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CHERUBINI   6 SONATAS   -   REVIEWS

 
 Cultures    Bacchetti plays Cherubini on piano
E Polis Roma, 5^th March 2007 
 
 A few days after the publication of the Super Audio CD of Luigi Cherubini’s “Integrale” for keyboard, Andrea Bacchetti is giving a generous essay during the extraordinary concert promoted by IUC, University Concert Institution, at Sapienza University … Bacchetti recorded for the first time in the history of world discography on a modern piano the Six Sonatas for keyboard composed by Cherubini about in 1780…

These really unknown Six Sonatas by the celebrated opera composer from Florence are a precious omnibus open the door on the background of many our authors between ‘700 and ‘800, that became famous thanks to the stages of all Europe, but that had grown up on a rigorous instrumental discipline, on the taste for a severe antique writing.
  

In 1780 Luigi Cherubini – 20 years old – wrote “Six Sonatas” per cembalo or “fortepiano” … that now come back to flower and prove to be of great interest, in Andrea Bacchetti’s piano performance. Bacchetti finds in these sonatas the lounges of ‘700, the French gallantry and even a bit of revolutionary spirit.
  

… the first world recording on modern piano of Cherubini’s CD “Sei Sonate” - which was produced by Sony on Rca label - has been distributed since 9^th March, after the official presentation, that was held on 6^th March in the Aula Magna of La Sapienza University in Roma. Andrea Bacchetti explains: “I believe the expressive resources of modern piano produce an exercise of imagination that is certainly interesting and not less good than Baroque praxis… the Plasticism of the articulation and the pleasure of the flourishing invented there and then are sealed by human warmth of timbre of the inspired, tender, sometime visionary piano.
  

… Andrea Bacchetti, an emerging Genovese pianist, versatile in his fund, recorded (CD Rca – Sony) Luigi Cherubini’s Six Sonatas “per cimbalo”, and he is proposing them live… works that are daughters of a 20-years old man that listens and assimilates, rather than create; the best moments are the least predictable, are those where a pre-romantic inquietude can already be felt …
  

…We had to wait for  Andrea Bacchetti’s recording, a versatile pianist who is able to get by with the same elegance and confidence among Bach’s contrapuntal , Mendelsshon’s Romanticism and Berio’s experimentalism to know – and appreciate – young Cherubini’s delicious and for some reasons amazing piano “trifles”…

It’s evident that the Genoese pianist doesn’t see the “Sei Sonate” as unknown pages that the audience know with intellectual honesty and stylistic exactness. Bacchetti shows he can see the germs of a stylistic and emotional research that in the years of his maturity Cherubini developed above all in the opera background – there is almost no mark of the gallant and affected ‘700 - in this performance very dressed like marble, perfect in its balance of sound where every detail is cared for with infinite patience, till to get a miraculous balance of timbres and dynamics. Sonorities are always measured and the differences among sound levels are just outlined: the fragile formal structures of these young pages couldn’t stand a performance that is too ranting, concentrated on strong contrasts and on sharp chiaroscuros. However Bacchetti never indulges in lightness and slight sensuality that distinguish pre-classical ‘700 …but he sees other models, other suggestions, and can understand the openings towards an expressive world made up of continuous modulations, quick trespasses in “minore” way, often irregular phrasing.

Bacchetti rightly doesn’t perform the sonatas through the filter of virtuosity, which is both captivating and misleading perspective the breaks of beat are always measured, the phrasing never undergoes sudden accelerations, the “rondo’” flow with an elegant and serene self-possession. …

A fine CD, a little disco graphical jewel…
  

… a player who is able to give classic aristocracy to Cherubini’s little and parlour sonata – exercitations, whose trait comes out well underlined, through an intelligent reading in its variety of touch and in the gallant unstableness of rhythm variations that legitimate the choice of the execution on modern Gran Piano Fazioli …
  

The Six Sonatas published in 1783 by a still young and unknown Cherubini are interesting… now they were recorded by Andrea Bacchetti in a worthy CD Sony. … Very variegated reading on dynamical level, led with lucidity and extreme rigor as far as the phrasing is concerned, unravelled with expositive clearness and gesture essentiality.
  

Andrea Bacchetti is a young, sharp pianist who loves going to explore; he knows and practises classical and romantic pieces, but for example he recorded Luciano Berio’s compositions, feeling at home with the language of our time.

Now he ventures into Sei Sonate that were published by famous Cherubini (the author of Medea and of the great Messe) when he was 23, in 1783 (and they were his first publication). They are written like they used in that time: brilliant, in two movements, without adagios; they are played not for the original cembalo but on a very lively Fazioli, they are explored and breathed with a great style in the possible contrast of times and colours, they don’t  hide the future sign of greatness in the young happiness.
  

After all even Cherubini, the very long-lived learned professoral monumental Cherubini was a young boy: we discover this “above suspicion” Cherubini through the “Sei Sonate” for cembalo recorded by the Genoese pianist Andrea Bacchetti in a new CD Rca Rd Seal. These are pages quite graceful, all in major tone, in 2 movements, but with lovely and vivid rushes. Bacchetti goes across this rather cold and mental “easiness” with a big respect, a delicate and very cured sound whose rigor does not block the elegance of the most loving shades.
  

… The Six Sonatas composed in 1780 and dedicated to the noble Antonio Corsi form Florence are really worthy. These pages now are proposed again in a worthy CD Sony by Andrea Bacchetti whose reading must be appreciated for dynamic variety, expositive clearness and stylistic rigor. An attentive and complete study that shed light on an instrumental Italian production of the end of ‘700, which is often hardly explored. …
  

A Sony CD whose peculiarity is to propose pages for keyboard by a composer who dues his fame to quite another fact. For these sonatas just Andrea Bacchetti’s restless and fine curiosity was suitable; Andrea Bacchetti is a 30-years old man who already revealed himself when he was 4 and who today can say he deserved Karajan and Baumgartner’s esteem. He is rigorous and lyric, affected and modest.
  

 Recensioni    CHERUBINI  6 Sonatas
Andrea Bacchetti,  Rca / 88697057742 / Distr.: Bmg  Ricordi / 2006 / DDD / Booklet: good / Italian / 140507
Artistic score:  *****   Technical score:  ***** 
AMADEUS   may 2007  - (n.s.)

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... Cherubini n'était pas un virtuose du clavier mais savait écrire pour l'instrument. Ses sonates évoquent parfois Mozart ou Haydn ... Andrea Bacchetti joue ces sonates avec délicatesse et poésie sur un piano moderne, alors qu'on les connaissait jusqu'ici au clavecin. L'interpretation au piano moderne les éclaire d'un jour nouveau et fait d'elles, pardelà leur modestie de surface, des oeuvres au charme certain, "classiques" au plein sense du terme.
  

... cet opus 1 de Cherubini est un bon exemple de ces pages classiques que le piano moderne peut révéler différemment. ... Aidé d'un grand Fazioli, le jeune Génois Andrea Bacchetti se tire avec les honneurs de l'exercice qui consiste à remplir ces pages où abondent les formules d'une autre époque - si on les compare aux premières sonates de Clementi par exemple. Avec son toucher discret, son legato impeccable, sa sonorité chaleureuse ... il parvient à dépasser la joliesse de l'écriture et à mettre en valeur une variété d'humeurs qui fait le charme de cette musique, plus aimable qu'émouvante.
  

... Szec sonat, ktore zostaly zarejestrowane na plycie, Cherubini skomponowal na klawesyn. Andrea Bacchetti nagral ten cykl na fortepianie, przez co muzyka Cherubiniego otrzymala nowy, nieznany wczesniej wyraz. Ciekawe!
 
(... Six sonatas, recorded on the CD, are composed by Cherubini for harpsichord. Andrea Bacchetti played this cycle on modern piano, giving to the Cherubini's work a new mark and a performance never listened before. Very interesting!)
  

Cherubini a également composè des oeuvres pour clavier! ... une musique gracieuse et de style décidément classique. Le pianiste approche la partition avec respect et clarté, déroulant habilement les longues lignes mélodiques et articulant les ornement avec grand soin. Une interprétation lumineuse, intime et racée ....
  

... Andrea Bacchetti speelt de werken voorbeeldig. Hij haalt eruit wat erin zit, maakt ze niet groter dan ze zijn, versiert en fraseert met een bewonderenswaardig inlevingsvermogen ... 
  

... On entend un pianiste habile et trés agile qui attache une grande importance à chaque note. Cela signifie peu d'ombres et de lumière mais une exposition musicale constante. ... Le jeu de Bacchetti est trés cérébral et rigoureux, sans le moindre épanchement, sans coquetteries et avec un minimum d'inflexions dynamiques. Il nous présente l'essence musicale de ces Sonates avec tact et intégrité . ...
  

... les six sonates pour clavier de Cherubini sont interprétées avec délicatesse par Andrea Bacchetti dont le toucher est magnifié par une prise de son naturellement réverbérée ...
  

... Wenn nun Andrea Bacchetti das uber zwei Jarhunderte spater mit seiner besonnenen Gewichtung der Konturen, mit schonsten Legatobogen und schlankem Ton bestatigt, wurde man tatsachlich ruckblickend doch noch gern erfahren, was der reife Cherubini sich wohl furs Klavier uberlegt hatte.
  

... Bacchetti's playing throughout the recording is elegant end easy, and his ornaments sound particularly natural and are brought off with great smothness. The distinction between melody lines and accompaniment is always attractively clear, and tempi are weel-chosen; while the pianist clearly possesses an accomplished technique, never is there a hint of pretencious virtuosity. Furthermore, Bacchetti's control of dynamics is often exquisitely judged and executed. The overall standard of piano playing and musicianship is excellent.
  

... der italienische Pianist Andrea Bacchetti es ausgezeichnet versteht, genau diese frischen, vifen, munteren Elemente herauszumodellieren und uns auf dem modernen Flügel (ein Fazioli) mit Charme und Witz und ohne allzuviel demonstrative Entdecker-Schwere oder gar Virtuosen-Allüren zu präsentieren.
 

... Bien évidemment, le pianiste a un toucher délicat, une belle sonorité exaltée per le superbe piano Fazioli qu'il utilise. Mais, surtout, il a pris l'option de faire toutes les reprises en en variant intelligemment les ornamentations.
Nous avons ici un bel exemple de musique galante ... un CD dont se réjouiront tous les passionnés de cette période classique ...
 

 plyta miesiaca    Luigi Cherubini 1760-1842
Andrea Bacchetti, fortepian
(disco del mese)    ***** 
Muzyka21,   (Polska)   4/2008  (Andrzey Osinski)

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 Discos Criticas de la A a la Z   
Excelente versión de las sonatas de Cherubini    ****A  
RITMO PARADE los mejores discos para septiembre 2008
Ritmo - n. 811 Septiembre 2008  Año LXXIX  (G.P.C.)

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... fantástico trabajo del genovés Andrea Bacchetti, pianista muy asiduo en España. Bacchetti hace algo más por esta música que simplemente tocarla tam bien. ... los contrastes, la dulzura, las preciosas apoyaturas, irresistibles y moderadamente recreadas por Bacchetti, buscando un equilibrio entre la gracia del estilo y la riqueza melódica ...