Angelo Villani pf

ARTéMUS001

This first release on Italian-Australian pianist Angelo Villani's new label features ten world premiere recordings, plus a new version of the Purcell/Villani ‘Dido's Lament’ that appeared on his debut album Dante's Inferno (Sonetto Classics, 2015).

Villani's programme opens with his solo piano transcription of the mighty first movement of Franck's Piano Quintet. Far too long in the shadows, Franck's music deserves greater credit than its reputation for unremitting chromaticism. Like all the album's tracks, this was recorded live and unedited in concerts in Denmark and Copenhagen.

The transcription of Mozart's Lacrimosa is based on that of Kyril Saltykov (1914-39), the partner of the great Maria Yudina. Villani has filled out the arrangement to create something truly awe-inspiring, while Purcell's ‘Dido's Lament’ is heart-breaking. We are a million miles away from showy brilliance here – it is Villani's melodic touch, projection and careful weighting of chords that gets to the music's core.

The sheer fragile beauty of ‘Crépuscle’ from Massenet's ballet Manon is a held-breath moment of stillness shot through with magical melody. Similarly remarkable is the liturgical austerity of Villani's ‘Reminiscences from Romeo and Juliet’ (after Tchaikovsky).

Piano transcriptions of Hugo Wolf are rare, so it is nice to hear the dark undercurrents of Um Mitternacht. The Garner/Villani, the Rota Improvisation on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (linking back nicely to the Tchaikovsky) and the Rodgers/Villani Edelweiss are the perfect close. This is the art of transcription as it should be done.