Chinese-Polish pianist
Fou Ts'ong, born in Shanghai in 1934, has many admirers, including
Martha Argerich, among players and connoisseurs of the piano.
Mozart is one of his specialties, and this disc of piano sonatas and shorter pieces is highly recommended to anyone who has never encountered his unique style. This is
Mozart of the old school, to be sure, with plenty of pedal and a wide dynamic range. But the emphasis doesn't come at all where you expect -- as is apparent right at the beginning of the disc. The Fantasia in C minor, K. 475, paired as usual with the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457, is almost invariably treated, at least on modern pianos, as one of
Mozart's most proto-Beethovenian works, with the opening bars taken as a kind of dramatic announcement akin to the slow introduction of
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, "Pathetique" -- whose existence has retrospectively influenced the interpretation of the
Mozart work. Here and throughout,
Fou treats
Mozart as an individual, not as a forerunner or a culmination of anything, and the C minor Fantasia begins almost matter-of-factly, gaining in intensity as the opening motive is explored. The underlying principle is akin to one expressed in the booklet notes by Bohdan Pociej, stressing the role of Bachian counterpoint in the music from the end of
Mozart's life, and
Fou's reading of the two-movement Piano Sonata in F major, K. 533 (completed here as usual with the K. 494 rondo), brilliantly captures the work's duality, unique in
Mozart's output, of galant lightness and strict counterpoint. Everywhere, you clearly hear left-hand lines, unsuspected middle lines, and motivic connections (even at the expense of local ornament). But there is nothing inexpressive or intellectual in
Fou's readings, which are incredibly detailed and leave you feeling as though a great deal has happened to you over the previous five or ten minutes. The program contains two large, mysteriously sad single-movement late
Mozart piano works, both less well known than they ought to be.
Fou's version of the Adagio in B minor, K. 540, is one of the best ever recorded, taking an unusually slow tempo in this already slow piece and holding in balance all the elements of a sonata structure that is at once complex, sparse, and profoundly sad. Sample the sideways approach to the recapitulation in this adagio for an idea of what this pianist can do. Despite rather harsh sound from a Polish radio studio, this is an essential purchase for lovers of true pianism; even those in search of a single
Mozart keyboard disc are advised to give this one a try.