon a charming well groomed young man took the Wigmore by storm this morning .Anyone who could preface the complete Liszt Transcendental studies with four Chopin studies op 25 played as four miniature tone poems showing a personality that we are not used to anymore is already audacious. Taking all the time needed as we awaited his arrival on stage and once there awaited that magic moment of the very first notes.In a sense old style playing breathing with timeless wonder and taking all the time needed to digest such discoveries. An Aeolian harp of ravishing beauty and even if he did take time onto the way it in no way impeded his musicianly architectural vision.The final chord and pulsating trill I have rarely heard played with such refined elegance.Op 25 n. 2 reminds me always of Rubinstein ,on this very stage , in the last public performance of a long and celebrated life.William Lyne had persuaded Rubinstein to give this final recital in an attempt to relaunch the hall and save it from the hands of voracious developers .A programme of Beethoven and Schumann in the first half and a second half dedicated to his beloved Chopin.
Yoav’s crystalline playing of an undulating stream of sounds with the final notes dying away allowing the ‘double thirds study to enter out of the magic created. The G sharp minor study was played with astonishing ease just as he was to do with Feux Follets where the notorious technical difficulties were absorbed into a tone poem of quite astonishing beauty and architectural shape.The fifth study,another particular favourite of Rubinstein, was played with an extraordinary sense of character the melodic central episode of sublime finesse and beauty as the melodic line was allowed to float on an accompaniment of gossamer lightness and beguiling style.The ending played with grandiose authority as it reached for the heights ending this quartet of studies conceived as a whole.
Returning with a microphone as with simple charm he outlined his conception of music that should be a discovery of beauty and musical meaning and that it was with this idea in mind that he had conceived his performance of the complete Transcendental Studies that he was about to play. Here was intelligence, artistic integrity and above all imaginative artistry. A sculptor of sounds introducing the Liszt ,strangely in a Texan accent ,with a simplicity and modesty that only the greatest artists can display .One is reminded of a shorter version of Van Cliburn! Mentored by Murray Perahia he is the best kept secret ever. To say that anyone who could present such a programme in public is a supreme stylist is the greatest compliment one could offer to a young man who is obviously the reincarnation of Liszt. A monumental ‘Paysage’ building to a passionate climax followed the astonishing clarity and mastery of the first two studies. ‘Feux Follets’ grew out of the final chord of ‘Paysage ‘ but what of ‘Mazeppa?! ‘ A secret revealed at the end and it was not clear if he had just forgotten to play it but more likely was intentional as it was an astonishing way to conclude these twelve Lisztian studies.The lightness and capricious character he brought to ‘Feux Follets ‘ is of a chosen few who can ignore the enormous technical challenges and just concentrate of the musical shape of a work like ‘Au Bord d’une source’ that is of infinite charm and jeux perlé beauty. A truly monumental performance of ‘Visions’ was played with incredible power and relentless passion. An orchestral opening to ‘Eroica’ as the octaves were thrown of with an ease where they became merely vibrations of the chords such was his remarkable use of the pedal. A ‘Wilde Jags ‘ that was a passionate outpouring of almost unbearable tension unleashed with oases of calm and menace. ‘Ricordanza’ is like looking at an old photo ,brown at the edges, of nostalgic magic atmosphere .A kaleidoscope of beauty and shimmering colours of beguiling half lights and style.The F minor study that from nothing built to a sumptuous climax of passionate agitation with a wonderful sense of rubato allied to a masterly control.There was the whispered chant of the opening of ‘Harmonies du soir’ as sounds filled the rarified air with the same magic of the harp and that built to a sumptuous climax of breathtaking voluptuous sounds. The whispered sounds of ‘Chasse-neige’ were barely audible as an extraordinary tone poem was constructed before out incredulous eyes. After such enormous sonorities dying away to a mere whisper it was here that Yoav allowed Mazeppa to enter the scene with its breathtaking fearless virtuosity and sumptuous romantic effusions. I am sure Liszt would have approved of changing the order to finish in a blaze of triumph and glory.
Yoav would have gladly played some more but he had overrun his time in a hall that is filled to the rafters two of three times a day.He was even reduced to greeting his enthusiastic fans in the hall itself as sherry was offered to the public on this Sunday morning start to a week long series of piano recitals .What a beginning this recital has truly been .
Overwhelming ,breathtaking ,heart rending seduction of all the senses . In Liszt’s day the aristocratic audiences were reduced to a devouring mob as they tried to grab any souvenir of their idol.
The Wiggies are more restrained and offered a standing ovation with cat calls that are usually reserved for the football stadium.Not since Raymond Lewenthal ‘s historic Liszt/Alkan recitals has this hall witnessed such a reincarnation https://www.yoavlevanon.com/
Who would have thought that some of the finest pianists around are being trained in England .None the less from the Purcell School a series of young pianists are breaking the tradition of English pianists sadly lacking in that necessary early training that has up to now been apparent only from the Eastern European countries and America.At last I was invited to see this remarkable place and to hear a remarkable young man about to embark on a trip to Fort Worth in Texas for the Junior Van Cliburn Competition.A student of Tessa Nicholson ,an old collegue ,Alim presented his programme that he will perform next week on the USA.Remarkably mature reading of the 7th Sonata by Prokofiev was matched by a dazzling Study by Ligeti.Very secure professional readings of the D major Prelude and Fugue Book 2 by Bach and the Sonata op 10n.3 by Beethoven maybe just lacking that sense of space and timing that only maturity will bring.A remarkable taught and passionate reading of Liszt 2nd Ballade following on with an equally finely controlled Chopin Fantasie ,Sense of colour and style in the Chopin C minor Nocturne followed atranscendental performance of Feux D.artifice.And fireworks very much in evidence in the Paganini study that finished the first half of a remarkably long and difficult programme.This is obviously yet another artist to add to the roster that are beginning to appear more and more often on the International concert scene.
Windsor and Eton Choral Society Brandenburg Sinfonia Ryan Wang Piano Tim Johnson Conductor
Accompanied by the excellent Brandenburg Sinfonia and with professional soloists, Windsor and Eton Choral Society bring Brahms’ moving and dramatic German Requiem to Windsor Festival this September.
This special concert in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle will open with exceptional young pianist Ryan Wang performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The 16 year old Etonian began learning the piano at the age of four, playing at Carnegie Hall by the time he was five, and is the recipient of numerous distinguished international awards and prizes, recently becoming the youngest ever winner of the Prix Cortot from the École Normale de Musique de Paris.
Programme: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 Brahms German Requiem
A masterly performance from the 16 year old Ryan Wang today in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. Another Canadian pianist taking the world by storm just as Jaeden Dzurko did today in Leeds and Bruce Xiao Liu did in Warsaw a year ago.Lets not forget Kevin Chen ,mentored by Marilyn Engle ,running off with Budapest at 16,Geneva at 17 and Rubinstein at 18 in a carousel that not even Martha Argerich has equalled!
Ryan with his father
From the very first notes Ryan showed an authority and breathtaking command of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto. In his last year as a scholar at Eton,Ryan gave a performance of passionate abandon but with a mature musical intelligence way above his 16 years.
After the passionate excitement of the first movement it was the way he could dialogue with the orchestra in the slow movement that was so astonishing as he could blend in and out with the orchestra allowing his glowing tone to emerge as he duetted first with the clarinet and finally with the strings with heart rending beauty.The last movement just shot from his fingers with astonishing ease and scintillating bravura.Watching the conductor like a hawk as he brought such animal passion to the hollywoodian climax .A spontaneous standing ovation from a very distinguished audience brought an encore of Jesu joy of man’s desiring played with quite extraordinary poignancy and aristocratic timeless beauty. Ryan will be performing the concerto in Bristol next week which I believe will be broadcast and televised as the final round of the BBC Young Musician of the Year.
Ryan on his way to the Castle
The very first whispered chords Ryan played with extraordinary chameleonic colouring as they grew so naturally in size and weight before the final explosion with the four final bass notes played with overwhelming authority and power.The orchestra entering with their wonderfully romantic effusions of sumptuous golden string sound. It was this power from the bass that was to pervade the piano accompaniment with the same searing intensity that Tim Johnson distilled from his excellent players of the Brandenburg Sinfonia.
Queen Victoria keeping an eye on things in Windsor
Ryan playing with the weight of a veteran where every note was given its place and meaning.Listening ,as he was to do even more noticeably in the Adagio sostenuto ,here in this famous opening he played as Rachmaninov himself exhorts ‘con passione’ but also with intelligence ,sensibility and masterly control.The ‘poco piu mosso’ that follows was of an enviable clarity where his crystalline fingers dug deep into every one of the keys on this magnificent Steinway Concert Grand that lay before him.The beautiful second subject was played with controlled freedom with a feeling of improvised discovery as his rubato was enticing but so natural and never sentimental.
Ryan’s grandparents flown in especially from Canada
This was the mature aristocratic cantabile that Rubinstein was such a master of and whom I had heard in the nearby Eton college many years ago.Rubinstein appearing on stage in Eton Chapel as part of this same Windsor Festival when it was directed by Yehudi Menuhin . Appearing in tails dressed as all the boys were in the audience who had flocked to hear this legendary figure.There were such piercing sounds that shone above the swirling passionate cauldron first with two repeated notes and then with three before Ryan too was caught up in this passionate build up before bursting into unashamed passionate repeated chords like a rock star in full flight! But it was the control of the ‘Alla marcia Maestoso’ after such passionate effusions that was so remarkable and breathtaking .
Ryan’s mother on her way to the hall
The clarity he brought to the gentle beating heart of the ending was just as remarkable as it floated above the orchestra with magical arabesques bringing a glow to such heavenly sounds as it shot on its way unimpeded to the final three imperious chords that Ryan played with a finality of no nonsense mastery.
Ryan with the leader of the orchestra
Rachmaninov’s ‘Moonlight ‘ opening for the piano of his Adagio sostenuto was played where every note was not just an accompaniment, as it should be in Beethoven, but Rachmaninov weaves a magical web that every so often comes to the surface in a duo with the orchestra.It takes a great musician to be able to listen and weave in and out in real chamber music style whilst sitting in the limelight. Poignant beauty as with single notes the piano intones this magical melody inviting the left hand to double to make it twice as bewitching. Ryan played like a consummate artist who could improvise such beauty in the moment adding hesitations or inflections as a singer might do.The gradual build up with trails of undulating scaling passage work was played with a clarity that shone above the orchestra but never obscuring the architectural line that was being shared .
Ryan being congratulated after the concert
Exploding into a passionate climax of intensity and an aristocratic ‘allargando ‘ as the music worked itself up into a whirl of notes culminating in another passionate outburst of even more vehemence before the filigree notes that lead to the eventual cadenza.Notes that remarkably were of a crystalline clarity penetrating the orchestral sounds with a refined projected leggiero of considerable mastery. Culminating in a rhetorical cadenza starting deep in the bass and reaching into the heights with exhilaration.It was here that Ryan’s great artistry shone through with a silence that seemed eternal until he completely changed gear with four voluptuous arabesques that were eventually to lead back to the opening motif.Beautiful undulating chords accompanying the melodic line from the orchestra in the coda were played like a breath of fresh air in such a torrid atmosphere and again the magisterially placed final cadence on the piano was of a true master.
Tim Johnson like a cat about to pounce as soon as the final E major chord had died away and we were off into the ‘Allegro scherzando’ where Ryan was now ready to shoot off a pyrotechnic rocket from one end of the keyboard to the other where dynamic drive and scintillating virtuosity were rampant.But suddenly there was calm and the ravishing beauty of the ‘Moderato’ where the orchestra are given one of those sumptuous Rachmaninovian melodies that in turn is passed over to the piano. Ryan in his turn playing with a controlled freedom of ravishing subtle beauty .Suddenly interrupted by a ‘Meno Mosso’ where the piano just muses on C flat meanderings of complete opaque calm before the fireworks really begin.Astonishing virtuosity and passionate conviction from this young artist inspiring the orchestra into a breathtaking climax of sumptuous romantic fervour.
Covered in flowers from friends and family he played ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring’ as a thank you for the standing ovation he together with the conductor and orchestra had truly earned.I doubt Myra Hess herself could have played her transcription more beautifully and Ryan even allowed himself some old style split hands and sumptuous inner colourings more in line with Nelson Freire than the great Dame herself https://youtu.be/2GoEx9_dUko?feature=shared
It was wonderful to hear the glorious voices in Brahms Requiem from the Windsor and Eton Choral Society that had made it’s first appearance in Windsor in 1837. A glorious performance with the voices resounding throughout this Historic Chapel superbly directed by Tim Johnson with beautiful solo voices of Susanna Fairbairn and Andrew Mayor resounding above the glorious singing of this dedicated choir and orchestra.
This recording was made of a live performance in Bordeaux that was so extraordinary that the organisers produced this CD .It was last year in Florence that I had heard this young 15 year old as he took part in the final of the Montecatini competition created by Aisa Ijiri.I was invited as a commentator and as soon as Ryan played a Chopin Prelude I sent a message to Sofya Gulyak who was the chairwoman of the jury :’finally and artist!’ .There were other very fine contestants but there is a magic and mastery that is so immediately apparent that you begin to realise that communication is a God given gift of the very few.God has been very generous with Ryan !
A standing ovation for the remarkable Warren Mailley-Smith with his ‘Moonlight by Candlelight’ in St Mary Le Strand . Remarkable not only for the beautiful playing of an artist who truly loves music but for an artist who has time and the passion to promote over 300 concerts a year sharing a platform with numerous of his colleagues not only in London but also in Manchester and Edinburgh
https://citymusicpromotions.co.uk/buy-tickets/ One of whom is Julian Trevelyan who is playing in the Leeds final that is being broadcast live tonight and whom we wish all the success he deserves
Warren played not only Beethoven’s Moonlight but also a deeply felt mellifluous Pathetique. Chopin too with a ravishing Nocturne in C sharp minor op posth and a Fantasie-Impromptu of searing intensity. A ‘Raindrop’ prelude of rare beauty as was his beguiling account of a whispered ‘Clair de lune’. ‘Un sospiro’ by Liszt soaring the heights of romantic seduction before the wedding bells rang out with such joy in Troldhaugen thanks to Grieg op 65 n.6 A public happy to have spent the evening surrounded by candlelit beauty and ravishing sounds from Warren’s magical fingers on his own beautiful Steinway housed in this church in an oasis of peace just a stone’s throw from the burning hot intensity of Covent Garden.
Leaving the church exhilarated and uplifted in a city outside ready to celebrate ‘Friday night fever.’,
Lifelong friends with Petr who was glad to help out an old friend whose brother ,Alexei, had sprained his shoulder at the last minute and could not play in this long awaited joint recital. A Schubert Fantasy that seemed too slow but gradually enveloped us all with its crystalline beauty and magisterial architectural understanding .
To say that Petr’s solo of Schubert op 90 n 3 and 4 was sublime would be the understatement of the year! Old style playing where a pianist becomes a magician as Schubert’s sublime music floated into this beautiful edifice with timeless beauty reminding me of the much missed Nelson Freire. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/02/nelson-freire-rip/
Sasha’s Brahms Rhapsody op 79 n 1 was not less as he had a whole orchestra in his hands .Not just any old orchestra but the Berlin Philharmonic to say the least . Precision with scrupulous attention to detail ,especially the pedal as you would expect from his mentor the veteran Noretta Conci-Leech a disciple of Michelangeli and co founder of the Keyboard Trust.
In rehearsal before the concert
Two Dvorak dances united these two great artists with a decadent rubato of insinuating whispered secrets A Bach chorale that Kurtag had transcribed for himself and his wife to play was their way of cleansing the air and thanking the numerous public after such sumptuous excesses .
Luckily Maestro Kurtag had left his own vocabulary on the shelf bowing to the superior timeless genius of J.S.B.
Sasha Grynyuk Petr Limonov And so off to prepare for Sunday where Sasha’s wife will take my place and Petr again will take Alexei’s
Playing of real authority on a not easy piano but nevertheless a Bosendorfer of pedigree that in the hands of a true musician can still reveal many secrets .A programme of the three B’s : Beethoven ,Brahms ……..and Barber eloquently introduced but even more eloquently played !
Beethoven’s ‘Les Adieux’ Sonata the only Sonata that Beethoven actually gave titles to opened with the luminosity and simplicity of a beautifully shaped ‘Adagio’ before exploding into the ‘Allegro’ that was played with great buoyancy and drive. Impeccable technical control as he played with scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s detailed indications with musicianship and poetic beauty.There was a beautiful sense of balance in the ‘Andante espressivo’ that allowed the melodic line to glow with poignant simplicity. An oasis of calm before the explosion of the ‘Vivacissimamente’ and an exhilarating pastoral ‘joie de vivre’ that was played with dynamic drive and scintillating exuberance.
The four pieces that make up Brahms op 119 opened with the Intermezzo in B minor played with purity and poignant beauty as the music was allowed to unfold with heartrending beauty as Brahms said farewell to the piano with these last solo offerings. The Intermezzo in E minor was played with a whimsical whispered flight of beauty with playing of great fantasy and architectural line.In fact all through these four short pieces there was an overall sense of line and shape that united them into a whole which I have rarely heard played with such intelligent musicianship and sense of forward movement.Never allowing himself to wallow in these very intimate pieces but letting the music to speak for itself with a kaleidoscope of sounds of rare beauty.A beguilingly capricious Intermezzo in C major was thrown off with the same ease and charm that I still remember from the hands of Curzon.The final Rhapsody in E flat was full of majestic orchestral sounds with a central episode that was like a breath of fresh air of innocent purity before the final sumptuous finale played played with grandiose aristocratic control.
A performance of the Barber Sonata that was written for Horowitz and is indeed a ‘tour de force’ of intricate counterpoints and moving harmonies of relentless forward movement.The ‘Allegro energico’ was played with a kaleidoscope of colours it’s melancholic theme emerging through a mist of sounds.The ‘Allegro vivace e leggero’ was a mellifluous outpouring of continuous sounds and led to the languid beauty of mystery and haunting nostalgia of the ‘Adagio mesto’ that was played with passionate commitment and commanding authority. But it was the Fugal last movement notorious for its intricate knotty twine that Jeremy played with breathtaking ,fearless virtuosity but also with the sense of line and architectural shape of a remarkable musician.
Jeremy introducing the programme An old Bosendorfer with a voice still of great pedigree in the right hands
An inspiring visit to the crypt in this remarkable church so brutally abused during the war.
Samuel Osmond Barber II March 9, 1910 West Chester Pennsylvania January 23, 1981 Manhattan NY
The Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, op .26, was commissioned for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the League of Composers by American songwriters Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers .It was written between 1947 to 1949, and was first performed by Vladimir Horowitz in December 1949 in Havana, Cuba, followed by performances in Washington D.C and New York City in January 1950. The sonata is regarded as a cornerstone of American piano literature and one of Barber’s most significant achievements. Critics hailed it as a defining moment in mid-20th-century music, with The New York Times describing it as the “first sonata truly to come of age by an American composer of this period.”
Upon completing the first two movements, Barber initially planned a concluding slow movement,and played the completed movements for Horowitz , who would later premiere the work, at Horowitz’s house.Horowitz then suggested Barber write a four-movement work with a “very flashy last movement, but with content”, a movement which would become a fugue.
The composer finished the sonata in June 1949, and Vladimir Horowitz began to prepare it for performance, spending five hours a day practicing it. Barber later commented that Horowitz had been playing it “with a surprising emotional rapprochement which I had not expected”.Horowitz premiered the Sonata in Havana, Cuba, on December 9, 1949. This was followed by a private performance in New York at the former G.Shirmer headquarters on January 4, 1950. Gian Carlo Menotti ,Virgil Thomson,William Schumann,Thomas Schippers,Aaron Copland,Lukas Foss Myra Hess and Samuel Chotzinoff all attended.The official U.S. premiere was in Washington, DC,on January 11, 1950, at Constitution Hall ; Horowitz then publicly played the work in New York on January 23, 1950 at Carnegie Hall to ubiquitous praise from music critics.By April 1950, plans were in place for Horowitz to record the sonata for a Christmas release that year; Horowitz made the recording in May, for RCA Victor . This recording remained Barber’s preferred version for at least a decade.
J.S.Bach WTC Book 1 : Prelude and Fugue No 16 in G minor, BWV 861;
Prelude and Fugue No 15 in G major, BWV 860;
S. Rachmaninoff: 10 Preludes, Op. 23
Mihai Ritivoiu, piano.
Mihai Ritivoiu at Fidelio with a sumptuous feast on wings of song . There can be no greater song that Chopin’s Barcarolle , a continuous outpouring of mellifluous beauty .Played with the refined good taste that I can still remember from ten years ago when Mihai as a student of Joan Havill at the Guildhall played another of the last works of Chopin :the Polonaise Fantasie in Richard Goode’s Masterclass. Timeless beauty and aristocratic elegance as the music was allowed to unfold so simply in the Barcarolle today . A kaleidoscope of colours with a masterly control of sound and a true paradise found before the final build up to the glorious exultation of beauty that Chopin was to pen with searing intensity and sublime ecstasy.The coda was played with the ravishing beauty and simplicity that made it one of Ravel’s most cherished passages in all of Chopin.
Today Mihai is a distinguished pianist of aristocratic authority who held us in his spell in this very atmospheric oasis that the conductor Raffaello Morales has given to a great city that like many is too often bereft of refined cultural dining venues where an ever diminishing minority can escape and allow their senses to be enriched and replenished.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/07/18/31232/
Wonderful to hear Bach Preludes and Fugues in a recital especially when played as today with the G minor and G major book one inserted into a pre dinner concert. It reminded me of Casals who would always start the day with a Bach Prelude and Fugue on the piano that just cleansed the system before life took over.There was such joy in Mihai’s playing of the jeux perlé of the G major before the knotty twine of intricate counterpoints of the three part fugue . Following on from the refined beauty of the G minor that was played with wondrous poignant beauty as it was allowed to unfold so simply from such sensitive hands.The massive four part fugue was built up masterfully and was the exultation of a true believer .
Wonderful to hear the fugues played with such architectural shape and noble character , the words of Ebenezer Prout coming to mind after all these years. I asked Angela Hewitt during the interval of a recital in Florence whether she knew about Ebenezer and she spent the entire interval singing them at top voice much to the dismay of her Italian agent. I had sneaked backstage in the interval as I had to rush to catch my last train back home to Rome at the end of the afternoon concert at La Pergola. I did mention how much I was enjoying her recital especially having heard Lang Lang the day before .She made a desperate sign to me not to continue about Lang Lang as his agent was the same who was in the Green Room with us ! It was on this occasion that Angela asked if I had read the paper that day because the whole of Florence was talking about that ring! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/03/21/lo-specchio-17th-december-2005-the-ring-ileana-has-shown-us-how-to-leave-the-stage/
Bach Preludes were followed by the sumptuous Ten Preludes that make up Rachmaninov’s op 23. Sumptuous sounds and breathtaking virtuosity went hand in hand with poetic beauty and even Hollywoodian glamour – after all let’s not forget that this morose Russian who looked as though he had swallowed a knife had a heart full of passion and romantic effusions and died in Beverley Hills !
And what similarity there was between the opening Bach in G minor and the opening Rachmaninov , just a semitone between them but worlds apart ! The same improvised refined beauty but of a different more decadent world played with ravishing beauty and languid intensity. The B flat Prelude exploding like the second concerto with sumptuous cascades of notes and after the opening call to arms falling into the loving arms of unmistakeable Rachmaninovian decadence and nostalgia.The central episode was played with breathtaking beauty as it built to a transcendental climax with a Guinness book of records of notes spun so masterfully before the return of the call to arms.
D minor of the Tempo di Minuetto was played with the same capriciousness as the concerto in the same key. A busy juxtaposition of flights of notes with the pivot note of D allowing etherial dream like wafts of sounds to float so magically in the air before being reminded like in the Paganini Rhapsody that it was all a dream – so there!
The D major Prelude I have never forgotten the recording my grandmother had of Richter which I used to play over and over again together with the second concerto when I was a school boy who had fallen in love for the first time. I mean love in the true sense as Tortelier was to teach me and in this case with sounds that could explain what a shy young boy could not yet express in words. Mihai found just the same magic today with a rich and generous cantabile and a flowing bass , like in the Barcarolle, on which such beauty could flourish.The fifth and seventh were on the Richter record too so this was a real nostalgic voyage for me today as Mihai struck up the ‘Alla marcia’ with the same dynamic drive and authority.Transcendental technical command where the octaves were phrased always horizontally with passionate musical meaning as they dissolved into the world of Rawicz and Landauer – my Grandmothers recording too ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ADFcbhJOEo Mihai knew, like the recording, how to dissolve into a paradise of sumptuous sounds.
On the Richter record too was the ‘busy bee’ of the 7th Prelude that Mihai played with the same sense of balance and masterly control that allowed the melodic line to float as if there were two pianist at the keyboard not one.The secret of Thalberg was taken up by Rachmaninov,of course , who like Thalberg was one of the greatest virtuosi of all time. ‘Thalberg is the greatest’, declared the Princess Belgioso ‘but Liszt is unique’. So honour was saved in the famous duel between two giants of their time, probably of all time !
The sumptuous ‘Green’Room where Mihai and his fiancée are thinking about approaching Raffaello for a permanent residency
The E flat n. 6 is one of the most unashamedly romantic of all the preludes and was played with beguiling half lights and insinuating rubato. The 8th is the longest with its meandering weaving harmonies that finally run out of steam . Ending with a dozen straight chords ,just like the Schumann Toccata, where the composer puts the break on just in time! The ninth is Rachmaninov’s ‘Feux Follets’ on the black keys in E flat minor and is a ‘tour de force’ that strikes terror in all but the finest pianists. Mihai was not only unafraid but added a musical shape that like ‘Feux Follets’ in masterly hands can turn what has become a technical bauble into a ravishing gem.The final Largo in G flat was played with a masterly sense of balance that allowed the left hand to sing as in Chopin’s study op 25 n. 7 .The hands duetting with each other with poignant deeply felt meaning .
A poet speaks spring to mind and what better way to describe Mihai’s playing than that of a Poet of the Keyboard.
Born in Bucharest, the London-based Romanian pianist Mihai Ritivoiu is a top prize-winner of several national and international competitions, including the George Enescu International Competition, where he was also distinguished with the special prize for the best interpretation of a piano sonata by George Enescu. He leads an international career performing solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and Asia, and has played concertos with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and MDR Leipzig, and with conductors such as Joshua Weilerstein, Robert Trevino, Michael Collins, Jonathan Bloxham, Cristian Mandeal, Christian Badea and Horia Andreescu. He has been invited to play at prestigious festivals, including Young Euro Classic in Berlin and the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, and has performed in halls such as the Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Studio Ernest Ansermet Geneva, the Radio Hall and the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest.
He went to town in a hat that made all the people stare.
John Sebastian Bach sat upon a tack, but he soon got up again with a howl!
O what a very jolly thing it is to kiss a pretty girl!
Broad beans and bacon…(1st countersubject)…make an excellent good dinner for a man who hasn’t anything to eat.(2nd countersubject)…with half a pint of stout.
(Subject) Gin a body meet a body Comin’ through the rye, (Answer) Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry?
He trod upon my corns with heavy boots—I yelled!
When I get aboard a Channel steamer I begin to feel sick.
You dirty boy! Just look at your face! Ain’t you ashamed?
Hallo! Why, what the devil is the matter with the thing?
Half a dozen dirty little beggar boys are playing with a puppy at the bottom of the street.
The Bishop of Exeter was a most energetic man.
The slimy worm was writhing on the footpath.
Old Abram Brown was plagued with fleas, which caused him great alarm.
As I sat at the organ, the wretched blower went and let the wind out.
O Isabella Jane! Isabella Jane! Hold your jaw! Don’t make such a fuss! Shut up! Here’s a pretty row! What’s it all about?
He spent his money, like a stupid ass.
Put me in my little bed.
How sad our state by nature is! What beastly fools we be!
There! I have given too much to the cabman!
On a bank of mud in the river Nile, upon a summer morning, a little hippopotamus was eating bread and jam.
A little three-part fugue, which a gentleman named Bach composed, there’s a lot of triple counterpoint about it, and it isn’t very difficult to play.
Brethren, the time is short!
He went and slept under a bathing-machine at Margate.
The man was very drunk, as to and fro, from left to right, across the road he staggered.
Book II
Sir Augustus Harris tried to mix a pound of treacle with a pint of castor oil.
Old Balaam’s donkey spoke like an ass.
O, here’s a lark!
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle! The cow jumped over the moon!
To play these fugues through is real jam.
‘Ark to the sound of the ‘oofs of the galloping ‘orse! I ‘ear ‘im comin’ up Regent Street at night. (Countersubject:) ‘Is ‘oofs go ‘ammer, ‘ammer, ‘ammer, ‘ammer, ‘ammer, ‘ammer, on the ‘ard ‘ighway.
Mary, my dear, bring the whiskey and water in—bring the whiskey and water in.
I went to church last night, and slept all the sermon through.
I’d like to punch his head…(countersubject:) …if he gives me any more of his bally cheek.
As I rode in a penny bus, going to the Mansion House, off came the wheel—down came the bus—all of the passengers fell in a heap on the floor of the rickety thing.
Needles and pins! Needles and pins! When a man’s married his trouble begins.
I told you you’d have the stomach-ache if you put such a lot of pepper in your tea.
Great Scott! What a trouble it is to have to find the words for all these subjects!
She cut her throat with a paper-knife that had got no handle. (Subject, bar 20:) The wound was broad and deep. (Bar 36:) They called the village doctor in: he put a bit of blotting-paper on her neck.
The pretty little dickybirds are hopping to and fro upon the gravel walk before the house, and picking up the crumbs.
Oh, my eye! Oh, my eye! What a precious mess I’m getting into today.
I passed the night at a wayside inn, and could scarcely sleep a moment for the fleas.
Two little boys were at play, and the one gave the other a cuff on the head, and the other hit back. (Countersubject:) Their mother sent them both to bed without their tea.
In the middle of the Hackney Road today I saw a donkey in a fit.
He that would thrive must rise at five.
The noble Duke of York, he had ten thousand men, he marched them up the hill, and marched them down again.
O, dear! What shall I do? It’s utterly impossible for me to learn this horrid fugue! I give it up! (Countersubject:) It ain’t no use! It ain’t a bit of good! Not a bit! No, not a bit!, No, not a bit!
See what ample strides he takes.
The wretched old street-singer has his clothes all in tatters, and toes showing through his boots.
Boris Giltburg with the first of his complete Beethoven cycle. Some extraordinarily beautiful playing with Beethoven’s first sonata op 2 n 1 almost Mendelssohnian in the way Giltburg smoothed over Beethoven’s rough patches with dynamic drive and meltingly beautiful pedal effects. A Prestissimo that was truly of scintillating streams of notes that reminded me more of Saint-Saens than the Beethoven I had heard from Serkin half a century ago.
This was a different vision of Beethoven more pianistic than orchestral and whilst he illuminated many things he lost much of the weight and the very backbone of Beethoven. An attempt to reinvent Beethoven and find colours and whispered sounds of elegance and grace rather than the rough edges and impatient exclamations of Beethoven’s true character.
It suited the Sonata op 31 n. 3 known as The Hunt and here Giltburg knew how to chase all over the keyboard with exhilaration and character a work that Rubinstein had made very much his own and I had heard on this very stage in his last public performance in 1976.
Nowhere was it more noticeable than in the monumental ‘Adagio sostenuto’ of op.106 where Giltburg’s extraordinary sensibility to sound lost sight of the overall architectural shape of a movement of earth shattering passion and fervant conviction.I remember Serkin sweating tears and passionate cries in this movement that is after all marked ‘Appassionato e con molto sentimento’
The fugue was a ‘tour de force’ of piano playing but sounded more like the Danse Macabre than the knotty twine of monstrous proportions miraculously penned by a totally deaf and irate genius.
It was Richter ,not satisfied with his performance in the Festival Hall who repeated the fugue without a break knowing that it was being recorded for broadcast. Annie Fischer famously played it as an encore after the Beethoven Trilogy where she had miraculously substituted at the last minute for an indisposed colleague. Serkin of course holding onto the last chord ,shaking and in a state of complete shock as we all were will never be forgotten.
Some remarkable playing from a great artist but fear more in the style of the sound world of a Richter than a Gilels.
Schumann’s Arabesque op.18 was like a breath of fresh air after such extraordinary profusions .It was here that his ultra sensitivity and artistry could illuminate this most popular work and turn it into a glowing gem of subtle charm and beauty.
A fascinating voyage of discovery uncovering in 32 steps the Genius of Beethoven as seen from afar.
Boris Giltburg with the first of his complete Beethoven Cycle.Some extraordinarily beautiful playing with Beethoven’s first sonata op 2 n 1 almost Mendelssohnian in the way Giltburg smoothed over Beethoven’s rough patches with dynamic drive and meltingly beautiful pedal effects. A Prestissimo that was truly of scintillating streams of notes that reminded me more of Saint-Saens than the Beethoven I had heard from Serkin half a century ago.
This was a different vision of Beethoven more pianistic than orchestral and whilst he illuminated many things he lost much of the weight and the very backbone of Beethoven. An attempt to reinvent Beethoven and find colours and whispered sounds of elegance and grace rather than the rough edges and impatient exclamations of Beethoven’s true character.
It suited the Sonata op 32 n. 3 known as The Hunt and here Giltburg knew how to chase all over the keyboard with exhilaration and character a work that Rubinstein had made very much his own and I had heard on this very stage in his last public performance in 1976.
Nowhere was it more noticeable than in the monumental ‘Adagio sostenuto’ of op.106 where Giltburg’s extraordinary sensibility to sound lost sight of the overall architectural shape of a movement of earth shattering passion and fervant conviction.I remember Serkin sweating tears and passionate cries in this movement that is after all marked ‘Appassionato e con molto sentimento’
The fugue was a ‘tour de force’ of piano playing but sounded more like the Danse Macabre than the knotty twine of monstrous proportions miraculously penned by a totally deaf and irate genius.
It was Richter ,not satisfied with his performance in the Festival Hall repeated the fugue without a break knowing that it was being recorded for broadcast. Annie Fischer famously played it as an encore after the Beethoven Trilogy that she had miraculously played substituting at the last minute for an indisposed colleague. Serkin of course holding onto the last chord ,shaking and in a state of complete shock as we all were will never be forgotten.
Some remarkable playing from a great artist but fear more in the style of the sound world of a Richter than a Gilels.
Schumann’s Arabesque op.18 was like a breath of fresh air after such extraordinary profusions .It was here that his ultra sensitivity and artistry could illuminate this most popular work and turn it into a glowing gem of subtle charm and beauty.
A fascinating voyage of discovery uncovering in 32 steps the Genius of Beethoven as seen from afar.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 