Sonatas in A for piano and violin – Sonatas in F for piano and cello

Not even three years separate the two Sonatas brought together on this CD, a short span of time within which the composer’s life is intimately disrupted by the sudden death of his wife.
The same dramatic tension, animates the life of the Sonata in A, “Tempestoso.”
Pizzetti’s dualism between dramatic excitement and contemplative relaxation finds intense affirmation with the second movement, “Preghiera per gli innocenti” renews the nostalgic sense of a distant childhood.
The Sonata, completed in March 1919 and published by the English publisher Chester, is destined to enter the repertoire of famous performers and first performed in July 1919, performers Ernesto Consolo and Mario Corti.
When Pizzetti began composing the Sonata in F, on July 27, 1921, only a few months had passed since the sudden death of his wife, a young pianist.
The composer indicates the entry of the cello in the opening “Largo,” which is precisely a dialogue between the two instruments: the piano and the cello.
In the second movement, heartbreak bursts violently “Molto concitato e angoscioso,” with the piano’s tumultuous unison quatrains on which the cello intervenes with harsh sorties; only in the last bars does the storm of the soul seem to subside. Then, at the opening of the third movement, the cello appears “tired and sad,” in a trepid monologue where a sweet melody gradually revives. The piano discreetly reappears with delicate arpeggiated figures, to gradually join in the sweetness of an embrace that “with growing emotion” lets a light of comfort shine through, until the final “perdendosi.”
The Sonata in F was first performed at the Società del Quartetto in Milan in December 1921, performers Ernesto Consolo and Enrico Mainardi.