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Cherubini avait à peine vingt ans et était encore loin de sa "Medea", pas même monté à Paris mais déjà démangé par le démon de l’Opéra : le Teatro della Pergola de Florence verrait bientôt son "Armida abbandonata", mais pour l’heure il compose six Sonates destinées au clavecin que Simone Pierini a bien raison de jouer sur une très sonore pianoforte historique signé Johann Haselmannn. C’est d’ailleurs cet instrument spectaculaire, et le jeu de grand caractère du pianiste, qui font tout l’intérêt du disque. Embarrassées de formules convenues, sans véritable imagination mélodique, toute en rythmes et en brio, ces Sonates qui semblent n’avoir entendu ni Haydn ni Mozart (je n’ose penser à Beethoven), s’oublie aussi vite qu’elles s’écoutent, avec leurs deux mouvements prestes. Rien du futur Cherubini n’y parait et l’album n’aurait qu’un intérêt documentaire s’il ne révélait un interprète aussi séduisant. (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)  Publiées vers 1780, ces six sonates d'un Luigi Cherubini à l'orée de ses vingt ans constituent l'intégralité de son oeuvre pour clavier solo. Toutes sont organisées en deux mouvements : le premier de forme sonate, le second invariablement un rondo à deux épisodes contrastants; et toutes recourent à des tonalités majeures dont la proximité harmonique assure une certaine cohésion à l'ensemble. La rigidité de ce schéma formel ne paralyse en aucune manière l'originalité de chaque pièce, microcosme caractérisé qui nous livre le tableau musical d'un personnage de théâtre ou d'opéra. Ces oeuvres, plutôt conformes à la mode du temps en Toscane, sont explicitement destinées au clavecin dans la première édition imprimée; mais le fortepiano était fort à la mode et la substitution du second au premier d'usage courant. Le choix de les interpréter sur un fortepiano des environs de 1805 de Johann Haselmann n'a donc rien que de très légitime d'autant que les sonorités veloutées de l'instrument ne manquent pas de charme. Simone Pierini dramatise pour notre plus grand plaisir ces compositions jamais très éloignées de la scène et dont la veine lyrique est emportée dans le tourbillon de jeux d'oppositions. (Michel Lorentz-Alibert) In the second half of 18th century, keyboard music in Tuscany was flourishing. Many composers wrote music for both the fortepiano and the harpsichord: the former, which was invented just before the turn of the 18th century in Florence by harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731), rose to an incredible degree of popularity in the last decades of the century at the expense of the latter, which experienced the last moments of its glorious history. At any rate, it was by no means uncommon that composers published music intended to be played on either instrument, as almost all keyboard pieces written in Tuscany during the 1780s were explicitly addressed per il clavicembalo o fortepiano (for the harpsichord or piano). The Florence-born composer Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) published his Sei Sonate per il Cimbalo around 1780; they are currently believed to be the first published work by the composer, although he had written operas and religious music prior to the publication of this work. Cherubini had moved to Bologna then Milan around that same year to study with Giuseppe Sarti (1729–1802). His chef d’oeuvre is generally recognized to be the Requiem in C minor, composed for the commemoration of the 24th anniversary of Louis XVI’s death. His compositional efforts in opera include tragedies lyriques (Démophon, Les Abencerages, Ali Baba) and opéra-comiques (Lodoïska, Medée, Faniska, Bayard à Mézières), as well as other operatic forms. In 1821, he was appointed director of the Paris Conservatory, after a highly acclaimed career as a composition teacher. Although this was the only solo keyboard work written by Cherubini, the sheer brilliance of these sonatas allows them to be considered a pinnacle in this genre, proving the early maturity of their composer. The style of these sonatas is not too far from the musical fashion of the time: they all consist of two movements, the first in sonata-form, the second a rondò where the second theme is typically characterised by highly virtuosic writing. All six sonatas follow this strict formal code, however, Cherubini manages to create a surprising variety in the themes and their development. Each sonata could, in fact, depict a different stock character from the commedia dell’Arte, with their strict formal codification employed in a theatrical way thanks to the perfect balance of ideas set out each time. Even the bass seems to be adjusted depending on the mood of the theme – Cherubini employs Murky bass, Alberti bass and even counterpoint. The harmonic closeness between the key signatures of each sonata gives further cohesion to the whole set. After careful consideration, Simone El Oufir Pierini found the fortepiano to be the best instrument to play these works on, although in the printed edition it was explicitly said that they should be played on the harpsichord. The piano, a new instrument, was highly favoured by the new Tuscan court, and the potential of this new instrument was sought out with keen interest by composers. The employment of the fortepiano for these sonatas hopefully sheds new light on these pieces, written by one of the most influential composers of the time.
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