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Pianists From the Inside – July, 2012

‘I felt connected to music right away’

My initial motivation probably came from my mother, who was an opera singer: she was singing all the time during my childhood and so I felt connected to music right away. Also, most of my other family members were musical hobbyists who played different instruments.

ONNJ South Jersey In FocuS

by Veronica Dudo

ABOUT MY UPCOMING

CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT

OCTOBER 26 2024

CLICK ON ABOVE PICTURE TO WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW

BOOK – PIANO: The Spirit of technique and Interpretation for Teachers and Students

Buy it at Amazon

Latin American Music Center presents Rosa Antonelli

As part of our November activities, we want to spotlight international pianist Rosa Antonelli, an artist devoted to the Latin-American piano repertoire with a long and successful career in the United States and abroad.
This past month, I had the privilege to do a Zoom interview with Rosa and I had the opportunity to ask her about her life and her career.

I hope you enjoy this conversation, featuring a selection of her wonderful performances.

Best,
Gustavo Ahualli
LAMC Director

ROSA ANTONELLI PRESENTA: “PUENTES MUSICALES PARA UNIR AL MUNDO”

CARNEGIE HALL

STERN AUDITORIUM

Complete Second Part of Recital

In this sold-out concert Rosa Antonelli performed an entire program with Spanish and Latin American Classical Composers with two World Premiere tangos by PIAZZOLLA. A memorable night with standing ovations and special encore: Nocturne No.20, in C Sharp minor Opus Posth. Saturday Evening, October 15, 2011, at 7:30 Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage

“Rosa Antonelli, Argentine Concert Pianist, Takes You from Chopin to Ginastera to Piazzolla”

Rosa Antonelli is a world-renowned New York concert pianist, originally from Argentina, one of the most famous Argentine pianists.

Consulate of Argentina Watch Party

Rosa Antonelli and the New York Consulate of Argentina host an online watch party of Antonelli’s now legendary sold-out 2011 performance at Carnegie Hall on Antonelli’s YouTube channel on Monday, August 10, 2020 at 7:30pm. Free

CARNEGIE HALL

STERN AUDITORIUM

Complete First Part of Recital

Steinway’s Lunch Concerts

CD “BRIDGES”

Home Video Performance

Two World Premiere pieces by

Alberto Williams:

Valse Op. 29, No. 3 in F major

Huella Op. 46, No. 1 in D major

Rosa Antonelli

Steinway & Spirio Artist

CD “B R I D G E S ” Radio Interview

At Home Concert

June 16 2020 byJennifer Pascual

” Sounds From The Spires: Conversations from Home, Week Six (after an eight week hiatus) on The Catholic Channel of SiriusXM 129. My guest this week is Dr. Rosa Antonelli, international concert pianist. Rosa is a Steinway Artist who champions the music of Latin-American and Spanish composers. On this program she performs live some of the pieces from her Bridges: From Chopin to Piazzolla CD. The radio program will air this weekend: Saturday June 20, 1:00am – 2:00am and Sunday June 21, 12:00am – 1:00am, 6:00am – 7:00am and 8:00pm – 9:00pm (All Eastern/ New York times) on The Catholic Channel, SiriusXM 129. These are snapshots from our interview and program, via Zoom. Many thanks to Robert Evers for producing this show as most of the channel’s hosts are still producing from home”.

CD “BRIDGES” RELEASE INTERVIEW

ON “ACCESO TOTAL” SHOW TELEMUNDO CHANNEL 47 – DEC 2019

(in Spanish with English subtitles)

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CD “BRIDGES” Release

FANFARE MAGAZINE REVIEW BY

JACQUELINE KHAROUF

BRIDGES FROM CHOPIN TO PIAZZOLLA • Rosa Antonelli (pn) • ALBANY 1783 (75:26)

CHOPIN Nocturnes: No. 20 in c♯, op. posth.; No. 14 in f♯, op. 48/2. Waltz No. 11 in G♭, op. posth. 70/1. G. MATHIAS Romance sans paroles, op. 18/4. Caprice-Valse, op. 38/1. ALBERTO WILLIAMS Valse, op. 29/3. Novellette, op. 8. Huella, op. 46/1. GINASTERA Estancia (excerpts). Twelve American Preludes: excerpts. Milonga. PIAZZOLLA Balada para un loco. Oblivion. La partida. Yo soy el negro

BRIDGES FROM CHOPIN TO PIAZZOLLA
Audio CD

ALBANY
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This latest offering from pianist Rosa Antonelli is a kind of musical autobiography. She performs the music of the composers who have perhaps most influenced her own pianistic sensitivity, as well as her work as an advocate of Latin-American classical music. The concept of drawing references between Chopin and Piazzolla (or rather, Chopin to Georges Mathias to Alberto Williams to Ginastera to Piazzolla) is interesting not only because the lineage of influence that links all of these composers is quite significant, but because the references mark the gradual departure from strictly (white) European musical structures. The further the album moves away from Chopin, the more we hear the adoption of folkloric influences and Latin American styles and rhythms. Such a juxtaposition would not be so obvious without Antonelli’s specific program choices and album structuring. This album is vitally important because it breaks with the notion that European composers inspired other European composers, etc. Listening to this album, we hear the need for more exploration of the branches and lines stemming from so-called traditional classical music.

My favorite pieces on the album are those by Ginastera and Piazzolla, especially the excerpts from Ginastera’s ballet Estancia and (of course) Piazzolla’s endlessly beautiful Oblivion. These pieces (like much of the album) demonstrate the shifting narrative of classical composition. Ginastera and Piazzolla, who were both influenced by the traditional music of Argentina, but also studied traditional classical music composition, draw their own bridges, creating a whole other sound that is both classical and distinctly Argentinian. These composers break apart the idea that classical music is inaccessible because it lacks references to the kind of music performed in the countrysides of Argentina or other non-European places.

Antonelli’s performance is so nuanced and mesmerizing; only a musician of her expertise and emotional dedication could play both Chopin’s nocturnes and Piazzolla’s tangos. She is a master of these forms and in her hands the bridge that links these seemingly complete opposites does not seem like such a far-flung concept. I will listen to this album for many years, and always with a sense of deep gratitude and admiration. Jacqueline Kharouf

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CD “BRIDGES” Release

FANFARE MAGAZINE REVIEW BY

Jerry Dubins,

BRIDGES FROM CHOPIN TO PIAZZOLLA • Rosa Antonelli (pn) • ALBANY 1783 (75:26)

CHOPIN Nocturnes: No. 20 in c♯, op. posth.; No. 14 in f♯, op. 48/2. Waltz No. 11 in G♭, op. posth. 70/1. G. MATHIAS Romance sans paroles, op. 18/4. Caprice-Valse, op. 38/1. ALBERTO WILLIAMS Valse, op. 29/3. Novellette, op. 8. Huella, op. 46/1. GINASTERA Estancia (excerpts). Twelve American Preludes: excerpts. Milonga. PIAZZOLLA Balada para un loco. Oblivion. La partida. Yo soy el negro

BRIDGES FROM CHOPIN TO PIAZZOLLA
Audio CD
ALBANY
Buy Now from Amazon.com
Buy Now from ArkivMusic
Buy Now from iTunes

At first glance, Bridges seems an odd title for an album that begins with Chopin and ends with Piazzolla, and in between them offers a selection of works by Frenchman, Georges Mathias (1826–1910), and, two other Argentinians in addition to Piazzolla, Alberto Williams (1862–1952) and Alberto Ginastera (1916–1983). Other than the Argentinian connection between three of the composers here, what other bridges could there be that ties all of these composers together? Well, here’s the answer. Georges Amédée Saint-Clair Mathias studied music theory and composition at the Paris Conservatory under, among others, famed opera composer Fromental Halévy. Privately, however, Mathias took piano lessons from Chopin. Next, Argentinian Alberto Williams traveled to Paris as a young man and there took lessons in composition from César Franck and piano lessons from Mathias. In turn, Williams, we’re told by the album note, exerted a profound influence on the next generation of Argentinian composers, including Ginastera. And finally, among Ginastera’s pupils was Piazzolla.

Pianist Rosa Antonelli, who has been interviewed and extensively reviewed in prior issues of Fanfare, has put together a program on this, her latest release, which rather closely parallels her previous self-produced album reviewed by Robert Schulslaper and me in 35:1. On that album, Antonelli presented us with a bill of fare that included pieces by France’s Debussy Spain’s Granados, Brazil’s Villa-Lobos, and, once again, Argentina’s Ginastera and Piazzolla.

Several of the pieces on the current disc will be unfamiliar to listeners, as they are world premiere recordings. They are the Romance sans paroles and Caprice-Valse by Mathias, the Valse, Novellette, and Huella by Williams, and La partida-Zamba canció and Yo soy el Negro-candombe by Piazzolla. While Antonelli’s repertoire includes mainstream works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Ravel, she has demonstrated a special interest in and flair for the music of Spanish and Latin American composers. And that once again proves to be the case in the works she has chosen for her new CD.

The biggest surprise turns out to be the two pieces by Mathias. The only Mathias in the Fanfare Archive is one William Mathias (1934–1992), a British composer who appears to have found his niche, and, one hopes, his bliss, writing anthems and other occasional, celebration, and observance works for the Anglican Church, though he did also compose a considerable volume of secular concert works—a couple of symphonies, several concertos, and a dozen or so chamber works. But never mind William Mathias. This is Georges Mathias, who, as noted above, studied piano with Chopin, and it has to be conceded that the impression Chopin made on his student is manifest in these two pieces. No one familiar with Chopin would ever mistake Mathias’s Romance sans paroles or Caprice-Valse with anything by the master himself—neither the harmonic language nor the melodic patterns are anywhere near as sophisticated or as subtle as Chopin’s—but the influence on Mathias’s stylized salon pieces is patently obvious. Very nicely done Mathias, and Rosa Antonelli. Unlike Georges Mathias, Alberto Williams does have previous representation in the Fanfare Archive, but not by very much, and, as noted above, all three of his pieces on Antonelli’s album are new to disc. Each of them is infused, but not overly saturated, with harmonies, turns of phrase, and rhythms that suggest a Latin ethos.

The works of Ginastera are more widely known, though Antonelli takes a path less traveled by through the composer’s excerpts from his one-act ballet Estancia, which was intended to evoke images of the Argentine landscape and culture through “references to gaucho literature, rural folk dances, and urban concert music.” From the complete ballet, Ginastera extracted four numbers to comprise an orchestral suite: “Los trabajadores agricolas” (The land workers), “Danza del trigo” (Wheat dance), “Los peones de hacienda” (The cattle men), and “Danza final” (Malambo). Antonelli chooses three numbers from the ballet, but only one of them, “Danza del trigo,” is a number from the four-movement suite. The other two are “Pequeña danza” (Little dance) and “Idilio crepuscular” (Twilight idyll), movements 2 and 9, respectively, from the original complete ballet.

Likewise, from Ginastera’s Twelve American Preludes, Antonelli makes a selection of six of them: “Sadness” (No. 2), “Vidala” (No. 4), “Tribute to Roberto Garcia Morillo” (No. 6), “Pastorale” No. 10), “Tribute to Juan José Castro” (No. 8), and “Creole Dance” (No. 3). Admittedly, not everything by Ginastera is as easily assimilated by the ear as are these miniatures, the shortest lasting only 45 seconds. The composer’s often advanced musical vocabulary and Modernist techniques make for difficult listening in some of his works. But these American Preludes are not among them. You don’t have to know, for example, who Juan José Castro was to appreciate the drone-like haunting beauty of Ginastera’s tribute. In contrast, the Roberto Garcia Morilla tribute is a fast and ferocious piece that tests Antonelli’s technical skill to the limit, and she passes with flying colors.

Milonga, Ginastera’s own transcription of his song, Canción al arbol del olvido (Song to the Tree of Forgetfulness), is simply one of the composer’s most poignant pieces, its melodic contours, rhythmic tread, and bare, open chords so very reminiscent of the terrifying vision of the Andantino in Schubert’s A-Major Sonata, D 959. Towards the end, however, Ginastera’s Milonga takes a turn towards the major mode and ends on a comforting note. This is sensitive, moving, gorgeous playing by Antonelli.

It seems not that long ago that Astor Piazzolla suddenly appeared out of nowhere to become the latest craze. Now that the over-zealous enthusiasm has cooled a bit, and serious minds have considered his music objectively, critical opinion has reached consensus that Piazzolla’s tango-inspired works are not just some passing fad. There is real substance, character, and quality to the music, even if there’s not a great deal of diversity in genre or style. Antonelli concludes her program with four numbers by Piazzolla. Two of them, Balada para un loco and Oblivion, are in the composer’s familiar tango-based lingo, but La partida-Zamba canción and Yo soy el Negro-candombe are not tangos. The former is “a graceful couples’ dance widespread in Argentina;” while the latter, a “candome,” is a musical form that has its roots in Afro-Uruguayan drumming tradition.

Rosa Antonelli continues to explore the rich history of music from South America, illustrating in her illuminating choice of repertoire its connections to the 19th-century European musical mainstream, especially that of Spain and France. This is a fascinating, thought-provoking program of very appealing works, masterfully performed by an artist with a deep understanding of and flair for this music. Very strongly recommended. Jerry Dubins

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CD “BRIDGES” Release

FANFARE MAGAZINE REVIEW BY

Colin Clarke

BRIDGES FROM CHOPIN TO PIAZZOLLA • Rosa Antonelli (pn) • ALBANY 1783 (75:26)

BRIDGES FROM CHOPIN TO PIAZZOLLA
Audio CD
ALBANY
Buy Now from Amazon.com
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An exploration of connections, this is a terrific example of how to shape a recital program on disc. The title, Bridges, of course refers to connections between composers and, indeed, vernaculars. The connections here are from teacher to pupil, but also lead from the salons of Paris to Latin America. A Steinway Artist since 1998, Argentine pianist Rosa Antonelli takes us on a five-generational journey, in the process shining a light back on her excellent previous Albany album, Abrazando: Latin Embrace (positively reviewed by myself in Fanfare 39:3).

We begin in those Paris salons in music from a Pole, Frédéric Chopin. I enjoyed Anotonelli’s YouTube video of Chopin (Fanfare 41:3). She is no less impressive here, capturing the sense of reverie perfectly. In the Nocturne No. 14 she pinpoints the underlying agitation well, while in the G♭-Major Waltz she finds great sparkle.

The Romance sans paroles by Georges Mathias follows on beautifully, referencing in its dreamy aura the Chopin nocturnes just heard. Born in Paris from German and Polish parents, Mathias was a pupil of Chopin’s who spent some 30 years teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. His music is fragrant and lovely, and Antonelli caresses it, which in the Romance wafts as if in a breeze. One of three Morceaux de concert published in around 1865, the Caprice-Waltz is a carefree joy. Perhaps live Antonelli might have injected just a touch more spontaneity into the performance; one itches to hear it, particularly, as an encore to a live recital. One thing that is clear from the performance, though, is how well the piano here is prepared by the technician: Mathias writes in the extreme upper register, and the result is magical.

Moving on to the South American leg of our trip, Argentine composer and educator Alberto Williams offers three pieces. He links, or bridges, the continents as he won a scholarship to Paris as a teenager and studied there with Georges Mathias (and César Franck). The almost naïve Waltz leads to a piece dedicated to Mathias, a fairly extended Novellette (and one can hear something of Schumann here), before a more explicitly Argentine flavor emerges in “Huella,” one of the 1904 set Songs of the Pampas. A folk music form from western Argentina, the huella is traditionally in 6/8 meter. This is a short piece; one hankers for more at its close, particularly as Antonelli plays with real flair and commitment.

The characteristic language of Ginastera suffuses the excerpts from the ballet Estancia; the “Danza del trigo” seems almost to morph into the “Idilio crepuscular” before the vibrant rhythms and colors of “Pequeña danza.” Another side of Ginastera is heard in the first two excerpts (of six) from the Twelve American Preludes, “Triste” and “Vidala.” These reveal another, more reflective, side to the composer that is only ousted by a blaze of rhythmic light in the final excerpt, “Danza Criolla.” The famous Milonga of 1948 finds Antonelli teasing out maximal expression from the music’s keening gestures.

This brings us to Piazzolla, but also full circle in a sense. The opening gesture of the first of two solo tangos here, Balada para un loco, brings us back to Chopin in feel (Anotonelli tells the story of how someone heard it the other way around, claiming that when she played Chopin they heard an inherent Piazzolla). It is a powerful connection, and one might posit another entrant into the field, as towards the end of the piece there seems to be a hint of Grieg’s G-Minor Ballade for piano in the mix. One also should not forget that Piazzolla studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and, to cement the web of connections, he also studied with Ginastera. The second slow tango is far more famous: Oblivion, played here with a touching sense of regret but also without a feeling of over-egging the pudding (characteristics heard earlier in Antonelli’s Chopin).

A zamba (not “samba” but an Argentine couples’ dance) follows, La partida-Zamba canción, shot full with the pain of parting, before Yo soy el Negro-candombe offers a though-provoking close. Antonelli plays with real affection.

The musicality of this program is beyond question, and Antonelli is a fine pianist. If one might wish for a more rounded piano recording, it is not enough to knock the disc off from a recommendation. Colin Clarke

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CD “BRIDGES” Release

FANFARE MAGAZINE REVIEW

by Huntley Dent

BRIDGES • Rosa Antonelli (pn) • ALBANY 1783 (75:26)

CHOPIN Nocturnes: No. 20 in c♯, op. posth.; No. 14 in f♯, op. 48/2. Waltz No. 11 in G♭, op. posth. 70/1. MATTHIAS Romance sans paroles, op. 18/4. Caprice-Valse, op. 38/1. ALBERTO WILLIAMS Valse, op. 29/3. Novellette, op. 8. Huella, op. 46/1. GINASTERA Estancia (excerpts). Twelve American Preludes: excerpts. Milonga. PIAZZOLLA Balada para un loco. Oblivion. La partida. Yo soy el negro

Bridges
Audio CD
ALBANY
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I am attracted to thematic piano recitals, and this one is particularly intriguing in the way it ties musical and personal history together. “Bridges” imply connections and travel, which pertain to all five composers that the charismatic pianist Rosa Antonelli has gathered around the central figure of Chopin. He set the stage by traveling from Poland to Paris, an immigrant journey repeated by many artists and composers for more than a century. But the magnetic attraction of Parisian musical culture was particularly strong and poignant for Argentinians. The country’s best-known composers, Alberto Ginastera and Astor Piazzolla, both had formative links to Paris, and therein lies the poignancy.

Gazing across the barrier of the Atlantic Ocean, South American composers yearned to be classical, which meant European, but this yearning threatened to erase their national identity. How can you keep them down on the pampas after they’ve seen Paris? Yet it was essential to fuse an identity out of these contrary forces. Ginastera did this through the same personal immersion in Argentina’s folk music that gave Kodály and Bartók deep roots in Hungary. Piazzolla, whose family origins were Italian (as are Antonelli’s), turned to the poor sections of Buenos Aires and the dance halls frequented by sailors at the port.

We hear their music today without much consciousness of the Paris connection, yet neither composer would have existed without the two obscure figures on the program. Georges Matthias’s family came to Paris from Germany, and he became a longtime piano pupil of Chopin’s—once he abandoned the concert stage, Chopin’s chief income came from teaching. Matthias became so star-struck that his own piano pieces sound thoroughly Chopinesque. Matthias was himself an influential teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and one of his scholarship students was Alberto Williams from Argentina.

If you have a bent for making connections, Williams provides a fascinating focal point. He was born during the American Civil War, in 1862, and died during the Cold War, in 1952. Besides bringing the cultural aura of Chopin to his homeland—Williams wrote over 100 piano pieces with origins in Chopin’s style—he founded the first music conservatory in Argentina along European lines, where he became Ginastera’s teacher. It could be argued that Williams bonded the musical identity of Argentina in himself, since he turned to folk dances that got transmuted into character pieces along the lines of Mendelssohn and Grieg.

None of these connections would come alive if it weren’t for Antonelli’s ability to make them so through her highly personal performances. The ear immediately picks up how intimately Chopin’s Waltz in G♭ leads to Matthias’s Caprice-Valse (very nearly a pastiche) and then to Williams’s Valse, op. 29/3. These offshoots drift in the direction of sentimentality and nostalgia, but Antonelli plays them as if they are first-rate music, which is what they need. Ginastera offers no waltz, but in his most famous work, the ballet Estancia, set on a ranch worked by gauchos, the atmosphere of a waltz lingers in the sleepy Danza del trigo. (Antonelli plays three excerpts taken from Ginastera’s piano reduction of the complete ballet score.)

South American classical music remains on the outskirts of standard repertoire, which has had the effect of making its proponents particularly passionate. Antonelli, who falls into the category I call personality pianists, brings flair and imagination to the entire program. In a sense she is the bridge that links everything through her magnetic keyboard style. The two Chopin Nocturnes that begin the program are done with the same conviction as the Piazzolla tangos that end it. Antonelli holds the listener’s attention in the minor but charming pieces by Matthias and Williams, and she rises to the occasion for the three celebrated composers.

This release is warmly recommended to anyone who is intrigued by the concept behind the program, and even more to those who can appreciate how beautifully Antonelli plays. She occupies a unique niche on the current music scene. Huntley Dent

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CD “BRIDGES” Release – Interview RCN International “Tenemos Que Hablar” Show by Alfonso Diaz – September 2019

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CD “BRIDGES” Release – Interview UNIVISION News “ACA entre nos” Show – September 14 2019 (in Spanish with English subtitles)

This wonderful interview was held this past Saturday September 14 at UNIVISION News channel 41 in the Cultural section “Aca entre nos “ This interview was about the release of my new Cd “BRIDGES” from Chopin to Piazzola . The Program is hosted by the famous reporter Javier Victor Solano. (click below to see entire interview Spanish-English subtitles)

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Interview at on September 16 2019 by Jennifer Pascual – Cd “Bridges” Release

“World-renowned Steinway Artist Dr. Rosa Antonelli was my guest today on “Sounds From the Spires.” We featured her new CD, “Bridges: Chopin to Piazzolla,” featuring works of Chopin, Georges Mathias, Alberto Williams, Alberto Ginastera and Astor Piazzolla. The program will air Saturday, 1:00am – 2:00am; Sunday, 12 midnight – 1:00am, 6:00am – 7:00am and 8:00pm – 9:00pm (All Eastern times) on The Catholic Channel, SIRIUS XM 129. Always a delight to host this talented Argentinian pianist. Rosa played piano live at the studio five years ago; we must repeat!” (Click below to listen to entire radio interview)

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Los puentes, ya sean físicos o metafóricos, significan y son ante todo conexiones: unen a las personas en ambos lados de un río, a dos manifestaciones o aspectos de un conflicto o de un tema con puntos de vista diferentes, sean políticos, religiosos o sociales.

Los puentes invocados en este disco son una serie de conexiones personales y musicales entre cinco compositores que fueron prominentes y revolucionarios, desde el virtuoso del piano del siglo XIX, Chopin, hasta el maestro de tango clásico del siglo XX, Piazzolla. Relaciones, enlaces de mentor a estudiante, maestro alumno a través de cinco generaciones: CHOPIN – MATHIAS – WILLIAMS – GINASTERA – PIAZZOLLA.

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Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

1 Nocturne No. 20 in C Sharp Minor, Op. Posth.

B r i d g e s

“MY INSPIRATION FOR CONNECTING THE WORLD THROUGH MUSIC”

FANFARE MAGAZINE ” REVIEW ” by Colin Clarke Rosa Antonelli at CARNEGIE HALL – Chopin Nocturne Nº 20 in C sharp minor, Op. Posth.

…”The star of Rosa Antonelli seems to be in the ascendant. This set of performances, caught live in the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall, New York , confirms impressions left by her Albany disc Abrazando, reviewed by myself in Fanfare 39:3, of a pianist of utmost sensitivity, one clearly hyper-attuned to the music of South America.First, though, comes a splendid Chopin nocturne (the posthumously published C♯-Minor). Now, with the advantage of video, one can see how much of her attention is channeled into her fingers. There is no superfluous display here; we delight, instead, in the sheer variety of tone she coaxes from her Steinway. Any hint of a dance rhythm finds her basking in the sudden elevation of mood before it is subsumed back into the primary material. The spell cast by Antonelli’s performance of the Nocturne would hover longer if it were not for the heinous immediate applause; what a shame we listeners are not allowed to luxuriate in Chopin’s miraculous afterglow.

…”This is a superb reminder of the talent of Rosa Antonelli.”

Rosa Antonelli at CARNEGIE HALL – Review by Huntley Dent – Chopin Nocturne Nº 20 in C sharp minor, Op. Posth.

…” As an adjunct to the main review of a complete recital to benefit The Lambs in New York City, here are four mementos of Rosa Antonelli’s Carnegie Hall recital …”

“The highly accomplished Argentine pianist plays to strength in dances by Ginastera and Piazzolla, but it’s good to be reminded that a champion of South American composers also has wider musical interests. We get one of Chopin’s op. posth. Nocturne, No. 20 in C♯ Minor, and its melting melody is delivered with real finesse and an instinct for the genre. Actually, since Antonelli approaches the slow tangos of Piazzolla with empathy for their melancholy, she’s naturally attuned to Chopin. The A-B-A form of this nocturne features syncopation in the middle section that Antonelli hearkens back to Buenos Aires in hints of rhythm and accent.

In the three Argentine works she displays a gift for immediate communication, drawing the audience into a musical world whose air she breathes intimately, as De Larrocha breathed the air of Spain.

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“BRIDGES” CD

PRESS RELEASE

ALBANY RECORDS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF “BRIDGES”
ROSA ANTONELLI, PIANO – August 2019

Albany Records is proud to announce the release of Bridges — a compendium of compositions that invoke personal and musical connections performed by Rosa Antonelli, pianist. Repertoire includes Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne No. 14 in F Sharp Minor, Op. 48; and Waltz No. 11 in G Flat, Op. 70, No. 1; Georges Mathias’ Romance Sans Paroles Op. 18, No. 4; and Caprice – Valse Op. 38, No. 1; Alberto Williams’ Valse Op. 29, No. 3; Novellette Op. 8; and Huella Op. 46, No. 1; Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia; Twelve American Preludes; and Milonga; and Astor Piazzolla’s Balada para un Loco – Slow tango; Oblivion Tango – Slow tango; La Partida – Zamba Canción; and Yo soy el Negro – Candombe.
The title of this recording — Bridges — implies connections. The bridges invoked on this disc are a series of personal and musical connections between five composers that lead from the 19th century piano virtuoso Chopin to 20th century tango master Piazzolla — links from mentor to student through five generations: Chopin; Mathias; Williams; Ginastera; Piazzolla. All five composers were immigrants, literally and/or musically, so underlying the repertoire on this disc is the free exchange of ideas that come from travel and immigration.
This program has been selected by Rosa Antonelli, a pianist who has championed repertoire from Latin America, particularly from her homeland of Argentina — often resurrecting little-known jewels. Antonelli, a Steinway Artist since 1998, is one of today’s leading performers, who has toured extensively, with more than 1,000 concerts in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America to her credit. Her three previous recordings on Albany Records, which include Abrazando: Latin Embrace (TROY1571); Remembranza (TROY1388); and Esperanza (TROY1140) have received rave reviews from critics. Cited for her “warmth of expression,” “soulful pianism,” and “artistic flair” Ms. Antonelli offers definitive performances of this repertoire.
Bridges (TROY1783) is available online at www.albanyrecords.com;
www.amazon.com; at fine record stores or from
Albany Music Distributors, 915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207
Tel. 518.436.8814 • Fax. 518.436.0643
www.albanyrecords.com

Latest Release

“The renowned pianist Rosa Antonelli continues to boost Latin American composers through her concerts and recordings.” NY1 June 1, 2015.

Click to view CD ABRAZANDO Latin Embrace Interviews:

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE Jan/ Feb 2016

Review
ROSA ANTONELLI, Piano

Abrazando: Latin Embrace
Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Williams, Lecuona,
Albeniz, Gianneo
Rosa Antonelli, p—Albany 1571—59 minutes

“Latin Embrace” is the right title for this album. These are some of the sexiest pieces in the repertory; and Rosa Antonelli, a specialist with this tradition, mostly chooses the languid specimens rather than the raucous ones. The album opens with Piazzolla’s atmospheric ‘Invierno Porteno’ and ‘Verano Porteno’, played with generous rubato. Villa-Lobos’s Bachiana

Prelude 1 offers immediate contrast. It’s always a treat to hear the exotic, free-spirited music of Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona. (His popular ‘Malaguena’ is practically all we ever get.) Antonelli plays the gently ringing ‘Bell-Flower’ and an aptly named ‘Marvelous Waltz’. We also get a waltz from Albeniz, which Antonelli performed in its American premiere in her 2014 Carnegie Hall recital. My favorite pieces are an Intermezzo and ‘Romanza De Amor’ by Ponce. I’ve always had a fondness for this supremely seductive, gentle, unaccountably obscure composer. Antonelli’s phrasing and voicing are magical. The recorded sound is a bit cramped for such luscious stuff, but this is highly recommended. by SULLIVAN

American Record Guide

NY1 TV Interview

Sounds from the Spires Interview

RCN TV. NTN 24 Interview

REVIEWS:

FANFARE MAGAZINE

BBC MAGAZINE

FANFARE MAGAZINE Web “Not to be missed”

Past Performances

Performances in 2016 New York City

Altamura Center for the Arts
Steinway Hall
Harvarwood Foundation
Auditorium Argentinian Consulate
NYU University Auditorium
Lambs Foundation
Caruso Museum New York
Tribute to Alberto Ginastera presented by Georgina Ginastera and Argentinian Consulate in New York
Dutch Treat Club
Frias Club
Catholic Radio

New York City

Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage 2000-2011-2014
Lincoln Center 2002-2010 Allen Room

New Book

Rosa Antonelli’s book the spirit of technique and interpretation for teachers and students not only gives practical, step by step exercises for strengthening …