United Kingdom Scriabin, Bach, Beethoven: Nicolas Namoradze (piano). Wigmore Corridor, London, 23.6.2025. (CC)
Scriabin – Piano Sonata No.10, Op.70 (1912/13); Fugue in E minor, WoO 20 (1892)
Bach – Prelude & Fugue in E, BWV 878 (WTC II); Prelude & Fugue in G-sharp minor, BWV 863 (WTC I)
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.29 in B-flat, Op.106, ‘Hammerklavier’ (1818/8)
Prize Laureate of the 2018 Honens Competitors and winner of the Critics’ Circle Younger Expertise award in 2022, Nicolas Namoradze is a novel pianist. His method is fearless; and he’s an actual thinker, not solely on music itself however on how performers may be at their finest: a collection: Thoughts over Music, is obtainable on the streaming platform IDAGIO. Within the UK, he may be most acquainted from a Hyperion disc of the music of York Bowen; nevertheless it was an unforgettable recital in Gstaad, which included a few of his personal music alongside Liszt Totentanz, some Bach/Busoni and the Bach First French Suite, that resonates on.
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1992, Namoradze grew up in Hungary earlier than finding out at Juilliard and the Metropolis College of New York (CUNY). He conjures up entire worlds in his taking part in, coupled with a kind of Pollini-like integrity and readability. He actually gave the opening of Scriabin’s Tenth Sonata all of the area it wants, and the volcanic side of the music spoke right here, for certain. However Scriabin’s trills – now not an decoration, however electrical energy mills in and of themselves – appeared to lack a few of that important spark. In opposition to that, there was Namoradze’s iron dynamic management: he can shift from fff to ppp in a heartbeat. He understands how Scriabin’s music works – the return to the opening achieved maximal impact. And there have been hints, too, of that terrific method that was to shine later. If this didn’t fairly stay as much as the benchmark on this repertoire (Vladimir Sofronitsky), it was mightily spectacular.
The Bach E main Prelude and Fugue from the second guide of the ‘48’ boasted linear readability, cadences ‘anchoring’ Bach’s discourse. The fugue was a second of calm however severe contemplation. Namoradze’s achievement was to let Bach’s counterpoint communicate for itself.
The Fugue in E minor, WoO 20 by Scriabin is a curio, a scholar work (he did examine with Taneyev, in spite of everything), and by inserting it in the course of two items by Bach. Namoradze emphasised its Bachian foundation, whereas Scriabin’s departures into Romantic territory stood out all of the extra. This was austere, for certain, however peaceable on the similar time, its rigour one way or the other comforting. It’s in 5 voices (there’s a four-voice F minor Fugue, too, WoO 13, by the way in which). The opposite a part of the Bach/Scriabin sandwich was the Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, BWV 863 (E book I), the Prelude crystal clear, the Fugue with an virtually otherworldly side to it. Outstanding.
As was Scriabin’s Second Sonata (the ‘Sonate-Fantaisie’). The final time I heard this piece stay was on this very corridor in a recital that was sadly a tad disappointing ( evaluation right here); Namoradze was the polar reverse, keenly attuned to the work’s stormy foundation, very sturdy, ideally centered. He’s able to feather lightness, and his capability to create polar opposites back-to-back was an actual asset right here. He didn’t break the tone of the piano within the climaxes, and the projection of melody towards post-Chopin tracery was ideally managed. The Presto finale was excess of a whirligig moto perpetuo, though there was no doubting the presto marking right here with each notice sounded regardless of the exuberance of Namoradze’s programming. This was a demanding first half; excess of a warm-up to the good ’Hammerklavier’.
And when that second got here, we got a magisterial efficiency, an absolute masterclass in piano taking part in. Two caveats: one got here proper on the opening: the leap was performed by the left hand solely (as written) however was extra of a crotchet than a quaver, thus ‘inserting’ the downbeat somewhat self-consciously; and the trills, as within the Scriabin 10, didn’t fairly reverberate with kinetic vitality. However towards that, how Namoradze maintained pulse within the improvement; how Beethoven’s linear workings all through appeared like an extension of Bach. As a result of he doesn’t let go of pulse, Namoradze can permit some reverie in, nevertheless it by no means strikes exterior of the requisite parameters. The Scherzo boasted ultra-doted rhythms, maybe a contraction towards the primary motion’s growth; however right here it was the underlying nervous vitality that triumphed. The fantastical was right here, too, octave melody towards rumbling bass (and but each notice articulated). The Adagio sostenuto was each an adagio correct and sustained. It’s attention-grabbing that Namoradze hardly strikes when he performs; all of the expression goes into the taking part in, cross-handed moments leading to wealthy bass. The gradual unfolding was regally managed, however most spectacular was how he unapologetically rendered the obsessive moments later within the motion. He let the ending of the motion reverberate on earlier than the magical transition led to an virtually impossibly quick and but completely delivered fugue. It felt so quick as to be unsustainable; however one way or the other, he did. Quick although it was, it by no means acquired sooner, leading to a cumulative momentum over and above the fundamental tempo. And when these slower moments of counterpoint arrived, we had been straight into an invocation of Bach.
A merely very good recital.
Colin Clarke
