ALESSANDRO SOLBIATI (b.1956): Piano Sonata No. 2, 16 Interludi, Fête, Like as the waves.

Description: Solbiati's piano music contains something of a catalogue of contemporary piano techniques, not without acknowledgement of the more traditional past, but in no way restricted by it. The Second Sonata moves through a succession of episodes, with tolling bell-sounds something of a recurring motif; much of the music is atonal, which renders an harmonically relatively stable motoric passage late in the work that much more surprising and effective. Some, but by no means all, of the piece involves significant preparation of the piano, and extended playing techniques. The sixteen brief Interludes are more explicitly such a catalogue, each exploring a specific texture or technique, like an étude; chorales and fragmented memories of chorale preludes; chords and clusters, fragile, fleeting inventions and textural studies; each with its own distinct character. Fête abounds in bright, open textures; 'Like as the Waves' borrows its title from Shakespeare, and concerns the inexorable passage of time, with insistent figures an motif in a series of contrasting evolving sections. Emanuela Piemonti, Alfonso Alberti (piano).