![Seth Schultheis [Photo: Norbert Ittermann]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNn3iDG1MOR8cI70K4pmBXgW8gt9L8sczmrIvHXYtws5dPn1GZBbmxczxdkYCcAL96bWDlpzDaFrBi-wJ6VJh9kyDIgfybqbyY3IQberslls-dJydBlW1RzGuuFyn0AShAGcVLfFqh9DpvdTecbMHI5VBVXSn553WTBjLe2kqUHyXAwHvlKry3QA/s6000/1_TBC%202025_c_Norbert%20Ittermann.JPG "Seth Schultheis [Photo: Norbert Ittermann]") |
| Seth Schultheis [Photo: Norbert Ittermann] |
Beethoven, Elizabeth Ogonek, Schumann; Seth Schultheis; Hatfield Home Music Competition within the Marble Corridor
Reviewed 9 October 2026
The 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competitors Winner in an engagingly different programme that discovered enjoyment of a sequence of quick actions by three very totally different composers
Hatfield Home Music Competition‘s second day, 9 October 2026, started with a piano recital by Seth Schultheis. An American primarily based in London, Schultheis is at present an Aud Jebson Fellow on the Royal Academy of Music, and he gained First Prize (and Particular Prize for Chamber Music) on the 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competitors in Bonn.
He started with Beethoven, not a sonata however the 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119. These had been adopted by 5 preluddes by modern American composer Elizabeth Ogonek, and Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 concluded the night.
Beethoven evidently referred to his bagatelles as ‘cobbler’s patches’. They’re quick, attribute items the place Beethoven is comparatively unfettered by the constraints of type. Schulteheis started with classical poise within the opening minuet and trio, however then the music quickly moved between quirky and characterful earlier than classical stability returned. The sturdy vigour of a dance was adopted by intricate rhythms, fleeting moments and the distinctly quirky. An additional classical piece had a way of questioning within the concord resulting in a showy dance with hints of Weber, then a helter-skelter sprint to the touching conclusion.
Schultheis maybe didn’t make us suppose these had been free improvisations; not a lot Beethoven on the piano because the the thought of merchandise of the composer’s creativeness. However Schultheis’s sensitivity to the music’s quicksilver adjustments and sly endings was spectacular.
Elizabeth Ogonek studied at Indiana College and the USC Thornton College of Music, earlier than learning with Julian Anderson at Guildhall College on a Marshall Scholarship. Her Preludes date from 2024 and we heard 5. All had been notable for his or her extremely wrought, intricate textures and sophisticated harmonies. The primary appeared flowing but with a restlessness that carried over into the second prelude the place the mobiel harmonies hinted at darkish corners. The third appeared sluggish and uncompromising however this was modified by delicate gildings. The fourth was merely a fragile net of sound while the quick fifth had an unique, quasi-Oriental really feel with clear gildings.
Schumann wrote his Davidsbündlertänze in 1837, three years earlier than he and his beloved Clara achieved wedded bliss. The work is free-format, Schumann writing 18 quick actions reimagining the brotherhood of the Biblical King David as a combating towards Philistines who’re the enemies of Artwork. We start with Clara, nevertheless, a brief burst of a mazurka earlier than launching into music that mixed model and character then motion to tender craving. All of the changeability of Schumann’s presumably bi-polar nature is right here, famously within the characters of Florestan and Eusebius.
Schultheis was superbly alert to the changeable nature of the music by turns vigorous then tender, alert to meood adjustments, but all with energy in his fingers. There have been moments that had been deceptively easy but contrasted with impetuosity and urgency; skittishly impetuous but with underlying strengh or robust rhythms. In the direction of the tip a young flowing motion with disinctly quirky corners led to a vigorous dance. We ended, nevertheless, with a easy tender dance that wound proper down.
In some ways Schultheis’s programme was daring. In one thing over an hour we heard some 34 quick actions, three composers permitting their imaginations to stream. on stage, Schultheis had a considerably unassuming characters, but his fingers had been robust, alert to temper and sympathetic to probably the most tender passage.
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