Prokofiev — Pärt — Schnittke Duo Gazzana

• Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80:
• 1 Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: I. Andante assai 06:29
• 2 Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: II. Allegro brusco 07:01
• 3 Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: III. Andante 07:06
• 4 Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: IV. Allegrissimo 07:39
• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935): Spiegel im Spiegel:
• 5 Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel 10:25
• Sergei Prokofiev: 5 Mélodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35a:
• 6 Prokofiev: 5 Mélodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35a: No. 1, Andante 01:49
• 7 Prokofiev: 5 Mélodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35a: No. 2, Lento, ma non troppo 02:27
• 8 Prokofiev: 5 Mélodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35a: No. 3, Animato, ma non allegro 03:06
• 9 Prokofiev: 5 Mélodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35a: No. 4, Allegretto leggero e scherzando 01:24
• 10 Prokofiev: 5 Mélodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35a: No. 5, Andante non troppo 02:52
• Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998): Gratulationsrondo:
• 11 Schnittke: Gratulationsrondo 07:30
• Total Runtime 57:48

Info for Prokofiev — Pärt — Schnittke

Their last album with works by Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg and Tõnu Kõrvits saw the Gazzana sisters Natascia and Raffaella “achieve the highest levels of instinctive expression”, according to the French daily paper Le Monde, and one could argue that this holds even more true for their new recording with music by Sergei Prokofiev, Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke. The duo’s reading of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 1, op. 80 opens the proceedings with urgency, true to the composer’s intention (Prokofiev famously declared that a particular passage "should sound in such a way that people should jump in their seat…”), but also with lyrical serenity, casting the work’s third movement in a spellbinding light. His Five Melodies op. 35a are interpreted with equal conviction, while Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, performed with poise and humility, serves as a thoughtful respite. Concluding the programme is Schnittke’s Gratulationsrondo – a celebratory piece that finds the composer circumventing his usual polystylistic ways and instead excelling in a more traditional approach to the classical idiom.

"The Gazzanas have played together as siblings since early childhood. But that alone is not enough to explain the special intimacy of their music-making. There is more than familial rapport here; there is something enormously unvarnished in both of their playing, as if their task were to leave out everything that is nonessential." – Christine Lemke-Matwey (Die Zeit, SWR)

Recorded at the Reitstadel, Neumarkt in February 2025, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Duo Gazzana:
Natascia Gazzana, violin
Raffaella Gazzana, piano

Duo Gazzana
besteht aus den Schwestern Natascia Gazzana (Violine) und Raffaella Gazzana (Klavier). Beide haben ihre musikalische Ausbildung bei so bedeutenden Musikern wie Bruno Canino, Trio di Milano, Yehudi Menuhin, Carlo Romano, Uto Ughi, Piero Farulli, Pierre Amoyal, Pavel Gililov, Igor Ozim, Ruggiero Ricci usw. in Rom, Genf, Brüssel, Siena, Lausanne, Fiesole und Salzburg absolviert. Ihre natürliche musikalische Begabung wurde durch diese Studien gefördert, ihre Technik verfeinert und ihre Ausdruckskraft gesteigert.

Neben ihrer musikalischen Ausbildung haben beide Schwestern an der römischen Universität „La Sapienza“ studiert. Das Duo wurde mit zahllosen Preisen, Anerkennungen, Ehrendiplomen in Italien und im Ausland ausgezeichnet und gibt Konzerte in den bedeutendsten Konzertsälen in aller Welt: Mailand, Tokio, Rom, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapur, Oslo, Zürich, Stockholm, Kapstadt, Hanoi usw.

Booklet for Prokofiev — Pärt — Schnittke