A rough diamond appeared at the Steinway Hall last night for the Keyboard Trust and astonished and seduced us with playing of innocent passion and musicianship of such uncontaminated mastery .
Forli is a little town in Reggio Emilia known more for its gastronomy than its artistry.

Giuliano Tuccia did not know that in his home town was buried one of the legendary pupils of Busoni, one of the greatest musicians of our day.The musical world flocked to his studio in Siena for over 30 years to be inspired by a musician of refined musicianship.For Agosti the written score was the Bible and the pianist merely a servant of the composer’s wishes.This was in a period where the so called piano virtuosi reigned and would take the notes of the composer and use them as a juggling act to show off their scintillating and titivating wares.
Busoni had shown Agosti differently as he himself had learned from Liszt,who was the greatest advocate of following the details in the original scores of the great masters.His own works too are very precisely notated ,if very rarely adhered to,as Liszt became the symbol as the greatest virtuoso of all time overlooking his real value as a visionary composer of great modernity.

Guido Agosti was born in Forlì but soon spread his wings that took him to nearby Bologna and then Berlin.He and Giuliano have one thing in common – a burning passion for music that denies all worldly problems as it is a vision that must find it’s outlet on the piano.
I had told Giuliano about Agosti and he immediately went to the town hall to search for funding to celebrate this great figure in the town where they were both born.Giuliano and his faithful companion Chiara became impresarios and a first ‘Guido Agosti Festival’ was the result.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/01/03/forli-pays-homage-to-guido-agosti/

I of course was there and we spent some time searching for the tomb of Agosti in the local cemetery.What a joy for me to see that his adored wife Lydia Stix Agosti was buried with him .My own wife Ileana Ghione had been introduced to me by Lydia in Siena in 1978 and mirrored the same passion that had been ingnited for us all in the magical atmosphere of Siena .It had been a great love story as Lady Weidenfeld knew – she was present tonight too – from when the Agosti’s were on the jury of the very first Rubinstein Competition presided over by Rubinstein himself.

Emanuel Ax was the winner but it was Janina Fialkowska who stole Rubinstein’s heart with a most moving performance of the Liszt Sonata (that is now on you tube) and he helped her in the last decade of his long life to take her place on the concert stage where she so rightly belonged.
Agosti had been my teacher and more importantly Leslie Howard’s who had in fact invited Giuliano to perform for the Keyboard Trust tonight.It was Leslie as Artistic Director of the Keyboard Trust who presented the concert tonight and also had a brief public conversation with the artist after his marathon performance of some of the most difficult pieces ever written for the piano.

Schumann’s Kreisleriana and Rachmaninov’s six Moments Musicaux were on a programme which is an invitation from the Keyboard Trust for young aspiring pianists to demonstrate their artistry publically after having been selected via video recordings.

Nicolò Giuliano Tuccia ‘A true musician with something important to say’ from the city of the legendary Guido Agosti

After this audition concert the Trust chooses a select few to play for them in various parts of the world to gain experience of concertising in order to make the first step in the long ladder that may lead to a career on the concert stage.
Kreisleriana immediately showed the passionate commitment and innocent originality of Giuliano’s playing .Like a bull in a china shop but what an extraordinary bull and what a ravishingly original china shop.
The refined perfection of Agosti is not yet part of Giuliano’s genes but there was the same burning intensity and dedication which united the souls of these two Forlese .
Could it be something in the air that blows in these parts? Certainly there is the nearby International Music Academy in Imola which has inspired generations of young musicians who have gone on to celebrated careers.Giuliano is now under the wing of three previous artists from the KT :André Gallo vice director of Imola

(https://youtube.com/watch?v=1TTxiaFESH0&feature=shared),

Alessandro Taverna also in Imola and shortly will also join the class of Roberto Prosseda in Rovigo where he will learn to refine his playing and listen more intently .

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/13/roberto-prosseda-pays-tribute-to-the-genius-of-chopin-and-the-inspirational-figure-of-fou-tsong/
Lady Weidenfeld pointed out that Menahem Pressler was the only pianist who actually listened to every note he played and could modulate his sound to suit the piano ,the hall and the acoustic.Pressler of course was the founder of the Beaux Arts Trio – one of the greatest formations of our day.Shura Cherkassky used to say that he did not think the younger generation listened to themselves.

A magnificent Steinway Concert Grand generously shared with us by Wiebke Greinus of Steinways.It is a piano fit for a hall of a thousand not the actual fifty capacity where the artist has to learn to adapt to the size and listen even more carefully to the sounds .Giuliano did as well as most but there was only one Pressler as Lady Weidenfeld pointed out !
A Kreisleriana that was a continual stream of surprises as Giuliano’s vision was so immediate and overwhelming that one was caught up in his same passionate commitment.Details and finesse can be taught but this passionate dedication is something that is of the chosen few.There were moments of sublime inspiration as well as dramatic dynamism.An irritating lack of detail too that was of no real importance in performances that were shouted from the rooftops with such dedication and overwhelming conviction .An ovation greeted the fourth Moments Musicaux and Giuliano rather embarrassed acknowledged the spontaneous applause and some of us thought that was the end .There were another two – the heartrenching Adagio sostenuto elegie and the even more tumultuous Maestoso.

A drink very generously offered to distinguished guests that included Tony Palmer ,the film director of so many memorable films about composers.

Aisa Ijiri,the distinguished Swedish – Japanese pianist.

Deniz Arman Gelenbe a disciple of Gyorgy Sandor and a magnificent chamber musician who shares her experience so generously at Trinity Laban Conservatory where she was Head of Keyboard before moving to Paris to be with her much celebrated businessman husband.

Lady Weidenfeld who has so generously helped so many musicians reach their goal – Kissin and Trifonov in particular.

Leslie Howard despite some health problems was very much present and infact it was Leslie who sat at the extraordinary Spiro piano and gave us the most beautiful performance of the entire evening .A Liszt arrangement of a Chopin song.Lost in music with the same dedication as his disciple he was not aware that we had been reduced to silence to enjoy the same artistry that we had experienced all those years ago in Siena.

Pity the amazing Spiro piano was not turned on to record all that touched it magnificent keys.But as Mitsuko Uchida says a beautiful memory grows and lasts much more in one’s soul than a printed photo.