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American Record Guide

This is Argentieri’s first solo recording, and she shows considerable potential. Her repertoire and concert schedule includes piano duo and chamber music as well as solo piano. All of her training and current teaching work is in her native Italy, but she has performed in the US, Russia, and many parts of Europe. This generous Prokofieff program is designed to show the wide variety of music the composer excelled at over the years 1909-1944, Opus 1 to 102. It is the second all-Prokofieff recording in Divine Art’s Russian Piano Music series. At 14 volumes, it shows no sign of ending and has supplied me many hours of listening enjoyment.

While Argentieri was not quite 30 years old when this recording was made in 2019, Prokofieff was only 18 when he wrote Piano Sonata 1 in 1909. He was already establishing himself as rule-breaking and unconventional. Still, this work has significant romantic elements that show the clear influence of the older generation of Russian composers.

The Etudes are Op. 2 and already display more of the style we expect from Prokofieff. By the time we get to the last piece of the Op. 4 set (Suggestion Diabolique), we have arrived at the iconoclastic style most associated with him. Argentieri moves through these works with ease. She is not quite at the same speed or diabolical level as Prokofieff himself, but always musical, with an excellent understanding of the music.

Sonata 6 is a very demanding work, both for the listener and the pianist. It is the first and largest of the three War Sonatas, even though it was completed in 1940 before Russia was invaded by Germany in 1941. It is likely that its tragic and unsettled nature is more of an anti-Stalin inspiration than the horrors of war yet to come. Argentieri manages all of the demands for an effective presentation of work. She is better in the more lyrical parts than the furious sections.

The set of pieces from the ballet Cinderella was arranged for solo piano by the composer. These are not heard as often as the Romeo and Juliet pieces, but bear much similarity in the pianistic writing and the musical content and style.

Booklet notes are an awkward English translation of the original Italian. The selections and the sound are both quite good.