‘Macugnaga Piano Trail, a quality edition’, il Torinese (M. Martellotta), 2020
Also the 2020 edition of the Macugnaga Piano Trail, which was held completely online due to the restrictions in connection with the containment of the Covid 19 pandemic, was concluded with great audience approval.
(…) In the third evening, Chopin was back again with the two etudes No. 1 and No. 12 op.25 performed by Albertina Dalla Chiara. This pianist, teacher and musicologist, enchanted with her perfect and clean sounds: Chopin's notes, intense and enriched with nostalgia, reached audiences inside their homes, like a precious and unstoppable waterfall, to make them experience the wonderful grace of the deep romanticism of the Polish composer's music. Furthermore, those who missed the opportunity to follow her performances in large concert halls had a chance to listen to and see this great performer in a quieter and more intimate context.
‘Romance and revolution’, Times of Malta (A. Storace), 2015
(Schumann Fantasiestücke op.12) (…) The contrasting moods, among others, of exuberance and gloom, hope and disappointment, languid wonder and fearful nightmares alternate all the time, and each and every piece was very well executed. Each came across akin to a compact pictorial description and equally treated with great care. Finally, after all the ups and downs it ended on a rather gloriously-epic note.
(…) Dalla Chiara devoted the rest of her recital to Skryabin, who died a century ago. The completely-new sound world came almost as a shock to ears attuned to the previously performed pieces. Here was something very challenging, exciting and serving as a sort of clarion call to expand and stretch limits.
The tribute the pianist paid to this composer rests a lot on insight into Skryabin’s world, no doubt finely honed through her long years of study in Russia.
The Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op.19, in two highly-contrasting movements (andante-presto), reveals earlier Romantic influences but speaks in his own language with a touch of Romanticism.
More comfortably called a sonata-fantasy, the work unfolded brilliantly. The pianist’s resources coped well with the sonata, demanding from the technical point of view.
The mainly-lyric and serene andante was followed by a convincingly stormy, fast, energetic yet ever-articulate presto. Germs of future typically-ingenious characteristics which marked Skryabin’s fully-mature style surface here and there in Op.19. It was certainly heard even more in the later Preludes of Op.74 which with Vers la flamme, a poème pour piano Op.72, concluded the recital.
In these “testamentary” pieces the pianist clearly demonstrated a steady progress along the path of atonality, dissonance, fiery, sweeping thematic material and an air of exotic and mystical.
‘Dalla Chiara at the Piano, an excellent rendering of Skrjabin’, L’Arena (G. Villani), 2010
Third appointment for the meetings with the Academy 2010 with a very crowded lecture concert by Albertina Dalla Chiara in the “Sala Maffeiana” on the subject ‘Alexander Skrjabin: vision and power of art’. The pianist emphasized the mystic genesis and the deep meanings of the Russian musician - who is, at the same time, a poet, a writer and a philosopher - from which his music originates, his anxious search for a new musical language which goes beyond traditional coding and is strictly related to the need to carry out his mission, cathartic and liberating for mankind. In the course of her speech, Dalla Chiara spoke extensively about Skrjabin’s life, she read passages from his note-books and from the writings of his friend Boris Pasternak: all these sources are proof of the elaborate programmatic contents of this musician, his mysticism, his psychosis and transcendence, that are sometimes difficult to determine and to discern. For a pianist, measuring up to Skrjabin also implies being faced with a performing tradition of great insight (Dalla Chiara developed her craft right in Russia itself, in fact) that starts with this composer, then finds its complete definition with Sofronitsky and ends up with Richter. The Veronese artist performed the Etude op.8 no.11 and the Sonata no.2 op.19, in which Skrjabin paints the sea in its several aspects of quietness, depth, storm.
She modelled her phrasing on tradition, full of hesitations and sudden accelerations, characterised by an excellent balance between moments of tension and of relaxation, and by robust and controlled virtuosity. However, her clarity of texture was noteworthy and she performed every single detail of the composition.
‘The chamber music of the Salzburger Trio – Their strong Mitteleuropean taste delighted the audience’ Gazzetta d’Asti (M.F. Berruti), 2007
Last Saturday at Palazzo Ottolenghi, the music of the Salzburger Trio - a refined chamber music formation characterised by a strong Mitteleuropean flavour - delighted a large, passionate audience. (…) The line-up - Luz Leskowitz on violin, Barbara Lübke on Cello, and Albertina Dalla Chiara on piano - was the result of a significant cooperation and distinguished itself for a kind of collective research of sound and the way it is created. The first performance, dedicated to the Trio KV 548 by Mozart, revealed an absolute lightness and singability. The incipit (Allegretto) seemed to rise up from the mundane scenery seeking refuge in the levity of the thin notes that were played by the piano and repeated by the cello, in an alternation of great impact. The following Andante Cantabile availed itself of great and deep expressiveness. The final Allegro revealed agility and fluidity in the subtle exchange between piano and violin, in a crescendo (retained) and in all the extremely eighteenth-century flavour of this score. (…) The sign of a great success was clear to see in the great tribute of applause paid to them at the end of their performance.
‘Sinneseindrücke in Töne gesetz’ Wolfsburg Nachricht (A. Kannenberg), 2006
Unmittelbar gestaltete die Künstlerin die stimmungsvollen 12 Préludes zu anschaulicher Bildhaftigkeit. Impressionistische Klänge von Sinneseindrücken zum Beispiel von wehenden Segeln, dem Wind in der Ebene, den Düften der Abendluft, sind feinsinnig in fantasievollen Klangnuancen festgehalten. (…) Später spielte virtuose Klaviermusik von Frédéric Chopin und Franz Liszt. Klangpoesie schmelzend romantische Melodien und wilde Anhäufungen technischer Anforderungen bei Chopin, eigenwillige Themenführungen: Albertina Dalla Chiara verliert sich nicht in extremen Posen oder technischen Finessen, sie formuliert fast streng und findet ihr Hauptanliegen in musikalischen Ausdruck. (…) Die begeistert applaudierenden Zuhörer wurden durch eine poetische Zugabe belohnt.
(The artist played the 12 suggestive preludes right away in a highly imaginative fashion. The impressionist sounds coming from the impressions of the senses - such as the waving sails, the wind of the plane, the scent of the evening air - have been sensitively expressed in the nuances of sounds that are full of imagination. (…) Later on, she played virtuoso music by Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. Poetry of sound, romantic melodies and a wild amount of technical challenges posed by Chopin, stubborn thematic directions: Albertina Dalla Chiara was not put off by the extreme poses or technical subtleties, she formulated, almost severely, and found her motivation in musical expression. (…) The audience, who applauded enthusiastically, was rewarded by a poetic extra.)
‘An inspired Dalla Chiara’, L’Arena (G. Villani), 2003
The artist seems somehow to surrender to the fantastic visions which reveal a kind of nostalgia for that simple and unspoiled age, still unaware of the absurdity of existence, happily sheltered from the great enigma of life (Schumann’s Scenes from childhood op.15). Her pianism revealed a more romantic connotation in the renowned Fantasia Improvviso op.66 by Chopin, played at a fast tempo, but with great rhythmic softness. She managed to combine the passion and the power of sound with clear sensitivity for touch and phrasing… Really serious applause from a sold-out house.
Die Rheinpfalz, 2001
(Clara Wieck: Klavierkonzert a-Moll op.7) Albertina Dalla Chiara aus Verona spielte den Solopart mit sicherem Stilgefühl, ausgezeichneter Technik und genauem Zusammenspiel mit dem groß besetzten Orchester, gegen dessen Klangwogen sie sich immer behaupten konnte. (...) Eine leise Zugabe, die vielleicht auch aus der Feder der Wieck stammte, bestätigte den Eindruck einen sehr sensiblen Künstlerin die in der perlenden Geläufigkeit und der Anmut einiger Abschnitte eine glaubwürdige Sachwalterin der Schumann-Gattin war.
(Clara Wieck, concerto for piano and orchestra in A minor op.7) Albertina Dalla Chiara, from Verona, played the solo part with confident stylistic sense, excellent technique and in great harmony with the large orchestra, always mastering the big waves of sound. (...) A delicate extra, once again written by Wieck, confirmed the impression of an extremely sensitive artist who, in the sparkling fluency and gracefulness of some parts, may even seem to be a convincing representative of Schumann’s wife).
‘A couple in perfect harmony’ L’Arena (G. Villani), 2001
(…) The cellist Zoltan Szabò deserves an unreserved ‘excellent’ for his control of intonation, his variety of bow strokes, the clarity of the most difficult passages. Albertina Dalla Chiara proved to be no less than her companion. She played the card of an instrument vibrating with harmonics, rich in airiness and bel canto gracefulness, as well as discretion when she had to give the way to the cello. (…) A concert that left its mark (as the applause of the audience made absolutely clear at the end), rich in vigour as well as in gracefulness and good taste, where the bravura of the performers was, at times, even stunning.
‘A successfully performed scherzo’, L’Arena (C. Zocca), 2001
Mitteleuropean by birth and musical education, Albertina Dalla Chiara has an approach to music that is rather than mundane, extremely inward-looking, with special sensitivity in her search for the internal parts she likes to emphasize and to sing, which makes her performances absolutely personal. Her interest in the analysis, especially in terms of timbre, that is carried out within the piece itself, has an effective impact on the audience which is captured and caught by the energetic verve of such an unsuspected intensity, considering the delicate figure who is seating at the piano. (…) Enthusiastic success from the large audience.
‘Viennese Classicism with the Verona Trio’, Il Gazzettino (E. De Nadai), 2001
(...) To the crystal clear brightness, to the perfect control over the sound of this pianist, the strings provided a ‘carpet ’ of magical delicacy, simply blooming with delicate imitative bits. (...) The Trio gave an admirable lesson of ‘chamber music’ in terms of absolute respect, almost of affection for their mutual musical contribution. (…) Extremely warm approval by the audience.
‘Casa Tartini: concerts of the highest level’, La voce del popolo (S. Zannerini), 1997
The leading role in the first concert was played by the impeccable Albertina Dalla Chiara, a Veronese pianist with real class who has by now quite an intense experience as concert performer. The first impression, which is then confirmed throughout the programme, is of an artist who manages, by means of the keyboard, to convey to the audience, with the greatest naturalness and lucidity, the message of the score filtered through her own inner world which becomes part of the performance itself. This is a great talent whose origins are necessarily based on an accurate work of research and analysis.
‘Giordano Veronesi welcomes young members in the Arena Foundation’- L’Arena (G. Villani), 1997
(...) The pianist Albertina Dalla Chiara closed the concert with a remarkable performance of the Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel. The truly personal result achieved by our pianist was absolutely convincing and the best possible solution to conclude the concert. Of course she received the applause of all the audience as a sign of recognition for her great skill and maturity.
Hamburger Abendblatt (T. Sheuermann), 1995
(...) Nach der Pause war Albertina Dalla Chiara in ihrem Element – plötzlich entpuppte sie sich als glänzende Chopin-Interpretin. Die fünf ausgewählten hochvirtuosen Etüden (aus Opus 25) stellten sie vor keine Probleme, sie fand sogar Zeit für eine intensive emotionale Ausdeutung dieser Stücke.
(...) (After the break, Albertina Dalla Chiara was in her element – she was suddenly a brilliant performer of Chopin. The etudes chosen among those extremely virtuoso ones of op.25, were not a problem for her, she even found time for an intense and emotional expression of these pieces).
‘Impressionism and the 'esprit de géometrie’, Il Piccolo (S. Bianchi), 1995
(...) Her reading immediately attracts our attention thanks to her masterful care in delineating formal contours and melodic profiles. The result is somehow like a Debussy on graph paper: however, between the recesses of an exhausted 'esprit de géometrie’, the Veronese pianist manages to extract the thin harmonic alchemies that are concealed in the ’Impressionism’ of the Debussy’s writing. The dynamic range is rich and diversified and, with regard to neatness, it is like standing in front of a Mondrian picture.
‘Concert by italian pianist’, The Times (Malta, A. G. Storace), 1994
(Chopin E minor concerto op. 11) Miss Dalla Chiara possesses formidable technique. (...) It was in the larghetto that she was at her all round best. It sounded and felt lovely, the beautifully decorative and elaborate ornamentation providing a means to an end. Her touch was even more assertive in the concluding vivace.
‘Gespannter Erwartung entsprochen’ Thüringische Landeszeitung (U. Omonsky), 1989
(Mozart: Klavierkonzert KV 271) Als Solistin konnte Albertina Dalla Chiara aus Italien begrüsst werden, ein ebenfalls hoffnungsvolles Nachwuchstalent. In der klanglichen Realisierung der Mozartschen Partitur ergänzte sie sich im dialogischen Wechselspiel von Klavier und Orchester mit Henzolds Affinität zum Detail und seinem von Akribie gezeichneten Umgang mit dem Werk hervorragend. Der klaviersolistischen Interpretation oblagen beherzte wie auch zarte Tone, lockeres „Parlando“ wie rezitativische Spannung, kleingliedrige Poetik wie spielerische Virtuosität – alles von Dalla Chiara „sehr brillant (und) angenehm in die Ohren“ (Mozart) gemeistert. Nach der gehaltvollen Interpretation des umfangreichen Klavierparts dieser auch konzertgeschichtlich relevanten Komposition erscheint die Zugabe der Künstlerin besonders dankenswert. Die Chopin-Etüde gab ihr Gelegenheit zu kraftvoll-virtuosem Musizieren.
(Mozart: Piano Concert KV 271) (As soloist, an appreciated guest from Italy, Albertina Dalla Chiara, another young promising talent. In her great achievement with this score by Mozart, in the dialogue between piano and orchestra, she joined in with the sensitivity of Henzold (1st at the Toscanini Competition in 1988) marvellously. All that is required of a solo performance – intense as well as gentle sounds, an almost free "speaking” as well as tension in the recitatives, poetry of details as well as playful virtuosity – was achieved in a masterly fashion by Dalla Chiara, in what proved to be a brilliant and pleasant experience for the ear” (Mozart). After an intensive performance of this voluminous solo part of the composition - significant also in the history of concerts - the encore given by the artist seemed to deserve special gratitude. The etude of Chopin gave her a chance to play music in a vigorous and virtuoso manner).
‘Albertina Dalla Chiara: l’avenir pour elle’ La libre Belgique (M.P. Cantarella), 1988
Albertina Dalla Chiara détient des capacités de transcendance. D’abord parce qu’elle est cultivée, profondément, et cette culture inclut le besoin de guetter et traquer la perfection. Ensuite parce que son contact avec le piano est réalisé de manière vivante, personnalisée. (...) Dès l’abord du récital parut cette oscillation contrôlée entre un jeu contenu, d’une intériorité abordant aux rives du classicisme, et une soudaine évasion vers une liberté de l’expression qui malaxera lyrisme épique, tendresse, acuité d’un rythme strictement jugulé (Schumann Fantasiestücke op.12). Les ressources techniques d’Albertina Dalla Chiara feront l’objet d’un émerveillement constant (Ravel Gaspard de la nuit). (...) Ultime point d’exclamation de ce magnifique exposé: la sonate n.3 de Prokof'ev. Nous avons rarement entendu un discours aussi imagé, clair, énergique mais précis dans cette sonate.
(Albertina Dalla Chiara possesses the ability to transcend. First of all, because she is erudite, deeply indeed, and because her education also includes an inner need to yearn for and chase perfection. Secondly, because her contact with the piano is achieved in a lively and personalised manner. (...) At the beginning, there was a controlled oscillation between contained sound - so rich in interiority that it almost touches on the shores of classicism - and sudden leaps towards freedom of expression which goes towards blending epic lyricism, tenderness and intensity of a strictly austere rhythm (Schumann Fantasiestücke op.12). (...) The technical resources of Albertina Dalla Chiara are a source of constant wonder (Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit). (...) Last exclamation mark of this magnificent concert: the Sonata no.3 op.28 by Prokof'ev. We have rarely listened to such an imaginative, clear, vigorous discourse which is at the same time precise in this Sonata.)
‘Brilliant future for Albertina Dalla Chiara’ Il Mattino (E. Fantin), 1985
(…) She achieves her best in the Andante played in such a tone of innocent contemplative confession, note by note, without any obstacle, almost in a direct way. (…) This pianist, with her reserved and confidential figure, similar to Clara Haskil, displayed her brilliant talent in the third movement.
