Aldo Ciccolini
Pianist Aldo Ciccolini enjoyed a long and varied career, but to many music lovers, his name was most readily associated with the music of Erik Satie. A prolific recording artist, Ciccolini issued over 100 albums in his career, earning several prestigious awards.
Ciccolini was born on August 15, 1928, and was raised in Naples, where he studied at the Conservatory under pianist Paolo Denza, himself a one-time student of Ferruccio Busoni; Ciccolini made his debut there in 1942. In 1949, he traveled to Paris to complete in a Long-Thibault contest; after he won first prize, Ciccolini decided to stay in Paris and continue his studies with Marguerite Long. Ciccolini made his New York debut in 1950. It was probably through Long that Ciccolini got to know the music of Satie.
Ciccolini started playing a wide range of Satie works on his programs of the 1950s, including many pieces that had been forgotten since the composer's death. This attracted attention among the musical cognoscenti in Paris, including some of the most forward-thinking musicians of the time. They recognized in Ciccolini's interpretations of Satie's works elements in keeping with current-day avant-garde approaches that had been previously overlooked. Ultimately, this led to a revival of Satie's music and to Ciccolini's recorded versions of it for EMI; while the earliest of these recordings proved to be best-sellers over time, Ciccolini recorded the entire keyboard output of Satie twice over.
It is not fair to Ciccolini's talent, however, to limit his repertoire only to Satie, even though this association is the best known in his particular case. Ciccolini also recorded the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven, performed the sonatas of Mozart, and was renowned for his work with the music of French composers other than Satie, such as Chabrier, Saint-Saëns, and Fauré, among others. Ciccolini was also an expert interpreter of the music of Franz Liszt, and was equally well-situated in concerto literature in addition to solo piano repertoire.
Ciccolini was highly regarded as a teacher, holding a chair at the Paris Conservatoire from 1971 to 1989. In 2000, he was named honorary president of the Associazione Musicale Aldo Ciccolini, an organization devoted to promoting the cause of cultural and musical events in his native city of Naples. He earned the Diasapon d'Or in 2002 for The Janáček Album and the solo piano works by Robert Schumann. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Classical Music Awards in 2013. Ciccolini died in his Paris home on February 1, 2015. A recording from 2000 of Ciccolini and Aldo Orvieto performing Busoni's Fantasia contrappuntistica, BV. 256b, was included on the 2020 album Busoni: Works for two pianos.
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Debussy: Préludes
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 30.08.2019
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Franck: Variations symphoniques pour piano et orchestre - Indy: Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français (Mono Version)
Aldo Ciccolini, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, André Cluytens
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1954
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Quintettes avec piano
Dario Candela, Aldo Ciccolini, Circolo Artistico Ensemble
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 04.01.2011
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Mozart : Alla Turca
Klassik - Erschienen bei La Dolce Volta am 25.10.2011
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Satie: Works for Piano
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 01.01.1986
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Mozart - Clementi : Piano Sonatas & Fantasy
Klassik - Erschienen bei La Dolce Volta am 23.10.2012
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Debussy: Piano Works, Vol. 1
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 05.01.2018
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Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra & Songs
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 30.08.2019
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Debussy: Piano Works, Vol. 2
Samson François, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Aldo Ciccolini, Youri Egorov, Monique Haas
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 05.01.2018
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Franck: Prélude, fugue et variation, Prélude, aria et finale & Prélude, choral et fugue
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 17.06.2022
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Franck: Les Djinns & Variations symphoniques - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23
Aldo Ciccolini, André Cluytens
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 02.12.2022
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Franck - Oeuvres Pour Piano
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 28.02.2003
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Debussy: Suite bergamasque, Pour le piano & 2 Arabesques
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 01.01.1992
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Schumann: Scènes d'enfants, Op. 15, Scènes de la forêt, Op. 82 & Intermezzi, Op. 4
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 17.02.2023
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The Janacek Album
Klassik - Erschienen bei Soupir Editions - DN am 04.04.2006
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Brahms: Intermezzi, Klavierstücke, Rhapsodies & Fantaisies
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 27.05.2022
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Aldo Ciccolini: Archives du Festival de Nohant (Grand Interprète et Jeunes Talents)
Aldo Ciccolini, Bruno Philippe, Nariya Nogi, Tanguy de Williencourt, Jean-Paul Gasparian, Jérémie Moreau
Klassik - Erschienen bei Soupir Editions - DN am 13.01.2017
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Saint-Saëns: Les cinq concertos pour piano
Aldo Ciccolini, Orchestre de Paris, Serge Baudo
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 28.02.2003
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Bach: Inventions et sinfonies à deux et trois voix, BWV 772 - 801
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 01.01.1963
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Chabrier: Pièces pittoresques, España & Bourrée fantasque
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 06.12.2019
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Séverac: En Languedoc & En vacances
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 07.02.2020
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