Divine Art Records

Artist: Alfonso Soldano

  • Metamorphoses

    Metamorphoses

    Alfonso Soldano is professor of piano performance at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia, Italy, following similar posts at Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and in Trani. He was a favorite student of Ciccolini and is renowned for his virtuosity. He was awarded the International Gold Medal for ‘Best Italian Artist’ in 2013 and has won many other competitions, and is also a busy writer and transcriber. His previous recordings for Divine Art, of the music of Rachmaninoff, Bortkiewicz and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, received glowing reviews. He has performed and given masterclasses all around Italy, and in Germany, Switzerland and Romania, and post-Covid is planning a wider international concert schedule, hoping to tour the USA.

    His Rachmaninoff is especially magical. He has transcribed 15 of the composer’s romantic songs for solo piano in three books of ‘Romances’ which he performs here with works by Debussy which Soldano has also transcribed. The album is a glorious, sumptuous immersion in late Romantic and Impressionist music which will appeal equally to classical experts and the wider general public. It is a collection of sheer beauty.

  • Russian Piano Music vol. 13 – Sergei Rachmaninov

    Russian Piano Music vol. 13 – Sergei Rachmaninov

    The major work in this second album of Rachmaninov’s works in the Russian Piano series is the First Sonata, a pinnacle of high late Romanticism. Less well known are the Moments Musicaux but they too are masterful pieces.

    Alfonso Soldano is professor of piano performance at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia, Italy, following similar posts at Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and in Trani. He was a student of Ciccolini and is renowned for his virtuosity. He was awarded the International Gold Medal for ‘Best Italian Artist’ in 2013 and has won many other competitions, and is also a busy writer and transcriber. His previous recordings for Divine Art, of the music of Bortkiewicz and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, received glowing reviews. His Rachmaninov (Rachmaninoff for the American readers!) is equally magical.

  • Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Piano Music

    Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Piano Music

    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco is best known for two things – his evocative guitar music, and his work during his long association with the movie industry in Hollywood, where he produced some amazing scores though never quite receiving the fame of his compatriot Nino Rota. His extensive body of piano music has been largely neglected despite the fact that it is exceptional, impressionistic, and in the best post-Romantic tradition of ‘lighter’ music – though only relatively ‘light’ in that it is written in traditional harmony. Never shallow, but highly suggestive of moods, emotions, places and colors. Many of the works in this album are receiving their first recording.

    Alfonso Soldano is a brilliant Italian pianist, the last and highly- regarded pupil of Aldo Ciccolini whose debut recording (piano music of Sergei Bortkiewicz) attracted worldwide acclaim. He is naturally attuned to the Romantic which makes him an ideal interpreter of this music. He has just been appointed Artistic Director of the Aldo Ciccolini Academy in Trani, Italy.

  • Russian Piano Music, Vols. 1-15

    Russian Piano Music, Vols. 1-15

    25% PERCENT OFF USUAL PRICE

    A major series mixing familiar and less-known music, from the Russian Romantic school, from Rachmaninov to Ustvolskaya by way of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Rebikov, Gliere, Lyapunov, Arensky, Weinberg, Mussorgsky and more.

    Each CD has been critically acclaimed. Featuring pianists Natalia Andreeva, Anthony Goldstone, Murray McLachlan, Alfonso Soldano, Stefania Argentieri and Sergei Dukachev.

    Explore the series :

    Digital downloads include all booklets in PDF format.
    This set consists of 14 single albums and one double.

  • Russian Piano Music Volume 12 – Sergei Bortkiewicz

    Russian Piano Music Volume 12 – Sergei Bortkiewicz

    It is quite puzzling why, until very recently, the music of Bortkiewicz has not been widely known and loved: his high Romantic style makes him a natural to the legacy of Tchaikovsky, and he was a close contemporary of Rachmaninov. Born of Polish parentage, and later an Austrian citizen, Bortkiewicz lived in many parts of Europe but always considered himself truly Russian. This recording gives a wide sample of his work and will surely whet the appetite for more. Performed by Alfonso Soldano in his CD debut for Divine Art, a professor at the Conservatorio G. Braga in Teramo, Italy; he is also the biographer of the composer, a role which has given him unique insight into the mind and spirit of Bortkiewicz.