Charlene Farrugia, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Rebecca Raimondi, Stefan Jess-Kropfitsch - Fiorini: In the Midst of Things – Piano & Chamber Music (2021) [Hi-Res]

Maltese composer Karl Fiorini is a European without frontiers – the compositions in this album reflect his early detachment from a Mediterranean identity towards a more varied and intense sound world. Trio Lamina features elements of Bartók’s "night music" in its complex sub-sections, whereas Fiorini’s two piano studies, which predate his move to Paris, already exude a Gallic ambience. Influenced by North African folk music, the Piano Trio expands his global reach, and the Piano Sonata, a gritty virtuoso concert piece, shifts geographical influence towards Eastern Europe to powerful effect. All of these world première recordings were recorded in the presence of the composer.

“I met Karl Fiorini for the first time in London in 2007. At the time he was working intensely on seeking new musical paths overcoming academicism. I was quickly immersed within his novel ideas. Our artistic partnership has since evolved and deepened from time spent between Malta and Venice, moving on to Brussels, Paris and Vienna, and over the years we've developed a lasting, great friendship. Interpreting Fiorini’s music has been a particularly effective journey for me. Technically, intellectually, spiritually, his Piano Sonata is enormously difficult – a work where virtuosity and physical facility is not merely a question of speed or dexterity but a means towards the realisation of sound and the absolute control of its release”. (Charlene Farrugia)