Marco Falaschi & Marco Podestà Duet
Music of Thomas Fortmann - Joseph Vella -
Sergio Calligaris -
Filiberto Pierami - Pedro Iturralde

Marco Falaschi, Saxophone
Marco Podestà, Piano
[ANTES Edition, DDD, BM 31.9256]

Track 7 (18:57): Sergio Calligaris (Argentina / Italy)
Sonata-Fantasia op.31a (2006)
per sassofono contralto in mib e pianoforte
published by Edizioni Carisch srl, Milan
"Dedicato ai Maestri Marco Falaschi e Marco Podestà, con grande stima."

CD notes

The proliferation of music written for saxophone and piano is a recent phenomenon, sparked by an ever-increasing interest among the younger generation of composers in this unusual combination of instruments. The saxophone's and piano's extraordinary potential to express great depth and to combine tones, is the inspiration for many pieces of chamber music. The ongoing interest of contemporary music in these two paired instruments suggests that saxphone and piano are destined to see their expressive range and inherent versatility expand exponentially in times to come.

This disk is an example of the astonishing capacity for dialogue so characteristic of the rich musical lexicon of the saxophone and the piano fused into a single entity. The vast dynamic range the two instruments are capable of expressing propels composers to venture into unexplored creative terrain, following untrodden and unusual paths, and this gives rise to fresh ideas and impulses. The result is surprising and establishes a very broad web of cross-references and connotations.

The five pieces comprising this CD, some of which were written specifically for the musicians performing them, were written by composers from different musical backgrounds, hailing from different countries (Switzerland, Malta, Italy, Argentina, Spain), subscribing to compositional languages and systems, at times very different from one another. It is precisely because it is informed by this diverse range of styles, musical languages and evocative poetic worlds that a unified vision can be ascribed to the collected pieces. It is, in fact, a well structured, compact and homogenous collection that is strongly representative of the new tendencies emerging among contemporary composers writing for saxophone and piano. This CD is to contribute to the fertile cultural discourse that currently surrounds the saxophone and piano and to enrich the corpus of recordings dedicated to this duo of instruments.

Marco FALASCHI

Graduated in clarinet from the L.Cherubini Conservator in Florence in 1985 and in saxophone from the F.Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia in 1987, summa cum laude. He has collaborated with the Teatro alla Scala orchestra in Milan, RAI's A.Scarlatti Orchestra in Naples and the Sofia Symphony Orchestra, under important conductors such as Y.Temirkanov, Y.Ahronovic, A.Krieger and M.Sasson and won several awards. As part of the saxophone quartet The Saexophones of the Accademia Amiata Trio and of the Accademia Amiata Ensemble, he has performed at a number of important festivals and for the major Italian and international musical associations. He is currently on a busy touring schedule playing concerts in Italy and oversees with pianist Marco Podestà. He has recorded for the three RAI television channels, for ZDF in Germany, and for RSI in Switzerland and released albums on Pentaphone, Amiata Records, Phoenix, and Patos. He currently holds a chair at the saxophone department of the G.Puccini Conservatory in La Spezia.

Marco PODESTÀ

Graduated in piano, in choral music, and choir direction from the conservatories of Genova and Parma and then completed a two-year diploma specializing as a soloist at the conservatory of Florence, with honours and special mention. Having won many national and international piano competitions, he plays a leading role at many Italian and music centres overseas. He has held hundreds of solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts in Europe, Africa, and South America. He plays as a soloist with world-famous orchestras, having performed over twenty concertos for piano and orchestra, each performed a number of times. His recordings have been aired by RAI, Radio Vaticana, and by other national radio and television broadcasters. He teaches courses of piano interpretation in Italy and oversees and is a jury member of numerous piano competitions. He teaches at the conservatory of La Spezia.