Dedicated to Francis Poulenc, Vittorio Rieti’s First Piano Concerto formed part of his early success in Paris during the 1920s, the work’s high spirits reflecting Rieti’s recent marriage and the birth of his son Fabio. The Second Piano Concerto started out as a harpsichord concerto for Wanda Landowska but was later recast. The Third Piano Concerto is notable for its deeply felt central Andantino, while the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is exuberant with cinematic themes. All of these works feature witty passages for orchestral soloists in dialogue with the piano, imbued with Rieti’s original and unpredictable style.

Collectors of Vittorio Rieti’s Complete Piano Solo & Duo Works on our Grand Piano label (GP921 and GP938) are going to be very enthusiastic about this new recording of his piano concertos. Often infused by the Parisian joie de vivre and subtle humour of Les Six, Rieti’s piano works are refreshingly unstuffy and accessible, and the concertos share his lightness of touch while taking the opportunity to probe a wider emotional spectrum. These concertos are as good as unknown, and are certainly deserving of a revival. Soloist Alessandro Marangoni considers these works to have ‘music of great liveliness, joy, rhythm and brilliance, and certainly to be included in the great repertoire for piano and orchestra’.

Pianist Alessandro Marangoni is the winner of several national and international awards, including the prestigious Amici di Milano International Prize, and the 2024 International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) for his Naxos recordings of the complete piano works of Rossini (Péchés de vieillesse, 8501306). He has appeared throughout Europe, America and China as a soloist and as a chamber musician. His other recordings for Naxos include Clementi’s Gradus ad Parnassum (857232528) in which ‘Marangoni plays with alacrity and a light touch, making these difficult exercises sound effortless’ (WTJU Classical Comments), and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Piano Concertos (8572823) which for Gramophone were ‘hard to resist’.