Photo: Benjamin Eolavega
MISHKA RUSHDIE MOMEN (piano)
23 April 2017 at 4.00 pm
(Supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust)
Mozart:
Albeniz: Schubert: Janacek: Schumann: Beethoven: |
Rondo in A minor K.511
Two pieces from “Iberia'' Wanderer Fantasy D.760 In the Mists Novelette No 2 in D major Op.21 Sonata No. 28 in A major Op.101 |
A former student with both the legendary Alfred Brendel and Richard Goode, the latter said of her ‘...it is the purity and depth of her musical feeling that impresses me most’. In addition to the First Prize at the 2014 Dudley International Piano Competition, she has been a winner at the Cologne, Dublin and Academie Ravel Competitions.
Review
Octagon Music Society’s 37th season of chamber music concerts closed on Sunday with a piano recital by Mishka Rushdie Momen, a concert made possible by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust which enables music societies to give opportunities of concerts to young artists in the early years of their careers.
Young as Mishka may be, she is very much already a musician of considerable maturity and clearly has the breadth of musical talent to sustain a full-length solo recital. It seemed daring to commence with the Mozart Rondo in A minor, a work which has no technical challenge for the performer but, with the tempo marking Adagio, is permeated with an air of regret and sadness. Yet it enabled Mishka to show that this was not to be a recital of keyboard fireworks but rather one of serious and deeply-thought music-making.
But she followed this with two of Albeniz’ pieces from his set Iberia, an extreme contrast. Here she coloured these reflections of Spanish town life with the brightest of tones, and responded to their rhythmic sway and nuances: out of the shadows of Mozart and into the sun and life of Spain. She completed the first half with Schubert’s monumental ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy, a twenty minute work of unusual construction, with the four movements played without a break, and all derived from the same rhythmic germ. This, now, was music that called for a virtuoso technique and Mishka was more than equal to its many challenges. She had the power which the outer movements called for, and the variety of colour to sustain the slow movement, whilst never letting the many repetitions of the motto theme to pall. This was an extraordinarily subtle and satisfying performance. Above all, a beautiful sound was always present.
After the interval she played Janacek’s short In The Mists pieces. Again, she found great clarity and limpid charm in these intriguing and idiomatic cameos. This she followed with one of Schumann’s Novelletten, one of eight pieces he wrote in the white heat of his love for his wife-to-be, Clara Wieck. Impassioned, impulsive, frenzied music, and now Mishka found a new voice which caught these characteristics to perfection.
She closed her recital with a masterly performance of Beethoven’s late Sonata Op. 101. By this stage in his musical development Beethoven had reduced the traditional forms to their bare bones, yet Mishka was able to sustain the coherence of the musical thought throughout. Bold and clear textures, together with a strong rhythmic pulse were once more the foundation of her playing. This sonata was a fascinating contrast from the Schubert Fantasy – here all four movements have their own very different styles and material with the slow movement (though only twenty bars long) bearing a pivotal position between a vigorous march and a lively finale; this Adagio is to be played with the sustaining pedal depressed throughout (although her long dress hid confirmation of this!), there are no expression marks, just pianistic rhapsodizing. All this was observed with great insight and accuracy.
There was something more in keeping with an earlier age of piano recitals about this concert, something almost old-fashioned. Her keyboard persona was always restrained and she gave little hint of the personality behind it: yet through her playing, she created an aura of integrity, a feeling that her considerable technique was only the means whereby she served the music alone. She scarcely raised her eyes from the keyboard, and seldom moved her hands much higher – there was no dreamy staring into the distance, nor eye-closed intensity to convey depth of feeling. She didn’t need to play to the audience. She was a musician first and last….and a very good one. Let’s hope that as her career progresses she will still retain this sense of dignity and service to music.
Mishka was not the only young musician playing for us on Sunday. During the interval the young harpist Amelia Watson entertained us in the foyer. She, too, created her own atmosphere of music-making in aid of her fund-raising, to enable her to progress along her chosen path with a pedal harp. She deservedly raised more than £100 by her enterprise….. perhaps she’ll be back one day to give us a full Octagon concert!
So the OMS season ends. The highlights? Tasmin Little’s ‘Naked Violin’ concert in November brought an audience of over 250, the highest in our 37 years: the Castalian Quartet played our most adventurous programme (too adventurous? Well, Ades and Bartok!): the Aurora Trio brought a party spirit to The Muse, along with two composers: Anna Huntley and James Baillieu gave a song recital, the first for many years which, repeated a few days later, had the Viennese critics reaching for superlatives: and now Mishka Momen has given us a concert to treasure.
Let’s hope that next season will prove as attractive. There is a constant battle to win larger audiences. OMS will be embarking on a new strategy before next season to make our existence more widely known but, as always, our best advertisement is you, the faithful members and followers: let your friends know about us, tell them how enjoyable our concerts are, give them copies of our new brochure to pass to their friends, pass the word around….Benjamin Grosvenor in Watford for £15? Surely not to be missed.
Octagon Music Society’s 37th season of chamber music concerts closed on Sunday with a piano recital by Mishka Rushdie Momen, a concert made possible by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust which enables music societies to give opportunities of concerts to young artists in the early years of their careers.
Young as Mishka may be, she is very much already a musician of considerable maturity and clearly has the breadth of musical talent to sustain a full-length solo recital. It seemed daring to commence with the Mozart Rondo in A minor, a work which has no technical challenge for the performer but, with the tempo marking Adagio, is permeated with an air of regret and sadness. Yet it enabled Mishka to show that this was not to be a recital of keyboard fireworks but rather one of serious and deeply-thought music-making.
But she followed this with two of Albeniz’ pieces from his set Iberia, an extreme contrast. Here she coloured these reflections of Spanish town life with the brightest of tones, and responded to their rhythmic sway and nuances: out of the shadows of Mozart and into the sun and life of Spain. She completed the first half with Schubert’s monumental ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy, a twenty minute work of unusual construction, with the four movements played without a break, and all derived from the same rhythmic germ. This, now, was music that called for a virtuoso technique and Mishka was more than equal to its many challenges. She had the power which the outer movements called for, and the variety of colour to sustain the slow movement, whilst never letting the many repetitions of the motto theme to pall. This was an extraordinarily subtle and satisfying performance. Above all, a beautiful sound was always present.
After the interval she played Janacek’s short In The Mists pieces. Again, she found great clarity and limpid charm in these intriguing and idiomatic cameos. This she followed with one of Schumann’s Novelletten, one of eight pieces he wrote in the white heat of his love for his wife-to-be, Clara Wieck. Impassioned, impulsive, frenzied music, and now Mishka found a new voice which caught these characteristics to perfection.
She closed her recital with a masterly performance of Beethoven’s late Sonata Op. 101. By this stage in his musical development Beethoven had reduced the traditional forms to their bare bones, yet Mishka was able to sustain the coherence of the musical thought throughout. Bold and clear textures, together with a strong rhythmic pulse were once more the foundation of her playing. This sonata was a fascinating contrast from the Schubert Fantasy – here all four movements have their own very different styles and material with the slow movement (though only twenty bars long) bearing a pivotal position between a vigorous march and a lively finale; this Adagio is to be played with the sustaining pedal depressed throughout (although her long dress hid confirmation of this!), there are no expression marks, just pianistic rhapsodizing. All this was observed with great insight and accuracy.
There was something more in keeping with an earlier age of piano recitals about this concert, something almost old-fashioned. Her keyboard persona was always restrained and she gave little hint of the personality behind it: yet through her playing, she created an aura of integrity, a feeling that her considerable technique was only the means whereby she served the music alone. She scarcely raised her eyes from the keyboard, and seldom moved her hands much higher – there was no dreamy staring into the distance, nor eye-closed intensity to convey depth of feeling. She didn’t need to play to the audience. She was a musician first and last….and a very good one. Let’s hope that as her career progresses she will still retain this sense of dignity and service to music.
Mishka was not the only young musician playing for us on Sunday. During the interval the young harpist Amelia Watson entertained us in the foyer. She, too, created her own atmosphere of music-making in aid of her fund-raising, to enable her to progress along her chosen path with a pedal harp. She deservedly raised more than £100 by her enterprise….. perhaps she’ll be back one day to give us a full Octagon concert!
So the OMS season ends. The highlights? Tasmin Little’s ‘Naked Violin’ concert in November brought an audience of over 250, the highest in our 37 years: the Castalian Quartet played our most adventurous programme (too adventurous? Well, Ades and Bartok!): the Aurora Trio brought a party spirit to The Muse, along with two composers: Anna Huntley and James Baillieu gave a song recital, the first for many years which, repeated a few days later, had the Viennese critics reaching for superlatives: and now Mishka Momen has given us a concert to treasure.
Let’s hope that next season will prove as attractive. There is a constant battle to win larger audiences. OMS will be embarking on a new strategy before next season to make our existence more widely known but, as always, our best advertisement is you, the faithful members and followers: let your friends know about us, tell them how enjoyable our concerts are, give them copies of our new brochure to pass to their friends, pass the word around….Benjamin Grosvenor in Watford for £15? Surely not to be missed.