Leslie Howard bringing the concealed genius of pianistic mastery to Trapani
From Anton Rubinstein to Jerome Kern all wrapped up in an English Country Garden.
An eclectic programme from the ‘Professor’ of the piano who looks deeply into the archives and finds hidden treasures that he has spent a lifetime bringing into the concert hall.
Franz Liszt :Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S 154 and Variations on theme by J.S. Bach: ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’, S 180 Anton Rubinstein : Sonata n. 1 in E minor op 12
Chairman of the jury of many important International competitions in particular that dedicated to Liszt in Utrecht where he sets an unknown work by Liszt as the obligatory piece for all those that dare follow in Liszt’s footsteps.
I first encountered Leslie in the hallowed study of Guido Agosti in Siena where all serious musicians would gather each summer to be inspired by one of the last pupils of Busoni.
A young Australian who Agosti immediately recognised as a future heir to his selfless dedication as a servant of the composers that he was entrusted to decifer. Agosti acting merely as a go between of the printed page and the sounds that they could make in dedicated hands. Lydia, Agosti’ s wife, who propped up the maestro and brought a refreshing vivacity and mondanity to such a dedicated man , she too adored this lithe Australian with golden locks and blue eyes !
