Aldo Ciccolini came from a musical family and by the age of nine had impressed composer Francesco Cilea so much that he arranged for the boy to be admitted to the Naples Conservatory where he studied with Busoni pupil Paola Denza. After World War II, at the age of twenty-two, Ciccolini was the youngest pianist to be appointed professor at the Naples Conservatory. In 1948 he won the Santa Cecilia Prize in Rome and the following year shared first prize with Ventsislav Yankoff at the Long-Thibaud Competition. It was at this time that Ciccolini decided to live in Paris, eventually taking French citizenship.
He made tours of Europe, North Africa and South America, going to North America in 1950 where he made his debut with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra followed by a Town Hall recital; but although he returned the following year to play with Mitropoulos once more he rarely returned again to America until 1975. Similarly, although Ciccolini made his London debut in 1954 he also rarely returned there, preferring to play in mainland Europe. However, since 1975 he has appeared regularly in Tokyo, Sydney, Milan, London, New York, San Francisco and Amsterdam.
Ciccolini is not interested in contemporary music and generally plays Mozart, Beethoven and music from the nineteenth century. He specialises in the compositions of Erik Satie which he has recorded in their entirety for French EMI. For this he won a Grand Prix du Disque as he did for his recordings of the complete piano concertos of Saint-Saëns and Ravel. He also plays Liszt, and his 1956 recording of the complete Consolations displays his sensitivity and clarity of style, as well as a certain simplicity and classical purity. Other mid-1950s recordings well suited to his style include some Scarlatti sonatas and works by Mompou. He also gives a sparkling performance of Kabalevsky’s Piano Sonata No. 1.
In 1961 Ciccolini recorded Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage, his tempi allowing it to fit onto two discs. There is some impressive playing here, particularly in the Tarantella. More Liszt for EMI in 1990 came in the form of the rarely-recorded complete Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses, and two years later he recorded the complete solo works of Debussy in nine days.
Having signed with the Italian label Nuovo Era in 1989, Ciccolini’s first project was to record the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven. The first release was of the late sonatas, and Fanfare magazine stated, ‘His chord voicing in the first movement is that of a consummate master… but the highlight of this ‘Hammerklavier’ is the Adagio sostenuto, one of the finest recordings of this long and difficult movement that I’ve heard.’
In 1999 EMI France issued a four-disc set titled Les Introuvables d’Aldo Ciccolini which contains works by Chabrier, Satie, Scarlatti, unusual repertoire by Rossini, Debussy and Ravel as well as Grieg’s Ballade Op. 24 and Piano Sonata in E minor Op. 7. From 1974 a recording of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B flat D. 960 is also included.
Ciccolini’s most recent disc was released on the Cascavalle label. Recorded in Paris in March 2002, it is a Schumann recital including the Faschingsschwank aus Wien Op. 26, Waldszenen Op. 82 and the Grande Sonata Op. 14.
© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — Jonathan Summers (A–Z of Pianists, Naxos 8.558107–10).