Piccolo XX

On this CD:

1. Pochod Modrácku (March of the Bluebirds), for piccolo & piano (or carillon or tambourine), JW 7/9
Composed by Leos Janacek
Performed by Massimiliano Damerini, Roberto Fabbriciani

2. Musica Vneukokvahja for piccolo
Composed by Niccolo Castiglioni
Performed by Roberto Fabbriciani

3. Nidi for flute solo
Composed by Franco Donatoni
Performed by Roberto Fabbriciani

4. Superscriptio for piccolo solo
Composed by Brian Ferneyhough
Performed by Roberto Fabbriciani

5. La Belle Epoque, Concert-Fantaisie for piccolo, flute and piano
Composed by Jacques Casterede
Performed by Massimiliano Damerini, Roberto Fabbriciani, Roberto Fabbriciani

6. Preludes (6): Studies on Asian pipes for solo piccolo
Composed by David Loeb
Performed by Roberto Fabbriciani

7. Etudes for piccolo Allegro
Composed by Isang Yun

8. Preludes (3) for piccolo
Composed by Camillo Togni
Performed by Roberto Fabbriciani

9. Tierkreis, for 12 music boxes or ensemble
Composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen
Performed by Roberto Fabbriciani

10. Piccolo Concerto for piccolo and strings
Composed by Valentino Bucchi
Performed by Solisti Fiesole Chamber Orchestra with Roberto Fabbriciani
Conducted by Nicola Paszkowski

Tracks:

March Of The Blue-Birds - Roberto Fabbriciani/Massimiliano Damerini
Musica Vneukokvahja: Alleluja - Roberto Fabbriciani
Musica Vneukokvahja: Danza - Roberto Fabbriciani
Musica Vneukokvahja: Giga - Roberto Fabbriciani
Nidi: Due Pezzi: I - Roberto Fabbriciani
Nidi: Due Pezzi: II - Roberto Fabbriciani
Superscriptio - Roberto Fabbriciani
La Belle Epoque: Conc-Fant - Roberto Fabbriciani/Massimiliano Damerini
Six Prlds: Studies On Asian Pipes: Ti (China) - Roberto Fabbriciani
Six Prlds: Studies On Asian Pipes: Taogum (Korea) - Roberto Fabbriciani
Six Prlds: Studies On Asian Pipes: Donglim (Tibet) - Roberto Fabbriciani
Six Prlds: Studies On Asian Pipes: Shinobue (Japan) - Roberto Fabbriciani
Six Prlds: Studies On Asian Pipes: Suling (Bali) - Roberto Fabbriciani
Six Prlds: Studies On Asian Pipes: Khene (Laos) - Roberto Fabbriciani
Allegro - Roberto Fabbriciani
Tre Prlds: I - Roberto Fabbriciani
Tre Prlds: II - Roberto Fabbriciani
Tre Prlds: III - Roberto Fabbriciani
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Aquarius - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Pisces - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Aries - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Taurus - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Gemini - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Cancer - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Leo - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Virgo - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Libra - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Scorpio - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Sagittarius - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Tierkreis Op.41: 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: Capricorn - Orch Da Camera 'I Solisti Di Fiesole'/Nicola Paszkowski
Piccolo Con - Roberto Fabbriciani

Customer Reviews:

Excellent in parts, but let down by some very ordinary music.......2003-11-17

An entire CD of music for piccolo? It seems like such a bizarre idea that it's perhaps surprising how close this disc comes to succeeding--even given that the performer is the phenomenal Italian flautist Roberto Fabbriciani.

The first four works are all excellent. Janacek's March of the Bluebirds--based on a theme also used in his wind sextet Mladi--is a delightful, throwaway two minutes. This is followed by two Italian works, Castiglioni's Musica Vneuhkokvahja and Donatoni's Nidi which--in different ways--explore the wonderful lightness that's possible in solo piccolo playing. The following piece, Ferneyhough's Superscriptio--the opening piece in his Carcieri d'Invenzione cycle--is perhaps the closest there is to a classic for solo piccolo, and Fabbriciani plays as you would expect from the dedicatee of this difficult work.

The rest of the disc is less impressive, Casterede's highly camp La Belle Epoque, for piccolo, flute and piano, caricatures Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven in a sub-Poulencian manner, while Loeb's Six Preludes are largely uninteresting exercises in musical Orientalism. Isang Yun's Allegro and Camillo Togni's Tre Preludi do at least rise several levels higher than the immediately preceding works, but it's hard to imagine wishing to return to them on a regular basis.

Stockhausen's Tierkreis--a set of twelve melodies for the signs of the Zodiac--follows next. It's enjoyable enough, without coming close to the best this composer has to offer. The disc then ends with the only orchestral work on the disc, Valentino Bucchi's brief Piccolo Concerto--the title being a pun. This is a rather stylistically eclectic piece, worth hearing a couple of times but not inviting repeated listening in the way the first four works on this disc do.