Sergio Fiorentino (22 December 1927 – 22 August 1998) was a 20th-century Italian classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

whose sporadic performing career spanned five decades. There is quite a bit of footage of his playing that survives, in addition to audio recordings. Recently, a complete concert recorded on video in 1994 has surfaced.

Music career

Fiorentino was born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and studied at the Conservatorio

San Pietro a Majella San Pietro a Majella is a church in Naples, Italy. The term may also refer to the adjacent Naples music conservatory, which occupies the premises of the monastery that used to form a single complex with the church. The church stands at the west ...

in Naples under

Luigi Finizio is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

and

Paolo Denza Paolo is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Paul. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Paolo Art *Paolo Alboni (1671–1734), Italian painter *Paolo Abbate (1884–1973), Italian-American s ...

, earned his diploma in 1946 and attended a master class of

Carlo Zecchi Carlo Zecchi (8 July 190331 August 1984) was an Italian pianist, music teacher and conductor. Zecchi was born in Rome. A pupil of F. Baiardi for piano and of L. Refice and A. Bustini for composition, he began his career as a concert pianist at ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

in 1948. His debut was at

Carnegie Recital Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1953. The following year, while on tour in Argentina and Uruguay, he was in a near-fatal plane accident, forcing him to cut back on concert performances. This led to him becoming a teacher at Naples Conservatory, where he had once been a student. In the late 1950s he made a new start in concert performances, both in his native country and in England. Many of his recordings were made during those years (1958–1965). But again, he withdrew from the concert stage, limiting his rare public appearances to his native country, and again started to regularly teach master classes. He left Naples Conservatory in 1993 and began again to play more in public outside his native Italy, performing in Germany, France,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and the United States. He also made a series of recordings for

Appian Publications & Recordings Appian Publications & Recordings (APR) is a British company specialising in the restoration and re-issue of early recordings of classical music. APR was apparently the brainchild of Edwin Alan and much of the transferring and remastering of hist ...

(APR) in Berlin during four sessions between 1994 and 1997. An augmented 10-CD set of these recordings was issued by Piano Classics in 2012. Negotiated and contracted engagements in Russia and Canada as well as a scheduled fifth recording session for APR could not be fulfilled due to his sudden death in his home in Naples on August 22, 1998.

Fraud with Concert Artists label

Beginning in 1994 through after his death in 1998, a large number of recordings by Fiorentino were released. Recordings made in Berlin from 1994 to 1997 were released on APR whereas earlier unissued material was put out by the

Concert Artists Concert Artist/Fidelio Recordings was a British classical music record label, situated in Royston, Hertfordshire, England, and owned and operated by William Barrington-Coupe. It is best known for selling unauthorized copies of commercial recordi ...

label. In February 2007, Concert Artists admitted to falsely attributing music recorded by others to the late Joyce Hatto. Subsequently, a CD of mazurkas by Fiorentino produced by

(CACD9002-2) has been found to contain plagiarised tracks from three other performers. Some of Fiorentino's recordings made during the late fifties and early sixties were issued after the original label's (Saga) failure under pseudonyms by the new owner (Marcel Rodd). The most frequently used pseudonym was "

Paul Procopolis Paul Procopolis is the name given to a non-existent classical pianist who was credited as a performer on various recordings. With the advent of cheap long-playing records, unscrupulous companies issued records of material under pseudonyms to avoid ...

Fiorentino Edition - APR Recordings

* ''Vol. 1 - Scriabin - Rachmaninov - Prokofiev '' (1995) (

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

: Sonata No. 2 op.19; Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata No. 2 op. 36;

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

: Sonata No. 8 op. 84) * ''Vol. 2 - Chopin - Schubert'' (1997) ( Fryderyk Chopin: Sonata No. 3 op. 58;

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

: Sonata No. 21 D960) * ''Vol. 3 - Scriabin - Rachmaninov'' (1997) (

: Sonata No. 1 op. 6 - Sonata No. 4 op. 30; Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata No. 1 op. 28) * ''Vol.4 - Bach'' (1998) (

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

: Partita No. 1 - Violin Sonata No. 1 ranscribed by Fiorentino- Partita No. 4) * ''Vol. 5 - Bach (Vol.2)'' (1998) (

: Prelude and Fugue in D Major; French Suite No. 5; Suite from Violin Partita No. 3; Jesu, Joy of man's desiring ranscribed by Myra Hess">Myra_Hess.html" ;"title="ranscribed by Myra Hess">ranscribed by Myra Hess Prelude and Fugue in E flat Major) * ''Vol. 6 - Schumann'' (1999) (Robert Schumann: Fantasy in C Major op. 17; Arabeske op. 18; Novellette op. 21 No. 1; Sonata No. 2 op. 22; Romanze op. 28 No. 2; "Die Lotosblume" - "Widmung" [Arranged by Fiorentino]) * ''Vol. 7 - Schubert'' (2003) (

: Sonata No. 13; 4 Impromptus D 899; Sonata No. 4) * ''Vol. 8 - Liszt'' (2004) (

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

: Ballade No. 1 and No. 2; Funérailles; La Leggierezza; Waldesrauschen; Sonata in B minor) * ''Vol. 9 - Franck'' (2005) (

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

: Prélude, Fugue et Variations op. 18 ranscribed by Harold Bauer">Harold_Bauer.html" ;"title="ranscribed by Harold Bauer">ranscribed by Harold Bauer Prélude, Chorale et Fugue; Danse Lente; Prélude, Aria et Final) * ''Sergio Fiorentino in Germany - 1993 Live recordings'' (1995) (Bach/Busoni, Beethoven; Chopin, Scriabin, Schumann, Liszt/Gounod, J. Strauss/Tausig, J. Strauss/Godowsky, Tchaikovsky, Brahms) * ''The Early Recordings Vol. 1'' (1999) (The Contemplative Liszt) * ''The Early Recordings Vol. 2'' (1999) (The Virtuoso Liszt) * ''The Early Recordings Vol. 3'' (2000) (Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage Vol. I Suisse) * ''The Early Recordings Vol. 4'' (2002) (Liszt: The Orchestral Recordings) * ''The Early Recordings Vol. 5'' (2006) (Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes) * ''The Early Recordings Vol. 6'' (2008) (Schumann: Carnaval; Kinderszenen; Arabeske; Symphonic Etudes)

Sergio Fiorentino Edition
- Rhine Classics

* RH-006 , 6CD
SERGIO FIORENTINO - complete Rachmaninoff live [1987
/nowiki>]
reviews
(complete solo piano works + Paganini Rhapsody, Piano Concerto No.1, Vocalise) * RH-009 , 1CD
SERGIO FIORENTINO - live in Taiwan [1998
/nowiki>">998">SERGIO FIORENTINO - live in Taiwan [1998
/nowiki>
reviews
(works by: Bach-Busoni, Beethoven, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn) * RH-015 , 9CD
SERGIO FIORENTINO - live in USA [1996/98
/nowiki>]
reviews
(works by: Albéniz, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Franck, Godowsky, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Moszkowski, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, R.Strauss, Tausig, Tchaikovsky)

References

External links

on the Bach-Cantatas.com website

on site of Concert Artist/Fidelio Recordings (site closed down after the Hatto hoax had become known)

at The Sergio Fiorentino Pages (c) by Ernest Lumpe
Carla Di Lena
at Giornale della Musica Pages

at Musica Progetto Pages

at Furcht Pages
About Sergio Fiorentino
at Piano Street

on MusicWeb International
Sergio Fiorentino Live in Taiwan
on Audiophile Audition {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiorentino, Sergio 1927 births 1998 deaths Italian classical pianists male classical pianists Italian male pianists Musicians from Naples 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century Italian musicians 20th-century Italian male musicians

Music career

Fraud with Concert Artists label

Fiorentino Edition - APR Recordings

Sergio Fiorentino Edition- Rhine Classics

References

External links

Sergio Fiorentino Edition
- Rhine Classics