Pianist Umberto Jacopo Laureti writes for The Classic Review about three classical music albums he couldn’t live without.
Image: Alessandro Lanciotti
Adès: Asyla; Concerto Conciso, etc. – Composoer, CBSO, Rattle
Thomas Adès is celebrated worldwide as one of the most interesting composers of our times, and “Asyla” for a large orchestra is among his earliest and most performed pieces. It is a young and fresh piece that demonstrates how exciting and alive the world of contemporary music is: “Asyla” is a mixture between Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and a hallucinated recreation of disco music (listen to the third movement, “Ecstasio”). I particularly recommend this piece to young listeners who wish to get familiar with modern music: here they will find the excitement of the obsessive dance rhythms, the euphoria of a night out, and the loneliness of the city in the night, all elements transfigured in a sort of meditation about the complexity of modern times – the title itself is the plural of asylum, meaning at the same time “refuge, sanctuary” as well as “madhouse”.
I am very attached to this piece and loved it since my early teens. It has very much inspired me for its eclecticism and incredible energy. Moving to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoying many lectures and concerts of the composer, made me love it even more.
The rest of the CD is a worthy listen too, containing fantastic pieces such as the “Concerto Conciso”, where Adès is also pianist and conductor, showing his versatility at its best.
Chopin – Preludes, Impromptus, Barcarolle – Cortot
Another recording I grew up with is this collection of Chopin pieces, played by Alfred Cortot. This is an old recording, dating back to the 1930s, so if you are looking for the surgical clarity of today, you better step away! What you will find here is a poignant and deep interpretation, where Cortot shows an incredible phrasing and enchanting rhythmic flexibility. It is probably time to go back to these recordings where the rubato is always interesting and unaffected, the playing is sincere and far away from the kind of “correct” but standardized performances we often hear these days. As a pianist, I find this Chopin interpretation a breath of fresh air, and a powerful source of inspiration.
Verdi – “La Traviata” – Callas, De Stefano, La Scala, Guilini (Live, 1955)
This is a pure history of opera – an unsurpassed concentration of genius from Callas, Di Stefano and Giulini. Contrary to the other albums I suggested, this is a live recording, where the electricity of the performance is almost tangible.
The reason why I go back to this recording so often is that, to me, it represents a fantastic lesson of story-telling in music; what strikes me here is the long arch created from the first note to the last, how the brilliancy of the first act already evokes the tragedy of the last one, how voices and characters change and develop through sound. As a musician, I always try to achieve a narrative quality in my playing, and opera provides an irreplaceable source of inspiration – particularly this legendary recording.
mberto Jacopo Laureti has widely performed both as a soloist and chamber musician in the most important European venues, combining enthusiasm of the established piano repertoire with contemporary music and unjustly neglected Italian piano works.
He has recently toured Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom, performing in venues such as Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Teatro Malibran and Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Palacio Festivales in Santander, St. James Piccadilly, Steinway Hall, Duke’s Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London. His performances have been live broadcasted by Rai Radio Tre.
Visit Umberto’s Facebook page and website.
