Les Folies Françoises ou les Dominos

François Couperin

Couperin had far-reaching influence on later generations of keyboard instrument players, including composers of the 20th century. The father of Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was of Swiss origin, and the composer’s mother came from the Basque country. After Ravel’s birth, the family settled in Paris. The fact that Ravel often took inspiration from the music of Spain and exotic places did not overshadow his deep roots in French musical culture. He laid claim many times to the legacy of the French harpsichordists, and he paid a tribute to Couperin in the title of his six-movement cycle Le tombeau de Couperin (The Grave of Couperin, 1914–1917). The suite consists of six pieces written in Baroque instrumental forms (1. Prélude, 2. Fugue, 6. Toccata) or dance idioms (3. Forlane, 4. Rigaudon, 5. Menuet). Ravel composed the cycle during the First World War, which affected him very intensely. He volunteered to go to the front, but his weak constitution only allowed him to serve as a driver. Nonetheless, he witnessed the cruelty of combat, especially through the fates of his friends. Each piece is dedicated to one of his fallen comrades in arms (the Rigaudon is dedicated to two brothers). In this work, Ravel achieved a unique combination of baroque music’s orderliness with the relaxed procedures of modern harmony and the impressionistic use of the piano’s timbral possibilities.

Fantasy in F Minor

Franz Schubert (arr. by Maria Grinberg)

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) wrote his Fantasy in F minor (D. 940, Op. Posthumus 103) for piano four-hands during the last year of his life in Vienna from January until March 1928. The premiere took place that year on 9 May with the Schubert playing together with his friend the composer Franz Lachner (1803–1890). The work’s four movements are interconnected and are played without a pause. The Fantasy is seen as an example of a work bordering between sonata form and a tone poem.

The first movement (Allegro molto moderato) states the main theme in a dotted rhythm reminiscent of the popular rhythmic figures of the Hungarian style. Oscillations between F minor and F major and the darker second theme offer interesting contrasts. The return of the opening motifs creates a framework resembling sonata form, and a modulation to F sharp minor prepares the arrival of the second movement (Largo), for which the composer found inspiration in the slow movement of Paganini’s Second Violin Concerto. A contrasting mood arrives in the third movement (Allegro vivace) with a middle section in D major. The Finale returns to the main theme of the first movement with alternations between major- and minor-key passages, a contrapuntal second theme, and a conclusion strikingly combining both themes.

Schubert dedicated his Fantasy in F minor to his friend Caroline Esterházy (1811–1851), a native of Pressburg (now Bratislava). Schubert had a hopeless passion for the noblewoman he was giving piano lessons from 1818 to 1824. The arrangement for piano solo two-hands is by Maria Izrailevna Grinberg (1908–1978), a leading representative of the Russian school of piano playing.

Peer Gynt

Edvard Grieg (arr. by Grigory Ginzburg)

The last part of this programme is further confirmation of Russian pianists’ fondness for making transcriptions of famous compositions. This time, the transcription is by Grigory Romanovich Ginzburg (1904–1961), a Russian piano virtuoso and teacher who wrote many piano arrangements characterised by maximum fullness of sound and great technical demands on the performer. This is also the case with the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg (1843–1907). Grieg himself excerpted numbers from the incidental music in 1874–1875 to create his orchestral Suite No. 1, Op. 46, which contains four movement: Morning Mood, The Death of Åse, Anitra’s Dance, and In the Hall of the Mountain King. The last movement of the suite is especially popular in Ginzberg’s arrangement for its brilliance of sound, and pianists with the greatest technical skill include it in their repertoire.

Federico Colli

piano

“I don’t consider myself a mere pianist or technician of piano playing. I consider myself an artist whose most distinct trait should be curiosity. To be curious about every aspect of reality, which can be conducive in creating harmony between the human soul and beauty. Every aspect of life and every aspect of mind should conform to the endeavour to make art serve beauty,” says Federico Colli, a young Italian pianist who over the past few years has mesmerised audiences at Europe’s major concert venues with his compelling, highly imaginative, philosophical approach to music-making. In addition to performing, he has also explored literature, philosophy and religion, which, as he himself puts it, help him to “become a better human being”, adding: “I would be happy if people thought of me as an open-minded artist. An artist who makes use of doubt so as to better understand music and beauty, and the relation between beauty and truth.”

Born in Brescia, Lombardy, Federico Colli has been voted one of the 30 pianists under 30 to dominate the world stage, and selected as one of the 40 most influential Italians under 30. Although not musicians themselves, his parents recognised his talent. At the age of three or four, he began taking private percussion lessons, followed later by electric piano classes. At the age of 11, he started to devote to the classical piano, which he proceeded to study at the Milan Conservatory (within a special private training mode, only attending exams), the Imola International Piano Academy and the Mozarteum. While in Salzburg, he won first prize at the famed International Mozart Competition in 2011. A year later, he received the Gold Medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition. In the wake of these triumphs, he embarked upon a series of European concerts. He has been invited to the Musikverein in Vienna, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Wigmore Hall in London and other hallowed venues.

Federico Colli has given a number of appearances in the Czech Republic. Following performances at the Dvořák Prague festival, in February 2022 he enthused local music lovers at a recital with the violinist Josef Špaček, a friend of his. Over the long term, he has collaborated with the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, where in April 2019 he showcased his mastery rendering Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas, which at the time he was recording for Chandos Records, his exclusive publisher. The album has gained critical acclaim (Presto Classical, BBC Music Magazine, International Piano Magazine). With the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, he has also performed works by Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Dmitri Shostakovich. In May 2023, he stood in for Lukáš Vondráček and delivered Franz Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands. The iconic piece, the preparation of which Colli describes on social media as follows: “when you don’t have four hands and 20 fingers, but just a marvellous transcription, a good piano and tons of hours of practising”, will be heard tonight as arranged for solo piano.