<<  -- 5 --  Bill Newman    MOZART VIEWPOINTS

The several reproductions of paintings, medallions and manuscripts adds to the creative aspect, but he also qualifies in his introductory Personal Note that 'Mozart's gifts were indeed manifold. Thus, in my perusal of his total piano output, it was something of a shock to discover the great number of unfinished works. Some are only a few bars long while others are lengthy and of fine quality, making it difficult to comprehend his decision not to complete. Some of these pieces were completed by Simon Sechter and others. With the exception of the Fantasy in C minor K396, completed by an inspired Maximilian Stadler, and Kontretanz in C where I provided the last eight bars, I decided not to include any of these completions.' Also excluded are arrangements by other composers (including an arrangement of the ballet music from Ascanio ed Alba), but the 26 January recital included Mozart's own arrangement of his orchestral Menuette K176 (sixteen in number) of which eleven exist in the piano version. Again, Gieseking does not include these in his survey.

While Tirimo's personal touch and style of rubato phrasing is fresh in my memory, it would I think be a mistake to compare the overall quality of his Mozart playing with other current keyboard performers. Specialist is the wrong word because it implies performing on an instrument of Mozart's time, either a forte piano or perhaps a clavecin, neither of which I am too familiar with and fail to move me. The composer would indeed have welcomed the colourings of the modern Concert Grand Piano and the endless varieties of tonal nuance -- from the exquisite delicacies to the radiant exploration of dynamics, so much part of this opening recital.

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