Top of the Liszt
ROBERT McCARNEY marvels at the music making of young Kosovar pianist Melisa Ibrahimi
Sunday 19 May 2024 was an unusually chilly day for this time of year in the north of Spain. I don't know if that made most people prefer to spend the evening sheltering in the warmth of their homes but whatever the reasons were, fewer people than usual seemed to be taking their evening stroll. For the hardy few who ventured to León's Sala Eutherpe for the evening concert that was on offer they and I were rewarded for their curiosity and love of live music with an unexpected marvel of a performance.
Our performer for the evening was young Kosovar pianist Melisa Ibrahimi. Having a musician from a sovereign state that is still not recognised as such by the Spanish government was unusual enough but equally so was Melisa's demeanour in the ten or so minutes before the concert. Usually at this time the musicians who are due to perform are firmly hidden behind a screen presumably trying to tame their last-minute nerves and get 'into the zone' as they say these days. Miss Ibrahimi on the other hand couldn't have been more relaxed and seemingly only wanted to spend her final free minutes before the concert engaging with her public as much as possible.
Publicity for Melisa Ibrahimi's concert in León
When the appointed hour arrived and the lights dimmed, Miss Ibrahimi strode scoreless onto the stage and proceeded to dazzle us for the next hour or so. She started off her recital with two crisply executed sonatas by the still underplayed Domenico Scarlatti. A very clever Neapolitan antipasto with a definite Spanish twist to ease her and her audience gently into the evening.
She followed this with a most impassioned performance of Beethoven's so-named twenty-third piano sonata. Through no fault of her own I had some misgivings about the health of the piano, particularly in some of those magical pedal-heavy bass chords. On the positive side these sounds only served to make one think how extraordinary and extraordinarily daring or crazy these sounds must have seemed back in the early nineteenth century, especially when played on a typical piano of that era.
After all that Beethovenian fire Melisa treated us to a prelude by Rachmaninov from his Opus 32 set. I have to come clean and say that little of Rachmaninov's music does much for me but after Melisa's rapt rendition of this B minor jewel, maybe as close as Rachmaninov ever got to sounding like Ravel, I was reminded that this was one piece of his I wanted to hear again.
Melisa Ibrahimi in León on 19 May 2024.
Photo © 2024 Fundación Eutherpe
From that juncture until her encores Melisa led us on a non-stop rollercoaster ride through no less than four of Franz Liszt's most virtuosic thunderbolts. I am no expert but I have been to dozens of piano recitals over the years and I honestly can't remember ever witnessing these wild beasts so joyously, and seemingly effortlessly, tamed. Even the poor piano which received an absolute pounding under Melisa's muscular forearms and dancing fingers seemed to understand and respond to the sheer skill and panache with which Liszt's terrifyingly difficult scores were being nonchalantly dispatched by Miss Ibrahimi.
More than once Melisa took her eyes off the keyboard and stared into the heavens as if lost in a pure ecstasy of music-making. I am well aware that some musicians are prone to overblown and exaggerated empty gesturing, often times to cover up lacklustre or just plain poor performances. Saying that, I don't know why but in Sunday night's concert it just felt like a purely natural response from a pianist absolutely in love with this music and performing it for a live audience. I didn't notice any botched notes either.
Melisa Ibrahimi in León on 19 May 2024.
Photo © 2024 Fundación Eutherpe
I honestly don't know if it was Melisa's sense of humour but it made me smile that after we had weathered her piano storm of the first three Liszt pieces she finally chose to hit us with Orage. When she finished this piece and jumped up off her stool the audience erupted in genuinely bowled-over and heartfelt applause. As an encore she gave us part of a Chopin scherzo and an emotive tune from her Balkan homeland.
Melisa Ibrahimi (left) with Margarita Morais,
president and founder of the Fundación Eutherpe
in León on 19 May 2024.
Photo © 2024 Fundación Eutherpe
She finished the evening off with another first for me by taking a selfie of herself with the entire audience. All of whom, like me, very much hoping that Melisa Ibrahimi will come back soon to León's Sala Eutherpe and dazzle us again before too long. The piano might need to have a little lie-down beforehand though.
Copyright © 21 May 2024
Robert McCarney,
León, Spain
