APPIGNANI

The Last Bard

CD1

Piano Quintet

1 The Angel Fall 9’16

2 Brazil 2’27

3 The Last Bard for string quartet 4’55

4 L’Aleph – 26 Visions for solo piano 7’25

5 Mediterranean Song – Canzona I for viola and piano 2’27

A Window in the Wood – Suite for viola

6 Praeludium 1’22

7 L’oiseau Lyre 2’33

8 Giddy Dance 2’04

9 Gavotta 1’30

10 Comme une Gigue 1’29

11 La Coscienza D’Orfeo for violin, cello and piano 1’53

12 Hvareno for string quartet 3’58

13 The Green Island – Canzona II for cello and piano 3’13

14 Das Schloss for solo cello 6’09

15 Scuatu for string quartet 2’28

Total time: 53’34

Alessandro Appignani, piano

Yoko Kanamaru, viola

Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, cello

Quartetto d’archi di Torino

Gianluca Turconi, Umberto Fantini, violin

Andrea Repetto, viola,

Manuel Zigante, cello

Alessandro Appignani, an Italian contemporary musician and composer, identifies as “The Last Bard”, the person giving voice to the deepest human emotions, from the ancient times of the Gilgamesh Saga to the present world, man’s journey on an epic scale.

Appignani’s music cannot be put into a style, it presents life in all its expressions and feelings, from simple folksong to frantic complexity and energy.

Performed by top class musicians, in chamber music setting. Appignani tours around the world with this programme.

Italian composer Alessandro Appignani began to play piano and cello as a small child, and was later drawn to composition, with a keen interest in the avant-garde of the 20th century.

Alfred Schnittke is cited by Appignani as a composer who both inspired and influenced him. He studied piano with Marco Fumo, Hans Graf and Lazar Berman. His music is personal and as poetical as the titles might suggest.

First recordings of music by this young Italian composer.

Booklet notes.

Recordings made in 2009 and 2010.

Brilliant Classics 9235