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How old were you when you discovered Mozart's music?
During my childhood, in Naples, I played Scarlatti and Schumann's Album for the Young but
Mozart came later. My teacher refused to let me work on his music until I was 13 years old.
I really longed to play Mozart and when the time came I had already been playing for some
time.
What type of instrument do you look for?
I like a piano to be flexible, with keys that return to position quite quickly but with some
resistance too. By which you will understand I don't like a "stiff finger" piano! I am definitely
against some Steinways that are no longer pianos but devices for relieving rheumatism! For
me, the ideal piano today is a Bechstein, which is what I played as a child.
Are you equally demanding with regard to editions?
I'm very distrustful of revised editions. I think they sometimes betray the composer. I particularly
work with the Henle Urtext editions.Walter Legge, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's husband, advised
me to take the Bärenreiter editions that are even more thoroughly researched.
You had already recorded Mozart's sonatas in the Fifties. Did you listen to
those recordings again?
No. The Fifties recording in Brussels was of all the sonatas played on a Bösendorfer piano. But
some of the tapes have been lost. However, after the recording I've just made in such excellent
conditions, I would quite like to record another complete set of the sonatas.
Do the acoustics of a venue influence your playing?
Indeed they do. I adapt my playing to each venue; sometimes I ask to have the piano moved.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf would sometimes spend an hour finding the best place to stand on
stage! For years now I have been in the habit of mentally projecting the sound I produce,
imagining it reaching different parts of the concert hall.
ALDO CICCOLINI
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