Incredible recital by this young pianist much feted for his appearance at the Van Cliburn Competition where his performance of the Liszt Transcendental studies and Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto have gone down in history. But there is much much more to this young man as his programmes since have proven.
I must admit I did not bother to listen to yet another Korean phenomenon playing Liszt and Rachmaninov but I did stop and listen to him in the remarkable series of Piotr Paleczny that takes place every year in Duszniki and is streamed world wide.
It was here that I was at first surprised and then dumbfounded by this young ‘wizz kid’ who opened the recital with the Four Ballades by Brahms.
It was one of the finest most profound performances I have every heard and made me feel very ashamed for assuming it was yet another of the highly trained ‘wizz’ kids that run off with all the prizes at International Piano Competitions.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/08/16/yunchan-lim-in-poland-the-refined-beauty-and-maturity-of-a-great-artist/
I was not able to find a seat for his London debut but luckily it was streamed live ,like today, and here again the programme was unexpectedly of Byrd,Bach and Beethoven – the three greatest B’s in the history of music.I was luckier in Rome and sat in the front row at the University La Sapienza for the same ‘Big B ‘ programme.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/01/20/the-pianistic-perfection-of-yunchan-lim-at-the-wigmore-hall/

Today it is thanks to Sir Norman Rosenthal and Jessica Duchen that I was tempted to listen to a predominately Russian programme and I just thank God that I have lived long enough to hear such a revelatory performance of Mussorgsky.
A work I truly never wanted to hear again but that today was recreated before our incredulous eyes. Not quite the reworking and hysterisms of Horowitz but many subtle additions that just enhanced the vision of this Poet of the Keyboard. Not only a Poet but a great musical personality ready to stand by his convictions as the music making he offers really does prove that there still exists a phrase that was used to describe Shura Cherkassky in Le monde de la Musique – ‘Je sens,Je joue Je trasmets’ https://youtu.be/Mlzf9rqvQb8?feature=shared https://youtu.be/ZFumJqMprEA?feature=shared

Christopher Axworthy Dip.RAM ,ARAM

Tyler Hay by candlelight with two Chopin recitals in one evening in the 1901 Club in Waterloo.
A programme that included the Etudes op 25 and the B flat minor Sonata op 35.

Having played 24 studies by Czerny for his birthday treat in Perivale and the Alkan Symphony for Thomas Kelly’s Piano festival I think the amount of notes that this young man has managed to digest this month must go down in the Guinness book of records.

Tyler Hay at St Mary’s Perivale ‘The Perfect Pianist comes of age ‘

Leaving his 20’s behind him with a bang as he enters maturity and demonstrates his artistic integrity and capacity with a smile on his face which defies the serious musician behind this glittering facade.Delving deep into the scores as he not only searches in the archives finding some true lost gems but also discovering details in well known scores that have been inexplicably overlooked.

Just such a case in point was outlined by Tyler when I innocently asked him the 100 dollar question.What do you do about the repeat in the first movement of the Chopin B flat minor Sonata ? Tyler had looked very carefully at the manuscript score and found that the bass octave A flat is not tied but repeated and would take us very naturally back to the opening D flat and so to the ‘Grave’ not to the ‘doppio movimento’ which is the root of much conjecture! A detail for sure but for discerning interpreters it is essential to search out all the deciphers that the composers have left for posterity.I am of the opinion of Rubinstein that it is better not to repeat the exposition as was the traditional manner of all classical Sonatas.I also think the same is true of the Schubert Sonatas written around the same time as Chopin’s.These were two composer using the traditional forms still that were soon to change thanks to Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy taken up by Liszt incorporating the transformation of themes as a new art form.

However Tyler gave an exemplary performance and it was particularly fresh and simple without any rhetoric from the so called Chopin tradition but playing exactly what he found in the score with musicianship and mastery.It was Schnabel who famously said ( about Mozart but it certainly could apply to Chopin too ) that ‘ music is too difficult for adults but too easy for children!’ There was an overall architectural shape to the first movement where the second subject was ‘sostenuto’ ( with more weight) rather than at a different tempo.It allowed the music to flow naturally and carried us along on a wave of sublime inspiration.There was precision in the Scherzo but also a feeling of buoyancy that allowed the Trio to be a complete contrast and only a slight relaxation of tempo as Chopin indicates ‘piu lento’.A Funeral March of poignancy and beauty was followed by the whispering of ‘the wind over the gravestones’ or as Schumann said ‘more of a mockery than any sort of music’.Little could we have imagined the struggle that Tyler had on the hottest day of the the year to navigate such folly with the keys bathed in water!

In fact Tyler had chosen to finish the recital in true aquatic fashion with a Venetian Boat Song op 19 n.6 by Mendelssohn a composer that Tyler impishly said that Chopin hated !

Luckily the next work was the Nocturne op 72 n.4 that Tyler had learnt but had not actually programmed in his recitals.So this was the ideal occasion before embarking of twelve of the most strenuous pieces for piano ever written!

And so it was today that we heard the Chopin Studies op 25 played as the composer had indicated.Each of the 12 studies was a miniature tone poem.Bathed in the sunlight, or should I say candlelight,that Chopin’s own pedal indications had asked for .Tyler shaped each one with a luminosity and poetry that I have only heard similar on the old recording of Cortot. Completely different of course but the one thing- the most important thing in common was the poetry that is concealed in what are conceived also as studies.

The Aolian Harp of the first study showing exactly what Sir Charles Hallé had described on hearing Chopin on his last tour in Manchester.

”Il faut graver bien distintemente les grandes e les petites notes” writes Chopin at the bottom of the first page .Long pedal markings overlapping the bar lines and the pianissimo asked for by Chopin so perfectly played by Tyler. The long held pedal at the end gave such an etherial magical sound.

The second study too like silk.Not the usual note for note performances we are used to but washes of sound perfectly articulated of course but with the poetry and music utmost in mind.The final three long “C’s” which can sound out of place were here of a magic that one never wanted them to stop.It was interesting to note that Rubinstein played this study,which I had never heard before in his recitals,at the last concert in his long career at the Wigmore hall in 1976.

The third and fourth to contrast were played with great clarity with some suprising inner notes that gave such substance and depth to the sound.The end of the fifth that linked up to the 6th.It grew out of the final crescendo flourish that always had seemed out of place .Here in Tyler’s hands it is exactly as Chopin in his own hand has indicated.

Here too one must mention the sumptuous middle melody of the fifth played with a wonderful sense of balance and also a flexibility of pulse that again showed the hands of a great musical personality.I have only heard a similar sense of “rubato” live from Rubinstein although Murray Perahia on CD is pure magic too.

The technically difficult double thirds accompanied the left hand melodic line with a subtle sense of sound like a wind passing over the grave indeed !The absolute clarity and jeux perlé of the “double” thirds was just the relief and contrast that was needed.

Beautiful sense of colour in the Lento that is the 7th study where Chopin marks so clearly that the melody is in the left hand with only counterpoint comments from the right( Cortot and Perlemuter are the only others that I have heard make this distinction so clearly)

The 8th played very much molto legato and sotto voce to contrast with the absolute clarity of the “ Butterfly” study that is n.9.The ending that can sound so abrupt in some hands here was perfectly and so naturally shaped.

The great octave study entered like a mist as Chopin indicates poco a poco crescendo .

Such was his identification with this sound world he had seen this study as great wedges of sound interrupted only by the extreme legato cantabile of the middle Lento section. Chopin marks very precisely here the fingering he wants to obtain this effect.

The great “Winter Wind” study n. 11 where there were great washes of sound ,again as Chopin so clearly indicates .The final great scale played unusually cleanly with a very precise final note.Of course all clearly indicated in Chopin’s own hand .

The final 12th study was played with enormous sonority and very clear melodic line as Chopin indicates very clearly .The ending marked “ il piu forte possibile” and a final crescendo to “fff”. It brought this revelatory performance to a breathtaking ending.

Some time after writing the Marche funèbre,(1837) Chopin composed the other movements of the Sonata op 35 ,completing the entire sonata by 1839. In a letter on 8 August 1839, addressed to Fontana, Chopin wrote:

I am writing here a Sonata in B flat minor which will contain my March which you already know. There is an Allegro, then a Scherzo in E flat minor, the March and a short Finale about three pages of my manuscript-paper. The left hand and the right hand gossip in unison after the March. … My father has written to say that my old sonata [in C minor, Op. 4] has been published by Haslinger and that the German critics praise it. Including the ones in your hands I now have six manuscripts. I’ll see the publishers damned before they get them for nothing.

Haslinger’s unauthorised dissemination of Chopin’s early C minor sonata (he had gone as far as engraving the work and allowing it to circulate, against the composer’s wishes) may have increased the pressure Chopin had to publish a piano sonata, which may explain why Chopin added the other movements to the Marche funèbre to produce a sonata.It was finished in the summer of 1839 in Nohant in France and published in May 1840 in London,Leipzig and Paris.

‘Chopin is still up and down, never exactly good or bad. […] He is gay as soon as he feels a little strength, and when he’s melancholy he falls back onto his piano and composes beautiful pages.’
(Letter from George Sand  to Charlotte Marliani, end of July 1839)

‘His creativity was spontaneous, miraculous’, wrote Sand in The Story of My Life,‘he found it without seeking it, without expecting it. It arrived at his piano suddenly, completely, sublimely, or it sang in his head during a walk, and he would hasten to hear it again by recreating it on his instrument………..But then would begin the most heartbreaking labour I have ever witnessed…….He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating or changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and erasing it with equal frequency and beginning again the next day with desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on a page, only to end up writing it just as he had done in his first outpouring.’

The sonata comprises four movements:

1. Grave – Doppio movimento 
2. Scherzo 
3. Marche funèbre: Lento 
4. Finale: Presto 

The first major criticism, by Schumann , appeared in 1841. He described the sonata as “four of [his] maddest children under the same roof” and found the title “Sonata” capricious and slightly presumptuous.He also remarked that the Marche funèbre “has something repulsive” about it, and that “an adagio in its place, perhaps in D-flat, would have had a far more beautiful effect”.In addition, the finale caused a stir among Schumann and other musicians. Schumann said that the movement “seems more like a mockery than any [sort of] music”,and when Felix Mendelssohn was asked for an opinion of it, he commented, “Oh, I abhor it”. Franz Liszt, a friend of Chopin’s, remarked that the Marche funèbre is “of such penetrating sweetness that we can scarcely deem it of this earth”.It was Anton Rubinstein who said that the fourth movement is the “wind howling around the gravestones”.

When the sonata was published in 1840 the London and Paris editions indicated the repeat of the exposition as starting at the very beginning of the movement (at the Grave section). However, the Leipzig edition designed the repeat as beginning at the Doppio movimento section. Although the critical edition published by Breitkopf & Hartel  (that was edited, among others, by Franz Liszt, Carl Reinecke , and Johannes Brahms ) indicate the repeat similarly to the London and Paris first editions, almost all 20th-century editions are similar to the Leipzig edition in this regard with the repeat to the Doppio movimento ,Charles Rosen  argues that the repeat of the exposition in the manner perpetrated by the Leipzig edition is a serious error, saying it is “musically impossible” as it interrupts the D♭ major cadence (which ends the exposition) with the B♭ minor accompanimental figure.Karol Mikuli’s 1880 complete edition of Chopin contained a repeat sign after the Grave in the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 2. Mikuli was a student of Chopin from 1844 to 1848 and also observed lessons Chopin gave to other students – including those where this sonata was taught – and took extensive notes.

Many great artists including Barenboim,Horowitz,Rachmaninoff,Rubinstein,Ohlssohn,Kissin exclude the repetition altogether

A superb Kenny Fu on what must be the hottest day of the year .Hotting up inside too with Rachmaninov’s demonic Second Sonata played with remarkable clarity and control as the monstrous technical obstacles just disappeared under his superb musicianship and architectural understand .He created a monument every bit as impressive as the one we were seated in. St James’s Lancaster Gate where I had heard Badura Skoda in what turned out to be his last London recital.
And today Kenny giving one of his first having graduated from the Purcell School and the Royal Academy and now about to perfect his studies in Italy.

The opening Haydn Sonata in E minor immediately showed his musical pedigree from the class of Tatyana Sarkissova Alexeev and Ian Fountain .A spontaneity and crystal clarity with fingers like taut springs with a boundless energy, each one with a subtle voice if its own .The simplicity and poignant beauty of the ‘Adagio’ unfolded with chiselled beauty as he caressed the keys with a natural movement of refined delicacy .The delicious ‘joie de vivre’ of the ‘vivace molto’ brought a hypnotic rhythmic elan to a movement full of concealed charm and wit.

A masterly performance of Schumann’s elusive Humoreske showed not only his kaleidoscopic sense of colour but the passionate musical understanding of a supreme stylist.There was a subtle beauty to the opening as he allowed the music to unfold so poetically with a superb sense of balance.Bursts of energy were played with a clarity but always with the architectural whole in mind. There were moments that were barely whispered with a sense of improvised freedom. A dynamic drive too that was never hard but always with clarity and beauty of sound.Lumimosity and simplicity of the ‘Einfach und Zart’ was followed by quite considerable technical mastery in the continual flow of the Intermezzo .’Innig’ was played with a beautiful melodic outpouring and a subtle sense of colour and rubato.There was nobility in the ‘Mit einigen Pomp’ with magic as a melody appeared in its midst before an exhilarating final bars of great drive and dynamism.

The Rachmaninov Second Sonata was played with sumptuous sound and transcendental virtuosity but again it was the clarity that was so extraordinary .A web of sounds that Kenny could steer through with musicianship and intelligence.There are moments in the Rachmaninov Sonata that are like notes being fired over the keys but there are also moments of intimacy and glowing beauty.Kenny managed to link all these parts together and show us the overall shape of a difficult work that at time borders on hysterical.

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

Kenny Fu the making of an artist with poetry and intelligence at St Mary’s

Jan Lisiecki piano
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) Prelude in D flat Op. 28 No. 15 (1838-9)
Prelude in A flat B86 (1834)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Prelude in C from The Well-tempered Clavier Book I
BWV846 (1722)
Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943) Prelude in D minor Op. 23 No. 3 (1901-3)
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) Prelude in B minor Op. 1 No. 1 (1899-1900)
Prelude in D minor Op. 1 No. 2 (1899-1900)
Prelude in D flat minor Op. 1 No. 3 (1899-1900)
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) From Préludes (1928-9)
La colombe • Chant d’extase dans un paysage
triste • Le nombre léger
Fryderyk Chopin Prelude in C sharp minor Op. 45 (1841)
Sergey Rachmaninov Prélude from Morceaux de fantaisie Op. 3 (1892)
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (1933-2010) From 4 Preludes Op. 1 (1955)
Molto agitato • Molto allegro quasi presto
Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude in C minor from The Well-tempered Clavier
Book I BWV847 (1722)
Sergey Rachmaninov Prelude in G minor Op. 23 No. 5 (1901-3)

Interval

Fryderyk Chopin 24 Preludes Op. 28 (1838-9)
Prelude in C • Prelude in A minor • Prelude in G •
Prelude in E minor • Prelude in D • Prelude in B
minor • Prelude in A • Prelude in F sharp minor •
Prelude in E • Prelude in C sharp minor • Prelude
in B • Prelude in G sharp minor • Prelude in F
sharp • Prelude in E flat minor • Prelude in D flat•
Prelude in B flat minor • Prelude in A flat •
Prelude in C minor • Prelude in E flat • Prelude in
C minor • Prelude in B flat • Prelude in G minor •
Prelude in F • Prelude in D minor

In concert, the artist is usually sharply focused on the present.
In playing the preludes, however, there is always a sense of
anticipation, of preparing and looking towards the next piece. By
definition, and certainly by tradition, a prelude anticipates the
main presentation, setting the stage by creating a mood and
colour. Can a recital be composed entirely of such introductions,
then, one leading directly into the next, and still be profound?
A master of the short form, Chopin brought the prelude out from
the shadows and into the spotlight. Using its concise format and
flexible form, Chopin embraced its ability to establish a mood.
The collection of 24 Preludes Op. 28 is a colour wheel of
emotions, showcasing all 24 keys and the atmospheres they can
convey. Instead of foreshadowing the masterpiece, they become
the focal point, and despite their individual brevity, Chopin was
always able to fully develop his melodic concepts. Certainly there
is a sense of each Prelude ‘falling’ into the next one, and there are
even some indications in the score that span between individual
pieces. Yet, these works can also be taken out of context, so to
speak. For this reason I am presenting Chopin’s Prelude Op. 28
No. 15 twice in this programme, to demonstrate its different
function as a worthy standalone piece, as compared to its
forming part of the greater whole (in this case the set of Op. 28
Preludes). While Chopin reinvented the prelude format with the
aforementioned set, other composers also embraced this open-
ended musical form with newfound purpose, stamping it with
their individuality. In this recital, I hope to showcase the broad
possibilities of the humble prelude, from Bach to Górecki, taking
the audience on a musical expedition and answering the above-
posed rhetorical question with an emphatic ‘yes’.
© Jan Lisiecki

Wonderful to see the young piano prodigy turn into a great artist
I am sure the transition has not been easy but tonight I witnessed the birth of a great artist after having been very concerned at the last recital I heard here ten years ago.

Jan Lisiecki at the Wigmore Hall

Tonight there was not only total authority and aristocratic good taste but a range of sounds that rarely I have heard before .Playing of breathtaking beauty that could turn such well known works into a new discovery with no distortions or contortions but by simply looking closely at the score and with intelligence and supreme artistry shaped phrases with surprising originality.
There was passionate involvement too when needed and a transcendental technical command that could shape the B flat minor Chopin Prelude with supreme authority and fearless abandon.

A concert dedicated to the ‘Prelude’ with a first half played without a break, of Preludes by many different composers but culminating of course in a performance of THE Prelude – by Rachmaninov .The one rarely ever heard in concert these days but was the obligatory calling card for the composer.
It was the Chopin prelude op 45 though that will remain in my memory for the sumptuous sounds and the whispered poetic washes of colour out of which was born a melodic outpouring of radiance and glowing fluidity.Reservations about two rather streamlined Bach preludes fell to the wayside as they were incorporated into a carefully constructed whole.There were revelations too with three ravishingly beautiful preludes by Szymanowski and the whispered ethereal sounds of pure magic of three Messiaen early Preludes.A kaleidoscope of sounds with ‘Chant d’extase ‘ bathed in a mist of ravishing beauty and where ‘ Le nombre’ was very energetic with a delicate embroidery of brilliance ending with a single aristocratically placed bass note. The two Gorecki preludes were frightening as he unleashed sudden dynamic power and hammered precision that took us by surprise.A perpetuum mobile of breathtaking brilliance and diabolical tumultuous trills with both hands.The three preludes by Rachmaninov revealed the sumptuous richness of the Philadelphian sound world that Rachmaninov so adored.The D minor op 23 n.3 was played with beguiling rhythmic insistence full of changing colours and capricious changes of gear.The coda a ravishing world of wondrous sounds before the nonchalance of the ending just like his Paganini variations. THE Prelude was played with overwhelming authority and magic sounds that seemed to appear like an apparition out of the majesty of the opening chords.There was grandeur as the gasping phrases lead up to the tumultuous climax which was as breathtaking as I imagine the composer’s command performances always were .The Bach C minor prelude appeared mysteriously out of the end of the Gorecki prelude and seemed to me rather too mistily streamlined and un Tureck like to say the least.The opening Bach Prelude too had seemed too fast but it was the intelligence of this young artist who realised there is no set way to play Bach and he adapted his genius with chameleonic ease to the overall picture that he himself has described above.

The second half was dedicated to Chopin’s 24 preludes op 28 played as a whole that has only become the habit many years after Chopin’s untimely death.Played together it has an architectural strength that makes the idea of just a group of preludes almost unimaginable.However Jan today, as he has so eloquently written,found it interesting to hear just a single prelude : n 15 ‘Raindrop’ ( admittedly the longest and a real tone poem) and then hear it again in the context of what has become known as a unified whole and one of the great masterpieces of this innovative genius.There was a whispered opening of subtle colouring that immediately blossomed into the brooding second prelude where the long sustained melody was allowed to resonate with sumptuous beauty above such a disturbing turbulence.Suddenly the third sprang to life with brilliance and clarity revealing a temperament of great intensity.There was ravishing beauty to the fourth played with whispered simplicity and phrasing of rare delicacy.Clarity and brilliance of the agitated fifth opened the door for the poetic beauty of the sixth.The gentle pulsating heartbeat allowing the cello melody to sing below it with poignant beauty.We held our breath as the final gasps drew us in to this secret world that this young artist was sharing with us.

Wondrous phrasing of the shortest prelude before the beautifully shaped moving sounds of passionate intensity of the eighth.An extraordinary sense of balance allowed the solemn Largo to be so ponderously clear and the tenth was thrown off with the ease and grace of pianists of yesteryear with enviable jeux perlé of silf like lightness.A beautiful outpouring of melody shaped the next one with beauty and a sense of improvised freedom.The Presto opening of the twelfth was played with whispered tones as it slyly entered the scene gradually gaining in power before the final abrupt chords.It was the left hand of the thirteenth that was allowed the same voice as the right in a duet of glowing beauty where the visionary ‘piu lento’ was of heart rending beauty. A blast of wind enter the scene ,dry and abrupt, as the whispered beauty of the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude was allowed to resound again on this platform but this time as the culmination of a masterwork.The sixteenth prelude like the 16th Goldberg variation signalled a complete change – Bach of course with a French overture but Chopin a study of breathtaking brilliance and dynamic drive that was played fearlessly by our young poetic virtuoso.

The seventeenth in A flat is also a great tone poem which Jan played with great architectural shape.A mist of A flat at the end allowed the melody to be submerged in a magic mist of sumptuous beauty.The eighteenth just growing quietly out of this mist as this recitativo picked up power with passionate abandon .The nineteenth one of the most trascendentally difficult of all these ‘24 problems’ was played with a sumptuous masterly ease of mellifluous expansiveness.There was the same sense of noble grandeur to the C minor Prelude that Jan had brought to the Rachmaninov op 3.Gradually dying away to a whisper we dared not breathe such was the tension and atmosphere created by this young poet of the piano.The simple glowing beauty of the next prelude was followed by the whispered entry of the octaves that gradually built to a tumultuously passionate climax that was defused only by the glowing fluidity of the penultimate prelude.The opening left hand declaration of the final prelude left us in no doubt of the passion and exhilaration that we were about to enjoy.A relentless tempo in which streams of notes shot from one end of the piano to the the other.Double thirds just cascaded with passionate intensity and fearless abandon but it was the final three D’s that revealed the great artistry of this young musician- each given a voice of its own instead of the more usual pounding to the bottom of the keys of lesser artists.

An ovation and a welcome back for this young musician returning as the great artist he has become.

A single whispered Romance by Schumann was his way of thanking an audience who had listened with baited breath to his wonderful music making.

An artist is born Pappano and Lisiecki in Rome

The Preludes I last heard in Sermoneta many years ago played by Fou Ts’ong.It was the genius of Ts’ong who inspired generations of young musicians in his masterclasses including in Sermoneta but mostly in the piano Academy in Como .He had surprised the world when he was awarded the ‘Mazurka’Prize at one of the very first Chopin Competitions in Warsaw.How could a Chinese pianist understand the soul of a Pole!?Ts’ong simply said that the soul in Chopin was the same soul that was in ancient Chinese poetry of which his father was an expert.A soul knows no boundaries!It was Ts’ong too who declared Chopin’s 24 Preludes to be 24 problems.More than the 24 studies because each of the preludes has a different technical problem that needs to be mastered with technical precision and artistry.

Chopin’s 24 Preludes, op .28, are a set of short pieces for the piano, one in each of the twenty-four keys , originally published in 1839.

Chopin wrote them between 1835 and 1839, partly at Valldemossa,Mallorca, where he spent the winter of 1838–39 and where he had fled with George Sand and her children to escape the damp Paris weather.

In Majorca, Chopin had a copy of Bach’s ‘48’ and as in each of Bach’s two sets of preludes and fugues, his Op. 28 set comprises a complete cycle of the major and minor keys, albeit with a different ordering.Whereas Bach had arranged his collection of 48 preludes and fugues according to keys separated by rising semitones , Chopin’s chosen key sequence is a circle of fifths , with each major key being followed by its relative minor, and so on (i.e. C major, A minor, G major, E minor, etc.). It is thought that Chopin might have conceived the cycle as a single performance entity for continuous recital.An opposing view is that the set was never intended for continuous performance, and that the individual preludes were indeed conceived as possible introductions for other works.Chopin himself never played more than four of the preludes at any single public performance.Nor was this the practice for the 25 years after his death.

The first pianist to programme the complete set in a recital was probably Anna Yesipova in 1876.Nowadays, the complete set of Op. 28 preludes has become part of the repertoire , and many concert pianists have recorded the entire set, beginning with Busoni in 1915, when making piano rolls for the Duo-Art label. Alfred Cortot was the next pianist to record the complete preludes in 1926.

He would also play the 24 Studies op 10 and 25 together with the 24 Preludes op 28 in the same programme.Something that Fou Ts’ong had done at the Festival Hall in London and on my request at the Ghione Theatre in Rome.

‘ I imagine this is how Chopin would have played – a marvel’ Herman Hesse

These were the words to describe Fou Ts’ongs playing of Chopin and it was a privilege for me to be able to invite him to Rome to the Teatro Ghione year after year not only to give recitals but to share his inspirational gifts with young musicians in the masterclasses that he held there too.

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

Francois Dumont remembering the genius of Fou Ts’ong at the Razumovsky Academy

SAMSON TSOY: BEETHOVEN’S LAST THREE SONATAS – Mastery and restless conviction reaching for the skies with Fidelian courage

July 17, 2024 6:30 PM

The last three sonatas are the summary of Beethoven’s late style at the keyboard. Written with the idea of a coherent set of works, they speak to listeners of all times and age and they are a spectacular example of synthesis and richness of details.Samson Tsoy brings Beethoven to Fidelio.
The Trilogy played with mastery and the unrelenting conviction that I have not heard since Serkin.A driving force that united these three last sonatas with the irascible temperament of a tormented soul reaching out to the paradise that only he could envisage awaiting on the horizon.
A remarkable performance in the four day residency that he and Pavel Kolesnikov are sharing over the next days.On the menu some of the greatest works ever written for the keyboard with the Goldberg Variations,the Beethoven trilogy and Schubert four hands.
Masterpieces played by partners in music and in life as they allow their music making to resound around this warm intimate atmosphere.Raffaello Morales ,the conductor,has created in the Italian quarter of the city a venue that exudes his love of music and with refined good taste has adorned every angle of this ‘musical bistro’ with original programmes of some of legendary pianists of the past.

Not content to stop there he has covered parts of the walls with musical scores of works such as Carnaval or the Hammerklavier.
Wherever you look there are objects which exude his passion for music.Presenting the concert with quite considerable insights he was later to be seen supervising every detail of the culinary feast that was to follow the musical one.

Beethovens op 109 was played with a flowing almost improvised freedom with a true sense of discovery that was both passionate and contemplative.The two ‘Adagio espressivo’ interruptions were but the consequence of a tension that was created within such a seemingly mellifluous flow (similarly in op 110) .It was to be this tension that pervaded all Samson’s performances as this was a vision of a tormented soul gradually coming to terms with himself and life.Clouds were gradually opening and rays of light were allowed to reassure his soul of a more peaceful future world ahead. It was an extraordinary statement and was the key to Samson’s reading of the trilogy.It had much in common with Serkin’s performances that were like electric shocks that included the physical stamping on the pedals but luckily no moaning or spitting in the confined space Fidelio! As Fou Ts’ong said it is easier to be intimate in a large space than in a smaller one – a performer’s paradox ! A tumultuous second movement played with the rough agressiveness for which Beethoven was renowned .Relentless to the final stamping of the feet with a final few chords like a hurricane of suppressed energy. Samson understandably had an ‘aide memoire’ hidden away for three different programmes in the same week but such was his involvement he had no time to even glance at the i pad as this was an all or nothing performance of quite extraordinary dynamism.What an oasis was the theme of the ‘Andante’ played with string quartet texture.If he threw his hands in the air with the grace of a dancer in the first variation it certainly did not turn into a waltz but remained the poignant oasis that the theme had envisaged.A continual forward movement in the second variation – leggiermente but always orchestral not pianistic leading to the ‘Allegro vivace ‘ that was played with fearless abandon and considerable technical mastery.The gradual unweaving of the knotty twine revealed the theme floating on streams of sound like a continuous flow of water coming to rest so naturally and delicately.The fourth variation played in a subdued stately manner and only ‘forte’ as Beethoven has indicated.It was infact the scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s markings that showed a musician or should I say a medium between the composer and his sounds.The return of the theme was played with masculine authority with sentiment but never sentimentality which was such a significant part of Samson’s interpretations.The trills ( like with Scriabin a century later) that are just streams of sound on which Beethoven can enact this great drama that excites and exhilarates but also burns itself out as the theme returns unscathed by the journey it has undergone (as opposed to the Goldberg Variations which if you ignore Busoni ,and I sincerely hope you do ,is a vision of paradise after the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’.The vision of paradise with Beethoven had another few stops to go yet!A robust orchestral sound here too .These are not piano pieces but orchestral and Samson is directing his orchestra of 88 players like a great conductor showing us the way through a great score.Piano,forte,staccato, pizzicato etc take on a different meaning in orchestral terms.This is not always the case with many who try to play these masterpieces in a pianistic way with a sense of balance that has no meaning for such profound statements.It is a question of weight as Tortelier once said to me , of never leaving the keys or strings where fingers are like limpets sucking out their life’s blood.A continual flow of sounds and some unusually passionate playing with the left hand chords at the end of the exposition.This made for an even more startling contrast with Beethoven’s daring move from E flat to D flat before the development.Even in the development there was some very robust playing from the cello and bass but with fragments of the opening motif always to the fore.An extraordinarily daring sense of balance spurred on by Samson’s authoritative conviction.A very deliberate pace to the Scherzo was the antithesis of the previous Sonata which included some masterly playing of the treacherous Trio .Almost coming unstuck with the final bars or was it intentional ? An interpreter that one trusts can open gates that are food for thought and have one scurrying to look at the score ( This happened often with Murray Perahia who when Serkin heard him as a student recommended by Richard Goode exclaimed ‘you told me he was good ,but you did not tell me how good !’ ) The ‘Adagio ‘ was played with profound beauty , very measured and poignantly pointed with a beautiful sense of balance .Even the vibrating ‘A’ seeemed so right as it found its way to the sublime ‘Arioso dolente’.The subtle appearance of the fugue as Beethoven indicates with his very precise pedal markings was played with radiance and simplicity.If the Arioso had been the sumptuous sound of the Philadelphia the fugue was the clarity of a woodwind ensemble .Beethoven’s knotty twine was allowed to unfold with mellifluous simplicity until the true electric shock of the bass ‘G’ which in Samson’s hands was truly overwhelming – I could see Sir Norman Rosenthal almost jump out of his seat! Again the change from E flat this time to D was like one door shutting and another opening as the ‘Arioso’ appeared even more beautifully embellished than before . Beethoven’s mastery of Bel Canto could certainly put Bellini to shame !The great whispered chords gradually grew in sound and one could see Samson literally shaking as the sounds were indeed vibrating throughout his being.Leading to the magical return of the inverted fugue and the gradual build up to the triumphant outpouring of glorious resignation.It was played with devil may care passion where the notes were of little importance when it was what was said not necessarily how it was said.A gruff climax that I imagine would have been how the master himself might have played it if only he had not completely lost his hearing .Another remarkable performance and a second brick of the great edifice that Samson was reconstructing with such commitment and mastery.

A short break for Samson had him hurrying back not wanting to leave this mighty edifice only two thirds constructed.Not allowing himself or us to settle as he struck the mighty opening of Beethoven’s last Sonata.Maestoso indeed with Beethoven’s no nonsense ‘sfp’s’ played with fearless abandon as we moved with trembling expectancy to the first appearance of ‘C’.Now the fun could begin with the ‘Allegro con brio ed appassionata’ as Perlemuter said like water boiling over at one hundred degrees.It was played with just the dynamic drive of turbulent exasperation and desperation bursting into bel canto song only to relieve momentarily this whirlwind of sounds.Samson here playing full out stamping on the pedal as he urged himself on with the same passion with which the composer had put pen to paper.There was a beautiful full sound to the ‘Arietta’ which was indeed played ‘molto semplice e cantabile’ with the variations unwinding with a continual forward movement that was hypnotic .The explosion of the third variation was where Samson like Serkin lost all self control as the music possessed them with some hypnotic power.Gradually subsiding to the fourth variation where fragments of the theme are just floated on gently vibrating sounds.It was here that I missed the truly etherial sounds that I believe Beethoven had discovered on this final trilogic journey.I remember Serkin too at this point creating an oasis of absolute calm where we were drawn in to sounds that were not projected out but floated into the stratosphere.The gradual build up to the final bars was indeed a triumphant testimonial of truth and maybe of a believer too although Beethoven would never have admitted it .But Beethoven’s world was sound not words .Sounds that were only in his head but by some miracle he could write down so posterity could be drawn into such a wondrous journey that was to be his last.Thank you Samson ,your selfless commitment and dedication mark you out as a very special artist indeed.
Cherkassky has pride of place on the wall at Fidelio and he was quoted as saying in Le Monde de la Musique when asked about his playing : ( he too hated talking about music – musicians yes , gossip in particular, but never making himself self conscious about his music making ) 
‘Je sens – Je Joue- Je transmets’ . 
Performers are the servants of the composer as we heard today.
‘Bon appetit‘. Christopher Axworthy

POINT AND COUNTERPOINT – thoughts on the Trilogy 

In the summer of 1819, Adolf Martin Schlesinger , from the Schlesinger firm of music publishers based in Berlin sent his son Maurice to meet Beethoven to form business relations with the composer.The two met in Modling, where Maurice left a favourable impression on the composer.After some negotiation by letter, the elder Schlesinger offered to purchase three piano sonatas for 90 ducats in April 1820, though Beethoven had originally asked for 120 ducats. In May 1820, Beethoven agreed, and he undertook to deliver the sonatas within three months. These three sonatas are the ones now known as Op. 109 ,110, and 111 , the last of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.

The composer was prevented from completing the promised sonatas on schedule by several factors, including his work on the Missa solemnis  (Op. 123), rheumatic attacks  in the winter of 1820, and a bout of jaundice  in the summer of 1821.Work on Op. 109 can be traced back to early in 1820, even before Beethoven’s negotiations with Schlesinger . Recent research suggests that Friedrich Starke  had asked Beethoven for a composition for his piano anthology The Vienna Pianoforte School, and that Beethoven had interrupted work on the Missa Solemnis . In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7–11 of the Bagatelles op 119 .The first pianists to undertake bringing Beethoven’s last sonatas to public attention were Franz Liszt , who regularly included them in his programs between 1830 and 1840,and Hans von Bulow who even included several of the late sonatas in one evening.Arabella Goddard  is credited as having been the first pianist to program all of Beethoven’s late sonatas in a single concert series.The Sonata op 111 along with Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations op 120 ( 1823) and his two collections of bagatelles — op 119 ( 1822) and op 126  (1823) was one of Beethoven’s last compositions for piano. Nearly ignored by contemporaries, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that it found its way into the repertoire of most leading pianists.

Beethoven’s last sonata op 111 was written between 1821 and 1822.

It was dedicated to his friend, pupil, and patron, Archduke Rudolf and consists of only two contrasting movements . The second movement is marked as an arietta with variations that Thomas Mann called “farewell to the sonata form”.Together with Beethoven’s The Diabelli Variations op.120(1823) and his two collections of bagatelles op 119 (1822) and op 126 (1823) the sonata was one of Beethoven’s last compositions for piano. Nearly ignored by contemporaries, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that it found its way into the repertoire of most leading pianists.^.Beethoven conceived of the plan for his final three piano sonatas (op 109.110 and 111 )during the summer of 1820, while he worked on his Missa solemnis. Although the work was only seriously outlined by 1819, the famous first theme of the allegro ed appassionato was found in a draft book dating from 1801 to 1802, contemporary to his Second Symphony .Moreover, the study of these draft books implies that Beethoven initially had plans for a sonata in three movements, quite different from that which we know: it is only thereafter that the initial theme of the first movement became that of the string Quartet n.13 , and that what should have been used as the theme with the adagio—a slow melody in A flat – was abandoned. Only the motif planned for the third movement, the famous theme mentioned above, was preserved to become that of the first movement. The Arietta, too, offers a considerable amount of research on its themes; the drafts found for this movement seem to indicate that as the second movement took form, Beethoven gave up the idea of a third movement, the sonata finally appearing to him as ideal

There is also an amusing and revealing story relating to having a ‘cuppa’ after such a monumental chore as the Beethoven Trilogy.I had been intrigued one day to see the final concert in a complete Beethoven Sonata Cycle completely sold out at one of the major concert halls in London.Intrigued to see that the final trilogy would be performed twice by the same pianist on the same day with only time for a quick cup of tea between performances.I listened to the first performance that was relayed on the radio and was able to follow the score with a glass of wine in hand and an easily accessible on/off button on the radio.I was bowled over by a performance where every detail of the score was played to perfection.Needless to say neither the radio or the wine were even contemplated in an hour of extraordinary music making.A renowned critic who had found a ticket for the second performance was equally bowled over but his reaction was surprising as it was revealing .’Well,Chris,it was a quite extraordinary performance.I remember though hearing Claudio Arrau playing the trilogy in the Festival Hall.At the end of the performance not only he was exhausted but the audience was too.There was no way that he could have had a quick cup of tea and done it all over again!’Make of it what you will but I will never forget Serkin too literally shaking at the end of the Hammerklavier or the Diabelli Variations.It is a spiritual journey that carries on long after the last note has sounded.I remember Mitsuko Uchida too pointing out to an audience member that she did not want to be photographed or recorded because a concert should remain in the memory as a wonderful experience and not just a thing printed on a sterile page.I think all those present yesterday too were exhilarated and exhausted judging by the moments of moving collective silence that we shared together at the end of op.111.Awaiting the refined dinner that our genial host had programmed as suitable fare for Late Beethoven !

In the summer of 1819, Adolf Martin Schlesinger from the Schlesinger firm of music publishers based in Berlin sent his son Maurice to meet Beethoven to form business relations with the composer.The two met in Modling,where Maurice left a favourable impression on the composer.After some negotiation by letter, the elder Schlesinger offered to purchase three piano sonatas for 90 ducats in April 1820, though Beethoven had originally asked for 120 ducats. In May 1820, Beethoven agreed, and he undertook to deliver the sonatas within three months. These three sonatas are the ones now known as Op. 109,110, and 111 the last of Beethoven’s piano 

Beethoven’s own markings with the ‘bebung‘ or vibrated notes in the Adagio of op.110

The composer was prevented from completing the promised sonatas on schedule by several factors, including his work on the Missa solemnis (Op. 123),rheumatic attacks in the winter of 1820, and a bout of jaundice in the summer of 1821.Op. 110 “did not begin to take shape” until the latter half of 1821.Although Op. 109 was published by Schlesinger in November 1821, correspondence shows that Op. 110 was still not ready by the middle of December 1821. The sonata’s completed autograph score bears the date 25 December 1821, but Beethoven continued to revise the last movement and did not finish until early 1822.The copyist’s score was presumably delivered to Schlesinger around this time, since Beethoven received a payment of 30 ducats for the sonata in January 1822.

SAMSON TSOY: BEETHOVEN’S LAST THREE SONATAS – Mastery and restless conviction reaching for the skies with Fidelian courage

July 17, 2024 6:30 PM

The last three sonatas are the summary of Beethoven’s late style at the keyboard. Written with the idea of a coherent set of works, they speak to listeners of all times and age and they are a spectacular example of synthesis and richness of details.

Samson Tsoy – A poet speaks at the Wigmore Hall and a star is born

Samson Tsoy brings Beethoven to Fidelio.
The Trilogy played with mastery and the unrelenting conviction that I have not heard since Serkin.

A driving force that united these three last sonatas with the irascible temperament of a tormented soul reaching out to the paradise that only he could envisage awaiting on the horizon.
A remarkable performance in the four day residency that he and Pavel Kolesnikov are sharing over the next days.

On the menu some of the greatest works ever written for the keyboard with the Goldberg Variations,the Beethoven trilogy and Schubert four hands.
Masterpieces played by partners in music and in life as they allow their music making to resound around this warm intimate atmosphere.

Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy triumph with The Rite of Spring.Inspired playing of astonishing clarity and insight

Raffaello Morales ,the conductor,has created in the Italian quarter of the city a venue that exudes his love of music and with refined good taste has adorned every angle of this ‘musical bistro’ with original programmes of some of legendary pianists of the past.

Not content to stop there he has covered parts of the walls with musical scores of works such as Carnaval or the Hammerklavier.
Wherever you look there are objects which exude his passion for music.

Angela Hewitt plays Bach and Brahms with the Fidelio Orchestra of Raffaello Morales

Presenting the concert with quite considerable insights he was later to be seen supervising every detail of the culinary feast that was to follow the musical one.

POINT AND COUNTERPOINT – thoughts on the Trilogy

In the summer of 1819, Adolf Martin Schlesinger , from the Schlesinger firm of music publishers based in Berlin sent his son Maurice to meet Beethoven to form business relations with the composer.The two met in Modling, where Maurice left a favourable impression on the composer.After some negotiation by letter, the elder Schlesinger offered to purchase three piano sonatas for 90 ducats in April 1820, though Beethoven had originally asked for 120 ducats. In May 1820, Beethoven agreed, and he undertook to deliver the sonatas within three months. These three sonatas are the ones now known as Op. 109 ,110, and 111 , the last of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.

The composer was prevented from completing the promised sonatas on schedule by several factors, including his work on the Missa solemnis  (Op. 123), rheumatic attacks  in the winter of 1820, and a bout of jaundice  in the summer of 1821.Work on Op. 109 can be traced back to early in 1820, even before Beethoven’s negotiations with Schlesinger . Recent research suggests that Friedrich Starke  had asked Beethoven for a composition for his piano anthology The Vienna Pianoforte School, and that Beethoven had interrupted work on the Missa Solemnis . In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7–11 of the Bagatelles op 119 .The first pianists to undertake bringing Beethoven’s last sonatas to public attention were Franz Liszt , who regularly included them in his programs between 1830 and 1840,and Hans von Bulow who even included several of the late sonatas in one evening.Arabella Goddard  is credited as having been the first pianist to program all of Beethoven’s late sonatas in a single concert series.The Sonata op 111 along with Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations op 120 ( 1823) and his two collections of bagatelles — op 119 ( 1822) and op 126  (1823) was one of Beethoven’s last compositions for piano. Nearly ignored by contemporaries, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that it found its way into the repertoire of most leading pianists.

Beethoven’s last sonata op 111 was written between 1821 and 1822.

It was dedicated to his friend, pupil, and patron, Archduke Rudolf and consists of only two contrasting movements . The second movement is marked as an arietta with variations that Thomas Mann called “farewell to the sonata form”.Together with Beethoven’s The Diabelli Variations op.120(1823) and his two collections of bagatelles op 119 (1822) and op 126 (1823) the sonata was one of Beethoven’s last compositions for piano. Nearly ignored by contemporaries, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that it found its way into the repertoire of most leading pianists.^.Beethoven conceived of the plan for his final three piano sonatas (op 109.110 and 111 )during the summer of 1820, while he worked on his Missa solemnis. Although the work was only seriously outlined by 1819, the famous first theme of the allegro ed appassionato was found in a draft book dating from 1801 to 1802, contemporary to his Second Symphony .Moreover, the study of these draft books implies that Beethoven initially had plans for a sonata in three movements, quite different from that which we know: it is only thereafter that the initial theme of the first movement became that of the string Quartet n.13 , and that what should have been used as the theme with the adagio—a slow melody in A flat – was abandoned. Only the motif planned for the third movement, the famous theme mentioned above, was preserved to become that of the first movement. The Arietta, too, offers a considerable amount of research on its themes; the drafts found for this movement seem to indicate that as the second movement took form, Beethoven gave up the idea of a third movement, the sonata finally appearing to him as ideal.

There is also an amusing and revealing story relating to having a ‘cuppa’ after such a monumental chore as the Beethoven Trilogy.I had been intrigued one day to see the final concert in a complete Beethoven Sonata Cycle completely sold out at one of the major concert halls in London.Intrigued to see that the final trilogy would be performed twice by the same pianist on the same day with only time for a quick cup of tea between performances.I listened to the first performance that was relayed on the radio and was able to follow the score with a glass of wine in hand and an easily accessible on/off button on the radio.I was bowled over by a performance where every detail of the score was played to perfection.Needless to say neither the radio or the wine were even contemplated in an hour of extraordinary music making.A renowned critic who had found a ticket for the second performance was equally bowled over but his reaction was surprising as it was revealing .’Well,Chris,it was a quite extraordinary performance.I remember though hearing Claudio Arrau playing the trilogy in the Festival Hall.At the end of the performance not only he was exhausted but the audience was too.There was no way that he could have had a quick cup of tea and done it all over again!’Make of it what you will but I will never forget Serkin too literally shaking at the end of the Hammerklavier or the Diabelli Variations.It is a spiritual journey that carries on long after the last note has sounded.I remember Mitsuko Uchida too pointing out to an audience member that she did not want to be photographed or recorded because a concert should remain in the memory as a wonderful experience and not just a thing printed on a sterile page.I think all those present yesterday too were exhilarated and exhausted judging by the moments of moving collective silence that we shared together at the end of op.111.Awaiting the refined dinner that our genial host had programmed as suitable fare for Late Beethoven !

In the summer of 1819, Adolf Martin Schlesinger from the Schlesinger firm of music publishers based in Berlin sent his son Maurice to meet Beethoven to form business relations with the composer.The two met in Modling,where Maurice left a favourable impression on the composer.After some negotiation by letter, the elder Schlesinger offered to purchase three piano sonatas for 90 ducats in April 1820, though Beethoven had originally asked for 120 ducats. In May 1820, Beethoven agreed, and he undertook to deliver the sonatas within three months. These three sonatas are the ones now known as Op. 109,110, and 111 the last of Beethoven’s piano 

Beethoven’s own markings with the ‘bebung‘ or vibrated notes in the Adagio of op.110

The composer was prevented from completing the promised sonatas on schedule by several factors, including his work on the Missa solemnis (Op. 123),rheumatic attacks in the winter of 1820, and a bout of jaundice in the summer of 1821.Op. 110 “did not begin to take shape” until the latter half of 1821.Although Op. 109 was published by Schlesinger in November 1821, correspondence shows that Op. 110 was still not ready by the middle of December 1821. The sonata’s completed autograph score bears the date 25 December 1821, but Beethoven continued to revise the last movement and did not finish until early 1822.The copyist’s score was presumably delivered to Schlesinger around this time, since Beethoven received a payment of 30 ducats for the sonata in January 1822.

Samson Tsoy – A poet speaks at the Wigmore Hall and a star is born

‘Leslie Howard presented an all-Russian programme this July. Famous for his scholarship and understanding of Liszt, Howard’s love of the Russian composers Glazunov, Borodin and Rubinstein is unsurprising in that they all owe a debt to the Hungarian composer and pianist in one way or another. It was Liszt who took the burgeoning Borodin under his wing and conducted his music whenever he could, and Borodin dedicated his orchestral masterpiece In the Steppes of Central Asia to Liszt; Glazunov visited Liszt in Weimar in 1884 (Liszt arranged for the teenager’s First Symphony to be performed, and the Second Symphony was dedicated to Liszt in gratitude); and although Liszt did not need to help the young Rubinstein in promoting his compositions, the lad had spent much time studying the master’s performance technique and was soon to be celebrated as the greatest pianist after Liszt.’

Aleksandr Porfiryevich Borodin (1833-1887) Petite Suite and Scherzo (1885)
Au couvent • Intermezzo • Mazurka in C •
Mazurka in D flat • Rêverie • Sérénade •
Scherzo – Nocturne – Scherzo
Aleksandr Glazunov (1865-1936) Thème et Variations Op. 72 (1900)
Interval
Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) Piano Sonata No. 4 in A minor Op. 100 (c.1876-80)
I. Moderato con moto • II. Allegro vivace •
III. Andante • IV. Allegro assai

The Wigmore full up with pianists today to greet the Prince of Pianists who has so generously encouraged and supported so many young musicians over the years. It is with the same courage that the most eclectically inquisitive of all pianists presented a programme that none of those pianists has probably heard before .

Seated at the piano with Artur Rubinstein’s authority ,hardly moving a muscle but producing a kaleidoscope of sounds that are rarely heard in this hall.A hall that Leslie has played in for the past fifty years and which culminated some years ago in a series of ten Liszt recitals that have gone down in history.

The world of Liszt and his disciples has been a lifetime’s study and he is even in the Guinness book of records as the only pianist to have recorded all the masters works on over 100 CD’s

I remember a blue eyed,blond Australian who came to Siena to seek out the last disciple of Busoni and a true link to the genius of Liszt.Not the barnstorming Liszt that had been used by virtuosi to show of their wares but the genius who could edit the works of Beethoven as well as creating new forms and visionary new sounds.
Agosti was a very reserved man hard to get close to and with a terror of playing in public.In his studio in Siena, where he held court for the summer months,the sounds that were heard there have never been forgotten .

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/01/03/forli-pays-homage-to-guido-agosti/
Agosti immediately realised that he and Leslie had so many things in common but above all a total respect for the composers they were serving.

The extraordinary thing about Agosti’s pianism was that his hands were always close to the keys and with fingers of steel and wrists of rubber he would command his hands to carve out the sounds that he had in his mind and soul.There was a complete lack of unnecessary movement but the range of sounds he could find I have never heard elsewhere.
It was exactly this saving of unnecessary energy that was so noticeable about Leslie’s playing today .

Seated at the piano as in a sumptuous armchair listening attentively as he proceeded to direct the performance like a great conductor before his orchestra.
There was a beauty of sound that even in the most strenuous of passages was never hard or ungrateful.
A range of orchestral colours as he led us through a maze of notes carving out a musical line that was of such clarity and simplicity.
Looking at Leslie’s discography I was astonished to learn that he was one of the first to record all four of Anton Rubinstein’s Sonatas.It was the fourth sonata that was to be the crowning glory of this extraordinary recital filling the entire second half with a work rarely heard in the concert hall even today.
The concert had begun with Borodin’s Petite Suite and Scherzo.A series of six little pieces with the addition of the scherzo which was the only movement that is vaguely familiar.The sombre sounds of the opening ‘Au convent’ were of great resonance with the whispered chant of the nuns of simplicity and purity. Distant and dissonant chimes played with great authority created the atmosphere for this extraordinary work.An ‘Intermezzo’ of a completely different sound world of luminosity and luxuriant melodic outpourings.The ‘Mazurka in C ‘ broke this melancholic atmosphere as it sprung to life with scintillating energy.The ‘Mazurka in D flat’ that followed returned to the languid opening atmosphere with a ravishing tenor melody answered by the soprano voice in a duet of glowing beauty.There was beauty too as the arpeggios gently streamed across the keyboard for a ‘Reverie’ of sumptuous sounds.The gentle pulsating heart beat of the ‘Serenade’ allowed the music to unfold with simplicity and the unmistakable voice of Borodin.The Scherzo ,which Glazunov had added,was played with quixotic drive and scintillating colours interrupted only by the beautiful lyrical ‘Nocturne’ that serves as a Trio in this genial arrangement.

Glazunov’s own Theme and Variations is a large scale work opening with great Russian bells tolling with nobility and creating the atmosphere in which the fifteen variations could evolve.There were etherial sounds of glittering beauty and variations that flowered with sumptuous richness , even a variations that owed much to Brahms.Following on with variations of kaleidoscopic colour and beguiling sounds with streams of notes as the intensity gradually grew.An extraordinary work that Leslie played with an architectural shape and mastery that had us wondering how such an important work could lay hidden from pianists for so long.

The Rubinstein Sonata that Leslie has long been an advocate, is a work of great importance.It has suffered the fate of Rachmaninov’s First Sonata always in the shadow of the Second which was launched in our day by Horowitz and is now overplayed.It has taken Kantarow to show us the way with the First Sonata which is now being taken up by many pianists in the Juilliard School.Listening to Leslie with playing of absolute clarity and authority that gave an architectural shape and above all an overall sound and will open the way for other pianists to follow . There was the same sense of leit motiv in the first movement which can sometimes get submerged by the cascades of notes and chameleonic changes of character that abound .There was a dynamic rhythmic energy to the ‘Scherzo’ and a glorious outpouring of luxuriant melody to the ‘Andante’ with its strange chordal meanderings that Leslie shaped with poignant meaning.There was a relentless forward drive to the ‘Allegro assai’ that just shot from Leslie’s fingers with military precision.Moving inevitably and with scintillating virtuosity to a final melodic climax before the grandiose ending.

A little Barcarolle n.1 by Rubinstein ,played as an encore,showed us the other side of a composer who was a great pianist who could charm and seduce his public also with grace and beauty! I remember being stopped in my tracks as I listened to Rubinstein’s’ Melody in F played with ravishing beauty on the radio – Leslie Howard was the pianist!

There is one element that looms over this recital of
Russian 19th-century piano music: the so-called ‘Mighty
Handful’ (the term coined by the Russian critic Vladimir
Stasov in 1867). It was a self-appointing group of five
composers dedicated to sustaining Russian national
tradition (initiated by Glinka) at the time of the western European Romanticism of Liszt, Berlioz and
Wagner. The original group had gathered around Balakirev (1837-
1910), in the early 1860s, and included Aleksandr Borodin,
the illegitimate son of a Georgian noble. A doctor and chemist by profession and training, Borodin made important early contributions to organic chemistry and regarded medicine and science as his primary occupations, only practising music and composition in his spare time or when he was ill.As a chemist, Borodin is known best for his work concerning organic synthesis and was a promoter of education in Russia founding the School of Medicine for Women in Saint Petersburg, where he taught until 1885.

Balakirev took him under his wing in 1862, pushing him towards more overtly Russian, large-scale work notably his only opera Prince Igor (a
historic epic like Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov or Glinka’s A
Life for the Tsar). But, as with other works by him, and to the
increasing frustration of his fellow musicians, Prince Igor
kept Borodin fitfully occupied for the rest of his life and was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov
Borodin did, however, find time in 1885, near the end of his
life, to return to the small scale in which he felt more
confident. His fame outside Russia  was made possible during his lifetime by Liszt , who arranged a performance of the Symphony No. 1 in Germany during 1880, and by the Comtesse de Mercy- Argenteau in Belgium and France. His music is noted for its strong lyricism and rich harmonies. Along with some influences from Western composers, as a member of The Five, his music is also characteristic of the Russian style where his passionate music and unusual harmonies proved to have a lasting influence on the younger French composers Debussy and Ravel (in homage, the latter composed during 1913 a piano piece entitled “À la manière de Borodine”).

The draft of the suite met with approval from Liszt, to whom
Borodin showed the work in Weimar that summer; they had
first met several years earlier, on which occasion Liszt’s
advice to him had been uncompromising: ‘Work in your own
way and pay no attention to anyone’.

The Petite Suite is a suite of seven piano pieces, written by Alexandr Borodin , and acknowledged as his major work for the piano. It was published in 1885, although some of the pieces had been written as far back as the late 1870s.After Borodin’s death, Alexandr Glazunov  orchestrated the work, and added his orchestration of another of Borodin’s pieces as an eighth number.

The suite was dedicated to the Belgian Countess Louise de Mercy-Argenteau , who had been instrumental in having Borodin’s First Symphony  performed in Verviers and Liège. She had also arranged for French translations of some of his songs and excerpts from Prince Igor ; and had initiated the sponsorship of Camille Saint-Saens and Louis- Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray -Ducoudray  for Borodin’s membership of the French Society of Authors, Composers and Editors.

Borodin’s original title for the work was Petit Poème d’amour d’une jeune fille (“Little poems on the love of a young girl”), but by publication time the name Petite Suitehad been applied to it.

The original suite consisted of the following 7 movements, with descriptions supplied by the composer:

1. Au couvent, Andante religioso, C-sharp minor (“The Church’s vows foster thoughts only of God”)
2. Intermezzo, Tempo di minuetto, F major (“Dreaming of Society Life”)
3. Mazurka I, Allegro, C major (“Thinking only of dancing”)
4. Mazurka II, Allegretto, D-flat major (“Thinking both of the dance and the dancer”)
5. Rêverie, Andante, D-flat major (“Thinking only of the dance”)
6. Serenade, Allegretto, D-flat major (“Dreaming of love”)
7. Nocturne, Andantino, G-flat major (“Lulled by the happiness of being in love”).( Later to become the Trio of the added Scherzo)

After Borodin’s death in 1887, Alexander Glazunov  orchestrated the suite, but incorporated into it another piano piece by Borodin, the Scherzo in A flat , and slightly rearranged the order of the pieces.

1. Au couvent
2. Intermezzo
3. Mazurka I
4. Mazurka II
5. Rêverie
6. Serenade
7. Finale: Scherzo (Allegro vivace, A-flat major) – Nocturne – Scherzo ( the original nocturne becoming the Trio of the added Scherzo)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IepGv-kJPJ0&feature=shared

As a teenager, Aleksander Glazunov was steered by
Balakirev to study with Rimsky-Korsakov (also one of the
Mighty Handful), although by then (the early 1880s)
Balakirev’s mantle had been assumed by the philanthropist,
publisher and patron Mitrofan Belyayev, who promoted his
young protégé around western Europe, including arranging
meetings with Liszt and Wagner.

Glazunov made his conducting debut in 1888. The following year, he conducted his Second Symphony in Paris at the World Exhibition.He was appointed conductor for the Russian Symphony Concerts  in 1896. In 1897, he led the disastrous premiere of  Rachmaninov’s Symphony n. 1 which led to Rachmaninoff’s three-year depression. The composer’s wife later claimed that Glazunov seemed to be drunk at the time , according to Shostakovich, kept a bottle of alcohol hidden behind his desk and sipped it through a tube during lessons.

Drunk or not, Glazunov had insufficient rehearsal time with the symphony and, while he loved the art of conducting, he never fully mastered it.Glazunov toured Europe and the United States in 1928,and settled in Paris by 1929. He always claimed that the reason for his continued absence from Russia was “ill health”; this enabled him to remain a respected composer in the Soviet Union. He wrote three ballets; eight symphonies and many other orchestral works; five concertos (2 for piano; 1 for violin; 1 for cello; his last work was a concerto for saxophone); seven string quartets; two piano sonatas and other piano pieces; miscellaneous instrumental pieces; and some songs. He also collaborated with the choreographer Fokine  to create the ballet Les Sylphides, a suite of music by Chopin orchestrated Chopin by Glazunov.

Theme and Variations, Op 72, which uses as the theme for fifteen variations the same folk-song as Glazunov’s later Finnish Fantasy for orchestra. The work was written in the same year as the first piano sonata and is undoubtedly one of Glazunov’s most successful forays into the piano medium.Glazunovs Theme and variations, Op 72, was written in 1900 and is one of three large-scale works for piano (the others being his two sonatas) completed during his last significant period as a composer1899 to 1906. Originally given the title Variations on a Finnish Folk Song, The work comprises a theme and fifteen variations

His resemblance to Beethoven was much remarked upon – Liszt referred to Rubinstein as “Van II.” This resemblance was also felt to be in Rubinstein’s keyboard playing. Under his hands, it was said, the piano erupted volcanically. Audience members wrote of going home limp after one of his recitals, knowing they had witnessed a force of nature.When caught up in the moment of performance, Rubinstein did not seem to care how many wrong notes he played as long as his conception of the piece he was playing came through.Rubinstein himself admitted, after a concert in Berlin in 1875, “If I could gather up all the notes that I let fall under the piano, I could give a second concert with them.”

Part of the problem might have been the sheer size of Rubinstein’s hands. Josef Hofmann ,his only private pupil ,noted that Rubinstein’s fifth finger “was as thick as my thumb—think of it! Then his fingers were square at the ends, with cushions on them. It was a wonderful hand.”

As a child prodigy he had played for Chopin and Liszt who refused to take him on as a pupil.He toured throughout Europe and the
United States as the first great international Russian pianist .Engaged by Steinway & Sons, Rubinstein toured the United States during the 1872–73 season. Steinway’s contract with Rubinstein called on him to give 200 concerts at the then unheard-of rate of 200 dollars per concert (payable in gold—Rubinstein distrusted both United States banks and United States paper money), plus all expenses paid. Rubinstein stayed in America 239 days, giving 215 concerts—sometimes two and three a day in as many cities.

Rubinstein wrote of his American experience, 

‘May Heaven preserve us from such slavery! Under these conditions there is no chance for art—one simply grows into an automaton, performing mechanical work; no dignity remains to the artist; he is lost… The receipts and the success were invariably gratifying, but it was all so tedious that I began to despise myself and my art. So profound was my dissatisfaction that when several years later I was asked to repeat my American tour, I refused pointblank…’

Like Liszt, Rubinstein was a prolific composer – his works
include six symphonies, five piano concertos, many solo
works for piano and 20 operas, among them The Demon,
which is still on the fringes of the repertoire – and he
founded the St Petersburg Conservatoire in 1862 (where
Glazunov later was also director).
Hans von Bülow describe him as
the ‘Michelangelo of music’ – and these qualities define his
last Piano Sonata, No. 4 in A minor Op. 100. The first three
were composed in the late 1840s and early 1850s, with a gap
of 25 years before No. 4 appeared around 1880. In his own words he described himself thus :

‘Russians call me German, Germans call me Russian, Jews call me a Christian, Christians a Jew. Pianists call me a composer, composers call me a pianist. The classicists think me a futurist, and the futurists call me a reactionary. My conclusion is that I am neither fish nor fowl—a pitiful individual.’

Leslie Howard writes for his recordings on Hyperion of the Rubinstein Fourth Sonata :

‘In the more than a quarter of a century which separates the third from the fourth of the Rubinstein sonatas (the fourth appeared in 1880) lie only two of his major works for piano—the Fantasy, Opus 77, and the Theme and Variations, Opus 88, both of which are larger than any of the earlier sonatas and show a very different weight of thought from the dozens of character pieces which otherwise fill the Rubinstein piano œuvre. The fourth sonata turns out to be in this grand mould, on a much broader scale than the others, and is almost leisurely in its expansiveness.

There are two parts to the first theme of the Moderato con moto: a strong rhythmic motif marked appassionato e con espressione and a gentler rising theme accompanied by triplet chords. An animated transition passage leads to the second group of themes: a lyrical melody which is immediately extended and developed, and a codetta which contains two more melodic ideas, the second of which introduces the development after the exposition is repeated. All the themes other than the lyrical second subject play a part in the development, and the opening theme is treated fugally. The regular recapitulation is rounded off with a short coda.

The scherzo is a very powerful affair whose skittish moments are generally interrupted by gruff cadences on the off beats, and there is some occasional mildly experimental dissonance. The calmer trio section curiously calls to mind the Grieg of the Lyric Pieces, with its two-bar phrases and delicate syncopations.

The slow movement is very generous with melody—the exposition contains seven distinct themes, three in the home key of F major before a more animated theme in 5/8 introduces D flat. A modulatory theme leads to the second subject and codetta in C major. Development is confined to the first of the themes, but the recapitulation introduces many variations in texture and tonality. A second development turns out to be a long valediction on the first subject group.

The finale is a very busy moto perpetuo with a theme appearing in octaves in the bass before it undergoes the first of many transformations. A brief attempt at a lyrical second theme is doomed by the insistent return of the first for development, but a more expressive section intervenes before the recapitulation, in which the second subject finally takes wing before precipitating headlong into the conclusion.’ Dr Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard 75th Birthday Concert ‘An experience beyond compare’- The true heir to Agosti – Busoni -Liszt

Leslie Howard Masterclass at the R.C.M Scholarship and Mastery shared

On the eve of his 30th birthday, Tyler Hay offers a surprise present to his audience – a hand-picked selection of the most virtuosic, dramatic, expressive, melodic and deliciously charming studies ever written for the piano. It will be a unique recital 

Happy Birthday Tyler together on stage with Mark Viner who celebrated his birthday just a few days ago .Two of the finest most eclectic young virtuosi both from the class of Tessa Nicholson.And with what humility and simplicity they both share their extraordinary talent bringing to life music that we have only read about in encyclopaedias.And bringing to life Tyler certainly did with 24 studies by Czerny of Gradus ad Parnassum fame whose opus numbers reach out to op 861 and beyond!

What jewels they are with a choice of 24 that show a range of styles from Mendelssohnian charm to virtuosistic Liszt opera paraphrases of Rossinian ‘joie de vivre’.There were studies of impish quixotic good humour and coquettish charm with the same freshness and innocence that we associate with the salon works of the Victorian period.Never too serious even though attempting a fugato in n. 46 from op 822.
But there was such character to each of these miniature gems that sparkled and shone as they spun from Tyler’s masterly fingers with an ease and a jeux perlé of quite extraordinary subtlety.What was so remarkable was the clarity and beauty of sound that Tyler brought not only to the mellifluous song without words studies but also to the more energetic transcendentally difficulty ones.

A remarkable ‘tour de force’ as this youngster on the last day in his twenties becomes a mature master ready to take the world by storm just as his page turner has been doing since he too passed the same starting point a few years ago.

Mark Viner at St Mary’s ‘Mastery and mystery of a unique artist and thinking musician.’

Tyler Hay was born in 1994 and first showed a prodigious talent for the piano when he won the Dennis Loveland award in Kent for his performance of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz no 1 at the age of 11. He gained a place to study at the Purcell School in 2007 where he studied under Tessa Nicholson. He continued his studies with Graham Scott and Frank Wibaut at the Royal Northern College of Music and with Niel Immelman and Gordon Fergus-Thompson for a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music. Tyler has performed programmes at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Purcell Room and has played Ravel’s Concerto for Left Hand Alone at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no 2 at Symphony Hall with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Tyler won first prize in the keyboard section of the Royal Overseas League Competition and as well as winning the RNCM’s Gold medal competition, also won first prize in the Liszt Society International Competition. Tyler won 1st prize in the Dudley International Piano Competition in November, 2022. CDs of Liszt, John Ogdon, Kalkbrenner and Field are available on Brilliant Classics and an album of virtuoso piano music by contemporary British composer Simon Proctor is also available on Navona Records.

Tyler Hay reaching for the stars.’From candlelight to starlight’.A masterly display of artistry and showmanship at St Martin in the Fields

Tyler Hay and David Zucchi celebrate the work of Radamés Gnattali at the Sala Brasil

Carl Czerny was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin .His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works and his books of studies for the piano are still widely used in piano teaching. He was one of Beethoven’s best-known pupils and would later on be one of the main teachers of Liszt.As a child prodigy, Czerny began playing piano at age three and composing at age seven. His first piano teacher was his father, who taught him mainly Bach,Haydn and Mozart . He began performing piano recitals in his parents’ home. Czerny made his first public performance in 1800 playing Mozart’s Concert in C minor K.491^.

At the age of fifteen, Czerny began a very successful teaching career. Basing his method on the teaching of Beethoven, Clementi and Hummel teaching up to twelve lessons a day in the homes of Viennese nobility.In 1819, the father of Franz Liszt  brought his son to Czerny, who recalled:

‘He was a pale, sickly-looking child, who, while playing, swayed about on the stool as if drunk…His playing was… irregular, untidy, confused, and…he threw his fingers quite arbitrarily all over the keyboard. But that notwithstanding, I was astonished at the talent Nature had bestowed upon him.^’

Liszt became Czerny’s most famous pupil. He trained the child with the works of Beethoven, Clementi, Moscheles and Bach . The Liszt family lived in the same street in Vienna as Czerny, who was so impressed by the boy that he taught him free of charge. Liszt was later to repay this confidence by introducing the music of Czerny at many of his Paris recitals.Shortly before Liszt’s Vienna concert of 13 April 1823 (his final concert of that season), Czerny arranged, with some difficulty (as Beethoven increasingly disliked child prodigies) the introduction of Liszt to Beethoven. Beethoven was sufficiently impressed with the young Liszt to give him a kiss on the forehead.^[16] Liszt remained close to Czerny, and in 1852 his Transcendental Studies  were published with a dedication to Czerny.

Czerny left Vienna only to make trips to Italy, France (in 1837, when he was assisted by Liszt) and England. After 1840, Czerny devoted himself exclusively to composition. He wrote a large number of piano solo exercises for the development of the pianistic technique, designed to cover from the first lessons for children up to the needs of the most advanced virtuoso. Czerny died in Vienna at the age of 66. He never married and had no near relatives. His large fortune he willed to charities (including an institution for the deaf), his housekeeper and the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, after making provision for the performance of a Requiem mass in his memory.

Czerny composed a very large number of pieces (more than one thousand and up to op. 861).

Czerny’s works include not only piano music (études, nocturnes, sonatas, opera theme arrangements and variations) but also masses and choral music, symphonies, concertos, songs, string quartets and other chamber music. The better known part of Czerny’s repertoire is the large number of didactic piano pieces he wrote, such as The School of Velocity and The Art of Finger Dexterity. He was one of the first composers to use étude  (“study”) for a title. Czerny’s body of works also include arrangements of many popular opera themes.

The majority of the pieces called by Czerny “serious music” (masses, choral music, quartets, orchestral and chamber music) remain in unpublished manuscript form and are held by Vienna’s Society from the Friends of Music , to which Czerny (a childless bachelor) willed his estate.

Yevgeny Sudbin has been hailed by The Telegraph as ‘potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century’. His recordings have met with critical acclaim and are regularly featured as CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine or Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. This recital programme includes Skryabin’s tenth sonata; for recordings of the composer, the pianist was awarded CD of the Year by The Telegraph and received the MIDEM Classical Award for Best Solo Instrument Recording at Cannes.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Funérailles S173 No. 7 (1849)
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) Ballade No. 4 in F minor Op. 52 (1842)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) L’isle joyeuse (1903-4)
Aleksandr Skryabin (1872-1915) Piano Sonata No. 10 Op. 70 (1912-3)
Franz Liszt Danse macabre (after Saint-Saëns) S555 (1876) arranged
by Vladimir Horowitz arranged by Yevgeny Sudbin

Yevgeny Sudbin at the Wigmore Hall BBC live broadcast Liszt,Chopin,Debussy,Scriabin and Saint -Saens .

From the very first authoritative notes it was obvious that here was a virtuoso with a clarity of vision and a technical means to show us the great architectural shape of the music with directness and simplicity.
Revving up with arms like a swimmer in murky waters he delved deep and drew some breathtaking sounds from the piano of enormous sonorities with Horowitzian wizardry.Intimate glowing sounds too of luminosity and fluidity that was more the diabolical world of Scriabinesque contrasts searching for the ‘Star’ rather than the refined aristocratic world of the consumptive poet Chopin.
Having to compete with a pneumatic drill from our neighbours next door Sudbin valiantly played on even though concentration for him and for the audience was unusually strained in this usually most perfect of chamber halls.

Funerailles was played with noble and passionate gestures and the opening although slightly too loud and unvaried was arresting and of great authority.The beautiful melodic episodes were played with radiance and a sense of balance that even in the climaxes the melodic line shone out with passionate abandon.The cavalry too were played with astonishing technical brilliance from their gentle entry one by one until the whole force joined with overwhelming volume and exhilaration.The gentle bass melody of the opening was now transformed into a passionate outcry of heroic abandon only to die away into the distance with heart rending whispered simplicity.

Chopin’s great Fourth Ballade was played with simplicity and a continual forward movement that gave great strength to this ‘pinnacle of the romantic repertoire’.There were many beautiful moments but never lingered over as Sudbin had seen the whole architectural shape leading to the tumultuous final chords before the treacherous final coda.A performance of aristocratic intelligence and good taste that showed us the strength in Chopin rather than his weakness.

Debussy’s view of Jersey from Eastbourne was played with a directness and at times rather dry percussiveness reminiscent of Horowitz’s conception where the dynamic contrasts between fluidity and percussiveness were brought to the fore a little at the expense of the overall atmosphere and etherial beauty of this ‘joyous island’.
Sudbin like Horowitz is the ideal interpreter of Scriabin with moments of transcendental diavolerie mixed with etherial fluidity.Rhythmic shocks that send an electricity into this strange world of trills and thrills and with a vital undercurrent that is like a wave taking us to a landscape of strange shapes and colours.

What better way to end this short recital than with a transcription of Saint -Saens Danse Macabre that luckily in the second half no longer had to compete with the neighbours who had obviously been persuaded to take a lunch break .
Saint – Saens transcribed by Liszt,Horowitz and Sudbin.An extraordinary tone poem of colours and transcendental virtuosity of a real Lion of the Keyboard of which Sudbin like his illustrious forbears was in total command and control.An ovation from a full hall exhilarated and excited by such overwhelming authority but running a little overtime for the broadcast but nevertheless Sudbin generously played a early Mazurka op 25 n. 3 by Scriabin full of radiance and exquisite beauty and the most mellifluous of Rachmaninov’s Preludes op 32 n. 5 .https://youtube.com/watch?v=Colki_YMhw8&feature=shared

Widor  Symphony No. 6, 1st movement
Bach  Fantasia in C minor, BWV 562
Schumann  Studien für den Pedalflügel: IV. Innig, V. Nicht zu schnel
Thierry Escaich  Poèmes pour orgue: III. Vers l’esperance

Sunday 14 July 2024, 5.00pm

The Keyboard Trust at Westminster Abbey presenting
Timothy Stewart .
A child prodigy in Guildford and now at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory under the enthusiastic guide of Daniel Moult .At only 20 having won many prestigious prizes with many important recitals under his belt ,today he reached the ultimate goal of all organists to play the mighty organ of Westminster Cathedral .

A queue all down the road for a public that filled this vast historic edifice just as Timothy was to fill it with the noblest sounds from such a mighty instrument.
The ping of the tennis ball all but forgotten as many in the queue were watching the closing moments of Wimbledon Men’s Final before being truly overwhelmed by the artistry of this young musician.

The enormous sonorities of Widor were complemented by the knotty twine of Bach.
There was grace and charm too with two of Schumann’s Pedal Piano Studies op 56.
Finally the wake up call of ‘Vers l’espérance’ from the organ Poèmes of the contemporary Thierry Escaich .
An ovation for this young man who when asked how he found the experience simply replied :’ A dream come true ‘
Dreaming of the ‘ match’ tonight …….could it be a Spanish Inquisition !
Bruce Liu playing as the players go on to the pitch but he will actually be in London with kick off at the Wigmore at the same time as in Berlin.

He is currently in his first year at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire after having been awarded the DMC McDonald Foundation Scholarship Award. At the Conservatoire, he is studying for a BMus in Organ Performance under Daniel Moult and Nicholas Wearne as well as receiving regular tuition from visiting tutors such as Martin Schmeding, Erwan le Prado and Nathan Laube. Alongside his studies, he holds the post of Organ Scholar at Birmingham Cathedral (St Philip’s) where he assists the Organist and Assistant Organist in the daily music-making of the Cathedral.

Timothy has enjoyed recent competition success after being awarded First Prize at both the London Organ Competition held in St Clement Danes Church, London (2023), and the Leonard Gibbons Organ Competition which was held at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham (2024) and Second Prize at the Kent Organ Competition (2024). In addition, he was a finalist in the Dame Gillian Weir Messiaen Competition (2024). He is active as a recitalist, having given recent performances at Portsmouth, and Chichester Cathedrals, Clare College, Cambridge and many other parish churches around the country. He was also invited to play at l’Abbaye Saint-Sauveur in Redon, France (2020). Future performances include recitals at Westminster Abbey and Coventry Cathedral.

Timothy Stewart began his musical training in singing and piano at the age of six. He started organ lessons aged twelve with Gillian Lloyd at the URC in Guildford. As a chorister at Holy Trinity, Guildford under Martin Holford, he was introduced to the organ’s qualities and potential and was also given opportunities to play voluntaries before and after services. He was then appointed to the post of organist at All Saints’ Church, Dummer, Hants and St Giles’, Ashtead whilst also assisting with organ playing at Holy Trinity and URC churches in Guildford. During this time, studying with Katherine Dienes-Williams (Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral), he achieved distinctions in both grade 8 piano and organ.

Prior to starting his degree, Timothy took a gap year and was the Organ Scholar of Chichester Cathedral.  Alongside this position he was the principal accompanist to the choral society ‘Cantemus’, based in Havant.

Westminster Abbey
20 Deans Yard, London SW1P 3PA
Sunday 14 July 2024, 5.00-5.30pm

  

Review by Angela Ransley :

‘ HIGH ROMANTICISM ……AND THE UNSEEN MASTER ‘

Timothy Stewart at Westminster Abbey

Organ recital programme:

Widor  Symphony No. 6, 1st movement
Bach  Fantasia in C minor, BWV 562
Schumann  Studien für den Pedalflügel: IV. Innig, V. Nicht zu schnell
Thierry Escaich  Poèmes pour orgue: III. Vers l’esperance

 

                                                  Timothy Stewart

The Westminster Abbey Summer Organ Festival returns once again with its fabulous mix of celebrity recitals and fresh faces on the Young Artists Platform. This year the Keyboard Charitable Trust presented 20-year-old TIMOTHY STEWART a first year student from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Music has been his life since the age of 6: a full account of his progess can be found below.

The Westminster Abbey organ is a majestic instrument of five manuals and 94 stops offering a complex range of solo and combined registration. The recital opened grandly with the first movement of Widor’s Symphonie in G minor Op 42 no 2, first performed in 1876. This is one of ten such works which now form the backbone of the organ repertoire. They were called Symphonie because new organ-building techniques by French organ builder Aristide Cavaille-Coll extended the colour palette of the organ and created a warmer sound. Organists now refer to this type of instrument as Romantic or symphonic, hence Widor’s title.

Aristide played a vital role in Widor’s early life, being a friend of the family. He arranged his early tuition in Brussels and then supported his temporary appointment to Saint-Sulpice in Paris which lasted a mere 63 years! Aristide had installed one of his finest instruments there, which prompted a novel response from Widor: this organ demands new music, a new way of writing..Widor combined this post with teaching organ at the Paris Conservatoire before suceeding Dubois as professor of composition.

Both Widor’s prowess as a performing artist and mastery of compositional technique are found in this movement. Forceful chords announce the opening and also the central idea on which the movement is based. The organ has the unique ability to sing at every level and the main motive is used adventurously by Widor throughout the entire range of the instrument. Although marked Allegro, the organist needs to consider the Abbey’s acoustic. Timothywisely opted for a spacious tempo allowing appreciation of the musical detail. Registration was well chosen, with bright reeds lending clarity to the main theme, and darker colours enhancing the sinuous interludes.

 The Fantasia in C minor BWV 562 by JS Bach (1685-1750) is an early work dating from his period of service to the Duke of Weimar 1708-17. Its austere, tearful character derives from the long pedal notes extending over many bars and the falling, sighing phrase often associated with mourning: the final chorus of  St Matthew Passion comes to mind. It obviously had a special meaning for Bach as he returned to it near the end of his life to add a Fugue, which he never completed. This is consummate counterpoint with the falling phrase hardly absent from the five moving parts. A flurry of semiquavers brings the comfort of a major key – a signature ending for Bach.

 

The composer leaves us the notes. It is for the artist to make sense of them. Timothy gave us an impassioned account at a surprisingly high dynamic level, which emphasised the architecture of the contrapuntal writing. Solo stops were carefully chosen to emphasise new entries without disrupting the flow.

 

 

                                                        Weimar in the time of J S Bach

 If you pass near a church and you hear the organ playing, go inside and listen.. Never waste an opportunity to practise the organ: there is no other instrument able so swiftly to dispense with all that is impure and imprecise, both in the music itself and in the manner of playing it.

(Rules of House and Life 1850 – Robert Schumann).

 

Celebrated for his piano works and lieder, it should not be forgotten that Schumann (1810 – 1856)  also wrote masterly works for the organ. Two pieces followed from 6 Canonic Studies Op 56: Innig and Nicht zu schnell.  Keyboard instruments with a pedalboard existed long before the pedalier, for which these pieces were written, enabling organists to practice at home rather than in a freezing church. Bach owned a pedal harpsichord and Mozart had a pedal fortepiano. Schumann had a pedal piano made in 1843 and his enthusiam for it led to much composition.They were dedicated to his first piano teacher who predicted that Schumann would attain to fame and immortality and that in him the world would possess one if its greatest musicians. These works are now performed on the pipe organ.

Innig opens with a heart-stopping melody of rare beauty worthy of his greatest love songs. Despite th technical challenge of writing in canon, the expressive quality is always paramount. By contrast, Nicht zu schnell employs a texture of light chords to create a musical romp. In this work we see a different side of Schumann: one, who – unaided – had found his way to Bach when the popular view was that of an outdated contrapuntist. These are character pieces and Timothy found convincingly the individual nature of each. Innig could possibly have been indulged more: a little slower with greater elasticity within the phrase. Nicht zu schnell was delightfully crisp and clear – and huge fun!

 

Thierry Escaich (1965-) is a French organist, composer, teacher and improviser much in demand on the international stage. He is a worthy successor to the celebrated organist-composers of the late Romantic: Liszt, Franck, Saint-Saens, holding a senior church post in Paris  and teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He was appointed Organist at Notre-Dame when it reopened  in 2024.

He has written over 100 works for a wide variety of forces and particularly for his own instrument.

Vers l’Esperance, the final piece in Timothy’s recital, comes from Poemes pour orgue, composed in 2002. Its subject is highly Romantic, portraying in Escaich’s own words:  a frightening flight from death and the hope of something beyond. It was inspired by Tunisian poet Suied:

 

Qu’est-ce qui nous traque                                                Who  is stalking us                   
et nous tord                                                                          And twists us
et se joue de nous                                                                 And plays with us

derrière nos masques?                                                      Behind our masks?
Qu’est-ce qui souffre                                                             What is suffering
et se révolte                                                                           And revolts

au fond de nous malgré nos rêves?  Deep inside us despite our dreams?
Qui es-tu, triste                                                                      Who are you, sad
matière silencieuse?                                                              Silent matter?

De quel parage du ciel es-tu,     From what part of the sky are you messagere oublieuse,                                                      Forgetful messenger

De quelle détresse                                                             From what distress 

Etu le gouffre indéchiffrable?            Are you the undecipherable abyss?

Qu-est-ce qui nous porte et nous appelle     Which carries us and calls us

Au-dessus de nous                                                                  Above ourselves    dans l’espérance?                                                                    Into hope?
 

Escaich’s music is notable for its forceful rhythms and startling dissonances, allowing the King of Instruments a lion’s roar. What a fitting climax to an ambitious half hour recital!  His formidable technique fully engaged, Timothy made full use of the 94 stops to create an dramatic sound image with  screaming brass reeds – oboe, trumpet and clarion – confirming the inescapable advance of Death. It was both thrilling and chilling..

 

Cesar Franck made the famous remark about his new Cavaille-Coll instrument: mon nouvel orgue..c’est un orchestre! (my new organ, it’s an orchestra!) There is no doubt that the symphonic organ led to a more expressive style of writing. Today’s composers – Widor, Schumann, Escaich –   all empowered the organ to sing high or low and to employ an amazing range of textures and colours. There is another common thread: all three organists were steeped in the music of JS Bach. Widor’s early training was in his works for organ and he astonished his pupils at the Paris Conservatoire by demanding the same. Schumann made his own way to Bach and honoured his debt by composing 6 Fugues on the name BACH. Escaich modelled his Etudes-Chorals on the chorale preludes. The influence of Bach remains regardless of the intervening years as the Unseen Master, ever ready to guide and inspire.

Timothy Stewart began his musical training aged 6 in singing and piano.  He started organ lessons aged 12 with Gillian Lloyd at the URC in Guildford.  As a chorister at Holy Trinity, Guildford under Martin Holford, he was introduced to the organ’s qualities and potential and was also given opportunities to play voluntary’s before and after services. He was then appointed to the post of organist at All Saints’ Church, Dummer, Hants and St Giles, Ashtead whilst also assisting with organ playing at Holy Trinity and URC churches in Guildford. During this time, studying with Katherine Dienes-Williams (Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral), he achieved distinctions in both grade 8 piano and organ. Prior to starting his degree, Timothy took a gap year and was the Organ Scholar of Chichester Cathedral and alongside this position he was the principal accompanist to the choral society ‘Cantemus’, based in Havant.

He is currently in his first year at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire after having been awarded the DMC Mcdonald Foundation Scholarship Award. At the Conservatoire, he is studying for a BMus in Organ Performance under the tutelage of Daniel Moult and Nicholas Wearne, as well as receiving regular tuition from visiting tutors such as Martin Schmeding, Erwan le Prado and Nathan Laube. Alongside his studies, he holds the post of Organ Scholar at Birmingham Cathedral (St Philip’s) where he assists the Organist and Assistant Organist in the daily music making of the Cathedral.

Timothy has enjoyed recent competition success after being awarded first prize at both the London Organ Competition held in St Clement Danes church, London (2023), and the Leonard Gibbons Organ Competition which was held at St Chads Cathedral, Birmingham( 2024) and 2nd prize at the Kent Organ Competition (2024). As well as this, he was a finalist in the Dame Gillian Weir Messiaen Competition (2024). He is active as a recitalist, having given recent performances at, Portsmouth, and Chichester Cathedrals, Clare College, Cambridge, and many other parish churches around the country. He was also invited to play at l’Abbaye Saint-Sauveur in Redon, France (2020). Future performances include Westminster Abbey and Coventry Cathedral.

 

 

Angela Ransley is an advanced piano teacher and writer based in London. She is Director of the Harmony School of Pianoforte and works closely with the Keyboard Trust.

 

This is a link to one of the KT artists who has played the pedal piano in the Royal Festival Hall in London.The Gounod pedal piano concerto and as an encore a study for pedal piano by Schumann

https://www.facebook.com/notes/christopher-axworthy/get-closer-roberto-prosseda-and-oleg-caetani-at-the-festival-hall/10156098635657309/