After a four-year gap Federico Colli continues his series of Mozart's solo piano music. A mercurial and mesmeric pianist he once again makes his approach clear in his endearing and idiosyncratic way; his accompanying essay is addressed to 'Dear Wolfgang.' Here, he writes of a necessary 'filtering out of the superfluous ' of tireless research into every aspect of Mozart's all too brief life and, as he puts it with all his characteristic charm, 'boom!' some sort of musical truth emerges. More particularly he writes of the .B minor 'Adagio.' exclaiming 'what a piece!' before asking us to imagine 'the sorrow Mozart felt at the loss of his beloved father, who died three months before the 'Adagio's' composition. He ends with a gracious and modest apology for inadequacy, from a 'devoted, always questing human being.'
Here, he very much sets the tone for performances that hold, indeed rivet your attention. This is never more so than in the 'B minor Adagio' which could hardly sound more desolate, Colli's dynamic extremes like sudden outcry's, creating an unforgettable evocation of grief. After this, the Variations on 'Ah! Vous dirai-je Mama,' with their 'twinkle, twinkle little star' opening theme, come like a much-needed break into the light. Again, everywhere you are made aware of Colli's minutely calibrated pianism
allowing him an astonishing range of colour and variety. The same qualities fill the second set of Variations on 'Les Hommes pieusement,' whether recreating phantom voices, a sudden seraphic beauty or delighting in rollicking keyboard acrobatics.
Finally, a return to the Sonatas, and a revelatory way with K.331 in A major. What winning gentleness Colli finds in the opening theme, what contrasting nobility in the following variation. His decorations are playful and elegant while in his research he claims that his 'acciaccaturas' provide a more authentic 'Turkish' touch to a more familiar and anodyne alternative.
These are thrilling performances and an advance on volume 1 which despite its wonders occasionally reminded me of Alfred' Brendel's censorious words about pianists who have 'a predilection for eccentric genius at the keyboard.' I also hope that Colli's remarkable recordings of Bach, Scarlatti and Mozart will not let him forget his earlier triumphs in the Romantic repertoire. His performance of the Schumann F sharp minor Sonata at his debut recital in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and his audacious, at times outrageous rethink of Rachmaninov's Third Concerto remain lodged in my memory.
Bryce Morrison