Marco Sollini's second volume of Gioachino Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse covers Book 4, the appetizing Quatre mendiants et Quatre Hors d'oeuvres, and Book 10, a collection of six short pieces designated as Miscellanée. These piano miniatures occupied Rossini in the 1860s, years after he had retired from composing operas and had settled in Paris to restore his health. These pieces show the composer in good spirits and in full voice, and though the medium is the keyboard, Rossini's melodies are quite reminiscent of the bel ...
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Marco Sollini's second volume of Gioachino Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse covers Book 4, the appetizing Quatre mendiants et Quatre Hors d'oeuvres, and Book 10, a collection of six short pieces designated as Miscellanée. These piano miniatures occupied Rossini in the 1860s, years after he had retired from composing operas and had settled in Paris to restore his health. These pieces show the composer in good spirits and in full voice, and though the medium is the keyboard, Rossini's melodies are quite reminiscent of the bel canto style he practiced decades earlier. In fact, the humorous subtitles of the pieces in Book 4 suggest small scenes at a dining table, where a touch of opera buffa is entirely appropriate. The wit in Book 10 is more elusive and the pieces unassociated with a particular story line. Yet one piece, the Petit caprice (style Offenbach), is rather familiar from several arrangements by other hands, and sure to bring a smile to anyone familiar with the can-cans in Offenbach's operettas....
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