Bach: Italian Concerto, Partita IV – Federico Colli

   in Piano International (Mar, 2019)
The young Italian pianist Federico Colli makes a persuasive case for Bach on a modern Steinway, fabulously recorded at Potton Hall in Suffolk. There shades of Argerich’s classic DG recording in his approach, which is robust and clear in the Ouvertüre to the Partita. Colli’s pedalling is an object lesson in utilising the strengths of a modern instrument while remaining faithful to the expression in the original (try the Allemande). The Sarabande is almost whispered, the Gigue terrifically fluent.

The famous Italian Concerto is given a bracing reading, its refreshing outer movements housing a transportive central panel of utmost concentration; Lise de la Salle’s infectious enthusiasm in her recent Bach Unlimited …