Though this is in most respects an all-Italian
affair - composer,
musicians, recording venue (and titles)
all being Italian, there is also a Russian
dimension to take into account.
Ciardi was born in 1818 in Prato near Florence
- indeed the modern Municipal Band of the City of Prato bears his
name. He showed precocious signs of musical gifts, and by 1827 was
performing in public. In that year he performed at the Palazzo
Reale in Genoa under the wing, as it were, of no less than
Paganini. A glittering career as virtuoso of the flute followed.
But he also composed - including, it seems, an opera - chiefly for
the flute. He toured extensively - in 1847, for
example, he was in London. In 1853 he
was appointed Chamber Flautist to the
Tsar of Russia and a Professor of the
Imperial Chapel and the St. Petersburg
Conservatory. Tchaikovsky was amongst
his students and the two became friends.
Ciardi remained in Russia until his
death at Strelna in 1877. His years
in Russia gave him a love of Russian
musical traditions which is discernable
in some of his music, alongside the
deep-rooted Italian traits which characterise
most of Ciardi's compositions.
Aficionados of the
flute will surely want to snap up this
CD. Ciardi's work is not readily available
on mainstream recordings, though it
made an important contribution to the
instrument's repertoire in the middle
years of the nineteenth century. How
interesting the CD will be to the general
musical public I am less sure. It cannot
be claimed that this is music of any
great depth or weight. We are told that
in the works for flute and orchestra
the orchestral music is the product
of "revision and orchestration
by R. Fabbriciani". In the case
of the Gran Concerto, the work
was originally written for flute and
piano; Ciardi later produced a version
for flute and orchestra, but this is
now lost. In any case, the orchestra
only really serves as background for
the flute, not as a partner in a musical
dialogue of any substance. Fabbriciani's
orchestrations are adequate and idiomatic,
without being in any way special.
Ciardi's love of the popular music of his
native Italy never left him - it is evident in L'Eco
dell'Arno, a loose fantasia on traditional
themes from Tuscany, in the Piccola
fantasia on two stornelli
(short popular songs) from Naples, and
Il carnevale di Venezia.
All three works have an elegant charm
and there is much limpid writing for
the flute. His long sojourn in St. Petersburg
awakened in Ciardi a love of Russian
popular music too. Amongst his compositions
are the Deux fantaisies sur des motifs
de l'opéra "La Vie pour le
Czar" de Glinka, pour flûte et
piano and Le carnaval russe:
variations brillantes (also for
flute and piano) and Le rossignol
pour chant et flute avec piano
(Op.61), based on a famous piece by
Alexandre Alabieff (1787-1851), originally
for violin and piano and arranged for
solo piano by Liszt (as well as for
flute and strings by Vieuxtemps). Here,
on the present CD, we have Le Rossignol
du Nord, for flute and piano,
a dazzling set of variations carried
off with some panache.
Throughout, the playing
of all concerned is thoroughly competent.
There are one or two very slight tonal
blemishes in Fabbriciani's playing, but these are few and far
between and he is generally impressive and persuasive - not least in Le Rossignol du
Nord. Massimiliano Damerini is
an excellent accompanist, responsive
and technically sure. The Orchestra
Sinfonica del Friuli Venezia Giulia
do what is asked of them and Stefan
Fraas's conducting cannot be faulted.
At points the orchestra would have benefited
from a slightly more vivid recorded
sound.
Any reservations I
have about this CD are not to do with
the performers. Though I have enjoyed
the time I have spent with this music
for the purposes of writing a review,
I am not sure, now that the CD has gone
onto my shelves, that there is any single
piece of music on it so special as to
be likely to demand that I take
it down from those shelves with any
great frequency.
Glyn Pursglove
See also review
by Dominy Clements
Roberto Fabbriciani (flute) 
