Andrea Vigna-Taglianti

Review:Liszt Society Journal

Admin. — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:35:28 +0000

Recital: Andrea Vigna-Taglianti

Those who know Liszt’s music would surely agree that Harmonies poétiques et religieuses is one of the most personal works he ever wrote. It was written to enshrine his personal and artistic commitment to a new life and a new love in Weimar: the Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein. The fusion of poetry and faith conveyed in the work’s title refers not only Liszt gratitude for his mistress’s many sacrifices in their liaison, her ‘martyrdom of love’ (as he put it), but also for the spiritual, faith-driven core of their relationship. Beyond the personal, in ‘Funérailles’ the work has a political and moral meaning too: composed in the aftermath of the failed Hungarian War of Independence, it is surely one of the most profound utterances on the futility and suffering of war.

It was therefore with great expectation that I recently attended a recital given by one of Dr Leslie Howard’s students, the young Italian pianist, Andrea Vigna-Taglianti.

From the first bars of ‘Invocation’, in which Liszt summons up Lamartine’s “voice of my soul”, AV-T made clear that he was going to rise to the occasion with conviction and courage. In ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘Pater Noster’ he stylishly conveyed the reverential simplicity of the music, while in ‘Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude’ he expressed the serenity of a heart that “overflows” with “faith” with care and sensitivity – if, at times, with articulation that was a little blurred. This apart, his technique, as well as his grasp of the music, rose to the challenge in the rhythmically and emotionally dense world of ‘Pensée des morts’, and in the anguished tumult of the elegy that is ‘Funérailles’. A V-T was clearly in his element in ‘Hymne de l’Enfant à son réveil’, while in ‘Miserere d’après Palestrina’ he deftly blended the meditative melodic line with the extravagant arpeggio passages. In ‘Andante lagrimoso’ and ‘Cantique d’amour’ with which Liszt draws the work to a close, AV-T captured the requisite mood of quiet reflection with playing that was both subtle and committed to the music.

AV-T already has a technique that will surely gain in articulation and resonance as he matures as an artist. To hear a young pianist play one of the most challenging works in the repertoire with such insight and panache was both a privilege and a pleasure. Bravo!

[Meirion Hughes February 2009]

Concerto Istituto Liszt – Bologna

Admin. — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:00:30 +0000

“Il 15 marzo 2009, presso l’Istituto Liszt di Bologna, Andrea Vigna Taglianti ha suonato – tra l’altro – le Variationen über das Motiv von Bach “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen R24 – S180. Per quanto il repertorio lisztiano, conti un numero elevatissimo di brani estremamente impegnativi sul piano tecnico ed interpretativo, questo in particolare richiede al pianista una destrezza sulla tastiera e una profondità di pensiero del tutto particolari. Si può dire che in quest’opera, come in alcune altre di eguale levatura, si esprimano in perfetta armonia i tratti opposti e caratterizzanti della natura umana e dello stile pianistico di Liszt.
Il titolo “Variazioni” si adatta solo parzialmente al contenuto musicale: è vero che il motivo cromatico discendente tratto dal Crucifixus della Messa in Si minore di Bach, si snoda lungo un’interminabile collana di variazioni confluenti l’una nell’altra senza soluzione di continuità, ma è altrettanto vero che a questo tema disperato e sempre reiterato come un dolore senza fine e senza nome si affianca un tema dolcissimo e cantabile che parla di speranza. Infine, la citazione del Corale Was Gott tuht, das ist wohlgetan (Ciò che Dio fa è ben fatto) corona con enfasi retorica l’intera composizione. Cosa deve sottolineare il pianista? La disperazione tutta umana rispecchiata nel Cristo crocefisso, la speranza in un mondo di serenità o la fede in Dio (non importa se cattolico come Liszt o protestante come Bach)?.
La risposta a questo interrogativo sta proprio nel presentare tutte le facce della composizione e di “comporle” in un tutto unitario, ma distinto nelle sue unità componenti. Questo ha fatto Vigna Taglianti dimostrando una maturità musicale stupefacente per la sua giovane età” .

Rossana Dalmonte

Epidaurus Festival, 2007.

Admin. — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 09:55:46 +0000

I have, with great interest listened to a concert which was given by a young, talented Italian pianist, Andrea Vigna Taglianti at the first edition of the Epidaurus Festival on the 25th September of 2007 in south of Croatia.

Mr. Taglianti has simply enchanted us with his sensitive nerve and musicality.

He has successfully interpreted three works by Franz Liszt: Invocation and Pater noster from the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses and the Vallée d’ Obermann from the Années de Pèlegrinage and a first performance of a very curious piece written by a contemporary Italian composer and pianist, Antonello Lerda: Evoluvendo. Mr. Taglianti has undoubtedly shown to us his sense and interest for Liszt’s opus. He has kept us curious till the end, with sovereignty in this Liszt’s masterpieces and has of course surprised us with an interesting interpretation of the Lerda’s piece. Taglianti’s interest and good understanding of the contemporary language leaves on us a message to listen and discover a world of the contemporary Arts which we are, due to this concert very much able to.