International Piano

Following on from his 2020 album of the First Sonata and Moments Musicaux, Italian pianist Alfonso Soldano takes his love for Rachmaninov a stage further with this recital of his own arrangements.

Soldano’s lengthy accompanying essay tells of years of snobbish and ignorant dismissal of the art of transcription, his eye and ear on such celebrated practitioners of the genre as Liszt, Busoni and Rachmaninov himself. Here we find transcriptions of 15 of Rachmaninov’s songs that arguably reflect the composer at his most heartfelt and indelibly Russian. In every instance Soldano’s playing is glowing and red-blooded, alternating a storming eloquence with intimacy. He also features two Debussy settings, creating a hypnotic sense of drifting in ‘Nuages’ (the first of the three Nocturnes) and recalling memories of ‘En bateau (Petite Suite) in the Prelude from L’enfant prodigue, But above all, Soldano is a pianist born for Rachmaninov, making you long to hear him in the Concertos, Preludes and Etudes-Tableaux.

“Soldano’s playing is glowing and red-blooded, alternating a storming eloquence with intimacy. Soldano is a pianist born for Rachmaninov, making you long to hear him in the Concertos, Preludes and Etudes-Tableaux” – Bryce Morrison (International Piano) CRITIC’S CHOICE CD

—Bryce Morrison