|
The Italian pianist, Pietro Spada, was born into a family of great musical traditions. He studied piano and composition in the Rome and Milan Conservatories under Tito Aprea and Vito Carnevali (one of the last Sgambati's Students) and Giorgio Federico Ghedini.
From 1958 on Pietro Spada started concertizing in Europe appearing with renowned Orchestras such La Scala, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre National du Belgique, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Radio Simphonie Orchester Berlin, etc. He was introduced in England by the late Sir John Barbirolli who presented him in London at the Royal Festival Hall conducting him also on tour in Switzerland with the Hallé Orchestra. He appeared also with the Scottish National, London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra often cooperating with British Conductors such as Sir Alexander Gibson, Sir John Pritchard, Anatole Fistoulari and well known conductors as Vittorio Gui, Carlo Zecchi, Nino Sonzogno, Lovro von Matacic, Jascha Horenstein, Charles Bruck, Eduard Van Remoortel, etc.
In the 1960's and 1970's Pietro Spada had 16 LPs issued by RCA. In the late 1960's he was guest Professor in Usa in Florida State University, Cincinnaty University Conservatory and Indiana University and he won a grant for research on Muzio Clementi at Indiana while appeared with Werner Torkanowsky and New Orleans Philharmonic. In the 1970's he started his editing activities publishing the Complete Symphonic works by Muzio Clementi (Suvini Zerboni, Milan) and later on he founded the Boccaccini & Spada Editori Company which is today well known world-wide and represented by some of the major firms in the area (Durand Bmg, Universal Edition, Schott Mainz, Theodore Presser, etc.), while he reduced concertizing but not recording in cooperation with ASV and Philharmonia Orchestra and Arts Music from Munich, for which he issued the Complete solo Sonatas by Clementi in 19 CD's, the Complete Works by John Field (6 CD's), the Complete Chamber Music by Donizetti, the Complete Paisiello's Concertos, and the complete Sgambati's piano works. He did not appear in public for about 15 years but he continued to record several CD's, still unpublished (2 W.A. Mozart, 1 L.v. Beethoven, 4 Robert Schumann,1 Johannes Brahms,1 Frédéric Chopin, 1 Franz Liszt, 1 Felix Mendelssohn, 1 Italian Recital with many unknown works, and the "History of the Polonaise" in 4 CD's). The amount of his first editions, to which he devoted the most of his energies is enormous and he very frequently collaborated with world renowned Conductor as Claudio Abbado and Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti on EMI, Philips, Decca and Deutsche Grammophone,mostly in first recordings, of works published by Boccaccini & Spada Editori. |
