Conservatories on Stage: Conservatorio "Monteverdi", Cremona

An Encounter Between Historical Recording and Live Performance

The Conservatorio di Musica “Claudio Monteverdi” di Cremona presents its String Quartet in a programme that brings together the great Romantic tradition with a fascinating encounter between technology, recorded memory and live performance.

The exceptional protagonist — if only in spirit — will be the legendary Polish pianist Raoul Koczalski (1884–1948), a major figure in the history of Chopin interpretation and a pupil of Karol Mikuli, who had himself studied with Fryderyk Chopin. Thanks to Disklavier technology, audiences will be able to hear Koczalski’s interpretation of the first movement of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, reconstructed from a historic piano-roll recording.

The piano will reproduce Koczalski’s performance live, preserving its distinctive dynamic, agogic and rhythmic nuances, while the Conservatory String Quartet simultaneously performs the orchestral part in Chopin’s own arrangement for string quartet. The result is a unique dialogue across time: a performer from the past symbolically returns to the stage to make music with a new generation of musicians.

The concert thus becomes a bridge between different eras: from Chopin’s great Romantic tradition to Koczalski’s recorded interpretative legacy and the young musicians of today, in an experience where historical documentation and contemporary live performance meet on the same stage.

The program is also including live performances by other students of the Monteverdi Conservatory, performing Tchaikovsky and Chopin.

Programme

Historical Recording Meets Live Performance

Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
I. Allegro maestoso
for piano and string quartet

Raoul Koczalski, piano
historical piano-roll recording reproduced live on Disklavier

String Quartet of the Conservatorio di Musica “Claudio Monteverdi” di Cremona
Emma Bertozzi, Violin I
Stefan Stancic, Violin II
Francesco Costamagna, Viola
Federica Colombo, Cello

Tchaikovsky

Pëtr Il’ič Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42
No. 1, Méditation

Beatrice Soccorso, violin
Lucija Majstorović, piano

Chopin

Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849)
Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54

Giovanni Pierotti, piano