Aldo Ciccolini

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Aldo Ciccolini (2005)

Aldo Ciccolini (born August 15, 1925 in Naples , † February 1, 2015 in Asnières-sur-Seine near Paris ) was a French pianist of Italian origin. His focus was on French piano music, especially with Erik Satie .

Life

Aldo Ciccolini came from a family of musicians; his father was a typesetter . At the age of nine he began studying music at the Naples Conservatory , with special permission from the director at the time, Francesco Cilea . There he took piano lessons with Paolo Denza , a student of Ferruccio Busoni , and studied composition with Achille Longo .

He made his first appearance as a pianist when he was thirteen. In 1941, at the age of sixteen, he performed Chopin's 2nd piano concerto in the Teatro San Carlo . During the Second World War , he played in front of US soldiers and in bars for his family's livelihood. In 1947 he became the youngest professor of piano at the conservatory in his hometown. A year later he was awarded the Santa Cecilia Prize in Rome. He received a medal at the Concours de Genève . In 1949 he won the Long-Thibaud-Crespin competition in Paris with Wenzislaw Jankow . There he received instruction from Marguerite Long , Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat . In the same year he moved to the French capital. In 1969 he became a French citizen . After his first appearance in the USA with Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto with the participation of the New York Philharmonic under Dimitri Mitropoulos , his lively concert career began. It took him to the Wigmore Hall , the Royal Festival Hall and the Scala . He was u. a. Accompanied by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf , Renata Scotto , Régine Crespin and Nicolai Gedda and had appearances with Arthur Grumiaux , Henryk Szeryng , Jacques Thibaud and Paul Tortelier . For the most part, however, he remained true to the Romanesque region.

From 1971 to 1988 he was professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Paris . He then started a master class at the Accademia di Biella . His students included u. a. the pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet , Nicholas Angelich , Artur Pizarro , Roberto Cominati , Gabriele Carcano , Akiko Ebi , Géry Moutier and Marie-Josèphe Jude and the conductor Fabio Luisi .

His discography amounts to over 100 records and CDs. He devoted himself to a. the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel as well as Erik Satie , Camille Saint-Saëns and César Franck , the Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz and Manuel de Falla and the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt . Ciccolini presented a complete recording of Erik Satie's music. The concert recording of the piano work by Camille Saint-Saëns was considered a reference recording. He also campaigned for the works of Emmanuel Chabrier , Jules Massenet , Charles Valentin Alkan and Déodat de Séverac . He also revived the forgotten music of Antonio Salieri and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco . In his last creative period he concentrated on the Viennese Classic with its protagonists Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven . He presented a complete recording of the Beethoven piano sonatas and a Schumann CD. In 2010 EMI released 56 CDs with all of his recordings.

The soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf said of him: "I have hardly met a more wonderful partner and companion."

Awards

In 2002 Ciccolini received the Diapason d'or for his recording of the complete piano works by Janáček and von Schumann . He has been repeatedly awarded the Grand Prix du Disque . In addition, he was u. a. Officer of the Legion of Honor and Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Officer (1991) or Commander (2008) of the Ordre national du Mérite . In March 2013 he was awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the jury of the International Classical Music Award in Milan for his life's work .

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SURNAME Ciccolini, Aldo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-French pianist
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Naples
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 2015
Place of death Asnières-sur-Seine