Bellafronte: Piano Sonatas, 12 Preludes Alessandro Deljavan

• Raffaele Bellafronte (b. 1961): 12 Preludes:
• 1 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: I. Preludio I 02:17
• 2 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: II. Preludio II 02:50
• 3 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: III. Preludio III 01:13
• 4 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: IV. Preludio IV 02:46
• 5 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: V. Preludio V 02:33
• 6 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: VI. Preludio VI 02:11
• 7 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: VII. Preludio VII 01:39
• 8 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: VIII. Preludio VIII 02:02
• 9 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: IX. Preludio IX 02:22
• 10 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: X. Preludio X 01:41
• 11 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: XI. Preludio XI 03:23
• 12 Bellafronte: 12 Preludes: XII. Preludio XII 03:39
• Sonata prima - Desaccòrd:
• 13 Bellafronte: Sonata prima - Desaccòrd: I. Vivo 05:12
• 14 Bellafronte: Sonata prima - Desaccòrd: II. Tranquillo 03:23
• 15 Bellafronte: Sonata prima - Desaccòrd: III. Nervoso 03:22
• Sonata seconda:
• 16 Bellafronte: Sonata seconda: I. Tempo primo 03:20
• 17 Bellafronte: Sonata seconda: II. Tempo secondo 03:35
• Sonata terza:
• 18 Bellafronte: Sonata terza: I. Allegro con fuoco 06:49
• 19 Bellafronte: Sonata terza: II. Sospeso 05:04
• 20 Bellafronte: Sonata terza: III. Energico e sinuoso 07:32
• Total Runtime 01:06:53

Info for Bellafronte: Piano Sonatas, 12 Preludes

Born in 1961, the Italian composer Raffaelle Bellafronte has produced a wide-ranging body of work in a modern tonal idiom. Previous albums of concertos, guitar music and chamber works paint a portrait of a lively mind and a personal voice embracing large dramatic gestures and lyric reflection, each as quintessentially ‘Italian’ in their expression as the other.

The set of 12 Preludes opens with a magnificently imposing evocation of stillness, coloured by the kind of bittersweet harmonies to be found in Bartok and the sense of musical space associated with Messiaen, building a surprisingly complete soundworld within the brief space of three minutes. The remaining preludes are no less ingenious in their economy of mood and gesture. Melancholy and frenzy alternate; glittering and asymmetrical rhythms stand in stark opposition to slow ostinato figurations; dense contrapuntal writing is cast against terse homophony.

Bellafronte trained as a pianist himself, and he composes for the full spectrum of the instrument’s heroic and sensual possibilities. There is a satisfying crunch to the harmonies and immediately appreciable breadth of vision to the opening paragraphs of the Sonata Prima Désaccord (2006),where contrapuntal and propulsive ostinato writing combine to pull the listener through a compelling narrative which feels longer than its 12-minute duration.

From three years later, the Second Sonata experiments with a Haydnesque binary form of two quick movements – a nervous, lopsided march followed by a frustrated would-be fugue with a brutal and macabre conclusion. The Third Sonata (2014) is the most substantial piece here in both duration and ambition, launched with a momentum worthy of Bartók or Alkan. The quick-slow-quick form is superficially conventional, but it encloses a wealth of surprising excursions which challenge tonal stability and once more pitch the listener into a pianistic tumult. Attracting a range of renowned pianists such as Zlata Chochieva and Maria Argentiero, Bellafronte’s piano music is tackled here with superb assurance by Alessandro Deljavan, no stranger to the Brilliant Classics and Piano Classics catalogues himself, with acclaimed albums of Chopin, Taneyev and Godard to his credit.

Raffaele Bellafronte (born 1961) is one of the foremost contemporary composers of Italy. He studied piano, composition and analysis. He has taught in several Italian Conservatories and today he teaches at the Conservatory of Campobasso. His works and publications are available through most major music publishers worldwide. His works have been commissioned and premiered at major concert venues such as New York Carnegie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, and Scala Milano.

Raffaele Bellafronte’s music is free, mobile, rich in distant echoes and yet tenaciously reflecting today’s reality. It has a strong communicative character without slavishly following existing or ancient traditions. In this album, devoted to piano music, Bellafronte explores the short, concise form of the prelude, and the broader, complex structure of the sonata, succeeding in both cases in merging the characteristics of both. Bellafronte is not a composer in search of the new for its own sake: he is not afraid of using tradition and transcends it through a language that is always direct, original, and communicative.

Alessandro Deljavan is one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation. “His playing is full of intensive power and contagious artistry” (Dmitri Bashkirov), “he is one of the most interesting pianists I’ve heard in my life” (Fou Ts’Ong), “he is one of the most major talents of his age” (John Perry), “Jaw-dropping virtuosity and heart-stopping eloquence” (Dallas Morning News).

Alessandro Deljavan, piano

Alessandro Deljavan
graduated in 2003 from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, under the guidance of Riccardo Risaliti. From 2003-2005, he studied with E. Belli at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica G. B. Pergolesi, Fermo. He also earned his post-graduate degree at the Music University “G. Braga” in Teramo in 2007.

Throughout the 1990s, while still a youngster, Deljavan played in every major city in Italy and in a number of cities around the world. He competed in numerous national and international competitions, often capturing first prize, including top honors at the 1996 Concours musical de France in Paris. In 2005, he won second prize at the 'Johann Nepomuk Hummel International Competition' in Bratislava and took the 5th prize at the 'Gina Bachauer' Junior Artists Competition in Salt Lake City (the first Italian in the history of the competition).

At the age of 22, Deljavan won the 'John Giordano Jury Discretionary Award' at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and was confirmed by the critics as: 'The most accomplished and charismatic musicians of his generation'.

Deljavan is among the select young artists attending the International Piano Academy at Lake Como, Italy, under the tutelage of the academy’s art director, William Grant Nabore.

He is collaborating with us with a lot recordings (Schubert, Satie, Brahms, Rubinstein, Alkan). He recently took part on the recording of the Cramer's etudes produced by OnClassical for the Naxos label.

Booklet for Bellafronte: Piano Sonatas, 12 Preludes