Brahms - Paganini Variations [Tomassi] Here's the other half of this recital i played last month [15th March 2011], not quite as scintillating as her Chopin Etudes, but wonderful nevertheless, it's quite audacious to couple these two works together, but they make a great coupling, she's inventive, colourful, and well... variable too!.
Giorgia Tomassi is Italian, still quite unknown, this is one of those 'Debut' EMI discs, but i feel it was only ever introduced to the Italian market, the booklet starts off in Italian, which says something about the market it was aimed for, the booklet front cover photograph is by Gian Luca Liverani, a nice shot of Tomassi in a reflective pose, notice those hands all splayed out!, ready to attack those keys.
Well the Paganini Variations which impressed me the most from Tomassi were, 2-4, 8 & 11-12 from the First Book, and 4, 6 & 12 from the Second Book, the most impressive of all were 11 from Book One, and 6 from Book Two, and i would like to give a synopsis of these two pieces,
Variation 11 [Book One], must be my favourite variation, it's like the sound of church bells chiming away gently, Tomassi plays this quite fast, a degree of restraint would heighten the beauty of it, just hanging on certain notes a shade longer to create bliss, i like the way she emphasizes the high treble notes [0:20].
Variation 6 [Book Two], in contrast this variation is loud and short [20 seconds], it sounds like Saint-Saens 'kangaroos' from his Carnival of the Animals, lots of leaps up and down the piano, with whoops of emphasis at the height of the treble extremities, a lovely virtuoso burst from Tomassi.
Loads of flavours and scents of all colours and tastes here for everyone to enjoy, i'm loving these variations.
Here's Olaf John Laneri playing Variation 11 / Book One [starts 7:17], and Variation 6 / Book Two [starts 3:16] on YouTube.
