Musical Opinion
Pietro De Maria at Wigmore Hall
The artist's range of tone colour and of structural understanding were outstanding, bringing this uncommonly interesting programme to a very fine conclusion.Pietro De Maria, a winner of several international piano competitions, is the first Italian pianist to have recorded the complete works of Chopin, whose four Ballades ended his Wigmore Hall recital on May 26. He began with six Scarlatti sonatas, cleverly chosen for their variety, not so much in terms of tempos but in texture and expression. Throughout these short masterpieces, De Maria displayed a welcome variety of interpretative insight, giving the lie to those who once claimed that Scarlatti's invention was too one-sided.
From Scarlatti to Clementi, whose F sharp minor sonata appeared in 1790. Clementi may acknowledge his baroque roots, but never overdoes the musical time-travelling such a description implies, for he had surely become acquainted with Haydn's latest Sonatas by that time. De Maria proved to be an excellent interpreter of this work, so much as to lead the uninitiated to seek out more of this unfairly neglected master's music. It was difficult to imagine a more compelling performance of the Sonata than this.
The four Chopin Ballades found the audience on more familiar ground, with De Maria clearly in his element. All four works were excellently performed, the F minor - perhaps the greatest of the set - exceptionally so. The artist's range of tone colour and of structural understanding were outstanding, bringing this uncommonly interesting programme to a very fine conclusion.
The artist's range of tone colour and of structural understanding were outstanding, bringing this uncommonly interesting programme to a very fine conclusion.Pietro De Maria, a winner of several international piano competitions, is the first Italian pianist to have recorded the complete works of Chopin, whose four Ballades ended his Wigmore Hall recital on May 26. He began with six Scarlatti sonatas, cleverly chosen for their variety, not so much in terms of tempos but in texture and expression. Throughout these short masterpieces, De Maria displayed a welcome variety of interpretative insight, giving the lie to those who once claimed that Scarlatti's invention was too one-sided.
From Scarlatti to Clementi, whose F sharp minor sonata appeared in 1790. Clementi may acknowledge his baroque roots, but never overdoes the musical time-travelling such a description implies, for he had surely become acquainted with Haydn's latest Sonatas by that time. De Maria proved to be an excellent interpreter of this work, so much as to lead the uninitiated to seek out more of this unfairly neglected master's music. It was difficult to imagine a more compelling performance of the Sonata than this.
The four Chopin Ballades found the audience on more familiar ground, with De Maria clearly in his element. All four works were excellently performed, the F minor - perhaps the greatest of the set - exceptionally so. The artist's range of tone colour and of structural understanding were outstanding, bringing this uncommonly interesting programme to a very fine conclusion.
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