Rossini: Peches de Vieillesse

A choice made from the Péchés de Vieillesse, performed on the Pleyel 11695 piano that Rossini had himself purchased in 1846. The transparent sonority of this instrument and the disguised timbre of the transient, which simulates wood and brass instruments, are captured from the original characters of the Pleyel hammers (a combination of low-density felts with several layers of leather underfelts). This sound context is particularly well-suited to translating the antinomy that is peculiar to Rossinian piano literature, directed between the minimalism of the intentions and the compositional commitment, often all but marginal. The interpretation deals with the concomitance of different and at times opposed communicative registers (a condition of the substantial multifacetedness of the Rossinian text), in the search for a balance between the categorical views expressed by Rossini on the constraints placed on the interpretation, and his music’s irresistible vitality which opens up dreamlike dimensions of recklessness.

In the Appendix, there are two different interpretations of the Impromptu Tarantellisé and the Pétit Caprice (Style Offenbach).