music
noon, December 14, 2021 – 09:23
The extraordinary rise in the Land of the Rising Sun of a classical pianist who does not disdain rock
from Renato Marengo
Quella by Alberto Pizzo, an extraordinary Neapolitan pianist who is becoming a real star in Japan, a really good story to tell. A story that starts from the alleys of the historic center and is intertwined with two simple distances: the 350 meters that separate his Neapolitan house from the conservatory of San Pietro a Maiella – the place of his musical studies – and the 9,945 kilometers that divide his hometown. and Tokyo, where he was literally “captured” by Yamaha which engaged him for numerous concerts and transformed him into one of its six world testimonials, the only one – by the way – western. A story with a happy ending but with a slightly bitter aftertaste, given that it can be ascribed to the many stories that have the saying as their moral no prophet in your country. But Alberto is young – 42 next March – and he still has a long way to go.
When I met him, with the program Demo of Rai Radio1, we organized, with Michael Pergolani, some events related to the vocation (as we called ourselves at the time) of “talent catcher”: we brought on big stages some of the best talents among those who were proposed in the broadcast, and often we also invited big names of the pop, rock and jazz to be their “godparents”. Many artists of the Napule’s Power participated in these evenings, from Tony Esposito and Eugenio Bennato, from Enzo Gragnaniello to Teresa De Sio, but also other friends like Alberto Radius, Eugenio Finardi, Niccol Fabi, Ron. And among these guests we also tried Alberto Pizzo on a couple of occasions. A gamble: a classic pianist on a rock stage. But he had the ability to pass with the utmost ease from Chopin to Carosone, or from Rachmaninov to Thelonius Monk. Apart from his great technical ability and a very vital emotional charge not common among “normal” conservatory concert players, his ability to range outside the standard repertoire was striking, with an extraordinary genius and talent.
Alberto definitely had an edge as he put his fingers on the keyboard. Bravo, modern, exuberant, not “built” but really – spontaneously – “different”. The thing that intrigued, which surprised, was his declared (and passionate) love for Renato Carosone, of whom he performed to perfection Pianofortissimo, a piece that combines a simple melody with a musical structure certainly not within everyone’s reach. He loved Carosone, but also Chik Korea. And when in public, in front of the rock or jazz audience, he – who for the first few times appeared in a “classical concert” suit – left the audience speechless by personalizing his performances with truly tumultuous flashes.
It was an inevitable love at first sight, so strong that I found the old – but never dormant – spirit of the producer. Thus we find ourselves making plans and arranging meetings at a time when everything, in the world of discography, was becoming more and more complicated and, at the same time, less productive. I talked about it to Franco Bixio, son of the great Cesare Andrea Bixio, author of Mom, Living, A road in bosco and many other great songs including Tell me about love Mari. And just with a piano version of Tell me about love Mari I propose it to Bixio and therefore to Cinevox, the record company of the cinema which, moreover, had already stopped publishing records by new artists for some years, dedicating itself solely to great soundtracks. Listening on Bixio’s part is almost a favor (we were working together on a large exhibition dedicated to his father): Renato – he tells me – you know well that in Cinevox we no longer make records even to great international songwriters or artists, but let’s listen to him. Possibility is therefore almost nil. But instead Alberto performs, right on the historic upright piano of the great CABixio, his personal, “overwhelming” and exciting version of Tell me about love Mari. it is a good memory to think of Franco who confesses moved, embracing the young pianist, that his father’s song, played in that way, he had never heard in his life. Thus a disc was born with a collection of famous songs, also classics of Neapolitan music and pieces of his composition: Tightrope walker .
In Napule’s Power we read that La musica del Napule’s Power it continues to evolve, to regenerate itself with new ideas, new life, new contributions, new styles. In 2012 I met Alberto Pizzo, whom I had invited to my program on Rai Demo on Radio1. Alberto an extraordinary pianist, recently released from the Conservatory. While remaining well connected to the great composers of piano music, he confesses that he had been trying for some time, whenever he happened to “transgress” from a strictly classical line, to devote himself to his passion for Carosone and Chick Corea.
After Tightrope walker, continues the book I then produced his second cd, On The Way, where I invited great artists such as Toquinho, David Knopfler, Francesca Schiavo, Renzo Arbore, who played the clarinet in a song and then a jazz player among the most appreciated in NY, the guitarist Fabrizio Sotti, an Italian transplanted from a very young age to the USA, to collaborate. and the great Mino Cinelu on percussion. Contamination of the Napule’s Power thanks to Pizzo’s agile hands, it spread from New York to London, and we recorded the third cd for Sony Classical in the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, with the participation of the London Symphony Orchestra and the artistic direction of Luis Bacalov . Alberto Pizzo then performed in a series of extraordinary three-piano concerts, always playing together with Bacalov and with Rita Marcotulli, Stefano Bollani, Danilo Rea and Chick Corea.
Married to Yuki Sunami, an excellent Japanese opera singer – she too passed away from her studies at the Naples conservatory – Alberto therefore began to play more and more often in Japan and Korea and during one of his stays in Tokyo he was convinced to stay. With Yuki Alberto has a small son who goes around Tokyo wearing Maradona’s shirt. Among his latest works, in addition to intense international concert activity, the music for a short by the Neapolitan Tullio Imperatore on a piece dedicated to Maradona, The tango del Diez, and a song written for a Japanese music star, Kei Chan, one of the “Pink Lady”, who has been on the crest of the wave for thirty years, and an electronic music album with the participation of Paolo Fresu
Nostalgia for Naples? Yes, of course, but mitigated on the one hand by the good professional environment of Tokyo and on the other by a discovery made a few days after his move. Alberto tells us this: One day, attracted by a sign, I enter a pizzeria. It’s called the Crocchio pizzeria. There I discover a pizza chef, Key, who makes a pizza like the one that is made in my neighborhood. Key ‘studied Pizza’ with Salvatore Cuomo, a Neapolitan who over 20 years ago set up a real Pizza empire in the East, with hundreds of restaurants and pizzerias. Luck would have it that when I came to live in Tokyo, about 2 and a half years ago, despite my fear of not being able to taste my authentic Neapolitan pizza, I discovered that 10 minutes from my park there is a managed pizzeria. from a Japanese who not only prepares a wonderful pizza but also a coffee and a really top sfogliatella. And, do you know the latest? I have never been to Naples. In short, a gift that the new life in the Far East has reserved for me.
December 14, 2021 | 09:23
© Time.News