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global_212048962As part of this year’s Brighton Fringe Festival, Music of Our Time (MOOT) presents a unique series of concerts focusing on Music and Disability with an imaginative and exciting range of artists and programmes.

One of the highlights of the series will be a concert by left-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy, who more than amply demonstrates through his virtuosity and pianistic sensitivity that having only one hand need not be a hindrance to extraordinary piano playing. His programme features works by Bach, Scriabin, Schubert, Richard Strauss and Liszt.

Meanwhile, ‘The Bionic Ear Show’ is an award-winning fun, interactive show about hearing and how to protect your ears for the future. ‘Lost and Sound’ is a moving documentary film by partially deaf filmmaker Lindsey Dryden, with stories of sound and silence including a young pianist who lost her hearing as a baby, and a music critic facing sudden hearing loss.

An afternoon workshop on Saturday 18th May with Dr Paul Whittaker OBE and singers from the British Voice Association explores how deaf people can enjoy singing and vocalising.

Other concerts in the series include a performance of Stravinsky’s ground-breaking The Rite of Spring one hundred years to the day since its controversial 1913 premiere in Paris. The programme also includes Debussy’s Épigraphes antiques and a short film about The Rite and the infamous riot at its premiere.

The brilliant young Ligetti Quartet perform works by Adams, Górecki’s Arioso, Huang Hai-Huai, Webern, and Laura J. Bowler’s Hay Fever (includes a teapot and four copies of The Sunday Times). Plus György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes (don’t forget to bring yours!).

Paul Silverthorne (Principal Viola, London Symphony Orchestra) & pianist Aglaia Tarantino perform Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, followed by a tribute in memoriam to Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze and Richard Rodney Bennett with imaginative works by each composer, ending with Paul’s own transcription of Stravinsky’s elegant Suite Italienne.

Full details of all the concerts in the series, and tickets, here

MOOT also present a special free Spectrum Music Day with Thalia Myers. Pianists are invited to play any piece from the eight Spectrum books published by ABRSM. There will be a workshop with Thalia Myers followed by a concert.

Further details here

My Meet the Artist interview with Nicholas McCarthy

MOOT is a non-profit group for the public benefit promoting contemporary music arts education. Artistic director: Norman Jacobs. To keep up to date with MOOT events, join the MOOT Meetup group.

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Angelo Villani is planning his debut CD ‘Dante’s Inferno’. Help make it happen by supporting his Kickstarter campaign. Pledge your support here

Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and make it your career?

My mother always wanted to play but never had the chance. One day she asked me if I wanted to learn, and I said yes.

Who or what are the most important influences on your playing?

I really love and admire the older pianists who themselves emulated the great singers of the past. One can always hear the influence of great singing on pianists such as Horowitz, Nyiregyhazi, Sofronitsky, and Tiegerman.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

After not playing for over 25 years, it was a very long walk to the wonderful Fazioli at St James’s last October.

Do you have a favourite concert venue?

My dream venue would be an open-air concert in Loch-ard Gorge along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. The acoustic there is phenomenal. Just a slight logistical problem of getting a piano and full orchestra down there.

Who are your favourite musicians?

Ramon Vinay (Tenor), the late Dietrich Fischer – Dieskau (Baritone), Zara Dolukhanova (Mezzo Soprano), Adolf Busch (Violinist), Bronislav Hubermann (Violinist), Carlos Kleiber (Conductor), Victor de Sabata (Conductor), Wilhelm Furtwangler (Conductor)…. and many more.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I heard Shura Chekassky play at Wigmore Hall just before he died. He made the most ravishing piano sound I’ve ever heard in that Hall.

What is your favourite music to play? To listen to?

Being a pianist, I am really spoilt for choice as there is so much truly great music written for the piano. Where does one stop? And to listen to….. I constantly marvel at the sense of novelty and invention of Errol Garner’s concert by the sea (I also seduced my fiancée listening to this album).

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians/students?

There is no such thing as perfection. The greatest performances, no matter how extraordinary and ‘ideal’, are in a state of flux. We must never forget that some of the greatest performers in history i.e. Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, Scriabin, Art Tatum, Errol Garner and Miles Davis et al, were great improvisers.

What are you working on at the moment?

I love to work on a number of things simultaneously. My old Russian piano teacher often spoke about walking past Sviatoslav Richter’s apartment and eavesdropping, hearing the great master practicing completely different works to what he was going to play later that very evening.

What do you enjoy doing most?

Opening a sensational bottle of red wine after a good concert and sharing with friends.

Angelo Villani performs at London’s St John’s Smith Square on Wednesday 8th May in a concert featuring works by Debussy, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner/Von Bulow/Liszt/Villani and Alkan. Further details and tickets here

Born in Australia to Italian parents, Angelo Villani attended Melbourne’s school for musically- gifted children, the Victorian College of the Arts, where his teachers included Alexander Semetsky, a pupil of Emil Gilels, and Stephen McIntyre, a student of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. A flourishing career as a teenager included performances of the Tchaikovsky 1st Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov 2nd Concerto with Melbourne Symphony, acclaimed for their dramatic intensity, vision and musical conviction.

Following further recitals and appearances on ABC Television, Angelo Villani won considerable respect and esteem and a promising career seemed forthcoming. Following recommendations by Leslie Howard and Joyce Greer de Holesch to take part in the Moscow Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, the 23-year-old pianist was accepted for the 9th International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990.

The young Australian pianist arrived in Moscow a week earlier to prepare himself for the Herculean contest. Shortly before the first round, Villani withdraw owing to a trapped nerve. A potentially important career came to an abrupt halt, whilst Villani travelled internationally seeking effective treatment.

Since settling in London in 1991, Villani has performed sporadically in mostly private gatherings such as the Liszt Society annual meeting performing alongside Kenneth Hamilton and at the Royal Overseas League. He has channeled his extensive knowledge of piano repertoire and recording history in new ways. He gives masterclasses to professional musicians, has written for specialist publications and worked for 7 years in Tower Records, providing expert advice on recordings to customers. When specialist music shops disappeared from the high streets, Villani took up employment as piano teacher at Rosary Primary School (Belsize Park) and Kentish Town Church of England Primary.

Since 2010, tangible improvements have emerged which have allowed Angelo Villani to make a full return to the keyboard and over the past couple of years he has given several private concerts across the UK. 2012 marked a return to form culminating in his official London recital debut.

 

www.angelovillani.com

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Photo credit: Marco Borggreve
Photo credit: Marco Borggreve

It would be foolish of me to attempt to review harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani’s magical Wigmore Hall recital in detail, as I have neither the knowledge of the mechanics of the instrument nor familiarity with the repertoire to do justice his performance. I “dabbled” with the harpsichord while at school, playing continuo in a Baroque group, and now I occasionally play a friend’s instrument, more to attempt to understand some of Bach’s writing in pieces I am learning on the piano, than any serious commitment to the instrument. For years, I felt it was best left to early music and Baroque specialists.

I grew up listening to my parents’ LPs of Glenn Gould’s recordings of the Goldberg Variations, and believed these were the benchmark against which all other interpretations of this mighty work should be set. However, in 2011, after reading about the young Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani on Norman Lebrecht’s blog, I decided to take the plunge and review a harpsichord recital. In July 2011, at London’s elegant Cadogan Hall, a double debut took place: Mahan’s Proms debut and the first time ever a solo harpsichord recital was presented at the Proms. I called my review “Spellbound by Bach” because for the full hour of the concert that is the state in which Mahan’s playing put us. Credited with bringing the harpsichord “out of the closet”, Mahan’s approach captivated and enthralled. He made the instrument – and the music – appear modern, newly-wrought.

So, when I and the friend who owns the harpsichord rocked up at the Wigmore on Friday night I knew we were in for an exceptional evening of music.

The pieces by Byrd drew inspiration from dances and songs, some toe-tapping and rousing, others stately and elegant, and religious texts, written by a composer living in a country poised on the cusp of change, as England sloughed off the Middle Ages and stepped confidently into the Renaissance. Some of the works were delicate, fleeting, poignant, others proud and courtly. All were beautifully presented, Mahan highlighting the subtleties of sound and touch possible on the instrument. During a pause in the performance, Mahan talked engagingly about Byrd’s importance in the canon of English music, and the forward-pull of his compositional vision. I was struck, not for the first time on hearing Mahan, at the range of tone, colours and moods he was able to achieve with the instrument.

After the interval, a selection works by Bach from the ‘Musical Offering’, a collection of canons and fugues and musical “riddles” which Bach composed in response to a challenge from Frederick the Great (and to whom they are dedicated). A three-part fugue and a six-part fugure (Ricercars) and a “Canon in tones” showed Bach at his most esoteric, teasing and “modern”, which set the scene nicely for, what was, for me, the highlight of the evening – the complete harpsichord music of Gyorgi Ligeti, which recalls Renaissance and Baroque models (the Passacaglia and Chaconne).

Again, Mahan introduced the works, explaining that in the Soviet Eastern Bloc, the harpsichord and early music were considered dangerously reactionary and composers and musicians were not permitted to write for or play the harpsichord. (Interestingly, a number of key modern composers and champions of the harpsichord are from former Eastern Bloc countries.) Mahan then explained that the second harpsichord on the stage was a rather special instrument, a modern harpsichord with nine pedals, a kind of “prepared piano” of the harpsichord world, capable of some extraordinary, other-worldly, sounds – amply demonstrated by Mahan in his performance of the works by Ligeti.

The Passacaglia Ungherese was redolent of the falling figures and ground basses of the music of Bach and his contemporaries; by contrast, Continuum was a fleeting sonic flurry, its strange sound-world recalling an alarm, breaking glass, an angry mosquito. (Ligeti used the harpsichord for this piece because the rapid speed would be almost impossible to achieve on the heavier action of piano.) To close, Mahan played Ligeti’s Hungarian Rock, a tour de force of rhythm and sonic textures suggesting the plucked sound of a modern guitar. The basis of the work is a Chaconne, a set of variations over a pounding, repeating chord pattern (the basis for much jazz and rock music). It was an energetic – and energising – close to a stunning and unusual programme.

For an encore, a short work by Purcell: simple, elegant, perfect. Afterwards, we queued up the stairs to the green room of the Wigmore to congratulate Mahan on a truly miraculous evening of music making.

Mahan argues the case for a modern appreciation of the harpischord and its repertoire far better than I can. Read his guest blog for Gramophone here

My Meet the Artist interview with Mahan Esfahani (from 2012)

Review of Mahan Esfahani’s Prom’s debut

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What is your first memory of the piano?

I remember playing tunes that I recognised from films on the piano when I was about 4 and then I started having lessons when I was 7.

Who or what inspired you to start teaching?

No one person inspired me to teach and I never really thought about starting teaching – I have just always done it. I started when I was 17 and then never stopped!

Who were your most memorable/significant teachers?

Joyce Rathbone was the person who probably inspired me the most. It was because of her that I became a pianist rather than a violinist. She inspired me to be free at the piano, to love the music and to become a musician rather than a pianist! She had an enthusiasm for so much more than the piano, which I found so refreshing, because I had only come across very single-minded musicians before that.

Paul Hamburger taught me for Lieder accompaniment at the Guildhall and he was wonderful. He always believed in his students and counteracted all the judgment and criticism that was around when I was there.

And Peter Wallfisch was fabulous. He gave 5-hour piano lessons just because he loved it. He was warm, inspiring and supportive.

Who or what are the most important influences on your teaching?

My influences have come from far and wide. Teachers obviously have been very influential but not just the good ones. The less good ones showed me how not to teach! Aside from that, absolutely every experience I have had has influenced how I teach along with years of bodywork courses, lots of study and research into the arena of psychology and emotions, going to good performances and much, much more.

Most memorable/significant teaching experiences?

The wonderful experience of seeing a student transform in front of your eyes, not just as a pianist but as a person!

What are the most exciting/challenging aspects of teaching adults?

Adults (and by adults I mean adult amateurs) tend to be more advanced in their cognitive ability than they do in their fingers! They can easily get frustrated by how much slower it can be for them to pick up new techniques than children. They also take much longer to get out of bad habits because they’ve been built in for longer. But they can be great fun to work with and usually there is a lot of stimulation both ways.

What do you expect from your students?

I would like, although don’t necessarily expect, openness to new ideas and ways of learning, commitment to learning and lessons, and a love of the piano and of music. I love seeing students with a passion who would do almost anything to build up their skills.

What are your views on exams, festivals and competitions?

I never teach AB exams but am quite happy to help a student towards a diploma, if they really want to do one. Festivals are good sometimes for a student to have an opportunity to learn and get other feedback, although I rarely suggest them, especially the competitive ones. I dislike competitions intensely and never enter students for them unless they are particularly experienced in dealing with the whole competition scene.

What do you consider to be the most important concepts to impart to beginning students, and to advanced students?

If you mean beginners, I don’t teach them! It is not my area of expertise. Concepts for advanced students: there are so many I don’t know where to start. It depends entirely on the individual and what they are ready to hear and take on board.

What are your thoughts on the link between performance and teaching?

Performance and teaching can feed into each other and be really beneficial and I would recommend any teacher to continue performing, and for any performer to teach. If not, you have to keep alive, alert and constantly interested so you are always feeding something into the performing or teaching.

How do you approach the issue of performance anxiety?

It is too massive a topic to try to condense here! I give specialised sessions to musicians who are suffering from performance anxiety. Dealing with performance anxiety is not a quick fix and needs to be addressed over time. I tend to address it by showing a student how to practise with observation and not judgment/criticism. This at least stops their Inner Critic from creating havoc with their nerves. More than this would need a whole article!

Who are your favourite pianists/pianist-teachers and why?

I haven’t seen anyone else in action as a teacher for some time, but I love teachers who see the best in the student and then draw that out of them. In terms of playing, Katya Apekicheva has got the most phenomenal technique – she is a walking textbook for everything that I advocate in terms of technique! She learnt with the same teacher as Evgeny Kissin.

Charlotte Tomlinson has contributed three guest posts on understanding and coping with performance anxiety. Read them here:

Stage Fright #1 – are we too ashamed to talk about it?

Stage Fright #2 – practical tips for managing it

Stage Fright #3 – how to manage your emotional response

Charlotte Tomlinson is a Performance Coach who helps musicians perform at their peak.

Charlotte has a unique and pioneering way of working, which puts the focus on the musician as a human being first, enabling them to find a freedom and overall sense of well-being in both practising and performance. This in turn leads to new, heightened ways of expressing the music and an increased love and enjoyment for the whole process of performing music.

charlottetomlinson.com