Giovanni Bellucci

Giovanni Bellucci (born Rome, August 31, 1965) is an Italian pianist. After having inadvertently discovered the piano, when he was already fourteen, he started studying at the ‘S. Cecilia’ Conservatoire in Rome under the direction of Franco Medori. After having taken his degree summa cum laude and honourable mention, he was awarded a "Master" at the Accademia Pianistica in Imola.[1] As a result he could subsequently claim amongst his contacts artists of the stature of Paul Badura-Skoda, Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia and Maurizio Pollini.

His recording of Franz Liszt’s Paraphrases of Verdi and Bellini operas was included in Diapason magazine’s selection of the all-time top 10 Liszt recordings.[2] Apart from Bellucci, the music critic Alain Lompech only took into consideration artists such as Martha Argerich, Claudio Arrau, Aldo Ciccolini, Gyorgy Cziffra, Wilhelm Kempff and Krystian Zimerman. For the British magazine Gramophone, Bellucci is an artist born into the great Italian tradition and brought up to it - a tradition historically represented by Busoni, Zecchi, Michelangeli, Ciani, Pollini.[3]

“He takes us back to the golden age of the piano” declared the daily Le Monde in highlighting Bellucci’s success in the World Piano Masters Competition in Montecarlo 1996 – the last in a lengthy series of successes in international competitions (from the ‘Queen Elisabeth’ in Brussels to the ‘Prague Spring’, from the RAI ‘Casella’ to the ‘C. Kahn’ in Paris, from the ‘Busoni’ to the ‘Franz Liszt’). In 2005, he received the award "Recital of the year" after his first concert tour in Australia.[4]

All his CDs, published by Decca, WARNER CLASSICS, ACCORD-UNIVERSAL, OPUS 106, ASSAI, and DANACORD, have been awarded by specialist publications: “Choc de l’année” by the Classical magazine Répertoire and “Choc” of Le Monde de la Musique in France, UK Gramophone’s “Editor’s choice”, “5 Stars” from Musica, “5 stars” from the BBC Music Magazine, “Cd exceptionnel” from Répertoire, “ffff” from Télérama,[5] “Best Cd” from the magazine Suono,[6] etc.

The recording company Universal has published the complete Hungarian Rhapsodies S244 by Franz Liszt (with a double CD including a rare work, such as the Romanian Rhapsody S242) and the CD Chopin Métamorphoses, where Giovanni Bellucci played some works as world premiere, like the Concerto No. 1 by Chopin/Tausig and the Polonaise op. 53 “Heroic” by Chopin/Busoni. The Concerto op 39 for piano and orchestra by Ferruccio Busoni, recorded by the Italian pianist with the orchestra and choir of the Mannheim National Theater, will soon be published.

Discography

References

  1. ↑ "Prizes and Awards". Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola.
  2. ↑ "Diapason includes the Italian pianist Giovanni Bellucci in the top 10". Amadeus.
  3. ↑ Osborne, Richard. "Not just another Hammerklavier recording". Instrumental. Gramophone.
  4. ↑ "Come all ye faithful: Classical music in review". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  5. ↑ Gilles, Macassar. "Transcription pour piano de Franz Liszt. Giovanni Bellucci (piano) Symphonie fantastique". Télérama.
  6. ↑ Umberto, Padrone. "Franz Liszt Les 19 Rhapsodies Hongroises Giovanni Bellucci, pf.". Suono.

Sources

External links

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