Alessio Pianelli - Video

When Covid 19 scuppered plans for BBT to visit Alessio Pianelli in Sicily to make a film about his BBT-supported Rubicon Classics debut CD, A Sicilian Traveller, we weren’t going to be defeated. Combining film Alessio organised himself in, around and above his home town of Trapani, session footage from the recording in Rome, in November 2019, and a specially conducted interview via Zoom to explore the themes of the recording, BBT’s film-maker Graham Johnston edited together this film that proudly confirms that Alessio Pianelli is A Sicilian Traveller. The CD is released on 26 March 2021.

Read Graham Johnston’s blog about the making of the associated BBT film profile A Sicilian Traveller here

Alessio Pianelli | A Sicilian Traveller | Rubicon Classics
Komitas | Folk Songs and Dances | Krunk (arr. for cello & strings by A. Pianelli)

Alessio Pianelli’s debut Rubicon Classics CD, A Sicilian Traveller, is inspired by the many cultures that have influenced his homeland of Sicily. Coupled with the idea of the itinerant life of a musician, Pianelli travels to Georgia, Armenia, Romania and Greece as well as heading further west – to Britain and then across the Atlantic to explore to how folk music brings humanity together. One of Komitas’ five Armenian Folk Songs and Dances is Krunk, which features in Francesco Siro Brigiano’s evocative waterborne film, shot around Pianelli’s northwest Sicilian home town of Trapani. Pianelli plays his own arrangement for cello and string ensemble, accompanied by the Avos Chamber Orchestra.

Alessio Pianelli | A Sicilian Traveller | Rubicon Classics
Sulkhan Tsintsadze | Miniatures | Gandagan (arr. for cello & strings by A. Pianelli)

Alessio Pianelli’s debut Rubicon Classics CD is inspired by the many cultures that have influenced his homeland of Sicily. Coupled with the idea of the itinerant life of a musician, Pianelli travels to Georgia, Armenia, Romania and Greece as well as heading further west – to Britain and then across the Atlantic to explore to how folk music brings humanity together. A Sicilian Traveller opens with music by Sulkhan Tsintsadze and this video features the second of Seven Georgian Miniatures, Gandagan, as arranged by Pianelli and played by him and the Avos Chamber Orchestra. It was filmed by Santi Peralta at the recording sessions in Rome in November 2019.

Sicilian cellist & composer Alessio Pianelli, winner of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, imaginatively visualises one of his own tracks from his most recent disc, Sulla Quarta, in collaboration with Antonio Cusimano/3112htm. Sulla Quarta is the second album in Pianelli’s exploration of the six solo cello Suites by JS Bach, which doubles as a voyage both of discovery and self-discovery, including lesser-known 20th-century works as well as Pianelli’s own works, reflecting on the emotional and intellectual challenges which Bach’s writing poses to musicians and listeners alike.  Listen to Sulla Quarta now (full album streaming, CD, download) on Bandcamp: https://almendramusic.bandcamp.com/album/sulla-quarta