Ciardi: Music for Flute

Featuring

Stefan Fraas
Roberto Fabbriciani
Massimiliano Damerini
Orchestra Sinfonica del Friuli Venezia Giulia
Cesare Ciardi

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Critical Reception

Cesare Ciardi was known as the 'Paganini of the flute' due to his exceptional virtuosity, with one critic noting he could make it sound like three instruments were playing at once.

Composer Biography

Cesare Ciardi, the Italian flute and piccolo virtuoso, was introduced to the royal family and the public by Nicolò Paganini at his first public appearance in 1827.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Cesare Ciardi showed a great interest in Tuscan folk music from a young age, collecting and transcribing stornelli for flute and voice.

Composer Biography

During his years in Russia, Cesare Ciardi became close friends with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who was among his pupils, and Ciardi taught Tchaikovsky the flute.

Critical Reception

A contemporary music critic, Enrico Montazio, considered Cesare Ciardi one of the greatest soloists of his age, praising his incredible technical and expressive ability.

Compositional Technique

Cesare Ciardi's preferred compositional form was the Fantasia, which offered him formal and stylistic freedom to choose thematic material and improvise variations.

Composer Biography

Cesare Ciardi moved to St Petersburg in 1853, becoming chamber flautist to the Tsar and a professor at the Imperial Chapel, the Theatre School, and the St Petersburg Conservatory.