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Angelo La Manna - Francesco Bissanti
Gershwin Milhaud Copland Rachmaninov Satie
Rhapsody
Angelo La Manna - Francesco Bissanti
Gershwin Milhaud Copland Rachmaninov Satie
Rhapsody
The album
I had several opportunities to listen to the duo Bissanti - La Manna in concert. Firstly, it is definitely enga ging for the rarity or rather, for the novelty of the instruments combina tion and the musical program it presents. At the end of a performan ce, maestro La Manna was approa ched by the audience, who were so fascinated by the musical perfor mance and the timbre of his great marimba, that they wanted to know more about the story, the technical characteristics, the different drumsti cks that from time to time had been used...
I can only say that the repertoire of this CD and the way it was compiled, is extremely appealing: from the ra re version of Scaramouche of Mil haud to the even rarer readjustment of "El Salon Mexico " of Copland, to the unimaginable version of Rhapso dy in blue by Gershwin, the duo Bissanti - La Manna brings us to re live the most popular music of the last century (well represented by pa ges before and after the Fifties), in an anthology of great French composers (such as Satie and Milhaud) and Americans (such as Gershwin and Copland).
lnside this gold mine of rarity you will hear the Russian Rhapsody of the Great Sergej, originally written for two pianos, a youth work (1891) composed the year before gradu ating, following the A-B-A scheme, with a nostalgie andante in the cen trai part, and a crackling first theme that is proposed with extremely live ly variants.
The artist
Angelo La Manna
Angelo La Manna, percussionist, was born in Nola (Na) on the 2 of September 1980, he moved to Bergamo in 2009 where he lives permanently. Attracted from early age by the sound of percussion instruments, he is increasingly fascinated by the decisive character of percussion instruments, which is why from there he decided to undertake the musical educational path at the Conservatory "D. Cimarosa” of Avellino (NA), under the guidance of Maestro S. Valletta, following the sound of marimba. He collaborates for several years with the percussion only group "Nuova ricerca sonora", with which he performs in various Italian cities; he participates in workshops of contemporary music, interpretation for ensembles, department of sacred and ancient music, musical language; Member of the Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, he performs in various concerts. In 2002 in Perugia and in 2003 in Trento he attended the masters held by L.H. Steven, perfecting technique and musical expression: crucial meetings for his artistic growth. Since 2013 he has been performing regularly with the pianist Francesco Bissanti ; he is a teacher at the 1st grade secondary school "Caroli" in Stezzano (BG).
The artist
FRANCESCO BISSANTI
Francesco Bissanti was born on 30 June 1979 in the province of Foggia. At the age of 7 years old he began the study of piano, under the guidance first of the Maestro G. Spagnoli and then of the Maestro F.Monopoli, graduated with full marks and honors at the Conservatory "N. Piccinni" in Bari. He perfected himself for several years with the Maestro L. Passaglia, obtaining the "Diploma of Excellence" at the Umbrian Academy of Perugia. With the Maestro V.Balzani he began a long and intense path of improvement under the technical-interpretative profile of the different repertoires of the piano literature. He obtained numerous awards resulting awarded and absolute winner in several national and international piano competitions, such as international competition “Ecomusic” of Monopoli (2nd prize), “Città di San Giovanni Teatino” (1st absolute prize), “Città di Bucchianico” (1st prize); Winner of a scholarship at the IX competition for musical performance of Giulianova "Rotary Club", “Città di Ortona” (1st prize), international competition "V. Martina "of Massafra (2nd prize), international competition"Città di San Gemini "(1st prize), international competition" Magliano Sabina "(1st prize), international competition of Montalto Ligure"Premio Maria Grazia Vivaldi "(2nd prize), international competition "L'Estro Armonico" city of Ladispoli (1st absolute prize), international competition of Teramo " Premio Ars Nova" (1st absolute prize, with a score of 100/100), city of Foligno competition (1st absolute prize and absolute winner of the competition), Caramanico Terme international competition “Paolo Barrasso” (1st prize), international competition of piano performance “Ernesto Falla” of Candelo (3rd prize).
In 2006 he obtained with 110 cum laude the Second Level Academic Diploma in "Chamber Music" at the I.M.P.G. Braga of Teramo. He holds the role of piano teacher in the SMIM "A.Moro" of Seriate( Bg).