REVIEW
Piano Recital of Mayu Hemmi, Daniela Bracchi and Ana Maria Trenchi Bottazzi
The Piano Recital at the Goethe Institute on October 21, 2006 was a very special event. Titled “The Legacy of the Great French Pianist Germaine Pinault”, it presented Argentinean-American pianist Ana Maria Trenchi Bottazzi and two of her students, who also perform in the Germaine Pinault’s legacy of making beautiful music: Mayu Hemmi and Daniela Bracchi.
As the excellent performances demonstrated, this is certainly an extraordinary Legacy. This pianistic Legacy developed in very unusual circumstances. In her introductory remarks, Ms. Bottazzi said that she was Ms. Pinault’s only student at that time, due to the fact that the great French pianist was very weak with a severely debilitating disease. In spite of that, Ms. Pinault made up her mind about passing all her knowledge and experience to Ms. Bottazzi, at that time an unusually gifted thirteen year old child, teaching her five hours a day, seven days a week, for five years; a total of 7,625 hours of lessons. That is an astonishing, probably never heard before, dedication to the art of piano performance!!
And it certainly paid off…Ms Bottazzi possesses the most beautiful piano technique that could be imagined. The technique itself is an object of beauty, allowing her to perform with the utmost flowing musicality and elegance. One of the most remarkable features of her technique is the exquisitely beautiful tone she can obtain from the piano. Here the piano is not anymore a “percussion” instrument with hammers striking the strings, but basically a “singing” instrument.
The two other pianists sharing the recital certainly showed signs of receiving this artistic legacy. It is impossible to think of them as “students”, since they performed as completely formed professional musicians.
Mayu Hemmi is only 12 years old which is incredible considering the assurance and musicality of her interpretations of very demanding compositions from the piano literature. Special highlights were the tender lyricism she achieved in Liszt’s piano solo arrangement of “Widmung” by Robert Schumann and her dazzling virtuosity in Liszt’s “Tarantella” from “Annes De
Pèlerinage”.
This listener has followed Daniela Brachia's development as a pianist since the time she was a prodigy child. Now a young woman in her early twenties she’s showing a remarkable maturity in her performances. The Bach “Toccata in G-Major” was performed with an x-ray clarity and a very engaging rhythmic drive. Bartok’s “Etude” is a composition of “scary” technical difficulties, performed here in an effortless manner, reminding us that this “tough guy” of 20th century music was also capable of creating extraordinarily “flowing” music. The Chopin Polonaise was performed with a supreme elegance and virtuosity. Still, the highest point of her presentation came in her encore piece, Liszt’s “Soneto Del Petrarca”. In the concluding measures she obtained the most lovely “singing” sound from the instrument.
Finally, Ms. Bottazzi herself, performed as a Great Dame of the piano. This listener has never heard a more beautiful sound coming from the piano onstage. The two Scarlatti sonatas showed both sides of this great baroque composer: the sparkling, luminous virtuosity, and on the other hand the melancholic poetic element. The faster variations of Mozart’s K265 were taken at breakneck speeds, without losing their crystalline quality and graceful elegance. Ms
Bottazzi gave a very persuasive reading of “Schlummerlied” by contemporary composer Helmuth Fuchs, very charming in its poetic simplicity, and conveyed the heroic romanticism of Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2. In the encore piece, the “Milonga” by Ginastera, her “singing” touch uncannily resembled the quality of the human voice.
Consistently through the recital, beyond the excellent technical command, the principal emphasis was on musical beauty and poetic expression.
Listening to these three wonderful musicians, one cannot help but think how much they are needed in today’s troubled world.
by C.V.