Tuesday 24 January 3.00 pm

I was welcomed about 4 years ago to a show at the Royal Academy of Music in which 2 ‘betters’ were carrying out the Mozart Double Concerto.I had actually understood Alim Beisembayev because his research studies at the Purcell School with Tessa Nicholson and it was she who had actually welcomed me to the show in which Alim was having fun with a young Lithuanian trainee Ignas Maknickas.Two extremely skilled young pianists starting an extensive expert training.Alim has actually gone on to win the Gold Medal at the Leeds International Piano Competitors and on todays efficiency Ignas is well en route to getting International acknowledgment too.I had actually heard Ignas a couple of years later on at the Imogen Cooper Musical Trust and at St James’ Piccadilly and started to understand that the young rather unrestrained pianist of the Mozart Double was quick growing into a pianist to be reckoned with.Today I heard a terrific artist all set to take the world by storm.But not just for his amazing natural technical ability however for his intelligence and easy however extensive musicality.A fluidity of noise that appears to be the standard for the Lithuanian school of pianists who have actually pertained to ideal their research studies in London.A school that develops pianists with an unwinded natural technical ease that provides the noise they make a fluidity and pureness comparable to the exceptional Hungarian School.( I am advised of the fluid, liquid noise of Geza Anda). Rokas Valuntonis, Gabrielé Sutkuté and Milda Daunoraite are 3 Lithuanian pianists whose profession I have actually been following with terrific interest, who all have fun with a natural ease and fluidity of sound.A thrilling ‘joie de vivre’ that permits the music to stream so naturally from their carefully qualified fingers and provides a security that is so typically missing out on in young entertainers in requirement of experience.

The Fantasie in C, op. 17, was composed in 1836. It was modified prior to publication in 1839, when it was committed to Franz Liszt.Liszt in return committed his B small Sonata to Schumann.The 2 works are normally thought about to be the peaks of piano music of the Romantic period.The Fantasie remains in loose sonata kind. Its 3 motions are headed: Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen; Im Legenden-Ton— Mäßig. Durchaus energisch— Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten. The piece has its origin in early 1836, when Schumann made up a piece entitled Ruines revealing his distress at being parted from his cherished Clara Wieck (later on to become his spouse). This later ended up being the very first motion of the Fantasy.Later that year, he composed 2 more motions to produce a work planned as a contribution to the appeal for funds to set up a monolith to Beethoven in his birth place, Bonn.

The motions’ subtitles (Ruins, Trophies, Palms) ended up being Ruins, Triumphal Arch, and Constellation, and were then eliminated completely prior to Breitkopf & & Härtel ultimately provided the Fantasie in Might 1839. Schumann prefaced the deal with a quote from Friedrich Schlegel: Durch alle Töne tönet Im bunten Erdentraum Ein leiser Lot gezogen Fur den, der heimlich lauschet.( Resounding through all the notes In the earth’s vibrant dream There sounds a faint long-drawn note For the one who eavesdrops trick.) Agosti a trainee of Busoni who was a trainee of Liszt composed the word Cla-ra in my rating over the long A to G in the last motion.

There is a musical quote of an expression from Beethoven’s tune cycle An die ferne Geliebte (to the far-off cherished )in the coda of the very first motion :’ Accept then these tunes cherished, which I sang for you alone‘ All Schumann composed to Clara: The very first motion might well be the most enthusiastic I have actually ever made up– a deep lament for you They still had lots of adversities to suffer prior to they lastly wed 4 years later on.

Liszt had actually played the piece to Schumann independently, and later on included it into his mentor repertory, however he considered it inappropriate for public efficiency and never ever played it in public.However, Liszt returned the honour by devoting his own Sonata in B small to Schumann in 1853. Clara Schumann did not begin to carry out the Fantasie in her performances till 1866, 10 years after the author passed away, the Liszt Sonata she never ever played as she considered it ‘a blind sound’!

Schubert’s last 3 piano sonatas, D 958, 959 and 960, are his last significant structures for solo piano. They were composed throughout the last months of his life, in between the spring and fall of 1828, however were not released till about 10 years after his death, in 1838– 39. Like the rest of Schubert’s piano sonatas, they were mainly overlooked in the 19th century however the late 20th century, nevertheless, public and crucial viewpoint had actually altered, and these sonatas are now thought about amongst the most essential of the author’s fully grown work of arts. The in 2015 of Schubert’s life was marked by growing public honor for the author’s works, however likewise by the steady degeneration of his health. On March 26, 1828, together with other artists in Vienna Schubert offered a public show of his own works, which was a terrific success and made him a significant revenue. Schubert had actually been battling with syphilis because 1822– 23, and experienced weak point, headaches and lightheadedness. Nevertheless, he appears to have actually led a reasonably regular life till September 1828, when brand-new signs appeared. At this phase he moved from the Vienna house of his good friend Franz von Schober to his bro Ferdinand’s home in the suburban areas, following the recommendations of his physician; sadly, this might have really intensified his condition. Nevertheless, up till the recentlies of his life in November 1828, he continued to make up an amazing quantity of music, consisting of such work of arts as the 3 last sonatas.Schubert most likely started sketching the sonatas at some point around the spring months of 1828; the last variations were composed in September.A year after the authors death Schubert’s bro Ferdinand offered the sonatas’ autographs to another publisher, Anton Diabelli who would just release them about 10 years later on, in 1838 or 1839. Schubert had actually planned the sonatas to be committed to Johann Nepomuk Hummel whom he considerably appreciated. Hummel was a leading pianist, a student of Mozart, and a pioneering author of the Romantic design (like Schubert himself). Nevertheless, by the time the sonatas were released in 1839, Hummel was dead, and Diabelli, the brand-new publisher, chose to devote them rather to Robert Schumann who had actually applauded a lot of Schubert’s operate in his crucial works.

Born in California in 1998, Ignas was raised in Lithuania. In 2017, finishing from the National M.K. Ciurlionis School of Art in Vilnius, he was honoured by the President of Lithuania, H.E. Dalia Grybauskaite. With his sis and 3 bros the skilled Maknickas Household Ensemble has actually represented Lithuania on National Tv and at State Occasions.Ignas finished his Bachelor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music on complete scholarship under Teacher Joanna MacGregor. In September 2021 he started the Master of Arts Program with Teacher MacGregor, likewise on complete scholarship. He is a recipient of the Julien Reward, the ABRSM Scholarship Award, the Imogen Cooper Music Trust Scholarship, Munster Trust Mark James Award, Robert Turnbull Piano Structure Award, Tillett Trust and Colin Keer Trust Award and Hattori Structure Award. He is an Artist of the Munster Trust Recital Scheme.He has actually gone to masterclasses with Dmitri Bashkirov, Dame Imogen Cooper, Christopher Elton, Stephen Hough, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Marios Papadopoulos, Menahem Pressler, Geoffrey Simon, Tamás Ungár, Arie Vardi and Ilana Vered. As a musician he has actually appeared at the Steinway Hall in London, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Charlottenborg Celebration Hall in Copenhagen, Ed Landreth Hall in Fort Worth, Lithuanian National Philharmonic in Vilnius and Kinross Home in Scotland.”