Alessio Santolini at Roma 3 the fantasy and invention of a composer pianist

ChristopherAxworthyMusicCommentary

La musica per un mondo nuovo

Alessio Santolini, al suo debutto nelle stagioni di Roma Tre Orchestra

In collaborazione con il Master Rec&Play del Conservatorio di Rovigo
Martedì 9 maggio 2023 ore 19 Convitto Vittorio Locchi
Alessio Santolini – Young Artists Piano Solo Series 2022 – 2023
F. Chopin: Notturno (n. 8 op. 27 n. 2 ) op posth in do diesis minore in omaggio a Prof Piero Rattalino
F. Chopin: Ballata n.1 op. 23
C. Franck: Preludio, Corale e Fuga
E. Casale: Piove vita
G. Taglietti: Sette piccole storie
A. Santolini: White flavours

Alessio with Valerio Vicari artistic director of Roma 3 sustaining young talented musicians giving them a valuable platform at the beginning of their career.Valerio has also created an orchestra that gives invaluable experience to some of the best young musicians.

Alessio Santolini è stato selezionato dalla Direzione Artistica di Roma Tre Orchestra nel luglio del 2022, tra i partecipanti al Master Rec&Play del Conservatorio di Rovigo coordinato dal Maestro Roberto Prosseda, amico da tanti anni di Roma Tre Orchestra.

Ecco un un interessante video dove Roberto Prosseda ci illustra il tipo di lavoro fatto con Alessio Santolini, anche in vista del concerto di martedì: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr8AzPqLwAx/

Fascinating to be able to see the remarkable Roberto Prosseda at work sharing his extraordinary multi faceted musicianship with his twenty year old student .I remember when Roberto was barely the same age and studying in the Cafaro household of the much loved Sergio Cafaro and Mimmi Martinelli.Roberto would often walk down the hill to the Ghione theatre to ask if he could try out new programmes for the obligatory competitions and auditions that are part of the arduous training to enter the music profession.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/13/roberto-prosseda-pays-tribute-to-the-genius-of-chopin-and-the-inspirational-figure-of-fou-tsong/

Fou Ts’ong would come once a year to play and give masterclasses that were a true inspiration to generations.He was always pleased when I told him that Roberto would play.Ts’ong admired the young Roberto for the way he could immediately do whatever he suggested they could try.Roberto went on to study with Fou Ts’ong at the International Piano Academy in Como that William Naboré had created on the Lake where Artur Schnabel had made his home.Karl Ulrich Schnabel,the son,was still alive and together with Leon Fleischer was one of the first of the important teachers at ‘Bill’s’ newly founded Academy.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/09/26/william-grant-nabore-thoughts-and-afterthoughts-of-a-great-teacher/

It was born ten years after I had realised my dream at the Ghione theatre in Rome.

Bill’s wish was to give the most talented young pianists the possibility to work in harmony and peace and spend time working alongside the great master of our time.Naturally Bill asked me if I could persuade Ts’ong to join this new adventure – he stayed twenty years and was joined by Rosalyn Tureck,Alicia de Larrocha,Peter Frankl,Murray Perahia,Alfred Brendel,Moura Lympany etc etc ……..Once the word had spread there was a queue at the door with all the greatest musicians and the most talented of young hopefuls who wanted to be part of this Academy of inspiration and ideas.By the nature of the Academy numbers were limited to the few super talented pianists.Roberto was one of these and it is where he met his wife another supertalented pianist Alessandra Ammara.Together they now have a music academy of their own ‘Music Felix’ in Prato and a career of such musical activity it would take a page or two just to make a list!Poliedric might be the term!

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/22/duo-prosedda-amara-french-women-composers-for-four-hands-from-palazetto-bruce-zane-in-venice/

Interesting to note the flat finger technique that can produce exquisite sounds of great fluidity.

It was the Intermezzo op 117 n.1 by Brahms offered as an encore that showed of Alessio’s sensitivity to sound and the beauty of a cantabile that had a fluidity created by his stroking of the notes and use of pedal.It was in this little work that his fantasy was contained within the framework that Brahms had so clearly etched.He chose a very slow tempo for the middle section which made for an unusually poignant contrast to the simplicity of one of Brahms’s most tender thoughts.It was the same fantasy and kaleidocopic sense of colour that brought the three contemporary works in the second half of his programme vividly to life.’Piove Vita’ by Casale and ‘Sette piccole storie’ by Taglietti showed a sensitivity to sound as their whispered secrets were shared by a convinced interpreter.His own work ‘White flavours’ was a triumphant virtuoso piece that brought this very interesting recital to a refreshing conclusion.

Alessio’s concert had begun with a change of programme and instead of the Nocturne in D flat op 27 he offered as a tribute to Prof Piero Rattalino the nocturne in C sharp minor op posth .It was the same nocturne that Scipione Sangiovanni had also offered as a tribute in his recent Roma 3 concert .Piero Rattalino,renowned musicologist and piano-file,had been a founder member of the Roma Tre orchestra and an active member up until his recent death.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/04/04/scipione-sangiovanni-at-the-accademia-danimarca-mastery-at-roma-3-for-a-man-of-all-seasons/

The Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor had some ravishing moments but the dramatic contrasts were of a composer digging too deeply into a work that is already formed by others and just needs to be played simply.It was the same with the First Ballade that was played with some ravishing moments but with contrasts that did not keep in mind the architectural shape of one of Chopin’s greatest works.The Franck Prelude Choral and Fugue suited more Alessio’s sense of improvisation and voyage of instant discoveries.The Choral was played with beautiful sounds built up from the bass that gave great resonance to the melodic line.There was a strange distortion to the melodic line that had me checking the score to see what I might have missed but it was only Alessio’s fantasy at work.The mighty fugue was played with a driving rhythmic energy and the appearance of the opening theme on a wave of sounds was a moment of magic before the tumultuous build up to Franck’s great affirmation of faith.

Prélude, Choral et Fugue, FWV 21 was written in 1884 by César Franck with his distinctive use of cyclic form.Franck had huge hands ,wide like the span of emotions he conveys,capable of spanning the interval of a 12th on the keyboard.This allowed him unusual flexibility in voice-leading between internal parts in fugal composition, and in the wide chords and stretches featured in much of his keyboard music.Of the famous Violin Sonata’s writing it has been said: “Franck, blissfully apt to forget that not every musician’s hands were as enormous as his own, littered the piano part (the last movement in particular) with major-tenth chords… most pianistic mortals ever since have been obliged to spread them in order to play them at all.”The key to his music may be found in his personality. His friends record that he was “a man of utmost humility, simplicity, reverence and industry.” Louis Vierne a pupil and later organist titulaire of Notre-Dame, wrote in his memoirs that Franck showed a “constant concern for the dignity of his art, for the nobility of his mission, and for the fervent sincerity of his sermon in sound… Joyous or melancholy, solemn or mystic, powerful or ethereal: Franck was all those at Sainte-Clotilde.”In his search to master new organ-playing techniques he was both challenged and stimulated by his third and last change in organ posts. On 22 January 1858, he became organist and maître de chapelle at the newly consecrated Sainte Clotilde (from 1896 the Basilique-Sainte-Clotilde), where he remained until his death. Eleven months later, the parish installed a new three-manual Cavaillé-Coll instrument,whereupon he was made titulaire.The impact of this organ on Franck’s performance and composition cannot be overestimated; together with his early pianistic experience it shaped his music-making for the remainder of his life.
The ballade dates to sketches Chopin made in 1831, during his eight-month stay in Vienna.It was completed in 1835 after his move to Paris, where he dedicated it to Baron Nathaniel von Stockhausen, the Hanoverian ambassador to France.
In 1836, Robert Schumann wrote: “I have a new Ballade by Chopin. It seems to me to be the work closest to his genius (though not the most brilliant). I even told him that it is my favourite of all his works. After a long, reflective pause he told me emphatically: ‘I am glad, because I too like it the best, it is my dearest work.'”

Alessio (nato a Recanati nel 2002, ma residente da anni a Senigallia) inizia a studiare pianoforte a 5 anni. A otto risulta tra i primi idonei ammessi al Conservatorio di Musica G. Rossini di Pesaro dove nel 2020 consegue il diploma di pianoforte (vecchio ordinamento) con il massimo dei voti con la prof. Maria Picciafuoco. Ha studiato con i maestri Giovanni Valentini e Annamaria Raffa. Ha partecipato a Masterclass (interne ed esterne con i maestri Andrea Lucchesini, Maria Cristina Carini, Alexander Romanovsky, Francesco Libetta, Roberto Prosseda) ed ai Concerti Finali, organizzati dal Conservatorio e riservati ai migliori allievi dell’istituto.In ambito pianistico ha ottenuto il 1° premio in concorsi nazionali e internazionali, e si è esibito in occasione di manifestazioni pubbliche e private. Ha partecipato al progetto ”Zoom Beethoven”, la rassegna di concerti organizzata dall’Associazione Appassionata e Marche Concerti. In ambito compositivo, nel 2019 vince il 2° premio del Concorso Nazionale di Composizione “Poesia in Musica: Verso l’assoluto di Mauro Crocetta” con la composizione per violoncello e pianoforte titolata Spark and roses eseguita in prima esecuzione assoluta ad Ascoli Piceno il 28 settembre 2019, e nel 2020 partecipa al progetto ”Oltre l’ascolto – esperienze di diversa abilità nella dimensione della Musica” – Accademia d’arte lirica di Osimo, Lega del Filo d’Oro, Museo Tattile Statale Omero – realizzando una composizione per pianoforte e voce musicando la poesia All’alba eseguita in prima esecuzione assoluta il 12 dicembre 2020 al Teatro La Nuova Fenice di Osimo.Parallelamente all’ultimo anno di liceo, nell’anno 2020-2021 ha frequentato il corso di perfezionamento pianistico presso la scuola “Musica Felix” a Prato con il maestro Roberto Prosseda, il 1° anno del Triennio di composizione e il 1° anno di tirocinio di pianoforte previsto dal vecchio ordinamento presso il Conservatorio Rossini. Attualmente studia perfezionamento pianistico con il maestro Roberto Prosseda ed è iscritto al 2° anno del Triennio di composizione presso il Conservatorio Rossini sotto la guida del maestro Lamberto Lugli.

Alessio with the distinguished Argentinian pianist Martha Noguera at the end of a tour in Europe with concerts in Warsaw,Vienna,Gorizia and Cagliari and on her way back home to Buenos Aires via Rome airport.

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