ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Alim Beisembayev piano

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor Op. 57 ‘Appassionata’ (1804-5)
I. Allegro assai • II. Andante con moto •
III. Allegro ma non troppo – Presto

Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat Op. 110 (1821-2)
I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo •
II. Allegro molto • III. Adagio ma non troppo – Fuga.
Allegro ma non troppo

Interval
Aleksandr Skryabin (1872-1915)

4 Preludes Op. 22 (1897)
Prelude in G sharp minor • Prelude in C sharp minor •
Prelude in B • Prelude in B minor

Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943) Prelude in B minor Op. 32 No. 10 (1910)
Etude-tableau in D Op. 39 No. 9 (1916-7)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Gaspard de la nuit (1908)
I. Ondine • II. Le gibet • III. Scarbo

Alim Beisembayev in a major London recital at the Wigmore Hall .
A programme that already showed the credentials of great artistic integrity.
When these days do young musicians play two Beethoven Sonatas as an opener to an important London recital?
Only a fool or a great artist would dare open with the ‘Appassionata’ followed by Beethoven’s antidote to a turbulent life with the mellifluous, sublime outpouring of his penultimate sonata op 110.

Alim is certainly no fool and is quite simply one of the finest musicians I have heard since Serkin.A rhythmic precision and attention to the minutest details in the score of Boulezian clarity. Silences that were truly golden and were the anchors that we could hold on to inbetween the marvels that were being recreated before our very eyes .
An ‘Appassionata’ of startling contrasts that had us on the edge of our seats as if newly minted. The opening of op 110 after the extraordinarily relentless onslaught of the Presto ending of the ‘Appassionata’ was of such sublime beauty as Alim waited until he could feel we were all with him before gently caressing notes that like the fourth Concerto are of celestial genius.
There was magic in the air indeed and a great artist treating us with humility and mastery to performances the like of which has been missing too long from the concert hall .
We are getting too used to artists appearing before the public with the I pad in a desperate attempt to keep up with the speed with which concert artists are obliged to be entreated by people who are more interested in quantity than quality.
But it is the tension that is missing as was so evident today as this young man played with simplicity and humility what the composer had actually written .He had digested the score but more than that because it was the very meaning behind the notes that was both enthralling and enlightening . There were no nice conveniently turned corners to this young man’s Beethoven but the sinuous tempestuous impatience that we know was the man Beethoven.
A live performance should be like the man on the high wire holding us in his hands with electrifying suspence as was the wont of a Serkin or a Brendel.The surprise element ,the voyage of discovery that can unite strangers gathered to share in such experience is what we were treated to today.

As Gilels used to declare the difference between live music and recorded is that between fresh or canned food .I will never forget Serkin at the end of the ‘Hammerklavier’ in London holding onto the last chord as though his life depended on it,shaken as we all were after a tumultuous and even tortuous voyage of discovery together.Or Arrau at the end of the Beethoven Trilogy so overwhelmed as we all were he could never have had a quick cup of tea and repeated such a miracle to appease the crowds who demanded a return fight!

What a lesson we were treated to tonight by this young man who was trained in British Institutions that have nurtured his great natural talent and imbued him with a technical mastery that allows him to delve deep into the very heart of the creative genius of the composers he is serving .Je sens,je joue je trasmets has never found a greater advocate……..

What a superb start to the second half of the concert with a very short survey of Russian music with ravishing beauty of nobility,sensuality and nostalgia.Four preludes op 22 by Scriabin that with Alim’s chameleonic sense of colour and mood was a multicoloured feast of fluidity and luminosity.The sumptuous hidden passion of the first was followed by a mere page of sublime simplicity and the capricious play with sounds of the third.They lead so naturally to the Romantic effusions of the last in B minor and behold a miracle that this was transformed as if by magic into the ‘Return’ by Rachmaninov in the same key.The Prelude in B minor with its improvised searching character was a favourite of the composer and his great friend Moiseiwitch who had delved deep into this miniature tone poem and found the same poetic meaning as the composer intended.The gentle opening lead to an overpowering climax that was so gradual and well balanced that we were not aware of how overwhelming it would be .Immediately there was a desolate nostalgic calm like a light being turned off . Such was Alim’s mastery of sound he could lead us where he wanted to as he had a story to tell with his sensitive fingers and kaleidoscopic sense of colour.Of course the final word was from Rachmaninov with the extraordinary sumptuous outpouring of the Etude – tableau op 39 n. 9 .Even here though there was a story to tell as the dynamic opening energy subsided and there was the contrasting episode of crystal like clarity where all the strands of counterpoint could be heard chattering amongst themselves as the excitement grew to fever pitch and the final gloriously sumptuous outpouring of grandeur and nobility allied to an almost animal pitch of excitement.

Gaspard de la nuit was the closing work of the recital and it held no terror for Alim .His only concern was to transmit Ravel’s extraordinary recreation of the poems by Bertrand even though Ravel had set out to test the technical prowess of pianists by writing a piece of equal if not more difficulty that Balakirev ‘s notorious Islamey.Technical considerations just disappeared as we were taken into a magic world of sounds with the delicacy and fluidity of Ondine.There were ‘puffs’ of colour that appeared as if by alchemy when least expected.An extraordinary sense of line that no matter how complex the texture Ondine shone through as she darted from one end of the keyboard to the other with silf like precision.After the tumultuous climax Ondine was left on her own barely a whisper bathed in pedal .In Alim’s hands ,like his long pedals that Beethoven demands,suddenly made sense and added some quite extraordinary colours to an instrument that is after all a box of hammers and strings.How can one possibly persuade us that it can sing as beautifully as the human voice ?By artistry,technical mastery but above all a supreme sense of balance .Alim is not only a courageous high flyer but a supreme illusionist as were the pianists in the so called Golden Age of piano playing .Was it not Matthay who said that in each note on the piano there are a hundred different gradations of sound depending on how the keys are touched.

Seeing Stephen Kovacevich in the audience applauding his younger colleague I am reminded of his great mentor Myra Hess – the star student of Uncle Tobbs at the Royal Academy.The desolate sounds of Le Gibet were of such insistence and the bass notes gave the needed anchor on which the gallows could swing with such frightening isolation.Scarbo entered in this desolate atmosphere with a remarkable clarity.The deep bass notes I have never heard so clearly defined as the vibrating chords – like in Beethoven’s aria of op 110 – unbelievably were like blowing on the keys such was their extraordinary unpercussivness.I remember Agosti pushing my fingers nearer the keys never to hit but caress and pull sounds that are hidden deep within the black and white keys of this great black beast.Perlemuter too changing fingers many times on one note like an organist to feel the weight within the keys as you slid from one to the other never letting go.

Here again it was the silences that were so overwhelming in their impact not only of the silence but what came immediately afterwards.In the central episode I have never been aware of the fact that this is Ondine again raising her head before being dragged into the infernal furness of the triumphant Scarbo.Extraordinary technical mastery and passionate involvement from Alim who like the great masters of the past would show and guide us to the one and only climax in a piece and it was this that gave such architectural authority to his performances.Rubinstein of course was the prime example who even in his late 80’s would suddenly inject a work with electric energy sometimes even rising from the seat to do so.

The tricks of the trade my old teacher Sidney Harrison used to call them.But what trade ?That of master musicians who are totally dedicated to their art.That is what I was reminded of today as Alim was cheered to the rafters by the discerning Wigmore Hall public and persuaded to play two encores that were indeed the cherry on a sumptuous cake.

Chopin Prelude op 28 n.17 .The deep A flat in the bass created a sound where the melodic line could appear as an apparition from afar a ‘Cathédrale engloutie’ indeed .And finally a ‘Chasse Neige’ by Liszt that made one realise what a true genius Liszt was when his works are played with the intelligence and fantasy that we heard today.Every bit as frightening as Scarbo as the whispered chromatic scales built to a terrifying climax – never hard or ungrateful but the sumptuous and ravishingly beauty of a truly ‘Grand’ piano.

Alim Beisembayev – The poetic vision of a great artist

Gaspard de la nuit (subtitled Trois poèmes pour piano d’après Aloysius Bertrand), M.55 was written in 1908. It has three movements , each based on a poem or fantaisie from the collection Gaspard de la Nuit – Fantasies à la manière de Rembrandt e de Callot completed in 1836 by Aloysius Bertrand . The work was premiered in Paris, on January 9, 1909, by Ricardo Vines.

The piece is famous for its difficulty, partly because Ravel intended the Scarbo movement to be more difficult than Balakirev’s Islamey . Because of its technical challenges and profound musical structure, Scarbo is considered one of the most difficult solo piano pieces in the standard repertoire.

The name “Gaspard ” is derived from its original Persian form, denoting “the man in charge of the royal treasures”: “Gaspard of the Night” or the treasurer of the night thus creates allusions to someone in charge of all that is jewel-like, dark, mysterious, perhaps even morose.

Of the work, Ravel himself said: “Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems. My ambition is to say with notes what a poet expresses with words.”

Aloysius Bertrand , author of Gaspard de la Nuit (1842), introduces his collection by attributing them to a mysterious old man met in a park in Dijon , who lent him the book. When he goes in search of M. Gaspard to return the volume, he asks, “ ’Tell me where M. Gaspard de la Nuit may be found.’ ‘He is in hell, provided that he isn’t somewhere else’, comes the reply. ‘Ah! I am beginning to understand! What! Gaspard de la Nuit must be…?’ the poet continues. ‘Ah! Yes… the devil!’ his informant responds. ‘Thank you, mon brave!… If Gaspard de la Nuit is in hell, may he roast there. I shall publish his book.’ ”

Beethoven’s A flat major Sonata, Op 110, was his penultimate sonata, written in 1821, 

The outward gentleness of the opening movement belies its tautness of form, and the contrast with the brief second, a scherzo marked Allegro molto – capricious, gruffly humorous, even violent – is extreme. Beethoven subversively sneaks in references to two street songs popular at the time: Unsa Kätz häd Katzln ghabt (‘Our cat has had kittens’) and Ich bin lüderlich, du bist lüderlich (‘I’m dissolute, you’re dissolute’)! 

Facsimile of last movement p.43 

But it’s in the finale that the weight of the sonata lies, and it begins with a declamatory, recitative-like passage that starts in the minor, moving to an emotionally pained aria-like section.Beethoven introduces a quietly authoritative fugue, based on a theme reminiscent of the one that opened the sonata. Its progress interrupted by the aria once more, its line now disjunct and almost sobbing for breath. The way in which the composer moves into the major via a sequence of G major chords is a passage of pure radiance, that Edwin Fischer described as ‘like a reawakening heartbeat’. This leads to a second appearance of the fugue in inversion culminating in a magnificently triumphant conclusion.

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.

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, op 57 , known as the Appassionata, was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick. The first edition was published in February 1807 in Vienna

The ‘Appassionata’ was not named during the composer’s lifetime, but was so labelled in 1838 by the publisher of a four-hand arrangement of the work. Instead, Beethoven’s autograph manuscript of the sonata has “La Passionata” written on the cover, in Beethoven’s hand.

Alim Beisembayev won First Prize at The Leeds International Piano Competition in September 2021, performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze. He also took home the medici.tv Audience Prize and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Prize for contemporary performance, with The Guardian praising him as a “worthy winner” with a “real musical personality”.Announced as a BBC New Generation Artist 2023-25, in summer 2023 Alim made his Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms debut performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Sinfonia of London conducted by John Wilson broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and recorded for BBC Television.Further highlights in the 2023/24 season include debuts with the BBC Symphony (Jonathan Bloxham), BBC Philharmonic (Joshua Weilerstein), Bournemouth Symphony (Tom Fetherstonhaugh) and Enescu Philharmonic as well as returning to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Domingo Hindoyan) to perform the World Premiere of a new piano concerto by Eleanor Alberga.Recent concerto highlights include with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (Pablo Rus Broseta), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Case Scaglione), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Clemens Schuldt), Oxford Philharmonic, SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart (Yi-Chen Lin), RCM Symphony Orchestra (Sir Antonio Pappano), National Symphony Orchestra of India, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” and Fort-Worth Symphony.As a recitalist, Alim has made notable debuts at the BBC Proms at Truro, the Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Oxford Piano Festival, Wigmore Hall, Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris) and Cliburn Concerts in addition to a tour of Europe in association with the Steinway Prizewinner Concerts Network, and Korea, with the World Culture Network. Upcoming recitals include his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Birmingham Town Hall and return visits to the Seoul Arts Centre and Wigmore Hall among others.In December 2022, Warner Classics released Alim’s debut album: Liszt Transcendental Études, featuring all twelve of the composer’s etudes which was met with critical acclaim.Born in Kazakhstan in 1998, Alim’s early studies were at the Purcell School where he won several awards, including First Prize at the Junior Cliburn International Competition. Alim was taught by Tessa Nicholson at school and continued his studies with her at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, Alim completed his Masters’ and Artist Diploma in Performance at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Professor Vanessa Latarche. He is generously supported by numerous scholarships such as the Imogen Cooper Music Trust, ABRSM, the Countess of Munster, Hattori Foundation, the Drake Calleja Fund trusts, and belongs to the Talent Unlimited charity scheme.

A homage to one of Forli’s most illustrious citizen’s ,Guido Agosti,with a series of recitals organised by a fellow citizen and pianist Giuliano Tuccia.

I could not imagine a better way to celebrate one of the greatest musicians of his age than with the concert I heard last night by Serena Valluzzi.
A eclectic programme of Debussy,De Severac and Albeniz that created a magic atmosphere of foreign lands joined by a poetic link of subtle ravishing sounds.It was though the musicianship of Serena that allowed her to delve deep into the heart of these atmospheric works and get to the very core of the creation with the respect and musicianship that were the fundamental principles of Guido Agosti.
Serena I had noted at the Busoni Competition and had been impressed by the simplicity and beauty of her playing of ‘Gaspard de la Nuit’.It was later that Louis Lortie,who had been the chairman of the jury,who confided how impressed he too had been by her extraordinary musicianship and sensitivity to sound.She was infact awarded a top prize in Bolzano.

‘Gaspard’ has long been a war horse for virtuosi to show off their wares at the expense of the poetic content that Ravel had depicted.
Agosti in Siena in exasperation would exhort the pianists who flocked to his studio every year from all over the globe not to play too loudly and to follow exactly what the composer had written.
The rock on which an interpretation is founded are the indications left by the composer in the score.It is only when that is understood and mastered that a performer can add his own colours and personality like a painter to his canvas.

Agosti was a great admirer of Debussy and he chose the Preludes book 2 as the programme he gave at the Chigiana in Siena for his 80th birthday.It is one of the few recordings of this great pianist whose humility and dedication to music made public performances a torment for him.

The world would flock to his studio in Siena for thirty years where he was in total command and at ease and it was there that we would hear sounds we would never forget.
A legend was truly born.
And it is this legend that the young pianist Giuliano Tuccia wants his fellow citizens to remember and recognise.

What better way than with Serena ,a complete musician,playing Debussy’s magical ‘Estampes’.The subtle sounds of ‘Pagodes’,the beguiling insinuating ‘Soirées dans Grenade’ and the delicate patter of ‘Jardins sous la Pluie’ was turned into a magic land of subtle sounds and ravishing technical mastery.

A very interesting choice was of a fascinating work by Deodat De Severac :Cerdana ,Cinq etudes pittoresques.What a kaleidoscope of colours and sensitive virtuosity she showed us with a transcendental control of sound that was indeed the principle hallmark of Agosti.
I remember hearing Richter for the first time in London and being astonished at how quietly he could play and with what control between pianissimo and mezzo forte .Of course there were the passionate animal like explosion too but it was here that I began to truly understand Agosti when he would exhort the pianists with ‘troppo forte ….no…..no….piano …piano ‘ as he would push the students hand nearer to the keys so they could feel the sound in their fingertips rather than falling from on high like a sledge hammer.

Serena told me afterwards that it has been Aldo Ciccolini who had discovered the music of De Severac and had recorded the entire piano works too.It is good to see another great musician like Serena continuing this campaign for music that is inexplicably rarely heard in the concert hall.
The beguiling constant pitter patter of El Albaicin by Albeniz was exactly the right work to finish this short homage to the genius of Agosti.
I have heard him teach and explain this work many times and can hear him now as he intoned the music with his passionate hypnotic humming as he demonstrated and ignited the passion in the students before him.And how he would suddenly inflame the piano with passionate abandon as Serena did today too with flames of the same searing intensity.

Another miniature by De Severac was the enchanting encore that Serena offered today and will have me rushing back home to find out more of this greatly neglected composer.

Giuliano writes :’Non posso fare altro che dire grazie a Daniele Ceraolo per la bellissima performance di ieri sera. Un recital focalizzato su Beethoven e Debussy con una padronanza e ricchezza di suono ineguagliabili. Pubblico molto attento alle atmosfere sonore create all’interno della Fabbrica delle Candele. Felice di confermare Daniele per il prossimo anno!’

The third recital in this festival dedicated to Guido Agosti was given by the Russian pianist Roman Salyutov.A pianist who received his early training at the St Petersburg Conservatory where he graduated in 2008 .He continued his studies in Cologne at the Hochschule where he obtained his Masters in 2010 and in 2011 a doctorate from Paderborn University with his thesis on the pianistic works of Cesar Franck.

Since then he has pursued a career not only as solo pianist and chamber musician but also as conductor of various orchestras that he has founded.
In 2018 he was decorated with a distinction for his cultural activities from the city of Bergisch Gladbach where since 2013 he has been principal conductor of the Symphony Orchestra in that city near Cologne.He has also founded the first German – Israeli Orchestra -the Yachad Chamber Orchestra that performs not only in Germany but also in Israel,Lithuania,Poland and France.As a musicologist and pianist he also is regularly invited to give masterclasses.An eclectic musician who on this occasion had driven from Zurich to take part in this new festival in Forlì organised by fellow pianist Giuliano Tuccia.

A programme that demonstrated to the full his extraordinary qualities as virtuoso and musician.

The concert opened with the poignant virtuosity of Liszt’s variations on Bach’s ‘Weinen,Klagen,Sorgen,Zagen’.A work written by Liszt in a very difficult time of his life with the death of his two children.It is an outpouring of grandiose moments of great exuberance contrasting with moments of intimate reflection and beauty .This massive set of variations was written by Franz Liszt when two of his three children had died within three years of each other; he had resigned his position of Kapellmeister to the court of Weimar due to continued opposition to his music, and finally his long sought marriage to Princess Caroline Wittgenstein had been thwarted by political intrigue. Written after Liszt joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and during a time of deep personal tragedy, it reflects both Liszt’s religious journey and his coping with suffering and shows daring explorations of chromaticism that pushed the limits of tonality. It was arranged for organ one year after the piano version was composed and became one of his best-known compositions for organ.The work dates from 1862 and was motivated by the death of Liszt’s elder daughter, Blandine and is dedicated to Anton Rubinstein.

Roman gave a truly virtuoso performance with his long relaxed arms hovering above the keys like eagles swooping in on their prey.A totally committed performance of great technical command and of course being also a noted conductor he could see the whole architectural shape of this heart rending masterpiece by Liszt.His technical mastery and facility together with a great sense of style was to bring the concert later to an exciting conclusion with the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody that Liszt had penned for himself to play when he and Paganini were the considered to be the greatest showmen on earth.Roman in almost improvisatory mood could shift from the seductive zigane melodies to the wild traditional dance to the complete brass band .There were moments in which he created the delicate atmosphere of seduction with searing melodies of sumptuous colours and with his chameleonic sense of style could switch to the breathtaking rhythmic excitement that had the refined ladies of the salons of the day reduced to screaming wild animals trying to get a snatch of this Devil’s hair perchance to dream of their idol.

It was after such a scintillating ending to a long concert that Roman played as an encore Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor op posth and the heavens opened to show us a world of refined elegance and bel canto playing of quite exquisite beauty.Roman had laid aside his indefatigable technical resources to show the pure simple beauty that were also in his long delicate fingers.

The main work in this excellently presented programme was the last of Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas: op 111.Part of the final trilogy of Sonatas that had followed Beethoven’s career from the first Sonatas op 2 dedicated to his teacher Haydn through the tumultuous ‘Appassionata’ op 57 and ‘Hammerklavier’ op 106 to the sublime climax after a tumultuous and difficult life .This final trilogy op 109,op.110 and op 111 were written when Beethoven was completely deaf and he could only hear the music in his inner ear .The marvel of such genius is that he could still write down in the score such minute indications of his intentions for posterity.Roman played the opening ‘Maestoso’ with grandeur and intelligence playing the mighty opening leaps with one hand and throwing down the gauntlet that was to allow him to risk and push to the limits Beethoven’s Allegro con brio .Music boiling at 100 degrees (as Perlemuter described it to me) with only momentary gasps coming up for air with simple ravishing moments of peace.Roman threw himself into the fray with heroic abandon maybe just a little too fast for comfort but it had us sitting on the edge of our seats as he brought this first movement to a close without ever conceding the tempo .The Sonata in C minor ending in C major the key for the celestial heights that Beethoven was to reveal in his final ‘Arietta’ and variations.’Adagio molto,semplice e cantabile’ was played with beauty and simplicity the variations allowed to flow so naturally .There was a continuous hidden undercurrent that was to take us to the tumultuous third variation before the fragmented disintegration of the Arietta only to return triumphantly before ascending into celestial heights .Celestial heights where trills were mere vibrations on which Beethoven could float the beautiful arietta having arrived at a vision of sublime beauty that only Beethoven could foresee.Roman managed to see the entire movement as one and showed us with his superb musicianship the architectural shape of this revolutionary sonata.

Roman took Chopin at his word with a Polonaise that was made of pure fantasy.Deeply felt,there were moments of great beauty and passionate abandon but the title Polonaise – Fantasie had signified for Roman a freedom and liberty with the score that slightly dissected a revolutionary new form into a series of beautiful episodes rather than a complete whole. Many of Chopin’s indications were played in the ‘traditional’ way of a different era.

It was to the Etudes- Tableaux that Roman came into his own with his superb technical command and ravishing sense of colour.They were six miniature tone poems with the call to arms of the E flat op 33 followed by the glorious simplicity of the G minor op 33.The A minor op 39 was bathed in pedal with it’s beautiful nostalgic melody leading to an overpowering climax of passion and excitement.There was something of monumental grandeur to the final C sharp minor Etude – Tableaux op 33 that was breathtaking with it’s tumultuous orchestral sounds.

Tonight our host plays a duo recital with the violinist Emiliano Gennari that I am sorry to miss.But Giuliano will make his solo recital debut at Steinway Hall in London on the 7th February for the Keyboard Trust that I will certainly not miss.I will shake the hand of a talented young musician who has been the first to have the courage and skill to organise concerts in their home town of Forlì dedicated to Guido Agosti one of the greatest and most influential musicians of his age .

Giuliano Tuccia writes : ‘Bravissimo Emiliano Gennari, è riuscito a distinguersi in un recital per pianoforte e violino con grande entusiasmo. La Rassegna Guido Agosti si conclude in bellezza, con musiche di W.A.Mozart e L.V.Beethoven. Ringrazio amici, parenti e le poche persone che hanno preso parte a questa splendida rassegna di altissimo livello. Ringrazio anche Christopher Axworthy, che ho avuto modo di conoscere dal vivo ed ospitare a casa mia. Abbiamo fatto visita a Guido Agosti al cimitero monumentale di Forlì ed è stato veramente toccante; un evento che non dimenticherò mai. Ringrazio il mio consiglio direttivo formato da Chiara Bolognesi e Arcangelo Pinto. Ringrazio Marco Viroli perché forse è stato l’unico ad appoggiare questa iniziativa, e senza il quale, questo non sarebbe potuto accadere. Non vedo l’ora di organizzare la seconda edizione ad aprile/maggio 2024. Grazie!! A presto.’

Guido Agosti (11 August 1901 – 2 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and renowned for his yearly summer course in Siena frequented by all the major musicians of the age.It was on the express wish of Alfredo Casella that Agosti took over his class which he did for the next thirty years.Sounds heard in his studio have never been forgotten.

Agosti was born in Forli 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldiand earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterpoint under Benvenuti and literature at Bologna University. He commenced his professional career as a pianist in 1921. Although he never entirely abandoned concert-giving, nerves made it difficult for him to appear on stage,and he concentrated on teaching. He taught piano at the Venice Conservatoire and at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome.In 1947 he was appointed Professor of piano at the Accademia Chigiana Siena .He also taught at Weimar and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

His notable students include Maria Tipo,Yonty Solomon Leslie Howard,Hamish Milne,Martin Jones,Ian Munro,Dag Achat,Raymond Lewenthal,Ursula Oppens,Kun- Woo Paik,Peter Bithell.He made very few recordings; there is a recording of op 110 from the Ghione theatre in Rome together with his recording on his 80th birthday concert in Siena of Debussy preludes .

He first studied in Toulouse, then later moved to Paris to study under Vincent d’Indy and Albéric Magnard at the Scuola Cantorum , an alternative to the training offered by the Paris Conservatoire . There he took organ lessons from Alexandre Guilmant and worked as an assistant to Isaac Albéniz. He returned to the southern part of France, where he spent much of the rest of his rather short life. His native south was a region that attracted a number of his contemporaries—artists and poets he had met in Paris.His opera Héliogabale was produced at Bézier in 1910.Séverac is noted for his vocal and choral music, which includes settings of verse in Occitan (the historic language of Languedoc) and Catalan (the historic language of Roussillon)as well as French poems by Verlaine and Baudelaire .His compositions for solo piano have also won critical acclaim, and many of them were titled as pictorial evocations and published in the collections Chant de la terre, En Languedoc, and En vacances.

A popular example of his work is The Old Musical Box (“Où l’on entend une vieille boîte à musique”, from En vacances). His masterpiece, however, is the piano suite Cerdaña (written 1904–1911), filled with the local color of Languedoc.His motet Tantum ergo is also still in current use in church settings.

Selected compositions

Operas

• Les Antibels (1907, lost) based on a novel by Émile Pouvillon
• Le Cœur du moulin, poème lyrique in two acts (1908)
• Héliogabale, tragédie lyrique in three acts (1910)
• Le Roi Pinard, opérette (1919)

Works for Piano

• Le Chant de la terre (1900)
• En Languedoc (1904)
• Le Soldat de plombe (1904), for piano duet
• Baigneuses au soleil (1908)
• Cerdaña. 5 Études pittoresques (1904–1911)
• En vacances. Petites pièces romantiques (1912)
• Sous les lauriers roses (1919)
• Où l’on entend une vieille boîte à musique (An Old Music Box)

Chamber music

• Barcarolle (1898), flute and piano
• Élégie héroique (1918), violin/cello and piano/organ
• Trois Recuerdos & Cortège nuptial catalan (1919), string quintet and brass
• Minyoneta (1919), violin and piano
• Souvenirs de Céret (1919), violin and piano

Choral music

• Sant Félix (1900)
• Mignonne allons voir si la rose (1901)
• La Cité (1909)
• Sorèze et Lacordaire (1911)
• Sainte Jeanne de Lorraine (1913)

Songs

• numerous art songs, including À l’aube dans la montagne (1906) and Flors d’Occitania

Aldo Ciccolini plays Cerdana :https://youtube.com/watch?v=O2QvORxyGvk&feature=shared

Guido Agosti

Sonya Pigot may have given a concert of miniatures, in that each work was barely five minutes long ,but she was able to take us to a magic world of dreams.
She showed us a multifaceted world with her exquisite playing,kaleidoscopic palette of colour ,chameleonic sense of character and theatricality, as she lived every moment of her recreation ……..perchance to dream as the poetic ‘Bard’ admonishes.

Bach that was played with aristocratic authority and clarity.A monumental opening gesture followed by a clarity that brought Bach’s knotty twine vividly to life with remarkable shape and vitality.
The magic languishing atmosphere of hidden emotions in Granados ‘s op 11 n.5 was played with eruptions of subdued passion as she painted a world that was to be so cruelly denied us by a torpedo off the same coast where Debussy had spied his his Joyous Island.

The Vine Bagatelles were landscapes of desolate beauty,spiky brilliance but above sumptuous subtle colours from a supreme stylist.Five contrasting worlds played with a mastery and understanding through her extraordinary sensitivity and theatrical self identification.Above all a superb use of the pedal that just underlined Anton Rubinstein’s dictum that this was where the real soul of the piano was laying in wait to be awoken with a kiss only by true poets with the key.

What she missed in the great virtuosistic sweep to one of Rachmaninov’s most passionate opening statements she made up for with her superb musicianship and self identification with a romantic world of searing passions and secret whispers.

Debussy’s depiction of Jersey as seen from Eastbourne was evidently with the same fantasmagoric eye as the composer.A cauldron of sounds waiting to erupt with ravishing melodic outpourings and savage dance rhythms just riding on waves that were leading to the final passionate outpouring and helter skelter finish.I remember Annie Fischer playing this as an encore in Rome with such naked passion as in this final outpouring she allowed the thumb in the left hand to pulsate with fiery passion that was X certificate indeed.

Sonya played it with the same animal passion and drive and her final theatrical flourishes just ignited a rather staid audience into awarding her an ovation and even a bunch of red roses from an ardent admirer.

No encores were possible after such an exhilarating and exciting journey into a wonderland of magic atmospheres and ravishing beauty.

In London, Sonya has performed in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Steinway Hall, the Royal Albert Hall (Elgar Room) and in concert halls throughout Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, Romania and Australia. She now studies with Professor Norma Fisher and is a holder of the Nosward Charity Award scholarship while studying a Masters of Performance at the Royal College of Music. As well as having performed for members of the British Royal Family, Sonya has won many prizes in international music competitions across Australia and Europe; most notably the first prize in the Grand Prize Virtuoso International music competition, Gold Medal in the Berliner International Music competition, first prize in the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Award piano competition and first prize in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Rising Star competition.

Sonya has had concert engagements with orchestras since she was 15, most notably the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Richard Gill AO. She has been a finalist in the 3mbs Young Performer’s Award which was broadcast on 3mbsFM, Australia and a semi-finalist in the Pianale International music competition, Stockport International music competition and in the ROSL music competition. Sonya has participated in many International music festivals, such as the London Masterclasses, the AMALFI Coast Music Festival and the Virtuoso and Bel Canto music festival. She has worked with distinguished Professors including Boris Berman, John Perry, Jerome Lowenthal, Dimitri Alexeev, Ewa Pablocka, Ian Jones, Pavel Gililov, Grigory Gruzman, Ashley Wass and Gordon Fergus-Thompson.Alongside her piano performance, Sonya has recorded at the Abbey Road Studios as a violinist in the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and has had concerto engagements with orchestras, recitals and competition success as a solo violinist.

An opening concert for 2024 with a young maths and statistics undergraduate from Harvard University ready to give exemplary performances of major works from the piano repertoire.
St Mary’s never fails to surprise,delight and astonish as they offer a platform to a category that is never mentioned in the mass media.
Young musicians ready to dedicate their youth to the pursuit of sharing beauty and the discovery of a better world after years of single minded dedication.
Harvey Lin was just such a case as he demonstrated with superbly crafted music making of intelligence and love.

A Bach Italian concerto that was played with aristocratic authority as his sparkling non legato touch illuminated the Allegro with a rhythmic drive and delicately contrasted passages that passed from the tutti to the solo – as in his introduction where he had so eloquently described it from one manual to another.There was a languid beauty to the Andante – quasi religious as he said – with the sudden stillness of the coda that was indeed of another world.Even the presto finale was of a grandeur and joie de vivre that was played with exhilaration and exultation.

The Chopin B flat minor Sonata was also played with intelligence and beauty where even the return to the introduction – much debated by some – made such sense in his hands.An occasional added bass note just gave depth to the sound which was full but never hard and the beautiful second subject was played with real weight digging deep into the keys to extract the beauty that lay within.The opening treacherous left hand was just a wash of sound on which the wafts of melody were floated and that with the majestic opening would be transformed into a development section of nobility and grandeur.
The Scherzo was played with great authority and simplicity with the trio that could have been played with less searching for hidden counterpoints but with the same direct simplicity.There was a relentless sense of pulse in the Funeral March and a trio that this time was played with simple beautiful eloquence.The ‘wind blowing over the graves’ in the last movement was played with transcendental control and a sense of line that also gave it great shape as it weaved it’s way to the final majestic chords.

Mozart’s last Sonata was played with eloquence,clarity and charm.I would not have tried to vary the repeated passages but would have let them speak with the same eloquence with which Harvey’s superb natural musicianship had imbued all that he touched.I think he may have been just obediently following advice from lesser mortals!
There was a chiselled beauty to the Adagio where the echo effect he strived for in my opinion was not part of the musical conversation that in his sensitive hands could be so eloquent.The Allegretto was delicately graceful and brilliantly played ,full of sparkling wit.

The Kapustin Jazz Etude was played with astonishing brilliance and drive.A superb lesson of a perpetuum mobile in jazz style played with technical brilliance and style.

The Liebermann Gargoyles I have only heard once before and it is a collection of four contrasting pieces of great effect.There was the dynamic drive in continual movement of the first.The luminosity and atmospheric slowly moving melodic line of the second followed by wondrous aeolian harp like sounds of the third on which was floated a melody of radiance and beauty.But it was the final savagely driven toccata that Harvey played with superb technical control and conviction that brought this opening concert of 2024 to a scintillating end.

Harvey Lin is a pianist based in London and a second-year undergraduate at Harvard University studying maths and statistics. Making his concerto debut aged 12, he is a two-time finalist of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition, and a prize-winner at the Enschede (2022), Euregio (2022), and Neapolitan Masters (2020) International Piano Competitions. He was also the winner of the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition (2018) and a semi-finalist in the ‘Nutcracker’ International Competition, Russia (2015), which was broadcast on the ‘Russia-Kultura’ channel on Russian national TV.

Harvey has collaborated with the East Netherlands, Reading, and Harvard-Radcliffe Symphony Orchestras and has performed at the Royal Albert Hall (Elgar Room), Steinway Hall (London), St John’s College (Cambridge), Queen’s College (Oxford), and the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. Harvey has also participated in Music@Menlo, Oxford Piano Festival, and Northern Chords Festival, and was selected as a Tabor Piano Ambassador for the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2021. This summer, he was awarded a fellowship to Aspen Music Festival, where he studied with Professor Arie Vardi and Professor Hung-Kuan Chen, of the Hochschule für Musik Hannover and the Juilliard School respectively. His principal mentor is Boris Petrushansky of the Imola Music Academy, Italy.

Lowell Liebermann born February 22, 1961, in New York City

At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at Carnegie Hall playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music with David Diamond and Vincent Persichetti earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The English composer-pianist Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabjialso expressed interest in Liebermann’s early work, having critiqued the young composer’s Piano Sonata in a private exchange between the two; Liebermann’s Concerto for Piano, op. 12 would be dedicated to Sorabji.His most recorded works are his Sonata for Flute and Piano (1987), Gargoyles for piano (1989), and his Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (1992). Liebermann resides in New York City. He presently serves on the composition faculty at Mannes College The New School for Music and is the director of the Mannes American Composers Ensemble.

Gargoyles, Op. 29, a four-movement suite for solo piano written in 1989.

The suite was commissioned by the Tcherepnin Society for the pianist Eric Himy , who played its world premiere that October 14 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

The score exemplifies Liebermann’s modernist style, in which tonal harmony and expressive gestures grounded in tradition coexist with avant-garde procedures. The piece has become one of Liebermann’s most popular efforts, receiving more than ten recordings.

Many cathedral gargoyles portray grotesque faces with great humor, and Liebermann intends precisely that in his pieces, which have the mordant wit of Prokofiev’s “bad boy” style in their ancestry. The brief opening movement commences with an arresting three-note “signal” and move forward with perpetual motion rhythms , the narrative studded with shock-effects. The following Adagio semplice, by contrast, is deeply introverted, presenting melancholy melodizing over patterns based on two alternating chords. Later, a still slower melody unfolds against repetitions of a single note. Crystalline sonorities mark the third Gargoyle which floats a songful theme over luminous liquid swirls, and ultimately develops into a duet. Mordancy and menace return in the finale, which is dominated by demonic galloping rhythms, as textures grow steadily more dense and virtuoso gestures steadily more flamboyant.

Although born in the Ukraine when he was age four, with his father fighting in World War II, his mother and grandmother moved with him and his sister to the Kyrgyz city of Tokmak.He composed his first piano sonata at age 13.From age 14, Kapustin studied piano with Avrelian Rubakh ( a pupil of Felix Blumenfeld , who also taught Simon Barere and Horowitz ). Beginning in 1954, he discovered jazz , an interest which his teacher supported.Kapustin studied from 1956 with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory , graduating ,playing amongst other things Prokofiev’s 2nd Concerto in 1961.During the 1950’s , Kapustin acquired a reputation as a jazz pianist, arranger and composer. He had his own quintet, which performed at an “upscale restaurant” monthly.Kapustin regarded himself though as a composer rather than a jazz musician: “I was never a jazz musician. I never tried to be a real jazz pianist, but I had to do it because of the composing. I’m not interested in improvisation – and what is a jazz musician without improvisation? All my improvisations are written, of course, and they became much better; it improved them.”

Among his works are 20 piano sonatas , six piano concertos other instrumental concertos, sets of piano variations ,etudes and concert studies.

In 2023 Rai Cultura and Rai5 produce for the In Scena series a documentary dedicated to one of the most eclectic characters of Italian entertainment who made the history of theater and television such as Elio Pandolfi. Written and produced by Rai journalist Rita Rocca, the special dedicated to Pandolfi collects for the first time and in an almost anthological way, the historical repertoire of Rai’s audiovideo archives, from the 1950s to the 2000s. Films coming not only from the Rai archives but also from the private archive of the artist who has always loved filming the salient moments of his career and life with a Super8. And here the memories of a now vanished Rome reappear on the screen, the family, the dearest loved ones, the first short films written and self-produced, the companions the Silvio D’Amico Academy, the love and friendship towards Bice Valori, in a kaleidoscope of memories that fascinates and moves. The documentary is enriched with beautiful stage photos, backstage photos and private shots kindly provided by the artist’s family who, for the first time, opened the doors of their home and her personal archive to the author. Pandolfi tells his story in the first person with a light, ironic, enthralling narration that has always characterized his character since the very popular duets alongside Antonella Steni on Rai television in the Sixties. Elio Pandolfi loved entertainment in all its forms: mime, dancer, theater actor, television and radio comedian, operetta singer and film dubber. Seventy years of career during which he met all the artists of his era, worked with everyone, experienced firsthand unforgettable moments of Italian entertainment: from magazines to variety shows, from radio to television, from cinema to operetta. In the documentary the artist recounts his life and his very long career, alongside the memories of artists and friends who were close to him. The author Rita Rocca reconstructs an unpublished artistic and private cross-section of Elio Pandolfi thanks to the testimonies of great artists including: Rita Pavone, Peppe Barra, Leopoldo Mastelloni, Anna Mazzamauro and Arturo Brachetti. And so, alongside the memories and affection of friends, unreleased films are shown in a series that tell of the first shows with Vanda Osiris, the Sundays on the beach of Ostia with Pampanini, the village festivals and the memories of the director Luchino Visconti who most he enhanced it on stage

https://www.raiplay.it/programmi/inscenaeliopandolfi

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200716316532910&type=3

Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin George Xiaoyuan Fu piano

A duo recital in the true sense of the word with a musical conversation between equals.
A Mozart Sonata of refined elegance and operatic energy.The opening Largo was played with coquettish simplicity before bursting into an Allegro of scintillating playful energy. There was great delicacy from the piano in the Andante as the violin played with ever more intensity.The elegance and mellifluous sounds were mirrored in a performance where they played as one.It was a tribute to the pianist’s musicianship and technical prowess that with the piano lid fully open there was never a moment when the sound of this great black beast could have overpowered the beauty,musical line and sweetness of tone of Tamsin’s Stradivarius.

The revelation of the evening though was the UK premiere of ‘Swan Song’ by Serkin’s grandson David Ludwig.The charm and persuasion of George Fu are such as to persuade Tamsin to include a long contemporary work in an important London concert.David Ludwig had been George’s composition teacher at Curtis and obviously it was he who had persuaded her of the importance of the work.A work of startling technical and musical complexity with cruel demands on both players who managed to play with a clarity and sense of architectural shape that revealed a work of great effect and beauty.The magic luminosity from the piano at the opening allowed the violin to soar above such gossamer sounds with long drawn out musical lines.There were dramatic contrasts with the piano creating clouds of sound even with a little help from inside its own body.An elaborate cadenza for solo violin lead to the appearance from afar of the Schubert Fantasy that had been the composers inspiration.Tamsin rose magnificently to the gauntlet that George had lain before her and with superb control and revelatory imagination placed an important work in the midst of the other two recognised masterpieces in her recital.

Beethoven’s ‘Bridgetower’ Sonata …better known by it’s final dedicatee’s name ‘Kreutzer’ filled the second half of the concert with magnificence of grandeur and dynamic rhythmic energy .There were moments of sublime beauty but these were but the calm before the storm.An aristocratic control over this cauldron of boiling energy as they played with perfect ensemble each artist listening to the other creating an architectural whole united as they both were for the glory of the music that had been entrusted to them.There was a simple beauty to the Andante and variations that was allowed to flow so naturally giving them the freedom to shape and mould each variation with a flexibility of pulse and beguiling sense of style.The delicacy of the first variation with the violin just commenting of the marvels that were being revealed from the piano.Followed by the delicately shaped ‘leggermente’ filigree jeux perlé from the violin.The almost too pompous minor variation was contrasted with the luminous fluidity of the major IV variation.There was finally a glimpse of the sublime beauty that had been hinted at as they were united in the magical final bars that gradually finished with whispered intent at the extremes of both instruments.Suddenly the call to arms and the chase was on as the Finale ,Presto burst upon the scene with dynamic driving energy.This was a performance of technical and musical mastery from both players and gave a monumental finish to an evening of remarkable music making of humility ,intelligence and mastery.

‘Après une rève ‘ was offered as an encore and as Tamsin said :’a much needed balm after such dynamism‘.It was played with ravishing sounds of quiet intensity where Mr Stradivarius was allowed the wings to soar into places where only music can reach.George at the piano with fearless backing that gave great depth and spiritual meaning to the wings with which Tamsin had now been bestowed.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Violin Sonata in B flat K454 (1784)
I. Largo – Allegro
I I. Andante
III. Allegretto

David Ludwig (b.1974)

Swan Song (2013) UK première

Interval

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’ (1802-3)
I. Adagio sostenuto – Presto
I I. Andante con variazioni
III. Finale. Presto

Violin Sonata No. 32 in B flat K .454 was composed in Vienna on April 21, 1784. It was published by Christoph Torricella in a group of three sonatas (together with the piano sonatas K.284 and K.333 )

The sonata was written for a violin virtuoso Regina Strinasacchi of Mantua to be performed by them together at a concert in the Karntnerthor Theatre in Vienna on April 29, 1784.

‘We now have here the famous Strinasacchi from
Mantua,’ Mozart wrote to his father on 24 April 1784,
‘a very good violinist. She has a great deal of taste and
feeling in her playing. I am this moment composing a
sonata which we are going to play together on
Thursday at her concert in the theatre.’

Although Mozart had the piano part securely in his head, he did not give himself enough time to write it out, and thus it was performed with a sheet of blank music paper in front of him in order to fool the audience. According to a story told by his widow Constanze Mozart , the Emperor Joseph II saw the empty sheet music through his opera glasses and sent for the composer with his manuscript, at which time Mozart had to confess the truth, although that is likely to have amazed the monarch rather than cause his irritation.

Of this piece, dating
from 2013, he has written as follows:
‘Swan Song is one of three pieces of mine that draw
directly from the materials of a past musical work, in
this case Schubert’s Fantasy for Violin and Piano in C
major, D. 934. I felt like I was writing a play with many
characters who are having separate conversations
about the same piece of music.
‘The work models Schubert in weaving in and out of
a chain of related passages that linked together form
a fantasy, playing for a little over 15 minutes. The
opening passage appears several times throughout
the piece, each time a little different (but always
sparkling!), as if transformed by all of the music
preceding it. In between are fast passages with quick
exchanges between violinist and pianist, music in the
extremes of volume and register, and many little
games and conversations with Schubert.
‘There are many characters, with their exits and
their entrances, each making a statement and then
stepping back for the next to take centre stage. At
one point, Schubert himself makes a brief
appearance, but he is a phantom who emerges into
the light and returns to the background as quickly as
he appeared. Finally, after increasingly fast music that
seems to plough headlong into a brusque ending,
hope appears, rising toward a resolution of the quiet
questions asked in the first twinkling sonorities of the
piece.’

The sonata was originally dedicated to the violinist George Bridgetower m (1778–1860) as “Sonata mulattica composta per il mulatto Brischdauer [Bridgetower], gran pazzo e compositore mulattico” (Mulatto Sonata composed for the mulatto Brischdauer, great madman mulatto composer). Shortly after completion the work was premiered by Bridgetower and Beethoven on 24 May 1803 at the Augarten Theatre at a concert that started at the unusually early hour of 8:00 am. Bridgetower sight-read the sonata; he had never seen the work before, and there had been no time for any rehearsal.

After the premiere performance, Beethoven and Bridgetower fell out: while the two were drinking, Bridgetower apparently insulted the morals of a woman whom Beethoven cherished. Enraged, Beethoven removed the dedication of the piece, dedicating it instead to Rodolphe Kreutzer , who was considered the finest violinist of the day.

After its successful premiere in 1803, the work was published in 1805 as Beethoven’s Op. 47, with its re-dedication to Rudolphe kreitzer , which gave the composition its nickname. Kreutzer never performed the work, considering it “outrageously unintelligible”. He did not particularly care for any of Beethoven’s music, and they only ever met once, briefly.

George Xiaoyuan Fu at the Wigmore Hall with feats of musical trickery and mastery

Stephen Kovacevich Mastery and Mystery at St Mary’s with Tamsin Whaley-Cohen

Their biographies are included in these previous articles .Tamsin plays the ex Laurand Feneves Strad

La Musica unisce

---

In collaborazione con Keyboard Charitable Trust

Evelyne Berezovsky seduction in Rome

Evelyne Beresovsky after the success of her concert last year, having stood in for her colleague and childhood friend Alexander Ullman ,was invited back to given a special concert dedicated to Rachmaninov and Stravinsky .Not only playing solo works but also two chamber music works with two superb musicians from the Roma 3 Orchestra .

Daniele Sabatini ,the Roman violinist ,winner of many prestigious prizes together with his duo partner the pianist Simone Rugani .

Martina Biondi is one of the finest Italian cellists of her generation who lives and works in Berlin .

We know and have heard on many occasions the solo playing of Evelyne Beresovsky and today she was to shine in works by Rachmaninov and the ‘Firebird’ by Stravinsky in the famous transcription by Agosti (1928)

The surprise was her total commitment to chamber music and how she could blend in and shape the music with her colleagues .The gently throbbing chords of the violin and cello at the opening of the early Rachmaninov ‘Elegiac’ Trio was the stage set for the Eagle that was to swoop onto the scene with chiselled sounds of nostalgic beauty from the hands of Evelyne .Cascades of notes too that were like streams of gold creating sounds that accompanied the passionate outpourings from the two string players.

Playing in unison or solo Evelyne was always there listening and supporting with rich romantic sounds that never overpowered her fellow companions united in the turbulent youthful outpouring of romantic effusions.Deeply moving was the desolate atmosphere created at the end by the ‘cello and violin with the piano recalling what had passed with such poignant beauty and nostalgia.

Martina and Evelyne returned to play together Stravinsky’s ‘Suite Italienne’where the beauty of Piatigorsky’s arrangement was played by Martina with ravishing playing of restrained passion.Evelyne too played not only with spiky rhythmic spirit but also with extraordinary ease and perfect ensemble.After only a day to work together it was a ‘tour de force ‘ of musicianship from two artists who were listening with chameleonic care to each other.

Of course this is the intent of Valerio Vicari,artistic director of Roma Tre Orchestra.To allow his superb players not only to play in the orchestra together but also to play in chamber ensembles where the same participation will continue into the larger orchestra ensemble.This had been amply demonstrated to us in Rome by Sir Antony Pappano when he took over command of the renowned S.Cecilia Orchestra .Creating chamber music ensembles with the very fine components of the orchestra ,playing the piano with them too,creating an orchestra that listens to itself.Sir Antony now bequeathes to Rome one of the great orchestra of the world after almost twenty years at their helm.

Evelyne brought ravishing sounds and a superb sense of style to the Preludes and Etudes – Tableaux that she had chosen to play. Some things cannot be taught and are part of the genes of pianists like Evelyne or dare I say Martha Argerich.A freedom where everything they play is fresh and newly minted as though discovered in that very moment .Both are well known for their human qualities where life,friendships and caring human relationships take precedence over hours spent locked away at the keyboard .It is a God given gift that Evelyne like her famous colleague has been endowed with from early training.Endowed with a technique that encourages a kaleidoscopic sense of colour from fingers of steel but wrists of rubber ( as Agosti used to say) ,A sense of touch that was encouraged and nurtured from a very early age added of course to a natural talent that is of the blessed few.

The Andante Cantabile of op 23 n.4 was played with the freedom of Belcanto as the balance between her hands was so delicate and sensitive . A beguiling seductive rubato to op 23 n.6 in E flat with its insinuating subtle colouring was followed by the dynamic drive to the G minor op 23 n.5. Alla Marcia indeed it was with overpowering sonorities never hard or ungrateful but the full sounds of Philadelphia proportions.Op 23 n.8 was a whirlwind of moving harmonies as the spider web of gossamer notes spun from Evelyne’s ever flexible fingers.

It was to the second set of Preludes that Evelyne chose the ravishing beauty of n. 5 in G major to close this selection .It was played with a fluidity and luminosity the same that I remember from the hands of Dame Moura Lympany who had played it for us in Rome at the end of a long and illustrious career before the Russians were allowed to travel to the west and astonish us even more.

Two Etude – Tableaux ignited the piano with the call to arms of truly orchestral proportions of op 33 n.6 in E flat .Allegro con fuoco indeed it was today and was a preparation for the fireworks that were to come with Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’.This was followed by the most Romantic of all these miniature tone poems op 39 n. 5 in E flat minor with it’s sumptuous melodic outpouring and tumultuous climax only to withdraw into the desolate intimacy that was Rachmaninov’s heritage.

There was some confusion over the programme that announced ‘Love’s Sorrow’ which is more often referred to as ‘Liebesleid’ by Kreisler in the arrangement of his friend and duo partner Rachmaninov.There is the famous story of the Kreisler/Rachmaninov duo playing in Carnegie Hall.Kreisler momentarily lost his place and whispered to his partner:’Where are we?’…..‘Carnegie Hall’ growled Rachmaninov without battling an eyelid!

Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen (Old Viennese Melodies ) is a set of three short pieces for violin and piano composed by Austrian-American violinist Fritz Kreisler . The three pieces are titled Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy), Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow), and Schön Rosmarin (Lovely Rosemary).Liebesfreud and Liebesleid, were the subject of virtuoso transcriptions for solo piano by Kreisler’s friend Rachmaninov in 1931 who also recorded them.Here is the master Kreisler himself playing with the same charm as we heard today from Evelyne Beresovsky (https://youtube.com/watch?v=AqQ2_2qd-5Y&feature=shared)

An astonishing opening to Agosti’s ‘Firebird’ transcription had us sitting on the edge of our seats before the gentle sounds bathed in pedal of the Berceuse.The appearance of the Firebird is always a magic moment whether in the original orchestral version or from the magical hands of Evelyne in Agosti’s quite remarkable transcription for solo piano.Solo piano it might be but like the feats of Liszt and Thalberg they defy one to believe that only two hands and two feet could multiply as if by magic.It is of course the pedal and a sense of illusion that can be created by those with the technique and imagination to turn a box of hammers and strings into a full orchestra.Evelyne demonstrated today that she is just such a magician at the keyboard.

Two encores for an enthusiastic audience who wanted even more music.With Evelyne’s disarming humility and charm she announced she would play again the beautiful prelude op 32 n.5 and this was followed by Grieg’s Butterfly that she allowed to hover above the keyboard with the jeux perle charm and style of pianists of another age.

Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor was written on January 18–21, 1892 in Moscow, when the composer was 18 years old. The work was first performed on January 30 of the same year with the composer at the piano, David Kreyn at the violin and Anatoliy Brandukov at the cello.[1] It waited until 1947 for the first edition to appear, and the trio has no designated opus number. Rachmaninoff wrote a second Elegiac piano trio in 1893 after the death of Tchaikovsky.
This work is cast in only one movement, in contrast to most piano trios, which have three or four. This movement is in the classical form of a sonata,[2] but the exposition is built on twelve episodes that are symmetrically represented in the recapitulation. The elegiac theme is presented in the first part Lento lugubre by the piano. In the following parts, the elegy is presented by the cello and violin, while the spirit is constantly evolving (più vivo – con anima – appassionato – tempo rubato – risoluto). The theme is ultimately recast as a funeral march.

Despite his youth, Rachmaninoff shows in the virtuoso piano part his ability to cover a wide spectrum of sound colors. This trio has a distinctive connection to Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A minor, both in the unusual, expanded first movement, and in the funeral march as a conclusion.

The suggestion often heard – that the first trio is an early elegy for Tchaikovsky – is doubtful: in 1892 the elder composer was in good health, and there was no premonition of the sudden illness that would kill him nearly two years later. Rather, the key to the connection with Tchaikovsky of this first trio is its repetitive opening theme, a four-note rising motif, that dominates the 15-minute work. Played backwards in the same rhythm it is exactly the opening descending motif of Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto (written 1874-75), and the allusion would have been apparent to listeners and teachers at the university, as would the closing funeral march imitative of Tchaikovsky’s elegy to Nikolai Rubinstein. Rachmaninoff wrote this first trio while still a student and may well have intended it as an homage to his elder friend and mentor. The second trio, written two years later, was the true “elegiac” work mourning Tchaikovsky’s death.

Stravinsky’s score for The Firebird was written for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes dance company, which premiered the work in Paris in 1910. Based on ancient Russian folk tales, it tells the story of the young Prince Ivan’s quest to find a legendary magic bird with fiery multi-coloured plumage. In the course of his adventures, he falls in love with a beautiful princess but has to fight off the evil sorcerer Katschei to eventually marry her. The suite presents the culminating scenes of the ballet in a piano transcription by the Italian pianist and pedagogue Guido Agosti (1901-1989), who studied with Ferruccio Busoni.

The Danse infernale depicts the brutal swarming and capture of Prince Ivan by Katschei’s monstrous underlings until Prince Ivan uses the magic feather given to him by the Firebird to cast a spell on his captors, making them dance until they drop from exhaustion. The Berceuse is a lullaby depicting the eerie scene of the slumbering assailants, leading to the Finale, a wedding celebration for Prince Ivan and his princess bride.Agosti’s piano transcription, completed in 1928, is a daunting technical challenge for the pianist. Most of the piano writing is laid out on on three staves in order to cover the multi-octave range of the keyboard that the pianist must patrol. The piano comes into its own in this transcription as a percussion instrument, to be played with the wild abandon with which a betrayed lover throws her ex-partner’s possessions off the balcony onto the street below.Judging from the shocking 7-octave-wide chord crash that opens the Dance infernale, Agosti captures well the bruising pace of the action, with off-beat rhythmic jabs standing out from a succession of punchy left-hand ostinati constantly nipping at the heels of the melody line. The accelerating pace as the sorcerer’s ghouls are made to dance ever more frantically is a major aerobic test for the pianist.

Relief comes in the Berceuse, which presents its own pianistic challenges, mainly those of finely sifting the overtones of vast chord structures surrounding the lonely tune singing out from the middle of the keyboard.The wedding celebration depicted in the Finale presents Stravinsky’s trademark habit of cycling hypnotically round the pitches enclosed within the interval of a perfect 5th. Just such a melody, swaddled in hushed tremolos, opens this final movement. It is a major challenge for the pianist to imitate the shimmering timbre of the orchestra’s brightest instruments as this theme is given its apotheosis to end the suite in a blaze of sonority that extends across the entire range of the keyboard.

The Suite italienne is one of several spin-offs from Pulcinella, the “ballet with song” that Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) composed for the Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev in 1920. “Composed” in this case being a somewhat misleading verb, as Diaghilev had found tunes he wanted to use by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736), which he gave to Stravinsky to arrange. (Massine also based his choreography on 18th-century Neapolitan steps.) This borrowing was controversial at the time, as was the “neo-Classical” direction Stravinsky’s music suddenly took, spiking the Baroque harmonies with dissonances, goosing the regular meters, and generally creating witty, ironic musical mayhem.

The brio and charm of the music was undeniable, however, and Stravinsky capitalized on it with various arrangements, including several suites of excerpts from the ballet’s 18 numbers for violin and/or cello and piano. Neither Stravinsky nor Diaghilev were aware at the time that Pergolesi was a popular name that 18th-century publishers slapped on just about any piece by a lesser-known contemporary that needed a sales boost. Of this Suite, only the Serenata and Menuetto are based on actual Pergolesi melodies. The Introduzione, Tarantella, Scherzino, and Finale are based on music by Domenico Gallo, and the Gavotta con due variazioni came originally from Carlo Monza.

Pulcinella is a 21-section ballet by Stravinsky with arias for soprano, tenor and bass vocal soloists, and two sung trios. It is based on the 18th-century play Quatre Polichinelles semblables, or Four similar Pulcinellas, revolving around a characters from the commedia dell’arte . The work premiered at the Paris Opera on 15 May 1920 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet . The central dancer, Leonid Massine, created both the libretto and the choreography, while Picasso designed the costumes and sets. The ballet was commissioned by Diaghilev , impresario of the Ballets Russes. A complete performance takes 35–40 minutes. Stravinsky revised the score in 1965 .

Ernest Ansermet wrote to Stravinsky in 1919 about the project. The composer initially did not like the idea of music by Pergolesi, but once he studied the scores, which Diaghilev had found in libraries in Naples and London , he changed his mind. Stravinsky adapted the older music to a more modern style by borrowing specific themes and textures, but interjecting his modern rhythms, cadences, and harmonies.

Pulcinella marked the beginning of Stravinsky’s second phase as a composer, his neoclassical period. He wrote:

‘Pulcinella was my discovery of the past, the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible. It was a backward look, of course—the first of many love affairs in that direction—but it was a look in the mirror, too.^’

Suite italienne

Stravinsky based the following works on the ballet:

• 1925: Suite d’après des thèmes, fragments et morceaux de Giambattista Pergolesi, for violin and piano (in collaboration with Paul Kochanski).
• 1932/33: Suite italienne, for cello and piano (in collaboration with Gregor Piatigorsky ).
• 1933: Suite italienne, for violin and piano (in collaboration with Samuel Dushkin ).
• Violinist Jasha Heifetz and Piatigorsky later made an arrangement for violin and cello, which they also called Suite italienne.

Guido Agosti (11 August 1901 – 2 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and renowned for his yearly summer course in Siena frequented by all the major musicians of the age.It was on the express wish of Alfredo Casella that Agosti took over his class which he did for the next thirty years.Sounds heard in his studio have never been forgotten.

Agosti was born in Forli 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldiand earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterpoint under Benvenuti and literature at Bologna University. He commenced his professional career as a pianist in 1921. Although he never entirely abandoned concert-giving, nerves made it difficult for him to appear on stage,and he concentrated on teaching. He taught piano at the Venice Conservatoire and at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome.In 1947 he was appointed Professor of piano at the Accademia Chigiana Siena .He also taught at Weimar and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

His notable students include Maria Tipo,Yonty Solomon Leslie Howard,Hamish Milne,Martin Jones,Ian Munro,Dag Achat,Raymond Lewenthal,Ursula Oppens,Kun- Woo Paik,Peter Bithell.He made very few recordings; there is a recording of op 110 from the Ghione theatre in Rome together with his recording on his 80th birthday concert in Siena of Debussy preludes .

La scuola musicale russa tra Ottocento e Novecento rappresenta una fase cruciale nell’evoluzione del pensiero occidentale. In questo arco di tempo, la Russia, che in precedenza era stata in gran parte isolata dalle principali correnti musicali europee, iniziò a emergere come una potenza culturale significativa.Il cambiamento iniziò con Michail Glinka, spesso considerato il padre della musica classica russa. Glinka aprì la strada ad un nuovo stile musicale che attingeva profondamente dalla ricca tradizione folcloristica e dalle melodie popolari russe. Il suo approccio non era semplicemente quello di utilizzare melodie popolari, ma piuttosto di integrarle in una struttura classica sofisticata, creando così un ponte tra l’eredità culturale russa e le forme musicali occidentali.

Seguendo le orme di Glinka, il cosiddetto “Gruppo dei Cinque”, composto da Mily Balakirev, Aleksandr Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky e Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov, portò avanti questa visione. Si trattava di artisti determinati a produrre una musica che fosse distintamente russa, non solo nella melodia, ma anche nell’armonia, nel ritmo e nella struttura. Nel corso del Novecento, compositori come Sergej Rachmaninoff e Igor Stravinskij continuarono a sviluppare questo stile. Rachmaninoff, con la sua profonda sensibilità e la sua abilità al pianoforte, portò la tradizione romantica russa fino agli inizi del XX secolo.

Stravinskij, d’altra parte, fu un innovatore, spingendo in avanti i confini stessi della musica con opere come “La Sagra della Primavera”, che provocarono sia scandalo che ammirazione per la loro audacia ritmica e armonica.

Il programma della serata si apre con una selezione di Preludi di Sergei Rachmaninov, alcune delle pagine più famose del compositore russo. I brani proposti spaziano da composizioni romantiche e appassionate a brani più drammatici e tormentati.

A seguire, il Trio élégiaque n. 1, in sol minore, di Rachmaninov, opera composta nel 1892. Il brano è un’opera intensa e drammatica, che potrebbe essere stata ispirata dalla morte di una persona cara.Nella seconda parte, il concerto propone la Suite Italienne, per violoncello e pianoforte, di Igor Stravinsky. Il brano è una sintesi del balletto “Pulcinella”, composto nel 1920 ed ispirato alla musica popolare italiana del XVII e XVIII secolo.

Da sottolineare, infine, il prestigio degli artisti coinvolti: Daniele Sabatini è un violinista romano, già vincitore di numerosi premi nel repertorio cameristico insieme al pianista Simone Rugani; Evelyne Berezovsky è una pianista russa che vive a Londra, già ospite di Roma Tre Orchestra, che partecipa grazie al generoso contributo del Keyboard Charitable Trust; Martina Biondi è una delle migliori violoncelliste italiane della nuova generazione, attualmente residente a Berlino.

What greater tribute could a son make to his mother on what wouid have been her 100th birthday .
A city ready to salute such an important figure of the great Neapolitan piano school and to have her anniversary celebrated by the opening of a new era for this great school that goes back to Clementi and forward to Martha Argerich via Denza ,Thalberg,Rossomandi,Cesi,Vitali,Scaramuzza and Anna Maria Pennella

After tributes from illustrious colleagues it was the music of one of her former stellar students that demonstrated that music can reach us where words are not enough

Antonio Pompa-Baldi had flown in from America where he now resides to give a recital that included the very first piece that he had studied with his adored piano ‘mother ’ : Rachmaninov ‘Corelli variations’.A performance that in the city of San Gennaro had something of the miraculous about it and was certainly the finest performance I have ever heard !

At the end of sensational performances of a pianist I did not know but who is in my opinion without doubt one of the greatest pianists I have heard since Michelangeli and dare I say Horowitz too.
He played two of the Brahms Paganini variations that his teacher had particularly loved.
This was after a performance of Liszt’s Second Ballade that I have never heard played with such clarity and passion.A breathtaking performance followed ‘Sguardi sulla Divina Commedia’ ,written only two years ago by his colleague Roberto Piana and following in his teacher’s footsteps of promoting the music of their contemporaries.
A straight finger technique (as Agosti always said :’ fingers of steel but a wrist of rubber’ ) .What Agosti did not say was also a heart of gold and a soul that can reach all the multicoloured stars that are hidden in this black box of hammers and strings.
The colours that this pianist managed to discover in a Shegeru Kwai that he was able by his total mastery to turn a good solid bauble of a piano into a golden box of gems .

But it was the final encore ‘Le Chemin de l’amour ’ that said it all and had her son the distinguished pianist Orazio Maione on his feet together with the entire audience to salute not only Antonio Pompa- Baldi but his ‘piano mother’ Anna Maria Pennella who by the same miracle as San Gennaro was with us today in her city seething with activity just a few days before Christmas.

Born in Portici ,Naples in 1923 Anna Maria Pennella dedicated her life to music in her city that she loved and today returned that same love.
As she said to her students : ‘Music is the best medicine for living well and having a long life’.

Something that is amply demonstrated by her CD of Brahms Sonata op 5 recorded live in 2010 at the age of 87 when she was awarded ‘ Una vita per la musica’…………

And so to the real Homage in music opening with a work by Debussy that Orazio’s mother had fallen in love with in her last years :Images oubliees n. 1 Lent (melancolique et deux) .Played by a student of her son : Giuliano Grella .

Carla di Lena writes :Domani sarò presente all’omaggio che il Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella di Napoli renderà ad Anna Maria Pennella, scomparsa alcuni anni fa, quest’anno ne avrebbe compiuti 100. Su questa personalità straordinaria – da ascoltare le sue interpretazioni disponibili su YouTube – che ha formato schiere di pianisti e di attuali docenti di conservatorio, nonchè mamma di un bravissimo pianista e docente come Orazio Maione, avevamo pubblicato un articolo qualche anno fa ( n. 49/2017 ) nella rivista Musica+ del Conservatorio dell’Aquila. Lo ripropongo qui perchè è una bella testimonianza del suo allievo Antonio Pompa-Baldi, che domani suonerà per ricordarla. Tra le immagini, nell’articolo, è stato inserito per intero un estratto del “Corriere del Popolo” del 1948 relativo al Concorso Pianistico di Genova, concorso nel quale Annamaria Pennella vinse il secondo premio, il primo era stato assegnato a Sergio Fiorentino. E proprio domani 22 dicembre Fiorentino avrebbe compiuto 96 anni. Una bella coincidenza, che vede idealmente unite due figure importanti per la storia del pianoforte in Italia.
Per la lettura in pdf questo il link (pp.21-24)
https://www.consaq.it/files_repos/pubblicazioni/riviste/musica/2664/49lugsett17Musicapiu.pdf

Let there be fun,games ,glorious music and sumptuous food …….if music be the food of love …..play on in this festive season in Milan …….thanks to Steinway and all their wonderful sons and daughters

Oh what a wonderful party ………….with the two winners of the Steinway Young musicians contest …………..13 and 14 years old ….what talent …listen below ………….after the music strictly limited to 20 minutes the fun and games truly began in Maura Romano style.We could have danced all night ……and nearly did except midnight was in view and I am not keen on pumpkins.

Patrizia Amane Di Lena 13 year old student in Milan of Silvia Rumi winner with Mattias Glavinic of the Steinway Young Artists Contest …….
A superb Fantasy Sonata by Scriabin that at 14 is a technical challenge and at 21 a musical one ….but this young lady had it all in her fingers ,brain and heart.

A remarkable performance of youthful innocence and passion with an enviable command of the keyboard.The various strands of melody in the first movement that she magically pieced together and the driving rhythmic energy that she brought to the second movement I have rarely heard played so musically and with such simple innocent passion.

Playing on the magnificent Steinway D that sits so regally in this wonderful Flagship captained by Maura Romano…….
Calm seas and treacherous voyage are no danger here in the centre of Milan next door to the musical temple that is La Scala.
Maura is a wonderful sailor who knows how to calm the waters and encourage all those great talents that sail with her to their land of dreams.

Minkyu Kim recently gave a concert on the same piano in the highly successful series of concerts in collaboration with the Keyboard Trust captained by the indomitable Noretta Conci and John Leech.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/12/02/minkyu-kim-in-florence-and-milan/

Mattias Antonio Glavinic 14 year old student in Venice of Gianluigi Polli, winner with Patrizia Di Lena of the Steinway Young Artists Contest.
Mattias I learnt afterwards had studied in Croazia with the same teacher as Ivan Krpan who had won the Busoni Competition when he was only 20.By coincidence Ivan Krpan had played for the KT in Cyprus last night and recently played in our series in Florence :
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/03/01/ivan-krpan-busoni-2017-in-florence-mastery-and-simplicity-at-the-service-of-music/

A series ,that now thanks to Maura Romano ,is combined with Milan.
Jae-Hong Park had recently played in this same hall but on a piano that has now been sold .
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/11/10/jae-hong-park-in-florence-and-milan-the-poetic-sensibility-and-virtuosity-of-a-great-musician/

It was a memorable recital as was the performance by fourteen year old Mattias Glavinic today.Maura had rationed these two young artists to ten minutes each but I would have gladly listened to them for much longer – but Christmas Cheer needs time to digest and enjoy too!

Mattias played a quite remarkable ‘La Leggerezza’ concert study by Liszt.
The subtle rubato and insinuating beguiling sounds that uncurled from his delicate agile fingers reminded me of Godowsky’s famous recording :

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UXI2v_jxk0U&feature=shared .

Some things cannot be taught and this beauty of sound and flexibility of pulse is acquired unconsciously in infancy and once given the technical know how expresses itself in what we heard tonight.
Obviously he has a good teacher who does not obstruct his great natural talent but just helps it grow.
He also played Chopin’s Third Ballade – the most pastoral of the four remarkable tone poems that Chopin created for the piano.
It was a musicianly performance that showed a great command of the keyboard but also of Chopin’s very precise pedal indications that are so fundamental for the shaping of phrases and maintaining the lilting pulse of this sunniest of Ballades.
A remarkable performance for the control of his youthful love and passion for music and if I had to criticise him at the end it was only to point out the fact that the visual beauty of movement should depict the same beauty and shape of the notes on the page.
Volodos is the prime example these days, as to watch him paint the ravishing sounds he makes is like admiring a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci or a sculpture of Michelangelo.

Pianists often facilitate these movements by pianistic trickery as Mattias did today in the last great scale that plunges into the depths of the piano before the final glorious four chords.The shape of that scale should be the shape physically of the arm movement …it is a question of mind over matter …………I pointed it out to Mattias because for such a potentially great talent it is food for thought to think and ponder over and be aware of. A dimension that only the greatest of talents can understand and digest.
Mattias is just such a talent !

How lucky we are to have Maura at the helm to guide and help young musicians of the calibre we heard tonight and the two we have been privileged to hear recently from the Keyboard Trust ….
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/02/the-gift-of-music-the-keyboard-trust-at-30/

Aisa Ijiri pictured with Maura Romano gave a memorable concert here a few months ago and does so much to promote music worldwide.
She had flown in especially to be with us tonight.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/10/21/montecatini-international-piano-competition-final-in-the-historic-teatro-niccolini-in-florence/

Giovanni Bertolazzi e gli Amici della Musica di Padova desiderano dedicare il concerto di questa sera alla memoria di Zoltán Kocsis,
nel ricordo sempre vivo dei suoi concerti padovani
“Si dovrebbe tendere all’eterno, non a ciò che finisce.” Z. Kocsis (1952 – 2016) ‘One should think of the infinite ,not just that which finishes ‘

Joseph Haydn
(1732 – 1809)
Sonata in fa maggiore Hob. XVI:23

Allegro moderato
Adagio
Finale (Presto)

Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770 – 1827)
Sonata in mi bemolle maggiore op. 7

Allegro molto e con brio
Largo, con gran espressione
Allegro
Rondo (Poco allegretto e grazioso)

Franz Liszt
(1811 – 1886)
“Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen” (Preludio da Joh. Seb. Bach) S. 179

Totentanz, Parafrasi sul “Dies irae” S. 525

Igor Stravinskij
(1882 – 1971)
da L’oiseau de feu (trascr. Guido Agosti) Danse infernale
Berceuse
Finale

It was almost four years ago that Giovanni played in the Sala dei Giganti in a sunday morning series dedicated to young competition winners .Giovanni,I had already heard in Bolzano and had immediately realised that here was potentially a remarkable musician and passionately dedicated pianist.I wrote about that first concert in Padua giving it the title ‘A Giant amongst the Giants’

Giovanni Bertolazzi – “A Giant amongst the Giants”

Giovanni has now grown into a very mature young man with a quarter of a century behind him as his playing is growing steadily in stature.He has been taken under the wing of the Keyboard Trust and has already played in London on two occasions.On the first occasion he took advantage of the generosity of Leslie Howard ,the leading Liszt expert of the day and Artistic director of the KT ,to discuss repertoire and consult scores with a true expert.Leslie had been a esteemed student of Guido Agosti who had studied with Busoni who in turn had been a student of Liszt.On the same occasion he played the Liszt Sonata to Peter Frankl at his home and they spent many hours discussing it together.Giovanni on his second visit to London last June took the National Liberal Club by storm as he gave the first in a series of six concerts for young musicians in a hall which had seen Rachmaninov and Moiseiwitch before the war.Last autumn he toured America and astounded all that heard him including the New York critic Jed Distler one of the most informed critics of our day. I like to think that Giovanni and I have become friends since that fateful day in Bolzano when I by chance bumped into him with his father and was able to congratulate him on the superb performances he had given in the ‘Busoni’.

It is this artistry that has flowered into a towering presence where he is merely the medium between the composers and his audience.I have heard most of the works in today’s programme but such was his way of recreating the music that I was bowled over by so many things that I had not noticed before.One of the most remarkable things about Giovanni’s playing is his kaleidoscopic sense of colour and with just the right amount of showmanship that allows him to reenact the music before our astonished eyes.Remarkable ,no nonsense contrasts in the Trio of the Scherzo but it had also been noticeable from the very first notes of this early sonata.A sonata where the genius of Beethoven suddenly comes to the fore as he takes the form bequeathed to him by his teacher Haydn and transforms it with his irascible genius into the sonatas that were to be the thermometer for a life span in 32 steps.

I have written about Giovanni’s performance quite recently in London but suddenly in Giovanni’s hands one becomes aware of what a great work this early sonata is.It is ,of course ,the Largo that is so poignant and already points to the things that are to come in the last great trilogy.Giovanni on a piano that at first seemed rather muffled, here in this great slow movement he discovered its secrets and he created a full string quartet sound where even the rests took on a searing significance as each gasp became more and more intense.A mastery of touch that allowed a non legato bass but with a legatissimo melodic line of such subtle tenderness.Slightly leaning on the inner notes of the chords in the octaves it gave a real string quartet feel as one could suddenly be aware of what ravishing beauty the young Beethoven was capable of .The opening of the Scherzo- Allegro was like opening a window to let fresh air in after such intensity.It was in the Trio with its rolling harmonies with injections of electric shocks that must have been truly astonishing in Beethoven’s time and it was this same surprise and stupor that this musician ,the same age as Beethoven when he penned such marvels,was able to show us today.A rondo that was all elegance and delicacy and on each appearance still more insinuatingly presented.But this was rudely interrupted by an episode of overwhelming power and rhythmic energy.The most noticeable thing was the clarity that Giovanni brought to the music with never hard or ungrateful sounds but always rich and full of a string quartet or orchestral texture.This was not just a great virtuoso but a musician of stature dedicated to recreating the music and surprising even himself as the music was allowed to unravel so naturally from his extraordinarily sensitive ten players.

I am reminded of Kantarow who is one of the blessed few that lives every note and like Giovanni makes the music speak in a musical conversation that keeps us enthralled from the first to the last.A story that has to be told ….and what a story!It was the same immediacy that he had brought to Haydn’s sonata in F that opened this well balanced programme.An Allegro moderato that was all brilliance and charm .From these very first notes the subtle legato of the right hand with the gentle non legato of the left was a transcendental tour de force of touch that I have not heard played with this Matthay type simplicity for too long .The ravishing beauty of the Adagio had me thinking that this surely is the birth of ‘bel canto’.A sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to glow and shine with golden beauty and ornaments that unwound with the ease and grace of a great singer.Haydn marks the Finale Presto but surely not so fast as to loose the sense of fun and games that the composer is treating us too.Giovanni’s kaleidoscopic palette of colour allowed him nevertheless to shape this movement with subtle shading but surely Giovanni you can let your hair down now and have more fun after the burning intensity you had shown us in the sublime Adagio?

Giovanni’s Liszt playing is well known as his CD’s can already testify.CD’s that were produced by Borgato the makers of superb instruments and infact the preferred piano of Radu Lupu whenever he played in the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.

Hopefully this marriage between Borgato pianos and a star pianist will bring lustre to both in the name of art.Mr Borgato was present tonight together with Giovanni’s father and both were visibly bowled over as were we all by what we were about to be treated to after the interval.

It was Liszt that he and Kevin Chen had surprised the world with at the International Competition in Budapest.Both top prize winners Chen a genial figure who at fourteen ,a prodigious genius who went on to astonish the juries of Geneva at 16 and Rubinstein at 18.Like Lim or Trifonov it is an early presumptuous genius that may or may not mature well.Giovanni has been carefully delving into the scores and studying intensely helped by many great musicians like Jean Eflem Bavouzet and Peter Frankl in particular.It is this time that has been so important to allow the music to mature within this already superbly trained musician.Here mention should be made of the five years vigorous training that Giovanni received in Catania from Epifanio Comis .We live in an age when time to stop and think becomes ever more precious .An age of instant comunication, fast travel and where quantity seems to be more important that quality.

All this to say that I was overwhelmed by Giovanni’s performances of Liszt and Agosti ( Agosti my own teacher and great friend who I will celebrate tomorrow in Forlì where he was born and is buried .A student of Busoni who was in turn a student of Liszt.Liszt who had been taught by Czerny,a student of Beethoven who in turn had been a student of Haydn – small world !).

Liszt’s “Weinen,Klagen,Sorgen,Zagen ‘ I have never been aware of what a remarkably beautiful work it is until today.It was played with a simplicity as the opening desolate notes were whispered into our ears only to be transformed into a work of a true believer with genial resources in his hands and heart.Totentanz too ,usually a work of scintillating virtuosity here was transformed into a satisfying whole where each variation whilst given its own character was part of a much larger architectural design.Astonishing technical fireworks abound,of course ,but like with Arrau never forgetting the extraordinary musical invention of a master work.

Breathtaking virtuosity with double notes I have never heard before played with such colour and ease.Glissandi that shot across the keyboard like streaks of lightening but linked always to an overall musical line.But it was Agosti’s ‘Firebird’ where all of Giovanni’s technical brilliance and kaleidoscopic sense of colour produced an unforgettable performance that is for me undoubtedly the greatest I have ever heard.There have been some remarkable performances from two stars such as Kantarow and Rana recently but what Giovanni produced today I could only imagine coming from the hands of Agosti himself.All those that flocked to Agosti’s studio in the summer months at the Chigiana in Siena have never forgotten the sounds that came from this rather reserved musical genius.

The opening was indeed a ‘Danse Infernale’ as Giovanni suddenly let rip with amazing technical command, authority and above all a rhythmic drive that was exhilarating and exciting.The hushed tones of the Berceuse were bathed in pedal and whispered with a glowing fluidity in a magic sound world that kept us all mesmerised .It is always a magic moment when the clouds open and the ‘Firebird’ is revealed but today the ravishing beauty that Giovanni was able to create still is with me as I write these few poor lines to try to understand myself and share with others such a wondrous musical experience.The gradual build up to the final tumultuous wave of sounds was truly masterly .

I thought of the young pianist I had heard all those years ago in Bolzano and the long difficult path he has had to pursue since.A trial of fire indeed for a young man who dedicates his life to his art but what joy he finds as he comes out of the jungle to become one of the most exciting performers before the public today.

An encore was introduced very eloquently considering the tour de force that Giovanni had been through .The ‘Valse Triste’ in a transcription by Cziffra of the violinist Vecsey.A violinist almost forgotten these days but as Giovanni had told us he had played for the Amici della Musica di Padova in 1928 .What he did not tell us was that Agosti had written his transcription of the ‘Firebird’in that same year!A vintage year indeed!Also I was just told en passant that Guido Agosti was the pianist!

I have written about Giovanni’s performance before so let’s just enjoy it together now.

Here is a link to a recent performance Giovanni gave in Milan for the Serate Musicali :

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwig_sbD7YuDAxXn7LsIHdKWDjIQtwJ6BAgXEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dc0Z7x8ud_lc&usg=AOvVaw2EeXKl4xTiU1cdMu8-qEnR&opi=89978449

Franz von Vecsey was a Hungarian violinist and composer, who became a well-known virtuoso in Europe through the early 20th century. Born: March 23, 1893, Budapest ,Hungary Died: April 5, 1935, Rome his Full name: Ferenc Vecsey

GIOVANNI BERTOLAZZI
Giovanni Bertolazzi è il vincitore del 2° Premio e di 5 premi speciali al Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Franz Liszt” di Budapest (2021).
Nato a Verona nel 1998, si è avvicinato al pianoforte da bambino, crescendo in una famiglia particolarmente interessata alla cultura, all’arte ed alla musica.
Dopo aver conseguito il diploma accademico di I livello in Pianoforte con 110 e lode presso il Conservatorio “B. Marcello” di Venezia con Massimo Somenzi, decide di seguire gli insegnamenti della scuola pianistica di Epifanio Comis presso l’Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali “V. Bellini” di Catania, dove ha conseguito il diploma accademico di II livello con 110, lode e menzione speciale.
Durante i suoi studi, ha frequentato diverse masterclass di pianoforte tenute da illu- stri pianisti e pedagoghi come Lily Dorfman, Joaquín Achúcarro, Matti Raekallio, Violetta Egorova, Boris Berezovsky, Stephen Kovacevich e Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Ha vinto più di 40 premi in concorsi pianistici internazionali, tra cui il 1° Premio al Concorso Pianistico “Siegfried Weishaupt” di Ochsenhausen (2017), il 1° Premio al Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Sigismund Thalberg” di Napoli (2018) e il 4° Premio al Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Ferruccio Busoni” di Bolzano (2019). Nel giugno 2019 a Milano ha ricevuto il “Premio Alkan per il virtuosismo pianisti- co”. Da gennaio 2020, Giovanni è sostenuto artisticamente dalla Associazione Culturale “Musica con le Ali”. Nel luglio 2022 è stato premiato con il “Tabor Foundation Award”, riconoscimento assegnatogli dalla Verbier Festival Academy in occasione del Verbier Festival (Svizzera).
Si è esibito in importanti sedi tra cui Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Palazzo Pitti di Firenze, Teatro Politeama Garibaldi di Palermo, Teatro Bellini di Catania, Palazzo del Quirinale a Roma, Sala Verdi del Conservatorio di Milano, “F. Liszt” Academy of Music di Budapest, Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum a Budapest, Landesmusikakademie di Ochsenhausen, Kadrioru Kunstimuuseum di Tallinn, Steinway Hall a Londra. Inoltre è stato ospite di prestigiose organizzazioni musica- li come Serate Musicali di Milano, Amici della Musica di Padova, Bologna Festival, Amici della Musica di Firenze, Verbier Festival, Cziffra Festival di Budapest nel- l’ambito del quale è stato anche invitato a registrare un programma dedicato a Beethoven e Liszt per Bartók Rádió.

Haydn’s six Piano Sonatas Hob. XVI:21-26 were published in 1774 with a dedication to Prince Nicholas Esterházy I. The Sonata in F major Hob. XVI:23 is undoubtedly the most popular of them. The playful opening movement with its two contrasting themes, the wonderfully melancholic Adagio in f minor and the lively Presto finale make this work a prime example of the classical sonata,

Painting of Ludwig Van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler made in the year 1820

Sonata no. 4 in E flat major, opus 7: Beethoven himself named this pianoforte sonata Grande Sonate because it was published by itself in 1797 – unusual for the time. It remains his second-longest sonata, behind the Hammerklavier Sonata op 106. Beethoven’s pupil (and Liszt’s teacher) Carl Czerny wrote: “The epithet appassionata would fit much better to the Sonata in E flat op. 7, which he wrote in a very impassioned mood”. It may be that the reason behind such passionate music was the composer’s attraction for his dedicatee, the then 16-year-old pupil Anna Luise Barbara Countess von Keglevich, and it is possible be that her father had commissioned Beethoven to write the work for her.

Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (Weeping, lamenting, worrying, fearing),BWV 12, is a church cantata composed by J.S.Bach in Weimar for Jubilate ,the third Sunday after Easter with the first performance on 22 April 1714 in the Schlosskirche, the court chapel in Weimar.
Variations on “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,” S. 180 is one of Franz Liszt’s most significant works. Written after Liszt joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and during a time of deep personal tragedy, it reflects both Liszt’s religious journey and his coping with suffering and shows daring explorations of chromaticism that pushed the limits of tonality. It was arranged for organ one year after the piano version was composed and became one of his best-known compositions for organ.The work dates from 1862 and was motivated by the death of Liszt’s elder daughter, Blandine and is dedicated to Anton Rubinstein.This massive set of variations was written by Franz Liszt when two of his three children had died within three years of each other; he had resigned his position of Kapellmeister to the court of Weimar due to continued opposition to his music, and finally his long sought marriage to Princess Caroline Wittgenstein had been thwarted by political intrigue.Giovanni played the heartrending prelude S.179 which precedes the massive set of variations S.180.

Totentanz (Dance of the Dead): Paraphrase on the ‘Dies irae’, S126 for pianoforte and orchestra is notable for being based on the Gregorian hymn Dies irae as well as for its many stylistic innovations. The piece was completed and published in 1849, and later revised twice (1853-9 and early 1880s. All these versions were also prepared for two pianos). In the late 1860s, Liszt published a version for pianoforte solo, S525. Some of the titles of Liszt’s pieces, such as Totentanz, Funérailles, La lugubre gondola and Pensée des morts show the composer’s obsession with mortality, as well as his profound Christian faith, these things being apparent from Liszt as a teenager right up until his last days – more than 50 years later.

The Dance of Death (Totentanz) from Liber Chronicarum [Nuremberg Chronicle], 1493, attr. to Michael Wolgemut

In the last movement of the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz the medieval (Gregorian) Dies Irae is quoted in a shockingly modernistic manner. In 1830 Liszt attended the first performance of the symphony and was struck by its powerful originality. Liszt’s Totentanz presents a series of variations on the Dies irae – a theme that his will have known since 1830 at the latest from Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. As an early biographer noted, “Every variation discloses some new character―the earnest man, the flighty youth, the scornful doubter, the prayerful monk, the daring soldier, the tender maiden, the playful child.” A second theme, beginning at variation 6 – taken from the Prose des morts in the Catholic breviary – is itself varied before the first theme returns at the end of the work.

Liszt’s hand

Stravinsky’s score for The Firebird was written for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes dance company, which premiered the work in Paris in 1910. Based on ancient Russian folk tales, it tells the story of the young Prince Ivan’s quest to find a legendary magic bird with fiery multi-coloured plumage. In the course of his adventures, he falls in love with a beautiful princess but has to fight off the evil sorcerer Katschei to eventually marry her. The suite presents the culminating scenes of the ballet in a piano transcription by the Italian pianist and pedagogue Guido Agosti (1901-1989), who studied with Ferruccio Busoni.

The Danse infernale depicts the brutal swarming and capture of Prince Ivan by Katschei’s monstrous underlings until Prince Ivan uses the magic feather given to him by the Firebird to cast a spell on his captors, making them dance until they drop from exhaustion. The Berceuse is a lullaby depicting the eerie scene of the slumbering assailants, leading to the Finale, a wedding celebration for Prince Ivan and his princess bride.Agosti’s piano transcription, completed in 1928, is a daunting technical challenge for the pianist. Most of the piano writing is laid out on on three staves in order to cover the multi-octave range of the keyboard that the pianist must patrol. The piano comes into its own in this transcription as a percussion instrument, to be played with the wild abandon with which a betrayed lover throws her ex-partner’s possessions off the balcony onto the street below.Judging from the shocking 7-octave-wide chord crash that opens the Dance infernale, Agosti captures well the bruising pace of the action, with off-beat rhythmic jabs standing out from a succession of punchy left-hand ostinati constantly nipping at the heels of the melody line. The accelerating pace as the sorcerer’s ghouls are made to dance ever more frantically is a major aerobic test for the pianist.

Relief comes in the Berceuse, which presents its own pianistic challenges, mainly those of finely sifting the overtones of vast chord structures surrounding the lonely tune singing out from the middle of the keyboard.The wedding celebration depicted in the Finale presents Stravinsky’s trademark habit of cycling hypnotically round the pitches enclosed within the interval of a perfect 5th. Just such a melody, swaddled in hushed tremolos, opens this final movement. It is a major challenge for the pianist to imitate the shimmering timbre of the orchestra’s brightest instruments as this theme is given its apotheosis to end the suite in a blaze of sonority that extends across the entire range of the keyboard.

Guido Agosti (11 August 1901 – 2 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and renowned for his yearly summer course in Siena frequented by all the major musicians of the age.It was on the express wish of Alfredo Casella that Agosti took over his class which he did for the next thirty years.Sounds heard in his studio have never been forgotten.

Agosti was born in Forli 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldiand earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterpoint under Benvenuti and literature at Bologna University. He commenced his professional career as a pianist in 1921. Although he never entirely abandoned concert-giving, nerves made it difficult for him to appear on stage,and he concentrated on teaching. He taught piano at the Venice Conservatoire and at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome.In 1947 he was appointed Professor of piano at the Accademia Chigiana Siena .He also taught at Weimar and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

His notable students include Maria Tipo,Yonty Solomon Leslie Howard,Hamish Milne,Martin Jones,Ian Munro,Dag Achat,Raymond Lewenthal,Ursula Oppens,Kun- Woo Paik,Peter Bithell.He made very few recordings; there is a recording of op 110 from the Ghione theatre in Rome together with his recording on his 80th birthday concert in Siena of Debussy preludes .

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/01/17/giovanni-bertolazzi-in-rome-liszt-is-alive-and-well-at-teatro-di-villa-torlonia/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/12/04/giovanni-bertolazzi-the-mastery-and-authority-of-liszt/

Giovanni Bertolazzi Liberal Club ‘En Blanc et Noir’ 5th June 2023

Giovanni Bertolazzi Liberal Club ‘En Blanc et Noir’ 5th June 2023 ‘A star is born!’

Giovanni with the piano technician looking on

An admirer,Giselle Pascal,looking at a pianist’s hands.She had heard Cziffra play Totentanz in Paris

Giovanni Bertolazzi con Caterina Isaia Museo Teatrale alla Scala di Milano

Complimenti a Caterina Isaia e Giovanni Bertolazzi che questa sera al Museo Teatrale Alla Scala di Milano, come ieri al Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, hanno emozionato il pubblico in una Sala Esedra sold out!
Il Salotto Musicale, realizzato in collaborazione con il Museo Teatrale alla Scala, torna a settembre…grazie a tutti e al prossimo appuntamento con l grande musica dei migliori giovani talenti italiani!

Caterina Isaia and Giovanni Bertolazzi at the Teatro La Fenice Sala Esedra Venice La Scala La Fenice

Giovanni Bertolazzi triumphs on the Keyboard Trust tour of USA October 2023 Virginia-Washington-Philadelphia- Delaware – New York

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/02/the-gift-of-music-the-keyboard-trust-at-30/

Zoltán Kocsis, pianist and conductor, born 30 May 1952; died 6 November 2016

Zoltán Kocsis, died aged 64 following a long illness, was a member of a distinguished troika of Hungarian pianists – with Dezsö Ránki and András Schiff – who emanated from the late 1960s class of Pál Kadosa at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Schiff, although the youngest of the trio, was the first to embark on an international career, while Kocsis, like Ránki, remained closer to Hungary ,engaging fruitfully with his compatriots, provocatively and often courageously towards officialdom. Kocsis’s contribution to the culture of his native country was all the more valuable in that he was not only a pianist and conductor, but also a teacher, arranger, musicologist, composer, record producer and critic.

Underpinning that versatility was a sense of mission: a burning desire to pass on the insights and experience of previous generations. To that end he would proselytise on behalf of, for example, Rachmaninov’s or Bartók’s performances of their own works, even when this approach ran counter to orthodoxy. Thus his interpretations of Bartok (he recorded the complete piano works, both solo and with orchestra , to high acclaim) exemplified his conviction that. The ‘barbarism’ traditionally projected in the ubiquitous motor rhythms was too extreme, too mechanical. Kocsis preferred a more flexible and sensitive approach, as had been demonstrated, he maintained, by Bartók himself.

Rubato was indeed a prominent feature of all Kocsis’s playing, whether in his ravishing account of Grieg’s Erotik, in the subtle inflections of Debussy’s Clair de Lune, evoking the preternatural stillness of a moonlit night, or in the transcendental figuration of Liszt’s Les Jeux d’Eau à la Villa d’Este .The other predominant characteristic of his performances was the pellucid tone, consistently sensuous even in passages of heightened emotion and enhanced by the singing quality he unfailingly brought to melodic lines.

As a conductor, Kocsis achieved prominence as co-founder with Iván Fischer of the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983. Remaining as an artistic director until 1997, he helped establish the orchestra as one of the leading world ensembles, with appearances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, BBC Proms and Salzburg and Lucerne festivals. In 1997 he became music director of the Hungarian national Philharmonic Orchestra , nailing his colours to the mast with a performance of Schoenberg’s massive Gurrelieder in his first season. Inventive programming and contemporary repertoire remained features of his orchestral and solo piano programmes: among the composers who wrote works for him was György Kurtág, another of his teachers at the Liszt academy.

Born in Budapest, son of Mária (nee Mátyás) and Ottó Kocsis, Zoltán began his piano studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory, where he also learned composition. Moving on to the Liszt Academy in 1968, he was still a student when he won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970. The following year he toured the US, and in 1972 appeared in London and at the Salzburg and Holland festivals. Rapidly establishing a career as an international pianist, he also achieved celebrity status in Hungary, as conductor and teacher as well as pianist. His academic pursuits continued to inform his activities on all fronts: meticulous in his study of texts and sources, he brought a scholarly, inquiring mind to the art of performance. He was appointed to teach at the Liszt academy in 1976.

Dividing his time between playing and conducting, he appeared with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw, as well as the Hungarian National Philharmonic. He also toured extensively in Europe,America and the Far East.

With his cherubic features, shock of wavy hair and penetrating, often idiosyncratic, readings, he had a charismatic stage presence, and was especially renowned for his exceptional pianistic talents, on account of a series of prizewinning recordings. In addition to the complete Bartók series, he made some acclaimed recordings of Debussy, Rachmaninov, Liszt and Dohnányi. Drawing on his talents as composer and arranger, he made his own version of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, concluding with imaginatively virtuosic figuration.

His transcription of the prelude to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde , which at the climax spills on to multiple staves, deployed virtuosity to project the heights of passion. It is possible to feel that his account of the Liebestod from the same work (this time using Liszt’s version) emphasised passion at the cost of Isolde’s transfiguration; a similar criticism may be levelled at his forceful rather than enraptured Prelude to Lohengrin. Elsewhere, however, his undoubted virtuosity was harnessed to a sensitivity and poetic imagination that made his artistry compelling.

In 1986 he married the pianist Adrienne Hauser . After their divorce, in 1997 he married the pianist Erika Tóth. She survives him, as do their son, Krisztian, also a pianist, and daughter, Viktoria, and his son, Mark, and daughter, Rita, from his first marriage.

I concerti di Zoltán Kocsis per gli Amici della Musica di Padova

28 aprile 1983
B. Bartók: C. Debussy:
R. Wagner:
For children (I fascicolo)
Arabesque n. 1 – Tarantelle Styrienne (Danse) – Pour le piano Berceuse hé roique – Images (oublié es)
Parsifal: Scena delle fanciulle-fiore e Finale (trascr. Z. Kocsis)

19 novembre 1992
L.v. Beethoven: B. Bartók:
F. Chopin:
F. Chopin:
F. Liszt:
Sonata op. 2 n. 1
Sette Bagatelle op. 6: QuattroMazurche(op.7n.2,op.17n.4,op.24n.1,op.67n.2) Polonaise-Fantaisie op. 61
Da Anné es de pè lerinage, Troisiè me Anné e, Italie:
IV: Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este – VI: Sunt lacrymae rerum Csárdás macabre

27 gennaio 1998
C. Debussy: W.A. Mozart: B. Bartók:
Douze Préludes Libro II Fantasia in do min K 475 Dieci Pezzi da Mikrokosmos Sonata 1926

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/10/25/giovanni-bertolazzi-a-star-shining-brightly-at-the-presidents-palace-rome/

Giovanni Bertolazzi in London