One experiences often enough that the younger the artist – the longer his curriculum vitae. In the booklet accompanying this CD one finds out nothing about Fabio Martino the artist who made this recording! This can be due to a number of factors, either the result of printing limitations or a by no means insignificant self-confidence.
Martino certainly has reason for this as his piano playing undoubtedly speaks for itself. The artistic vita of this Brazilian who, in the meantime, plays concerts worldwide is impressive, his piano playing no less. It‘s not only the purely technical side, because Martino masters not only Ludwig van Beethoven’s Appassionata but romantics like Franz Liszt‘s Liebesträume and Robert Schumann‘s C-Major Fantasy with exceptional dexterity and brilliance. This is undoubtedly impressive but only half the job for a pianist.
The reason why his playing absorbs you in a rather compelling manner is the emotional, the expressive component, which is a large part of it. Martino makes almost a psychodrama out of the first movement of Beethoven’s Appassionata; the second is wonderfully simple, especially at the beginning. In Liszt the unbelievable variety of sound and agogical nuances which Martino presents are mesmerising, and in Schumann’s Fantasia is an unbelievable turmoil with which he draws the listener magically into the inner world of this music.
No question, Martino is an exceptional talent, who, with this CD, presents more than impressive proof of his maturity as a pianist. He’s operating at the dramatic pulse of the music, concentrates the atmosphere with phenomenal emphasis so achieving the miracle of hearing even well-known works from a completely new perspective. Well worth listening to is the encore of the ‘Hit’ Tico-Tico by Marc-André Hamelin. This isn’t only virtuoso it really rocks! Magnificent!
Guido Krawinkel
2016-11-01
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