Biography
Since 2017, Cristiana Passerini has held the chair of Harp at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where she also teaches ancient practice, contemporary music, orchestral passages and literature of the instrument.
The prerogative of her innovative teaching method is to include in the harp study programs neglected but essential works for the musician's training such as those of Bach and other contemporary keyboard repertoires, drawing inspiration from the most recent musicological and philological research. The promotional activity in this sense has also developed through recordings, concerts, seminars, masterclasses, conferences and interviews for specialized networks.
In this regard, we can mention the CDs recorded for La Bottega Discantica in Milan: the box set JS Bach, The French Suites released in 2020 with notes by M. Moiraghi and the single JS Bach Suites from 2009 with notes by M. Baroni. She has also published scores for Ut Orpheus and Rugginenti-Volontè, including the Suite BWV 997, a novelty in the harp repertoire that was selected as a mandatory rehersal at the 50th edition of the International Harp Contest in Israel.
Cristiana Passerini is also active on the contemporary front: in carrying out the traditional concert and orchestral profession she has performed several first performances of contemporary authors and has also created a harp quartet with her students which has allowed an increase in the original repertoire for this new formation. Several composers have dedicated their works to the Laborintus Harp Quartet; some of them have been recorded for Tactus in 2018 with a booklet by G. Montecchi.
In the chamber music field, she has collaborated with the ensembles Nextime, A. Toscanini, FontanaMix, Virtuosi Italiani, I Solisti Dauni, Icarus, Octandre; she has recorded for Dynamic and Arkadia and worked in orchestra as First Harp with the Osi della Svizzera italiana and the Fondazione Toscanini of Parma. She has also played with La Fenice in Venice, the Regio in Turin, the Arena in Verona, the Comunale in Bologna, the Ort Orchestra della Toscana and in the 1980s with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro Petruzzelli, the Rai orchestras of Naples and Milan, the Filarmonia Veneta, the International of Italy, the Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Youth Israel Philarmonic.
Since the 2000s she has begun to take an interest in research and experimentation. After graduating with top marks at the Conservatory of Bologna with AN Schirinzi and perfecting her skills with the solo harp of the Ipo J. Liber, she continued a path of solo study, guided in ancient practice by experts such as L. Rovighi and L. Bertani and is currently enrolled in the Faculty of Musicology of Cremona.
The French Suites BWV 812 - 817
https://www.discantica.it/img/discantica/libretti/libretto311.pdf
From the booklet edited by Marco Moiraghi:
This recording offers the listener the possibility to listen the entire series of six French Suites BWV 812-817 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) performed on the harp. For Cristiana Passerini this is her second recording of Bach's works, following her successful recording of three other Suites belonging to the ungrouped works by Bach (BWV 996, 997 and 1006a). Her previous recording presented three works originally composed for lute or also for harpsichord, or rather, most probably, for that unique hybrid instrument called Lautenwerk or Lautenclavicymbel, which Bach so admired (he had two of them). After her first exploration of rather rare works, this new recording for harp concentrates on more familiar ones, especially for those who teach piano and harpsichord. Therefore we are given an opportunity, thanks to this recording, to reflect upon not only the stylistic density of the complete series of French Suites, but also the unique timbres and expression used in adapting Bach's music for the harp.
Finally, I should like to make a few comments on the instrumental aspects of this recording, which condenses these six wonderful pieces by Bach into one listening experience. The harpist has used eight fingers, instead of the usual ten used by normal keyboard performances, which creates special difficulty requires constant effort by the performer to control fingering. In any case, Bach's writing is completely respected to the last detail: the use of a harp did not involve any simplification whatsoever. It was required that the pedals remained absolutely silent, so that there would be no eventual disturbing mechanical noises or vibrations. As for the dynamics, the harpist has opted for a moderate use of the harp's variety of colours in favour of timbre differentiation which evokes a lute-like or harpsichord-like effect: sounds produced near the soundboard, 'angelic' sounds produced near the soundbox, the insertion of material between the strings (strips of cloth), and a differentiation of the same voices using various positions on the strings.
This recording, together with Cristiana Passerini's earlier recording of Bach's musica, represent a significant effort to fill a gap. The general absence of Bach in studies for harp is undoubtedly a relevant loss. There is also an expansion pf the harp repertoire from18th century keyboard and violin music, but as for now, it is only sporadic. The great educational value of Bach's music, as remembered above in reference to the French Suites, can also be stated for the harp, an instrument which can take full of advantage of the assiduous practice of Bach's great instrumental works.
Johann Sebastian Bach
The French Suites
BWV 812 - 817
Quantity: 2 CDs
MUSIC Magazine 5 Stars
April 2021
By now there is no instrumentalist who does not feel obliged to dedicate some transcription of Bach's works to his instrument: thus, even recently, we have had adaptations for recorder, cello piccolo, viola, lute, theorbo, guitar, mandolin of compositions conceived for completely different ensembles: these are versions that in some cases can be considered excellent (I am thinking for example of the Cello Suites transcribed for viola da braccio and performed by Tabea Zimmermann, or the lute versions of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin and the Cello Suites created by Hopkinson Smith), in others more questionable or even improbable (such as those presented in the album entitled The Melancholic Bach, reviewed in this magazine at the time). Naturally, the case of piano transcriptions of harpsichord or organ compositions is different, now linked to a centuries-old teaching and performance tradition. In this context, therefore, the harp could not be missing, an instrument to which Bach left no trace (unlike Handel): hence the personal contribution of the harpist Cristiana Passerini, who, after the interesting results achieved with a previous CD dedicated to the same author, wanted to transcribe the harpsichord French Suites BWV 812-817: and let's say right away that in this case the timbre of the instrument did not seem so far from that of the harpsichord (often also equipped with registers, including the lute one), or so jarring compared to it, resulting in fact not a little suggestive, at least in these works, given the achieved timbre sweetness (after all, in the past there has been no shortage of harp transcriptions for works belonging to the same period). The motivation for this operation is, in essence, convincing and fully shareable, considering the absence, in the educational field, of Bach's works expressly conceived for the harp: a gap such as to deprive students of a fundamental repertoire both from the technical point of view and from that of training in taste and sensitivity, given that the composer himself, as is known, had intended many of his creations for these purposes. If we then take into account the artistic results achieved here by Passerini, we cannot but be grateful for this proposal that allows us to have a sound image of all these compositions of notable impact for expressive value and for executive ability, also in consideration of the technical commitment required by creations conceived for a keyboard instrument (the harpist, in fact, does not have the ten fingers of the keyboard player at his disposal, having to use only eight): so if the French Suites for every harpsichordist or pianist are of medium technical difficulty, for a harpist they are much more demanding. A round of applause, then, to the performer, who in this approach was able to fully render the spirit and the peculiarities of the writing of all these works (also given the full respect of the author's original dictation, including the embellishments), obtaining an adequate range of nuances, without resorting to particular artifices, and thus letting the music flow naturally and easily, even though some phonic harshness was inevitable (especially evident in the technically more demanding Suites, including the splendid one in D minor and the one in G major). Finally, admirable is the delicacy and sensitivity with which several pages were outlined: the Sarabande, in particular, but also many of the Allemande, among which those of the Suites no. 3, no. 4 and no. 5 deserve a mention). In addition to making use of a recording of notable impact for phonic presence and naturalness of timbre, the double CD has been enriched with a booklet including extensive and detailed introductory notes also offered in Italian.
Claudio Bolzan