Reviews | RH-009 | SERGIO FIORENTINO | live in Taiwan
| 17 January 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Sergio Fiorentino, live in Taiwan «[...] Serenity and poise characterize the opening of Beethoven’s Op. 110. I am particularly struck by the immaculate voicing of chords at the beginning. One feels doubt and despair in the dark and brooding Adagio, and the following fugal section is deftly articulated. This is a performance in which I sense the probing depth of Schnabel and spiritual dimension of Kempff. [...] Fiorentino performs Rachmaninov’s 1931 revision of his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Major. This big-boned reading showcases the pianist’s supreme technical command. He achieves a wide dynamic range, from thunderous fortissimos to whispering pianissimos. In the second movement, there are some tender lyrical moments, radiantly expressed. The finale is intense and impassioned. [...] Three months later, on 22 August, Fiorentino sadly died. That gives added poignancy to this live concert. The beautiful audio restorations come courtesy of Emilio Pessina, with enthusiastic applause thankfully retained.» |
 CHOC de CLASSICA | June 2019 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | Classica No.213 (pg.91) | Sergio Fiorentino - Incandescent Beethoven, Rachmaninoff of madness, and a mystery: why do we have forgot this wonderful pianist? «[...] Rachmaninov became his chosen composer over the years, the live recordings of the Rhapsody, the First (in the original version, its final is a madness) and Fourth Concertos, make cry the absence of the Second and Third. Fortunately RAI had asked him for the complete piano solo work, Fiorentino gave it in September 1987 during four nights of pure delirium happily captured. They have just been published, the last victory of a vengeful posterity on this existence which danced with panache over the precipices of oblivion.» 'Rachmaninoff Complete Solo Piano Works Live', Rhine Classics RH-006 (6 CD), CHOC ◗ 'Live in Taiwan', Rhine Classics RH-009 (1 CD), CHOC ◗
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| 28 May 2019 | Gianni Cesarini | recensiones | Sergio Fiorentino live in Taiwan 1998 «[...] Il recital prende il via con una prodigiosa versione del Preludio e Fuga in Re maggiore BWV 532 di Bach trascritto da Busoni ed elaborato da Fiorentino. [...] ci troviamo di fronte a chi, lungi dall’annoiarci con manie filologiche, usa il pianoforte come tale, e da musicista segnato profondamente dall’intera storia di questo strumento, trascende lo strumento proiettato com’è verso la ricerca di una perfezione formale e spirituale. [...] Possiamo dire che la 110 interpretata a Taipei rappresenta una straordinaria fusione di potenza emotiva e spiritualità. Il Maestro mostra con tocco magico, ricchezza timbrica sonorità sempre ben tornite con bassi mai ridondanti, un Beethoven che si eleva a altezze vertiginose. Un Beethoven attuale. [...] La versione della seconda Sonata di Rachmaninoff sorprende per la maggiore velocità rispetto a sue registrazioni precedenti e per un pathos poderoso. La seconda Sonata di Scriabin brilla di luce abbagliante. I quattro bis suggellano meravigliosamente un recital memorabile. Si deve anche all’eccellente lavoro di restauro e missaggio di Emilio Pessina il pregio di questo CD [...] » |
| 26 May 2019 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Le disque du jour | Sergio Fiorentino - pianiste de Rachmaninov «[...] la bravoure pianistique s’y allie à un sens des couleurs incroyable, une noblesse du style, une élégance qui excluent tout pathos. Et si c’était la meilleure intégrale jamais enregistré du legs pianistique de Rachmaninov? Les Etudes-tableaux montrent le virtuose sans tapage qu’était Fiorentino, tout chante dans cet immense clavier qui exhausse les polyphonies et envole les rythmes. Les Préludes eux-mêmes quittent leur cadre de miniature pour devenir à chaque fois de vrais univers, et les deux Sonates, jouées absolument à dix doigts, sonnent telles des symphonies de piano. [...] La prise de son capte à merveille le magnifique Steinway boisé de l’Auditorium Domenico Scarlatti de la RAI de Naples. Rhine Classics ajoutent deux bonus considérables. La captation de la version originale du Premier Concerto qui documente l’art du jeune Fiorentino (nous sommes le 27 septembre 1958) : il faut entendre comment il éclaire le petit intermezzo à la fin de l’Andante, sotto voce, et avec quel brio, il transporte jusqu’à la folie l’Allegro vivace. Autre merveille, la Rhapsodie sur un thème de Paganini enregistrée cette fois l’année même où il quitte le Conservatoire et repend le chemin des théâtres, d’une fantaisie excitante au possible. Les concerts reprirent donc à compter de cette année 1991, menant le pianiste octogénaire jusqu’à Taïwan pour ce qui devait être une de ses ultimes apparitions. Sommet de ce concert, dans une sonorité claire et pourtant ombreuse, l’Opus 110, entre prière et exaltation, vraie élévation spirituelle inoubliable dès qu’on l’a entendue. [...] Edition soignée, son splendide, iconographie abondante, appareil critique remarquable, magnifique ouvrage d’un éditeur passionné. J’espère que suivront d’autres documents illustrant l’art de ce géant du piano que l’on n’en finit pas de redécouvrir. » |
| 3 April 2019 | Maciej Chizynski | ResMusica | À emporter, CD | Sergio Fiorentino en concert en Taïwan «Trois mois avant son décès, Sergio Fiorentino donna en Taïwan un récital dont la gravure a (enfin) été éditée en disque. C’est un document précieux, d’autant plus qu’il existe peu d’enregistrements studio de cet artiste. [...] L’interprétation de la Sonate pour piano n° 2 en sol dièse mineur op. 19 d’Alexandre Scriabine s’imprègne, à son tour, de poésie et de lumière, mais également d’une expressivité intense qui assure à cette lecture, malgré un certain resserrement des phrasés dans le Presto, une place près du sommet de la discographie. [...]» |
| 2 April 2019 | Luca Ciammarughi | Radio Classica, podcast IL PIANISTA | Sergio Fiorentino - live in Taiwan «Stasera “Il pianista” è dedicato a un’imperdibile pubblicazione dedicata a Sergio Fiorentino: un recital che l’immenso pianista napoletano tenne a Taipei nel maggio 1998. Ritorna alla luce grazie all’etichetta Rhine Classics, impegnata nella “Sergio Fiorentino Edition”. / Tonight "The Pianist" is dedicated to an unmissable publication dedicated to Sergio Fiorentino: a recital that the immense Neapolitan pianist held in Taipei in May 1998. Returns to light thanks to the label Rhine Classics, engaged in the "Sergio Fiorentino Edition".» |
| March 2019 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (p. 98-99) | Rhine gold: an archive treasure trove «Rob Cowan welcomes a historic label that has unearted some remarkable treasures. -- [...] And lastly Sergio Fiorentino 'Live in Taiwan 1998', grandeur personified, especially in the BachPrelude and Fugue BWV 532 (arr. Busoni-Fiorentino) while Fiorentino conveys the depth and mistery of Beethoven's Sonata No.31 and raises a storm with the Second Sonatas of Scriabin and Rachmaninov. So here's to the next Rhine Classics releases, including more Fiorentino and a big box of recordings by the violinist Franco Gulli. I'll be filling you in as soon as they arrive.» |
| 4☆☆☆☆ | March 2019 | Luca Segalla | MUSICA No.304 (pg. 76-77) | Sergio Fiorentino - live in Taiwan «[...] un grande musicista, capace di evocare atmosfere timbriche antiche e lontane, in un Preludio bachiano dal suono sontuoso e solenne come si faceva ai primi del Novecento, nel fraseggio incantevole con cui viene tratteggiato il tema dell’Arioso dolente nell’Adagio ma non troppo dell’Op.110, oppure nel molle ondeggiare del secondo movimento della Sonata Op.36 di Rachmaninov. [...]» |
| 4 March 2019 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Sergio Fiorentino - live in Taiwan 1998 «[...] his playing is equal to the music’s demands, as he draws out the most powerful sonorities from his Steinway, the Fuga emerging in an arc of overpowering splendour. [...] Irrespective of the essentially standard nature of this recital the performances are untouched by routine. Beethoven’s Op.110 sonata is powerfully declaimed, the chording strong, the expressive temperature cumulatively moving after the Fuga has done its work. [...] this recital preserves Fiorentino’s wonderful tone across its range. With fine audio restoration from Emilio Pessina and a good booklet note this release also makes an immediate appeal to the senses. The vitality and intensity of the performances exceed those to be heard in the Piano Classics series dedicated to the pianist; superb though these are, they remain, largely, radio broadcasts. Here Fiorentino is a tiger on the loose.» |
 Best Of 2018 - Classical Releases | 13 February 2019 | Audiophile Audition | Sergio Fiorentino Live in Taiwan - Rhine Classics «This restored recital from Taiwan’s Novel Hall captures the Fiorentino at the peak of his form in splendid sound» |
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5☆☆☆☆☆ | 26 December 2018 | Gary Lemco | Audiophile Audition | Sergio Fiorentino - live in Taiwan 1998 «Taken from the private collection of Italian master-pianist Sergio Fiorentino, this restored recital from Taiwan’s Novel Hall captures the artist at the peak of his form in splendid sound, courtesy of Emilio Pessina. The resonance of Fiorentino’s Steinway proves stunning, especially profound in the Scriabin Sonata, whose liquid appeal to the senses mesmerizes and dazzles in its erotic figurations. But to single out any of the individual works provides an immediate disproportion to the holistic nature of the recital, whose emotional canvas vibrates on an equal plane with the intellectual, aesthetic and dramatic context that unfolds only months before Fiorentino’s untimely death. [...] After the torrent concludes, we know definitely why Michelangeli referred to Fiorentino as 'the only other pianist'.» |