Italian pianist Professor Daniele Bucchio. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
With the demeanor befitting a surgeon about to operate, Daniele Buccio sat at the piano and played the keys with surgical precision. And, at the end of his marathon-recital, Daniele raised his impassive face from his 92-key Bösendorfer 225 grand. Well, he did a few small bows, more to give the audience time to express their amazement than to gather their energy.
Daniels (44) recently performed all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, incidentally composed between 1795 and 1822 – for the first time in this country, in their specified sequence – spread over four separate recitals, comprising two roughly equal sessions, totalling 140 minutes, with only one slight interval, on each day, apart from the finale which lasted three hours and fifteen minutes.
Except for the inaugural invitational performance at the Oberoi Grand (the piano there was from Boston itself), the other three, non-ticketed concerts took place at the intimate Sandre Hall, named after Philippe Sandre, founder of the Calcutta School of Music, who was the idea-organiser of the event. This will be Daniel’s second collaboration with CSM, the previous concert having taken place in mid-February 2023, where we got to see his skill and tenacity when he performed all 24 of Chopin’s Preludes, which lasted a little over two hours continuously and did not pause for a single minute.
Daniel Bucchio, who was in Kolkata for a performance, also conducted a masterclass at the Calcutta School of Music. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
While even people like Rudolf Serkin, the undisputed Beethoven-whisperer of the 20th century, would shudder to play all 32 of these sonatas at once, Daniele probably chose it because he likes “coherent themes” and he likes talented composers. The Verona-born man infused his pianism with an inspired amount of romance and vulnerability that befits a native of the Italian city.
Daniel’s structure, lines and purpose were clear, his outline was controlled and the engagement was performative yet internal.
The Verona-born composer brought an inspired amount of romance and vulnerability to his pianism. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
One can recognise the influence of not only Beethoven’s predecessors – Bach’s rigour, Haydn’s (his most important teacher) wit, Liszt’s virtuosity and, of course, Mozart’s spontaneity and versatility. Lifting it above contemporary classification, one can also guess the influence of Brahms, Schubert and Rachmaninoff. One is particularly reminded of Rach 3 during the Prestissimo Nos. 29 and 30. At some moments, you also get a sense of pop-rock melodies and cinema BGM. The last one is reminiscent of the Moonlight Sonata (No. 14). Yes, the audience enjoyed the familiar, including the Pathetique, Waldstein, Appassionata and Pastoral. He came up with the most-unplayable Hammer-Clavier, and that too without any page-turners. The way he ripped off pages during frenzied passages and yet returned to the sweet spots added a real stunt element to the performance. Another interesting thing was that he abandoned the piano stool for a chair. He often sat on the edge of it.
The way Daniele approached the sonatas seems to point to his dissertation on the history of Gestalt psychology (he did his research in musicology at the University of Bologna), which emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than the sum of its parts. Although all 32 sonatas are composed as self-contained pieces, they are connected to a higher realm.
