Sergio Fiorentino’s Bach subscribes to all the pianistic notions that characterize the grand Romantic manner. He pulls out all the dynamic and coloristic stops in the Fifth French Suite yet still keeps the music’s dance spirit at the fore. If you respond to Gilels and Kempff’s similar pianistic outlooks vis-à-vis this delightful work, you’ll probably warm to Fiorentino’s. The Italian pianist, though, really shows what he’s made of in the transcriptions. Not since Egon Petri’s heyday have Busoni’s massive piano transformations of the D major and E-flat major Organ Preludes and Fugues sounded so noble and unclangy.
Rachmaninov’s suite based on three movements from the E major violin partita wickedly updates the original with serpentine inner voices and harmonic spice: pure Bach-maninov, in other words! Fiorentino’s sparkling performances are just as fun to hear as Rachmaninov’s brusquer interpretations, and, of course, benefit from APR’s modern engineering. Lastly, Fiorentino offers his own transcription of Jesu, joy of man’s desiring in a measured, ravishingly inward reading. A disc made to order for the piano connoisseur.
