Martucci: 6 Piano Pieces, Novella, Fantasia, 2 Nocturnes Alberto Miodini

• 1 I. Capriccio. Allegro risoluto 02:51
• 2 II. Pezzo fantastico. Allegro 05:56
• 3 III. Colore orientale. Tempo di Marcia - Poco più mosso 10:13
• 4 IV. Barcarola. Andantino con moto - Animato 05:14
• 5 V. Notturno. Moderato, ma non troppo - Animato molto e con agitazione 05:12
• 6 VI. Tarantella. Allegro molto 06:24
• 7 Novella in B-Flat Major, Op. 50 11:16
• 8 Fantasia in G Minor, Op. 51 11:59
• 9 No. 1 in G-Flat Major. Moderato 05:14
• 10 No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor. Andantino 05:37
• Total Runtime 01:09:56

Info for Martucci: 6 Piano Pieces, Novella, Fantasia, 2 Nocturnes

After years of comparative neglect Giuseppe Martucci is taking his rightful place as one of the most important late romantic Italian composers. His style is a happy and individual mix of Wagner and Verdi, dramatic chromatism softened by lyrical, bel canto style melodies.

Martucci was a composer, conductor, teacher and excellent pianist, who made extensive European tours as a soloist. His piano music from his early period is written in sophisticated salon style, charming and picturesque. Later Martucci wrote more substantial works, like the Fantasia Op. 50 and Novella Op. 51, reminiscent of Chopin’s Scherzi and Ballades. The virtuoso pianism is proof of Martucci’s great gift as a performer.

Played with strong dedication and feeling for atmosphere by Italian pianist Alberto Miodini, pianist of the famous Trio di Parma, who already recorded successfully for Brilliant Classics the Klavierstücke by Schubert (94806).

The symphonies and tone-poems of Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909) have retained a place on the fringes of the repertoire outside his native Italy thanks to advocacy by Arturo Toscanini and, latterly, Riccardo Muti. Martucci was a man of protean talents and unflagging energy, who excelled as a composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and moving force in musical culture. The direction of that force was set against the prevailing operatic scene of contemporary Italy – except, notably, where it intersected with German music. Thus he conducted Brahms, Liszt and especially Beethoven, as well as the Italian premiere of Tristan und Isolde. His own piano music is a continuation of the Lisztian tradition – at least, it becomes so, after flirting with the world of salon music in his early 20s.

The six Op.44 pieces are a much more substantial synthesis of elements from Italian popular culture – the gondoliers’ barcarola, the mule-drivers’ tarantella among them – with a wideranging, elaborately contrapuntal and fiendishly virtuosic style which owes much not only to Brahms and Liszt but to the composer’s formidable powers of performance. The Novella Op.50 and Fantasia Op.51 experiment with more delicate textures in the manner of Chopin, and this tendency is further explored in the two Nocturnes Op.70, which move the form into late Lisztian realms of crepuscular harmony and dreamy phrases; the first of these Nocturnes became known in the early years of the last century through an orchestral transcription which was often programmed by Toscanini.

The pianist Alberto Miodini has studied these little-known works for years and written the introductory essay for recording for Brilliant Classics, after a well-received 4CD set (94806) of Schubert’s piano miniatures and free-standing pieces such as the Impromptus.

Alberto Miodini, piano

Alberto Miodini
studied at the Parma Conservatory under the guidance of Roberto Cappello; subsequently, he continued his studies with the Trio di Trieste, Maureen Jones, Paul Badura-Skoda and Bruno Canino at the “Accademia Chigiana” in Siena and at the “Scuola di Musica di Fiesole”.

Since 1990 he has been the pianist of the Trio di Parma. The group established themselves at the 16th Vittorio Gui International Competition in Florence, the 44th ARD Competition in Monaco and the Chamber Music International Competition in Lyon. In addition he was awarded the Italian Critics’ Abbiati Prize in 1994.

He has performed for the most important musical institutions in Italy (the Santa Cecilia Academy, Rome; Amici della Musica, Florence; Grand Theatre La Fenice, Venice; September Music, Turin; Società del Quartetto, Milan) and abroad (Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Wien, Salzburg Mozarteum, Lucerne and Lockenhaus Festivals, the Hamburg Musikhalle, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Colon Theatre Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Santiago in Chile, Warsaw, Dresden, Washington, Hong Kong), collaborating with musicians such as Vladimir Delman, Anton Nanut, Hubert Soudant, Bruno Giuranna, Pavel Vernikov, Wolfgang Holzmair, Eduard Brunner...).

Further works with the Trio di Parma includes the complete recordings of the piano trios by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak, Schostakovich; he also records chamber-music by Liszt, Ravel, Rota and Pizzetti.

Besides playing with the Trio, he performs recitals as a soloist as well as with important orchestras such as the Piano Festival Orchestra of Brescia and Bergamo, the Emilia Romagna Symphony Orchestra “Arturo Toscanini”, the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, etc. His repertoire ranges from Bach to Nono, and he records solo albums dedicated to Schubert and Brahms.

He holds master classes in piano and chamber music at the International Chamber Music Academy in Duino, at the School of Music in Fiesole and at the Santa Cecilia Foundation in Portogruaro. He has made numerous recordings for radio and television for RAI (Italian), Bayerischer Rundfunk, NDR in Hamburg (German), BBC, ABC Classical Australia and other broadcasters.

Booklet for Martucci: 6 Piano Pieces, Novella, Fantasia, 2 Nocturnes