Musique pour piano de compositeurs albanais

Description

Catchy folkloric suites, dances and miniatures from a musically little-known region of Europe. Two generations of Albanian composers are represented in this valuable guide to the country's piano music. Simon Gjoni, Cesk Zadeja and Tonin Harapi belong to the first generation of professional Albanian composers, all born in the 1920s. After studying abroad, they returned to Tirana, the capital and artistic hub, to lead an intense cultural life, while the country suffered from relative international isolation in the 1950s and 1960s. Pellumb Vorpsi, Thomas Simaki and Vasil Tole are part of the second generation. The Adriatic culture, shared by Albania and Italy, is celebrated in several bilingual works, such as Harapi's "Ja gëzimi kthen përsëri" (La gioia ritorna ancora), whose compositions are among the simplest, shortest and most charming on the album. At the other end of the spectrum, pianistically speaking, are Vorpsi's Lisztian Variations on a Folk Theme. Yet these two composers, like most of the others, share a direct, fresh mode of expression inspired by folklore, imbued with the influence of Bartók and Vaughan Williams, to name just two other renowned ethnomusicological explorers of the early 20th century. This album marks the debut of Marsida Koni (born in 1981) on Piano Classics. Of Albanian origin, she grew up in her native country and made her radio debut at the age of just nine, then her first concerto with orchestra two years later. A graduate of the University of Tirana, she continued her studies in Italy, where she now pursues her career. She collaborates with clarinetist Piero Vincenti and is artistic director of the Lazar Berman International Piano Competition in Camerino, in the Marche region of northern Italy.