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15 April 2015

The Well-Tempered Clavier I chosen disc of the month by Amadeus

From the beginning, the very famous piece on the C major arpeggio – the Praeludium on which Gounod will construct the Ave Maria – the sound dissolves into such irridescences as to evoke other instruments besides the concert Steinway. As we listen, the impression is confirmed: the piano sounds like an organ, a flute, an orchestra, and even a chorus.He told us three years ago – at the height of the Copin project -  that this was his intention: after tackling the complete works of Chopin in recordings and live performances, he would turn his attention to the two volumes of the WTC (and think about Debussy and Ligeti as well). The first part the Bach project is ready, in this beautiful double CD that says a lot about how Pietro De Maria moves from Chopin and thinks of Debussy. That is: it’s a question of touch, of sensitivity to the keys which we can hardly imagine to be more variegated. From the beginning, the very famous piece on the C major arpeggio – the Praeludium on which Gounod will construct the Ave Maria – the sound dissolves into such irridescences as to evoke other instruments besides the concert Steinway. As we listen, the impression is confirmed: the piano sounds like an organ, a flute, an orchestra, and even a chorus. A metamorphosis perfectly in line with the chameleonic work which, destined for the clavier (that is a keyboard instruments not specified by Bach) demonstrates a “scientific” fact: the division of the musical scale according to a concept of modern harmonic evolutionism organically experienced in the 48 Preludes and Fugues of the two volumes constructed on all the tones and semitones of the octave. This is the input. The result is an amazing summa of allusions/illusions of styles in the baroque epoch and not only that. (For example, the modern Sonata will derive from the bipartite form of the Prelude) which De Maria illuminates with a penetrating analysis worthy of applause.

Nicoletta Sguben, Amadeus, April 2015

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