Denia International Piano Festival 2025 - five concerts from great pianists from October to December

 

Ars Alta Cultural is pleased to announce details of this year’s Denia International Piano Festival. In its third year, for the first time this festival will receive generous support from the Ayuntamiento de Denia and Ars Alta have therefore been able to invite some very well-known pianists.

The festival starts on October 2 with a concert of music for four hands. Husband and wife team, Nicolas Bringuier and Olga Monakh will present a concert entitled “Along the Danube”, in which they will play two works written for four hands, the Mozart Sonata in D Major KV381 and Fanz Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor D940 and then Liszt’s Second Rhapsody. In part two, they will play three Hungarian Dances of Brahms, three Slavonic Dances of Dvorak and will finish with the spectacular arrangement of Smetana’s tone poem, The Moldau. Though we are aware that the Danube does not reach Prague, we are sure the Denia audience will overlook that and just listen to the music!

Sharing the same love for the repertoire of four hands, it was after their meeting in 2002 in the class of the great pedagogue Klaus Hellwig at the Berlin University of the Arts that the Nicolas Bringuier and Olga Monakh began to play together. United on stage as in life, they quickly made a name for themselves for their virtuosity and the originality of their programs. In 2005, they played at a reception given by the President of the Republic of Germany and have toured many countries, including concerts across China. Their extremely extensive repertoire includes most of the original works for four hands, as well as many transcriptions of symphonic works.

In the Denia Festival’s second concert on October 30, Ars Alta proudly presents Vasco Dantas from Portugal in an evening titled “From Bach to Queen”. A Gramophone review of a recent recording by Vasco Dantas praises “his unusual programming and captivating artistry”. In this Denia concert, he will offer a guided tour of three hundred years of writing for keyboard, including pieces from Bach’s Art of Fugue, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, a Military March of Schubert, Schumann’s Arabeske, a Chopin Polonaise and favourites of Liszt, Satie and Debussy. Prokofiev’s Montagues and Capulets will follow and then, to conclude, he will play Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. If the audience is lucky enough to receive an encore, it will surely be a Portuguese Fado.

Vasco Dantas was born in Porto in 1992 and attended London’s Royal College of Music before completing his doctorate in Münster. Since then, he has performed on all five continents is the most prestigious concert halls, receiving excellent reviews.

On November 6, in the third of this year’s International Piano Festival concerts, Ars Alta is proud to present Congyu Wang for the second time in Denia in a programme entitled “Romantic Encounter.” Singapore-born Congyu Wang trained in France and now lives in La Reunion. He will play a movement from a Concerto by Mozart and then three Chopin Nocturnes followed by the four Ballades. If that were not enough for an evening’s work, he will then play Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase, which is probably as virtuosic as it gets.

He himself says that he loves to play the classical repertoire, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Liszt, but his repertoire goes way beyond this and includes his own compositions. He also says he tries to change his repertoire in the same way a restaurant would change its menu, and concert goers in Denia can look forward to this menu based on Chopin and Liszt. Congyu Wang is a Steinway Artist.

On November 26, in a concert entitled “La Reina”, Ars Alta Cultural is proud to present the legendary Turkish pianist, Gülsin Onay. She has many years of experience at the top of the international concert circuit, is recognised as a State Artist in Turkey and has played with many top orchestras and conductors. She is described on Wikipedia as having “long been a household name around Europe and beyond, with an international career spanning more than 80 countries, and including collaborations with many of the most esteemed artists and musical institutions of our time.” She is also famous for championing the music of Turkish composer, Ahmed Adnan Saygun and indeed she will play two of his Preludes in Denia. Alongside the Saygun, she will play a Bach Partita BWV825, the Sonata K331 of Mozart and the Chopin Sonata in B minor, op58.

Widely renowned as one of Turkey’s most acclaimed cultural exports, Gülsin Onay has been enchanting audiences around the globe for decades, starting with her first official concert when she was six years old. She has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and now spends her time between touring and giving concerts, leading masterclasses at various venues, and sitting on the jury boards of multiple international competitions. We are very lucky to hear her play this fourth concert in the Denia International Piano Festival.

In her own words, “it is not enough to just play, but a pianist needs to create meaning, to say something with the piece. Each note that they play has to have a meaning, it cannot just be playing mechanically, that’s not enough.” She advises every pianist to “ensure that each musical phrase should be a new creation and a creation of magic.”  The audience at this fourth concert of the Festival can judge Gülsin Onay against her own personal standard, when she observes that playing the piano “is without question always such a great experience to go through, it’s such a joy for me, and I always feel so immensely thankful every day that I can still play!”

The fifth and final concert of this third Denia Internation Piano Festival on December 4 is given by a young pianist who recently won first prize at the Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition. With the title “Mastermind”, Serbian Milan Slijepčević will play a demanding and ambitious programme that promises a rich and varied musical experience, with a few fireworks at the end.

Milan Slijepčević’s concert will start with Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze op6, eighteen characteristic pieces from the composer’s early career. He will follow with a Debussy Prelude “La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune”, and then the lyrical Fifth Sonata of Scriabin. Then to finish, he will play the Second Sonata of Prokofiev.

Born in 2000, Milan Slijepčević has been described as performing the Schumann “with his customary sensitivity and mastery.” He is described as “a young pianist who has already conquered the international music scene with his virtuosity and ability to interpret works with great expressive maturity.”

Ars Alta Cultural gives priority to the promotion of young artists and in this fifth concert of the festival, our organisation is achieving its goal. Milan Slijepčević, however, is an amazing pianist and already a seasoned performer. He will certainly not disappoint and has the potential to bring this third Denia International Piano Festival to a rousing and spectacular conclusion.

Ars Alta Cultural has presented two previous festivals in Denia. In 2025, with the generous support of the Ayuntamiento de Denia, we are confident that in 2025 the Denia International Piano Festival will achieve a new level of excellence.

 

Ars Alta Cultural se complace en anunciar los detalles del Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia de este año. En su tercera edición, por primera vez este festival contará con el generoso apoyo del Ayuntamiento de Denia, lo que ha permitido a Ars Alta invitar a pianistas de gran renombre.

El festival comienza el 2 de octubre con un concierto de música a cuatro manos. El matrimonio formado por Nicolas Bringuier y Olga Monakh presentará un concierto titulado «A lo largo del Danubio», en el que interpretarán dos obras escritas para cuatro manos, la Sonata en Re mayor KV381 de Mozart y la Fantasía en Fa menor D940 de Fanz Schubert, y a continuación la Segunda Rapsodia de Liszt. En la segunda parte, interpretarán tres Danzas Húngaras de Brahms, tres Danzas Eslavas de Dvorak y terminarán con el espectacular arreglo del poema sinfónico de Smetana, El Moldava. Aunque somos conscientes de que el Danubio no llega a Praga, estamos seguros de que el público de Denia pasará por alto ese detalle y se limitará a escuchar la música.

Nicolas Bringuier y Olga Monakh, que comparten el mismo amor por el repertorio a cuatro manos, comenzaron a tocar juntos tras conocerse en 2002 en la clase del gran pedagogo Klaus Hellwig en la Universidad de las Artes de Berlín. Unidos en el escenario como en la vida, rápidamente se hicieron un nombre por su virtuosismo y la originalidad de sus programas. En 2005 tocaron en una recepción ofrecida por el presidente de la República de Alemania y han realizado giras por muchos países, incluyendo conciertos por toda China. Su amplísimo repertorio incluye la mayoría de las obras originales para cuatro manos, así como numerosas transcripciones de obras sinfónicas.

En el segundo concierto del Festival de Denia, el 30 de octubre, Ars Alta se enorgullece de presentar a Vasco Dantas, de Portugal, en una velada titulada «De Bach a Queen». Una reseña de Gramophone sobre una reciente grabación de Vasco Dantas elogia «su programación inusual y su cautivador talento artístico». En este concierto de Denia, ofrecerá un recorrido guiado por trescientos años de composición para teclado, incluyendo piezas de El Arte de la Fuga de Bach, la Sonata Claro de Luna de Beethoven, una Marcha Militar de Schubert, el Arabeske de Schumann, una Polonesa de Chopin y temas favoritos de Liszt, Satie y Debussy. A continuación, interpretará Los Montesco y los Capuleto de Prokofiev y, para concluir, Don't Stop Me Now de Queen. Si el público tiene la suerte de recibir un bis, seguramente será un fado portugués.

Vasco Dantas nació en Oporto en 1992 y estudió en el Royal College of Music de Londres antes de completar su doctorado en Münster. Desde entonces, ha actuado en los cinco continentes en las salas de conciertos más prestigiosas, recibiendo excelentes críticas.

El 6 de noviembre, en el tercer concierto del Festival Internacional de Piano de este año, Ars Alta se enorgullece de presentar a Congyu Wang por segunda vez en Denia en un programa titulado «Encuentro Romántico». Congyu Wang, nacido en Singapur, se formó en Francia y ahora vive en La Reunión. Interpretará un movimiento de un concierto de Mozart y, a continuación, tres nocturnos de Chopin, seguidos de las cuatro baladas. Por si eso no fuera suficiente para una velada, interpretará la Paráfrasis de Rigoletto de Liszt, que es probablemente lo más virtuoso que se puede tocar.

Él mismo afirma que le encanta tocar el repertorio clásico, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin y Liszt, pero su repertorio va mucho más allá e incluye sus propias composiciones. También dice que intenta cambiar su repertorio de la misma manera que un restaurante cambiaría su menú, y los asistentes al concierto en Denia pueden esperar este menú basado en Chopin y Liszt. Congyu Wang es artista Steinway.

El 26 de noviembre, en un concierto titulado «La Reina», Ars Alta Cultural se enorgullece de presentar a la legendaria pianista turca Gülsin Onay. Con muchos años de experiencia en la cima del circuito internacional de conciertos, es reconocida como Artista del Estado en Turquía y ha tocado con muchas de las mejores orquestas y directores. Según Wikipedia, «es desde hace tiempo un nombre muy conocido en Europa y fuera de ella, con una carrera internacional que abarca más de 80 países e incluye colaboraciones con muchos de los artistas e instituciones musicales más prestigiosos de nuestro tiempo». También es famosa por defender la música del compositor turco Ahmed Adnan Saygun y, de hecho, interpretará dos de sus Preludios en Denia. Junto con Saygun, interpretará una Partita BWV825 de Bach, la Sonata K331 de Mozart y la Sonata en si menor, op58, de Chopin.

Ampliamente reconocida como una de las exportaciones culturales más aclamadas de Turquía, Gülsin Onay lleva décadas cautivando al público de todo el mundo, desde su primer concierto oficial cuando tenía seis años. Ha sido embajadora de buena voluntad de UNICEF y ahora divide su tiempo entre giras y conciertos, impartiendo clases magistrales en diversos lugares y formando parte del jurado de múltiples concursos internacionales. Tenemos la gran suerte de poder escucharla tocar en este cuarto concierto del Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia.

En sus propias palabras, «no basta con tocar, un pianista debe crear significado, decir algo con la pieza. Cada nota que toca debe tener un significado, no puede limitarse a tocar mecánicamente, eso no es suficiente». Aconseja a todos los pianistas que «se aseguren de que cada frase musical sea una nueva creación y una creación mágica».  El público de este cuarto concierto del Festival podrá juzgar a Gülsin Onay según su propio criterio personal, cuando ella observa que tocar el piano «es sin duda siempre una gran experiencia, es una gran alegría para mí, ¡y cada día me siento inmensamente agradecida por poder seguir tocando!».

El quinto y último concierto de este tercer Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia, que tendrá lugar el 4 de diciembre, correrá a cargo de un joven pianista que recientemente ha ganado el primer premio en el Concurso de Piano del Centro Franz Liszt. Bajo el título «Mastermind», el serbio Milan Slijepčević interpretará un programa exigente y ambicioso que promete una experiencia musical rica y variada, con algunos fuegos artificiales al final.

El concierto de Milan Slijepčević comenzará con Davidsbündlertänze op6 de Schumann, dieciocho piezas características de la primera etapa de la carrera del compositor. A continuación, interpretará el preludio «La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune» de Debussy y la lírica Quinta Sonata de Scriabin. Para terminar, tocará la Segunda Sonata de Prokofiev.

Nacido en 2000, Milan Slijepčević ha sido descrito como un intérprete de Schumann «con su habitual sensibilidad y maestría». Se le describe como «un joven pianista que ya ha conquistado la escena musical internacional con su virtuosismo y su capacidad para interpretar obras con gran madurez expresiva».

Ars Alta Cultural da prioridad a la promoción de jóvenes artistas y, en este quinto concierto del festival, nuestra organización está logrando su objetivo. Sin embargo, Milan Slijepčević es un pianista increíble y ya un intérprete experimentado. Sin duda, no decepcionará y tiene el potencial de llevar este tercer Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia a una conclusión emocionante y espectacular.

Ars Alta Cultural ha presentado dos festivales anteriores en Denia. En 2025, con el generoso apoyo del Ayuntamiento de Denia, estamos seguros de que el Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia alcanzará un nuevo nivel de excelencia.

 

 

Denia International Piano festival, Programme 17 December Prodigios

 

Programa de Festival Internacional de Piano, Denia

 

Shunta Morimoto at the Denia International Piano Festival in Bach, Chopin and Liszt

 

I don’t normally write detailed reviews of chamber music concerts. It’s not because they often aren’t memorable, it’s just that I tend to go to so many of them, it’s often hard to keep up with the writing! This lack of motivation to put pen paper is especially marked when the repertoire on offer is very much standard, comprising often performed works that frankly I have heard many times. It’s not that familiarity breeds contempt. It’s just that what does one say about another fairly standard performance of a standard work, albeit that both the work and the performance are superb? Nearly all the performances I have heard over the years are wholly competent, with one or two exceptions, but it becomes hard to say anything new about them. So what is it about a concert that featured J. S. Bach’s French Suite No. 6 BWV 817, Chopin’s Opus 28 Preludes and Liszt’s Dante Sonata that has provoked me to write? Answer: the performer and the performance. Both were outstanding.

Shunta Morimoto is a young Japanese pianist. He was 19 when he won the Concurso de Piano Gonzalo Soriano in Alicante in April 2024. The competition is organized by Ars Alta Cultural in conjunction with Conservatorio Profesional de Música, Guitarrista José Tomás and this year there were over 100 entrants, with half of them competing in level D, the section for adults, whose age rage was from 18 to 32. Shunta Morimoto, therefore, was at the younger end of the range, and he was the youngest of the finalists. I have been listening to music intently for about 60 years. But I knew from the moment Shunta Morimoto depressed a key in that room in April that he would win the competition and, furthermore, that I was about to witness something wholly special. Put simply, Shunta Morimoto is a genius.

Part of the prize for winning the Gonzalo Soriano competition was to appear in the Ars Alta Cultural concert series in Denia at the end of 2024 and that concert, part of the Denia International Piano Festival, was last night. Shunta Morimoto offered the program mentioned above and, for perhaps the first time in thousands of concerts and recitals that I have attended, I can report that not one of the 110 or so people in the audience made a single sound, apart from applause, of course, throughout the one and a half hours of music. There was no interval, but amongst the audience, silence ruled, so utterly wrapt was everyone in what they heard.

It is hard to describe in words what is so compelling about this young man’s playing. The moment you hear the music, it is obvious, but written words have to be read, not heard. Many pianists use bravura, strength and volume to impress. Many play as fast as possible. Shunta Morimoto can offer bravura, the spectacular and the speedy. But above all what he can do is communicate via the music and it is this speaking, apparently directly to an audience without the need of words that is utterly captivating, even arresting.

Every phrase of every piece he played last night was shaped, thought through to make musical sense. At times, he played so softly the music was barely audible, but every note was there, every gesture was clear, every phrase fit perfectly with the musical argument he presented. Even the silences he interspersed for effect were listened to intently by a thoroughly captivated audience.

Chopin’s Opus 28 Preludes, perhaps, was never intended to be played as a single work. But in the right hands, even a composer’s lack of vision can be straightened. I am reminded of a performance about 30 years ago when Murray McLachlan played all the Etudes of Chopin end to end, Opus 25 followed by Opus 10. He was clear that it would not the other way round. I have never forgotten that performance on a baby grand Kawai in a Brunei Hotel. Last night, Shunta Morimoto knew that the Opus 28 Preludes could be played as a single work, and he was right. He succeeded completely.

The Liszt that followed, of course, was breathtaking. In any hands, this Dante Sonata is a real monster, requiring all the skills that a pianist can possibly muster to bring it off. Not only did Shunta Morimoto succeed, but he appeared to bring a new dimension to the work by shaping the quieter sections so finely and so eloquently. Earlier in the day, I had listened to two other performances, by Paul Lewis and Alfred Brendel, so the work was already in my head. Shunta Morimoto’s rendition made me feel like I was hearing it for the first time, so surprising did I find his nuances of interpretation. It was totally recognisable, but totally new at the same time. What a performance!

After a wholly spontaneous standing ovation, he offered the Chopin Barcarole as a substantial encore. Shunta Morimoto, for sure, is a unique talent. He surely has a stellar career ahead of him, and richly deserved. Special.

Shunta Morimoto plays in Denia, 7 November 2024, 8pm, Teatro Centro Social

 

Programa 29 de noviembre Festival de Piano de Denia - Mihaela Manea tocará Scarlatti, Brahms, Enescu y Liszt

 

Programa 15 de noviembre Festival de Piano de Denia

 

Congyu Wang - 24 Oct Denia International Piano Festival

 

 

Congyu Wan's playing was explosive and at the same time tender. He has definitely thought about every phrase. But he does not over-shape or over-interpret. The emphasis is where it needs to be, the rubato is applied, but never overdone. The dynamics are wide, but never over-emphasised. He has a tendency with Chopin to slow the piano and accelerate the forte. In concert it works beautifully, but the approach might not get past a nit-picking reviewer on disc.

He chose to play the Chopin Nocturne and the Liszt Liebestraum together, deliberately holding off the applause at the end of the Chopin. The effect was to increase musical tension. The Denia audience was spellbound to silenece anyway! Quite memorable. The Earl Wild arrangement of the Vocalise transforms the melody into what sounds like another prelude to add to the Rachmaninov set. There’s a central section that is explosive. After that the Kreisler Libeslied sounds like a show-off piece, which is what it is, but the Rachmnaninov harmony saves it and, indeed, makes it interesting. The Gershwin preludes again sounded more pianistic than usual. Just a little research shows that Earl Wild reworked seven Gershwin Preludes – the usual performance does the three that Gershwin himself published under the title. These pieces were quite different. Highly pianistic and with recognisable melodies that kept poking through the notes. The overall effect was wonderful and simply put brought the house down.

After that, Congyu Wang then embarked on Gaspard de la Nuit. Now this is a challenge at the best of times. It is virtuosic in a way that perhaps only Ravel could write. It’s a style that is unique. It sounds literally like no-one else. But what demands he makes to mimic simplicity! One feels that Ravel always wanted to simplify, but the way his mind worked was just different from the rest of us. The pianistic elements don’t feel like decoration. They are essential elements in the music’s sense.

Congyu Wang’s playing was breath-taking. The emphasis here was in the contrasts. Slow-fast, quiet-loud, the contrasts seemed emphasised, but never mannered. Add to that the rhythmic tension that is always part of Ravel's thinking and the result is this masterpiece of the concert hall. He had really thought about the overall shape of the piece and that came across with clarity. Just what the rather strange mind of Maurice Ravel had in mind we will never know. What is clear is that the place he lived was not quite in this universe, such a transporting experience does his music offer - and this performance in particular.

And then, at the end of the programme, we heard Aldoraba de Garcioso. This is Ravel in “Spanish” mode and the audience will have been totally familiar with the musical phrases and harmonies that keep surfacing in this consciousness stream that is pure Ravel. The playing was again beyond brilliant, but always sympathetic, never spectacular just for effect. Congyu Wang is a true artist.

There followed three encores. Chopin, Debussy and more Chopin. The audience would have stayed for more, but after a programme like that at least one person involved deserved a rest.

 

 

 

 

Costa Blaca Arts Update - Dmytro Choni in Denia

 

Dmytro Choni is a pianist from Ukraine who has won the Santander competition and finished fourth in Leeds. Such results are irrelevant once a musician presents him or herself as a performer: the only thing that counts is a communication with an audience via the interpretation of music. On the evidence of this concert in Denia, Dmytro Choni has achieved near perfection in the art of performance.

Pianists often choose programmes that intend to show off technical brilliance rather than interpretive quality. At first sight, Dmytro Choni’s programme might appear to fall into this category. After all, it’s not anyone who starts an evening with the two Brahms Rhapsodies and then plays for an hour and a half to finish with a work as grand as the Dante Sonata of Liszt. There was even enough energy for an encore.

Those two Brahms Rhapsodies came across as more substantial pieces than I had remembered. Placed together, the contrasts and similarities became clear as they combined to mimic a single work. These were followed by perhaps the most taxing music on the programme. The Sarcasms of Prokofiev sound like Malevich meeting Picasso. Almost aggressively modernistic, these short pieces make a deep impression in the concert hall, since they seem to question what it is that we expect from music. They are atonal in parts, melodic in others, rhythmic here and there, broken elsewhere. Under the fingers of a pianist who does not actively associate with their intention, these pieces can dissolve into an amorphous mass of disconnected fragments. When played with sensitivity and design, as Dmytro Choni did, they become an abstract, surreal world where nothing can be assumed, but a world which we can inhabit. They surprise and enchant at the same time.

Dmytro Choni followed the Prokofiev pieced with the Sonata No1 of Ginastera. Written forty or so years after the Sarcasms, there are sections of this sonata that inhabit a similar sound world, underlining just how experimental was the vision of Prokofiev. Underpinning Ginastera’s music there is always at least an idea of an Argentinian dance, though usually of a much more energetic type than the languid tango. But here also, especially in the slow movement, there is a tendency towards the atonal, and much less stress of rhythm as musical content. In the other three movements, it was rhythm that left enduring impressions.

Book One of Debussy’s Images followed. Though harmonically Debussy’s sound world is now familiar to audiences, in its time it was nothing less than revolutionary. After the rhythmic drive of much of the Ginastera, Debussy’s sense of space impressed and this came across in the playing.

And the, having already earned his living several times over, Dmytro Choni ended the concert with Liszt’s After a lecture on Dante, Fantasia quasi sonata. It’s a vast piano sonata in everything but name and shares musical ideas with the Sonata Liszt did write. This is music on a grand scale and needs a pianist with vision and interpretive skill as well as the technical skills to render the experience musically credible rather than a mere test of dexterity. And this audience was treated to a superbly shaped picture of how Liszt responded to Dante, though it must be said that the pianist was tiring towards the end. Understandably so… It’s not every pianist who take on a programme like this!

The evening finished with an encore. It was inevitable, perhaps essential that this Ukrainian pianist would finish with some music from his homeland. The short, lyrical but reflective piece by Valentin Silvestrov was perfect, as was the rest of this superb recital.

 

Poisoned Petals by Andy Crabb

Poisoned Petals by Andy Crabb is a set of over forty short stories, tales with a Spanish flavour. Most are set in Spain, with many featuring locations and people from within the Costa Blanca, where the author lives, works and continually observes. Some are historical, others utterly contemporary, both in time and in content.

Property developers, estate agents and used car salesmen figure alongside more traditional Spanish figures, such as the bar owner, the peasant farmer and the land owner. Some stories feature characters from Spain’s Moorish period, and others pre-Visigoth, even pre-Roman Iberians.

It is surprising, therefore, to read in the highly informative author’s postscript that several of the pieces germinated elsewhere, in Britain and southern Africa, for instance. Some were transplanted items from newspaper stories, while others arose from museum visits, local tales or shared discussion with other writers.

But the stories grew in Andy Crabb’s fertile imagination and bloomed into a veritable display of skilful, entertaining writing. The fact that the author claims they eventually flowered into Poisoned Petals gives the reader a hint from the start that irony and twist will play their part.

Many of Andy Crabb’s stories deal with the sibling concepts of revenge and retribution. People are often “getting away with something”, getting one up on an innocent or unsuspecting victim. Driven to anger by such perfidious exploitation, these inherently gentler, law-abiding characters themselves become vengeful, calculating deceivers, until the score is decisively settled. In often morally satisfying conclusions, many of the original villains receive a comeuppance that is significantly sweeter than mere defeat, longer lasting than simple victory.

And each of these conclusions has been richly deserved. In Preserved For Posterity, for instance, the retribution of the wronged husband is horrid in the extreme. But then the unjustly punished lover-thief-craftsman of the story was never really guilty of his accused crime. We know that. But then that’s perhaps why he has the final, though silent, laugh at the judgment of eternity. So it is ideas of morality and justice, honesty and loyalty that suffuse Poisoned Petals.

We are presented with people who try to ride roughshod over others, whose understandable, merely human hesitancy, born of their desire to uphold and respect another’s potential for dignity, identifies them as potential prey. Usually the victims win through in the end, turning the tables decisively on their predators. But this often happens only after the victims, themselves, have displayed their ability to become, if provoked, as devious, as base, as calculating and, indeed, as mercenary as the objects of their retribution. And so Poisoned Petals gives some beautiful insights into human behaviour, some vivid illustrations of resourcefulness.

It is a collection to read over a week or two, a few stories at a time, since each is self-contained and memorable. The stories provoke us to reflect on that human condition, and profitably, enjoyably so.

View this book on amazon Poisoned Petals