Filippo Tenisci in Viterbo with masterly playing on a wondrous voyage of discovery
A ‘tour de force’ from Filippo Tenisci who after his heroic dedication to the Liszt Transcriptions of Wagner has now set his sights on rarely if ever heard works of Béla Bartók. A seemingly infallible memory that allowed him to master the intricate rhythms and continual changing character that Bartók uses from the folk idioms of his native Hungary.
His programme had begun, though, with Debussy which immediately showed off his kaleidoscope of sounds allied to a musical intelligence that could always perceive the overall line and architectural shape of works that in lesser hands can loose their noble identity. ‘La Cathédrale Engloutie’ seemingly rather slow at the beginning, with a very particular way of coaxing the sounds out of the piano but creating an atmosphere as the music gradually took wing. The ending too was rather slow but of great contemplation and poignant beauty. It was just the contrast that he found as the great chorale outpouring was allowed to flow with noble richness, the hands always caressing the keys with fluidity and radiance.
Read more here at Christopher Axworthy’s blog
