Rossini: Piano Music, Vol. 3: Peches de vieillesse, Vols. 5 [Sins of my old age]

"Imagine being forced into retirement from a successful career at the age of thirty-seven. That was the prospect that faced Rossini. Officially it was the onset of ill-health, though those less charitable believing that good sense prevailed, his style fast becoming outdated. He was to spend most of his final years composing piano pieces, rather appropriately named Péchés de vielliesse (Sins of Old Age), which appeared in thirteen volumes, aimed as pleasing diversions rather than concert pieces. Yet when played by someone who really believes in the music, they take on an added dimension. Alessandro Marangoni, as I have remarked earlier in the series [Vol 1 8.570590-91, Vol 2 8.570766], has an inbuilt feel for the music, and enters fully into Rossini's humour as pastiches poke fun at the music around him. Listen to the second piece in this fifth volume and surely he is mimicking the young Liszt, and later the new vogue for dressing dances with the most elaborate decorations are the butt of his fun. Chopin often hovers in the background, particularly in the eleventh section, while the profusion of notes in the seventh, L'innocence italienne, stems from Clementi, while at one stage introducing a Bach-style fugue. The pieces are stated in the title 'for adolescent children', but that is another of Rossini's jokes as they are often technically demanding, Marangoni playing them with unassuming ease. He is making the series an ongoing delight and his recording engineer shares in that accolade."
David's Review Corner, December 2009