Complete piano works volume 4

Paolo Giacometti

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‘Quelques riens pour album’, ‘An album of trifles’, is the enigmatictitle which Rossini gave to this colorful collection of 24short pieces, the first 18 of which you can hear on this recording.The title is characteristic for his personality, euphemisticand full of self-mockery. Here once again is the older Rossini,who spent his final years in Paris, producing an abundance ofsmall-scale, highly personal character pieces which he jokingly called ‘Péchés deVieillesse’, or ‘Sins of Old Age’. The album already occupies a special place within thisconsiderable body of works, not least because it contains 24 pieces, a number whichevokes Chopin’s 24 preludes, which Rossini surely knew, not to mention Bach’s‘Wohltemperierte Klavier’. Rossini, moreover, was also a great admirer of Bach’s music,as witnessed among other things by his support for the then recently initiated publicationof Bach’s complete works by the Leipzig Bachgesellschaft.It would be easy to assume that Rossini had initially intended to make use of all 24 keys;but he must have abandoned this project at some point, because the collection containsseveral pieces in the same key. Nevertheless the relationships between the pieces arestronger here than in his other albums, and the pieces themselves are frequently smallerin scale. Even more strikingly, most of them do not have individual titles, making themless independent of each other.

There are a couple of exceptions: for example, no. 12 (Danse Sibérienne) is a wildSiberian dance, no. 15 (Petite Galette Allemande) is a tasty German cake, and there is awhole story behind no. 16 (Douces Réminiscences, offertes à mon ami Carafa pour lenouvel an 1866, .….Oh fricaine!!!). At the very moment of the extremely successful premiereof Meyerbeer’s ‘l’Africaine’, Rossini’s good friend Carafa made a desperaterequest for funds. Rossini told him to come back the next day and gave him this piece totake to the publisher in exchange for payment. Probably he thought that the punning title would immediately awaken the publisher’s association with the wildly successful opera,so that the publisher would immediately and unquestioningly give Carafa the money, notrealizing that the piece had nothing at all to do with the opera.

The ploy was successful,and Carafa was rescued, if only temporarily.The incident speaks clearly of the irony that Rossini threads through these pieces, ironyaimed sometimes at the audience, sometimes at himself; surely it is aimed at the pianistas well, for his technique is put to the test, sometimes to an absurd degree.A good example is the last piece. After a charming introduction, Rossini subjects thepianist to a test of endurance with endless quantities of rapidly repeated chords in theleft hand. I can imagine one of Rossini’s famous parties, with the composer havingdecided to tease some poor pianist after dinner in order to see if he can really play aswell as everyone says he can. The smile on his face would probably have been evenbroader at that moment if he had known that this challenge would still be taken seriouslya century and a half later.

Tracklist

Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.
1.
Allegretto
03:17
2.
Allegretto moderato
01:42
3.
Allegretto moderato
03:20
4.
Andante sostenuto
08:15
5.
Allegretto moderato
03:33
6.
Andante maestoso
04:31
7.
Andantino mosso
01:34
8.
Andantino sostenuto
02:45
9.
Allegretto moderato
02:35
10.
Andantino mosso
03:05
11.
Andantino mosso
04:14
12.
Allegretto moderato (Danse Sibérienne)
02:05
13.
Allegretto brillante
01:24
14.
Allegro vivace
03:41
15.
Petite Galette Allemande, allegro brillante
03:23
16.
Douces réminiscenses, andantino
03:21
17.
Andantino mosso quasi allegretto
04:06
18.
Andantino mosso
05:49

Total time: 01:02:40

Additional information

Label

SKU

18003

Qualities

, ,

Channels

, ,

Artists

Composers

Genres

,

Cables

van den Hul

Digital Converters

Meitner DSD AD/DA

Mastering Engineer

Jared Sacks

Mastering Equipment

B+W 803 diamond series

Microphones

Bruel & Kjaer, Schoeps

Mixing Board

Rens Reijnis custom made

Instruments

Original Recording Format

Producer

Jared Sacks

Recording Engineer

Jared Sacks

Recording location

Deventer Holland

Recording Software

Pyramix

Recording Type & Bit Rate

DSD64

Speakers

Audiolab

Release DateJuly 10, 2014

Press reviews

NRC

Giacometti volgt Rossinis grillen op de voet. Klassieke Zaken (..) het vierde deel van het complete pianowerk van Rossini, dat hij op briljante wijze speelt

Luister

Paolo maakt een waar feest van deze kleurrijke serie meesterstukjes dan weer ironisch, dan weer uitbundig, ingehouden een verrukkelijk album. Pianowereld (Giacometti maakt met zijn pikante articulatie en subtiele rubato iets prachtigs .

Volkskrant

op zijn kopie-Erard vleugel (1837) beweegt hij zich met fluwelen hand tussen de uitersten van Scumann-achtige lyriek en salonmuziek.

Tijdschrift Oude Muziek

Paolo Giacometti treft de uiterst delicate sfeer in elk stuk volledig met een weldadige virtuositeit en quasi nonchalence op het juiste moment. Hij weet als geen ander hoe verstoring van dat evenwicht het integere betoog, dat deze stukken naast alle knipogen wel degelijk hun spanning verleent, om zeep zou brengen. Noblesse komt verder vooral van de Eard uit 1837, met een licht gevoileerde toon en de vreugde waarmee Giacometti de kleurenpracht ervan benut.

Sydney Morning Herald

The real appeal is Giacomettis playing, which seems exactly in tune with the composers intensions. Great recorded sound. Recommended!!

Americal Record Guide

Rossini referred to these as “sins of his old age.” Paolo Giacometti brings out their winking wit and youthful playfulness. Paolo has the right touch, balance, and sense of humor to perform these

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