Album Review

Guy Bunclark [sonic-recreation.com]

This rare 1972 LP from Italian pianist Norberto Cappone (born in Luxembourg in 1952, and resident in the US since the early 1970's) is one of only two known to have been released by him, the other being a disc of the Brahms Viola Sonatas with his father, Giusto Cappone, who was, at that time, the principal viola of the Berlin Philharmonic.

The twenty-year old shows good technical command in the more extrovert pieces (the Prokofiev and Khachaturian), and side B is generally more successful than the more romantic Side A. The Brahms suffers from some exaggerated ritardandos and general heavy-handedness, although the quieter moments are nicely played. The Chopin likewise is rather unconvincing, and although the Etude starts well, the middle section is a little clunky. He has some interesting ideas about the famous Fantaisie-Impromptu, but again, it is generally lacking in the songful quality that makes Chopin's music so special. At least he avoids sentimentalizing the Mendelssohn, and it certainly has a great deal of forward momentum - far preferable to a timid drawing-room approach, even if it lacks some elegance and poise.

Far better are the Prokofiev and Khachaturian pieces, the former receiving the best performance on the disc. Cappone's energetic pianism suits the music to perfection, and the Khachaturian also receives a show-stopping reading. Very interesting and quite lovely is the Prelude and Fugue by the relatively little-known Italian composer Carlo Jachino (1887 - 1971). Written in 1913, it sports a surprisingly romantic and rather Respighian Prelude, followed by a more serious, but not academic, Fugue. This is also excellently played.

The studio recording, made in Berlin, is very pleasing, and this LP can certainly be warmly recommended. After settling in the US, Cappone married fellow pianist Paulina Drake, teaching in his adopted California and concertizing widely, but regretfully seems to have made no further records.