Beethoven - Piano Concerto n. 5, op. 73, "Emperor"

1994, The City of Senigallia by the Adriatic Coast, Italy.

This monumental work was played on the 7th of September in the final stage of the 23rd Piano Competition of the City of Senigallia - an annual project that would go on until 2001 under the baton of pianist Luigi Mostacci.

Conductor Claudio Michelli and the Orchestra Regionale Marchegiana were my partners here.

In the competition I won the special prize for chamber music (with this marvelous Brahms Trio, played with violinist Diego Conti and cellist Antonio Mostacci:    • Brahms - Trio op. 87, with Diego Conti and...  ) the special prize for singer accompaniment and the special prize for the best performance of a piece by Gabriel Faure (this piece here, although this is a much later performance:    • Faure - Theme and Variations op. 73  .

Regardless of all this, the jury decided NOT to award the first prize to anyone. The first prize, apart from a hefty amount of money, included some forty performances in many Italian and European cities. This would have been a wonderful opportunity to launch an international career...

On the following morning, the headline of the local "Corriere Adriatico" read: "No first Prize. The public protests" - with my curly-haired picture (pretty much the same hair as here:    • Bach - Goldberg Variations  ) occupying one-third of the page.

An agitated jury member hurried to see me that night, right after the scandalous jury decision. He showed me the table of votes and proved to me that not everything there was on the up-and-up...

He took special care to explain to me the corrupt motives behind some of the votes - but this would be the subject of another note, perhaps one day...

Ladies and gentlemen, this recording is the first time I post any of my CD recordings on my YouTube channel. As I recently learned video editing and CD ripping - there will be many more such recordings appearing on the channel pretty soon - old recordings that until now I didn't know how to convert and post. I hope they will bring you pleasure.