PARMA is pleased to announce our plans to work with pianist Shuko Watanabe and PARMA flutist Byron Petty, along with Dr. Timothy Gaylard of Washington and Lee University on a new release of duos and solo pieces composed by Muzio Clementi.
Muzio Clementi lived from the mid 1700’s to early 1800’s and is considered by many as a renaissance man, though he was 200 years ahead of the period. He was a composer, conductor, editor, pedagogue, pianist, publisher and piano manufacturer. It is believed that Clementi and Mozart were rivals, coming from different schools of classical piano. As a composer, Clementi was one of the first to write works for the capabilities of the pianoforte, giving him the title “Father of the Pianoforte.”
The release’s program was recorded at Washington & Lee University on a Muzio Clementi Fortepiano crafted in 1814 and will be a bicentennial of the piano’s birth. We are looking forward to releasing this historically significant project – look out for updates in 2014.
Listen to Clementi’s highly recognizable “Op 3 No. 1 in C” below: