A Portuguese Schumann he is sometimes called. How unfair and how wrong! Born in 1868 on the island of SãoTomé e Principe in the Gulf of Guinea, José Vianna da Motta is really quite different. Less heavy-handed, more cheerful, more carefree. Say: more southern.

Schumann was a brilliant borderliner with a kind of ˜switch in his head” that made him balance between genius and banality and that eventually landed him in the Rhine. You can hear it in his music but this is totally absent from Vianna da Motta.

José Vianna da Motta first studied in Berlin with the brothers Xaver and Philipp Scharwenka and in 1885 he joined Franz Liszt in Weimar. By 1927, he was already playing Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas in a series of concerts, something to which he mainly owes his fame.

His works are anything but progressive. They are undoubtedly a lot of fun but do not make much af an impact. After listening a couple of times, you know quite enough and then it becomes … how shall I put it: a bit boring? Because eventually you only hear a ˜carpet of sound”.

Luís Pipa is a pianist of the grand gesture and overwhelming sounds. Perhaps that’s why?