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MARTINO'S MAGNIFICENT MOZART

Now I move on to more serious music making by one of the world's top class pianists, Martino Tirimo, about whom I could write reams following his complete Schubert, Beethoven, Robert and Clara Schumann. He is now giving his services with equal distinction to the solo piano works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- at the same venue, Cadogan Hall, in the course of eight evening recitals on 26 January, 6 and 19 May, 7 June, 3 and 18 October, 1 November and 1 December 2006. As a combined feat of endless research, authority, memory and stamina, it already promises to be high on anybody's 'wants' list.

I queried the supposed presence of the BBC, and knowing the Tirimo popular image as a pianist broadcaster in Schubert, Debussy, Tippett and so on, their expected enthusiasm. The reply, via producer Adam Gatehouse, was typically non-productive: 'Oh, I think we have enough Mozart programmes. Do we really want any more?'

The important fact to cherish is that this is most likely the very first time where every single solo piano work by Mozart will be included in any recital series. Out of interest, I made comparisons with Walter Gieseking's Mozart eight CD set on Columbia-EMI, recorded over an extended period in 1953/4. It doesn't include the so-called 'Das Londoner Notenbuch' or London Chelsea Notebook K15 written when he was eight years old. Tirimo will include these in each of his recitals, and quotes 1908 as the publishing date totalling 39 pieces in the state of completion. Throughout his copious and informed notes he writes fascinatingly not only on the works themselves, but also about the circumstances of the Mozart family during their tours and travels.

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