Cecilia Ziano: Waiting for Paganini
KHA

While Waiting for Paganini marks Cecilia Ziano's recording debut as a soloist, the violinist has seen and done much in the years leading up to the release. Born in 1991 in Ciriè, she began playing at the age of four and after graduating from the Milan Conservatory moved to Berlin where multiple opportunities arose, including a chance to play with the Berlin Philharmonic and subsequently the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 2018 she became the Principal Second in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and a year later the same position in the Claudio Abbado-founded Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Ziano is also first violin in the Quartetto Lyskamm, which issued a recording of two Bartók string quartets in 2021. As wide a range as she commands, she holds a particular passion for the Baroque and classical repertoire, which manifests itself on this comprehensive outing on the Italian label KHA.

Recorded in February 2021 at the Auditorium Collegio Seraphicum in Rome, the release packs sixteen pieces into forty-seven minutes, with pianist Alessandro Stella accompanying her on four settings. Whereas he plays a Steinway & Sons model D, she plays on two different instruments, one a baroque violin and the other modern, and two different bows, likewise baroque and modern. If it seems curious that Ziano titled the album Waiting for Paganini when it doesn't actually include him, it's because the decision was made to dedicate a forthcoming album to the legendary virtuoso rather than represent him with a single track. He's hardly missed, however, when the range of composers featured is so broad and when the material, spanning four centuries, showcases Ziano's scintillating technique. Ravishing runs aplenty arise in pieces written by German, French, Italian, Belgian, Finnish, Russian, Austrian, and Spanish composers.

The set-list also changes rapidly when only three of the pieces extend beyond the four-minute mark; at the short end, five are in the one-minute range, with the longest track a performance of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's “Passagalia in G minor, C 105” that lasts just over eight minutes. The pacing and poise she exhibits in this remarkable performance reveal a musician deeply attuned to the material and in complete control. Her playing is distinguished by, among other things, clarity of tone and unerring pitch, and as satisfying as it is to hear her with Stella the pieces featuring her alone are perhaps even more captivating. The listener's held spellbound by her commanding execution of J. S. Bach's “Giga” (Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004). As dazzling are her handling of the “Prelude” from Austrian violinist Johann Joseph's Vilsmayr Partita No. 5 in G minor, the “Giga” from Giuseppe Tartini's Sonata in A minor “La mia Filli,” and the “Allegro assai” from Ivan Khandoshkin's 3 Violin Sonatas, Op.3, No. 1 in G Minor.

January 2023