Pianissimo

Suzanne Ciani

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA Victor
• ASIN: B0000000K2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #143,820 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shifting Gears, April 7, 2004

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

After something like a twenty year career as a composer of electronic music sometime in 1989 or 1990 Suzanne Ciani began to move back to her original roots as an acoustic instrument player. For a musician who had come up through the ranks working on a massive Buchla synthesizer, moving in and out of tonalities, flirting with space music, this was a great sea shift. While the artist rarely focuses on the motivations behind the change in interviews what we know is that physical illness triggered a move to the West Coast and that some internal process refocused her on the melodic.

"Pianissimo," her first fully acoustic piano recording. Other than a few original pieces, this live performance draws primarily from Neverland and History of My Heart. The shift to piano makes the inner workings of these pieces far more transparent, allowing more of Ciani's intentions (she talks of "My Italian roots and a sense of melody") to come clear. This in turn allows new ideas to work within the discipline and bounds of the piano's world. The net product is something that sounds familiar, but which is more than a passive adoption of old conventions.

Ciani lacks something of the New Age technical brilliance of a Michael Jones or a George Winston, but she has the same ability to deliver a performance that is creative and compelling. This is a connection that I did not feel with some of here earlier work. She has gone on from this point to develop an eclectic style that marries elements of all the worlds she has worked in. This album is a great example of a musical turning point and has made a fan out of me.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ciani Adds Life to the Piano., May 22, 1999

By A Customer

After twenty years of working with electronic music, Suzanne Ciani chose a different course in her recording career. She rediscovered a musical instrument that she mastered as a child.

In an auditorium at the Yamaha Corporation in Buena Park, California, Suzanne produced her first piano solo album. Pianissimo is a collection of favorite songs from her previous albums. Two new songs are included in her album too.

The recording techniques used on this album make you feel that you're at a recital in a large auditorium. Suzanne shines brightly in "Rain" and "Neverland." All of her songs produce a great amount of imagery.

My favorite song is found on Track 14 titled, "Berceuse." The imagery I found in this song, is a display of Fall foliage in my backyard. Berceuse serves as a soundtrack of falling leaves and the beauty of Fall. Many listeners who buy this album will find out that the Piano is truly, a very expressive instrument.

Buy Pianissimo and let Suzanne Ciani perform a beautiful piano recital especially for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Made in heaven!, November 25, 2002

By	Yi Chieh (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the first of the series of albumns where Suzanne Ciani play her previous tracks on piano only.

Hearing these tracks play, one may think that they were originally written for piano only but they are not. Anthem has a very national mourning and salute feel to it. Rain is perfect for a rainy day where the rain drops gently tab against the windows. She Said Yes almost represent the joy when one says yes to a marriage proposal. Every track has a meaning, every note - an emotion that fits it beautifully.

Suzanne is one of the only artist that is able to composed a track that rhymes, unlike other more abstract works of others.

Do get it and consider the rest of her wonderful albums like Pianissimo II, III, Hotel Luna, Dream Suite & The Private Music of Suzanne Ciani. Like the review title says "Made in heaven!"