Giornale del Popolo
De Maria, superlative pianist
Many elements contribute to determining the artistic and human stature of a musician, and there is only a fine line between that which increases it and that which diminishes it. An excess of elegance becomes affectation, generosity turns into ostentation, virtuosity into exhibitionism, intelligence into obscurity, impetus into clamor and delicacy into mawkishness. Take all the positive qualities on this list and you have Pietro De Maria, a pianist of exceptional caliber.Many elements contribute to determining the artistic and human stature of a musician, and there is only a fine line between that which increases it and that which diminishes it. An excess of elegance becomes affectation, generosity turns into ostentation, virtuosity into exhibitionism, intelligence into obscurity, impetus into clamor and delicacy into mawkishness. Take all the positive qualities on this list and you have Pietro De Maria, a pianist of exceptional caliber. On Friday 21 at the Collegio Papio of Ascona the Venetian musician charmed us with his performance of six sonatas by Scarlatti, Sonata op. 25 No. 5 by Clementi and the four Ballades by Chopin.
In the first part of the program, a tribute to two great Italians “given” to other countries (the former to Spain and the latter to England), De Maria showed the continuity and the evolution of technique and keyboard invention between the 18th century and the early 19th century, between incessant propulsion and solemn contrapuntal austerity brightened every now and then by a plunge into the major keys.
The pianist emphasized admirably the epic qualities of the ballades in the literal sense of “poetic narration of heroic deeds”: longing, fury, ecstasy and melancholy expressed with a supreme sense of form and exquisite delicacy.
A concert of rare intensity, at the end of which De Maria, applauded by the audience, gave them three encores: a Nocturne by Chopin, the sparkling study “La Campanella” by Liszt and the transcription for the piano of Bach’s Chorale Jesus bleibet meine Freude, pieces which are very different from one another but tackled with the same emotional participation and extraordinary technical precision. Bravo!
Many elements contribute to determining the artistic and human stature of a musician, and there is only a fine line between that which increases it and that which diminishes it. An excess of elegance becomes affectation, generosity turns into ostentation, virtuosity into exhibitionism, intelligence into obscurity, impetus into clamor and delicacy into mawkishness. Take all the positive qualities on this list and you have Pietro De Maria, a pianist of exceptional caliber.Many elements contribute to determining the artistic and human stature of a musician, and there is only a fine line between that which increases it and that which diminishes it. An excess of elegance becomes affectation, generosity turns into ostentation, virtuosity into exhibitionism, intelligence into obscurity, impetus into clamor and delicacy into mawkishness. Take all the positive qualities on this list and you have Pietro De Maria, a pianist of exceptional caliber. On Friday 21 at the Collegio Papio of Ascona the Venetian musician charmed us with his performance of six sonatas by Scarlatti, Sonata op. 25 No. 5 by Clementi and the four Ballades by Chopin.
In the first part of the program, a tribute to two great Italians “given” to other countries (the former to Spain and the latter to England), De Maria showed the continuity and the evolution of technique and keyboard invention between the 18th century and the early 19th century, between incessant propulsion and solemn contrapuntal austerity brightened every now and then by a plunge into the major keys.
The pianist emphasized admirably the epic qualities of the ballades in the literal sense of “poetic narration of heroic deeds”: longing, fury, ecstasy and melancholy expressed with a supreme sense of form and exquisite delicacy.
A concert of rare intensity, at the end of which De Maria, applauded by the audience, gave them three encores: a Nocturne by Chopin, the sparkling study “La Campanella” by Liszt and the transcription for the piano of Bach’s Chorale Jesus bleibet meine Freude, pieces which are very different from one another but tackled with the same emotional participation and extraordinary technical precision. Bravo!
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