Fano · Sinigaglia · Massarani: «Musica degenerata» per violoncello e pianoforte Riccardo Pes & Pierluigi Piran

• Guido Alberto Fano (1875 - 1961): Allegro molto moderato:
• 1 Fano: Allegro molto moderato 09:31
• Andante:
• 2 Fano: Andante 06:34
• Allegretto con variazioni:
• 3 Fano: Allegretto con variazioni 04:25
• Allegro appassionato:
• 4 Fano: Allegro appassionato 08:48
• Leone Sinigaglia (1868 - 1944): Allegro:
• 5 Sinigaglia: Allegro 10:14
• Intermezzo:
• 6 Sinigaglia: Intermezzo 06:20
• Adagio:
• 7 Sinigaglia: Adagio 10:54
• Allegro con spirito:
• 8 Sinigaglia: Allegro con spirito 07:33
• Renzo Massarani (1898 - 1975): Allegro, ben quadrato:
• 9 Massarani: Allegro, ben quadrato 05:04
• Romanza, andante sereno:
• 10 Massarani: Romanza, andante sereno 05:05
• Rondò, presto:
• 11 Massarani: Rondò, presto 03:50
• Total Runtime 01:18:18

Info for Fano · Sinigaglia · Massarani: «Musica degenerata» per violoncello e pianoforte

Italian composers and instrumentalists born in the second half of nineteenth-century Italy can be seen as the children of a true cultural revolution of the Risorgimento. This revolution was induced by the need to create a new national musical identity, disengaged from the iconic and dominant role of opera. In fact, for much of the nineteenth century, the operatic tradition had overshadowed the instrumental one, which began to regain particular momentum and diffusion only after 1860. Unified Italy was now compared to the great European powers and needed to be more cultured, progressive, and sophisticated. Instrumental music (symphonic and chamber), had always been associated with literature, philosophy, and the more intellectual world, and was perfectly suited to embody a new musical identity of the country that could match and compete with the great German model. It is the case of the three composers here represented (Sinigaglia, Fano, Massarani), who fully embraced the legacy of their predecessors but, like them, paid the price of living in a transitional historical moment. Like in a limbo between the "old" and the "new," between Romanticism - at the time entirely exhausted in the rest of Europe - and the first glimmers of a new musical language that would soon move towards deconstruction with the avant-gardes of the 20th century. Yet, the outcome of their work is worthy of historical and performance interest, and shows the necessity of rediscovering a significant portion of Italian music history. Certainly, their shared Jewish background and the consequent censorship of the racial laws from the early 1930s may have contributed to some extent to the oblivion that befell these names. Riccardo Pes and Pierluigi Piran focus this recording on the interesting works for cello and piano by the three authors.

Riccardo Pes, cello
Pierluigi Piran, piano

Riccardo Pes
is an Italian cellist and composer. He graduated with outstanding from the Royal College of Music, London on the Artist Diploma course, under the tuition of the distinguished professor Melissa Phelps. His repertoire spans from the baroque, played on period instruments, to the contemporary. His curiosity has led him to experiment with various sources of technology, such as the loop-station, and he is committed to finding new ways of bringing classical music to younger generations.

As a soloist, Riccardo has played the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Tartini’s Cello Concerto in A major with I Solisti Veneti conducted by Claudio Scimone, the Cello Concertos by Nicola Fiorenza and Nicola Porpora with the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marco Feruglio.

His chamber music collaborations have included performances with Mario Brunello, Giovanni Sollima, Gilles Apap, Madeleine Mitchell, Thomas Zehetmair.

He has played numerous solo recitals in prestigious venues, such as the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, The Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, Blackheath Halls, Royal Academy of Arts, Schloss Laudon in Vienna, Sala Sinopoli in Rome, and Teatro Della Tosse in Genoa. He has been invited to perform at important festivals such as the Venice Biennale, “AHA! Festival ” in Gothenburg, Triennale of Milan, and The Sounds of the Dolomites.

Riccardo also studied at the Conservatory of Venice and at the Accademia Nazionale of Santa Cecilia in Rome with cellist and composer, Giovanni Sollima, graduating with distinction. He has attended several masterclasses held by Frans Helmerson, Ludwig Quandt, Franz Bartolomey, Johannes Goritzky, Gustavo Tavares.

Riccardo has studied composition and counterpoint with the composers Battista Pradal and Mario Pagotto. His music is published by the Sonzogno Music Publisher in Milan, and it has been performed at venues including the Southbank Centre London during the festival "Nordic Matters", the "Summer Exhibition" at the Royal Academy of Arts, Venice Biennale, Triennale of Milan, and Teatro Valle in Rome.

In 2025, he will record the cello and piano sonatas by G.A.Fano and L. Sinigaglia with the pianist Pierluigi Piran for the label TACTUS. He will also premiere a video documentary to celebrate Prokofiev’s 70th anniversary. The documentary is supported by the Oleg Prokofiev Trust and it will include exclusive interviews of distinguished researchers and musicians, as well as rare archival materials about the uncompleted cello solo sonata.

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