Complete Music for Solo Piano - Violin and Piano

It was Wagner's music that inspired Dallapiccola to start composing, and it was Debussy's that caused him to stop (for a whole three years, in order to give this important influence time to sink in), but it was the ideas of the Second Viennese School, which Dallapiccola encountered in the 1930s, that would have the biggest influence on his style and with which he is most associated today. In this fascinating release we explore the middle period of the composer's career, a period in which Dallapiccola wrote the vast majority of his instrumental compositions and in which his harnessing of the serialist method for lyrical effect can also be observed (namely in the Quaderno musicale di Annalibera, dedicated to the composer's daughter on the occasion of her eighth birthday). What emerges from the variety of works on this recording which effectively comprise his complete output for solo piano and violin and piano duo is the composer's penchant for strict form and technique, from his regular use of canon (the Sonatina canonica's title betrays its structure) to his fascination for Italian Baroque counterpoint (the Tartiniana seconda is another example of this), but most of all his questing approach to composition, which tends towards the contemplative and philosophic. Maria Clementi and Luca Fanfoni draw on their Baroque and contemporary music performing experience to deliver masterful interpretations of these works. Both are acclaimed performers in their right who enjoy international careers; past recitals include Leipzig's Gewandhaus and Carnegie Hall in New York, and both artists have broadcast live on radio and television. This is their first recording for Brilliant Classics. Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) was one of the most fascinating composers of 20th century Italy. Influenced in his youth by Wagner and Debussy he later converted to the 12-tone technique of the 2nd Viennese School. His works in this style feature strict forms (with hints of Neo Baroque counterpoint) and an expression of lyrical warmth and beauty (sometimes sorely missing in 12-tone compositions by other, more severe masters). This new recording presents his complete output for solo piano and for the combination of violin and piano. Excellent performances by two leading Italian soloists: violinist Luca Fanfoni and pianist Maria Clementi, a duo which already gave concerts in the Leipzig Gewand