Second appointment for the XIV edition of PianoSolo Festival, in the usual setting of the Salone dei Marmi of Palazzo di Città organized by Paolo Francese and Sara Cianciullo. Music by Mozart, Chopin and transcriptions by Bach and Richard Strauss
By Olga Chieffi
After the rushed inaugural concert of the XIV edition of the PianoSolo Festival, organized by the pianists Paolo Francese and Sara Cianciullo, who make use of the experience of the historic company “Alberto Napolitano”, and the promotional support of Scabec, entrusted to one of the greatest figures of Neapolitan school of piano, Sandro De Palma, between lines of strength and transparency, ambiguity, between Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin following the line of the festival, or rather that of proposing a romanticism grown on the classical language, tonight at 19, the spotlights will turn on on the German teaching of Andreas Frolich. The pianist will begin with a portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, opening the récital with the Fantasia in C minor KV 475, in continuity with the vein of Bach’s Toccata for the immediacy of writing, improvisational spontaneity and clarity of the stylistic process, but revealing a transparent formal organization: an Adagio at the two extreme poles that functions as an introductory Prelude and a final Postlude, almost as if to delimit the territory of the expressive contents; inside, a two-theme Allegro recalls a sonata exposition and is followed by a tripartite Andantino. We will continue with the Sonata in F major KV332, the fourth of the so-called Parisian sonatas, but falsely since the dating between the end of 1780 and the beginning of 1781 seems certain, therefore composed in Munich, at the time when Idomeneo was being performed . Already from the first movement, the essential play of the thematic expository materials quickly gives way to expressive and dramatic densities, marked by an overflowing wealth of musical material, both in the Adagio and in the darting Allegro assai finale. The last piece by Mozart, the Fantasia for piano in D minor K 397 composed in Vienna in 1782, a page that does not have the light and carefree character of other Mozart compositions. Above all at the beginning, one can notice a character far from his time, more in keeping with the romantic aesthetics of the following century. Mozart unleashes his creativity, placing the melody on a marked rhythm and alternating everything with the more usual playful and linear vision of the typical accompanied melody of a vocal type. This will be followed by some transcriptions of organ works by JS Bach written by Wilhelm Kempff with “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, Ferruccio Busoni with “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland”, Myra Hess with “Jesus bleibet meine Freude”, the cantata BWV 147 from the serene spirituality, and with the Prelude BWV 535, by Alexander Siloti, in which the meaning of these pages is the piano that honestly reinterprets the organ adapting it to its own expressive possibilities, not forgetting the original writing. The second part of the evening will continue with Fryderyk Chopin, whose Polonaise op.26 n°1 in C sharp minor will be performed, with his dramatic peremptory theatrical debut, tempered by the fascinating central melodic episode in D flat major, four nocturnes, in C sharp minor B.49 the first of opus 15, almost a sketch for a ballad, the second of opus 27, lyrically affectionate and the second of opus 55, an intense love conversation entirely entrusted to the touch of the performer. The homage to Chopin will end with the Impromptu in G flat major op.5, with a trend similar to an Etude, on one of «triplets», together with the first and third waltz of op.34, extroverts and joyful and the second of opus 69, with its elegiac opening theme. Finale with two lieder by Richard Strauss in the transcription of Max Reger Allerseelen op.10 n. 8 Morgen op.27 n. 4, spiced with a certain aestheticism, with a touch of self-satisfaction, enlivened by clear writing.