It is a great satisfaction to be able to announce this new Spring release (street date: March 17th, 2023), coming out after many years of performances of such a masterpiece as Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano by John Cage. This achievement was possible thanks to a great team of professionals: Marco Melchior, always by my side recording, Erdem Helvacioglu, mastering, and Philip Blackburn, director and manager of Neuma Records label.
To have a physical copy come listen to one of my concerts or buy it on Bandcamp or on Neuma Records website (also digital download).
…a fresh look into the seven decades old music that both her playing and her musicological insights make as fresh as if the work had been composed last year. Rafael de Acha, All about the Arts , February 27th, 2023
The prepared piano was one of the legacies of composer John Cage, and this album with Agnese Toniutti gives a tribute to the iconoclastic sound and attitude. Is the listener prepared for the prepared piano? George W.Harris, Jazz Weekly, February 27th, 2023
The sound of the work has something special, different from many other editions of this repertoire… we have reason to believe that Cage would have appreciated this magical playful “humus.” Needless to note Toniutti’s executive gracefulness, which blends with that precision of accent inescapable in the most “antipianistic” pianism of the 20th century, devoid of emphasis, restored to a welcoming, almost meditative dimension. Marco Maria Tosolini, Il Gazzettino, March 8th, 2023
Agnese Toniutti, among the greatest “performers” of contemporary classical music, interprets to perfection this summa of modern culture… And the pianist, in approaching the instrument, opts for the wonder of intonation and the delicacy of timbre. Guido Michelone, Alias – Il Manifesto, March 18th, 2023
Certainly there’s much to admire in the Italian pianist Agnese Toniutti’s centered rhythm, rich palette of dynamic nuances, and her sensitive textural delineation…Toniutti unquestionably conveys the music’s roots in dance, as well as Cage’s subtle humor. Her intelligent, well-written booklet notes discuss both the music and the process of getting it ready for performance.
Jed Distler, Classics Today.com, April 3rd, 2023
This is a very enjoyable recording whether it is to be a collector’s only recording of this music or one that stands most favorably in comparison to previous recordings. If this is to be your first recording of this work or if you simply want to hear another interpretation, you will not be disappointed. This is a wonderful performance. […] Keep your eyes and ears open for Agnese Toniutti, an advocate for and a master of the avant garde.
Allan J.Cronin, New Music Buff, April 14th, 2023
…That is why this interpretation by Toniutti is sensational. We are listening to a Martian instrument; the technologization of the old piano is extreme and detected. Then there is the anti-solemn attitude of this performer who manages to bring to mind the amiability of Cage in the midst of games (also paradoxically evocative of the Baroque) that seem to take place among laboratory machines and not in front of the most matronly and bourgeois of keyboard instruments. Mario Gamba, Alias – Il Manifesto, April 22nd, 2023
From the booklet of Sonatas&Interludes, Neuma Records
Delighted to take up the challenge of ERT/Piccoli Palchi and bring my experience of piano experimentation to the very young. After a workshop in classes with kids from 6 to 11 years old, and one with their teachers, I will play in concert for them. The program will include one of their compositions based on selected extended piano techniques along with pieces by some of the distinguished experimenters of their times: Debussy, Cowell, Bartok, Kurtag, Cage.
From kids to adults, very happy to have accepted a teaching position at Conservatorio“G.Tartini” in Trieste.
Here a new review of Subtle Matters by Paolo Carradori for Le Salon Musical: “I don’t know if courage can represent a useful category that can be spent in music criticism, but one thing is certain, this album is a courageous work. … Subtle Matters not only tells us how the piano not traditionally played, far from the bourgeois living rooms, can still give us surprising sound panoramas but also reminds us how the artist, whoever puts his hands inside the instrument, must necessarily put back into play, courageously re-discuss role and visions.”
Below some pics from the last colourful concert on March 26th at Moroso showroom – which in addition had an excellent acoustics. Music by John Cage, Tan Dun and Philip Corner for prepared piano, string piano and… regular one.
Very excited for this upcoming concert – Saturday October 23rd – together with cellist Frances-Marie Uitti in Udine at Salotto Musicale Fvg. “Visionaries”, dedicated to Sylvano Bussotti, is a duo exploration of music by Bussotti, Feldman, Brown, Cage, Stockhausen, together with works by Cardini, Uitti and a brand new work created for us by artist Luciano Martinis. Looking forward to such a great experience!
A dreamy open-air location surrounded by majestic lime trees will host the recital “Lento trascolorare”, with music by Giancarlo Cardini, Caterina Venturelli, Tan Dun, John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi. First planned on a very special day, the 8th of August (see G.Scelsi, 5 Jan 1905 – 8 Aug 1988), then moved to the 22nd to… follow the sun. An ideal place to resound in quietness.
In 1959 John Cage was in Italy. Some Italian composer friends suggested him to partecipate as a mushroom expert to the popular tv quiz “Lascia o raddoppia” led by Mike Bongiorno (here more info in Italian and English). For the occasion he wrote and premiered “Water Walk” and “Sounds of Venice”, for solo television performer. One year later he performed Water Walk again in United States, at the TV show “I’ve Got A Secret” – with some last-minute changes in the original score due to a trade union strike. Unfortunately the video of Radio Televisione Italiana with the first performance is not available anymore. In 2018 I performed in Venice and then in Art Park Verzegnis both “Water Walk” and “Sounds of Venice”, in collaboration with the European project Ecouter le monde, led by RFI and an international network of cultural stakeholders. This repertoire sounds very appropriate for a project that “has an ambition: to develop the practice, the meaning, and the pleasure of listening.” Below are the two video documentations of the pieces.
Credits: with Veniero Rizzardi – direction, Paolo Zavagna – sound projection, Claudio Bellini, Giovanni Dinello and Riccardo Sellan – technical and logistic support Many thanks to Alberta Ziche for the video editing and Claudia Chiggio and Roberto Tonon for the video shooting.
A.Toniutti – J. Cage, Water Walk, for solo television performer (1959)
A.Toniutti – J. Cage, Sounds of Venice, for solo television performer (1959)
Extraordinary opening of the year with Salotto Musicale del Friuli Venezia Giulia 6th concert series: on January 11th in Udine – Libreria Martincigh, presentation of the 2019/20 season with Gary Brackett – Living Theatre Europe, and on January 18th in Villa Aurora – Fagagna, concert with music by JohnCage and works of art by BobRauschenberg and MerceCunningham. A great start for a new season featuring also music by Lucia Dlugosewski, Alan Hovhaness, György Kurtág and many others. Below a TV news interview (in Italian) about the program.
In March two concerts focussed on the work of women composers. On the 10th of March the performance for Camino deGenere Festival at Camino al Tagliamento (Udine, Italy): music by Fanny Mendellsohn, Alina Piechowska, Giovanni Vannoni, Caterina Venturelli, Stathis Gyfthakis, Mieko Shiomi. On the 15th an other step in my research on connections between men and women composers at Salotto Musicale del Friuli Venezia Giulia: a first encounter with Lucia Dlugoszewski‘s music for timber piano, together with pieces by John Cage for prepared piano (and not).
A marzo due concerti a forte percentuale femminile: il 10 marzo ore 17.30 per il festival Camino deGenere (un nome, un programma…) a Camino al Tagliamento (Ud), con musiche di Fanny Mendellsohn, Alina Piechowska, Giovanni Vannoni, Caterina Venturelli, Stathis Gyfthakis, Mieko Shiomi. Il 15 marzo ore 21 una nuova tappa della ricerca di connessioni tra compositori e compositrici per il Salotto Musicale del Friuli Venezia Giulia: una serata dedicata ai newyorkesi Lucia Dlugoszewski e John Cage, inventori rispettivamente del timber piano e del pianoforte preparato (e non solo!).
Camino de Genere Festival, 8th-10th March 2019
Salotto Musicale del Friuli Venezia Giulia, 15th March 2019
