EMERGO EC 3388-2/3389-2 - CHOPIN "The Complete Nocturnes":
"... you get
the feeling that the Chopin tradition burns brighter elsewhere. Just as you
don't have to be Armenian to do justice to pita bread, you don't have to
be Polish to do justice to Chopin. Proof of this can be heard in the first
notes from Sergio Fiorentino. This Italian, who died young
(sic!), plays the nocturnes
with an engaging combination of poetry and strength, giving the marvellous
op. 48/1 great sweep and power. Such familiar pieces as op. 9/2, op. 15/2
and op. 27/2 are handed simply, sweetly, and lyrically, with a feeling of
deep conviction for the music's essence. Unlike almost all of the Polish
performances above, Fiorentino's compare well with the best of the competition.
which, for me, are the recordings by Livia Rev, Ivan Moravec, Claudio Arrau
and Artur Rubinstein."
KORNBLUM
(Fanfare)
(look
at record)
APR 7036 - "SERGIO FIORENTINO in GERMANY" - 1993 Live Recordings
"I was not
prepared for such brilliant, grand playing, a throwback to the golden days
of Lhévinne, Godowsky or Hofmann."
MALKOVICH (Newport
Life)
(look
at record)
"Most of the
playing is of a level not often encountered, a few items are so exceptional
that they demand classification in the "extremely rare" category .... Schumann's
Fantasy in C is at the top of the list, so gripping that the entire set is
worth acquiring for that alone .... He is a pianist with strong affinities
for the grand manner, so this release is quite in line with previous Appian
discs devoted to such giants as Moiseiwitsch, Rosenthal, Godowsky, Barere,
and others."
MULBURY (American
Record Guide)
"Fiorentino
made a series of wonderful LPs in the 1950s and '60s, but he's become buried
in obscurity since then, mostly teaching. The recent concert performances
show him still at the height of his powers. His Chopin Second Sonata, intensely
dramatic and virtuosic, is one of the great versions ever of that work. Sonatas
of Beethoven and Scriabin are just as splendid, and he plays the difficult
Schumann Fantasia with grandeur and nobility .... this is five-star playing
if I've ever heard any."
GERBER (Classic
Pulse!)
"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 it's still masterly in its colour and vision. The second
CD begins with the Schumann Fantasy. The only pianist I can really compare
F.'s performance 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 Strauss transcriptions
that capture the bravura and the confection without sounding at all vacuous.
The disks are closed off with some lovely encores.
Indispensable."
WHINCOP
(Amazon.com)
APR 5552 - SCRIABIN / RACHMANINOV / PROKOFIEV
"In piano circles
he has become legendary, and his recent recordings show why. He is a mature
artist with a big virtuoso technique and a great deal of color. What impressed
me most of all on this disc is the transparency of his textures. All the
great pianists of the past had it, but Fiorentino is one of the few today
who continues the tradition. He plays three very difficult pieces on this
disc, often with great power and wide dynamics, but never is there a hint
of banging or forced sound. He probably will, in the next decade, assume
the place that Michelangeli had until his recent
death."
SCHONBERG (American
Record Guide)
(look
at record)
"I often wondered
what happened to that genius who recorded three of my most treasured LPs.
The booklet reveals the story of Fiorentino who many years ago suffered a
spine injury in a plane crash, but is now back in the recording studio at
the age of 68. That wonderful mixture of brilliance and poetry, which still
makes him one of the great pianists of our time, illuminates these magical
performances."
DENTON (Yorkshire
Post)
"Hats off first
for the publisher who with this CD starts on an edition dedicated to the
one who can be consired as the most important Italian pianist of his generation
.... Hardly have the first chords of Scriabin's Sonata No. 2 been struck
that an unusual "claw" captures our attention. The amazement has but only
begun ... fabulous richness of sound, perfect evalution of the sonic plain.
Without sacrificing anything to textual fidelity Fiorentino confirms us of
a nobleness of gesture owned by the great masters of the past. The life he
brings to the score lets us discover it under new perspectives, and quasi
in no other version one realizes how this "first period" Scriabin anticipates
the realizations after 1903 and cannot be reduced merely to an epigone of
Chopin .... the proof that the time of the great masters has not expired.
Indispensable!"
COCHARD
(Diapason)
"The so-called
"Grand Manner" has almost become a pejorative, the implicit excesses for
which the term serves as a euphemism being virtually indistinguishable from
the egotistic eccentricities of those to whom the term is applied. Yet, when
one encounters playing of a kind such as that of Fiorentino it is the only
epithet that seems genuinly appropriate .... In conclusion, I can only echo
the reaction to Fiorentino's artistry in
Diapason:
Indispensable!"
HOPKINS
(International Piano Quarterly)
"Fiorentino
is one of those few pianists -- Richter is another -- who seems capable of
absorbing the aesthetics of his chosen composer so thoroughly that it is
impossible to think that he did not grow up immersed in the same songs and
melodies of the composer. Fiorentino was much influenced by Rakhmaninov as
a young virtuoso, and that may go some way to explaining how he can offer
these extraordinary showpieces without at any stage sounding vacuous or
meretricious. Like his early idol, he offers golden tone, a superb sense
of drama, and wonderful clarity of fingering. The Scriabin is a difficult
piece to bring off, as its shape and structure are unorthodox. Fiorentino
offers a sense of unlimited space and dimension, seeing the work as unified
across both movements, and subtly varying his colours and tones like a
Cézanne or a Pissarro. The Prokofiev is a miracle, lacking nothing
against the side of Richter, Gilels or Sokolov. One cannot credit Fiorentino's
septuagenarian status when listening to the finale, so riveting in its virtuosity
and concentration. The moody melancholy of the earlier movements are brought
off well, without the episodic qualities lest gifted interpreters bring to
the work. The Rakhmaninov is very special, even though, alas, it's the 1931
truncation. Fiorentino's unique reading is evident form the first, as he
refuses to punch those massive left hand chords. Instead, he lets them ring
and resonate in a way that leaves you wondering why others haven't done it.
His glorious tone makes the second movement the emotional core of the work,
which prepares the fanfaring finale very well. Perhaps in the final analysis
Cliburn (in the 1913 version) or Horowitz (in his conflation) squeeze a few
more watts out, but it's a close call, since Fiorentino continues to refuse
to pound or bang. The final pages exult. A superb coupling of Russian virtuoso
music played by an artist in the plenitude of his powers."
WHINCOP
(Amazon.com)
APR 5556 - SCRIABIN / RACHMANINOV
"I've never
heard the diaphanous opening of Scriabin 4 played better. And the oceanic
turbulence and subtlety he brings to the sprawling first sonata is probably
the best on record .... Here then is the work of a master pianist whose
music-making is at once sybaritic, evasive, efflorescent, and undulating,
setting it apart from a Russian tradition that favors abrupt contrast and
bright colors. Take note, too, how he refuses to make a meal out of the apex
of a phrase - the customary procedure among pianists less inclined to discretion.
Mr Fiorentino belongs to a handful of artists who fill the gap left by those
we've lost in recent
years."
YOUNG (American
Record Guide)
(look
at record)
"All that glitters
is not gold - however, in the case of Sergio Fiorentino's reading of Scriabin's
Fourth Piano Sonata we are almost certainly in the presence of musical gold.
I've not heard a performance quite as intense and focused as Fiorentino's
for a long time .... The delineation between melody and accompaniment in
the opening movement is brilliantly accomplished, and the winged Prestissimo
volando which follows is exhilarating and superbly controlled. The First
Sonata is no less impressive. His reading has youthful impetuosity in the
first movement coupled with a powerful, tragic undertone in the second and
fourth, and there is an imperious authority in his interpretation .... This
disc is the third of four in APR's Fiorentino Edition, and on hearing this
I shall waste no time in seeking out the others. A very rewarding disc from
a pianist of tremendous
stature."
MS (The
Gramophone)
"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 for the Scriabin Fourth Sonata, a typically volatile
middle-Scriabin piece that Fiorentino plays with enormous panache (as he
also does, live, on Appian 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."
GERBER
(Amazon.com)
"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."
WHINCOP (Amazon.com)
APR 5553 - SCHUBERT / CHOPIN
"Sergio Fiorentino
has had time to meditate on his art. His interpretations, sometimes off-the-road,
always deeply felt, have the same quintessential form as the auguries of
a sage. Extraordinarily controlled, even severe, Chopin's Third Sonata is
an example of his pithy style. But what an emotion in that dejected Largo,
a song of inner grief in near silence. Introspection also in Schubert's great
Sonata No. 21 D. 960 where Fiorentino, without slackening its rigorous
construction, seems to express in the moulding of a melody the whole loneliness
of the human being."
SABBATINI (Journal
de Genève)
(look at record)
"The Indian
summer of this great pianist has now given us a quite remakable account of
the Chopin Sonata, his freedom of approach reminding us of the great romantic
pianists of the past. His Schubert is more restrained and classical, yet
has so much to express that it is revelatory."
DENTON (Yorkshire
Post)
"Understatement could
be Sergio Fiorentino's middle name. To these monuments of the piano literature
he brings alluring subtlety, a lively intelligence, and a fresh perspective.
What's more, Mr Fiorentino's remarkable ability to remain unruffled but intensely
expressive, no matter how labyrinthine the contrapuntal activity or musical
texture, suggests an intuitive command of a pianistic
messa di voce. Like a great singer,
he can manipulate, with precision and discretion, the dynamic tension between
the notes. Mr Fiorentino elaborates the busy polyphony of the Chopin sonata
with amiable transparency. His velvety tone and taut command of a seamless
but gently inflected cantabile serves him well in I and IV. He sculpts its
serpentine melodies, lending them a lean and sinous edge, while even transitional
passages (for example, the descending double notes in fourth in I) are treated
poetically. This is one of the few readings I know of that treats the opening
upbeat in the first measure of I as a trochee, thus rejecting the customary
stomping in the F-sharp downbeat that follows. Is it possible that Mr Fiorentino
is aware that this is also a rhythmic property indigenous to the Polish language?
... Schubert's magisterial Sonata in B-flat is to the piano literature what
Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony is to the orchestra: an extended but immensely
personal statement. Mr Fiorentino shrewdly discerns that beneath its surface
serenity lurks something unsettling, if not sinister. He adopts a slower
tempo than most in I and a quicker one in II. In less wise hands, that could
be a catastrophe. But here it seems just right. His Schubert is at once sensuous
and sad; he has little in common with Brendel of Klien, who exploit a brighter
sound and a greater optimism, or with Arrau's aura of painful resignation.
If he shares an aesthetic approach to this work with anyone, it's Sofronitsky.
Like him, Fiorentino views it as a kind of private diary where even the most
delicate intimacies, now made public, sacrifice nothing of their passion
or fervor."
YOUNG (American Record
Guide)
"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
interpretive 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."
WHINCOP (Amazon.com)
about APR's "FIORENTINO EDITION"
"I hadn't heard
of Fiorentino until just a few weeks ago, when a publicist sent me this series
of recordings put out by APR, a small British label. It turns out that these
records have already received some remakable raves from distinguished critics
on both sides of the Atlantic. And after listening to the discs myself, I
can only say that the raves are totally deserved .... Fiorentino's aristocratic,
singing style is also ideally suited to the music of Scriabin and Rachmaninov.
Pianists love to linger over the details in this music, savoring every rich
chord, caressing the shape of every melody, making sure the sensuous impact
of every harmonic twist and turn is heard and
felt. Fiorentino clearly loves these
details, too, but he never lets the details cloud the larger picture. His
performance of Rachmaninov's Second Sonata is particularly fine. In this
densely textured work it is sometimes difficult to avoid banging (even Horowitz
thrashes around in it), but Fiorentino spins pure gold .... If you are a
fan of Claudio Arrau or Jorge Bolet, you'll probably like Fiorentino, too.
I actually prefer Fiorentino to Arrau and Bolet; Fiorentino's sound is just
as beautiful and his playing has a lot more personality. Urgently
recommended."
FARACH-COLTON (Classical
Music Webzine)
"One is instantly
aware of the pianist's understanding of the necessary stylistic differences
between various composers. I listened first to the live Schumann Fantasy,
a difficult work in all respects and one which Fiorentino held together and
brought to life as I have seldom heard. The sheer musicality of the playing
is overwhelming. The pianist is involved in this music to an amazing degree,
and with it, as well, is the listener. But there are no exaggerations, only
ideal statements. The Bach-Busoni (with additions by Fiorentino) is certainly
grandly rhethorical, the Beethoven classical and emotionally uplifting without
a hint of excess. Scriabin's First, Second and Fourth sonatas emerge with
intensity but also as an inevitable outcome of late romanticism. The Rachmaninoff
Second Sonata, even as one recalls Horowitz's electric performances, is projected
with colossal excitement; the same composer's First Sonata is far more convincing
that the majority of competing versions; and the Prokofiev astounds both
with Fiorentino's breathtaking lyricism and stunning virtuosity. The encores
from the live program - the Faust Waltz, the Strauss arrangements, Chopin,
Brahms, Tchaikovsky - are delectable bon-bons, and perfect conclusions to
a sensational array of superb pianism. Altogether, this is some of the most
satisfying playing I have encountered
lately."
KIPNIS (Schwann Opus)
APR 5558 - BACH / BACH-FIORENTINO
"Fiorentino's approach
works particularly well in the First
Partita where, rather than boldly
forcing his ideas upon the listener, his deeply personal and introspective
playing draws thre listener into his world. There is a wonderful sense of
clarity in his playing and great attention is paid to direction of line;
moreover, the heightened sensitivity shows how dear this music was to him
.... Although Fiorentino played and recorded many Bach transcriptions, this
one of the G minor Violin Sonata is new to his discography .... Fiorentino's
transcription eschews nineteenth- and twentieth-century devices, instead
attempting to emulate what the master himself might have written had he decided
to make a keyboard arrangement of this work. Fiorentino's performance contains
some of the most captivating playing on this disc, with truly masterful phrasing.
Remarkably, for all of Fiorentino's individuality, one never senses anything
contrived about his performances. At his best, Fiorentino could play as well
as any of this century's great pianists ..."
MALIK (International
Piano Quarterly)
(look at record)
"Some albums remind one
how poor an equivalent verbal descriptions are of musical experience. Sergio
Fiorentino (1927-1998), who passed away in August, 1998 had spent his last
five years recording for APR after having made a few albums for the SAGA
label in the late '70's. This all-Bach recital recorded in Berlin, 1996 is
simply one of the finest keyboard recordings since Ivan Moravec's astonishing
inscription of the Chopin Preludes for Supraphon/In-Sync. Fiorentino, more
a pedagogue than a touring virtuoso, had gathered a small number of devotees
who likened him to his near-contemporary Michelangeli. Not so stringently
percussive and detache as that musician, there is in Fiorentino a cross between
Backhaus and Lipatti, a tendency to soften cadences with suave pedalling
coupled with brilliant filigree in rising passages, much like Glenn Gould,
but again, without the "sec," non-legato approach. The "discovery" on this
first of two recitals devoted to Bach is Fiorentino's own transcription of
the solo G Minor Violin Sonata, which achieves a liquid fluency and "organ
sonority" which are most impressive. The "Fuga," particularly, communicates
a virility reminiscent of the D Minor Klavier Concerto. The B-flat Partita,
a favorite of Lipatti collectors, has that artist's control and serenity,
but in a more romantic style. The purely "motor" movements, like the Allemande
and Menuets, are rife with power and humor, what Blake called "fearful symmetry."
The contemplative movements in the B-flat and the more monumental D Major
are miracles of sustained cantilena and refined pedal. The sheer joy in pearly
play, in simply being able to command a range of keyboard effects, will easily
recall bon vivant Artur Rubinstein and colorist Walter Gieseking. This disc
will qualify for my own "Best of the Year" list and is highly recommended."
LEMCO (Audiophile Audition
E-Zine)
"Sergio Fiorentino's
Bach, recorded in 1996, two years prior to his death, is phenomenal. With
the opening of the fourth
Partita a blissful lustre shines
down from the sky. There is no intellectualism here, just emotion and joy,
which makes one think of Weissenberg. Everything is clear like glass, the
touch very delicate, the cantabile romantic but always dancing, and he is
very poetic in the fast movements. Striking are his calm tempi (also in the
first Partita), yet Fiorentino
never looses momentum, adding many ornaments and his own harmonies. His own
transcription of the Violin Sonata BWV 1001,
in all its simplicity, is played very idiomatic and
virtuosic. Bravo!"
SCHOONES (Piano
Wereld)
"... Fiorentino displays
his characteristically gorgeous tonal palette, plus a certain deliberateness
familiar at times from other of his recorded performances - for example,
the Schubert B flat Sonata [a measured reading]. But he is never staid,
lethargic, or lacking in esprit. The lively movements bounce along merrily
(the Courante of the First Partita), in spite of a post-romantic yet never
merely objective outlook the playing exceptionally clean, well articulated
... and, oh, so musical and warm. Fiorentino's own transcription of the G
minor Sonata is effectively filled in harmonically, without ever approaching
a Godowsky-like extravagance, while his Fourth Partita is extraordinarily
eloquent: suprisingly, he even adds a few discreet embellishments to the
repeats of the Allemande and Sarabande."
KIPNIS (CD
Conspectus)
"APR cannot be thanked
enough for its wonderful Fiorentino series, which has captured the insight
of one of the greatest pianist of our -- any -- time, shortly before his
final "curtain call" in 1998. This is the first of two disks devoted to Bach;
the second, not yet released, will focus primarily on transcription. This
disk offers the first and fourth partitas and Fiorentino's own transcription
of violin sonata in G minor. The first partita is famous in Lipatti's immortal
recording, and it is with the Lipatti generation one might mention Fiorentino,
rather than the Gould era. Although Fiorentino's fingerwork is just as clear
as friend Glenn, it's first and foremost his superb legato and rounded sound
one remembers. Nonetheless, he pays his scholarly debts with due attention
to repeats (which means the fourth partita's Allemande is 15 minutes) and
decoration. Bach on the modern piano has not sounded this good since Samuil
Feinberg's recording of the WTC -- and I include in that statement Argerich,
Kapell, and Richter.
Fiorentino is not the
first to transcibe the g minor sonata -- Godowsky got in first. The differences
are major. Godowsky's are free reworkings, whereas Fiorentino has much devotion
to the original and includes less new material. That makes it shorter and
not quite as flashy, but it better captures the severity and focus of the
original. The Siciliana has a sublime grace, and the very novelty of the
recording demands a place in your collection. In short -- if you like Fiorentino,
or the piano, or Bach on the piano, or just musicianship that is at once
towering and humble, buy it now."
WHINCOP(Amazon.com)
APR 5559 - BACH / BACH-BUSONI / BACH-RACHMANINOV / BACH-FIORENTINO
"Sergio Fiorentino's Bach subscribes
to all the pianistic notions that characterize the grand Romantic manner. He pulls out all the dynamic
and coloristic stops in the Fifth French Suite yet still keeps the music's dance spirit at the fore. If you
respond to Gilels and Kempff's similar pianistic outlooks vis-à-vis this delightful work, you'll probably warm
to Fiorentino's.
The Italian pianist, though, really shows what he's made of in the transcriptions. Not since
Egon Petri's heyday have Busoni's massive piano transformations of the D major and E-flat major Organ
Preludes and Fugues sounded so noble and unclangy. Rachmaninov's suite based on three movements
from the E major violin partita wickedly updates the original with serpentine inner voices and harmonic spice:
pure Bach-maninov, in other words! Fiorentino's sparkling performances are just as fun to hear as Rachmaninov's
brusquer interpretations, and, of course, benefit from APR's modern engineering. Lastly, Fiorentino offers his
own transcription of Jesu, joy of man's desiring in a measured, ravishingly inward reading. A disc made to
order for the piano connoisseur."
DISTLER (Classics Today)
(look at record)
"The idea of an album-length of Bach transcription is a relatively recent phenomenon. With the exception of Kempff,
who recorded a disk of short works, most of the pianists of the past concentrate on either a small selection of transcribed
chorale-preludes or one or two of the most famous large-scale works, like the Bach-Busoni Chaconne. In more recent
times, the transcription canon has been much more comprehensively explored for example, there have been no less
than four CDs featuring recordings of all ten Bach-Busoni chorale-preludes!
The difference between most of these modern recordings, and the present disk is the pianist. The late Sergio Fiorentino
was the last of a vanished school of pianistic supermen as capable of capturing the joy and intimacy of Bach, as of unleashing
the grand rhetoric of the great fugues. In his first Bach volume for APR, Fiorentino showed both of these sides, in warm and
joyous accounts of two partitas, and in his own transcription of the g minor Violin Sonata. In this second disk, the principal
focus is on transcription, but we also are offered some unhyphenated Bach, in the form of the fifth French Suite. In this disk,
we see three interpretive traditions in Bach sitting side by side the unhyphenated Bach, dancing and joyous; a neoclassical
Bach, objective and pungent; and the grandly rhetorical virtuoso Bach.
In the Suite, Fiorentino favours quite broad tempos. One might call them old fashioned, but the term is not suitable,
given the immaculate clarity of counterpoint and rhythm. Rather it captures the virtues that "old fashioned" pianists sought
after legato, sprung rhythms, and geniality so often absent in unsmiling modern performances. It is rare that one is actually
reminded by a performance that a suite is a collection of dance movements, but that is so here. The Allemande is unhurried
but the rhythms are lifted nicely, the Bourrée glitters without sounding meretricious, the Sarabande and Loure overflow with
sunshine. A wonderful performance.
The neoclassical Bach is evident in the pianist’s performance of the Rachmaninov transcription. Rachmaninov was Fiorentino's
paragon, and this performance is echt Rachmaninov even more so than Rachmaninov's own recording. It is golden-toned, beautifully
phrased, dry like good white wine, and no detail obscures the composer's genius. The romantic harmonies click into place as though
they were present in the original. Fiorentino paces this suite quite quickly, at tempi similar to Rachmaninov.
The romantic Bach is found in the Bach-Busoni and Bach-Fiorentino transcriptions. Fiorentino offers his own transcription of "Jesus
bleibet meine Freunde". It is more like Hess’s than Kempff’s, but he has written out a richer and more expansive version of the harmony
than Hess did, assigning to the left hand the challenging task of playing a succession of tenths. It is broad, sonorous and beautiful, more
weighty than the famous Lipatti version. The tendency to broad tempi is particularly evident in the two fugues that begin and end the disk.
Those familiar with Fiorentino’s "Live in Germany" disk will be familiar with the outlines of the D major prelude and fugue. Both it and the
vast E flat prelude and fugue are spacious, architectural performances, the longest recorded ones I am aware of. Fiorentino hews to
consistent pulses, which enables the performances to have as much cumulative impact as other, harder-driven performances, without the
sense of peaks and troughs.
Lovers of Bach and the virtuoso piano repertoire should explore this disk. It shows a Titan, now sadly departed, at work in a manner at
once artistically humble and musically inspired."
WHINCOP (Amazon.com)
„After a remarkable Liszt recital, the British label Appian’s fifth volume of their edition dedicated to the Italian pianist presents an
equally remarkable one with transcriptions of works by Bach. Once again one finds that sense of colour, the pleasure of making the
piano resound in these transcriptions, mostly of Busoni (BWV 532, BWV 552) certain details of which Sergio Fiorentino modifies in
order to highlight their expressiveness. The pianist chases every phrase with a warmness which reminds us of the Bach of Kempff,
Feinberg, Casadesus, those other great masters who were - and this is no accident - both performers and composers. The clarity of
Fiorentino’s touch radiates an almost Italian light; it serves as his characteristic impulse, e. g. at the beginning of every phrase in the
Gavotte of the 5th French Suite. The Partita for violin BWV 1006, transcribed by Rachmaninov, brings this constantly moving and proud
sonority to the highest level, a sort of incessant flow in search of the phrase’s resolution. Fiorentino has only attention for the coherence
of the phrase and the equilibrium of the voices. His Bach is about the beauty of a well-organized universe. A superb programme
which makes one waiting avidly for the releases to follow.”
NEVERS (Classica)
"Sergio Fiorentino, who passed away on August 22nd 1998, was an unsung giant of the piano. This
new disc is one of only two albums performed by Fiorentino. The program contains both "pure" Bach,
in the form of the Fifth French Suite, as well as masterly transcriptions by Busoni and Rachmaninov.
Fiorentino is heard throughout at his magnificent best (listen to his wonderful, extended "sotto voce"
passages!). The "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" people certainly missed one here."
anon. (H & B recordings direct)
APR 5581 - The Early Recordings I - "The Contemplative Liszt"
"This memorable disc
forms a moving and retrospective tribute to Sergio Fiorentino who died last
year. Recorded in 1962 and 1967, it includes a previously unissued performance
of the second version of La lugubre
gondole and suggest throughout a timeless veracity
and compliance between creator and re-creator, between composer and pianist....
The performances are of the rarest inwardness and delicacy."
MORRISON (International
Piano Quarterly)
(look at record)
"Last year we lost Sergio
Fiorentino, but thankfully we have his APR Indian summer by which to remember
him. Also, of course, his earlier LPs .... One such, the late Liszt pieces,
is featured here alongside later 1967 recordings of the fine 'Weinen, Klagen,
Sorgen, Zagen' Prelude and the Six Consolations
.... these represent some of Fiorentino's finest
performances on disc. Indeed, listening to them again after many years their
qualities seem to me ever more precious."
BENNETT
(MDC)
"This first volume, dedicated
to the author of the Sonata in b minor, reminds us that like Brendel and
Kempff, Fiorentino was a pioneer in the Lisztian domain. Those who were lucky
to meet this reserved and enigmatic person can confirm that Appian pays him
a very fine hommage by starting this collection with the least spectacular
of programmes one can imagine. These bare, mysterious, unquiet and gloomy
works of Liszt have not been served very often with the poetic density and
essential desire one can admire here. One is free to read in these pages
the starting point of the 20th century in music. Fiorentino's way with them
does not stress an explanation of the text and shuns every kind of
intellectualism. The matching of the right of tone, the frequent tenderness
(admirable the Consolations) with which he approaches these pieces are the
fruit of veritable humanism ... the seal of a great master."
COCHARD
(Diapason)
"Those enamoured of the
dark side of Liszt's probing spiritualism will be sent into paroxysms by
this magnificent disc. In one elegant, compelling performance after another,
Sergio Fiorentino, whose sudden death last year marked the end to one of
the more significant career revivals in recent years, demonstrates unequivocally
why he deserves the moniker "great" alongside "pianist".
The pompous growling
sprawl that informs the interpretation of so many pianists is nowhere to
be found in Mr Fiorentino's readings. On the contrary, there is an epistolary
quality about his playing that compliments the confessional dimensions of
the music. La Lugubre Gondola I,
for example, is at once specific and dreamy, as it should be; the near Doppler
effect of the receding funeral procession, as it fades into the distance
at the work's conclusion, is all the more terrifying when played almost entirely
within the context of a smoldering pianissimo. Mr Fiorentino drives on Unstern
at a faster tempo than most of his colleagues, but give up nothing of its
intensity. Most exquisitely drawn are the jewel like
Four Klavierstücke, which
Liszt took a decade to write, from 1865 through 1876. Adumbrating late Scriabin
by more than 30 years, these laconic miniatures are remarkable for their
structural economy and philosophical largesse. Much the same can be said
about the spooky Weinen, Klagen,
Sorgen,
Zagen (Weeping, Wailing, Mourning,
Trembling) whose meandering passacaglia and variations Mr Fiorentino invests
with purpose at every moment. It's a lean, subtly shaded performance that
never raises its voice: in his hands its rhythmic contours and motivic
intonations are so precisely articulated that it doesn't have
to.
The gentle and endearing
Consolations suit perfectly Mr
Fiorentino's refined musical sensibility and prismatic approach to sound,
which virtually distills every dynamic into its essence. Indeed, much about
his playing suggests a kind of pianistic liqueur, to be savored one sip at
a time. Consolation number 3 may
sound like an ideal name for a game show, but in fact it is the most famous,
and perhaps most perfectly crafted of the set. For this pianist its four
plus minutes are a heartbreaking elegy that whispers quietly under the breath,
as it were. Where Horowitz gives us the predominating right hand melody in
a brazen (if beautifully shaped) display that rings out with a kind of stentorian
ardor, Mr Fiorentino's idea of bel canto is considerably more suave and subtle.
These recordings, made in 1962 and 1967, are about as different from Alfred
Brendel's as you can get. In these interpretively challenging works, Mr Brendel
prefers to dwell on rhetorical character. Mr Fiorentino, on the other hand,
engages them for their intimacy and poetry. Though one great reading is hardly
more valid than another, there is much to be said about taste. It reminds
me of the celebrated remark attributed to Callas when she described her own
voice as champagne, and that of Tebaldi as Coca-Cola. Well, let's just say
that Mr Fiorentino, in comparison to most others, including Brendel, comes
down squarely on the side of Moët and Chandon. Charles Hopkins' superb
liner notes are as well written as they are exemplary: an object lesson in
a musicology contextually informed and thoroughly considered."
YOUNG
(Clavier)
"The Liszt collection,
I'm delighted to report, includes some of those late, enigmatic creations
such as Schlaflos,
Nuages gris, and
Unstern where the composer's harmonic
world disintegrated. But there are also exceptionally poetic renditions of
such better-known earlier works as the six Consolations. The performances,
ideally introspective, are oustanding."
KIPNIS (CD
Conspectus)
"Turn to the second volume
for Liszt at his most inspired, and for Fiorentino at his most refined. Pick Nuages Gris
to hear a fastidiously expressive left hand giving the pianissimo octave tremolos their full value
without overwhelming the texture, and then sample La lugubre gondola I, for
a subdued but singing melodic line that captures the mournful quality of the work without
recourse to mawkishness. Imagine the nuances inherent in these interpretations as extending
to the other pieces as well ... and it'll be easy to realise that this is a disc of critical importance."
ANTHONI (Piano-IPQ)
APR 5582 - The Early Recordings II - "The Virtuoso Liszt"
"Sergio Fiorentino ...
was a unique performer who revelled in the music of the virtuoso Liszt, his
speed and articulation almost defying belief. He took chances, and there
are moments where his fingers almost run away with themselves. Yet listen
to today's sterile Liszt performances, and they are simply trivial compared
to this."
DENTON (Yorkshire
Post)
(look at record)
"Don't be misled by the
table of content, though, into expecting conventional virtuoso display; there's
a touch of reserve to Fiorentino's personality that makes his performances
distinctively unsensational. I don't mean to suggest any want of technique.
His filigree is dazzlingly clean; and even if he doesn't quite breeze through
Liszt's treacherous Clochette
Fantasie, he surely holds his own. Nor can he be accused
of polite deference to the score; he inflects the music with elastic tempos
(note how he stretches the transition into the 'Friska' in the Second
Hungarian Rhapsody), striking
details of dynamics and articulation and even textual ammendations. But his
partiality for a sec and somewhat
monochromatic tone sometimes turns down the heat under the espressivo passages
(although he builds to heartfelt climaxes in the
Thirteenth
Rhapsody) - and his sobriety
shortcircuits the zaniness of such works as the Grand
Galop Chromatique. In the end, then, this recital stands
out more for the manic concentration of his Sixth
Hungarian Rhapsody or for the
shots of darkness that puncture the
Vivace in his stern performance
of the Seventh than for any extra pizzazz of the glissandos on the Tenth.
Still ... its unfailing balance and dignity give it a place of honour in
the catalogue none the less."
RABINOWITZ (International
Record Review)
"APR has been devoting
much effort on behalf of the late pianist Sergio Fiorentino's recorded legacy,
from live concerts taped in his final years to rare studio bounty, like this
Liszt recital. With two exceptions, the master tapes for these recordings
are lost, but producer Bryan Crimp had access to a reasonably clean copy
of the original Concert Artists LP. Happily, Fiorentino's easy command of
Liszt's many, many notes is matched by his ability to convey the composer's
overt theatricality with poise and panache. As a result, the Hungarian Rhapsodies
come across as being more three-dimensional pieces than the virtuoso fluff
for which they are wrongly dismissed. Ideally, we might want sharper contrasts
and a more demonic undercurrent throughout the Octave Etude (No. 2 from Liszt
Paganini Etudes) and Gnomenreigen. And the Grand Galop Chromatique's giddy
exhibitionism reaches more demented heights via Georges Cziffra's interpretation.
For these sessions, Fiorentino dusted off a Liszt rarity: the Grande Fantasie
de bravoure sur la Clochette de Paganini. Imagine "La Campanella" with an
extended introduction, and four times as much music that is 40 times more
difficult to play, and you'll get the picture. Fiorentino dives into this
overwrought concoction as if it were the greatest piano piece ever written,
and wipes the floor with Leslie Howard's dog-sober version on
Hyperion."
DISTLER (Classics
Today)
"I cannot recall how
I came by a copy of Delta mono LP number DEL 12015 nearly 40 years ago, but it has
remained a treasured part of my collection. As a teenager in the thrall of Horowitz,
it was exciting to come across a second pianist whose fearless bravura in Liszt
made the heart beat faster ... nothing could dispel the sheer titillation of the Grand
Galop Chromatique and the stupendously-difficult, rarely-heard La Clochette
fantasy ... The Paganini Study No.2, Gnomenreigen and the six Hungarian
Rhapsodies ... are top-drawer performances, none the worse for lacking the
idiosyncrasies of (the admittedly electrifying) Horowitz or Cziffra"
NICHOLAS (Classic CD)
"...Uncouth pianism wasn't a part
of Fiorentino's ethos and there is a cultured sensibility behind even the most coruscating
keyboard virtuosity - as heard in the Grand Etude de Paganini (a few textural
emendations notwithstanding) and any of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, although the long
cadenza in the Second is excluded."
ANTHONI (Piano-IPQ)
"APR's releases of Fiorentino's old
studio recordings of Liszt reveal the extraordinary range of sympathies
this masterly pianist had. The first volume showed a pianist totally as one with the impressionistic,
ambiguous inner world of late Liszt; the latest third volume showed us Liszt as a high romantic, dramatic
and subjective, but in all cognisant of musical virtues. This second volume voyages to the very limits of
virtuosity, assaying works demanding a prestidigitation that is an end in itself. Given Fiorentino's demonstrated
musical virtues -- refinement, taste, dedication to the score -- I approached this disk with a rather perplexed fascination.
The final result is a series of recordings that demonstrate the artistic integrity possible even in the repertory of the arch-virtuoso.
The program begins with two Etudes: the Octave etude from the Paganini Grandes Etudes and Gnomenreigen.
The performances are a model for music of this kind -- the pianist plays fast but with comfort, so that he can relish
the detail and wit, and articulate the rhythms, present in this music, which mad dash performances can miss.
The six Hungarian Rhapsodies that follow have some qualities in common. Fiorentino differentiates his choice
of tempi in these pieces much more than is common. His friskas zip along with the fastest, but elsewhere his approach
is substantially broader, emphasising melancholy, rather than impassioned rhetoric. I wouldn't necessarily want to be
without the other type of performance, but this is a rich, satisfying way of hearing the Rhapsodies without vulgarity
or schmaltz. The pianist opts out of the cadenza for the second Rhapsody, but I don't miss it. I particularly like the
performance of the sixth Rhapsody, an intense, cumulatively exciting performance.
The program closes with two of the most outrageous pieces Liszt ever penned. The Grand galop chromatique is tossed
off with an easy panache. Fiorentino is just ten seconds off Cziffra's landmark performance. Cziffra's is probably the more
exciting performance, given his percussive, waspish style, but Fiorentino offers many felicities. Even the galop pales by
comparison with the following Grande Bravura Fantasy on la Campanella. Rarely recorded by any sane pianist, this quite
crazy work demands the most lavish technical endowment in order to do justice to its violinistic textures. While no one
sounds comfortable in such a work, Fiorentino shows how he can play "virtuosissimo" music with glittering panache.
I recommend it to all Lisztians.
The recording is from the 1960s, and is disappointing for the time. Pitch fluctuates in places, and the sound is
one dimensional. Nonetheless, I am grateful to have it in any form -- it is triumphant and dignified virtuosity.
WHINCOP (Amazon.com)
NEWPORT-CD (no #) - "In Memory of Sergio Fiorentino"
"This recital was taped,
live, only a year before Fiorentino's untimely death in 1998 at the age of
70. The story of the pianist's interrupted career (due to a plane crash)
may be dramatic, but this kind of playing doesn't need any boosts from such
irrelevant factors. Fiorentino was a complete Chopin player. His nocturnes
are smooth and placid, while the ballade and polonaise are tremendously dramatic.
It's astonishing to think that these nearly perfect performances come from
a single unedited concert, but the level of musical projection is even more
impressive than the pianist's flawless technique. This is one for the ages,
and fortunately the recording quality is excellent."
GERBER
(Amazon.com)
(look at record)
"The late Italian pianist
Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998) had retired from performing outside his native
country for two decades due to his dislike of the concert life's competitiveness
and publicity-mongering. But he returned to the stage in 1992; his U.S. comeback
was at the Newport Festival in 1996 (his first U.S. appearance since 1953),
and his last public performance was also at Newport, in 1998. Thus, there's
a certain significance to this release, a recording of his 1997 appearance
at the festival.
This disc's all-Chopin
program is well-suited to demonstrating Fiorentino's endearing lyricism.
There are four of the Op. 28 Preludes (Nos. 15 - 17 and 23), five Waltzes
(Op. 18; Op. 64, Nos. 1 - 2; Op. 34, No. 1; Op. 42), two Nocturnes (Op. 27,
No. 2; Op. 15, No. 2), four of the Op. 10 Etudes (4, 6, 8, 10), four Mazurkas
(Op. 50, No. 3; Op. 7, No. 1; Op. 33, Nos. 2 and 4), the Polonaise Op. 26,
No. 1; and the Ballade Op. 47.
His technique was not
infallible, yet for a concert performance with no studio repairs, it's generally
remarkably clear. But it's his touch that clearly puts him in a higher class.
The liquescent tones of the Prelude No. 23, for instance, are quietly stunning,
and his legato in the Op. 64, No. 2 Waltz, will break your heart. His Nocturnes
are as redolent of twilight as any on disc.
Yet Fiorentino was clearly
able to turn up the virtuosity when required -- he was, after all, renowned
as an interpreter of Liszt and Rachmaninoff. The Etude No. 4 is positively
explosive, yet his touch is still light in the quicksilver runs, and his
Etude No. 8 is dazzlingly bright. Many pianists half his age only wish they
could play the challenging Etude No. 10 with such crystalline grace. It's
worth mentioning the hushed respectfulness of the audience. Coughs are few
and far between, and clearly all present were spellbound. How lucky we are
that we, too, can hear this wonderful program."
HOLTJE (CD
Now)
"... In July 1997 Fiorentino
played an all-Chopin midnight recital of over 70 minutes, without interval,
now issued on Newport Music Festival 3. The sound, as it is with every one
of the discs mentioned, is excellent, but the really noteworthy arpect is
the playing. If just a trifle rigid at first, Fiorentino soon moves into
that rarified world of remarkable Chopin pianism that makes one want to hear
the disc over and over again, savoring his sensitivity, poetry, and virility.
There are groupings of two-to-four each of preludes, mazurkas, nocturnes
and etudes, several delicious waltzes (including two encores), all nicely
contrasted as to key and mood, plus the Third Ballade. For me, however, the
most oustanding of these live performances is the Op 26 No. 1, Polonaise,
which I've never heard played with more grandeur and authority. The Rubinstein
versions of that C sharp minor work [EMI 1935; RCA 1951, 1964] have always
appealed to me, but, now I've heard it, Fiorentino's is the one that I would
most want to return to."
KIPNIS (CD
Conspectus)
"This is a live performance
from July 13, 1997 from the Newport Music Festival. The disk is not part
of Fiorentino's wonderful APR series, but, like those disks, it is a wonderful
memento to the pianist, who died the following year. The program begins with
four Preludes, including the A-flat and the D-flat. The latter is played
with stunning concentration and beautiful tone; the former is wonderfully
songlike. The Waltzes evoke a vanished savoir-faire and carefree exuberance,
although the melancholia of op 64 no 2 is a fine contrast. The Nocturnes
(op 27/2, op 15/2) are for me the high point of the disk in their autumnal
shade and underlying tensions. Once again, we are treated to some wonderful
contrasts in the Etudes op 10/4, 6, 8 & 10, and the Mazurkas. The official
program closes with two larger works, the Polonaise in c-sharp minor and
the Ballade in A-flat. For me, Sofronitsky owns the former, but I can at
least forget him temporarily when Fiorentino plays. The Ballade is superb.
Two more Waltzes are featured as encores. The sound on this disk is excellent.
There is some non-intrusive audience noise, and applause only follows the
Ballade and the encores. The Yamaha piano makes a lovely sound. This disk
is doubly fortunate since I understand that APR won't bring out any Chopin
in the studio series, so the disk goes nicely with the Chopin Second Sonata
on the live in Germany disks. Fiorentino's death surely marked the death
of one of the great Chopin players -- his Waltzes rank with Lipatti's, his
Nocturnes with Rubinstein's, and his Mazurkas with Kapell's. This is a
beautifully balanced recital which is as good as anything Fiorentino ever
recorded."
WHINCOP
(Amazon.com)
"This live recital, recorded in Fiorentino's Indian summer, is an
exemplar of the virtues of great Chopin pianism. In the opening "Raindrop" prelude, Fiorentino's touch has a beautiful homogeneity
that recalls the bel canto origins of much of Chopin's melos, which is yet capable of evoking the dark, austere and obsessive middle
section. As he begins, so he continues: the sixteenth prelude is stormy and dramatic, the seventeenth introspectively and unhurriedly
songful, the twenty-third delicate and graceful. The Waltzes dance with a worldly panache, the Etudes are rescued from virtuoso indulgence
by Fiorentino's bouyant playing and matchless legato, the Mazurkas are spare and dramatic. The Nocturnes are perhaps the highpoint of the
disk, and op. 27/2 has both outer calm and inner tension. The larger works are exhilarating and intense: the Polonaise is given a grand
maestoso opening and the close of the third Ballade is electrifying. The Yamaha piano sounds superb, and the recording is good, making
this an indispensable point of comparison in the pianism of the twentieth century."
anon. (RMCR Classical Hall of Fame)
APR 5560 - SCHUMANN / SCHUMANN-FIORENTINO
"Few pianist only, like
Sergio Fiorentino, may have been successful in transfering into sound the
specific tone of Schumann's complex psychological and compositional delicacy.
With trancelike security this tone springs up right from the beginning of
the Fantasy in C major, where the Italian exposes the soaring semiquaver
figuration already as thematic material, not setting the first theme as a
melody over an accompaniment, but developing it from the emphatic flow of
the notes. The motto from Schlegel, which preceedes the work, thus becomes
musically obvious at once. This detail shows the kind of acribic attention
and thoughtful care Fiorentino pays to the written text. With similar stringency
he unfolds the poetry of the works, which oftentimes remains undiscovered,
creating an expressive kaleidoscope of romantic feeling out of the simple
rondo form of the Arabesque and meeting exactly the essentially dramatic
pulse in the first movement of the Sonata in G minor. A tasteful arranger,
the pianist presents two transcriptions of Lieder which he plays with agogic
refinement, seamless legato and the finest of colour shadings. No doubt,
Fiorentino, who died 1998, shortly before his 71st year, belongs to the number
of exceptional musical personalities after the second world war. Apart form
his Schumann recordings his artistic testimony, spanning from Bach to Scriabin,
has been impressively documented by APR on nine CDs so far."
SIEBERT (Fono
Forum)
(look at record)
"The late Sergio Fiorentino's
posthumous recording career takes a glorious, heartfelt turn in this Schumann
collection. The C major Fantasy, recorded in 1996 when the pianist was 69,
soars with emotional contrast and a sonority that sings in a direct, uncluttered
way. Fiorentino negotiates the second movement's knotty dotted rhythms and
dangerous skips accurately and without making a stunt of the music. He also
takes care with Schumann's stepwise bass lines and makes natural sense of
the inner voices. The Arabeske is paced to sing, and comes closest to matching
Rubinstein's exquisitely timed 1961 Carnegie Hall version (RCA). Like Wilhelm
Kempff, Fiorentino isn't about to outrace younger whippersnappers like Argerich
(Philips), yet the older pianist gets to the finish line first. The first
of the Op. 21 Novelettes and the gorgeous F-sharp Romance emerge from
Fiorentino's supple hands like liquid bronze, as do his effective transcriptions
of the songs Die Lotosblume and Widmung. APR discs are not cheap, but piano
enthusiasts will get a substantial return on their investment. A beautiful
disc . . "
DISTLER (Classic
Today.com)
"Humanity and tenderness:
these two words could sum up his interpretation. Aren't these also the most
appropriate words to express the composer's genius? It is another way to
tell that the artist goes right to the heart of the music. The passion, the
moments of excess are never shortcomings in his Schumann. Rather than tricks
of a completely superficial madness, as in many interpretations, they are
the fruit of understanding or, to put it differently, of an intimate perception
of the works' structure and breath. For a long time one has not heard the
perilous Fantasy played with such coherence. Like a living organism the music
unfolds naturally, flowing over with colours, the detail taking effect, the
one and another counter themes emerging with veritable necessity. Like two
venerable models, Cortot and Gieseking, Fiorentino's success in Schumann
is due to his perception of the profound essence: the "materialisation" of
the sound in a poetic sense. Thusly envisaged, the virtuosity of the Sonata
No. 2 expresses a soul's élan and fever. An absolute fortune also
that this Novellette, these two transcriptions of perfect conciseness, or
this Arabesque unfold naturally and with rare modesty."
COCHARD
(Diapason)
"Sergio Fiorentino's
more concentrated playing style suits Schumann's turbulent Fantasie in C
major, which clocks up a very broad total timing of 35'07" (the finale runs
to 13'40"). Appian's continuing efforts on behalf of this underrated musician
– who died suddenly on 22 August 1998 – have never borne richer
fruit and the remaining items (more Schumann, including the G minor Sonata)
are virtually as distinctive (APR 5560)."
COWAN (Independent Enjoyment,
20 Best Classical CDs 1999)
"... Appian's "Fiorentino
Edition" will do much to bring him the recognition he deserves. His considerable
technique was always subordinated to musical demands, and he played with
integrity, understanding, and an unmannered and unostentatious grace. So
it is with the Schumann pieces on this disc.
His tempos are rather
slow in the Fantasy and the shorter pieces, allowing him time to develop
long-breathed phrases with great emphasis on lovely melodic lines. On the
other hand, he takes the Sonata quite briskly, appropriately passionate in
I and III, tender and lovely in II, and very exciting in IV. His two song
transcriptions are skillful translations of vocal music into pianistic terms.
You may share my preference for Schumann's piano music played with more contrast
and drama than this, but there is much sheer beauty in these
performances."
MORIN (American Record
Guide)
"In fact it is
Fiorentino's golden, singing tone that commands consistent attention in these
recordings, never less than in the Romanze and his own two exquisite
song transcriptions (Widmung, the highlight of the disc for me, is touchingly
valedictory.)"
NICHOLAS (Classic CD)
"... [Arrau's] epic magnificence and
pianistic nobility is only surpassed perhaps by Fiorentino (the Berlin studio version, 1996). Touched
by the odd lower-octave resonance (the 'Bauer' B flat at the end of the march not least --
never a more inevitably needed resonance), the occasional new dynamic (the quasi echoes
at 84 and 276 of the first movement), his performance turns the Fantasie into the
grandest of cathedrals, a towering, imperial symphonic journey that never once falters in
intensity. Innovatively, unlike the Arraus and Richters, the Brendels and Rubinsteins -- just about
everyone, in fact -- he sees the flanking movements as temporally equal balancing columns
(evident also from the 1993 live recording), and at 35 minutes overall, Celibidache-like, takes
his time to make the point. Benefitting from a fabulously voiced instrument, it's an overwhelming
experience, outstandingly recorded in a golden acoustic. Remarkable. ... My recommendations,
chronologically, are Backhaus, Gieseking, de Lara, Arrau (1959), Sofronitzky (1959), Richter
(1960), Argerich (1966), Brendel (1966), Richter (1979), Bolet, Perahia, Hough, Perl, Fiorentino (1996).
Pushed to choose just one, it'd have to be Fiorentino."
ORGA (International Piano Quarterly)
"APR has already given us a substantial taste of Fiorentino's Schumann, in the Live in
Germany (APR7036) set. That album included the Fantasy. The stylistic features of that
performance are essentially similar to those here, but there are some differences in detailing
and tempo. The first movement is masterly. It plays up the disjunctive pauses and switches
of mood to create an unsettling whole, rather than a patchwork movement of peaks and
troughs. The intensity of that movement relaxes a little in the second, where the march rhythms
are well sprung. The middle, trio-like section looks both forward to the finale and back to the
first movement in its gentle sadness, but Fiorentino is, as ever, stunning in the virtuoso conclusion
to the march. The single most obvious characteristic of Fiorentino's Fantasy is the final movement,
where he chooses a daringly slow tempo. The movement lasts 13:40 -- in any other pianist's hands,
one would register a loss of impetus, but that is not to so here. The legato is so immaculate that a
faster speed would seem to cheapen the work -- heavenly length indeed. The live recording perhaps
has a slight edge in spontaneity, but there isn't much in it. Given the superb studio recording, this is a
mandatory acquisition.
The rest of the CD is also very fine. The Arabesque is everything one could want for, being
gently shaped without sounding self-conscious or trivial. The Novelette, a piece much played
by Richter, loses nothing in comparison to that master. The interpretative outlines are very similar.
The Second Sonata may lack the demonic charge of Martha Argerich, but I was astonished at how
much brio Fiorentino brought to this work. It sounds like the work of a much younger pianist. Fire
is balanced with musical structure in a performance that is a vital addition to the Schumann discography.
The disk closes with three encores -- an elegant second Romance, and then two Fiorentino transcriptions
of Schumann lieder. These are Die Lotusblume and Widmung. The latter is simpler and more direct than
the famous Liszt transcription; both are tender, touching jewels.
This is the most significant contribution to the Schumann discography in a long time, and yet another
landmark in Fiorentino's final musical legacy."
WHINCOP(Amazon.com)
APR 5583 - The Early Recordings III - LISZT
"Années de pèlerinage" I, "Suisse" / "Venezia e Napoli"
"... I would argue, even as a devoted
admirer of Cziffra, that a comparison with Sergio Fiorentino's early 1960s recording on Delta, later
Revolution ... does not result in an ideal verdict. Whilst comparisons between
jazz pianists isn't received wisdom, comparisons are inevitable between classical pianists; Fiorentino's
'Années de pèlerinage' is to me one of the great recordings of all time. Hear Cziffra and
Fiorentino play the 'Au bord d'une source' and I wonder how two people can make the same notes sound
so different! Cziffra, as recorded, sounds close, loud, and granite-like; Fiorentino, distantly recorded on
a soft-sounding piano, sounds as delicate as possible ... Strenuous is an adjective that comes to my mind
when I hear Cziffra play 'Orage' and 'Vallée d'Obermann'; effortless is the adjective I'd select to
summarize Fiorentino. The latter has a much more varied tonal pallette as well as a relaxed lyricism that
in earlier years Cziffra would display ..."
SMB (Cziffra Bulletin No. 7)
(look at record)
"Fiorentino's way with Liszt resembles a chapter of history written in vanishing ink, recording
deep insights but leaving sadly little impression on the future. Fiorentino's way with Liszt is a
little like Alkan the composer - he had neither forebears nor successors. Fiorentino no more
resembles the great Lisztians of the early century such as Horowitz and Friedman, with their
freewheeling dash, than he anticipates contemporary Liszt playing with its emphasis on self-sufficient
virtuosity. What, then, are the attributes of Fiorentino's Liszt that makes it distinct? I think it is
Fiorentino's demonstration that Liszt was a contemporary and admirer of Chopin that makes
his Liszt so unfamiliar. This is a Liszt interpretatively akin to the Chopin Ballades - lacking nothing
in virtuosity, but rich in lyricism and with a breadth of utterance that suits great music.
It follows that his "Swiss" year of Les Années is unusually grand and noble. This is in part a
question of tempo. His Chapelle is an astonishing eight minutes, yet it finds justification in the
score's request that the pianist play Lento - rather than andante con moto that one hears more often.
Here, as elsewhere, Fiorentino is probing deeply into the musical substance of these works, in order
to allow motifs sometimes hustled through to sound in more detail. Thus, at the loss of a little glitter,
we find ourselves a little closer to a more varied and interesting Switzerland, a traveller's diary indeed.
Orage is a storm rather than a whirlwind, and those who people the bucolic scene in Pastorale show
no noticeable Gypsy antecedents. The core of this set is Vallée d'Obermann, and Fiorentino's account
remains challengingly expansive. Fiorentino takes almost sixteen and a half minutes, longer than any
performance I am acquainted with. But is never simply slow; the first section reflects the brooding, inward
nature of this music, but the transition to the beautiful lyric theme is presented with tenderness and the
climax has a sense of real triumph.
The disk also includes the Venezia e Napoli pieces. Fiorentino was a Neapolitan to his core, so his
performance has an authoritative verisimilitude. If Gondoliera and Canzone are haunting in their spacious
melancholy, the Tarentella is a tour-de-force not only in virtuosity but in its rhythmic concentration and its
Italianate swagger. It is a pity that the recording is unworthy of the playing; the sound is papery and thin.
Venezia e Napoli had to be copied from an LP. Nonetheless, coming only a few years before Fiorentino
abandoned the concert platform, we can only be grateful to the discernment of the producers who chose
to record him."
WHINCOP (Amazon.com)
"... Sergio Fiorentino plays these works like a great master. Without having the transparent touch
of a Bolet or the flamboyant playing of a Brendel, he moves through these Swiss landscapes
with a severity and intensity worthy of a Rachmaninov, his favourite pianist. With clear play
and a rich tone palette, the Italian pianist incessantly interrogates the music, showing neither the
slighest signs of effort nor falling back on the the slighest effect. This is a very subtle meditation,
the work of a poet and cultivated artist, which we are invited to share."
BELLAMY (Le monde de la musique)
"APR's valuable Fiorentino series continues with the pianist's long-out-of-print early 1960s recordings
of the première, Swiss year of Liszt's Années de Pèlerinage and the Venezia e Napoli supplement to the
Second year. Fiorentino was a great Liszt pianist, possessing the mastery of Lisztian rhetoric, keyboard
virtuosity, and philosophical depth to place these performances right up there with the best. Abundant
pleasures are here: the delicate pianissimos and powerful chords in Chapelle de Guillaume Tell; the liquid
lapping flow of Au lac de Wallenstadt; and the artful simplicity of Pastoral, to name only a few. Au bord
d'une source is slower than usual, but with a poetry that justifies the tempos. Fiorentino finds the undercurrents
of darkness in pieces such as Orage, which are often treated as mere virtuoso fodder, and he makes a massive,
moving tone poem of Vallée d'Obermann. Throughout, he brings to Liszt an elegance shared only by the
composer's greatest exponents.
That combination of aristocratic grace and stunning virtuosity pervades the entire disc, including the delightful Venezia e Napoli trio.
Fiorentino may yield to Wilhelm Kempff's captivating simplicity in Gondoliera, but he gives way to no one in the
precise articulation of repeated notes at Mach 2 speeds in Tarantella. The sound is closeup and detailed, with lots
of presence, barely showing its age except for occasional slight fuzziness at the edges. APR has a brief note
explaining that the lost master tapes of Venezia e Napoli necessitated copying from an LP, but no apologies were
needed -- its sonics are quite acceptable."
DAVIS (Classics Today)
"The third volume of Sergio Fiorentino's early Liszt recordings made during the 60s unites the contemplative (Volume 1)
and the virtuoso (Volume 2). For in the first book of the Années de pèlerinage, composed while
Liszt journeyed through Switzerland with Marie d'Agoult, his mistress of the moment, you can hear in 'Le mal du pays'
stark alternations of heroism and despair, a prophecy of darker things to come. Even 'Orage', most daunting of octave
études, is more notable for far-reaching dissonance than mere display, an iconoclasm looking far
into future. Elsewhere, in 'Chapelle de Guilleaume Tell', Liszt celebrates Switzerland's national hero with alpine horns
echoing across the mountains, while 'Au lac de Wallenstadt' prompted the ever susceptible Marie d'Agoult to hear 'the
melancholy cadence of oars'.
Fiorentino's performances are of a rare virtuosity and imaginative delicacy, and I doubt whether the sense of bells ringing
gently and exultantly through the crystalline Swiss air in 'Les cloches de Genève' has often been caught more
evocatively (con somma passione). He rightly makes the gloomy and Byronic 'Vallée d'Obermann' the
nodal and expressive centre of the cycle, fully justifying and sustaining his audaciously slow tempo (it is, after all, marked
lento) and, throughout, his performances are alive with the sort of fantasy and freedom that eluded Jorge Bolet
in his more cautious Gramophone award winning Decca recording (12/84). Sadly Fiorentino recorded only
one work from the official Italian Année ('Sposalizio') so this disc ends with its supplement, Venezia
e Napoli, a garland of encores that show off his poetic resource and, in the 'Tarantella', quicksilver brilliance to perfection.
Fiorentino's earlier Saga recordings often suggested an enviable, if occasionally flippant facility, but here he is at his
finest; even when he playfully tampers with the score (in 'Les cloches de Genève') it is usually to Liszt's advantage.
The tranfers have come up trumps, though Bryan Crimp could do little to erase some pitch flutter in the original Delta disc.
Long may APR's 'Fiorentino Edition' continue. This is an invaluable reissue."
MORRISON (The Gramophone)
"When in the early 60s Sergio Fiorentino recorded a selection of piano works by Liszt, he belonged to the few pianists who,
like Alfred Brendel and Louis Kentner, dealt seriously with the composer. Like the two Liszt CD's with Fiorentino already published
by APR, this third release is a downright stupendous demonstration how Liszt's music can sound beyond a one-dimensional presentation.
Here, Fiorentino's complete technical and musical abilities are merged in the work; this means that there's not one moment of loss of
concentration and no self-impersonation. In 'Venezia a Napoli' he moulds captivating cantilenas, changing between sensual devotion
and delicate sorrow, but also turning into demonic mockery (Tarantella).
The pianist is able to present the pictures of nature and moods of the first year of the 'Années de pèlerinage' as poetic excursions
into the essence of Listztian romantic: the way he creates a shy and sacred simplicity in 'Chapelle de Guilleaume Tell' by placing
agogically refined chords, the way he makes a menacing fire of instinct out of the key acrobatics in 'Orage' or the way he knows
how to differentiate the sorrowful lines in 'Vallée d'Obermann' - all this shows a deep understanding for Liszt, which, presented
pianistically in such grandiose modesty, is only peculiar to interpretations of Fiorentino alone."
SIEBERT (Fono Forum)
"Appian has designated these "The Early Recordings"; they were made in London in 1963 ('Switzerland') and Paris, 1962
('Venice and Naples') when the pianist was in his mid 30s. His playing had an elegance and polish that are difficult to describe;
these works are all given an aristocratic, understated veneer by Fiorentino that suits them to a T. Because his playing is so musical,
the listener is never bored, even in the several quiet, undemonstrative pieces. The greatest performances of 'Au bord d'une
source' I know are by D'Albert and Horowitz, but Fiorentino comes very close. 'Orage' is especially romantic, more of a mood study than a
bombastic octave display.In the so-called Supplement to the 2nd Year (Italy), the 'Gondoliera' and
'Canzona' are glowing and spellbinding, as one might well expect from a great Italian pianist. In 'Tarantella' the pitch wavers quite
disturbingly. The annotations make reference to this, blaming it on the processing from an LP record rather than from tape masters.
The sound otherwise is good, though far from present-day standards. Fans of Fiorentino will be delighted with this, as will Liszt devotees,
for the refined, suave way the artist has with this repertoire."
MULBURY (American Record Guide)
"Deceased in 1998, this pianist, alas! is known only to a limited circle of amateurs. Sergio Fiorentino partly abandoned his career in favour of
teaching, and like Perlemuter in France, one became aware of his art at the end of his life, despite some testimonies remaining on discs.
Moreover, his reluctance, and the disinterest of the big record companies added to his isolation. The dreamy and mystic univers of Liszt
suited him wonderfully. These interpretations are striking for the broadness of their tempi and more so for the infinite delicacy of touch.
Fiorentino is a poet of colours, chasing every phrase, each respiration without a shade of intellectualism. His touch is silky, which does,
however, not impede a great legibility and an irreproachable technique. Thus, the 'Cloches de Genève' emerge with an impression of echo,
of mystery, "Au bord d'une source" with perfumes of Chopin. This is a matter of romantic piano, opposed to Berman or Richter in this repertoire.
The sense of drama and sketch-book is likewise more stressed in 'Le Mal du pays' than in the three pieces of 'Venezia e Napoli'. The lightness
and elegance are fascinating, as if he were at search of that "blue note" so dear to the French piano school - that of Cortot and Yves Nat -
even if the Italian pianist admits above all to his admiration for Rachmaninov the pianist. He expresses effectively an equivalent simplicity
within quite a different playing. Let us wait impatienly for the follow-ups of this "piano lesson", for here we have the third volume the English
publisher has dedicated to this artist."
FRIÉDÉRICH (Classica)
APR 5584 - The Early Recordings IV - LISZT - The Orchestral Recordings
"... Fiorentino was a Lisztian of convincing credentials as other APR releases have themselves
demonstrated. He had a big technique, transparency of texture, wide dynamics which were never
employed for superficial, crowd-pleasing effect, never forced through the tone and was quite without
the egocentricity often to be found amongst less musically engaged colleagues. Allied to these
qualities is a faithfulness – not literalness – to the score. His clarity was accompanied by poetry
and it’s noticeable in these recordings how often he infuses the music with a delicacy all the more
significant because it is born from a real virtuoso technique. Listen to his speed for example in a
warhorse like the Mephisto Waltz where it is accompanied by a control and an aristocracy of phrasing.
Any danger of sectionality in the piece is swept away by his bravura control of structure and by a sure
architectural vision. The seldom programmed Hungarian folk songs reveal eight minutes of deftness
and sensitivity – of persuasive phrasing and tonal variety. Yet he can be tremendously exciting – in Ab irato
for example there is some excoriating work, especially in the right hand, but the always-present Fiorentino
admixture of poetic aloofness which adds a richly nuanced sensibility to his Liszt playing.
Spozalizio is limpid, slow, a daydreamer’s interpretation which rises to a passionate apex with its poetic instincts
intact. The Concerto suffers from somewhat constricted sound – the transfers have come, in the main, from the
LPs themselves as the original tapes have been lost or damaged. The orchestral contribution is subsumed
somewhat into the background with an over bright piano in the balance. But as far as the playing is concerned
there is a tremendous vein of finesse to Fiorentino’s pianism in the opening movement, a feeling of rightness
and inevitability to his phrasing and dynamics in the slow movement – where his romantic instincts are tempered
by longer term structural goals. Even in the finale he evinces no concern at all for surface effect or for any kind of
artificial projection of the solo line. There is virtuosity here in abundance but you never feel it as a means to an end.
His wit glitters in the Polonaise brillante and he and Handley bring imagination and verve to the Chopin confection.
Fiorentino was an unflappable and consummate musician and APR continue to show us how and why."
WOOLF (Classic Music Web)
(look at record)
"Orchestral and solo works make up Volume 4 of APR's survey devoted to the late Sergio Fiorentino's 1960s Liszt output for
the small Concert Artist label. The opening selection, Mephisto Waltz No. 1, gets a whale of a performance where phrasing and
nuance rather than tempo fluctuation underscore the music's demonic subtext, and Fiorentino's powerhouse fingers convey all the
excitement and drive of Vladimir Ashkenazy's better-known traversals. Fiorentino makes light work of the Ab Irato etude's swashbuckling
hurdles and reveals his strong affinity for Liszt's lyrical, introspective persona in the Hungarian Folksongs and the Spozalizio.
Unfortunately, the concerted works suffer from close, claustrophobic microphone placement plus an orchestra that sounds severely
understaffed, riddled with warbling winds and thin strings. The piano, in turn, is mixed far too forward. Aside from Fiorentino's effortless,
powerhouse octaves in the Second Concerto and gorgeously adjusted runs in the Chopin Fantasia, few special moments transpire that
would justify general collectors to seek out these recordings over their better-engineered counterparts. Moreover, the draggy, listless basic
tempo Vernon Handley and Fiorentino favor for the Polonaise's main section drains all the glitter and showmanship from a work that needs
all the glitter and showmanship it can get. In all, a disc with limited appeal -- but what a Mephisto Waltz!"
DISTLER (Classics Today)
"Majestically remestared from sonically congested sources, this latest release in APR's ongoing Fiorentino series draws
together Concert Artist recordings from 1962 and 1966. Fiorentino helped spearhead the 'modern' Liszt revival, at a time
when the old sage's stock was at an all-time low. That he was a mainlining Lisztian of the highest pedigree cannot be doubted.
To get a taste of the man, contrast the luminous chords, melodically invested harmonies, wistful sighs, gravity basses, rolling
octaves like summer storm clouds, delicately yearning songs, sadly touched cadences, the wonderous Impressionism and
cushioned attack of Sposalizio (a reading of trancendental poetry veiled in fadedly perfumed auras of microphone
placement and studio ambience) with the Mephisto Waltz (an aristocratically virtuosic, sparingly pedalled, high-risk account
tangibly pyrotechnic and programmatic).
Early critics too readily dismissed Fiorentino as a speed merchant. But he wasn't. Sposalizio, the five Hungarian Folksongs, the cadenza
from the introduction to Weber's Polonaise brilliante (especially the glowing arpeggiated chords, not merely broken but phrased, like
fountains at dusk dying in slow motion), display degrees of reflection, poise and beauty of tone emphatically unshowman-like. Redolent
of studio Arrau and Richter, his unrethorical, spaciously poised Second Concerto receives a truly grand reading of cohesive formality,
displaying an expressively graded sonority and dynamic across the registers - with trills, cadenzas and passage-work of glittering cut yet
invariably thematic import, the double glissandi calculated to nuance rather than sensationalise the sound-picture.
Contracted to a budget label of uncertain future, Fiorentino recorded the Concerto, Weber and Chopin (not the composer's orchestration)
with a pick-up band in a multipurpose hall of singular suburban ordinariness. Ever the well-prepared, unfussed, working professional with
a job to do, honest to himself and the notes irrespective of platform, he was unphased. Living by Busoni's 'never play carelessly, even when
there is nobody listening, or the occasion seems unimportant', overcoming the odds, rising to the music, was Fiorentino's art."
ORGA (International Piano)
APR 5562 - LISZT
"Fiorentino, graduate and long time teacher at the Conservatory in Naples, was a true aristocrat of the piano.
I thought this immediately when I first heard him long ago in a recording of Liszt’s Années, Bk. I, and his playing
retained this patrician artistry, undiluted, through these many years. There were no overstatements, excesses, or
eccentricities of any sort. Instead, a wonderful balance of purity, clarity, and expressivity prevailed -- a kind of
Graeco-Roman ideal of musical beauty. His pianism was further distinguished by a consummate, seemingly effortless
technique and one of the most discriminating ears of any modern-day pianist. He had an extraordinary ability, a veritable
insistance, to place every note in its exact position -- it is quite miraculous to hear this in the vast B minor Sonata -
but there is also a refreshing spontaneity and plasticity ever present in his playing. His handling of the Exposition of
the fugue at the end of the Sonata is entirely unique among all performances I have ever heard.
All of these things coalesce to make this an exceptional piano recording, a recording one can listen to repeatedly,
each time discovering something new. Liszt was always a specialty for Fiorentino, yet his way of performing Liszt’s
music differs noticeably from most other performers. Each piece on this disc is masterfully played and demonstrates
all the qualities delineated above; no one stands out by itself. But the two Ballades, the “lightweights” on this program,
are made by Fiorentino to seem stronger and more beautiful pieces than they probably are. No mean feat!
Appian’s recorded sound is excellent and the Steinway piano sounds superb. By all means, do not miss this wonderful
recording."
MULBURY (American Record Guide)
(look at record)
"Here is poetic and pianistic glory. Volume 8 in APR's Fiorentino edition reminds us at every turn of a pianist whose chequered
career could never cloud his stature. Heady early acclaim was followed by disillusionment and retreat into a teaching position in
his native Naples, before an Indian summer brought belated recognition.
This Liszt recital was recorded just a year before Fiorentino's sudden death in 1998 and it stands as a glowing testament to his
artistry. The technical command is awe-inspiring, a far cry from an over-fleet early facility. Here is no frisky alternative to seriousness,
but a moving commitment to Liszt's innermost spirit and vision. Even in an over-crowded marketplace, Fiorentino's Liszt Sonata ranks
among the grandest and most sensitive on record. His heavily sustained, sepulchral opening octaves hint at the seriousness to come.
Once, he would have leapt greedily at the Sonata's bravura elements; now he turns gratefully to its poetic core. Doubtless, too, the fugue
would have been streamlined in his early days; now its is seen as an integral part of Liszt's massive and complex argument.
Fiorentino's Funérailles is proud, epic and heartfelt, and so too are the Ballades in a riper, more characterful reading than on a 1950's Saga disc.
There is never a hint of display for its own sake in Waldesrauschen and La leggierezza, only a rare interior
musical quality, and if all these performances are speckled with tiny alternatives to Liszt's texture and harmony (notably in the Second
Ballade's triumphant climax), it is invariably to Liszt's advantage. Broadly paced, acute and imperious, Fiorentino's performances erase
all clichéd notions of theatricality.
The recordings are admirable, fully capturing the pianist's fullness and richly varied sonority, and the
booklet note, by 'Justin Thyme', helps to clarify the mystery of a pianist insufficiently acknowledged during his lifetime."
MORRISON (The Gramophone)
APR 5563 - FRANCK
"Superlative pianism illuminates these poetic late masterpieces by Franck --
Sergio Fiorentino’s journey from a deft if sometimes slipshod virtuoso to a great artist, while largely ignored in his
native Italy, was lovingly charted by APR. The ninth (penultimate) volume of that label’s Fiorentino edition is an
unforgettably glowing and beatific instalment. Here, there is little of the over-seasoned concert pianist but rather
a self-effacing communion between composer and interpreter. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more deeply affectionate
response to Franck’s idiom. That characteristic entwining of pain and solace in Bauer’s transcription of the
Prélude, fugue et variation is offered up as if in prayer with the rarest sense of Franck’s molto espressivo
and cantabile. Again, a cloud of incense seems to hang over the mysterious Danse lente and it is only in Franck’s
twin masterpieces, the Prélude, choral et fugue and the Prelude, aria et final, that Fiorentino becomes lost in his
own reverie, their long, sinuous phrases spun out into seeming eternity.
Cortot – incomparable in Franck – offers an altogether more robust eloquence, ever anxious to avoid what he
mischievously called the ‘church-worker element’ in Franck; yet, thanks to Fiorentino’s superlative pianism and
acute sense of texture, the music never cloys as it so easily can. There is a triumphant sense of homecoming at the
end of the Prélude, choral et fugue and, overall, these performances are among the most poetic Franck performances
on disc. APR’s sound is ideal, fully capturing Fiorentino’s luminous sonority whether delicate or full-blooded."
MORRISON (The Gramophone)
(look at record)
Fabula Classica FAB 29902-2 "Piano Recitals 1962 - 1987"
"It was time to remember Sergio Fiorentino, the refined
Neapolitan pianist who died unexspectedly four years ago in summer. The label Fabula Classica
offers some recordings Fiorentino made at various occasions for RAI: a recital dedicated to Debussy
(1962), Schumann's Kreisleriana (1973) and another recital with music of Ravel (1987). An esteemed
teacher for many a decade, Fiorentino, after starting a brilliant concert career immediately after the second world war,
entered and left the international musical circuit several times but remained actually a marginal figure, also because of his
shy character. One can fully appreciate his class in these recordings of aristocratic style, having their decisive traits in his
predilection for a vivid and lied-like phrasing, for rhythmic flexibility and delicacy of timbre. Therefore it is no coincidence
that above all the recordings of Debussy and Ravel are fascinating. Fiorentino plays, among other works, Debussy's
Estampes and the two sets of Images; particularly in these latter works Debussy's reinvention
of the pianoforte appears to emerge from a bewitching sound and an extraordinarily fancyful sensibility."
c. f. (Amadeus)
(look at record)
"The present album allows the discovery of three recitals by the great Italian pianist and pedagogue Sergio Fiorentino, given over a time
of twenty five years. If his Debussy lacks sometimes interest for one who keeps in his memory the visions of Samson François or Youri
Egorov, the later recordings (Schumann and Ravel) will be a revelation for more than only one listener: his Kreisleriana, even a bit
iconoclastic in the rendering of the countermelodies (the Äusserst bewegt of the beginning) and in the purely rhythmical
scanning (the Schnell und spielend at the end), are of an admirable rigour. The Ravel, in a more present sound ambience (we are
in 1987), lets one hear a touch which is not content with a beautiful sound alone, but uses it as an element of construction: no cheap
pompousness here, but a lecture on an adopted classicism which befits Ravel (we are in line here with Marcelle Meyer and Casadesus).
Profound sentiment, but without emotional outbursts, in the Valses, the Epilogue of which has rarely fared a
better interpretation. His Gaspard, very (post) romantic, lets one hear one of the best Ondine of the record catalogue
(despite some wrong notes at the end, but we are in a live concert!), and if Scarbo suffers - understandably - from some digital blemishes,
the sooty character of the work receives a remarkable rendition."
GOLEAU (Classica)
"In an overwhelming way technical brilliance and musical concentration form a silent synthesis in the pianist Sergio Fiorentino, something
he arrived at by the superiority and calmness with which he played the piano. How Fiorentino quasi draws the finely chiselled arabesques,
the coolish and noble surface of Debussy’s and Ravel’s works into the depths of pianistic reflection belongs to the mysteries of his playing.
With this he draws a rarely realized spiritual dimension from this music. In the first piece of the 'Images', the 'Reflets dans l’eau', he succeeds
to evoke the image of a glittering water surface by playing the introductory chords with countless nuances as well as letting the pleasure of a
passive study of nature turn into a passionate outburst of affect as the piece goes on. Such a kind of playing the piano lets emerge distinctly
the dialectic of external and internal nature. Thus, every single work offered here - be this Ravel’s Valses, presented with discrete brilliance, or the eerie
dimensions of the fiendishly difficult 'Gaspard de la nuit' - invites for discussion, for concentrated listening and thinking, despite a somewhat
muffled quality of the sound."
SIEBERT (Fono Forum)
„…This is tremendous piano playing [about Michelangeli’s Gaspard]… And yet, if one listens to the unpublished recital of Sergio Fiorentino
(Fabula Classica, Naples recital in 1987), recorded in much more pure and natural sound, even more extraordinary things happen. Contrary to
Michelangeli, Fiorentino uses right from the beginning a minimum of rubato which gives to Ondine a dreamlike phantasmagoria. Where
Michelangeli impresses by his cerebration, Fiorentino joins intellectual and sensual levels, without any of Pogorelich’s demonstrativeness
(genial in that work). And yet the dynamic gradations are like gigantic waves. Le Gibet is of an equal kind of suspension and
paleness as that of Michelangeli (but always with little touches of sensuality - see after 4’). On the contrary, Scarbo shows a vast
difference in eloquence right from the start, it is much more lively, much more exalted (7’58 against Michelangeli’s 9’34). What is to happen is
Dante-like, with waves and breakers and mad dynamic differences. The end (from 6’20 onwards) is a complete craze, and you sit tied to your
seat. Definitely this Fiorentino was a pianist of the calibre of one Ivan Moravec and Sviatoslav Richter. The remainder of the album is on
the habitual hights of Fiorentino: absolute command of sound; freedom between the barlines (a model in Soirées dans Grenade);
sensuality with occasional enlightenments, as in Mouvements (in the first book of Images), or that
Isle joyeuse, played like fireworks in an extremely vivacious flow. On the second disk the Valses nobles are on the
level of Gaspard, again with additional liberty and height compared to Debussy (cf. Assez lent, track 13). The
Kreisleriana, unfortunately recorded in a very dry sound, confirm Fiorentino’s Schumannian temperament, as in the Fantasy and the 2nd
Sonata, published by APR. The Italian pianist cultivates in particular the rhythmic contrasts, the extremism of which can be shocking. Thus,
his concept of "sehr rasch" is indeed "as fast as possible", and the poetic interludes (Intermezzo II,
and the "sehr langsam" episodes) cancel time….”
HUSS (Répertoire)
Concert Artist/Fidelio CACD 9201-2 "Franz Liszt - Douze études d'ecécution transcendante"
"I recently reviewed the latest release in APR’s Fiorentino series, a finely controlled and deeply poetic Liszt recital to which I would direct
readers interested in this still contentious musician. Concert Artist/Fidelio Recordings, who recorded much of Fiorentino in the 1950s and
1960s and whose devotion to him was notable has now released a sheaf of his recordings, newly remastered, some live, several from newly
discovered master tapes, many previously unissued, to increase yet further ones knowledge and experience of the young pianist – he was
twenty seven when he set down this set of the awesome Transcendental Etudes. In fact going through the catalogues I haven’t been able
to discover an earlier complete set than this February 1955 traversal – with the caveat that it was never issued at the time. The Etudes were
recorded the day after his London debut, at Wigmore Hall, and the masters then sent to America where they were stored and subsequently
believed to be lost ... Many years later, in 1966 Fiorentino was recording for Concert Artist in Guildford and warmed up with some of the
Etudes – these performances were recorded and some patching has been done using these performances to cover the storage damage to
the original tapes ... These are deeply accomplished performances and confirm the pianist, to my ears at least, as a master Lisztian.
I noted in my review of the APR disc some of the qualities of his musicianship that I found so impressive; strong technique, textural
transparency, a superb and eloquent control of dynamic gradients, a never forced-through tone, a lack of egocentricity – vital in Liszt -
faithfulness to the score without becoming in any sense literal minded, aristocracy of phrasing, clarity and poetry existing as prerequisites
and a tone of great beauty. Here these qualities are equally audible ... The recording was made at quite a low level but has been expertly
remastered; examples of obvious edits, where the 1966 warm ups have been patched, are not noticeable. The documentation is thorough;
Humphrey Searle’s notes on the Etudes are reprinted, as is biographical material on Fiorentino himself, who emerges, yet again, as a musician
of the highest nobility and stature."
WOOLF (Classic Music Web)
(look at record)
Concert Artist/Fidelio CACD 9202-2 "Franz Liszt - Paganini Etudes / 3 Petrarca Sonnets / 2 Legends"
"Things are hotting up in the Fiorentino-Concert Artist/Fidelio stakes. Not content with releasing a long delayed and previously
unissued set of the Transcendental Etudes they now continue with the Paganini Etudes and bring the recital to over an hour’s
worth of remarkable pianism with the three Petrarch Sonnets and the Two Legéndes. Recording were made in the Greenwich
Borough Hall and in the Guildford Civic Hall between 1962 and 1965 and have been digitally remastered to a very good standard.
These are never going to be sonically spectacular recordings but to those who value superior musicianship there is a huge
amount to admire here, as ever with Fiorentino.
His playing of the Paganini Etudes is broadly consonant with his playing on that earlier disc of the Transcendental Etudes;
greatly impressive if on a very slightly less majestic level. I find his structural control and his humanity enormously persuasive.
Pyrotechnics are irrelevant for him unless technique and virtuosity are made to serve the curve and dramatic interiority of the
score. In the G Minor etude, the tremolo study, his powers of structural concentration are immediately apparent. Comparison
with, say, the pre-War recordings of another legendary Lisztian, Claudio Arrau, show that whilst Arrau is abrupt and bursting
with tensile strength and quick reflexes, Fiorentino has a deep-rooted control of each Etude’s internal and external dynamic
and that his are readings of maturity and depth. His "integrationist" aesthetic is illustrated best in the first study where he refuses
to engage in surface glitter, preferring the more lasting benefits of a long line. In the octave study, No 2 in E Flat, he is
considerably less overtly theatrical than Arrau and also lighter on his feet, as it were, but this is not to deny him those moments
of glittering clarity that so frequently illuminate Fiorentino’s playing. He doesn’t stint the drama but he does make it less barrenly
brazen. His quasi-operatic flourishes here are entirely apposite, flecked with an admixture of wit. The third of the Etudes,
La Campanella, shows the stunning clarity of his right hand, the trills exquisitely even and "hammered" with poise.
His intimacy is a marvel even if I did feel the conclusion rather too dry and unalluring. The E Major Etude receives a reading
of excellence, no striving for effect, the weight of hand distribution expertly accomplished. La Chasse lasts 2.41 in Fiorentino’s
hands, roughly the same as Arrau but Fiorentino manages to create a greater sense of narrative space; he’s not as rhythmically
incursive as Arrau, instead preferring a more mellow, more leisurely sense of the work’s syntax, in terms of its drama. He is less
theatrical, less quicksilver, but equally is better at bringing out the flute and horn sonorities of the score. In the Theme and
Variations finale one once more sees the essential rightness of Fiorentino’s approach to Liszt, which is one that remained
constant throughout his career. His understanding and illumination of structural cohesiveness is second to none; this is never
pedantic or, in the worst sense, didactic. Rather it is a constant commentary on and revelation of the spine of the music.
The Petrarch Sonnets were recorded in August 1963. In the first, No 104, one can explore as much as Liszt’s writing,
Fiorentino’s own gift of a simplicity born of experience and understanding. In No 47 we can witness the way in which he
coalesces the wide variety of moods. When Horowitz recorded it his huge Corinthian columns of bass notes and his visceral,
powerful passion engorged the piece with outsize drama. Undeniably thrilling though it was this is simply not Fiorentino’s way;
he prefers a more horizontal delineation of the piece, less overtly passionate, seeing it as a structure of semi-classical precision
through which animation pulses and grows. So too in the last of the three Sonnets where he mines the music for a remarkable
sense of interior life, an ability given to few.
The Deux Legéndes date from 1863 and derive from St Francis of Assisi preaching
to the birds and St Francis of Paolo walking on the water. Fiorentino thrillingly animates the former, with its colourful and
suggestive imitative writing and in the latter derives great layers of nobility and passion from the waves incident and completes
this Liszt recital as he began it – with concentration, passion controlled through intellect, virtuosity subsumed to the work’s
meaning and characterful understanding.
Once more Humphrey Searle’s notes grace the booklet and once again admirers of this remarkable pianist can investigate his
ever-growing legacy with confidence and undimmed admiration."
WOOLF (Classic Music Web)
(look at record)
For Italian readers --
and readers of Italian, of course -- I would like to quote the judgement
of a critic from that country who is considered of utmost importance --
at least with regard to the amount of lines flowing from his busy
pen:
"Pur con tutta simpatia
umana che provo nei suoi confronti non posso però non dire che quattro
dischi, più quelli che seguiranno, mi sembrano troppi. Poche esecuzioni
bastano a far capire come Sergio Fiorentino abbia conservato una scioltezza
tecnica rara a trovarsi, e la serietà del musicista che con umiltà
si confronta con i grandi testi della lettura pianistica."
Piero RATTALINO (MUSICA)
... si
tacuisses...
For all other readers --
and readers of French in particular -- I would like to quote the judgement
of a critic from France, making the following statement in November 2001:
"Grâce à la clairvoyance
et à l'engagement du seul label APR, nous avons compris aujourd'hui que l'un des plus grands
pianistes du XXe siècle se nommait Sergio Fiorentino."
Christophe HUSS (Répertoire)
1993
1938 
1950
1958
1962
1997