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Pianist Aldo Ragone sensational (again)
Contributed by: Robin McNeil on 5/13/2008

Pianist Aldo Ragone performed another recital Sunday afternoon which was a requirement for his artist diploma in piano performance from the University of Denver. Do not allow this requirement to make you think that he is a student - technically he is, but he is also a concert performer that has all the prerequisites to be on the concert stage. It is simply necessary these days to have many degrees in order to find employment at a university. You must understand that for whatever reason, the piano - and probably the violin - have become the most popular instruments. Therefore, good pianists are plentiful. One always needs the added advantage of another degree. You must also understand that Aldo Ragone is not just another good pianist. He is a consummate concert performer. He has a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Maryland where he also taught. In his native Italy, he also studied with the renowned pianist Aldo Ciccolini. Ragone has won too many awards and competitions to list them here. Simply put, this man has the credentials.

Another reason that Ragone's performances are so interesting is because he performs pieces that are not heard very often and sometimes not heard at all. And Sunday afternoon's performance, he played two sonatas by the Italian composer Domenico Cimarosa. Cimarosa was a classical period composer who was born in 1749 and died in 1801. He is most famous for his operas, both comic and serious. And he was also involved in politics and was even sentenced to death because of his political views. However, he had several influential friends who interceded on his behalf and his sentence was commuted to banishment. He had hoped to return to Russia where he had spent some time as a student, but he died in Venice of Chron's disease before he could return.

Ragone performed two sonatas by Cimarosa. I had not heard either of these pieces, and to me it was like listening to a combination of Scarlatti and Vivaldi. I would have been hard-pressed to identify these pieces as from the classical period - they did sound as if they were Baroque. They were absolutely beautiful pieces, and Ragone's approach was very delicate and very warm and very meticulous. He clearly enjoyed exposing all of the detail inherent in these pieces, and it was a very personal and intimate performance.

The rest of the performance involved transcriptions, some of orchestral pieces and some of organ works. The first transcription that Ragone performed was a piano transcription of the orchestral piece, Ancient Airs and Dances, by the under performed Italian composer, Ottorino Respighi. Respighi, who died in 1936, is best known for his orchestral suites such as the Pines of Rome. But he wrote three suites entitled Ancient Airs and Dances. Respighi was also a musicologist, and based these suites on Renaissance lute pieces. The piano transcription that Ragone performed is a transcription of the first orchestral suite based on Renaissance lute pieces by Simone Molinaro, Vincenzo Galilei (father of Galileo Galilei), and additional anonymous composers.

This transcription is as beautiful for the piano as it is for orchestra. Respighi remains one of the great orchestrators of all time. Rachmaninoff, himself, paid tribute to Respighi's ability when he commissioned Respighi to make an orchestral arrangement of his Etudes Tableaux for piano. But there are not many pianists who would attempt to play this transcription because of its phenomenal difficulty. The piano transcription has very thick textures, but Ragone always let us hear the melodic line. His pedaling in these thick textures was absolutely above reproach. He also has the ability to obtain an enormous volume out of the piano while making it look very simple. It isn't, because one always has to think of tone. This transcription was truly interesting, and Ragone exposed ideas that I have not heard in the orchestral original. He has the ability and intelligence to bring out the architectural form of a work in a very clear manner.

On the second half of the program, Ragone performed three more transcriptions, one by Liszt of the Bach Fantasy and Fugue in G. Minor; one by Herald Bauer of the Prelude, Fugue, and Variations in B minor, Opus 18; and another transcription of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor (made famous in the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and countless horror movies) by Franz Liszt's pupil, Ferrucio Busoni. The programming of these transcriptions was certainly a welcome change from the norm. It used to be quite the custom to transcribe orchestral pieces for piano and vice versa. Recently, as Dr. Horst Buchholz reminded us at his organ recital last week, transcriptions have sometimes been regarded either as a form of desecration or simply cheap copies of the original piece. But this is certainly not the case most of the time. Liszt transcribed many pieces for piano including Schubert songs, pieces for organ by Bach, and even Berlioz' Symphony Fantastique. These three transcribers on Ragone's program created their transcriptions with the greatest of admiration for the original composer, and one can certainly hear that in the music. The only problem with transcriptions is that they can be ferociously difficult to play.

For me, the standout piece, because of its sheer beauty, of the second half of this program was the Cesar Franck Prelude, Fugue, and Variations, Opus 18, for organ. Cesar Franck, the famous Belgian composer, was not very prolific, but there is no question of his impact on the French music, and there is no doubt that he is one of the greatest composers for organ since J.S. Bach. Ragone demonstrated remarkable finger independence as he held the melodic notes with his fourth and fifth finger while filling out the upper parts of left hand chords with his thumb, second finger, and third finger of his right hand. The stretches were very large. There are many pianists who can do this, but not with the sublime ease that Ragone demonstrated. That kind of legato playing is what makes organ performance so difficult. It is not uncommon in piano literature; Brahms is another composer who requires this kind of playing, particularly in the last variation of his Opus 21 Variations On an Original Theme. It does, however, take practice to make it so easy. Ragone produced some of the most beautiful lyricism that I have heard for some time.

Both of the Bach transcriptions - the Busoni and the Liszt mentioned above - are very exciting pieces. Both Liszt and Busoni transcribed the two Bach works with great respect for his music, but both tried to make the piano sound as huge as the organ. There are more notes in the transcription than in the originals, and who is to say which version is the more difficult. Suffice to say that both are incredibly difficult, and both make the pianist work very hard, what with the demands on one's octave playing skills. I do not think there is a pianistic or artistic skill the Ragone does not possess. He was amazing.

Aldo Ragone gave the audience a real treat Sunday afternoon. He has colossal technique coupled with outstanding musicianship, and with Ragone, the music always comes first, and the technique is what he uses to share the inherent beauty with the audience. We are very lucky to have a true concert pianist of his stature living in Denver.






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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Robin McNeil

Littleton , CO

Robin McNeil has posted 698 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Robin McNeil 's average story rating is 5.
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