ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

It was just a few weeks ago that I heard Ryan at the Windsor Festival and was astonished at the mastery and maturity of a sixteen year old.So when I received this recording of a year previously I was so overwhelmed that I just had to write some thoughts and impressions of a young master.

Ryan Wang takes Windsor Castle by storm

I had heard Ryan for the first time at the final of the Montecatini Competition in Florence a year ago .The moment he touched the piano I was immediately struck by his artistry as he played a selection of Chopin’s 24 Preludes. I sent a message down to Sofya Gulyak saying ‘At last an artist’.

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

I met his mother and brother Michael and learned that both the boys of fourteen and fifteen were on music scholarships to Eton where the whole family had transferred from Canada to pursue a dream. I later heard Ryan in the National Liberal Club invited by the indomitable Yisha Xue to play in her Chinese New Year celebrations.He played the Liszt ‘Don Juan fantasy’ in between the various courses of a sumptuous feast. Needless to say the highlight of the evening was this young man giving a masterly performance of one of the most notoriously difficult of all Liszt’s funabulistic Operatic paraphrases

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

I asked Iris Wang how Michael was coping with a brother being celebrated as such a star? ‘Oh but Michael is a happy boy and loves it!’ Genius is never easy to live with and Ryan has been blessed with a talent that is so extraordinary suffering to find perfection in his art and this is how I interpreted a loving Mothers simple remark.

Listening to this remarkable recital one is aware of an artist who lives every note as he moves and weaves with the music that he is creating. Some things can never be taught but are gifts born by early experiences that no one is aware of but reveal themselves later on as an early aptitude is translated into mastery. Of course as George Fu so aptly stated in a recent interview for the radio before embarking on a performance of the Messiaen 20 regards a good teacher has to know how to push but also let go.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?mibextid=WC7FNe&ref=watch_permalink&v=1676184196290175&rdid=MVikD3k1B3H9jxo8

Ryan has obviously had the good fortune to have teachers who have given him the means to allow his natural talent to grow and flower.

There was remarkable clarity and simplicity to the Haydn Sonata that was full of character and colour but always within stylish good taste.Haydn’s genial pedal indications were scrupulously noted but even more they were interpreted for the music box carillon that the piano with pedals could at last allow in that period . Every moment of the sonata was full of vital energy but with extraordinary sensitivity to Haydn’s sound world.The Adagio had a chiselled beauty and a radiance of colours and emotions where the deeply brooding minor key was played with searching intensity looking for a way back. A moment that Ryan found with the magic of barely whispered contemplation.There was an extraordinary clarity to the Allegro molto with phrasing that allowed the music to take wing with exhilaration and extraordinary fantasy.

The Norma Fantasy I have never heard played with such mastery.This is a work that needs enormous reserves of technique to allow the music to unfold with a continual forward movement no matter what technical difficulties are involved. It was just this wave of sound that this young man created from the first note and never let go. Sumptuous sound and great characterisation as the drama unfolded in Liszt’s masterly paraphrase correcting Bellini’s own order as an architectural shape is unfolded with breathtaking brilliance and sumptuous beauty. Thalberg and Liszt were both accused of having three hands such was the illusion that they like Paganini could create on their chosen instrument. Ryan was not only a poet but also a showman as indeed Liszt himself was. Liszt though ,like today’s a pop stars, with aristocratic ladies reduced to a hysterical rabble trying to get souvenirs of their idol to take back home perchance to dream! Ryan today showed us the masterly control of tension that held us on the edge of our seats as pyrotechnics and ravishing beauty were united under one glorious roof with breathtakingly fearless abandon.

Sublimely beautiful Chopin from the three Mazurkas op 59 played with beguiling rubato and fearless abandon to the senses and a timeless grandeur to the opening of one of Chopin’s last Nocturnes op 62 n. 1 .A Fourth Ballade that was indeed the pinnacle of the Romantic piano repertoire and played with remarkably mature aristocratic musicianship of searing intensity.

La Valse in Ravel’s own transcription was full of subtle insinuations erupting into naked abandon.A tour de force of technical perfection where streams of notes were thrown off as the musical meaning of decadence and passion were absorbed by this young man and thrown at us with fearless abandon as a kaleidoscope of sultry sounds filled the torrid air.

A standing ovation for a master of only fifteen! It was rewarded as Rubinstein would himself have done with Chopin’s ‘Winter Wind’ study where every note was absorbed and played with depth and meaning ( Rubinstein himself had told how as a lazy young man in Paris he had faked it but played with such character that it earned him an ovation ) .

The Chopin Héroique Polonaise played every bit as I remember Rubinstein and with the same reaction of an audience on their feet to applaude and feast such genius.

But Ryan had even more up his sleeve as with a slight laugh of recognition from the audience he played Beethoven’s much maligned ‘ Fur Elise’. But this was not the work that every music student has struggled with but a boogie woogie study of a masterly showman where I feel Volodos or Hamelin had got his hands on Beethoven to devastating effect but learn it is infact by Ethan Uslan

What a recital and only fifteen …………hard to believe but the link is there to behold for yourself .Q.E .D.

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

Ryan Wang takes Windsor Castle by storm

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

Sensational is the only way to describe the performance today and I have heard Ursula Oppens who commissioned it and Kholodenko in London recently. Both magnificent performances but today this impossible piece took wing as we sat mesmerised by a kaleidoscope of chameleonic colour and character that kept a rapt audience hypnotised by a tour de force of unbelievable mastery .A true mastery that of musical communication no matter what the odds
And after almost an hour a simple song without words to calm the earth shattering atmosphere .
Rzewski liked Mendelssohn Emanuil told me in the green room .
Of course but would Mendelssohn have like Rzewski !

Commissioned and first performed in 1975 by Ursula Oppens who passed by Siena to play to Agosti in 1968 before catching the train to Bolzano where she won the Busoni Competition.Emanuil won the Busoni Competition in 2019

This is an interview with Ursula Oppens : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uuarpS_u59Q. 

And to Jed Distler’s Between the Keys : https://soundcloud.com/jeddistler/episode-0032-the-people-united-at-40-2015-11-03?in=jeddistler/sets/between-the-keys-archive

The song on which the variations is based is one of many that emerged from the Unidad Popular  coalition in Chile between 1969 and 1973, prior to the overthrow of the Salvador Allende  government. Rzewski composed the variations in September and October 1975, as a tribute to the struggle of the Chilean people against the newly imposed repressive regime of Augusto Pinochet ; indeed the work contains allusions to other leftist struggles of the same and immediately preceding time, such as quotations from the Italian traditional socialist   song “Bandiera Rossa “ and the Bertold Brecht /Hans Eisler “Solidarity Song”

In general, the variations are short, and build up to climaxes of considerable force. The 36 variations, following the 36 bars of the tune, are in six groups of six. The pianist, in addition to needing a virtuoso technique, is required to whistle, slam the piano lid, and catch the after-vibrations of a loud attack as harmonics: all of these are “extended” techniques in 20th-century piano writing. Much of the work uses the language of 19th-century romanticism, but mixes this language with pandiatonic  tonality, modal writing, and serial techniques .

As in the Goldberg Variations , the final variation is a direct restatement of the original theme, intended to be heard with new significance after the long journey through the variations.

The Bulgarian pianist Emanuil Ivanov attracted international attention at the age of 21 after receiving the First Prize at the 2019 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. Known for his elegant performances of late Romantic music, he presents one of the most ambitious keyboard works of the 20th Century. The People United Will Never Be Defeated! builds its 36 glittering variations from a celebrated Chilean protest song, encompassing triumph and despair, intricate abstraction alongside jazzy improvisation – an unforgettable musical journey.

Frederic Anthony Rzewski
April 13, 1938 Westfield Massachusetts USA 
June 26, 2021 (aged 83) Montiano Italy 

Rzewski plays ‘The People United Will Never Be https://youtube.com/watch?v=xiWwYsWWVSk&feature=shared

Rzewski was born on April 13, 1938,to parents of Polish and Jewish descent,and raised Catholic.^[He began playing piano at age 5 and attended Phillips Academy Harvard and Princeton , where his teachers included Randall Thompson,Roger Sessions,Walter Piston and Milton Babbitt . In 1960, he went to Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship where in addition to studying with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence he began a career as a performer of new piano music, often with an improvisatory element.

In 1966, Rzewski co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva with Alvin Curran  and Richard Teitelbaum in Rome which was conceived music as a collective, collaborative process, with improvisation and live electronic instruments  prominently featured. In 1971, he returned to New York from Italy.

In 1977, Rzewski became Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liège, Belgium, then directed by Henri Pousseur 

In 1963, Rzewski married Nicole Abbeloos; they had five children.While Rzewski never divorced Abbeloos, his companion for about the last 20 years of his life was Françoise Walot, with whom he had two children. He also had five grandchildren.Rzewski died of an apparent heart attack in Montiano Tuscany on June 26, 2021, at the age of 83.Nicola Slonimsky  said of Rzewski in 1993: “He is furthermore a granitically overpowering piano technician, capable of depositing huge boulders of sonoristic material across the keyboard without actually wrecking the instrument.”Michael Schell called Rzewski “the most important living composer of piano music, and surely one of the dozen or so most important living American composers”.

Emanuil Ivanov a great pianist of humility and intelligence takes St.Mary’s by storm

Emanuil Ivanov premio Busoni 2019 Al British in the Harold Acton Library A room with a view of ravishing beauty and seduction

Emanuil Ivanov ‘Sensational’ recital of technical assurance and refined intelligence

Emanuil Ivanov in Capua the bells of their 100 churches tolling brightly -ignited by his mastery and dedication

Emanuil Ivanov at La Scala to the Glory of God and beyond

Vadim Kholodenko today of all days reminds us with artistry and mastery that ‘The People United Will Never Be Defeated’

Happy Birthday Deniz Arman Gelenbe.
Say it with music takes on a different significance when a very special occasion is treated to such sumptuous music making.
The simple unadorned beauty of Mozart contrasted with the dynamic drive of Dvorak.
Surrounded by friends and admirers what better way could there be to celebrate for a much loved musician of such stature.
With illustrious colleagues from the English Chamber Orchestra this beautiful Lloyd George Hall in the National Liberal Club resounded with music making of refined elegance in Mozart and Dvorak’s sumptuous homage to his native Bohemia.

Mozart’s late violin sonata in G opened the concert with almost Beethovenian vehemence but also the refined elegance and genial outpourings that could only be from the age of Mozart. Variations in which the piano shone through with a purity and style as the superb artistry of John Mills allowed our ‘birthday girl’ Mozart’s own spotlight

The G minor Quartet already opens with a Beethovenian call to arms immediately replied by the beseeching sigh from the piano before bursting into outpourings of mellifluous buoyancy.

The Andante opening with Deniz’s beautiful simple prayer of thanksgiving was taken up by her superb colleagues with stylish playing of disarming simplicity. If the Rondo could have taken flight more and was a little earthbound for the fun that Mozart allows himself even in G minor it allowed the continual genial outpouring of melodic effusions to sing with unusual clarity and refined good taste.

It was in the Dvorak and the addition of the second violin of Ofer Falk that the music making really took wing .

A sumptuous performance enhanced by the ravishing cello playing of Bozidar Vukotic but also the supreme musicianship of Deniz who could weave in an out of the sumptuous string sounds looking and listening ready to pounce and enhance.

The superb viola of Lydia Lowndes – Northcott looking and waiting as she listened so attentively to her colleagues, completing and supporting the voluptuous sounds from her colleagues. John Mills inspired and inspiring as Deniz played with passionate abandon but also the intelligent mutual anticipation of a seasoned chamber music player.

It is nice to remember Gyorgy Sandor the mentor of Deniz and great friend of ours in Rome on such a joyous occasion.

The Arman Trio at the Chopin Society Sublime music making of weight and intimacy to ravish the soul

All About Mozart -Deniz Arman Gelenbe and friends at St John’s Smith Square

Violin Sonata No. 27 in G K.379/373a)was composed in Vienna in 1781 and first published in the same year.

It consists of two movements.

1. Adagio – Allegro
2. Theme : Andantino cantabile, with variations :
   • Variation 1 (piano without violin)
   • Variation 2
   • Variation 3
   • Variation 4 in 
   • Variation 5: Adagio
   • Allegretto (Thema da capo – Coda)

On 12 March 1781 Mozart was summoned by his employer, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, to join him and his retinue in Vienna, where they were staying during the celebrations marking the accession of the Emperor Joseph II. Mozart had been in Munich since the previous November, preparing for the premiere there of his opera Idomeneo, and he arrived in the Austrian capital on 16 March. That evening he found himself obliged to organize a private concert centred around the talents of some of the Salzburg court musicians. Mozart’s deep resentment towards the Archbishop, who refused to grant him permission to perform in public, can be discerned from his letters of the time to his father.Three weeks after his arrival in Vienna, Mozart had to provide pieces for the leader of the Salzburg orchestra, Antonio Brunetti, for whom he wrote a Rondo for violin and orchestra (K373), and the Sonata in G major, K379. The latter was so hurriedly composed (Mozart claimed to have completed it within the space of a single hour) that there was no time to write out the piano part, and Mozart had to play it out of his head at the work’s premiere the following day. Despite the circumstances in which it was written, this is one of the most beautiful and original of all Mozart’s violin sonatas. It is one that was well known to Schubert, who based his only song in variation form, Im Frühling, D882, on a theme very similar to that of Mozart’s variation finale.

Mozart received a commission for three quartets in 1785  from the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister .who thought this quartet was too difficult and that the public would not buy it, so he released Mozart from the obligation of completing the set. (Nine months later, Mozart composed a second quartet anyway, in E flat K. 493).

Hoffmeister’s fear that the work was too difficult for amateurs was borne out by an article in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden published in Weimar in June 1788. The article highly praised Mozart and his work, but expressed dismay over attempts by amateurs to perform it:

“( as performed by amateurs] it could not please: everybody yawned with boredom over the incomprehensible tintamarre of 4 instruments which did not keep together for four bars on end, and whose senseless concentusnever allowed any unity of feeling; but it had to please, it had to be praised! … what a difference when this much-advertised work of art is performed with the highest degree of accuracy by four skilled musicians who have studied it carefully.^”

The assessment accords with a view widely held of Mozart in his own lifetime, that of a greatly talented composer who wrote very difficult music.

At the time the piece was written, the harpsichord was still widely used. Although the piece was originally published with the title “Quatuor pour le Clavecin ou Forte Piano, Violon, Tallie [sic] et Basse,” stylistic evidence suggests Mozart intended the piano part for “the ‘Viennese’ fortepiano of the period”

The work is in three movements :

1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Rondo Allegro

Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A op 81 B 155, was composed between August 18 and October 8, 1887, and was premiered in Prague  on January 6, 1888.

The work was composed as the result of the composer’s attempt to revise an earlier work, the first Piano Quintet in A Op. 5.Dvořák was dissatisfied with the Op. 5 quintet and destroyed the manuscript not long after its premiere. Fifteen years later, he reconsidered and retrieved a copy of the score from a friend and started making revisions. However, he decided that rather than submitting the revised work for publication, he would compose an entirely new work.The new quintet is a mixture of Dvořák’s personal form of expressive lyricism with elements from Czech folk music. Characteristically, those elements include styles and forms of song and dance, but not actual folk tunes; Dvořák created original melodies in the authentic folk style.

The music has four movements :

1. Allegro, ma non tanto
2. Dumka : Andante con moto
3. Scherzo (Furiant) : Molto vivace
4. Finale: Allegro

.

Some superb playing of great artistry and intelligence allied to an aristocratic grandeur and complete technical command. Infact these two masterworks were revealed in a new light where any of the rhetoric of tradition was substituted by a scrupulous attention to the composers detailed indications in the score.

Bénediction I well remember from the early recordings of Liszt by Alfred Brendel that it was exactly his musicianship , technical mastery and respectful integrity that we heard for the first time with a composer too often represented as a barnstorming virtuoso and seducer of the senses. The leisurely opening of Mengyang’s performance created the atmosphere of reverence and dignified beauty with the bass melody allowed to unfold with the shimmering accompaniment above it , gradually building to a passionate outpouring of sumptuous sounds .’Cantando sempre’ as the melodic line moves so magically from the bass to the tenor with harp like chords just adding a golden sheen to such beauty. Mengyang judged superbly the gradual build up in intensity to a sumptuous climax that dissolved immediately to prepare for the chorale like ‘Andante’ that she played with simplicity and devout beauty. ‘Più sostenuto quasi preludio’ was played with aristocratic good taste as the melodic line was now reversed with the theme in the right hand and with shimmering left hand harmonies just adding to the radiant fluidity. Building this time to a climax that Liszt marks ‘rinforzando molto e sempre più appassionato’ and is the cry of Liszt the fervent believer with an almost unbearable intensity. Menyang calling on her wonderfully florid arms to add ever more sumptuous sounds without ever a trace of hardness. In fact the beauty and luminosity of sound was one of the most remarkable things of this performance and of the sonata that was to follow. Streams of harp like sounds were played with ravishing fluidity as the left hand melodic line sang it’s heart out with refined and respectful beauty. ‘Andante semplice espressivo’ was indeed the final prayer with Liszt on his knees calling on all the sublime beauty and radiance that he could offer to his maker. This was a remarkable performance and was the ideal accompaniment for the B minor Sonata. Two great works restored to their rightful place at the pinnacle of the pianistic repertoire.

The Liszt Sonata saw Mengyang in demonic mood sometimes playing with a clenched fist as the drama unfolded.The three opening themes that are transformed throughout the Sonata were played with such characterisation from the mystery of the sombre deep bass to the call to arms of the ‘Allegro energico’ and the pummelled bass notes that Liszt indeed indicates ‘marcato’. This was a truly superb performance where her technical command was allied to a poetic understanding as she allowed this masterpiece to unfold with scintillating virtuosity and sumptuous beauty. The same quasi religious integrity of Benediction she brought to the ‘Andante sostenuto’ and was remarkable for the simplicity and beauty that unfolded from her delicate fingers .The ‘Quasi Adagio’ was breathtaking in it’s delicacy ‘dolcissimo con intimo sentimento’ as it lead to the nobility and majesty of the passionate climax before reaching for the infinite with scales that just wafted over the keys with featherlight whispered sounds.The Fugato that follows was played with fearless control and dynamic energy as she dispatched Liszt’s diabolical octaves with enviable mastery. The final prophetic pages were played with a radiance and beauty of two pages that demonstrate more than any other the genius of Liszt looking always into the future.

Pianist Mengyang Pan, known for her captivating performances, has graced prestigious stages worldwide, including the Royal Festival Hall, the Wigmore Hall, Bruckner Haus Austria, UNESCO Paris and many more. Born in China, she began her musical journey at the Central Conservatory of Music and later pursued her studies in the UK at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music. Earning accolades at competitions such as the Ettlingen International Piano competition, Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition, Dudley International Piano Competition Birmingham International Piano Competition and many more, Mengyang’s mastery of both traditional and contemporary repertoire has earned her critical acclaim, with her delicate touch and tonal shades praised by critics. Collaborating with renowned conductors like Vladimir Ashkenazy and John Wilson, her electrifying performances have garnered high acclaim.

Beyond performance, Mengyang is a dedicated educator, serving as a piano professor at the Royal College of Music and actively participating in international competitions and music festivals as an adjudicator and masterclass instructor. Co-founding the Elisi-Pan Piano Duo, she continues to share her musical expertise through recitals worldwide. Additionally, Mengyang contributes significantly to piano pedagogy as a module leader and lecturer at the RCM and directs various music education programs, including the IPPA Conero International Piano Competition. Her passion for musical exploration is evident in her curation of festivals dedicated to reviving overlooked compositions and composers while embracing contemporary expressions. 

Mengyang Pan in Texas Playing of sumptuous beauty and refined artistry

 

Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), S.173, is a cycle of piano pieces written by Franz Liszt at Woronince the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt’s mistress Princess Caroline von Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine as was Liszt’s symphonic poem Les Préludes.

The ten compositions which make up this cycle are:

1. Invocation (completed at Woronińce);
2. Ave Maria (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
3. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (‘The Blessing of God in Solitude,’ completed at Woronińce);
4. Pensée des morts (‘In Memory of the Dead,’ reworked version of earlier individual composition, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1834));
5. Pater Noster (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
6. Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil (‘The Awaking Child’s Hymn,’ transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
7. Funérailles  (October 1849) (‘Funeral’);
8. Miserere, d’après Palestrina (after Palestrina);
9. La lampe du temple (Andante lagrimoso);
10. Cantique d’amour (‘Hymn of Love,’ completed at Woronińce).

Liszt’s Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude [“Benediction of God in solitude”] is the third work from his cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses [“Poetic and Religious Harmonies”] completed in 1853. This magnificent piece is the perfect marriage between Liszt’s abilities as a virtuoso pianist and his profound spirituality. The Benediction is prefaced by a poem of the French literary romantic Alphonse de Lamartine, and comes from a collection dating from 1830 also titled Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. Through several meetings, Lamartine’s socio-political, aesthetic, and religious views influenced Liszt greatly. Despite the popular belief that he only converted to Catholicism late in life in order to repent from his youthful transgressions, Liszt’s father took him to several churches as a young boy and instilled in him a curiosity and reverence which would persist through old age.

The piece can be divided into four large sections [ABCA’]. The A section features long, rich, fluid melodies while B is contrasting in its short gestures and pastoral peacefulness.  Section C is rather improvisatory and guides the music emotionally from the tranquil B section to the glorious return of the A section. This time, the melody is further ornamented with elaborate accompanimental figures as the music climactically ascends to the heavens. An introspective, prayer-like postlude follows in which a fragment from the B section appears as a reminiscence, a cyclical feature present in many of Liszt’s larger late works. A professor of mine once remarked about the piece, “It doesn’t matter whether you are religious or not, when you listen to the Bénédiction you are convinced that there is a God.” 

The Piano Sonata in B minor S.178 is in a single movement and was completed the work during his time in Weimar, Germany in 1853, a year before it was published in 1854 and performed in 1857. He dedicated the piece to Robert Schumann , in return for Schumann’s dedication to Liszt in his Fantasie in C major op 17. A copy of the work arrived at Schumann’s house in May 1854, after he had entered Endenich sanitorium . Pianist and composer Clara Schumann did not perform the Sonata despite her marriage to Robert Schumann; according to scholar Alan Walker she found it “merely a blind noise”.Already in 1851 Liszt experimented with a non-programmatic “four-movements-in-one” form in an extended work for piano solo called Grosses Concert – Solo which in 1865 was published as a two-piano version under the title Concerto Pathétique shows a thematic relationship to both the Sonata and the later Faust Symphony .Walker claims the quiet ending of the Sonata was an afterthought; the original manuscript contains a crossed-out ending section which would have ended the work in a loud flourish instead.^[7]

The Sonata was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854 and first performed on 27 January 1857 in Berlin by Hans von Bulow. It was attacked by Eduard Hanslick  who said “anyone who has heard it and finds it beautiful is beyond help”. Brahms  reputedly fell asleep when Liszt performed the work in 1853. However, the Sonata drew enthusiasm from Richard Wagner following a private performance of the piece by Karl Klindworth on April 5, 1855.It took a long time for the Sonata to become commonplace in concert repertoire because of its technical difficulty and negative initial reception due to its status as “new” music. However by the early stages of the twentieth century, the piece had become established as a pinnacle of Liszt’s repertoire and has been a popularly performed and extensively analyzed piece ever since.

Camille Saint – Saens , a close friend of Liszt, made a two-piano arrangement of the Sonata in 1914, but it was never published in his lifetime because of rights issues. It was first published in 2004 by Durand in Paris, edited by Sabrina Teller Ratner. According to a letter from Saint-Saëns to Jacques Durand , dated 23 August 1914, the two-piano arrangement was something that Liszt had announced but never realized.

Liszt effectively composed a sonata within a sonata, which is part of the work’s uniqueness, and he was economical with his thematic material.The first page contains three motive ideas that provide the basis for nearly all that follows, with the ideas being transformed throughout. The complexity of the sonata means no analytical interpretation has been widely accepted.Some analyses suggest that the Sonata has four movements,although there is no gap between them. Superimposed upon the four movements is a large sonata form structure,although the precise beginnings and endings of the traditional development and recapitulation sections have long been a topic of debate. Others claim a three-movement form,an extended one-movement sonata form,and a rotational three-movement work with a double exposition and recapitulation .Inspired by the Wanderer Fantasie by Schubert that Liszt much admired which is a work where the transformation of the themes was incorporated into a more conventional form and was the basis of Liszt’s breaking away from the conventional forms of the day but having allowing themes to be transformed like character terms in a play.And has provoked a wide range of divergent theories from those of its admirers who feel compelled to search for hidden meanings. Possibilities include the following:

• The Sonata is a musical portrait of the Faust legend, with “Faust,” “Gretchen,” and “Mephistopheles” themes symbolizing the main characters.
• The Sonata is autobiographical; its musical contrasts spring from the conflicts within Liszt’s own personality.
• The Sonata is about the divine and the diabolical; it is based on the Bible and on John Milton’s Paradise Lost
• The Sonata is an allegory set in the Garden of Eden ; it deals with the Fall of Man and contains “God,” “Lucifer,” “Serpent,” “Adam,” and “Eve” themes.
• The Sonata has no programmatic allusions; it is a piece of “expressive form” with no meaning beyond itself.

I was very interested to hear Inna Faliks play the Brahms F minor Sonata and here is a recording made in Cremona on the 28th September in the Fazioli Concert Hall.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37j56awtzriayo18pict7/Brahms-op-5-in-Cremona-2024.mov?rlkey=ifik37nj5rm1zvs8lzltgowhg&e=1&dl=0

It is an orchestrally conceived piece of great breadth and grandeur and a remarkable testament to a composer who was only twenty when he wrote it. In many ways it is pianistic as it knows how to exult the sounds within the piano but it is in many ways also awkward in its insistence of orchestral timbre and architectural shape. It is truly a pianistic symphony,a title that Alkan was quite happy to give to his study op 39, but for Brahms his four symphonies were much more suffered and required a long period of gestation. It is very difficult for the interpreter not to get distracted by detail as it is the overall architectural shape that is of fundamental importance. But it is also essential that Brahms’s subtle and sumptuous sound world is given time to breathe and expand. It is a work that in the wrong hands can sound either like a bull in a china shop or a fussy stylist who cannot see the wood for the trees.

Inna entered this world of Brahms with fearless abandon with leaps that are not negotiable, as they can wrongly be in Beethoven’s op 106 or 111. Leaps that must immediately establish the tempo and rhythmic drive of this monumental work. Inna played with freedom but above all with intelligence and aristocratic nobility. There was a majesty to the voices as they cried out within the ever rhythmic tolling bell as we are seduced by the luxuriant sound of the tenor melody as suddenly the strings take over with a succulent richness – ‘quasi cello espressivo’ indeed. Played by Inna with weight, digging deep into the soul of this magnificent Fazioli piano as rarely we have heard it divulge such secrets before! Deep bass notes held in the pedal, as Brahms indicates, starting pianissimo as the excitement increases. A beautifully shaped ‘più vivo’ with just the right amount of rubato, that Brahms suggests, leading to a final glorious outpouring. Pure orchestral chords for the ‘più animato’ suddenly brought nobility and order to the passionate outpouring of the youthful intensity of Brahms.

The ‘Andante espressivo’ was played with disarming clarity and a sense of balance that was of great beauty with a gently flowing tempo of mellifluous fluidity. The ‘ben cantando’ whispered duet between the voices was of deeply moving poignancy and the gentle ‘poco più lento’ floated on a sublime wave of searing beauty. There were moments of passionate outpourings but they were short lived and played with sensitive understanding as we drew ever closer to the sublime coda :’Andante molto – pianississimo ed espressivo ‘. From this sublime reawakening Inna built up a climax of earth shattering passion allowing it to drift away on a stream of harp like sounds of such simple purity and serenity.

This was immediately dispelled by the dynamic energy and great characterisation she brought to the ‘Scherzo’. She produced a beautiful full tone to the ‘Trio’ with it’s sombre elegance and whistful searching. The extraordinary ‘Intermezzo’ is a calming voice between the two vigorously quixotic third and fifth movements. Infact it could almost have been conceived like the ‘Waldstein’ sonata where Beethoven substituted his first thoughts and placed an introduction to the final movement. The whispered meditation with its bass drum rolls ever more menacing that Inna carved with a superb sense of architectural shape whilst never loosing the rhythmic impact of devastating desolation that it can and should provoke. The ‘Allegro moderato’ that followed was indeed ‘con rubato’ with its buoyant rhythms and syncopated replies bursting into song ‘con espressione.’ Leading to the glorious ‘chorale’ played by the sumptuous string like sounds of Philadelphian beauty. Building of excitement with the drive of the ‘più mosso’ before the devilish dance of the ‘Presto’ played with astonishing technical mastery that went completely unnoticed as it was the musical message that was so overpowering before the orgiastic release of the final few bars .

A remarkable performance of great authority and poetic beauty from a master musician .

A letter from Cremona ,the eternal city of music where dreams become reality.

Brahms’s  Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5  was written in 1853 and published the following year. It is unusually large, consisting of five movements , as opposed to the traditional three or four. Brahms, enamored of Beethoven and the classical style the sonata with a masterful combination of free Romantic spirit and strict classical architecture. As a further testament to Brahms’ affinity for Beethoven, the Piano Sonata is infused with the instantly recognizable motive from Beethoven’s Symphony n. 5 in the first, third, and fourth movements.Composed in Dusseldorf it marks the end of his cycle of three sonatas , and was presented to Robert Schumann in November of that year; it was the last work that Brahms submitted to Schumann for commentary. Brahms was barely 20 years old at its composition. The piece is dedicated to Countess Ida von Hohenthal of Leipzig.The five movements are :

1. Allegro maestoso 
2. Andante espressivo — Andante molto 
   The second movement begins with a quotation above the music of a poem by Otto Inkermann under the pseudonym C.O. Sternau.
   Der Abend dämmert, das Mondlicht scheint,
   da sind zwei Herzen in Liebe vereint
   und halten sich selig umfangen
   
   Through evening’s shade, the pale moon gleams
   While rapt in love’s ecstatic dream
3. Scherzo . Allegro energico avec trio  beginning with a musical quotation of the beginning of the finale of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio n.2 op 66
4. Intermezzo  (Rückblick / Regard en arrière) Andante molto 
5. Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato 

Rose McLachlan inspires and performs 22 Nocturnes for Chopin by women composers

Today at Kings Place Rose McLachlan played with such exquisite finesse and beauty that I am tempted to say that she turned ‘baubles’ into ‘gems.’

Only time will tell if they are indeed gems but these lucky 22 women composers have certainly found a superb artist to present their beautiful ‘nocturnes ‘.

I already know that the pianist and critic in New York Jed Distler after hearing the première last September is playing several of the nocturnes in his programmes including those by Nancy Litten’s Night Time Stroll and Alanna Crouch. But today listening again at the distance of a year I was mesmerised by the exquisite beauty of each and every nocturne. Could it be the influence of Katya Apekisheva on Rose that she has entered that magic world of ravishing sounds and whispered confessions. Like her brother ,a door has opened to a magic world of colour and fantasy, and whose performances in Leeds recently could only be described as sublime. As Elena Cobb wrote :

“ Enjoy the view of the full house at the London Piano Festival earlier today anticipating Rose McLachlan’s recital. A professional film, created by Katie Edwards will be available next week on YouTube.

Everyone who was there will agree that Rose’s playing was spell bounding. Her pianissimo was especially impressive as I agree with Herbert von Karajan who once said: “Everyone can play loud and fast. Try slow and quiet.”

Brava, Rose!

Loved every note!

I was so happy to be able to whisper in her father’s ear, as I did when I heard Callum play Schumann op 13 : ‘You must be so proud’.

And yet another of the McLachlan clan ,Matthew, with the Chappell Gold Medal already to his credit. I wonder is there no limit to the artistry and industry of this embarrassingly talented family?

Matthew McLachlan at St Mary’s with a clarity and lyricism of simplicity and beauty

Murray McLachlan The recital that never was at the Chopin Society UK

‘Hats off ,Gentlemen,a genius’ Jean Rondeau at the Wigmore Hall

https://keyboardtrust.org/2021/08/podcast-video-jean-rondeau-interview/

No doubt for me this is the finest artist before the public today. Eighty minutes in which the golden aura that surrounded him illuminated and uplifted souls as no other artist can today .
Swaying gently as the music just poured from him with a simplicity and staggering mastery.
It was just him and us immersed in a glorious outpouring of golden strands of music.
This was an artist recreating the music with an improvisatory mastery and we were held mesmerised in his spell
No external assistance from I pads which would have been unthinkable with an artist of his genius because this wild looking young man carries the music with him deep in his soul
‘Hats off a Genius’ is too little to express the emotions that his pure simple music making provokes and enriches. It was to the ‘Barricades’ that he turned at the end of this musical seance as an encore , coming full circle as he played it ever more searchingly with its beguiling insinuatingly daring harmonic changes. The Wiggies in delirium wanted even more and this humble servant of music sent us away with the most famous of all baroque pieces :’Le Tic Toc Choc’ ,played with astonishing fluidity and plucked ease – Sokolov eat your heart out !

Les Barricades Mystérieuses (The Mysterious Barricades) is a piece of music that Francois Couperin  composed for harpsichord  in 1717. It is the fifth piece in his Ordre 6ème de clavecin in , from his second book of collected harpsichord pieces (Pièces de Clavecin).

“The four parts create an ever-changing tapestry of melody and harmony, interacting and overlapping with different rhythmic schemes and melodies. The effect is shimmering, kaleidoscopic and seductive^”

Debussy considered François Couperin to be the “most poetic of our [French] harpsichordists” expressed particular admiration for Les Barricades Mystérieuses.In 1903, wrote: 

“We should think about the example Couperin’s harpsichord works set us: they are marvelous models of grace and innocence long past. Nothing could ever make us forget the subtly voluptuous perfume, so delicately perverse, that so innocently hovers over the Barricades Mystérieuses.”

‘Hats off ,Gentlemen,a genius’ Jean Rondeau at the Wigmore Hall

Jean Rondeau at the Barbican

Goldberg alla Rondeau

The Rebirth of the Harpsichord Jean Rondeau in recital

A programme made up of thirty two (thirty three counting the Chopin mazurka encore ) miniatures .Many if not all masterpieces but played with whispered half shades and murmured asides that reminded me of the pianists at turn of the last century.Pianists who would beguile and seduce their audiences with playing of exquisite delicacy and jewel like sounds and were magicians of the keyboard that with the innovation of the pedal were able to seek out the very soul with a kaleidoscopic range of sounds.Some even spoke to the public to let them know how it was all proceeding !

Tonight we were treated to some phenomenal playing of breathtaking beauty and many sounds in the Bartok that I have never heard from the piano before.Brahms too a selection of only Intermezzi that in many ways was masterful as was the Beethoven op 126 Bagatelles.
This is a master pianist and above all a magician of sound .The difficulty is however that without contrast or an architectural shape it is difficult to hold an audience in more than one or two pieces.
Tonight there was undisputed mastery but because of the nature of the programme it became too much of a good thing and I found myself thinking about the marvels that were evolving from this box of hammers and strings rather than being overwhelmed and involved in a musical conversation.

Was it the programme or was it me or was it that this master pianist thought more of the sounds he was producing than what the composer intended?
A controversial artist as many are who have come from the east with phenomenal technical training but lacking the culture of the west The big end or the little end? Controversy is always better than indifference in every walk of life!

I remember Perlemuter being sent a demo of a famously controversial pianist playing Ravel. DG hoping for some words from a disciple of the composer to use in their marketing publicity. “Qu’est-ce que c’est que ca ?’ Innocently enquired the humble master .The pianist after a clamorously unsuccessful competition experience went on to conquer the world and become a cult figure .

Tonight this master pianist received a standing ovation but rather a poor turn out due again to the choice of programme.

I preferred his performance on his last appearance here with a much more substantial programme.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/03/piotr-anderszewski-at-the-barbican-a-world-of-ravishing-beauty-and-refined-whispers/

A beautiful review in the Guardian which I totally agree with except for the Bach but Genius that confronts Genius it is always JSB that wins !As I said Anderszewski is often controversial but there is no doubt that he loves the piano even if for me as on this occasion he smothers it.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/04/piotr-anderszewski-review-barbican-london

Rosen,K.U Schnabel and Fleischer were not always in agreement with his interpretation but strangely it was Fou Ts’ong who loved him………Ts’ong was also deeply in love with music and often would say to me that he knew I preferred his performances from the Chopin Competition in the ‘50’s to his present day performances when he would play and give masterclasses for us in Rome every year. His widow Patsy Toh Fou writes:‘I haven’t heard Piotr for a very long time.Charles Rosen’s comment was rather extreme !!!!!Piotr is controversial but very creative and tends to manipulate the music I think rather than being at the service of the composer’.I remember Ts’ong arriving in Rome to play for us and finding that the day before another controversial figure was playing.He wanted to hear the recital of Mozart and Chopin.After the concert I explained that this pianist ,like Cherkassky tends to manipulate the music rather than following what the composer had indicated in the score . Ts’ong exploded as only he could do :’But Shura loves the piano – this man hates it!’ ………There is no doubt that both Ts’ong and Anderszewski are deeply in love with music.

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

Ravishing beauty and supreme artistry combined with total mastery of art that conceals art has me searching for superlatives for one of the finest most moving recitals I have been to for years .

Waldszenen that was an outpouring of subtle beauty where every note had a poignant significance .Beethoven’s Pathetique as though I had never heard it before such was the kaleidoscope of sounds and dynamic drive.An ‘Adagio cantabile’ that was a true bel canto that arose out of a sumptuous accompaniment and the central episode like a heart beating -Beethoven’s!
Alkan that was so exquisite it brought tears to my eyes as did the ravishing beauty of Chaminade’s Automne .
Liszt Pesther Carneval was breathtaking , astonishing and at the same time so characterful that it brought smiles to the face just as it brought gasps as phenomenal gymnastics were thrown off with rhetorical mastery …..and all this on what Perlemuter would have generously described as a casserole! ……..much more to come tomorrow when I have got my breath back!

A programme that at first glance seemed interesting if rather conventional. Beethoven’s Pathétique ,Schumann,Alkan,Chaminade and Liszt .It was from the first mighty chord of the Beethoven that one was aware of a piece that was like new and was unfolding before our eyes in a voyage of discovery where clarity and beauty went hand in hand with a pulsating heart of poignant significance. It was the dynamic contrasts that added even more meaning to an opening where I had never been aware before now of it’s grandiloquence combined with searing beauty. Florestan and Eusebius spring to mind or the split personality that could be two things in one. The irascible temperament of Beethoven that could flare up with impatience and frustration but also the serene deep inner soul that was indeed to come to the fore as the composer could see the paradise that awaited him. All these thoughts come to mind, now,thinking about last night’s performance.Technical and professional considerations ( no I pad in sight as the music for this artist was internal not external!) ca va sans dire ,it did not even pass through one’s mind as the music just poured forth in a continuous stream of mellifluous sounds on a piano that miraculously Mark had found it’s soul ( not sole) very deep down in it’s roots.The silences were so poignant too before the chromatic scale, marked and surprisingly played piano without a crescendo,where the sforzando was a shock tactic before the burning intensity of the Allegro di molto ma con brio. A dynamic drive but still the searing beauty of the exchange between voices as the music was driven relentlessly forward.This continual forward movement made the return of the opening call to arms even more of a shock as were the rests between each gasp that were held with breathless courage as long as he dared.This was music making that was recreation and which we the audience were unknowing accomplices.This is the very ‘raison d’etre’ of live music making as opposed to perfectly concocted studio performances. This is ‘X’ certificate stuff not for the uninitiated with fear of the unknown! I was not expecting to be so involved with such a popular work that at first glance I had underestimated.The melting beauty of the diminuendo into the abrupt return of the Allegro will remain with me for a long time as will the reappearance in the coda and the ‘Grave’. A continual stimulation of the senses that I cannot begin to imagine the effect on the public of the day with this revolutionary invasion of their private emotions.

The surprise after such upheaval is the heavenly peace of the ‘Adagio cantabile’ that was played with the beauty of Bel Canto (which we were also to appreciate in Alkan later in the programme) of which Mark is a master. Freedom but within certain limits of good taste and style ( Chopin likens it to branches free to move but with the roots firmly fixed in the soil). All sustained by a luscious undercurrent of harmonies that gave such depth to this much loved but often maligned movement. The central episode with it’s pulsating heartbeat ( as in Chopin op 28 n.17) on which the melodic line is answered by the bassoon like bass notes. The gradual pizzicato bass notes played so clearly that the return of the melodic line now incorporated with a reverberating heartbeat was like wallowing in a sumptuous jacuzzi !

The sun suddenly came out and the radiance of the Rondo was exhilarating and rejuvenating with a ‘joie de vivre’ and technical relishment.It made the slow chorale episode even more poignant as a momentary cloud passed over our heads before the lightweight pitter patter to join the fun once again. What a voyage of discovery this was and I can only think back to Serkin’s performance in the Festival Hall for a similar experience.

Waldszenen long a favourite of Peter Frankl but long forgotten by the younger pianists generation . That other Mark, Marc-André Hamelin and Viner have much in common. Hamelin being one of the first to include Alkan in his programmes and also physically like ‘our’ Mark does not portray his emotions with unnecessary movements but looks and concentrates on the sounds he is searching for! It was just a few months ago that Hamelin played them in Warsaw , a performance he repeated in Cremona last weekend .My first impression after listening to Hamelin was the same that I had today listening to Mark – Thank God I have lived to hear such beauty!

Marc – André Hamelin – A pied piper and Prince of Pianists.

If Marc-André is the Prince surely Mark Viner ‘c’est le Roi ‘ ( to quote Rostropovich on listening to Perlemuter who he had invited to play in his festival in Evian many years ago ). Every note was made to speak like a lieder singer such was the power of communication and feelings aroused as we too were on a tour in the mysterious woodland of Schumann’s fantasy. Deep nostalgia and beauty as we entered with the rhythmic drive of the hunter following us. Only to be stopped in our tracks by the simplicity and radiant beauty of solitary flowers.The brooding of the left hand gave a real sense of atmosphere to the cursed place that made one realise why Schumann’s beloved Clara refused to include it in her performances! The two final chords lifeless and without expression are enough to strike fear into the heartiest of souls. The joyful singing on finding such a friendly landscape afterwards was quite exhilarating in Mark’s well oiled hands. There was a pastoral beauty as we saw the wayside inn with it’s bass melodic line and gentle harp like flourishes unfolding. There was the radiant solitary beauty of the prophet bird that was of such significance with a solemn celestial beauty to the central chorale as she surveyed the scene in such a leisurely knowing way. It was played quite exquisitely, poetry from a poet’s hands! Rhythmic playfulness of the Hunting song was immediately calmed by the sublime calm and beauty of the farewell. Fluidity and radiance with deep bass notes just adding a richness to the sublime golden streams of sound that were enveloping this old but surely vintage casserole!

Alkan has long been a first love for Mark since he was bewitched by a visit of Ronald Smith to the Purcell School where he was studying with Tessa Nicholson. He asked his teacher to show him how to acquire a technique so that he too could delve into a world that had ignited his imagination. ‘Noblesse oblige’ and Tessa trained him as she has so many other remarkable young musicians including Tyler Hay and Alim Beisembayev. Mark is now embarking on a series of recordings of all the works of Alkan and I believe he has arrived almost half way with CD n. 7 already in the can. On listening to this collection of six ‘songs without words’ that had been inspired by Mendelssohn and that Alkan too had composed in several series of six miniatures . Alkan’s ‘3 Recueil de chants’ op 65 was so exquisite I found myself absorbed and ravished by the subtle beauty, exquisite jeux perlé and astonishing fiortiori that on reliving such beauty I cannot understand why these are never heard in recital or at least on Classical FM ! ‘Vivante’ was a true song and miniature tone poem with the emphatic doubling of the melodic line so reminiscent of Mendelssohn yet with a unique original voice. The ‘Esprits follets’ was a tour de force of Horowitzian bewitchment with featherlight scales disappearing into the bass as the melodic line unwound unperturbed with nonchalant mastery of sound and pedal. There was the simple elegance of the ‘Canon à la 8’ but the most incredible playing was in the ‘Tempo giusto’ which it may have been , but to cram in so many notes so as not to disturb the Tempo giusto is the stuff that legend is made of and that surrounds the mysterious recluse that was Alkan.Sumptuous rich sound for ‘Horace et Lydie’ where I doubt this piano has ever been seduced as Mark did today giving up such riches for two hands and two feet. But Mark also has a soul that was to surface ever more in the Barcarolle that was played with beguiling rarified whispered sadness and a kaleidoscope of sounds that were like jewels sparkling in the radiant beauty of this atmosphere.

Mark may have mentioned that Chaminade has been accused of composing elevated salon music when ‘Le Six ‘ were hard at creating a different world. ‘Automne’ is indeed the work often heard on Classical FM and which used to adorn every home that had a piano and aspidistra. Such a beautiful melody played exquisitely by Mark but I have never heard the central virtuosistic interruptions that of course our Auntie would have ignored! Not Mark who played with fearless brilliance and passionate conviction before lying exhausted as he allowed the ravishing melody to flow from his fingers and lay to rest as a bare whisper but happy at having known such beauty.

The Liszt Hungarian rhapsody is the longest of a collection of 19 and is usually heard in a cut version because lesser mortals than Mark see just technical wizardry and a vehicle to arouse applause and a standing ovation . Of course this is the showman Liszt but as Mark showed us there is much much more to it than just note spinning. Time seemed to stand still as Mark let rip at the keyboard with unbelievable pyrotechnics and an extraordinary range of emotions that kept us enthralled as he spun off the piano seat with a final victorious flourish.

What a night that was in the Church that I had passed for the first 25 years of my life having spent my childhood in Bedford Park in Flanders Mansions. Little could I have imagined what wonders it would still hold for me fifty years on !

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

Mark Viner at St Mary’s Faustian Struggles and Promethean Prophesies

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/13/alkan-12-etudes-op-35-review-viner-rises-to-alkans-extroardinary-challenges

A link to a fascinating discussion about Alkan in Cremona with Marc-André Hamelin last weekend can be heard in this long distance article that I wrote :

A letter from Cremona ,the eternal city of music where dreams become reality.

A remarkable private occasion for friends of the Hastings International Piano competition .

Curtis in London, from Hanover where he now studies with Arie Vardi, playing with the RPO last Thursday in the prize winners London debut concert. A very mature and also highly poetic interpretation of the Schumann piano concerto. It is interesting to note that Shunta Morimoto, the previous Gold medalist, won the competition with the same work but chose Beethoven 4 for his London debut .They both have played the old Tchaikowsky warhorse this year breathing fresh life into such a well known work. Curtis in Hastings and Shunta in Japan ( Shunta will at the end of the month play the Grieg concerto in Hastings)

Shunta Morimoto at Brighton Festival The sublime inspiration of a poet of the piano

Both choices show that the vision of Hastings is for master pianists who are above all else masterly musicians with something to say .
And so it was tonight Champagne and canapés washed down with the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata !

At only 19 this was a display of mature musicianship and masterly control. Prefacing it with two of the most important and poignant of Chopin’s nocturnes op 27 n 2 and op 48 n 1.
It was interesting to note that the first note of the D flat nocturne deep in the bass Curtis played with the right hand as he did the first deep bass note at the opening of ‘Hammerklavier’.
It prompted me to ask rather impishly afterwards if he was left or right handed !

I know Serkin would have shut the score if anyone dared open op 106 thinking to play safe. But Curtis, like Rana too recently, realised the struggle that this Sonata implies with its heroic call to arms that is not and should not be in a play safe zone.

Beatrice Rana- a tornado ignites the Wigmore Hall

Curtis demonstrated all that was implied by a Beethoven struggling with life, deafness and pianos that were not yet the instruments that his genius could foresee for the future.
An ‘Adagio sostenuto’ with passion but also strength of emotion and a kaleidoscope of sounds was followed by the ‘tour de force’ of a fugue that was written to scare off all but the fearless. The two Chopin Nocturnes were played with ravishing sounds and profound musicianship but where the bel canto could not float as freely as it could have with a slightly more fluid tempo.

Promoted by Vanessa Latarche the enlightened artistic director and deus ex macchina of the Royal College, Hastings International Piano and much else besides, befriending so many extraordinarily talented young musicians as the great artist she is herself but also a sensitive caring figurehead. Already Curtis is receiving sessions from experts in how to deal with both the business and human side of his life at the start of a career.

Youths that have sacrificed much for their calling but are also young and above all with the prospect of a happy life in front of them doing what they love.

Vanessa even managed to persuade Curtis to play a little ‘bon bon’ – her words not mine – which brought forth an outpouring of passion and virtuosity the same that Schumann felt for his beloved Clara . ‘Widmung’ was indeed breathtaking and overwhelming as one might expect from such a charming young nineteen year old artist with the world at his feet.
An interesting discussion with Roberto Prosseda in Cremona ,recently elected artistic director of the Rina Sala Gallo Competition in Monza just shows with what intelligence and care these gifted young musicians are looked over by their peers https://www.facebook.com/share/v/yBLVYNaujV9Emwpr/?mibextid=KsPBc6

A letter from Cremona ,the eternal city of music where dreams become reality.

P.S. Nadia Boulanger often quoted from Shakespeare in her classes this phrase:’Words without thought no more to heaven go ‘

And I am please to conclude this encounter with an extraordinary young artist by his beautiful and deeply thoughtful few words in response to mine about his performance.

“Dear Christopher, thank you for this warm and touching review and thank you for pointing out the tempo issue in Chopin – I completely agree.

About starting the note with the right hand – it’s just a matter of gesture. In my opinion, there are certain occasions where certain gestures are more or less helpful. A very clear example that comes to mind right now is Chopin first ballade in g. I always prefer to start the hand movement from the knees – make a very long upbeat, and slowly. The first sound I would not make it like paramount pictures the gong, but strings with bassoon – not trombone, not horn.

I believe every motion, every movement we do must be good for the music, for the instrument and for me, myself. If all three – it’s very good. If two of the three – it’s also very good. It should never contradict the interest.

I would gladly like to invite you to my upcoming performance at St. Mary’s Perivale on Tuesday 26th with a probably more experienced program – I’m sure you feel the same as I do that the Hammerklavier needs its time to develop. I haven’t really played in public, but yesterday was a nice place to try it out.

I hope I haven’t written too much or inconvenienced you, but your article inspired me to write this to you.”

All the best
Curtis