SACD 1

Salvatore Accardo Violin
Maria Grazia Bellocchio Piano

Sonata No.1 in F minor for Violin and Piano Op. 80
1. I. Andante assai 7’30”
2. II. Allegro brusco 7’37”
3. III. Andante 8’06”
4. IV. Allegrissimo - Andante assai, come prima 8’07”

Sonata No.2 in D major for Violin and Piano Op. 94bis
5. I. Moderato 8’28”
6. II. Scherzo: Presto - Poco più mosso - Tempo I 5’01”
7. III. Andante 4’15”
8. IV. Allegro con brio - Poco meno mosso Tempo I - Poco meno mosso - Allegro con brio 7’49”

Total Time 56’56”

SACD 2

Salvatore Accardo Violin (a-b-c)
Laura Gorna Violin (c), Maria Grazia Bellocchio Piano (a)

5 Melodies for Violin and Piano Op. 35bis (a)
1. I. Andante 2’18”
2. II. Lento, ma non troppo 3’00”
3. III. Animato, ma non allegro 4’04”
4. IV. Andantino, un poco scherzando 1’29”
5. V. Andante non troppo 3’17”

Sonata in D major for solo Violin Op. 115 (b)
6. I. Moderato 5’34”
7. II. Andante dolce. Tema con variazioni 4’02”
8. III Con brio. Allegro - precipitato 4’16”

Sonata in C major for 2 Violins Op. 56 (c)
9. I. Andante cantabile 3’16”
10. II. Allegro 3’20”
11. III. Commodo (quasi allegretto) 4’09”
12. IV. Allegro con brio 6’05”

Total Time 44’52”

Conceived, recorded and produced by Giulio Cesare Ricci
Recorded in “Sala dell’Ermellino” Casa della Musica, Milano
Recording date February 14th - 15th - 16th, 2020
Recording assistant: Paola Liberato
Valve microphones: Neumann U47, U48
Mike pre-amplifiers, cables (line, digital, microphone, supply): Signoricci
Recorded in stereo DSD on the Pyramix Recorder using dCS A/D and D/A converters
Photos by Paola Liberato

The Mastering for SuperAudioCD was made by Giulio Cesare Ricci using Signoricci’s analog and valve system.

Thanks to Micheli Associati for having granted the “Sala dell’Ermellino” Casa della Musica, Milan for the recording of this album.

The recording collaboration with the great violinist Salvatore Accardo continues, which began 29 years ago. In this project Maestro Accardo plays with the violinist Laura Gorna and the pianist Maria Grazia Bellocchio. This double album contains chamber music by Sergej Prokofiev where the violin is the protagonist: from Sonata in re magg. Op.115 per Violino Solo   to   5 Melodies per Violino e Piano etc...

I recorded this album in the Sala dell'Ermellino - Casa della Musica, Milan in February 2020. For this prestigious recording I used the legendary original Neumann U47, U48 tube microphones. We use pairs of Neumann tube microphones from the years 1947 and 1949 (U47, U48 and M49) with a very natural tone using field effect bi-microphone techniques. These microphones have an important history: they are in fact the original microphones used to record, among others, the Beatles performances in the Abbey Road Studio and by RCA for the “Living Stereo” recordings.

The sound I can capture with these legendary microphones is perfectly in line with my sonic taste. No other microphone has such a true timbre and the ability to engrave all the nuances of sound and all the richness of the harmonics. The uniqueness of these microphones is linked to their ability to make a perfect "sound photograph" and to put the music perfectly placed in the sound space chosen for the recording. For the SACD I used the DSD format, on Pyramix using the dCS A / D and D / A DSD converters.

From 1998 to today I record in DSD 64 x 44.1 bit with Signoricci ex Philips workstations that mount Pyramix programs, 904 analog / digital dCS converters and 954 digital / analog dCS converters, all this to make the best SACD fonè. A "state of the art" system without sound manipulation, equalization, reverb, compression and expansion ... but natural sound and true timbre to best enhance the acoustics of the Auditorium of the Sala dell'Ermellino. fonè has been offering for almost 40 years recordings made in the name of technological refinement and aimed at recovering the original musical atmospheres.

The mastering of the SACD was made by me using the full analog and tube Signoricci system. The result of this recording is fantastic. With this recording I wanted to give the listener a unique experience. It is as if the listener were sitting on an armchair positioned in the ideal point in the Sala dell'Ermellino. In this position the sound has a field effect and its depth, width and height are very noticeable.

Great dynamics and great precision.

An album not to be missed!

giulio cesare ricci