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
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 30 Aug 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Quintettes avec piano
Dario Candela, Aldo Ciccolini, Circolo Artistico Ensemble
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 4 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Alla Turca
Classical - Released by La Dolce Volta on 25 Oct 2011
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Satie: Works for Piano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart - Clementi : Piano Sonatas & Fantasy
Classical - Released by La Dolce Volta on 23 Oct 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra & Songs
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 30 Aug 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Piano Works, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 5 Jan 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Piano Works, Vol. 2
Samson François, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Aldo Ciccolini, Youri Egorov, Monique Haas
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 5 Jan 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Prélude, fugue et variation, Prélude, aria et finale & Prélude, choral et fugue
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 17 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Les Djinns & Variations symphoniques - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23
Aldo Ciccolini, André Cluytens
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 2 Dec 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franck - Oeuvres Pour Piano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 28 Feb 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Suite bergamasque, Pour le piano & 2 Arabesques
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Scènes d'enfants, Op. 15, Scènes de la forêt, Op. 82 & Intermezzi, Op. 4
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 17 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Janacek Album
Classical - Released by Soupir Editions - DN on 4 Apr 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Intermezzi, Klavierstücke, Rhapsodies & Fantaisies
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 27 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Les cinq concertos pour piano
Aldo Ciccolini, Orchestre de Paris, Serge Baudo
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 28 Feb 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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
Classical - Released by Soupir Editions - DN on 13 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Inventions et sinfonies à deux et trois voix, BWV 772 - 801
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chabrier: Pièces pittoresques, España & Bourrée fantasque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 6 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Séverac: En Languedoc & En vacances
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 7 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo