A seventeen year old pianist who can play the Appassionata with such intelligence and control followed by Liszt’s Paganini Studies is a pianist to be reckoned with.Especially when Flavio Tozzi also plays Liszt’s Mazeppa as an encore!
Long spindly fingers play with great clarity but in Beethoven you need also intelligence and to know how to delve into the score and find all Beethoven’s very precise indications of fingering,pedalling and phrasing.
There was no rearranging of the rapid arpeggiandi passages in the first movement of the Appassionata where he played them as written by the master himself.It is there to imply the struggle that is so much part of this first movement.Flavio Tozzi is a good actor as he understood the struggle even though there were no technical fears for his well oiled fingers.There was beauty too in the Andante con moto where he allowed the variations to evolve so naturally leading to the shock of the two chords that herald the last movement.Many pianists do not heed Beethoven’s Allegro ma non troppo marking as they tear away at breakneck speed.Flavio took it at a very even pace which gave him time to allow the more melodic episodes to evolve without any tempo changes.The only tempo change he allowed himself was that indicated by the composer where the sempre piu allegro to the presto coda created great excitement as did the long final pedal where Beethoven builds the sonority to the final two calamitous chords.

Liszt’s Paganini Studies held no fear for our young virtuoso which allowed him to concentrate on the musical values of these six miniature tone poems.
There was great beauty in the first study that after the opening flourishes entered the baritone with a beautiful melody played with the left hand which Flavio shaped with real artistry.A great Neapolitan song that gradually builds up to a demonic climax with both hands greatly involved in the continuous tremolando accompaniment before the return of the opening flourishes that close this first picture postcard.What charm he brought to the second study before the entry of the transcendental octaves that Liszt adds as contrast.The famous La Campanella was played with great delicacy and refined artistry as he shaped the technically difficult phrases with such beauty.There was great power and passion too in the triumphant final pages of these very well known ‘bells’.His long fingers brought remarkable clarity to the violinistic writing of the fourth study.Even here amongst all the difficulties he could shape the phrases with such delicacy and subtle rubato.There was great beauty in La Chasse with the delicate flute being answered by the horn.The strident middle episode with its demonic technical surprises of agility and ability with glissandi thrown off with lightness and ease.The famous variations of the last study in A minor were played with great character and style.From the teasing first variation to the energetic second.The nobility of the third and fleeting lightness of the fourth.The flow of the fifth over the entire keyboard and the ‘con brio’ of both hands almost on a collision course.Etherial beauty of the seventh was contrasted with the driving rhythms of the eighth and ninth.A momentary release of tension with the music box of the tenth led to the grandiloquence of the eleventh and final variation.All played with extraordinary control and musicality.
One would have thought that an encore of a nocturne or consolation might have been on the cards but not for our young virtuoso.
Nicely warmed up on the Paganini studies he jumped in with the fourth and most athletic of the set of twelve transcendental studies by Liszt.
Mazeppa was played with great rhythmic energy and control and the beauty he brought to the mellifluous central section demonstrated once again that his quite considerable technical prowess was at the service of the music.
As Flavio matures he will find more weight and solidity thinking up from the bass always which will give much more architectural shape to all that he does.However as he demonstrated today he has a remarkable technique allied to a musical intelligence that will be his guiding light for a successful future.

Flavio Domenico Tozzi nasce a Taranto nel 2005.Si avvicina alle discipline musicali e al pianoforte all’età di otto anni. Nel 2015 è ammesso all’I.M.G. Paisiello ove completa con votazione massima il percorso pre-accademico già nel 2021, sotto la guida della professoressa Alba Noti. Ha partecipato a concorsi importanti quali, nel 2015, Concorso Nazionale G. Paisiello, Primo premio, poi al “First International Musical Competition” D. Savino (primo premio 2017 e 2018) ed al “Pietro Argento Competition” (2017).È vincitore del Primo premio assoluto sia al Concorso internazionale “Musica Mundi” sia alConcorso internazionale “Mediterraneo” nelle edizioni del 2018 e 2019.Nel 2019 è Primo premio al “19° Concorso Internazionale per giovani musicisti – LAMS Matera” ed è Primo premio all’“11° Concorso musicale internazionale A.GI.MUS – Francavilla Fontana” nel 2019 e nel 2020. Nel 2021 consegue il 1° Premio nel concorso internazionale SilkWay di Artnet Russia (Russia-Cina-Italia). Dal 2021 è pianista in organico della “Orchestra giovanile della Magna Grecia” a Taranto. Ha partecipato con profitto a Masterclass di alto livello coi maestri R. Cappello (2018) e O.Sciortino (2019), K. Lifschitz (2020) e F. Libetta (2021) ottenendo ottimi apprezzamenti da parte dei maestri come promessa nell’ambito concertistico. Flavio Tozzi nell’attività concertistica propone gli autori preferiti: Chopin, Listz, Beethoven, Rachmaninov.Ha partecipato a Pianolab 2018 (Martina Franca), al Francavilla Classica Lab 2018, alla 4° edizione “Sinfonie d’autunno” (Laterza 2018), al concerto premio “Mediterraneo” (Teatro Petruzzelli Bari 2019), al concerto “Orchestra Giovanile Magna Grecia” (Teatro Fusco – Taranto 2021), alla stagione concertistica Amici della Musica – Arcangelo Speranza (concerto solisti sezione Young – Teatro Fusco – Taranto 2021).