REVIEWS

A Discovery: Michelangelo in Music
The Stregapede Story: The Virtuoso of the Brenta Who Loves Bach and Piazzolla
The pianist relaunches himself at thirty in a concert which astonishes the audience

by Roberto Mori

Venice-The Riviera del Brenta is, as everyone knows, one of Italy’s paradises. In times past, the Venetian nobility spent their gilded summers there in sumptuous villas. It was in this environment, where nature and art come together to give an instinctive taste for beauty and harmony, that Michelangelo Stregapede, an emerging talent of Italian piano playing, was born and grew up.  The occasion of a concert presented on “his” Riviera- a sort of dress rehearsal for his imminent, first public performance - gives the opportunity to describe this many-sided performer. Now past the thirty year mark, Stregapede comes over as an already mature musician with a solid curriculum which has touched all the bases: began as child prodigy (concert debut at the age of 9), serious study under maestros such as Gorini and Bagnoli, specialisation with personalities of prestige (Ciccolini, Weissemberg), national and international success.

Stregapede surprises, in a pleasant fashion. He is the complete instrumentalist, by reason of his high technical level and an interpretative personality able to confront the most problematic passages; he is not afraid to expose himself on the subjects of taste and expressiveness in a repertoire which ranges from Bach to Piazzolla. Between these two extremes he covers all of the highlights of great writing for the piano: from Mozart to Beethoven to Chopin, from Schubert to Schumann to Brahms. He is undoubtedly a virtuoso to whom no technical difficulty presents an obstacle. It is not by chance that among his interests is the transcendental virtuosity of Liszt.

The syntony is evident in the granite-like touch, in the intention to make intense and rounded tones, in a “symphonic” sense, spray from the keyboard, but equally in the resonant charm which is part of the alchemy of Liszt.  Stregapede is inclined towards hyperbolic impulses, towards monumental phonic enthusiasms

And nevertheless, his piano playing is never superficial or commonplace; it has a logic which derives from the concrete sense of its form.  He also knows how to be lyrical, contemplative, to be attentive to the analyses and to the inner harmony of the score he is playing. For example, he is a sensitive performer of Chopin due to his ability to be incisive without sacrificing flexibility, to allow the phrasing to breathe while avoiding sentimental swooning. The sound therefore is terse, mellow, alive to the fineness in the detail. Whether he is dealing with the heroic bearing of the Polonaise Op. 53 or the contemplativeness of “La Berceuse” Op. 57, his Chopin is clean-cut, rigorous, seeming to spring from a modern synthesis between the classical school and contemporary rationalism. His technique and analytical ability is equally suited to a 20th Century repertoire; Stregapede can, thus, approach Rachmaninoff (who’s feared 3rd Concerto he will sortly perform in public for the first time) with the self-possession of the virtuoso, but also the skill to play with the rhetoric without letting himself become entangled with the problems of the performer who is continually interrogating himself and who tinges everything with a determined musical plan. It is this characteristic which distinguishes the true performers of personality on tour from the many “note-grinders” around.