Fiorentino Edition 3

On this CD:

1. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 6
Composed by Alexander Nikolayevich Skryabin
Performed by Sergio Fiorentino

2. Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30
Composed by Alexander Nikolayevich Skryabin
Performed by Sergio Fiorentino

3. Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
Performed by Sergio Fiorentino

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This 1995 recording shows Sergio Fiorentino, at 70, in full command of his enormous technique and as expansive in temperament as ever. However, to enjoy this disc, you will have to find the music as significant as Fiorentino obviously does. I can go along with him only for the Scriabin Fourth Sonata, a typically volatile middle-Scriabin piece that Fiorentino plays with enormous panache (as he also does, live, on Appian APR 7036). The First Scriabin Sonata is more derivative, and the Rachmaninoff Sonata I find a rambling mishmash of Romantic mannerisms without a clear focus. If you like this music, though, you'll never hear it played better. --Leslie Gerber

Tracks:

Sonata No. 2 In G Sharp Minor, Op.19 (Sonata-Fantasie): Andante
Sonata No. 2 In G Sharp Minor, Op.19 (Sonata-Fantasie): Presto
Sonata No. 2 In B Flat Minor, Op. 36 (1931 Version): Allegro agitato
Sonata No. 2 In B Flat Minor, Op. 36 (1931 Version): Non allegro
Sonata No. 2 In B Flat Minor, Op. 36 (1931 Version): Allegro molto - Poco meno mosso - Presto
Sonata No. 8 In B Flat, Op. 84: Andante dolce - Allegro moderato
Sonata No. 8 In B Flat, Op. 84: Andante sognando
Sonata No. 8 In B Flat, Op. 84: Vivace

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Reference recordings

The Fiorentino Edition 3

Manufacturer: Appian ( Apr )
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000004ACQ
Release Date: 1997-04-15

Tracks:

Sonata No. 1 In F Minor, Op. 6: Allegro con fuoco
Sonata No. 1 In F Minor, Op. 6: Quarter Note = 40
Sonata No. 1 In F Minor, Op. 6: Presto
Sonata No. 1 In F Minor, Op. 6: Funebre
Sonata No. 4 In F Sharp, Op. 30: Andante - Prestissimo volando
Sonata No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 28: Allegro moderato
Sonata No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 28: Lento
Sonata No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 28: Allegro molto

Amazon.com

This 1995 recording shows Sergio Fiorentino, at 70, in full command of his enormous technique and as expansive in temperament as ever. However, to enjoy this disc, you will have to find the music as significant as Fiorentino obviously does. I can go along with him only for the Scriabin Fourth Sonata, a typically volatile middle-Scriabin piece that Fiorentino plays with enormous panache (as he also does, live, on Appian APR 7036). The First Scriabin Sonata is more derivative, and the Rachmaninoff Sonata I find a rambling mishmash of Romantic mannerisms without a clear focus. If you like this music, though, you'll never hear it played better. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Reference recordings.......2000-11-19

This disk, the third in Fiorentino's studio edition, contains performances that assert themselves as reference recordings. This is particularly true of the Scriabin and Rachmaninov Firsts, since surprisingly few great pianists have left recordings of these spacious essays in late romanticism. It is easy to dismiss the Scriabin First as an immature work under the influence of Chopin and Wagner. Perhaps that's true. But in Fiorentino's hands, the work sounds just as chilling as the Ninth. The chordal opening is superbly conceived, the sonorities and the dynamics ideally chosen to reflect intense emotion, yet it makes way without any sense of strain for the glorious second subject. The second movement wanders in a trance, while the third has ferocious drive and rhythm. The fourth movement captures a frighteningly realistic picture of a funeral, with bells tolling remorselessly - the intensity remains until the end. The Scriabin Fourth provides an interesting contrast to Fiorentino's live performance in Germany. The studio recording, apart from having far superior sound, is even more spacious than the live account. Both performances are superb in capturing the langour of the first section and the ecstatic frenzy of the second. As ever with Fiorentino, every note is wonderfully clear. Together with the Scriabin Second on the first disk in the studio edition and the live Fourth, they are the work of a wholly original thinker about this extraordinary composer.

The Rachmaninov First is a summation of every virtue in the playing of this composer - an object lesson to pianists who insist on wallowing in or trivialising his music. Everything is in its place - technical prowess, a flexibility of tempo that never obscures the consistency of the pulse in each movement, clarity in the voicing of discrete polyphonic lines, a veritable spectrum of tone colour and sonority, and most importantly in this long sonata, a sense of structure that dispels the risk that the work sounds episodic. There are many felicities in this performance. Two include the weightless trills at the end of the second movement, so beautifully balanced within the musical picture, and the tremendous sense of culmination in the final pages as the motif of the first movement thunders out deep in the bass, while over and above it the moto perpetuo of the finale defies and thwarts it, ending the movement as it began. Fiorentino paces the finale superbly, keeping to a constant pace, so that the sense of cumulative build up is exhausting.

The Fiorentino Edition 2
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Joining distinct artistic traditions

The Fiorentino Edition 2

Manufacturer: Appian ( Apr )
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Chopin | Chopin, Frédéric | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
All Works by Schubert | Schubert, Franz | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Sonatinas | Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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The Fiorentino Edition 4: Schumann

ASIN: B000004ACN
Release Date: 1997-12-16

Tracks:

Fryderyk Chopin: Sonata NO. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 - 1. Allegro Maestoso
Fryderyk Chopin: Sonata No. 3 In B Minor, Op. 58, Scherzo
Fryderyk Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58, Largo
Fryderyk Chopin: Sonata No. 3 In B Minor, Op. 58, Finale
Franz Schubert: Sonata No. 21 in B Flat, D. 960
Franz Schubert: Sonata No. 21 in B Flat, D. 960, Andante Sostenuto
Franz Schubert: Sonata No. 21 in B Flat, D. 960, Scherzo
Franz Schubert: Sonata No. 21 In B Flat, D. 960, Allegro Ma Non Troppo

Customer Reviews:

Joining distinct artistic traditions.......2000-10-23

Compared to other great pianists, defining Fiorentino's distinctive attributes can be challenging. He doesn't have the nervous energy of Horowitz, the patrician severity of the mature Michelangeli, or the mesmerism of Sofronitsky. On the contrary, many of the interepretive parameters he chooses are remarkably free from idiosyncracy and seem unsually central. What I think Fiorentino captures, like no other pianist, is the capacity to distill the wisdom of a range of interpretive traditions in a uniquely personal and fresh way.

This is well illustrated on this disk, in which Fiorentino ventures into repertory that has been more recorded than anything else in his studio series. There are two discrete traditions in the Chopin Third -- a grander, more symphonic tradition, with which I associate Gilels and more recently Demidenko, and a lyrical, more pianistic tradition, which includes Rubinstein, Cortot, Lipatti, and Argerich. Fiorentino seems to capture them both, giving great weight to the opening figure, but showing tremendous flexibility and poise in his singing of the second subject. The scherzo has a fleetness that is beautifully fingered but never seems superficial or showy. The third movement has never been more gloriously imagined. The tempo is broad, but the legato is seamless, allowing the artist to show up the work's fine details in loving attention. The final movement returns to the weighty tone of the first movement, but the work closes with all the spark and exultation of Argerich or Kapell. Together with his Saga nocturnes, the Second Sonata on the live APR disk, and the live Rhode Island recital, Fiorentino offers us in this disk a wholly convincing Chopin, one as close to Bach as to Bellini.

The same holds true of the inspired B flat sonata. The lines of tradition are drawn very clearly here. In the left corner, we have the Russians, Afanassiev, Richter and Sofronitsky, who search out Winterreise darkness in achingly slow tempi. In the right corner, we have the more Germanic tradition, which is more flexible and lyrical. Fiorentino undermines the sense of disparity by rendering the work in a tone of personal sadness rather than cosmic despair. His first movement is very broad, taking 16 minutes without the exposition repeat -- faster than Richter, but not by that much. He emphasises the lyricism of phrasing more than the Russians typically do, but achieves the same sense of overwhelming passion in the development's climax. The slow movement has a similarly implicit approach to loss, so that the second subject sounds like hope, rather than delusion, after the pain of the first. The third movement is absolutely fresh -- it dispels the shadows without forgetting they exist, by subtle accents in the trio. The fourth movement -- always a challenge for Schubert -- is played with great breadth, once again bringing together the two interpretive traditions in this work. In short, whatever other performances you may own of these works, I urge you to hear these wholly convincing recreations, that are imaginative without seeking controversy for its own sake.

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