<<  -- 2 --  Bill Newman    INFALLIBLE BEAUTY

Turn now to the unfashionable older style pianist of a very pleasing temperament, with a serious, studious outlook which includes that vital spark of 'something very special'. Martino Tirimo has been around long enough to embrace and re-activate music which stems from a composer's genius. He also causes those who instinctively know how music should sound to constantly sing his praises. Known by them as 'A Great Communicator', he is not listed in the Wigmore Hall Diary, despite having performed there with regular distinction over the years.

Readers will know that my registered concern with the BBC's lack of interest has now been documented. Tirimo was a regular broadcaster on Radio 3; now, some years later he is acknowledged as an International Celebrity of considerable standing, in my opinion superior in interpretive understanding to younger players continuously over-praised and glamorised by the musical clique. He belongs instead alongside chosen older contemporaries, mostly gone -- mainly for his depths of vision in Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy, and most certainly for continuing revelatory insights into Schubert and Mozart. Any Tirimo programme note and analysis of scores -- I refer also to new Performing Editions of Schubert through to Villa-Lobos -- is worthy of mention and high praise, but already I have this constant fear that the 'Old School' serious approach to music making will casually be pushed to one side in years to come by vapid sensation mongers and charlatans. They consider that they possess their own permanent appeal to eBay addicts, but if one takes a consenus of opinion from the smallish, select, musically informed audience who to date attended the four Tirimo events -- the others are on 3 and 18 October, 1 November, and 1 December 2006 -- overall reactions vere between tremendous high praise and authority. 'Each one is a revelation in itself', quotes Peter Feuchtwanger. Although comparisons today are regarded as bad taste, I hope to be forgiven by stating that this was Mozart playing of a higher dimension than either Andras Schiff or Mitsuko Uchida. The musical selection and contrasting of pieces, the specific attention to every stylistic detail that relates to pace, drama, touch and songlike clarity, are all hallmarks of his artistic maturity.

The release of the first three Regis commercial CDs are discussed in my forthcoming CD review. The remaining nine are following in two groups: July (4 discs), October (final 5) and the overall response is already 'Quite magnificent'. Here are valuable marketing-promotion ploys to enable the Cadogan management to successfully fill all remaining houses.

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