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The “Violin Sonata in B minor”, considered one of the masterpieces of Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, has been transformed into a “Piano Sonata” by the pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi. The transcription was written in a few months during the Covid-19 outbreak, and a performance video was posted on YouTube by Pompa-Baldi himself. The video was very well received and there were many requests for the publication of the score. The piece is naturally challenging, as it requires extensive use of the sostenuto pedal in order to create effective acoustic effects. You can see his advanced pedal technique in the performance video.
I. Moderato
II. Andante espressivo
III. Passacaglia. Allegro moderato ma energico
Antonio Pompa-Baldi
Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, France, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Paris’ Salle Pleyel, to name a few. He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Theodore Kuchar, Benjamin Zander, Louis Lane, and Keith Lockhart. He has performed with ensembles and colleagues such as Takacs String Quartet, Alison Balsom, Sharon Robinson, Areta Zhulla, and principals of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and New York Philharmonic, among others.
With a concerto repertoire including more than 60 works, Mr. Pompa-Baldi recently performed cycles of all the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos, the five Beethoven Piano Concertos, and both Brahms Concertos with various orchestras. He has played recitals in most major venues over the world. Mr. Pompa-Baldi has recorded over 30 CDs to date, for various labels including Centaur Records, Harmonia Mundi, Steinway, TwoPianists, Azica, and Brilliant Classics. Among them, the complete piano and chamber music works of Grieg, the Josef Rheinberger Piano Sonatas, the complete Hummel Piano Sonatas, and CDs dedicated to Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Respighi, and Rachmaninoff.
For the Steinway label, Pompa-Baldi recorded a disc of songs by Francis Poulenc and Edith Piaf, arranged for solo piano, to commemorate the 50th year of the passing of both French musical icons, as well as a CD titled “Napoli”, which features new piano versions of famous Neapolitan songs. His latest releases feature Concertos for Violin, Piano and Orchestra by Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Hummel, as well as a CD of newly composed Opera Fantasies on La Bohème and Carmen, by Roberto Piana.
Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist since 2003. He is often invited to judge international piano competitions such as the Cleveland, Hilton Head, E-Competition (Minneapolis), BNDES Rio de Janeiro, and Edward Grieg (Bergen), among many others. He serves as president of the jury and artistic advisor for the San Jose International Piano Competition since 2006.
Pompa-Baldi is on the Piano Faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. His students have been prizewinners in important competitions such as Marguerite Long, Hilton Head, Isang Yun, and Gina Bachauer. He is regularly invited to teach masterclasses in countless Universities, Music Schools, and Festivals in the US and all over the world. He holds honorary professorships from the Beijing China Conservatory, Shenyang Conservatory, and several other institutions.
From 2009 to 2012, Pompa-Baldi worked in Santo Domingo with Fundación por la Musica, mentoring young Dominican pianists through the Manuel Rueda program. In 2015, Pompa-Baldi founded the Todi International Music Masters festival, of which he is also Artistic Director and Faculty Member. This summer festival takes place every August in the beautiful Italian town of Todi. It features 15 concerts in 15 days, with internationally renown faculty members, and students from all over the world.
アントニオ・ポンパ=バルディ(Antonio Pompa-Baldi)
