Dino Ciani
Encyclopedia
Dino Ciani was an Italian pianist.
Ciani was born in Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia
) and studied piano with Martha Del Vecchio in Genoa
. He obtained his diploma at the Conservatory in Rome
at the age of 14 and in 1958-1962 attended the advanced courses of Alfred Cortot
, whom he most revered, in Paris
, Lausanne
and Siena
. Cortot opined that Ciani was "miraculously gifted ... one of the most remarkable examples of the rarest talents one could hope to find". Ciani's career begun when he won second prize at the Liszt-Bartók Competition in Budapest
in 1961. The venues in which he performed included Salle Pleyel
, Carnegie Hall
and Chicago Philharmonic, Kennedy Center. He made his debut at Teatro alla Scala under the baton of Claudio Abbado
with Beethoven's fourth piano concerto in 1968. With Abbado he also performed Prokofiev's fifth Piano Concerto in 1968 at RAI Auditorium in Rome (then also at La Scala) and Mozart's D-moll Concerto at Salzburger Mozarteum. Ciani also played with the young Riccardo Muti Beethoven's Fantasia Corale at La Scala and the II Piano Concerto by Bartòk at Milan RAI.
His repertoire was broad and diverse for a pianist of his age. It encompassed the complete sonatas of Beethoven
, works by Weber
(he was the first to record the complete sonatas, in 1967), Schubert
, Schumann
, Chopin
, Debussy
, and Bela Bartòk
. His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon
of the complete Debussy Preludes
(1972), Schumann's Noveletten (1968) and Weber's second and third piano sonata
s (1970) are particularly renowned.
He collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Claudio Abbado
, Riccardo Muti
, Thomas Schippers
. John Barbirolli
, Gianadrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini
. Among his last concerts were renditions of the complete set of Chopin's Nocturne
s and Schubert's Winterreise
with baritone Claudio Desderi. His last appearance on stage was in Beethoven's third concerto with Giulini in Chicago
.
Ciani died in a road accident in Rome
at the age of 32.
The "Dino Ciani piano competition" was created in his memory. Inaugurated in 1975, it is held at Teatro alla Scala. Distinguished members of the jury have included Nikita Magaloff
, Martha Argerich
, Maurizio Pollini
, Lazar Berman
, Rudolf Firkusny
and Aldo Ciccolini
. From 2007 there is a Festival and Academy "Dino Ciani" in Cortina d'Ampezzo
Ciani was born in Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
) and studied piano with Martha Del Vecchio in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. He obtained his diploma at the Conservatory in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
at the age of 14 and in 1958-1962 attended the advanced courses of Alfred Cortot
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...
, whom he most revered, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
and Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
. Cortot opined that Ciani was "miraculously gifted ... one of the most remarkable examples of the rarest talents one could hope to find". Ciani's career begun when he won second prize at the Liszt-Bartók Competition in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in 1961. The venues in which he performed included Salle Pleyel
Salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel is a concert hall in Paris, France. The resident ensembles are the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.-History and Design:...
, Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and Chicago Philharmonic, Kennedy Center. He made his debut at Teatro alla Scala under the baton of Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
with Beethoven's fourth piano concerto in 1968. With Abbado he also performed Prokofiev's fifth Piano Concerto in 1968 at RAI Auditorium in Rome (then also at La Scala) and Mozart's D-moll Concerto at Salzburger Mozarteum. Ciani also played with the young Riccardo Muti Beethoven's Fantasia Corale at La Scala and the II Piano Concerto by Bartòk at Milan RAI.
His repertoire was broad and diverse for a pianist of his age. It encompassed the complete sonatas of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, works by Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
(he was the first to record the complete sonatas, in 1967), Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, and Bela Bartòk
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
. His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
of the complete Debussy Preludes
Preludes (Debussy)
Claude Debussy's Préludes are two sets of pieces for solo piano. They are divided into two separate livres, or books, of twelve preludes each. Unlike previous collections of preludes, like those of JS Bach and Chopin, Debussy's do not follow a strict pattern of key signatures.Each book was written...
(1972), Schumann's Noveletten (1968) and Weber's second and third piano sonata
Piano sonata
A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement , two movements , five or even more movements...
s (1970) are particularly renowned.
He collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
, Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
, Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers was an American conductor. He was highly-regarded for his work in opera.-Biography:...
. John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, Gianadrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
. Among his last concerts were renditions of the complete set of Chopin's Nocturne
Nocturne
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...
s and Schubert's Winterreise
Winterreise
Winterreise is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert , a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two great song cycles on Müller's poems, the earlier being Die schöne Müllerin...
with baritone Claudio Desderi. His last appearance on stage was in Beethoven's third concerto with Giulini in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Ciani died in a road accident in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
at the age of 32.
The "Dino Ciani piano competition" was created in his memory. Inaugurated in 1975, it is held at Teatro alla Scala. Distinguished members of the jury have included Nikita Magaloff
Nikita Magaloff
Nikita Magaloff was a Georgian-Russian pianist.He was born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian noble family named Maghalashvili. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland and then Paris, where he studied with Isidor Philipp, chair of the piano department at the Paris Conservatory...
, Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...
, Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini is an Italian classical pianist.- Biography and career :Pollini was born in Milan to the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18...
, Lazar Berman
Lazar Berman
Lazar Naumovich Berman was a Soviet Russian classical pianist. As a technician, Berman was extraordinary in terms of sheer evenness, control, and rhythmic panache, yet he always channeled his considerable craft toward musical ends....
, Rudolf Firkusny
Rudolf Firkusny
- Life :Born in Moravian Napajedla, Firkušný started his musical studies with the composers Leoš Janáček and Josef Suk, and the pianist Vilém Kurz. Later he studied with Alfred Cortot and Artur Schnabel. He began performing on the continent of Europe in the 1920s, and made his debuts in London in...
and Aldo Ciccolini
Aldo Ciccolini
Aldo Ciccolini , is an Italian-French pianist.-Biography:Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerara, worked as a typographer. He took his first lessons with Maria Vigliarolo d'Ovidio, and entered Naples Conservatory in 1934 at the age of 9, by special...
. From 2007 there is a Festival and Academy "Dino Ciani" in Cortina d'Ampezzo
Discography (selection)
- Dino Ciani: A Tribute. Haydn: Sonata No. 52 in E flat; Mozart: Fantasia and Sonata in C minor; Beethoven: "Eroica" Variations; Diabelli Variations; Weber: Sonatas Nos. 1-4; Chopin: Etudes (sel.); Schumann: Sonata No. 1; Fantasie in CFantasie in C (Schumann)The Fantasie in C major, Op. 17, was written by Robert Schumann in 1836. It was revised prior to publication in 1839, when it was dedicated to Franz Liszt. It is generally described as one of Schumann's greatest works for solo piano, and is one of the central works of the early Romantic period. ...
; Balakirev: Islamey; Bartók: Sonata; Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs; Suite; Scriabin: Preludes (sel.); other works. Dynamic (6 CDs) - Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas. Dynamic (9 CDs)
- Brahms: Concerto No. 1; Liszt: Totentanz; Weber: Sonata No. 2; Debussy: Children's Corner; Bartók: Mikrokosmos VI; Hummel: Sonata Op. 13; Schumann: Kinderszenen; Noveletten; Chopin: Barcarolle. Capital Musica (3 CDs)
- Debussy: Preludes (Books I & II). Deutsche Grammophon (2 CDs; additional works by Debussy played by Tamás VásáryTamás VásáryTamás Vásáry is a celebrated Hungarian concert pianist.- Biography and career :Vásáry made his debut at the age of 8, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D major, K.107 in the city of his birth, where he gave a solo recital the following year. He then began to concertize regularly as a child...
) - Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3. Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI cond. Vittorio Gui. Doremi (CD)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4. Orchestra della Scala cond. Claudio Abbado. Myto (CD)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos. Nos. 20 and 24 cond. Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Dynamic (CD)
- The Genius of Dino Ciani; Debussy (Préludes),Schumann (Novelettes), von Weber (Piano sonata's 2 and 3), Bartok (Out of Doors, volume 2); Original recordings made by Deutsche Grammophon, Brilliant Classics, 2010, 3CD)