Kian Soltani / Jae Hong Park

The concert at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, part of the Chamber Music Season of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, features cello virtuoso Kian Soltani who opens with the Persian Folk Songs by  the contemporary Iranian composer Reza Vali, a fascinating tribute to the culture of his homeland, a piece rich in archaic influences. This is followed by Schubert's celebrated Arpeggione Sonata, with its unmistakable melodic grace, and finally the Rachmaninov's Sonata, Op. 19. At the piano, we find the winner of the 2021 Busoni Competition, the young Korean talent Jae Hong Park.

The Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor, D. 821, was composed by Franz Schubert in 1824 in Vienna. In the Sonata, the composer uses a very particular instrument, the "arpeggione" (also known as the "bow guitar," "love guitar," or "cello guitar"), invented and built in Vienna by Johann Georg Staufer in 1823, which remained in use for only a little over ten years. In the work, the composer, experimenting with unusual instrumental solutions, seems interested in expanding the range of the instrumentation. The Sonata, however, is the only significant composition for arpeggione that has survived.

Sergei Rachmaninov's Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19, is a true masterpiece of late Russian Romanticism, composed in 1901 immediately after his famous Piano Concerto No. 2. Characterized by deep emotional intensity and remarkable virtuosity, the sonata is divided into four movements, with a lyrical andante and a rather energetic finale.

National Academy of Santa Cecilia - Chamber Music Season - Auditorium Parco della Musica - Rome

Cello: Kian Soltani
Piano: Jae Hong Park

Schubert: Sonata in A minor, D. 821 “Arpeggione”
Reza Vali: Persian Folk Songs
Rachmaninov: Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19

Photo: the Auditorium Parco della Musica official site