INTRODUCTION

Pianist Michelangelo Stregapede
Introduction by Eugenio Mottica

I remember that I heard Michelangelo Stregapede for the first time towards the end of the Seventies.  He was little more than a child but his sturdy physique, despite his young age, already made an impression on those present and this, together with a particular vivacity and quickness in his glance marked him out then as a very special person.  On that occasion I thought that I would have to listen to a diligent performance of a sonatino by Clementi or Mozart and, instead, Michelangelo went straight into the attack with Beethoven’s “Pathetique”, followed by Schubert’s Improvisations!

All of this was performed with a musicianship and confidence of execution which made a very profound impression on me.  I could not believe my ears and I had to ask him to play it all for me again.  I realised, without the slightest shadow of doubt, that I had in front of me an extraordinary talent.  I have since had the opportunity to listen to Michelangelo on various occasions and therefore to follow over time the great development of his artistic maturity and the evolution of his technique. His performances represent for the listener a revelation of unimagined sonorous-ness and of musical values never previously displayed.  The technical-mechanical problem of the articulation and independence of the fingers is brilliantly overcome by Michelangelo as he has an extraordinary reach in the fingers and an incredible robustness in the hands.

This enables him to obtain very easily the authentic “jeu perle”, of the French, indispensable for performing Chopin, the dry , harpsichord-like  touch for Bach and Scarlatti, the lightness and crystalline agility for Ravel and Debussy, the force and the power of absolute virtuosity for Liszt, not to mention the magical softness needed in Tchaikovsky’s concerto in si flat minor.I want, now, to recount a very special episode in Michelangelo’s artistic experience. I am referring to a concert of his held at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Venice where he performed an authentic miracle.  I have to admit that I have played several times on the white upright piano at the Institute and I have to say that it is a very modest, not to say unfortunate, instrument both in terms of its mechanics and its tone. 

When I arrived at the Institute for the concert, I did not see, strangely, the Steinway grand which was usually hired for piano concerts; in the centre of the room there was only the white upright and no other.  I asked about it and it was confirmed that the concert would be given on that instrument.  I found the whole thing very amateur and in the poorest taste, absolutely unthinkable for the programme which Michelangelo had to perform and I thought that it would have ended in certain disaster.  Well, even now I don’t know how such a thing could have happened: Michelangelo immediately established a secret contact with that piano and managed to extract even from that little instrument the most beautiful tone, to the amazement of the public present.  The problem of the repertoire, on the other hand, was smoothly overcome by Michelangelo since he is gifted with an extraordinary memory for music which allows him to have constantly at hand a truly impressive mass of compositions.  This allows him to range with ease from the classics, to the modern, to the contemporary, practically the entire history of writing for piano, offering evidence of an able knowledge of the variety of styles and of an alert and constant mastery of dynamics, of phrasing, and of the different expressive indications given in musical scores. It is therefore the case that the technical –expressive action of Michelangelo moves in a unique way in accordance with the will and the harmonic design of the composer who from time to time he has to interpret.  This means that each of Michelangelo’s concerts is a unique and irrepeatable event where one can feel and see his great generosity as a performer transformed into true art-in-the-making.