Search - Sergio Fiorentino :: Sergio Fiorentino: Live in Germany

Superb breadth of pianism

Michael Whincop | GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, QLD AUSTRALIA | 06/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The late Sergio Fiorentino in the last years of his life made a number of superb recordings with APR. This is not amongst them, since it draws instead from live performances recorded apparently in informal manner. Thus, the disks do lack the superb digital sound of the studio series but they more than compensate with the spark of spontaneity. The actual performances are duplicated in part by the studio series (the Schumann Fantasy, the Scriabin 4), but even these comparisons are fascinating. As others have commented elsewhere, Fiorentino's playing is patrician in its finesse, but it has none of the prissiness of other so-called poets like Perahia and vastly more technique. The opening Bach-Busoni piece is, to make comparisons at the highest level, more spacious and less thrustful than Gilels' live recording, but it captures the massive vaulting dimensions of this work. The Chopin Second is surely one of the best performances of this work. I can't think of any player who returns from the Elysium section of the Funeral March with more vehemence. Likewise, the Beethoven A-flat is in its finale a perfect blend of objective lament and exultation. Rank it with Schnabel. Fiorentino's Scriabin is more classical and less frenetic than Richter or Sofronitsky but its still masterly in its colour and vision.The second CD begins with the Schumann Fantasy. The only pianist I can really compare F.'s peformance with is Richter, since only Richter takes such a cosmic view of the work, compared to the lyricism of, say, Argerich. In particular, you won't hear a slower or more poignant finale in anyone's hands -- although the second mvt is wonderfully brisk. The remainder of the disk deals with the virtuoso transcriptions, including the Faust Waltz -- not quite in the Ginzburg league, but wonderful all the same -- and the Strauss transcriptions that capture the bravura and the confection without sounding at all vacuous. The disks are closed off with some lovely encores. Indispensable."

Our generations last connection to the golden age of Pianism

Ryan Morris | Chicago, IL | 12/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Busoni\Bach BWV532 that opens this set is my single personal favourite piano performance. I have rarely if ever heard such sonority coming from a piano. It literally fills up the room like some sort of mist(like an organ fills up a church) He had recorded this previously, in the studio in his Bach Volume II(apr), but this version has the added manical intensity of live performance. I have listened to this about fifteen times in the last several days, and every time i get goose bumps at the kind of sound that explodes from the keyboard. I have never heard a piano have such simialr characterisctic s to the organ, in the best sense, the closest thing I can think of is Niryeghazi's disc of piano wagner transcriptions. The sounds literally explode at times, and I feel, in all seriousness, that this performance ranks and surpasses the finest of all time(and I am a mega-pianophile. I feel that this work is beyond that level. The Chopin Sonata 2 is also excellent, on par with the best performances. The BEethoven is extraordinary.

The gem on the album, other than the previously mentioned Bach, is the Schumann fant in c op 17. Fiorentino's studio version was chosen as the best recorded version of all time by IPG, and this live version has the advantage of that same live intensity. It may even be better. The final several tracks are encore selections, reinforcing the notion of Fiorentino;s ties to the golden romantic traditon of Rachmaninov and Lhevinne. He plays a couple Strauss arrangements, all of which are exciting, spunky, and first rate. Liszt-Gounod, Godowsky\Strauss, and Tausig\Strauss.

Obviously this is all extremely demanding repertoire, but the level of the muscianship is something that is missing in today's supervirtuosi.

If you looking for a complete pianist, one that is more than a barn burner who is all fingers and no heart, look no further. Fiorentino is our generations last connection to the golden age of Pianism.

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