LEONARDO PIERDOMENICO
Program 2023-24:
A complex and fascinating character, Alexander Scriabin was so much influenced by Chopin’s music in his early works that I find the juxtaposition of some forms common to both composers very interesting: on the one hand the “salon musique” and folkloric element of the Polish genius, on the other the mystical and harmonic transfigurations of one of the most visionary characters of the early 1900s.
A.Scriabin: 2 Mazurkas Op. 40 F. Chopin: 3 Mazurkas op. 50 A.Scriabin : Valse Op. 38
F. Chopin: Valse op. 42 A.Scriabin: Sonata n. 5 Op. 53
Intermission
F. Chopin: Impromptu n.1 Op. 29
A.Scriabin: Impromptu n.1 Op.14
F. Chopin: Sonata n. 3 Op. 58 (Allegro maestoso
Scherzo: molto vivace, Largo, Finale - Presto non tanto - Agitato)
duration: 70 minutes approximately
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2023 will be the 150th anniversary of Sergej Rachmaninov’s birth: brilliant concert pianist, he certainly was also one of the best composers of his generation.
Even though his musical language was quite unique, he constantly looked for genres of the romantic period, such as Sonata form, Variation, Prelude, Concert study and the Musical Moment, a genre also dear to Franz Schubert. And if the worlds of Rachmaninov and Schubert can communicate is maybe also thanks to Franz Liszt: a key figure in bringing back to audiences Schubert’s music (almost forgotten after his death) with his piano transcriptions, and a sort of "father" for Rachmaninov’s virtuoso writing.
F. Schubert: Moments musicaux n. 5, 2 D780
F. Liszt/F. Schubert: songs from Schubert’s Winterreise S.561
1.Gute Nacht
2. Erstarrung
3.Der Lindenbaum
F. Liszt: Totentanz S. 525
Intermission
S. Rachmaninov: Moments musicaux n.3, 4 Op.16
Sonata n. 2 Op. 36, version 1931 (Allegro agitato, Non
Allegro, L’istesso tempo - Allegro)
duration: 75 minutes approximately
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"The apartment on the Spanish Steps was ideal: I spent all day at the piano or at my desk, and I didn’t leave my pen until the setting sun had colored the pines on Monte Pincio golden. There I worked on my Second Piano Sonata and the Choral Symphony The Bells».
Sergej Rachmaninov wrote these lines referring to the prolific months he spent in Rome in 1913, where he found the perfect conditions to start working on his majestic Sonata op.36. In those lines he also mentions the light of the sun and the pines: the same light Liszt tried to put in music together with water in the pre-impressionist "Les jeaux d’eau à la Villa d’Este" and the same pines Respighi described in "Pines of Rome". I made an arrangement myself for piano solo - very humbly- of this monumental symphonic poem (based on the author’s reduction for piano duo), hoping to bring to life a little bit of that Roman magic with just 88 keys.
O. Respighi: Notturno P 044 n.3
F. Liszt: Les jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este S.163
O. Respighi: Pines of Rome P 141 (transcription for piano solo by
Leonardo Pierdomenico)
1. The Pines of the Villa Borghese
2. Pines near a catacomb
3. The Pines of the Janiculum 4. The Pines of the Appian Way
intermission
F. Liszt: Légend n.1 S. 175 (St François d’Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux) S. Rachmaninov: Sonata n. 2 Op. 36, version 1931 (Allegro agitato, Non Allegro, L’istesso tempo - Allegro)
duration: 70 minutes approximately
