Giorgio Federico Ghedini - Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi)

Information

Composer: Giorgio Federico Ghedini

• Piano Sonatina in D Major
• Puerilia. 4 piccoli pezzi sulle 5 note
• Piano Sonata in A-Flat Major
• Fantasia
• Divertimento contrappuntistico
• Capriccio
• Ricercare super 'Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum'
• Allegretto

Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi, piano

Date: 2011

Label: Naxos

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Review

This is the second of only two volumes of Ghedini's complete piano music on Naxos. Volume 1, also featuring Massimo Bianchi, was released a year ago, and is available on Naxos 8.572329. Of the two, this volume has, on balance, the more substantial pieces, in particular the Piano Sonata in A flat, the Fantasia and the Ricercare. Moreover, the Sonatina, Puerilia, Sonata, Fantasia and Allegretto are all world première recordings.

The programme opens with the cheerful, mellifluous, almost anachronistic Piano Sonatina in D, sounding not unlike a young Grieg. This is the earliest work on the disc, one of Ghedini's earliest of any kind, and not at all typical of his more mature style. Puerilia: Four Little Pieces on Five Notes are tiny but amusing and intriguing studies Ghedini wrote for his young daughters, each of the finger-restricted pieces representing a different animal - an ant, a cat, a cuckoo and a cock, with the first two focusing on the animal's movement, the latter two on its call.

The Piano Sonata in A flat is a generally optimistic work, though tinged throughout, and especially in the slow movement, with nostalgic poignancy. It is a thoughtful, inventive and thoroughly beautiful work - Ghedini's piano masterpiece.

The Fantasia is another of Ghedini's major works for piano, in spite of its relative brevity. It was to be his last piano work for two decades, by which time his music had entered a more radical phase. The Fantasia is a virtuosic, complex work, interweaving stormy and reflective passages of fugato and counterpoint. The exciting final minute or so sounds like a delicious fusion of Chopin and Liszt.

The Divertimento Contrappuntistico, dedicated to the pianist Carlo Vidusso, is another briefish work, yet contains a huge amount of notes, evolved from a simple musical idea (the 'diverting' element), and is a technically demanding piece for the performer. Reminiscent mostly of Prokofiev, it is an enjoyable whirlwind of energy from first to last. The Capriccio is a short, three-part work, apparently reducing dynamically to pppp in the largo central section - patently not observed by Bianchi. The harmonies are interesting - dissonant in an approachable way.

The Ricercare on 'As the hart panteth after the water brooks' (Psalm 42) dates from 1944 (not 1943, as the back cover states). There was a revision in 1956 - the version played here - and there is an audible element of war-weariness in this beautiful, contemplative, ascetic music. The final work is a bagatelle, the very short Allegretto, written for an anthology intended as examination pieces.

Pianist Massimo Bianchi is more than equal to the challenges thrown up by Ghedini's imagination. The last resonances of the final chords at the end of the first and second movements of the Piano Sonata sound very slightly cut short, but otherwise the recording is almost perfect throughout. For the brilliance of the Piano Sonata, Fantasia and Ricercare alone this CD represents a worthwhile purchase, giving a long-overdue insight into an underrated and enigmatic composer.

— Byzantion

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Giorgio Federico Ghedini (11 July 1892 – 25 March 1965) was an Italian composer. Born in Cuneo, he studied in Turin and graduated from the Bologna Conservatory under Marco Enrico Bossi in 1911. After a brief conducting career, he dedicated himself to teaching composition at conservatories in Turin, Parma and Milan. His notable students include Marcello and Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio and Guido Cantelli. A passionate admirer of early music, Ghedini transcribed works by Frescobaldi, Monteverdi, and the Gabrielis. His most famous composition is the Concerto dell'Albatro, among many chamber and vocal works.

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Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi is a pianist and composer who studied under Bruno Canino and further specialized in chamber music with mentors like Franco Rossi and the Trio di Trieste. He also studied composition with Vittorio Fellegara and attended a masterclass by György Ligeti. Bianchi performs internationally at prestigious festivals and has collaborated with notable musicians and ensembles. He is known for tackling technically demanding and rarely performed works, including the complete Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies. A skilled improviser, he also collaborates frequently with Italian jazz artists.

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