Rieti: Piano Concertos Alessandro Marangoni, Orazio Sciortino, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano & Giuseppe Grazioli

• Vittorio Rieti (1898 - 1994): Piano Concerto No. 1:
• 1 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 1: I. Allegro 05:59
• 2 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 1: II. Andantino 07:20
• 3 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Allegro non troppo 04:17
• Piano Concerto No. 2:
• 4 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 2: I. Allegro con fuoco ed energico 05:31
• 5 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 2: II. Adagio 06:37
• 6 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 2: III. Allegro 05:33
• Piano Concerto No. 3 (First Version):
• 7 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 3 (First Version): I. Largo - Allegro vivace 10:16
• 8 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 3 (First Version): II. Andantino poco mosso 09:13
• 9 Rieti: Piano Concerto No. 3 (First Version): III. Allegro 04:23
• Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra:
• 10 Rieti: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra: I. Allegro moderato 05:41
• 11 Rieti: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra: II. Tema con variazioni. Allegretto 09:54
• 12 Rieti: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra: III. Allegro fugato 05:31
• Total Runtime 01:20:15

Info for Rieti: Piano Concertos

Dedicated to Francis Poulenc, Vittorio Rieti’s First Piano Concerto formed part of his early success in Paris during the 1920s, the work’s high spirits reflecting Rieti’s recent marriage and the birth of his son Fabio. The Second Piano Concerto started out as a harpsichord concerto for Wanda Landowska but was later recast. The Third Piano Concerto is notable for its deeply felt central Andantino, while the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is exuberant with cinematic themes. All of these works feature witty passages for orchestral soloists in dialogue with the piano, imbued with Rieti’s original and unpredictable style.

Collectors of Vittorio Rieti’s Complete Piano Solo & Duo Works on our Grand Piano label (GP921 and GP938) are going to be very enthusiastic about this new recording of his piano concertos. Often infused by the Parisian joie de vivre and subtle humour of Les Six, Rieti’s piano works are refreshingly unstuffy and accessible, and the concertos share his lightness of touch while taking the opportunity to probe a wider emotional spectrum. These concertos are as good as unknown, and are certainly deserving of a revival. Soloist Alessandro Marangoni considers these works to have ‘music of great liveliness, joy, rhythm and brilliance, and certainly to be included in the great repertoire for piano and orchestra’.

Alessandro Marangoni, piano
Orazio Sciortino, piano (Tracks 10-12)
Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano
Giuseppe Grazioli, conductor

Alessandro Marangoni
born in Italy in 1979, Alessandro Marangoni studied the piano obtaining a diploma with honours and continuing his studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole with Maria Tipo and Pietro De Maria. He graduated with honours in Philosophy at the University of Pavia as a student of the Almo Collegio Borromeo.

Alessandro Marangoni burst onto the international concert stage when he played at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, as pianist soloist during a tribute to the great Italian conductor Victor de Sabata, with Daniel Barenboim. Soon after he was signed as an international recording artist with Naxos.

His growing discography has received international critical acclaim for his interpretation and technique that fueled his meteoric rise on the concert stage in Europe, America and China.

Notable and critically acclaimed collaborations have included appearances in Spain with the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, with the Granada Philharmonic and in Bratislava with Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, all conducted by the Italian conductor Aldo Ceccato. He has also appeared with the European Philharmonic and Mozarteum Kammerorchester and played as soloist in Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Sweden, Finland, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, China, USA and Australia.

Alessandro Marangoni recorded for the first time in the story the complete Péchés de vieillesse by Rossini (13 Cds), with 20 first world recordings. As a noted advocate of Italian music, he recorded also Clementi’s Gradus ad Parnassum (4 cds) and Castelnuovo-Tedesco Piano Concertos with Malmo Symphony Orchestra, as well as Evangélion (first recording) and the complete cello and piano works with Enrico Dindo, Liszt’s Via Crucis (Ars Cantica Choir, conducted by Marco Berrini), all on the Naxos label. He won the prestigious Abbiati Prize by the Italian Critics and the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).

As a chamber musician he has collaborated with some of the most important Italian musical personalities and groups, including Mario Ancillotti, Marco Berrini, Giuseppina Bridelli, Maddalena Crippa, Enrico Dindo, Laura Giordano, Alessandro Luciano, Lilly Jorstad, Francesco Manara, Massimo Quarta, Gabriele Mirabassi, Oleksander Semchuck, Paola Pitagora, Quirino Principe, Bruno Taddia, Milena Vukotic, il Quartetto di Fiesole e il Nuovo Quartetto Italiano.

He is the pianist of the Nuove Musiche Ensemble with whom he opened the celebrations of the bicentenary of Verdi’s birth in Busseto in 2013. Acclaimed from the international press, some magazines like Ritmo and Musica dedicated a cover to Alessandro. Gramophone magazine choose his recordings as a landmark for Rossini’s interpretation at the piano.

His energy and interest in new music and new technologies and pioneering spirit have led him to perform in cyberspace in avatar form for international audiences of computer gamers, to form artistic partnerships with artists from other disciplines (recently actress Valentina Cortese) and to launch a new project Chromoconcerto¨ with Pierpaolo Venier. He collaborates with Edizioni Curci and Leduc.

Alessandro Marangoni is the artistic director of Forte Fortissimo TV, a new Music Web Channel and he is international testimonial for the campaign “Music against child labour” of the International Labour Organization (ONU). He teaches at the Conservatory of Novara (Italy).

Booklet for Rieti: Piano Concertos