Dino Ciani
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dino Ciani (June 16, 1941, Fiume - March 28, 1974) was an Italian pianist.
Ciani was born in Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia) and studied piano with Marta del Vecchio in Genoa. He got his diploma at the Conservatory in Rome at the young age of 14 and later in 1958-1962 he attended the advanced courses of Alfred Cortot, the pianist he admired the most, in Paris, Lausanne and Siena. The great French pianist considered him "miraculously gifted ... one of the most remarkable examples of the rarest talents one could hope to find". His concert career was launched when he won second prize at the Liszt-Bartók Competition in Budapest in 1961. He played in some of the most important classical Concert venues like Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Philarmonic, Kennedy Center. He made his debut at Teatro alla Scala under the baton of Claudio Abbado with Beethoven's fourth piano concerto in 1968. With Abbado he also played Prokofiev's fifth piano concerto in 1969, again at Teatro alla Scala.
His repertoire was vast and variegated for a pianist of his age and embraced the complete sonatas of Beethoven, and works by Weber (he was the first to record the complete sonatas for Ricordi in 1967), Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Debussy, and Bela Bartok. He collaborated with important conductors such as Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Claudio Abbado e Riccardo Muti. His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon of the complete Debussy Preludes (1972), Schumann's Noveletten (1968) and Weber's third and fourth sonatas (1970) are particularly admired.
Tragically, Ciani was killed in a road accident in Rome at the age of 32. Among his last concerts are the performances of the complete set of Chopin's Nocturnes and Schubert's Winterreise with baritone Claudio Desderi. His last appearance on stage was in Beethoven's third concerto with Carlo Maria Giulini in Chicago.
To honour the pianist's memory, the "Dino Ciani piano competition" has been created and held at Teatro alla Scala. The first edition of the competition was in 1975. Important pianists such as Nikita Magaloff, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, Lazar Berman, Rudolf Firkusny, Aldo Ciccolini participated as jury members.
[edit] Discography (selection)
- Dino Ciani: A Tribute. Haydn: Sonata No. 52 in E flat; Mozart: Fantasia and Sonata in C minor; Beethoven: "Eroica" Variations; Diabelli Variations; Weber: Sonatas Nos. 1-4; Chopin: Etudes (sel.); Schumann: Sonata no. 1; Fantasie; Balakirev: Islamey; Bartók: Sonata; Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs; Suite; Scriabin: Preludes (sel.); other works. Dynamic (6 CDs)
- Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas. Dynamic (9 CDs)
- Brahms: Concerto No. 1; Liszt: Totentanz; Weber: Sonata No. 2; Debussy: Children's Corner; Bartók: Mikrokosmos VI; Hummel: Sonata Op. 13; Schumann: Kinderszenen; Noveletten; Chopin: Barcarolle. Capital Musica (3 CDs)
- Debussy: Preludes (Books I & II). Deutsche Grammophon (2 CDs; additional works by Debussy played by Tamás Vásáry)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3. Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI cond. Vittorio Gui. Doremi (CD)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4. Orchestra della Scala cond. Claudio Abbado. Myto (CD)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos. Nos. 20 and 24 cond. Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Dynamic (CD)
[edit] Digital Versatile Discography
- Classic Archive: Wilhelm Kempff. Schumann: Novelette Op. 21 No. 1; Bartók: Out of Doors - Nos. 4 & 5. (rec. Paris, 1967) (additional works by Beethoven and Schumann played by Wilhelm Kempff). EMI Classic Archive
