Napoli

Roberto Piana writes: "This group of Improvisations on Neapolitan Songs follows a similar commission from a few years ago of Edith Piaf songs, also released on Steinway and Sons and also featuring Antonio Pompa-Baldi. For these "creative arrangements" it was hard to choose which songs from so many popular melodies and chamber arias. It was inevitable to leave out some favorites. And so we have masterpieces such as 'Torna a Surriento,' 'Cannetella,' and 'Marechiare;' But (I hope) the absence of the famous 'O sole mio, Malafermmena,' or 'Fenesta vascia' is compensated by featuring some absolute gems that remain unjustly hidden..." Antonio Pompa-Baldi is an Italian pianist. He 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 Competition, he also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Pianist and composer Roberto Piana was born in Sassari, on the Italian island of Sardinia, in 1971. He perfected his studies with numerous famous pianists, but owes his training to Isabella Lo Porto, with whom he graduated in piano studies with top marks, at the Music Conservatory of Sassari.