ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

London has waited too long but better late than never and thanks to Vanessa Latarche and Ian Jones at last he made it ………William Naboré bestrides the RCM like a Colossus

William Grant Naboré thoughts and afterthoughts of a great teacher

THE KEYBOARD CHARITABLE TRUST
in collaboration with ST MARY’S, PERIVALE
present

An Autumn Piano Festival

A series of great masterpieces
performed by ten of the finest young pianists of our time.

Saturday 30 September 2.00 – 7.00 pm

Day 1 – Saturday 30 September   

2 pm Zala Kravos

Zala Kravos was born in Slovenia in 2002 and started piano lessons at the age of five. The following year she entered the Conservatory of the City of Luxembourg, where she was awarded diplomas in performance and music theory. From 2012 to 2018, she studied in parallel at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium with Maria João Pires and Louis Lortie. At the age of seventeen she was accepted in Bachelor of Music (Hons) programme at the Royal College of Music. She graduated in July and is now in the Master of Music in Performance (Keyboard) programme. Her piano professor is Norma Fisher. Since 2010, she has regularly taken part in masterclasses with many other internationally renowned pianists. Between 2009 and 2016, Zala won national and international competitions in Luxembourg, France and the USA, where she was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. She has been regularly performing solo, chamber music and with orchestras since the age of six and has already played in nineteen countries. She recorded in Germany her first solo album in 2017 and in 2021, she recorded a second album of piano duets with her younger brother, Val. Critics across Europe were unanimous in their praise of both recordings.
‘One of the greatest talents I have ever seen.’ – Maria João Pires
‘An artist with a distinct and compelling voice and a musical sincerity that is rare, indeed.’ – Norma Fisher
‘A performing career that is already international enough to make her talk as if she’s an old hand.’ – International Piano Magazine

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/05/24/zala-kravos-at-st-marys-a-born-musician-of-great-artistry-and-intelligence/https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/11/03/zala-kravos-at-st-marys-the-simplicity-and-intelligence-of-a-true-artist/

3 pm Nikita Burzanitsa

 

Nikita Burzanitsa was born into a family of musicians in Donetsk, Ukraine. In 2015, he won a scholarship to Wells Cathedral School where he studied with John Byrne. In 2017, he returned to Donetsk to study at the State Conservatoire. Since 2020 he has been studying at the Royal College of Music with Dmitri Alexeev. His competition successes include winning the Wells Concerto Competition and First Prize in the International London Piano and Music Competition in 2017. In 2020, he won the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year – and in the following year, he won Second Prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Piano Competition and in the Orbetello Piano Competition (Junior) in Italy. He also won First Prize in the Moscow International Music Competition in 2021, at the Nouvelles Étoiles International Music Competition in Paris, in the Four Notes Piano Competition in Abu Dhabi and in the Vienna Music Competition (virtuoso category). He has taken part in masterclasses with Dmytro Suhovienko, Andrey Ivanovich, John Byrne, Ian Jones, Steven Hough, Vanessa Latarche, Mitsuko Uchida, Barry Douglas, Boris Berman, Vovka Ashkenazy and Miguel Angel Shebba.

4 pm Ellis Thomas

  

Welsh pianist  Ellis Thomas  has been acclaimed as a ‘sincere and committed’ musician, offering performances ‘with real understanding’ (Julian Jacobson, Beethoven Piano Society of Europe). He is equally at home with core repertoire as with contemporary and lesser-known works. Ellis has performed extensively at venues around the UK and is regularly invited to perform at music festivals in England and Wales. In recent years, he has also performed in Spain, Germany and Italy, and his performances and interviews have been broadcast on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Cymru, and S4C television. He has won prizes at many competitions including at the 2021 Düsseldorf Robert Schumann International Piano Competition. He also won First Prize at the Wales International Piano Festival, Gregynog Young Musician and the RIBI National Young Musician, and the Wales National Eisteddfod, amongst others. He has taken part in masterclasses with, and received lessons from, Boris Berman, Imogen Cooper, Pascal Rogé, Yevgeny Sudbin, Till Felner, Péter Nagy and Steven Osborne. He regularly performs as part of several chamber groups and ensembles. Ellis is a collaborative pianist and faculty member for the International Music Academy of Solsona in Spain. 

Ellis also holds the Philharmonia Orchestra’s MMSF Piano Fellowship for the 2023-24 season. He is interested in exploring new connections between music and other arts. He recently worked with artist Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom for an exhibition at Kettle’s Yard Gallery in Cambridge, providing improvisations for a series of short films. Ellis graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with First Class Honours, where he achieved the highest mark in a final recital performance. Prior to this, Ellis studied at the Royal Northern College of Music’s Junior department for six years with Manola Hatfield. He is currently pursuing postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is studying with Tessa Nicholson. Alongside a generous scholarship from the Academy, Ellis is grateful for support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation, the Ryan Davies Memorial Fund, the Kathleen Trust and Talent Unlimited. 

5.15 pm : Antonio Morabito

Antonio Morabito  is an Italian pianist and graduate of the Royal College of Music in London with a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance. He teaches through the Royal College of Music Teaching Service. He also teaches as a Piano Professor at the Blackheath Conservatoire and at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London – and as a choral conductor at St. Augustine’s Church in Hammersmith. Antonio graduated with distinction in piano from the Cilea Conservatory under the guidance of Marialaura Cosentino who continues to be a mentor. Whilst studying at the Cilea Conservatory, he also studied composition. As a composer, he has written solo piano and chamber music, some of which he has performed himself in public concerts and for television broadcasts in Italy. 

In 2019, Antonio won a scholarship from the European Commission and obtained a Master’s Degree from the J. Rodrigo Conservatory of Valencia in piano and chamber music with Adolfo Bueso and in choir conducting with Nadya Stoyanova. In 2019, he graduated with distinction in chamber music from the Cilea Conservatory. He also graduated in philosophy from the University of Messina. He has participated in masterclasses with acclaimed musicians such as Freddy Kempf, Enrique Batiz Campbell, Cristiano Burato, François-Joël Thiollier, Michele Campanella, Benedetto Lupo, Stefan Stroissnig and Leslie Howard. 

He has also received prizes and achieved high rankings in national and international piano competitions, including at the Bruxelles International Piano Competition, the International Competition Città di Barletta, the Mandanici Award, the Rome Competition, the Làszlò Spezzaferri International Music Competition, the International Music Competition ‘Città di Pesaro’, the VII Odin International Music Online Competitio, the ‘San Donà di Piave’ Piano International Competition, the International Youth Music Competition in Atlanta, USA, the London Classic Music Competition and the International Moscow Music Competition. He was named ‘Young Artist of Excellence for the Musical Arts’ in 2014 by the UNICRAM Association.His studies at the RCM were generously supported by the Members of the Board of ‘Il Circolo’.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid029TMzTmfPqEhmyGE63vdsAuaCL7q9CTaoaQ43QJWfwvL8LG3JNREaA4HCZ31bw4yel&id=1311561820

6.15 pm Kyle Hutchings

Kyle Hutchings is a British pianist who, after just twelve months of self-taught playing, won a scholarship to study in London with pianist, Richard Meyrick on the Pianoman Scholarship’s Scheme, sponsored by Sir Harvey and Lady Allison McGrath. He subsequently made his London debut with the Arch Sinfonia playing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto. 

Kyle has performed at many venues in the U.K. including at London’s King’s Place, the BT Tower and the Lansdowne Club, as part of the Blüthner Recital Series. He also performs internationally and recently gave recitals in Italy and Poland. He has been the recipient of many scholarships and prizes and was awarded the Nancy Thomas Prize for Piano as well as the Director’s Prize for Excellence during his scholarship studies at Trinity Laban. Kyle was also nominated for the Conservatoire’s coveted Gold Medal.

THE KEYBOARD CHARITABLE TRUST
in collaboration with ST MARY’S, PERIVALE
present Sunday 1 October 2.00 – 7.00 pm

An Autumn Piano Festival Day 2

Roger Nellist writes :”A second day of fabulous recitals by 5 international pianists playing in our Autumn Piano Festival, run jointly with the Keyboard Charitable Trust. Just so many effusive comments were offered about their performances from audience members in the church and from the numerous online viewers (with several pianist friends today in Italy and Bolivia, as well as our usual followers in Poland, USA, Canada and UK). Today, KCT Artistic Director Christopher Axworthy interviewed each pianist after their performance, adding much interest to the day. He will prepare a more detailed review but for all of us this two-day festival has been a musical triumph – which ended in something of a party atmosphere with pianists, KCT organisers (Christopher, Elena and Sarah Biggs), St Mary’s team and some in our audience chatting together and photographing afterwards. It was especially good to see some of our pianists staying to hear the others play. So, very special thanks for their impressive performances go to: JOSE NAVARRO-SILBERSTEIN (Bolivia), FILIPPO TENISCI (Albania/Italy), GIORDANO BUONDONNO (Italy), KASPARAS MIKUZIS (Lithuania) and MISHA KAPLOUKHII (Russia).

2.0 pm José Navarro Silberstein

The young Bolivian pianist has performed in different countries in venues and festivals in Europe, South America and USA. Halls include Teatro Municipal “Alberto Saavedra Pérez” in his hometown La Paz to the Musikverein in Vienna. He is a Talent Unlimited Artist in London. As a soloist, he has performed with the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Georgian Philarmonic Orchestra, La Paz Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Jóvenes Musicos Bolivianos, Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Santa Cruz de la Sierra among others. He is a prize winner at the Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition in Düsseldorf, Tbilisi International Piano Competition in Georgia, International Competition Young Academy Award in Rome, Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition in Chile among many others. He was a finalist at the Eppan Piano Academy and at the 63r d Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. In Bolivia he gave masterclasses in La Paz Conservatory, Sucre Conservatory Santa Cruz Fine Arts College and Laredo School in Cochabamba. He served as a jury member in national music competitions. He was mentored by Paul Badura Skoda. He studied with Balasz Szokolay at the Franz Liszt University in Weimar and with Claudio Martínez Mehner at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne. At the moment he is at the Artist Diploma programme at the Royal College of Music in London under the guidance of Norma Fisher and Ian Jones.He holds scholarships from Royal College of Music, Herrmann Foundaiton Liechtenstein- Bolivia, Theo and Petra Lieven Foundation of Hamburg, Clavarte Foundation in Bern and Elfrun Gabriel Foundation for Young Pianists.

Jose Navarro Silberstein – masterly performances of red hot intensity

José Andres Navarro at St James’s Piccadilly Temperament,Authority and Musical integrity.

3 pm Filippo Tenisci

Debussy : Images (book 2)
1. Cloches à travers les feuilles (Be(blls through the leaves)
2. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut (And the moon sets over the former temple)
3. Poissons d’or (Golden fish)

Born in 1998 in Tirana,  Filippo Tenisci  began his studies with Emira Dervinyte. He later trained with Daniel Rivera, Massimo Spada, Maurizio Baglini and Roberto Galletto. He has also attended masterclasses with Beatrice Rana, Elisso Virsaladze, Boris Petrushansky, Andrea Lucchesini, Ewa Poblocka, Justas Dvarionas, Uta Weyand, Jun Kanno, Ralf Nattkemper and Elisabetta Guglielmin. In 2016, he won Third Prize at the International Competition ‘Resonances’ in Paris and the prize for the best performer of Ukrainian music. In 2018, he was the overall winner of the International Competition for Youth ‘Dinu Lipatti’. In the same year, he won First Prize in the Franz Liszt Competition at the Hungarian Academy in Rome and was among the top eight semi-finalists at the Pianale Academy and Competition. In 2019, he won Second Prize and the ‘Scarlatti Prize’ at the Riga International Competition for Young Pianists. In 2020, he collaborated in the making of the documentary ‘Richard Wagner, ovvero la musica dell’avvenire’ by Valerio Vicari. In 2021, he made his debut with the Roma Tre Orchestra performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 K.450 conducted by Sieva Borzak. Again with Roma Tre Orchestra, he performed Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos and Orchestra, with pianist Giuseppe Rossi, conducted by Maurizio Baglini for the Baglini Project 2021. Active internationally, he has recently made his debut in Romania at the Classic for Teens 2020 Festival, and has also performed in France, Germany, Latvia, Bosnia and Switzerland. 

‘Tenisci’s … sensitivity and maturity at the piano surprise us despite his age’ – Quinte Parallele 

‘Filippo Tenisci is considered as one of the best and promising talents of his generation. A passionate and sensitive musician, capable of capturing the audience’s attention thanks to his undoubted maturity and talent’ – Monferrato Classic Festival

Filippo Tenisci exults the genius of Wagner and Liszt in Velletri

Roma 3 Orchestra The Mozart Project

4 pm Giordano Buondonno

B

Debussy: Images (Book 1)
1. Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the water)
2. Hommage à Rameau (Homage to Rameau)
3. Mouvement

Born in Italy, Giordano Buondonno graduated from the Giacomo Puccini Conservatoire with Honours, receiving the highest mark in his class. He completed his Master’s Degree and an Artist Diploma, both achieved with Distinction, at Trinity Laban Conservatoire under the guidance of Sergio De Simone and Deniz Gelenbe. At the age of nineteen, Giordano won First Prize at the Clara Schumann Competition. In 2017 and 2019, he performed for the Piano City Festival in Milan. He was also the First Prize winner at the PianoLink Concerto Competition, playing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with the PianoLink Philharmonic Orchestra in Milan. Giordano’s performances in the U.K. include recitals at St. James’s Piccadilly in London and at Henley Park Manor in Surrey, for His Serene Highness Prince Donatus von Hohenzollern. He also represented Trinity Laban as a finalist in the 2019 Beethoven Society Intercollegiate Piano Competition and, more recently, he was selected to represent Trinity Laban’s Keyboard Department in the annual Gold Medal Showcase at King’s Place in London. In 2021, he won Third Prize at the Sheepdrove Intercollegiate Piano Competition, and was a finalist in the Trinity Laban Soloist Competition. Giordano is a recipient of The Leverhulme Trust Scholarship, Arthur Haynes Scholarship, Gladys Bratton Scholarship and two Jaqueline Williams Scholarships for his studies at Trinity Laban.

Giordano Buondonno at the Solti Studio- Masterly performances of searing intensity

Giordano Buondonno at Roma 3 ‘Drops of crystal ‘ of musical intelligence and ravishing beauty

5.15 pm Kasparas Mikuzis

By the age of twenty, Lithuanian-born pianist Kasparas Mikužis had performed at Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room and the Concertgebouw. He had also released a debut CD and his performances had been televised on Mezzo TV and broadcast on Lithuanian radio and Radio Classique in France. Kasparas’s distinctive piano playing was acknowledged when he became a scholar of SOS Talents Foundation at the age of ten. Since then, Kasparas has performed across Europe including at the United Nations’ Headquarters in Geneva and at ‘EMMA for Peace’, the World Summit of Nobel Prize Peace Laureates concert in Warsaw. In 2018, Kasparas was invited to participate in the V. Krainev Competition in Kharkiv where he performed Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. He has also performed in the Lithuanian Philharmonic Hall, the Fazioli factory concert hall in Sacile, Italy, Steinway Hall in Barcelona and in Kharkiv Philharmonic Hall with the Kharkiv Philharmonic Orchestra. Kasparas is a laureate of twenty-two international competitions including the Grand Prix at the tenth international Balys Dvarionas competition for young pianists in Lithuania and a double First Prize at the twenty-eighth Roma International Piano Competition, where he won First Prize in both the nineteen and twenty-five-year old categories. Kasparas is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Diana Ketler. He previously studied with Justas Dvarionas at the Purcell School and with Liudmila Kašetiene. Recently, Kasparas was invited to play for Sir András Schiff in the Riga Jurmala Music Festival masterclass. Forthcoming engagements include a chamber music concert with Jack Liebeck and Josephine Knight at the Royal Academy of Music and a recital at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Kasparas is grateful for the help and support of SOS Talents Foundation, the M. Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation (Lithuania), Talent Unlimited Foundation, the Hattori Foundation and Drake Calleja Trust. For representing Lithuania on an international stage Kasparas was awarded a letter of gratitude by the President of the Republic of Lithuania.

Kasparas Mikuzis the outsider takes St Mary’s by storm

6.15 pm 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

Jonathan Ferrucci is back in his home city of Florence, with the seven Toccatas by Bach,in the Harold Acton library now part of the British Institute.

As Jonathan said,’Bach invites you to dance with him’ in these early works inspired by listening to the great organist Buxtehude.An invitation to improvise and ornament in works that do not have a specific formal construction and are very free almost improvised episodes before bursting into flaming showmanship with the sudden eruption of the toccata itself.

Starting with the scintillating C minor and ending with the imperious D major. But what a wonderful surprise the grandeur of the F sharp minor BWV 910 or the very busy knotty twine of the E minor.A kaleidoscope of colour in the opening C minor with a very deliberately paced toccata where the whispered return was as breathtaking as the ecstatic outpouring of glorious exultation of the ending.Ravishing beauty and delicacy of the G major before the popular ditty of the toccata that disappeared into the depths of the Keyboard.What contemplation of the greatly extended D minor.

Jonathan had a whole world in his hands and all with the gentle sunset through the beautiful windows turning Jonathan’s silhouette into a room with a remarkable view indeed .
But another Toccata that Jonathan had up his sleeve was truly a breathtaking and exhilarating cleansing of the air .Ravel’s decadent and ravishingly exotic Toccata from a work dedicated to friends sent to their slaughter in the First World War .A whole generation wiped out and denied the better world that Bach had already depicted with mathematical universal genIus.

The Toccatas for Keyboard, BWV 910–916, are seven pieces for clavier written by J S Bach Although the pieces were not originally organized into a collection by Bach himself (as were most of his other keyboard works, such as the Well Tempered Clavier and the English Suites etc.), the pieces share many similarities, and are frequently grouped and performed together under a collective title.

The seven Toccatas by J.S. Bach contain some of the great master’s most joyous keyboard music. The toccatas are youthful, improvisatory, virtuoso works, composed in the aftermath of Bach’s trip in 1705 to Lübeck to hear the great organist and composer Buxtehude.

The toccatas represent Bach’s earliest keyboard compositions known under a collective title.The earliest sources of the BWV 910, 911 and 916 toccatas appear in the Andreas Bach Book ,an important collection of keyboard and organ manuscripts of various composers compiled by Bach’s oldest brother, Johann Christoph between 1707 and 1713. An early version of the BWV 912 (known as the BWV 912a) also exists in another collection compiled by Johann Christoph Bach known as the ‘Moller manuscript’ from around 1703 to 1707.This indicates that most of these works originated no later than Bach’s early Weimar years, though the early northern German style indicates possible Arnstadt origin.

Though the specific instrumentation is not given for any of the works, none of them call for pedal parts and like Bach’s other clavier works, these toccatas are frequently performed on the piano

The actual order of tonight’s performance was C minor BWV.911 – G major BWV. 916 – G minor BWV.915 – E minor BWV.914 – F sharp minor BWV 910 – D minor BWV .913 – D major BWV.912

• Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910
  1. (Toccata)
  2. [no tempo indication]
  3. Presto e Staccato (Fuga)
  4. [no tempo indication]
  5. (Fuga)
• Toccata in C-minor, BWV 911
  1. (Toccata)
  2. Adagio
  3. (Fuga)
  4. Adagio
  5. (Fuga)
  6. Adagio / Prest
• Toccata in D-major, BWV 912
  1. Presto
  2. Allegro
  3. Adagio
  4. [no tempo indication]
  5. Con Discrezione
  6. Fuga

• Toccata in D-minor, BWV 913
  1. (Toccata)
  2. [no tempo indication]
  3. Presto
  4. Adagio
  5. Allegro
• Toccata in E-minor, BWV 914
  1. (Toccata)
  2. Un Poco Allegro (a 4 voci.)
  3. Adagio
  4. Allegro – Fuga (a 3 voci.)
• Toccata in G-minor, BWV 915
  1. (Toccata)
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro
  4. Adagio
  5. Fuga
• Toccata in G-major, BWV 916
  1. Presto
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro (Fuga)

Jonathan Ferrucci at the Trasimeno Music Festival The long voyage of discovery of a real artist

Jonathan Ferrucci KCT American Tour – Goldberg – A voyage of discovery

Jonathan Ferrucci -The essence of music with aristocratic intelligence and passion at St Mary’s

Jonathan Ferrucci -in Vicenza Je joue,je sens je transmets A timeless search in music

Jonathan Ferrucci the return of a warrior The Goldberg Variations in Florence

Last but certainly not least a round table discussion with many experts from institutions around the world ;’Beyond Erasmus’ Musical Education Abroad and Across Institutions………mediated by Roberto Prosedda it can be seen on the Cremona Musica web site .

https://fb.watch/niIEhlTcAS/

Roberto Prosedda applauding his Maestro

Just next door was the amazing Jed Distler not only one of the finest critics (with the late Piero Rattalino and Bryce Morrison pianophiles who have no peers). But Jed is also a pianist to be reckoned with as he demonstrated with an eclectic programme where the palette of sounds he found on the Bosendorfer 280 would be the envy of his illustrious colleagues.An ease and ‘ joie de vivre’ that like his great friend Inna Faliks fills the hall with a very special happy atmosphere with supreme intelligence and mastery.Jed had just performed in London Mahler 2nd Symphony in a four hand arrangement together with Gabriele Baldocci a protégée of Martha Argerich.Ever generous he and Inna were taken by Roberto to Rovigo Conservatory where they gave masterclasses immediately after the Cremona Musica Fair.Jed wrote to me this morning exclaiming how impressed he was with Roberto’s students and in particular a young man who had been acting as a volunteer in Cremona and then gave an amazing performance of Cesar Franck ….’one of the best he has ever heard’.

Alessio Santolini at Roma 3 the fantasy and invention of a composer pianist

A final afternoon in which many performances overlapped and I was sorry to miss, including a recital by Alessandro Riccardi but I look forward to listening to his CD’s

Having missed completely Atso Almila’s presentation of the ‘Finnish Conducting School’ that we had spoken about over breakfast – I just hope that I can’t catch up with the recordings that were made of the live stream.A man that exudes the simplicity of the truly great I would dearly love to hear all that he has to say about the wonderful Finnish conductors that are taking over as Principal conductors of many of the greatest orchestras of the world .Finally I was able to enjoy some ravishing Debussy from Saya Ota in the Fazioli Concert Hall.Ondine and Feux d’Artifice played with a crystalline clarity and wonderful use of the pedals creating the same magic atmosphere as Carlo Guaitoli had done on this beautiful instrument only 24 hours before.

The entire cast of the Saturday evening concert in the Museo del violino

What a wonder it was at the end of a long day to hear Angelo Fabbrini telling us of his encounters with Michelangeli and Magaloff and to experience the extreme modesty of a man who has symbolised integrity,honesty and passion for so many great pianists of our time as they relied on him to turn their dreams and wishes into a possibility.The greatest of compliments from Magaloff as he came off stage and thanked Fabbrini for allowing him to play without being aware of the mechanics of the piano.Or Michelangeli asking why he had not told him of the birth off his son and would he consider him as Godfather!Michelangeli too asking for the seemingly impossible and Fabbrini replying my name is Angelo not Michel angelo!But Angelo he is knowing that the artist knows what he is looking for and with great respect and much work Fabbrini was always there to provide it.A wonderful man who was crowned with the highest honour of Cremona Musica at the Museo del Violino Saturday evening

The day had begun on the bus taking us from the Hotel in the centre of Cremona to the Exhibition Centre.It was on the bus too that one could encounter the most interesting people in music from every corner of the world .Discussions about conducting with the renowned Finnish conductor Atso Almila in Cremona to talk about the remarkable Finnish Conducting School.Jed Distler telling us in a most amusing way the encounters he has had with musicians via their recorded performances that he writes about and also talks about in his New York Radio programme : ‘Beyond the Keys’.A discussion about pianists and competitions with Eric Schoones of ‘Pianist Magazines’ in the Netherlands.He is here to present the German edition of his book ‘Walking up the Mountain Track :The Zen Way to Enlightened Musicianship’.The title taken from a book that for Glenn Gould was the Bible.Danieli Longo flown in especially from Rio to talk about her teaching experiences in the Conservatory there .Also Paolo Bartolini founder of the Rites of Spring Music Festival on Long Island – Paolo like Roberto was born in Latina and brought up on the Campus Musicale di Latina and the Ghione Theatre in Rome.All this before the gate to the fair opens at ten o’clock!

In the same hall a little later in the day there was another piano duo but this time four hands on one piano.Two beautiful twins,Eleonora and Beatrice Dallagnese,playing the Yamaha concert grand in a programme completely from memory.At only 23 like the Jussen brothers they are dedicating themselves to a duo career playing without the score which gives a freedom to interact as the music evolves so naturally without being tied to the printed page.Some beautifully delicate Schubert with a sense of architectural shape that was the same that they were to demonstrate in the Brahms Schumann Variations op 23.Four of the better know Hungarian dances allowed them to let their hair down,metaphorically speaking ,as they squeezed every bit of charm out of these works that they played with an intoxicating style and rhythmic energy.A fifth Hungarian dance was a present they were happy to share to a very enthusiastic audience.

Carlo Guaitoli’s recital of Debussy included the Second Book of Preludes and were played with great character and ravishing sounds.Has ‘General Levine’ ever signed off so surely?Or ‘Ondine’ getting up to her mischief in such ravishing waters.’Canope’, Fou Ts’ong’s favourite prelude,created such desolation before the beauty and precision of the alternating thirds prelude.’Feux d’Artifice’ was a true tone poem with the Marseillaise rising out of the distant mist at the end after the sheer exhilaration of the fireworks on display.Carlo is now the Artistic Director of the Casagrande Competition and it is good to see the rebirth of such a noble competition by an artist of Carlo’s stature.I remember the first editions in which my teacher Vlado Perlemuter was on the Jury together with Paul Badura Skoda.A great tradition overseen by Adriana Casagrande,the daughter who looked after the jury and competitions with such care.A 16 year old Alexander Lonquich created quite a stir when he won first prize.Perlemuter was very amused to see Badura Skoda on stage tuning the rather out of tune piano himself!Carlo a student of Sergio Perticaroli ,the 1952 winner of the Busoni Competition, who died after a long illness that had left him paralysed.He had the misfortune to eventually die in mid August and Carlo and I were the only people there to salute a great artist who had given so much to so many aspiring young musicians.

The Purcell School comes to Cremona with their director Paul Hoskins ready to take part in the ‘ Beyond Erasmus’ round table discussions.Together with Menuhin and Chethams,the Purcell School is the most important institution for aspiring young musicians in the UK ,where musical training goes hand in hand with academic studies .William Fong ,head of keyboard studies ,had brought with him two ex students Kira Frolu and Thomas Kelly .It was a programme of three works all written at the beginning of the twentieth century.Kira Frolu,now studying at the RAM with Tessa Nicholson,played Mac Dowell’s Fireside Tales op 61 with ravishing sounds and the unmistakable ‘American’ sound of MacDowell .She brought a sense of character to the six short pieces that ranged from languid beauty to rhythmic good humour and even incorporated capricious jazz idioms ending with the long hymn like outpouring of ‘By Smouldering Embers’.A beautiful performance of ‘Estampes’ by William Fong who despite his onerous teaching commitments at the Purcell School and the Royal Academy manages to maintain playing of the highest order.Thomas Kelly ,now at the RCM with Dmitri Alexeev,is fast making a name for himself as the Ogdon of our day.He played the 16 Variations and Fugue by Rebecca Clarke that was written whilst she was a student of Charles Villiers Stanford and discovered in the archive only in 2003.

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

A charming and fascinating encore of six hands on one piano with Percy Granger’s ‘Zanzibar Boat Song’ in which William Fong also managed to turn the pages ,showing yet again his extraordinary versatility.

Another amazing edition of Cremona Musica with three days dedicated to all forms of music .Creating a link without barriers between people who have a passion for a means of communication where words are superfluous.Music is indeed the food of love and unity between man and in Cremona it is playing on with a gentle insistence that is being noted by a world hungry for quality and not just quantity.

Cremona Musica ….2023 Day 2 Angelo Fabbrini the crowned Prince of Cremona

Cremona Musica ……2023 Day 3 The day of reckoning

The success of Cremona Musica 2023:

the Italian way between tradition and innovation

The numbers of the 2023 edition of Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and Festival, which took place in the international capital of lutherie from September 22nd to 24th, witness the success of the Italian kermess: 360 exhibitors, over half of which from 35 foreign countries, 180 events in 3 days, over one thousand professionals involved in concerts, masterclasses andpresentations and 70 international buyers from 23 countries. Cremona Musica confirms itself as a unique and extraordinary experience for every music lover.

«The synergies with the local institutions have been crucial for the success of Cremona Musica» for the President of Cremonafiere Roberto Biloni; «we are already working on the 2024 edition, which will take place from the 27th to the 29th of September: we are deeply convinced that there are still wide margins of growth».

Among the hundreds of musicians who joined the kermess, some internationally renowned artists and enterprises received the prestigious Cremona Musica Awards: cellist Steven Isserlis were awarded for the Performance category, Reycled Orchestra of Cateura (Paraguay) for the Project, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger for Communication, Amalia Ramirez for Guitar lutherie, and Fisarmoniche Paolo Soprani for Accordion Manufacturing.

Italian piano tuner and repairer Angelo Fabbrini received the special prize A Life for Piano during the Saturday night concert Io suono italiano, an event which paid homage to Italian culture from Dante to Stradivari: the premiere of the video project Istante Dante was intertwined with the performance of renowned artists, such as Indian musician and scholar Singh Bai Baldeep and Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda, artistic director of Cremona Musica.

Once again Cremona shows the pivotal role of Italian culture in connecting the international world of music professionals and lovers, thanks to a unique mix of high quality exhibitors and engagingevents: a three-days immersion in an exciting atmosphere that feeds the eyes, the ears and the soul of every participant.

Cremona the city of dreams – a global network where dreams become reality

The rebirth of a global network in Cremona -If music be the food of love please please play on

FESTIVALES DE PIANO, en Cremona Música

A fairy Princess descends on Perivale to show us with such modesty how Grieg can really sound in the hands of a master.Eloquence,elegance a multifaceted sense of colour and above all a complete mastery of style that was recognised with the Gold Medal at the International Grieg Competition in Oslo .A breathtaking mastery with fingers that belonged to the keys like limpets searching out ravishing sounds that are hidden within and are only found by a very select few.They are great artists indeed and a very rare breed.It was Dr Mather who was approached by a Japanese member of the audience asking if his wife could give a concert at St Mary’s -‘She plays quite well’ he said and the family had recently transferred to Ealing sharing their time between Tokyo and Ealing.Looking at her CV Dr Mather was amazed to see the success that she had won in many International Piano competition.The result was today’s concert that in Dr Mather’s words was ‘sensational – a pianist of great class’ and in fact one of the finest recitals out of 2000 that St Mary’s has ever had.

Born in Japan, Mayumi Sakamoto graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts Mayumi has been studying at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hannover in Germany on a scholarship from the Rohm Music Foundation since 2005 and gained the KA degree (“Diplom” degree in Music, Artistic Training in Music) in 2007 additionally graduating the Soloist-diploma course 2013, with the orchestra prize. 

Mayumi won the 1st prize and the Prix d’Oslo at the International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition in Norway> She was the 2nd Prize winner at the Top of the World International Piano Competition in Norway as well as at the XII Andorra International Piano Competition accompanied by the Special Prize for French Pieces of Music and Special Scholarship in Andorra. Pinerolo International Piano Competition in Italy, the Scottish International Piano Competition and the 2003 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, a semi-finalist at the 2002 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and a diploma recipient at the Van Cliburn International Piano CompetitionShe also received prizes at numerous piano competitions in Japan including the 1st Prize at the 52nd All Japan Student Music Concours at the age of 15.Mayumi has recorded a CD of the Mozart’s piano concertos with the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln in 2012, and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, Germany, 2013.

https://www.mayumisakamoto.com/english

The generosity of Kapellmeister Mather A celebration of a great man and his team on the 2000th Anniversary concert

A sumptuous feast of exhilaration and seduction surrounded by beauty in Mary Orr’s salon at the Matthiesen Gallery in Mayfair

A trio of Mendelssohnian delight from a composer who after being summonsed to play to President Wilson after the enormous success of the premiere of his opera Goyescas which turned out to be Granados’s last performance before returning home on a ship that was torpedoed in the English Channel.

Piazzola on the other hand bringing the seduction of the night life and ravishing sleeze of Buenos Aires into the concert hall with the tangos of San Martin brought to life with passionate conviction by the Khong,Kaslin,Sandrin Trio.There was the unmistakable smoky atmosphere of Argentina missing slightly the slightly larger ensemble and of course the bandoneon but made up for with the choice of the more refined Tangos of insinuating melodic outpourings.Enyuan Khong adding some very expressive slides to her superb violin playing and Charlotte giving just that much more throbbing rubato.Cristian of course like the chameleon he is was able with the twitch of his shoulder and the switch of his foot to create just the sleeze that Mr Matthiessen had contributed to by turning down the house lights!

The Granados Trio an early work only discovered in 1976 and rarely programmed since.A great sweep and passion to the first movement in which the violin and cello play together with searing intensity of sumptuous sounds but of course the piano has the last word that in Cristians hands were of a purity and disarming simplicity.A ‘Scherzetto’ very much in the style of Mendelssohn with its lightweight rhythmic energy played with an evident ‘joie de vivre’.The musette Trio was full of buoyancy and life but interrupted by a solo piano recitativo before the return to the ‘Scherzetto’ with its impishly capricious ending.There was a veiled beauty to the ‘Duetto’ of a real ‘song without words’ and showed the superb ensemble of this newly formed trio.A finale truly ‘Dumka’ style followed with its infectious dance rhythms.
I wonder if Granados would have published it had he not perished so ignominiously near to our shores.
I imagine it was eventually found right at the bottom of his cupboard 80 years after it’s premiere in 1895 with the seventeen year old Pablo Casals.Forgotten about as he discovered his true genius for his native Spanish idioms wrapped up in transcendental pianistic trickery.

The Trio op. 50 in C major by Enrique Granados, one the most important Spanish works for piano was written in 1895.It was inspired and an attempt to reconcile the grand late-romantic Central European musical forms with a distinctly Spanish language based on the teachings of Felipe Pedrell. A work with a very complex musical structure in consonance with the late-romantic European tradition and an inspired content of a personal and poetical nature.

The Granados trio was premiered in Madrid with the composer himself at the piano, the violinist Julio Francés and a 17 year-old cellist Pablo Casals, at the time a student at the Madrid Conservatory. The work was never again performed during Granados’ life. After his tragic death it remained in complete oblivion until its publication in 1976 by Unión Musical Española.

A delay in New York, incurred by accepting a recital invitation from President Wilson caused him to miss his boat back to Spain. Instead, he took a ship to England, where he boarded the passenger ferry SS Sussex for Dieppe France. On the way across the English Channel , the Sussex was torpedoed by a German U boat , as part of the German World War I policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.According to witness Daniel Sargent, Granados’s wife, Amparo, was too heavy to get into a lifeboat. Granados refused to leave her and positioned her on a small life raft on which she knelt and he clung. Both then drowned within sight of other passengers.However, according to a different account from another survivor, “A survivor of the 1916 torpedo attack on a Cross channel ferry, Sussex, recognised Spanish composer Granados in a lifeboat, his wife in the water. Granados dived in to save her and perished.”The ship broke in two parts, and only one sank (along with 80 passengers). Ironically, the part of the vessel that contained his cabin did not sink and was towed to port, with most of the passengers, except for Granados and his wife, who were on the other side of the boat when it was hit. Granados and his wife left six children: Eduard (a musician), Solita, Enrique (a swimming champion), Víctor, Natalia, and Francisco.

The personal papers of Enrique Granados are preserved in, among other institutions, the National Library of Catalonia.

The Trio by Granados is an inspired and solid attempt to reconcile the grand late-romantic Central European musical forms with a distinctly Spanish language

— Juan Carlos Garvayo,

The Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas, also known as the Estaciones Porteñas or The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, are a set of four tango compositions written by Astor Piazzola ,which were originally conceived and treated as different compositions rather than one suite, although Piazzolla performed them together from time to time. The pieces were scored for his quintet of violin (viola), piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneon.By giving the adjective portenoreferring to those born in Buenos Aires,the Argentine capital city, Piazzolla gives an impression of the four seasons in Buenos Aires. The order of performance Piazzolla gave to his “Estaciones Porteñas” is: Otoño (Autumn), Invierno (Winter), Primavera (Spring), Verano (Summer). It was different from Vivaldi’s order.

The Seasons

1. Verano Porteño (Buenos Aires Summer)
   written in 1965,originally as incidental music for the play ‘Melenita de oro’by Alberto Rodríguez Muñoz.
2. Invierno Porteño (Buenos Aires Winter) 
   written in 1969.
3. Primavera Porteña (Buenos Aires Spring)
   premiered in 1969,contains counterpoint.
4. Otoño Porteño (Buenos Aires Autumn)
   premiered 1969. Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango , incorporating elements from jazz and classical music A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles. Described as “the world’s foremost composer of Tango music”.At Ginastera’s urging, on August 16, 1953, Piazzolla entered his classical composition “Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements” for the Fabian Sevitzky Award. The performance took place at the law school in Buenos Aires with the symphony orchestra of Radio del Estado under the direction of Sevitzky himself. At the end of the concert, a fight broke out among members of the audience who were offended by the inclusion of two bandoneons in a traditional symphony orchestra. In spite of this Piazzolla’s composition won him a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the legendary French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger at the Fontainebleau conservatory. Piazzolla was tired of tango and tried to hide his tango and bandoneon compositions from Boulanger, thinking that his destiny lay in classical music. Introducing his work, Piazzolla played her a number of his classically inspired compositions, but it was not until he played his tango Triunfal that she congratulated him and encouraged him to pursue his career in tango, recognising that this was where his talent lay. This was to prove a historic encounter and a crossroads in Piazzolla’s career.With Boulanger he studied classical composition, including counterpoint which was to play an important role in his later tango compositions.

Cristian Sandrin https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/05/22/cristian-sandrin-at-the-national-liberal-club-a-voyage-of-discovery-of-nobility-and-timeless-beauty/

A triumph at Hatchlands but it was Chopin’s Erard that stole Andrzej heart before his concert on George IVs remarkable 1823 Streicher Viennese piano.A piano beautifully restored and it was Alec Cobbe who explained to Andrzej how to drive it .Six pedals needs some working out.Fazioli now has four pedals and if playing with an I pad you can add another two which equals six.But this piano was built two hundred years ago when there were certainly no I pads and pedals had a completely different meaning and usage.

With just an hour to get used to driving the left and the right pedals Andrzej though had fallen in love with the veiled beauty of sound of the Erard that Chopin had used in Scotland on his final tour just a year before his death.Andrzej spent most of his precious rehearsal time entranced by the sound of this instrument .However it was quite remarkable how on the Streicher piano he was able to immediately adapt the sound via the pedals during the concert that gave clarity and delicacy in the Bach and Mozart and depth of sound in the Chopin.A musician who listens to himself and can instantly search for and find sounds that can bring the music alive with intelligence,scholarship and passion is a musician to be reckoned with.

The Bach Prelude and Fugue in D Book 1 immediately showed us the refined tone palette he could find with delicacy and a rhythmic dance from the bass that I remember very well from Rosalyn Tureck’s much more robust performance on the modern Steinway.An infectious lilt to the music almost like riding a horse but on this instrument there were some very subtle shadings and colours .The Fugue,too,unusually staccato but the short note never accented which gave a beautiful rhythmic propulsion to the fugue that was shaped with the same care as a tone poem and not just allowed to bounce along on its own as we are all too often used to hearing.A Prelude and Fugue shaped into a wondrous overture with the great artistry that was to be the hallmark of the entire concert.

The Chopin Fourth Ballade which had sounded ravishingly veiled on the Erard was here much brighter but Andrzej allowed the music to breathe so naturally with the variations gaining each time in nobility with masterly control.The return of the introduction with the inner tenor register slightly highlighted gave such depth to the sound as it spun into the heights with an etherial cadenza before the contrapuntal return of the theme that was played with ever more crystalline clarity.The final variations were played with passionate commitment but also a remarkable control of texture that made the final glorious full sonority so overwhelming.The five adjoining chords leading to the coda were played with disarming simplicity without any fuss just five simple chords to diffuse the sumptuous climax before a busy coda of transcendental difficulty.But even here the remarkable time and shape he brought to this afterthought revealed the genius of Chopin that this was not just empty virtuosity but textures of passionate poignancy as the temperature rose to boiling point before cascading to the final noble chords of one of the greatest most poetic creations of the Romantic piano repertoire.

Back to Mozart and a shift to the left with the pedals to find that beautiful clarity of Bach once more.A clarity with a delicacy of sound that suited the intimacy of Mozart’s Rondo in Aminor.Andrzej later was to experiment on J C Bach’s piano on which Mozart himself had played his A minor Sonata ; but in the concert on the Streicher piano he had found the ideal colour that revealed the disarming simplicity and poignant beauty of this jewel in Mozart’s crown.

He chose Chopin to finish this short lunchtime concert and it was the early youthful Polonaise published after his death that was able to demonstrate the restrained grandeur with the delicate jeux perlé virtuosity that Chopin would have astonished the salons of his youth with.Exquisite charm of the central musette contrasted with the return of the refined showmanship of the Polonaise.Andrzej was to play another Polonaise by a contemporary,Kurpinski,as an encore which demonstrated the same charm and style of the period

Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński (March 6, 1785 – September 18, 1857) was a Polish composer,conductor and pedagogue .A romanticist and one of the most revered composers before Chopin who he met in 1828. He helped to lay the foundations of a national style and prepared the ground for Polish music of the Romantic period particularly Chopin. He contributed to the development of Polish opera, introducing new musical devices and achieving a novel mode of expression

This was to be no ordinary concert but a voyage in time to find the very source of the creative process which in no way limits fantasy,passion or commitment but puts it into the context of the age in which it was born.What a surprise Alec Cobbe had,to discover a Polonaise by Beethoven that Andrzej played on Haydn’s own piano.A piano that Beethoven too would have known in the period of the first three Sonatas op 2 that Beethoven was to dedicate to his teacher.

Surrounded by so many beautiful instruments all wonderfully restored and to be able to play the same instruments that composers had used to create eternal masterpieces is a lesson indeed.But all these instruments are in rooms that are a size that allows them to be fully appreciated and not, as so often happens,antique instruments being brought into halls that can accomodate many more than these poor instruments can comunicate with in the same manner.To quote myself :’…….an example to us all of how Mozart could be played respecting the period but not being intimidated by it…….. becoming one,as the very operatic meaning of Mozart was transmitted through them to us thirsty for such enticing musical integrity and inspiration and dare I add ‘authenticity!’(https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/08/25/impeccable-living-mozart-as-queen-bodicea-drives-her-flaming-chariot-to-meet-grieg-salasswigutpastuszka-and-the-ohorkiestra-take-warsaw-by-storm/).

The final work in this all too short recital was the Sonata in B minor op 58 by Chopin.A performance in which architecture and artistry combined with poetry and passion bringing to life a masterpiece written towards the end of Chopin’s short life.A subdued opening of the Allegro Maestoso as Alec Cobbe had advised.The more restrained you play the greater the effect on this instrument.There was a subtle aristocratic shape to the second subject ‘sostenuto’ as Chopin writes but not a change of tempo and it was this overall architectural shape that gave such nobility to a work that in lesser hands can sound so fragmented.The left hand in the development was like a recitativo leading to the triumphant return of the opening this time in all its blazing glory.A Scherzo of clarity,like quick silver, as it weaved a wondrous shape with such luminosity of sound.A Trio that was with a gloriously replenished full sound of unusual brooding nobility but also wistful and beseeching as it searched for its way back to the Scherzo that in the end just seemed to evolve out of thin air.Straight into the mighty opening chords of the Largo before the purity of the melodic line on a pulsating accompaniment like a constant and reflective heart beat.The long and expansive meanderings that follow were of poignant beauty and the sudden unexpected appearance of the tenor and bass voices were revealed as if by magic.The opening melodic line returning with an even mellower sound leading us to the poignant beauty of the final duet between the two beautiful worlds with which Chopin had so entranced us.The Finale grew out of the final chord of the Largo building up to the agitato Rondo with very carefully controlled and phrased octaves spread over the entire keyboard.A masterly control of sound and tempo left Andrzej time to even add an ornament to the second appearance of the rondo theme as it gradually built to a climax of extraordinary technical mastery.A building of tension and excitement that that finally burst into flames with the treacherous final page played with the security and total abandon of a young virtuoso on the crest of a wave.

Andrzej Wiercinski at La Mortella Ischia The William Walton Foundation – Refined artistry and musical intelligence in Paradise

Andrzej Wiercinski at St Mary’s the making of a great artist

Amazing seance at Steinways today where Rose McLachlan had comissioned 22 female composers to write a nocturne inspired by Chopin.
So not like Rosemary Brown but a much more eclectic choice. To give a voice to some of the woman composers of the day of which far too little is known.
Rosemary Brown would receive music from the hereafter and Peter Katin would perform it at the Wigmore Hall.
The difference is that these are living composers writing music inspired by Chopin and performed by a young pianist whose father had infact been a student of Peter Katin.
But Rose is indeed a Rose and making her way in the music profession with performances that are already being noted by the critics for their authority and musical integrity.
Inspired by a project that she had to present for her master’s degree she decided on this project of creativity to give a voice to a category that has lain silent for too long.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/08/24/rose-mclachlan-at-st-james-piccadilly-je-sensje-joue-je-trasmet-artistry-and-poetic-imagination-of-a-musician/

Some beautiful playing for composers inspired by the world of Chopin.
With the amazing McLachlan family at the helm we heard fourteen of these nocturnes by composers that were also present.

With Father Murray presenting ,brother Matthew page turning ,Mother Katherine coordinating and last but not least Rose dedicating her extraordinary artistry to presenting each of these composers with total commitment and artistry .
Some very distinguished guests and the entire concert with interviews all streamed live giving a platform to some dedicated women composers of whom we speak all too rarely.