Record of the day: Luigi Cherubini, "Piano Sonatas"

Record of the day: Luigi Cherubini, “Piano Sonatas”

Luigi Cherubini
“Piano Sonatas” (Sacd Sony/BMG 88697057742)

If the theatrical and sacred production of the Florentine composer Luigi Cherubini has long been the subject of rediscovery in the major concert halls of the world, very little light has yet been shed on his instrumental works, not very numerous yet of great musical interest.
The String Quartets, for example, are magnificent works, deserving of much greater attention than they currently receive, as is the Symphony in D major, where Cherubini displays all his contrapuntal virtuosity and the ability to master the traditional forms of his era without however reproduce them slavishly but unleashing moments of unexpected harmonic tension within them, often through unusual modulations.

We find the same characteristics in these “Piano Sonatas”, youthful works but already very elegantly written, where the
models of Johann Christian Bach’s classicism and gallant style are confidently adopted.
The Sonatas do not present any type of transcendental technical difficulty, perhaps for this reason they have been neglected by those pianists inclined to use music to show off; these works instead require a musician endowed with particular dynamic sensitivity, who knows how to differentiate the gradations of touch in order to clearly bring out the melodic and structural elements that inhabit these scores, underlining at the same time the gray areas, exploring the most hidden.

Andrea Bacchetti is exactly this type of interpreter; his approach does not give up any of the beauty standards of
classical pianism, but always reviews them in the light of contemporary scores of which he is now a celebrated interpreter (just think of his collaboration with Luciano Berio).
Bacchetti observes the past with an eye firmly focused on the present, finding dry tonal solutions free of unnecessary romanticism.

Through listening to the “Sonatas” a path is outlined that is at the same time rigorous and rich in spontaneous musicality where the philological reflection on the text (Bacchetti edited a new edition of the work together with Mario Marcarini based on the original sources) never gives up I move on to a dry theoretical exploration but it is a starting point for the creation of a very expressive and engaging interpretation.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.