Alfredo Piatti (1822-1901)
Fantaisie pour violoncelle et piano sur "Alcuni Motivi della Gemma di Vergy" de G. Donizetti
Air Baskyrs, op. 8 pour violoncelle et piano
L'Abbandono, op. 1 pour violoncelle et piano
Caprice pour violoncelle et piano sur le thème extrait de "Niobe" de G. Pacini, op. 22
"Pioggia d'Aprile Studio" Caprice pour violoncelle et piano
Nocturne, op. 20 pour violoncelle et piano
"La Bergamasca", op. 14 pour violoncelle et piano
"O Swallow, swallow" pour soprano, violoncelle et piano
"La Sera" Nocturne pour soprano, violoncelle et piano

Andrea Noferini, violoncelle
Roberto Plano, piano
Joanna Klisowska, soprano

C'est le Paganini autoproclamé mais patient (adveniat regnum meum) de la critique discographique qui vous le dit. A Londres, ce Piatti rencontra Mendelssohn et Liszt, ce dernier – qui en connaissait un morceau et même un caprice – lui décochant authentiquement le titre glorieux de Paganini du violoncelle. Mort en gros avec l'arrivée du 20ème siècle comme pour faire d'avance la fine bouche sur la modernité, il fut à la fois compositeur et concertiste de cet instrument que, faute de succès, il lui arriva de vendre pour payer sa médecine. Plus tard, dieux de la musique devenus favorables, il se fit offrir ce Stradivarius qui aujourd'hui porte encore son nom (le fameux Piatti). Sa tournée en Russie avec le pianiste Theodor Dohler fut légendaire. Pratiquant par ailleurs pas mal le quatuor, il composa copieusement pour violoncelle et piano, fut grand pédagogue, et développa des techniques comme le staccato, les trilles, le flying spiccato (avec douze Caprices pour violoncelle seul). Le présent enregistrement reflète parfaitement sa virtuosité toujours élégante, sa méfiance de la sentimentalité et la rareté de son recours au vibrato, le tout justifiant une critique remarquée de l'époque : "Piatti is a great musician, but he is not a true Italian." Mais nos vrais interprètes italiens, eux, manifestent ici une entente profonde et convaincue : violoniste inspiré de l'école bruxelloise de Grumiaux, pianiste déjà remarqué dans Liszt (notamment) et par de nombreux concours. Sans oublier à la fin cette séduisante soprano polonaise polystylistique (du baroque au contemporain, en passant par le chant français). (Gilles-Daniel Percet)

Music for delight, demonstration and display by an early-Romantic pioneer of the cello. Born in Bergamo in 1822, Carlo Alfredo Piatti was to the cello what Nicolò Paganini was to the violin: a musician who extended the possibilities of his instrument in performance and who inspired countless composers to do the same in writing for it. His remarkable talent was immediately evident, to the extent that by 1843 he was already travelling throughout Europe on concert tours, accompanied by his father. It was Franz Liszt who described him as ‘a Paganini of the Cello’, presenting him with an Amati instrument as a token of his admiration. Piatti’s concert-tours culminated in a visit to London, where he settled in 1846. In the mid-1800s, musical life in the British capital was full of energy and opportunity. When Verdi learnt that it would be Piatti leading the cellos in the first performances of his new opera, I Masnadieri, he wrote a Prelude consisting of a cello solo with an orchestral accompaniment, which he dedicated to the great cellist. In his own compositions Piatti reconciled virtuoso figurations with a highly lyrical approach to melody which is on show here in two of the songs he wrote for English audiences: O Swallow, Swallow (to a text by Alfred, Lord Tennyson) and La Sera (‘I love the hour of the dying day’), an evening-time, sentimental ballad incorporating a cello solo clearly modelled on the opening of Rossini’s William Tell Overture and astutely calculated to tug at the heartstrings of his well-to-do patrons, who would also want to perform such songs themselves. However, the bulk of Piatti’s music was designed to show his own skill as a cellist to best advantage. This he triumphantly did with the stupendously virtuosic Capriccio Op.22 on a theme from Pacini’s Niobe. The better-known Capricci Op.25 are not included here; instead, the opportunity has been taken by Andrea Noferini to record some of Piatti’s lesser-known, standalone pieces such as the attractive Op.1 L’abbandono, and Notturno Op.20. Andrea Noferini’s previous recordings include a well-received set of cello duets by Offenbach, released on Brilliant Classics (BC94475).