ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

I have heard Misha play many times over the past two years since his mentor and teacher at the Royal College of Music Ian Jones asked me to listen to his performance in Cadogan Hall of the Rachmaninov First Piano Concerto.Misha who had recently left his homeland as Ukraine was being invaded and sought refuge in the UK .Ian has become his mentor and in these two years since first listening to him he has grown in stature and is fast becoming a master.His Beethoven op 110 and the Godowsky ‘Fledermaus’ I have written about just a month ago when he played them in the Autumn Festival in Perivale for the Keyboard Trust.

Misha Kaploukhii at St Mary’s Perivale The Keyboard Trust Autumn Festival 2023

They were remarkable performances then but now even in this short space of time his Beethoven has grown in weight and authority.The simplicity and maturity he brought to op 110 was masterly.An important statement where he had understood the real meaning of an interpreter to transmit the wishes as written in the score to the listener.Beethoven was completely deaf when he wrote these last sonatas but he could obviously hear them in his head and miraculously was able to write down meticulously the sounds that he wanted.Of course it is not only the notes but the meaning behind the notes too that depends on the personality and technical mastery of the performer.So it was quite remarkable how this 21 year old could have played with such mature mastery today.

Godowsky ‘Fledermaus’ too was thrown off with the ease of the great virtuosi of the golden age of piano playing.The age when Godowsky,Lhevine,Rosenthal,Levitski could ravish and seduce their listeners with a range of sounds that only Tobias Matthay could explain.Every note has an infinite number of sounds in it and the real virtuoso is the pianist who can seek out the most sounds ,not he who plays fastest and loudest but he who can play the quietest with what is known as jeux perlé.Encore pieces could be used to excite and seduce their audiences as we have in our time experienced only with Horowitz or Rubinstein.As Joan Chissell remarked in a review of Rubinstein playing Villa Lobos :”Mr Rubinstein turned baubles into gems’.

It was exactly this that Misha did today too.After the intelligence and faithfulness to a masterwork by Beethoven he was able to seduce,beguile,enchant and excite with a piece by Godowsky written especially as a crowd pleaser.Busoni was a pupil of Liszt – the greatest showman after Paganini who ever lived.Noble ladies would be turned into a screaming mob trying to grab any souvenir they could when Liszt played in the aristocratic salons of the day.But Busoni like Liszt was a musical genius too with a mind always pointed to the future.He was able to continue the sound world of late Liszt and bring it to its ultimate conclusion as explained so magnificently by Kirill Gerstein in a recent lecture recital at the Wigmore Hall .

Kirill Gerstein – Busoni is alive and well and returned to the Wigmore Hall

The Elegie that Misha played took me by surprise as I had not heard it since Ogdon used to play it in his recitals.It is a fantasy on Greensleeves just as Busoni had written a Sonatina sopra Carmen better known as the Carmen Fantasy.They are showpieces too but written by an intellectual not a showman.

Misha brought a ravishing beauty to the arpeggiated opening bars of intermingled harmonic changes before bursting into bucolic rhythmic chords out of which emerged the melody that we know as Greensleeves.The melodic line embellished as Liszt or Thalberg might have done and played with a nonchalant ease and old world style. Busoni always ending with a question mark as if to say where are we going to now? A remarkable performance of intelligence and virtuosity added to a sense of style that was absolutely enticing.The Liszt del Petrarca Sonnetto 123 was played in grand style with golden sounds of great beauty.Passion and beauty combined with ravishing glistening sounds and a remarkable sense of elasticity to the melodic line without ever losing the architectural thread that weaves it all together into a sumptuous whole.The Bartok Study op 18 n.2 was a tour de force of virtuosity which again showed Misha’s remarkable musicianship as he managed to find the musical line within the enormous technical demands that Bartok requests from the performer.

An ovation as rarely heard at St James’s greeted this young artist headed for the heights.

Kaploukhii – Matthews at St James’s Piccadilly – Two stars of Talent Unlimited shining brightly

Misha I have heard play many times over the past two years and the young teenager I was so impressed with when he played Rachmaninov First Concert at Cadogan Hall is fast turning into a considerable musician of great stature.I also heard him play Liszt Second Concerto as winner of the RCM Concerto Prize but now at the ripe old age of 20 we can judge his playing not only of virtuoso gymnastics but of a true thinking interpreter of the deepest thoughts of the classical composers.It is thanks to the careful help of Ian Jones that this Russian trained pianist from the Gnessin School in Moscow is now delving deep into the scores of the great classics.It is only here that he will learn the real secrets of a true interpreter who thinks more of the composers wishes than his own!
It was the very first bars of Beethoven’s penultimate sonata that revealed a profound interpreter of the composers very precise indications.The wonderful way that the opening trill was just a vibration that lead to the opening sublime melodic outpouring.But there were also the cascades of delicate arpeggios played with a clarity and shape that was enthralling.The rising and falling scales that accompany the development section were beautifully realised as was the magic change of key from the E flat to D flat just before, played so simply allowing Beethoven’s genius to speak for itself.The measured tempo of the Allegro molto and the absolute authority of the treacherous Trio was a great contrast to the mellifluous outpouring of the ‘Moderato cantabile molto espressivo’.The ending just disappearing on a cloud of pedal as Beethoven reaches on high to one of his most sublime creations.There was a clarity to the fugue that made the return of the Arioso even more poignant as the fugue returns in a whispered backward turn leading inexorably to the final glorious exultation and the triumphant arrival home on A flat.A performance of great maturity and intelligence allied of course to a superb technical command.
There was luminosity and an atmosphere of deep contemplation in Liszt’s magical tone poem of St Francis preaching to the birds.An artist is known by his programmes and Misha’s choice of this Liszt ,in particular,to follow Beethoven’s most mellifluous sonata just showed what an artist we have before us.
Now Misha could let his hair down and like the great virtuosi of the Golden Age of piano playing he could show us his beguiling seductive waltz steps of breathtaking virtuosity and subtlety.Godowsky was known as the pianist’s pianist and the performances in his studio were the stuff that legends were made of.A very private man who could play better in his studio than on the stage but left many transcriptions and some original piano works that show what the word virtuoso really means.Not loud and fast but pianissimo and pianississimo with a range of colours that could turn a box of hammers and strings into a box of jewels that could entrance and hypnotise all those that were lucky enough to be caught in it’s spell.
Misha has this sense of style allied to a transcendental technical command and it was this wonderful performance that had us clicking our heels and with a smile on our face coming to the end of a piano marathon of ten wonderful pianists over two afternoons wanting even more .

Misha Kaploukhii

Misha Kaploukhii was born in 2002 and is an alumnus of the Moscow Gnessin College of Music. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Music and is an RCM and ABRSM award holder generously supported by the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation and Talent Unlimited studying for a Bachelor of Music with Prof. Ian Jones.

Misha has gained inspiration from lessons and masterclasses with musicians such as Claudio Martínez Mehner, Dmitri Bashkirov, Jerome Lowenthal and Konstantin Lifschitz. He has performed with orchestras around the world including his recent debut in Cadogan Hall performing Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto. His repertoire includes a wide range of solo and chamber music. Recently, Misha won prizes in the RCM Concerto Competition (playing Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto) and in the International Ettlingen Piano Competition.

Misha Kaploukhii plays Liszt at the RCM A Sea Symphony Concert…..Youth and music a joy to ‘behold’!

Kaploukhii – Matthews at St James’s Piccadilly – Two stars of Talent Unlimited shining brightly

Misha Kaploukhii plays Rachmaninov Beauty and youthfulness triumph

Birds of a feather they say but at Leighton house tonight it was pure coincidence that Gabrielé Sutkuté chose the same ravishing colour as the bird that sits at the foot of the imposing staircase up to the music room

Changing in the interval into a black lamé dress worthy of Marlene Dietrich her wonderful attire paled into insignificance with playing of such of such mastery.

A star was truly in our midst as was obvious from the moment she was on stage hardly able to wait to tickle the keys in this sumptuous art deco music room.What fun she had looking for the ‘farmers cat’ in Haydn’s hilarious Capriccio before the earth shattering Drums and pipes of Bartok exploded onto the scene.If only our star would smile and show us how much fun she was having.

The Bartok was like an atom bomb as she attacked the piano with very unseemly vehemence.A transcendental control that took us into the bleak night mists where creatures buzzed all around the keyboard in an astonishing display of dynamic fantasy.The ‘Chase’ was now on but,who was chasing whom! No time to stop and question with such exhilaration and driving excitement.
Liszt’s delicious memories of Italy were revealed by Gabrielé with subtlety and showmanship.The Italian temperament of warmth and passionate participation for the good things in life brought Liszt’s ‘biondina’ beguilingly to life as a great Italian tenor entered the scene intoning ‘ no greater pain than this ‘ .But it was the ‘Tarantella’ that truly astonished and seduced with scintillating fireworks and mouth watering heart on sleeve sentiments.

After the interval she was transformed into a true Hollywood star with a slinky sparkling gown with the pure Parisian charm and passionate commitment of a Piaf with Debussy’s ‘La plus que lente.’
Birds that sang with such ravishingly sweet tones ,how could they ever be sad?!
It was the insinuating waltz of Ravel that astonished though as it crept in almost unobserved , gradually building in frenzied tones to a climax where all hell was let loose as our scintillating star turned into a wild animal of bravura.
Scriabin’s ‘Fantasy Sonata’ had been played with passionate involvement and glistening refined sounds never for a moment losing control of the architectural shape and swooping phrases of red hot passion.

Raring to go even at the end of such a ‘tour de force’ of bravura she offered her public,most of whom were by now on their feet to cheer such a star,an even more scintillating ‘Etude Tableau’ by Rachmaninov op 39 n 1 .

A full more detailed review of the programme can be seen here in recent recitals in London :

Gabrielé Sutkuté takes Mayfair by Storm ‘passion and power with impeccable style’

Lithuanian pianist Gabrielė Sutkutė has already established herself as a musician of strong temperament and “excellent precision and musicality” (Rasa Murauskaitė from 7 days of Art). She has given many concerts and performed in numerous festivals throughout Europe and appeared in famous halls such as the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, the Steinway Hall UK, the Musikhuset Aarhus and Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall.

In addition to being a soloist, Gabrielė frequently performs with chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras. This year she performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the YMSO at the Cadogan Hall, conducted by James Blair. In 2020, she performed Rachmaninov’s 2^nd Piano Concerto with the Grammy-nominated Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Markus Huber, and was also invited to play with the renowned Kaunas String Quartet in Lithuania twice.

Gabrielė is a winner of twenty international piano competitions where she also received numerous special awards. She was awarded 1st Prize at the Chappell Medal Piano Competition 2023 and won the 2nd Prize and the Audience Prize at the Birmingham International Piano Competition 2022. For her musical achievements she received Lithuanian Republic Presidents’ certificates of appreciation six times. The pianist is also an artist at Talent Unlimited the Keyboard Trust and is the recipient of the prestigious Mills Williams Junior Fellowship 2022/23.

From 2016-22, she had been studying with Professor Christopher Elton and received her Bachelor of Music Degree (First Class Honours) and Master of Arts Degree with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music. For the outstanding performance in her Postgraduate Final Recital, she also received a Postgraduate Diploma (DipRAM). Gabrielė was awarded a full scholarship for the Artist Diploma course at the Royal College of Music and began her studies there with Professor Vanessa Latarche and Professor Sofya Gulyak in September 2022 and graduated with honours in 2023.

Fantasia in C major, Hob XVII/4, “Capriccio“, is based on the Austrian folk song D’ Bäurin hat d’Katz verlor’n (“The farmer’s wife has lost her cat”)^.

In March 1789,Joseph Haydn wrote to the publishing company Artaria saying, “In a moment of great good humour I have completed a new Capriccio for fortepiano, whose taste, singularity and special construction cannot fail to receive approval from connoisseurs and amateurs alike. In a single movement, rather long, but not particularly difficult.”The fact that Haydn wrote the fantasia “for connoisseurs and amateurs alike” was most likely a nod to C.P.E Bach’s Für Kenner und Liebhaber (“For Connoisseurs and Amateurs”) that he had requested from Artaria the year before.However, the piece was more difficult than Haydn thought it would be, with zany virtuosity and orchestral effects, recalling the last movement of his Sonata No. 48.

Out of Doors ,sz.81, BB 89, was written in 1926 and is among the very few instrumental compositions by Bartók with programmatic titles.A suite of five pieces :

1. “With Drums and Pipes” – Pesante
2. “Barcarolla” – Andante
3. “Musettes” – Moderato.
4. “The Night’s Music” – Lento – (Un poco) più andante
5. “The Chase” – Presto.

After World War 1 (1914–1918), Bartók was largely prevented from continuing his folk music field research outside Hungary.This increased the development of his own personal style, marked by a sublimation of folk music into art music. Bartók composed Out of Doors in the ‘piano year’ of 1926,together with his Piano Sonata , his First Piano Concerto and Nine Little Pieces.

This particularly fruitful year followed a period of little compositional activity. The main trigger to start composing again was a performance on 15th March 1926 of Stravinsky’s Concerto for piano and wind instruments in Budapest with the composer as pianist. Bartók’s compositions of 1926 are thus marked by the treatment of the piano as a percussion instrument writing early 1927:

‘It seems to me that the inherent nature [of the piano tone] becomes really expressive only by means of the present tendency to use the piano as a percussion instrument.^’Written for his new wife, the pianist Ditta Pásztory-Bartók – Bartok ,whom he had married in 1923 shortly after divorcing his first wife, and who had given him his second son in 1924.

Venezia e Napoli S.162 was composed in 1859 as a partial revision of an earlier set with the same name composed around 1840. There are three movements :

1. Gondoliera (Gondolier’s Song) in F♯ major – Based on the song “La biondina in gondoletta” by Giovanni Battista Peruchini.
2. Canzone (Canzone ) in E♭ minor – Based on the gondolier’s song “Nessun maggior dolore” from Rossini’s Otello
3. Tarantella in G minor – Uses themes by Guillaume-Louis Cottrau, 1797–1847. It is interesting to note as Leslie Howard has pointed out that Canzone and Tarantella are linked by a very specific pedal indication by the composer.

Published in 1861 as a supplement to the Second Year of Années de pèlerinage which are widely considered as the masterwork and summation of Liszt’s musical style and are in three volumes Liszt wrote ‘Having recently travelled to many new countries, through different settings and places consecrated by history and poetry; having felt that the phenomena of nature and their attendant sights did not pass before my eyes as pointless images but stirred deep emotions in my soul, and that between us a vague but immediate relationship had established itself, an undefined but real rapport, an inexplicable but undeniable communication, I have tried to portray in music a few of my strongest sensations and most lively impressions.^’

Jean-Philippe Rameau, by Joseph Aved, 1728

The French Baroque composer Jean – Philippe Rameau wrote three books of Pièces de clavecin for the harpsichord .The first, Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin, was published in 1706 ; the second, Pièces de Clavessin, in 1724; and the third, Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin, in 1726 or 1727. They were followed in 1741 by Pièces de clave in En concerts, in which the harpsichord can either be accompanied by violin (or flute) and viola da gamba or played alone. An isolated piece, “La Dauphine“, survives from 1747.

The two played tonight are from 1724 and are the first and eighth from his Suite in D : Les Tendres Plaintes – Les Cyclopes

1. Les Tendres Plaintes. Rondeau .An almost tongue-in-cheek character piece, with a title so hackneyed that Rameau was surely poking a bit of fun: Les tendres plaintes (‘The tender sighs ‘) It is nevertheless a ravishing pearl piece , and Rameau clearly thought enough of it to rework it as a ballet movement in Zoroastre (1749).
2. Les Niais de Sologne – Premier Double des Niais – Deuxième Double des Niais
3. Les Soupirs. Tendrement
4. La Joyeuse. Rondeau
5. La Follette. Rondeau
6. L’Entretien des Muses
7. Les Tourbillons. Rondeau
8. Les Cyclopes. Rondeau. Is the jewel of the set with a musical description of the mythological smithies who forged Jupiter’s thunderbolts in the deep recesses of the Earth. Here Rameau uses his special technique of ‘batteries’ which he claimed to have invented. As he explains in the preface to the 1724 collection: ‘In one of the batteries the hands make between them the consecutive movement of two drumsticks; and in the other, the left hand passes over the right to play alternately the bass and treble.’ Incidentally, Les cyclopes is believed to be one of the pieces played by the Jesuit Amiot before the Chinese Emperor; sadly, it seems to have not made much of an impression.
9. Le Lardon. Menuet
10. La Boiteuse

Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor,op 19, Sonata-Fantasy took five years for him to write. It was finally published in 1898, at the urging of his publisher.It is the second of ten sonatas plus an early but youthful Sonata published after his death which shows an astonishingly sure hand developing in the fourteen-year-old.

There are two movements, with a style combining Chopin -like Romanticism with an impressionistic touch. Scriabin described the Sonata : “The first section represents the quiet of a southern night on the seashore; the development is the dark agitation of the deep, deep sea. The E major middle section shows caressing moonlight coming up after the first darkness of night. The second movement represents the vast expanse of ocean in stormy agitation.”

La plus que lente L.121 was written for solo piano in 1910,shortly after his publication of the Préludes Book 1.It was first played at the New Carlton Hotel in Paris, where it was transcribed for strings and performed by the popular ‘gipsy’ violinist, Léoni, for whom Debussy wrote it (and who was given the manuscript by the composer).^”La plus que lente is, in Debussy’s wryly humorous way, the valse lente to outdo all others.”It is marked “Molto rubato con morbidezza” indicating Debussy’s encouragement of a flexible tempo.

During the same year of its composition, an orchestration of the work was conceived, but Debussy opposed the score’s heavy use of percussion and proposed a new one, writing to his publisher:

“Examining the brassy score of La plus que lente, it appears to me to be uselessly ornamented with trombones,kettle drums,triangles , etc., and thus it addresses itself to a sort of de luxe saloon that I am accustomed to ignore!—there are certain clumsinesses that one can easily avoid! So I permitted myself to try another kind of arrangement which seems more practical. And it is impossible to begin the same way in a saloon as in a salon. There absolutely must be a few preparatory measures. But let’s not limit ourselves to beer parlours. Let’s think of the numberless five-o’-clock teas where assemble the beautiful audiences I’ve dreamed of.” Claude Debussy, 25 August 1910

Oiseaux tristes” (“Sad Birds”) is dedicated to Ricardo Vines, and is a lone bird whistling a sad tune, after which others join in. The excited middle section is offset by a cadenza which brings back the melancholy mood of the beginning.Written between 1904 and 1905 and first performed by Vines in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French avant-Garde artist group ‘Les Apaches’.

The idea of La valse began first with the title “Vienne” as early as 1906, where Ravel intended to orchestrate a piece in tribute to the waltz form and to Johann Strauss.As he himself stated:’You know my intense attraction to these wonderful rhythms and that I value the joie de vivre expressed in the dance much more deeply than Franckist puritanism.^’Ravel completely reworked his idea of Wien into what became La valse, which was to have been written under commission from Diaghilev as a ballet. However, he never produced the ballet after hearing a two-piano reduction performed by Ravel and Marcelle Meyer saying it was a “masterpiece” but rejected Ravel’s work as “not a ballet. It’s a portrait of ballet”. Ravel, hurt by the comment, ended the relationship and when the two men met again during 1925, Ravel refused to shake Diaghilev’s hand. Diaghilev challenged Ravel to a duel, but friends persuaded Diaghilev to recant. The men never met again.Ravel described La valse with the following preface to the score:
‘Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees at letter A an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth at the fortissimo letter B. Set in an imperial court, about 1855.’

Steven Osborne

The ‘most thoughtful and questing of British pianists’ (Telegraph), Steven Osborne will perform Schubert’s Six moments musicaux and the late Sonata in A, D. 959, separated by a short Beethoven Bagatelle, Op. 33 No. 4. It is ten years since he was declared Instrumentalist of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society, but he remains one of Britain’s finest musicians, and a recent Wigmore Hall concert celebrating Rachmaninov’s 150th birthday received 5 stars in The Guardian and The Independent.

Park- Grosvenor ‘A sumptuous duo,spot on at St John’s where their light was shining brightly’

Another magnificent concert for spotlight at St John’s Waterloo.I have not heard such wonders since Zimerman or Uchida .Playing that drew us in to a secret world of ravishing beauty but also of startling contrasts.All with a palette of sounds that was truly a marvel, creating a world in which music evolves directly from the composer to the public through the hands of a supremely sensitive artist.One that with the humility of someone who thinks more of the music than himself and with superhuman mastery can communicate the music as if the ink was still wet on the page.
I have heard great things of Steven Osborne in repertoire of Prokofiev and Messiaen and never would have imagined what miracles he could produce with Schubert’s elusive Moments Musicaux D .780 and the great A major Sonata D .959.They were linked together with a single Beethoven Bagatelle op 33 n.4 of simple innocence.A monumental performance of the A major sonata in which time seemed to stand still. We were transported by this great artist to a much better world than the one we live in and it was only the sumptuous whispered sonorities of Schumann’s Romance in F sharp ,played as an encore, that prepared us for the world that awaited outside after this hour of escape to a much better place than we have ever known.

Schubert Moments Musicaux Op.94 D 780 (Piano)

1. Moderato in C
2. Andantino in A flat
3. Allegro moderato in F minor (ending in F major)
4. Moderato in C sharp minor
5. Allegro vivace in F minor (ends in F major)
6. Allegretto in A♭ major (ends on an open octave in an A♭ minor context)

Schubert’s well-known collection of “Moments Musicaux” was published in 1828, during the last year of the composer’s life, but some of the pieces date back to the beginning of the 1820s. In 1823 he published his extremely popular “Air russe” which later became the third piece of the “Moments Musicaux” and during the following year the chordal sixth piece entitled “Plaintes d’un Troubadour”. The multi-faceted lyrical atmospheric pieces similar to Beethoven’s Bagatelles in their brevity and quixotic character and were written to satisfy the Viennese public’s growing appetite for Albumblätter – literally “album leaves” – short pieces which could be played and enjoyed at home. Like the Impromptus these short piano pieces seem to owe a debt to the Bohemian composer Tomasek and his pupil Jan Vorisek. The third of the set is in Rosamunde vein and the fourth in Baroque style.

The Bagatelles, op .33, for solo piano were composed in 1801–02 and published in 1803 through the Viennese publisher Bureau des arts et d’industrie. The seven bagatelles are quite typical of Beethoven’s early style, retaining many compositional features of the early classical period.Beethoven wrote three sets of Bagatelles : 7 op 33;11 op 119;6 op 126 written between 1801 and 1823.

Schubert’s last three piano sonatas D 958, 959 and 960, are his last major compositions for solo piano. They were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828, but were not published until about ten years after his death, in 1838–39.Like the rest of Schubert’s piano sonatas, they were mostly neglected in the 19th century.The last year of Schubert’s life was marked by growing public acclaim for the composer’s works, but also by the gradual deterioration of his health. On March 26, 1828, together with other musicians in Vienna .Schubert gave a public concert of his own works, which was a great success and earned him a considerable profit.Schubert had been struggling with syphilis since 1822–23, and suffered from weakness, headaches and dizziness. However, he seems to have led a relatively normal life until September 1828, when new symptoms such as effusions of blood appeared. At this stage he moved from the Vienna home of his friend Franz von Schober to his brother Ferdinand’s house in the suburbs, following the advice of his doctor; unfortunately, this may have actually worsened his condition. However, up until the last weeks of his life in November 1828, he continued to compose an extraordinary amount of music, including such masterpieces as the three last sonatas.

Schubert played from the sonata trilogy at an evening gathering in Vienna on September 28th .In a letter to Probst (one of his publishers), dated October 2, 1828, Schubert mentioned the sonatas amongst other works he had recently completed and wished to publish.However, Probst was not interested in the sonatas,and by November 19, Schubert was dead.

In the following year, Schubert’s brother Ferdinand sold the sonatas’ to another publisher, Anton Diabelli ,who would only publish them about ten years later, in 1838 or 1839.Schubert had intended the sonatas to be dedicated to Hummel , whom he greatly admired. Hummel was a leading pianist, a pupil of Mozart .However, by the time the sonatas were published in 1839, Hummel was dead, and Diabelli, the new publisher, decided to dedicate them instead to composer Schumann who had praised many of Schubert’s works in his critical writings.The negative attitude towards Schubert’s piano sonatas persisted well into the twentieth century. Only around the centennial of Schubert’s death did these works begin to receive serious attention and critical acclaim, with the writings of Donald Francis Tovey , and the public performances of Artur Schnabel and Eduard Erdmann .During the following decades, the sonatas, and especially the final trilogy, received growing attention, and by the end of the century, came to be regarded as essential part of the repertoire One of the reasons for the long period of neglect of Schubert’s piano sonatas seems to be their dismissal as structurally and dramatically inferior to the sonatas of Beethoven. In fact, the last sonatas contain distinct allusions and similarities to works by Beethoven, a composer Schubert venerated. However, musicological analysis has shown that they maintain a mature, individual style. Schubert’s last sonatas are now praised for their mature style, manifested in unique features such as a cyclical formal and tonal design, chamber music textures, and a rare depth of emotional expression.

Scarlatti 2 Sonatas B minor K 27. D major K 96.

Hummel. Rondo Favori E flat major op 11.

Chopin Ballade n.1 op 23 G minor

Mendelssohn/ Rachmaninov Scherzo from a Midsummer Nights Dream

Rachmaninov. Lilacs op 21 n.5.

Liszt Paganini Study. N.2 in E flat major

n. 3 La Campanella ( Liszt arr Busoni )10 min

Liszt / Busoni/ Horowitz Mephisto waltz n.1.

Thomas Kelly in Hampstead today with a programme fit for a King with scintillating show pieces by Scarlatti,Hummel,Chopin,Mendelssohn,Rachmaninov and Liszt.
A programme from a modern day heir to the Golden age of piano playing that included transcriptions by three of the greatest showmen from the past Liszt ,Busoni and Horowitz .I have reviewed Thomas’s performances recently on Ischia in Italy and in the National Liberal Club in London .The more detailed reviews you can read here:

Thomas Kelly on Ischia – The Walton Foundation at La Mortella -‘The Devil and the Deep blue Sea’

Thomas Kelly at the National Liberal Club The ‘outrageous’ virtuoso with a heart of pure gold.

It must have been a long time since the sedate respectable ladies of this garden suburb were seen to cheer and clap with such fervour!
Just as the refined noble ladies of the Parisian salons of the eighteenth century were transformed into wild admirers of Liszt with animalesque fervour.Or the critics in the 1920’s exclaiming on the the arrival of Horowitz in their midst as ‘the greatest pianist alive or dead!’
This surely was the Hampstead Garden Suburb’s equivalent as they were astonished,amazed and seduced by piano playing that had such a bewitching power over the audience.

A ‘Campanella’ of Busoni proportions or a Midsummer night in Rachmaninov’s dream hands .There followed a ‘Mephisto Waltz’ of Horowitzian contortions but above all the calming balm of Ravel’s Jeux d’eau that revealed even more the remarkably delicate artistry of this young virtuoso.

While in Germany, Hummel published A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte (1828), which sold thousands of copies within days of its publication and brought about a new style of fingering and of playing ornaments. Later 19th-century pianistic technique was influenced by Hummel, through his instruction of Carl Czerny who later taught Franz Liszt . Czerny had transferred to Hummel after studying three years with Beethoven. Liszt himself idolized the work and influence of Hummel and often performed his works.Robert Schumann also practiced Hummel (especially the Sonata op 81) and considered becoming his pupil. Liszt’s father Adam refused to pay the high tuition fee Hummel was used to charging (thus Liszt ended up studying with Czerny). Czerny, Thalberg and Henselt were among Hummel’s most prominent students. He also briefly gave some lessons to Felix Mendelssohn.

The Rondo is an early work that dates from 1804 .It was played with a beguiling jeux perlé full of grace and sparkling notes of a ‘joie de vivre’ of irresistible charm

A standing ovation for the 2021 Busoni Winner in the Harold Acton Library in Florence with a ‘Bouquet of Flowers ‘ from Scriabin with his 24 Preludes op 11 and the Canons covered in Flowers of Rachmaninov with his elusive First Sonata op.1 . The last in the present series of Busoni winners presented by the Keyboard Trust going British in Florence.

A quite extraordinary ‘tour de force’ of poetic sensibility and virtuosity but above all intelligence from the refined palette of a deeply dedicated musician.Jae Hong had swept the board in Bolzano with a ‘Hammerklavier’ that will go down in the history of the competition.

Busoni International Piano Competition 2021

His Scriabin was full of insinuating perfumed sounds and sudden bursts of passion.His extraordinary control of sound allowed these 24 gems to glisten and shine on a 1898 Bechstein bequeathed by that never forgotten aesthete Harold Acton.
Not an easy task , as he said later, this is a piano with a unique voice for Beethoven and Schubert but for the Russian school it was missing a few gears!

Such was his mastery that he was able to persuade us,as Richter could do,that this was an instrument that could detonate the bomb shells and range of sounds that this repertoire demands.
Like a man possessed he threw himself into the cauldron of sounds that make up Rachmaninov’s early sonata.As he explained to me afterwards he had to pace himself and find the point of arrival in both Scriabin and Rachmaninov that would give a coherant architectural shape to these two hidden masterpieces.

It was Rachmaninov himself in 1908 who had had such difficulty in finding a form for his op.1 as he struggled with the idea of a sonata based on Goethe’s Faust.He was persuaded to abandon that idea for a more formal form by Medtner and other colleagues trimming down the sonata from 45 to 35 minutes.But little did they realise that this leit motiv was so ingrained that it is there for all those that can find this secret web.It is the formula for a master work that has been misunderstood for too long. It takes the intelligent searching minds of the young super sensitive virtuosi of today to show us the way.
For me it had been Kantarow recently who illuminated a work I had always struggled with since Ogdon brought it to light ( by coincidence with 50 years difference both winners of the Tchaikowsky Competition in Moscow ).It was a light like the ‘star’ in Scriabin that had been shining brightly but only for those with super sensitive antennae able to follow its seemingly impenetrable rays.
Jae Hong with his complete mastery and ultra sensitivity brought it vibrantly alive to all those lucky enough to be present in the cradle of culture that is Florence.
A breathtaking performance where a Guinness book of record of notes were turned into shimmering sounds of gossamer gold and silver out of which emerged fragments that gradually were pieced together to give a coherant form to this gargantuanly sprawling work.

A spontaneous standing ovation greeting this ‘tour de force’and with disarming simplicity this extraordinary artist simply said :‘and now I will show you what this instrument can really do!’
The heavens truly openened as he unlocked the intimate secrets of Brahms’ Intermezzo op 117 n.1 with rarified luminous sounds of delicate whispered secrets.The minutes of aching silence that greeted the last chord were golden indeed .
Lucky Milan that will be able to experience such wonders today in the magnificent new Steinway Studio in the hands of Maura Romano the true saviour for all discerning musicians.

Jae Hong Park at Steinway Hall

And so to the adorable Maura Romano in the new Steinway Flagship in Milan with Jae Hong Park …..a triumph pre-announced with breathtaking performances of Scriabin and Rachmaninov but then really letting his hair down Debussy style with Flaxen locks of ravishing colour.The last word of course went to the miracles that only Bach can offer with the Prelude in B minor bathed in the Russian sound world of Rachmaninov in Siloti’s magical transcription.

A joyous occasion for the first collaboration between Milan and the Keyboard Trust.Jae Hong spending the day hypnotised by the most beautiful piano that Steinways keep for special guests.A day that heard all five Beethoven concertos and the trilogy of late sonatas from the hands of a young master about to play them in two day cycles in Seol on his return on Monday.

All that before his beguiling, breathtaking performances of Scriabin and Rachmaninov for a select invited audience on the magnificent Concert Grand that sits in this magnificent new Steinway Flagship just a stones throw from La Scala.
Next concert on the 7th December with Minkyu Kim.

Minkyu Kim a pianistic and musical genius at St Mary’s

Jae Hong Park was the First Prize Winner of the 2021 Busoni-Mahler Foundation Competition.

He was also the first-prize winner of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition for Young Artists and the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. He was also Finalist Prize winner at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition and fourth-prize winner of the Ettlingen International Competition.

He has performed recitals in many countries including Italy, Argentina, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United States. He has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Camerata, Utah Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras.

He has been invited to the Washington Piano Festival, the Gina Bachauer Piano Festival, Grachten Festival and other festivals to give recitals. He is currently studying in Korea National University of Arts under Prof. Daejin Kim.

Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor op 28 was completed in 1908.It is the first of three “Dresden pieces”, along with the symphony n.2 and part of an opera, which were composed in the quiet city of Dresden.It was originally inspired by Goethe’s tragic play Faust,although Rachmaninoff abandoned the idea soon after beginning composition, traces of this influence can still be found.After numerous revisions and substantial cuts made at the advice of his colleagues, he completed it on April 11, 1908. Konstantin Igumnov gave the premiere in Moscow on October 17, 1908. It received a lukewarm response there, and remains one of the least performed of Rachmaninoff’s works.He wrote from Dresden, “We live here like hermits: we see nobody, we know nobody, and we go nowhere. I work a great deal,”but even without distraction he had considerable difficulty in composing his first piano sonata, especially concerning its form.Rachmaninoff enlisted the help of Nikita Morozov , one of his classmates from Anton Arensky’s class back in the Moscow Conservatory, to discuss how the sonata rondo form applied to his sprawling work.Rachmaninov performed in 1907 an early version of the sonata to contemporaries including Medtner.With their input, he shortened the original 45-minute-long piece to around 35 minutes and completed the work on April 11, 1908. Igumnov gave the premiere of the sonata on October 17, 1908, in Moscow, 

Lukas Geniusas writes about his premiere recording of the Rachmaninov Sonata n. 1 to be issued in October : ‘About a year ago I came across a very rare manuscript of the Rachmaninov’s Sonata no.1 in its first, unabridged version. It had never been publicly performed.
This version of Sonata is not significantly longer (maybe 3 or 4 minutes, still to be checked upon performing), first movement’s form is modified and it is also substantially reworked in terms of textures and voicings, as well as there are few later-to-be-omitted episodes. The fact that this manuscript had to rest unattended for so many years is very perplexing to me. It’s original form is very appealing in it’s authentic full-blooded thickness, the truly Rachmaninovian long compositional breath. I find the very fact of it’s existence worth public attention, let alone it’s musical importance. Pianistic world knows and distinguishes the fact that there are two versions of his Piano Sonata no.2 but to a great mystery there had never been the same with Sonata no.1.’

Lukas Geniušas Maturity and mastery in Duszniki

Alexander’s 24 Preludes, Op. 11 is a set of preludes composed in the course of eight years between 1888–96,being also one of Scriabin’s first published works with M.P.Belaieff in 1897,in Leipzig , together with his 12 Études, Op. 8 (1894–95).

Scriabin’s 24 preludes were modeled after Chopin’s own set of op .They also covered all 24 major and minor keys and they follow the same key sequence: C major, A minor, G major, E minor, D major, B minor and so on, alternating major keys with their relative minors, and following the ascending circle of fifths .

I think Dr Mather said it all when he thanked Dmitri for a phenomenal performance of spectacular proportions and that it was a privilege to have heard such playing.Playing that reminded me of the young Tamas Vasary or even more Sokolov of today .There was a sound that was very clean,crisp and clear but also multi coloured and in the greatest of climaxes sumptuously rich and never hard or ungrateful.A technical mastery allied to a musicianship that could change with chameleonic speed from the purity of Franck to the clarity of Scarlatti and Haydn and then turn the piano into an orchestra with Tchaikowsky and Saint- Saens.I have heard many remarkable hands play on this very instrument, in this extraordinary series that the genial Dr Mather and his team are dedicated to offering to young musicians,but I have never heard such sumptuous sounds as in the hands of this piano genius.A name that defies the beauty ,poetry and total mastery he has in his hands but surely a name to remember!

Dmitrii Kalashnikov was born in Moscow in 1994. He graduated with distinction from the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music (2012; classes of Ada Traub and Tatiana Vorobieva) and the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (2017; class of Elena Kuznetsova). In 2021 he completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music in London (class of Vanessa Latarche). He was a prize-winner at the Concours International de Piano du Conservatoire Russe Alexandre Scriabine (Paris, 2008; 1 st prize), the Jaques Samuel Pianos Intercollegiate Piano Competition (London, 2019; 1 st prize) and the Beethoven Senior Intercollegiate Piano Competition (London, 2021; 1 st prize). He is a grant-recipient of the New Names foundation, the Yuri Rozum International Charitable Foundation and the Homecoming Culture Development Fund, and has received the Prize of the Support for Talented Youth of the Government of the Russian Federation, the City of Moscow Prize and the George Stennett Award. He was also supported by a Neville Wathen Scholarship. He gives recitals at the Moscow Conservatory, the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, the Moscow International Performing Arts Centre, London’s Wigmore Hall and at various venues in France, Austria, Poland, Estonia, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom. He has appeared on several occasions with the Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev and in a duet with Pletnev on two pianos (conducted by Mischa Damev). He regularly performs at the Mariinsky International Piano Festival. In December 2018 he appeared at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre with the Mariinsky Orchestra. He has taken part in various projects of the State Tretyakov Gallery. For several years he ran artistic soirees with the artist Gavriil Kochevrin for charitable events for orphans at the Marina Tsvetaeva House Museum (Moscow). These concert performances have seen the participation of Yevgeny Knyazev, Alexander Rudin and Boris Andrianov. In September 2019 he took part in the opening of the season at the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after A.S. Pushkin.

Dmitry Kalashnikov at St Mary’s Mastery and intelligence with explosions of virtuosity at the service of the music.

Franck was inspired to write this organ piece for the instrument at the church of Sainte-Clotilde. While it sounds majestic on the organ, it is also frequently heard in Harold Bauer’s transcription for the piano.The Prelude, Fugue and Variation, Op. 18 is one of Franck’s Six Pieces for organ, premiered by the composer at Sainte-Clotilde on 17 November 1864. They mark a decisive stage in his creative development, revealing how he was building on the post-Beethoven Germanic tradition in terms of the importance given to musical construction.
The Prelude, Fugue and Variation is dedicated to Saint-Saëns. Years earlier, when Franck published his Op. 1 trios, Liszt was among their admirers but had advised his younger colleague to write a new finale for the third of the trios and create a separate work from the original finale – this became Franck’s Fourth Piano Trio, Op. 2, dedicated to Liszt. In spring 1866, the Hungarian composer was in Paris for the French premiere of his Missa solennis for the consecration of the Basilica in Gran (Esztergom) at the Église Saint-Eustache on 15 March, a work about which Franck was enthusiastic. At the beginning of his stay, Liszt had come to listen to Franck improvising at Sainte-Clotilde and, apparently at Duparc’s instigation, a second private performance took place on 3 April. Franck wanted to play Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on the Name BACH but the latter asked instead to hear Franck’s own Prelude, Fugue and Variation.
The piano transcription of this organ work was made by Harold Bauer (1873-1951), the British pianist who gave the world premiere of Debussy’s Children’s Corner and was the dedicatee of Ondine, the first piece in Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit.Harold Bauer made his debut as a violinist in London in 1883, and for nine years toured England. In 1892, however, he went to Paris and studied with Paderewski for a year.In 1900, Harold Bauer made his debut in America with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performing the U.S. premiere of Brahms’Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor. On 18 December 1908, he gave the world premiere performance of Debussy’s Children’s Corner Suite in Paris.After that he settled in the United States.He was also an influential teacher and editor, heading the Piano Department at the Manhattan School of Music . Starting in 1941, Bauer taught winter master classes at the University of Miami and served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Hartford Hartt .Students of Harold Bauer include notably Abbey Simon and Dora Zaslavsky.

The 55 Haydn Sonatas are perhaps the least-known treasures of the piano repertoire. In them one can hear Haydn virtually inventing the classical style, from the early, somewhat tentative beginnings, through the bold experiments of the 1770s, to the adventurous late works. As with Beethoven (Haydn’s somewhat recalcitrant student) each sonata is a new exploration, and the element of surprise is ever present. Haydn delights in abrupt transitions, twists and turns, sudden pauses, and apparent non sequiturs; listening to him demands a constant alertness.

The 1770s, when Haydn’s Sonata in B minor was composed, was the age of Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) in German culture, an age when aberrant emotions were all the rage in music; and what better tonal avouring than the minor mode to convey these emotions?

It is also important to note that the 1770s was the period in which the harpsichord was gradually giving way to the new fortepiano, precursor of the modern grand, and there is much in this sonata to suggest that it still lingered eagerly on the harpsichord side of things, at least texturally.

This cross-over period between harpsichord and fortepiano plays out in the nature of the first movement’s two contrasting themes.

In place of a lyrical slow movement, Haydn offers us a minuet and trio which features thematic material as dramatically contrasting as the first and second themes of the first movement. The minuet is in the major mode, set high in the register, sparkling with trills

The trio is daringly in the minor mode, set low, and grinds grimly away in constant 16th-note motion.

Haydn wouldn’t be Haydn if he didn’t send you away with a toe-tapping finale and such a movement ends this sonata. To that end, Haydn’s go-to rhythmic device is repeated notes, and this nale chatters on constantly at an 8th-note patter, interrupted at random, it would seem, by surprising silences and dramatic pauses – as if to allow the performer to turn sideways and wink at his audience.

Danse macabre, Op 40, is a symphonic poem for orchestra, written in 1874 and was first performed on 24 January 1875. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis , based on the play Danza macàbra by Camillo Antona-Traversi.In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a symphonic poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin part Shortly after the premiere, the piece was transcribed into a piano solo arrangement by Franz Liszt S.555 a good friend of Saint-Saëns in 1942, Vladimir Horowitz made extensive changes to the Liszt transcription and it is this version that is played most often today.

Genius is hard to define but when you hear it there is no doubt of it’s presence .Tonight Magdalene Ho kept us enraptured by her total concentration and burning intensity mixed with an obvious shyness when her hands left the keys and she had to join us mortals on equal ground .
I remember hearing an 18 year old fresher at the RCM electrifying the audience at the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition with the Eighth Novelette of such luminosity and ravishing beauty but also total commitment to the sounds that were pouring out of her minuscule frame .
The next I knew Patsy Fou rang me during the night to say she had won first prize in the Clara Haskil competition in Switzerland.(Haskil one of the greatest musicians of her time similar today to Pires)
Now in the great hands of Dmitri Alexeev her playing has grown in strength and nobility as a young girl becomes a sensitive woman more aware of the world around her.
Bach playing of such clarity and architectural strength .
Beethoven’s op 109 of radiance and searing aristocratic beauty. But it was the Schumann Carnaval of extraordinary character and authority ,where Florestan and Eusebius could finally live together in such secure sensitive hands,that showed us what the word genius can really mean.

Carnaval. Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes Robert Schumann

Carnaval had its origin in a set of variations on a Sehnsuchtswalzer by Franz Schubert , whose music Schumann had discovered only in 1827. The catalyst for writing the variations may have been a work for piano and orchestra by Schumann’s close friend Ludwig Schuncke,a set of variations on the same Schubert theme. Schumann felt that Schuncke’s heroic treatment was an inappropriate reflection of the tender nature of the Schubert piece, so he set out to approach his variations in a more intimate way, working on them in 1833 and 1834.

Schumann’s work was never completed, however, and Schuncke died in December 1834, but he did re-use the opening 24 measures for the opening of Carnaval. 

The 21 pieces are connected by a recurring motif . The four notes are encoded puzzles, and Schumann predicted that “deciphering my masked ball will be a real game for you.”

Both Schumann and his wife Clara considered his solo piano works too difficult for the general public. ( Chopin is reported to have said that Carnaval was not music at all.Chopin did not warm to Schumann on the two occasions they met briefly and had a generally low opinion of his music.) Consequently, the works for solo piano were rarely performed in public during Schumann’s lifetime, although Liszt performed selections from Carnaval in Leipzig in March 1840, omitting certain movements with Schumann’s consent. Six months after Schumann’s death, Liszt later wrote that Carnaval was a work “that will assume its natural place in the public eye alongside Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which in my opinion it even surpasses in melodic invention and conciseness”.

Sphinxs consists of three sections, each consisting of one bar on a single staff in bass (F) clef, with no key, tempo, or dynamic indications. The notes are written as breves . The pitches given are the notes E♭C B A (SCHA) and A♭C B (AsCH) and A E♭C B (ASCH). Many pianists and editors, including Clara Schumann, advocate for omitting the Sphinxs in performance.

These are musical cryptograms , as follows:

• A, E♭, C, B – German: A–Es–C–H (the Es is pronounced as a word for the letter S)
• A♭, C, B – German: As–C–H
• E♭, C, B, A – German: as Es–C–H–A

The first two spell the German name for the town of Asch (now As in the Czech Republic), in which Schumann’s then fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken, was born.The sequence of letters also appears in the German word Fasching, meaning carnival. In addition, Asch is German for “Ash”, as in Ash Wednesday , the first day of Lent. Lastly, it encodes a version of the composer’s name, Robert Alexander Schumann. The third series, S–C–H–A, encodes the composer’s name again with the musical letters appearing in Schumann, in their correct

Fantasia and fugue in A minor as is often the case with Bach, little is known about the origins of the piece. It is not even clear whether he intended it for organ, clavichord or harpsichord. In his interview about the work, The Fantasia begins with a series of descending notes in the bass, and descending lines continue to dominate the rest of the piece. The Fugue builds up steadily to a four-part web of harmonies. Then halfway through, there is a chromatically descending line as a second theme, which takes the idea of the descending bass in the Fantasia one step further. And then Bach weaves both themes together to form a rich harmonic whole. Rather than dexterous virtuosity,

The three movements of the sonata op 109 :

1. Vivace ma non troppo — Adagio espressivo
2. Prestissimo.
3. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo.

The Sonata op 109 is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven’s long-standing friend Antonie Brentano for whom Beethoven had already composed the short Piano Trio in B flat Wo039 in 1812.There is an April entry in Beethoven’s conversation book describing a “small new piece” that is, according to William Meredith, identical to the first movement of Op. 109. In fact, the outline of the movement makes the idea of a Bagatelle interrupted by fantasia-like interludes seem very plausible.Beethoven’s secretary Franz Oliva then allegedly suggested the idea of using this “small piece” as the beginning of the sonata that Schlesinger wanted.The date of the first performance is unknown. The first pianists to undertake bringing Beethoven’s last sonatas, including Op. 109, to public attention were Franz Liszt,who regularly included them in his programs between 1830 and 1840,and Hans von Bulow, who even included several of the late sonatas in one evening.

Lukinov Gramophone review review and Lagrasse festival

A full house for Nikita Lukinov at the Liberal Club with a display of a supreme stylist blessed with an elegance and a kaleidoscopic range of sounds.
Schumann’s Symphonic Studies that shone like newly minted jewels that astonishingly they could still take us by surprise with his sensitive artistry and passionate commitment.
Moulding such well known phrases into streams of sounds of ravishing beauty where even the posthumous studies seemed at last to have found their true home as he incorporated them into the whole with such sensitive intelligence.
Five of Tchaikowsky’s little pieces op 72 ,having such fun at the end of his life baking his little ‘pancakes’ ,were transformed into miniature tone poems of striking beauty and mastery.
Pletnev’s transcription of four pieces from Sleeping Beauty by contrast paled into insignificance even though played with the mastery that had held us mesmerised from this dashing young Russian who had flown down from his home in Glasgow to enchant and seduce us.
He is by the way the youngest staff member at The Royal Conservatory of Scotland and of all UK’s Music Conservatories.
He and his companion Anastasia ,a renowned novelist,are truly a golden couple who relish the Glaswegian air.

Nikita Lukinov plays breathtaking charity recital for Ukraine in Berlin.

Nikita Lukinov at St Marys The charm and aristocratic style of a star

Nikita Lukinov at St Mary’s a masterly warrior with canons covered in flowers

The Symphonic Studies Op. 13, began in 1834 as a theme and sixteen variations on a theme by Baron von Fricken, plus a further variation on an entirely different theme by Heinrich Marschner.The first edition in 1837 carried an annotation that the tune was “the composition of an amateur”: this referred to the origin of the theme, which had been sent to Schumann by Baron von Fricken, guardian of Ernestine von Fricken, the Estrella of his Carnaval op. 9. The baron, an amateur musician, had used the melody in a Theme with Variations for flute. Schumann had been engaged to Ernestine in 1834, only to break abruptly with her the year after. An autobiographical element is thus interwoven in the genesis of the Études symphoniques (as in that of many other works of Schumann’s).Of the sixteen variations Schumann composed on Fricken’s theme, only eleven were published by him. (An early version, completed between 1834 and January 1835, contained twelve movements). The final, twelfth, published étude was a variation on the theme from the Romance Du stolzes England freue dich (Proud England, rejoice!), from Heinrich Marschner’s opera Der Templer und die Judin based on Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (as a tribute to Schumann’s English friend, William Sterndale Bennett to whom it is dedicated )The earlier Fricken theme occasionally appears briefly during this étude. The work was first published in 1837 as XII Études Symphoniques. Only nine of the twelve études were specifically designated as variations. The entire work was dedicated to Schumann’s English friend, the pianist and composer, and Bennett played the piece frequently in England to great acclaim, but Schumann thought it was unsuitable for public performance and advised his wife Clara not to play it.The highly virtuosic demands of the piano writing are frequently aimed not merely at effect but at clarification of the polyphonic complexity and at delving more deeply into keyboard experimentation.

• Theme – Andante [C^♯ minor]
• Etude I (Variation 1) – Un poco più vivo [C^♯ minor]
• Etude II (Variation 2) – Andante [C^♯ minor]
• Etude III – Vivace [E Major]
• Etude IV (Variation 3) – Allegro marcato [C^♯ minor]
• Etude V (Variation 4) – Scherzando [C^♯ minor]
• Etude VI (Variation 5) – Agitato [C^♯ minor]
• Etude VII (Variation 6) – Allegro molto [E Major]
• Etude VIII (Variation 7) – Sempre marcatissimo [C^♯ minor]
• Etude IX – Presto possibile [C^♯ minor]
• Etude X (Variation 8) – Allegro con energia [C^♯ minor]
• Etude XI (Variation 9) – Andante espressivo [G^♯ minor]
• Etude XII (Finale) – Allegro brillante (based on Marschner’s theme) [D^♭ Major]

On republishing the set in 1890, Johannes Brahms restored the five variations that had been cut by Schumann. These are now often played, but in positions within the cycle that vary somewhat with each performance; there are now twelve variations and these five so-called “posthumous” variations which exist as a supplement.

The five posthumously published sections (all based on Fricken’s theme) are:

• Variation I – Andante, Tempo del tema
• Variation II – Meno mosso
• Variation III – Allegro
• Variation IV – Allegretto
• Variation V – Moderato.

In 1834, Schumann fell in love with Ernestine von Fricken, a piano student of Friedrich Wieck, and for a time they seemed destined to marry. The relationship did not last—Schumann got cold feet after he learned that she had been born out of wedlock—but it inspired some notable music. Carnaval, Op. 9, a set of character pieces for piano, is based on a four-note motive derived from the name of Ernestine’s home town. The Etudes symphoniques, Op. 13, are variations on a theme by Ernestine’s father, Ignaz Ferdinand von Fricken, a nobleman and amateur composer. Of course, Schumann eventually transferred his affections to Clara Wieck, and it was she who gave the first performance of the Etudes symphoniques, in 1837. The piece was published by Haslinger that same year, with a dedication to the English composer William Sterndale Bennett rather than to Ernestine. A revised version appeared in 1852.

Our manuscript is a sketch that includes the theme and variations 1, 2, 5, 10, 12, as well as five others that were not published until 1873, in an appendix edited by none other than Johannes Brahms. It formerly belonged to Alice Tully (1902–1993), the philanthropist whose name graces a concert hall in Lincoln Center. She gave it to Vladimir Horowitz (who counted Schumann’s music among his many specialties in the piano repertoire), and two years after his death, his widow Wanda Toscanini Horowitz donated it to Yale. The other principal manuscript source for this piece belongs to the library of the Royal Museum of Mariemont, in Belgium.

Tchaikovsky’s 18 Pieces (18 Morceaux), Op. 72 were his last works for solo piano, completed in April 1893 at Klin.Returning to Klin on 3/15 February 1893 after a long period of absence, Tchaikovsky straight away set to work on composing his Symphony n.6 At around this time he also assembled materials which were to form the basis for a series of piano pieces. On 5/17 February the composer told his brother Modest : “In the meantime, in order to earn some money, I will compose a few piano pieces and romances”

Tchaikovsky only began to compose these pieces in April, after completing the sketches of his Symphony n.6 and fulfilling a number of concert engagements, from which he returned on 5/17 April 1893.On 5/17 April 1893, Tchaikovsky wrote to ilya Slatin from Klin :’I have been on holiday in Saint Petersburg with my family, which was very nice. I came back today and began collecting my thoughts to compose a whole series of miniature

By 15/27 April, ten pieces had already been written. “In the 10 days since returning from Petersburg , I have decided, for the want of money, to write a few little piano pieces, and have conditioned myself to write at least one a day during this month”, Tchaikovsky wrote to Ilya Slatin on 15/27 April :”I’m continuing to bake my musical pancakes”, he wrote on the same day to Vladimir Davydov : “Today the tenth is being prepared. It’s remarkable that the further I get, the easier and more enjoyable the job becomes. At the beginning it went slowly, and the first two or three items were merely the result of an effort of will, but now I cannot stop my ideas, which appear to me one after another, at all hours of the day”

Some superb playing advertised as a duo but they truly played as one.Have the etherial passionate sounds of these last utterings of Debussy ever sounded so fresh and improvised?There was magic in the air with the lightness and insinuating sounds of the second movement that were rediscovered together as though for the first time .The concealed passion and throbbing heart beat of the last movement drew this world – Debussy’s – to a conclusion in only thirteen minutes.There was passion too in the Grieg sonata but it was the heartrending intimacy that was so touching. Looking at each other and both on the same wave just waiting for each other to emerge and submerge with a continual movement.Each swaying with the music indeed as Chopin said :the roots firmly in the ground but the branches free to move in the breeze.I did not think the ravishing beauty of Jae Hong’s Allegretto could be more lovingly tender or beautiful but then Esther’s violin took over with different sounds less luminous but of even greater intensity.An exhilarating prestissimo was played with extraordinary rhythmic energy bringing these two Sonatas to a magnificent end.Rachmaninov’s Vocalise was pure magic as the violin gently conversed with the piano in a duet of ravishing beauty but also of extraordinary balance.Jae Hong playing with the piano lid fully opened but there was never any moment when he might have overpowered this single violin.Two superb musicians listening to each other as they created a single unified whole .A lesson in humility and artistry as they thought more of the music they were making together than themselves.Yankee Doodle was a way to release the tension that had been created by so much wonderful music making.Jae Hong patiently accompanying the hi jinx of his partner and every so often letting the brass band in his hands and feet take over ……it was fun but it was the desolate Korean Melody and the deeply nostalgic Morning Song by Elgar that stole our hearts.

Jae Hong Park at Steinway Hall

The Debussy sonata for violin and piano in G minor, L.140, was written in 1917. It was the composer’s last major composition.The premiere took place on 5 May 1917, the violin part played by Gaston Poulet , with Debussy himself at the piano. It was his last public performance.

The work has three movements:

1. Allegro vivo
2. Intermède: Fantasque et léger
3. Finale: Très animé

The unfinished sonatas

Six sonatas for various instruments (French: Six sonates pour divers instruments) was a projected cycle of sonatas that was interrupted by the composer’s death in 1918, after he had composed only half of the projected sonatas. He left behind his sonatas for cello and piano 1915), flute, viola and harp (1915), and violin and piano (1916–1917).Debussy wrote in the manuscript of his violin sonata that the fourth sonata should be written for oboe, horn,and harpsichord and the fifth for trumpet, clarinet, bassoon and piano.

From 1914, the composer, encouraged by the music publisher Jacques Durand intended to write a set of six sonatas for various instruments, in homage to the French composers of the 18th century. The effects of the First World War and an interest in baroque composers Couperin and Rameau inspired Debussy as he was writing the sonatas.

Durand, in his memoirs entitled Quelques souvenirs d’un éditeur de musique, wrote the following about the sonatas’ origin:

‘After his famous String Quartet, Debussy had not written any more chamber music. Then, at the Concerts Durand, he heard again the Septet with trumpet by Saint-Saëns and his sympathy for this means of musical expression was reawoken. He admitted the fact to me and I warmly encouraged him to follow his inclination. And that is how the idea of the six sonatas for various instruments came about.^’

In a letter to the conductor Bernard Molinari, Debussy explained that the set should include “different combinations, with the last sonata combining the previously used instruments”. His death on 25 March 1918 prevented him from carrying out his plan, and only three of the six sonatas were completed and published by Durand, with a dedication to his second wife, Emma Bardac.

For the final and sixth sonata, Debussy envisioned a concerto where the sonorities of the “various instruments” combine, with the gracious assistance of the double bass.

Grieg began composing his third and final violin sonata in the autumn of 1886. Whereas the first two sonatas were written in a matter of weeks, this sonata took him several months to complete.Although there were only two years between the first two violin sonatas, the Violin Sonata No 3 in C minor, Op 45, was not to follow for almost two decades: the last piece of chamber music Grieg completed, it was composed—at Grieg’s home, Troldhaugen, outside Bergen—in the second half of 1886, just spilling into the first days of 1887.The sonata is in three movements The second movement opens with a serene piano solo in E major with a lyrical melodic line. In the middle section, Grieg uses a playful dance tune. It also exists in a version for cello and piano that Grieg composed during the same time as the violin version and given to his brother as a birthday gift in May 1887, but appeared in print only in 2005 (by Henle).

Allegro molto ed appassionato – Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza – Allegro animato – Prestissimo 

The sonata remains the most popular of the three works, and has established itself in the standard repertoire. The work was also a personal favorite of Grieg’s. Grieg played the piano part in the premiere, in the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 10 December 1887; the violinist was the eminent Adolph Brodsky, who had given the first performance of the Tchaikovsky Concerto six years earlier (and was later head of the Royal Manchester School of Music)To a certain extent, Grieg built on Norwegian folk melodies and rhythms in this three-movement sonata. However, Grieg considered the second sonata as the “Norwegian” sonata, while the third sonata was “the one with the broader horizon.” This was the last piece Grieg composed using sonata form.

“Vocalise” is a song composed and published in 1915 as the last of his 14 Songs or 14 Romances, Op.34.Written for high voice (soprano or tenor)it contains no words, but is sung using only one vowel of the singer’s choosing It was dedicated to soprano singer Antonina Nezhdanova. It is performed in various instrumental arrangements more frequently than in the original vocal version.In this case arranged by Jascha Heifetz.

The French violinist Henri Vieuxtemps wrote Souvenir d’Amérique, opus 17 for violin and piano, in 1843, during his first concert tour in the United States. This set of variations, based on the melody of the popular song Yankee Doodle, became the entertaining surprise encore piece at Vieuxtemps’ recitals. Its humorous spirit, together with its virtuosic firework displays and imaginative use of playing techniques, made Souvenir d’Amérique an instant audience favorite.