Press

“...Under the influence of magical sounds the public was transported to the wonderful world by the creations of Mozart, Prokofieff and Schumann. Alessandro Drago was very successful in his expressiveness of his execution, the variety of creative work and stylistic intuition...”
Irina Buyan

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“…Alessandro Drago, a musician of impulsive and explosive temperament gave a rare pictorial concreteness to the Visions Fugitives by Prokofieff and Symphonic Studies by Schumann”
Mariam Ignatieva

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"The profound emotion aroused by the intonation together with the precise logic of the Schumann’s form individualizes the style of Drago and gives it a particular appeal. 

The execution of “Visions Fugitives” and the III Prokofief Sonata was a true revelation for the public from the fine penetration into the fantastic picturesque and grotesque world of the great Russian composer to the profound comprehension of the melody and the style in order to make the art of a pianist so close and transparent to the representatives of the traditional Russian school of piano. …

It is also important to underline the characteristics of Alessandro Drago’s art: high intellectualism, the capacity of esthetic sense and the unique logic of individualizing the style of the composers from different national schools and musical orientations which allows to underline the particular pedagogical potential of the Italian pianist.”

Igor Nabok

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Through the soul’s landscapes“Drago puts the music and its spiritual content first…”He magnificently organized the thematic construction of the great Shubert’s Sonata in Sol (D894) opening …

If through the shadow of melancholy with which Drago managed to color the typical mutations, from the major to the minor worlds, or in the light obstinacy of sound with which he lets the full and strong chords burst up, you could understand how Drago can always explore the soul’s landscapes, absolutely distant from false slushes, as a cold virtuousity”.

Stefan Dosch

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“Alessandro Drago’s pianism assumes, providentially, with a class of an educated, lucid and sometimes pensive reading, a comforting repair of frequent artificial straining.

In the Sonata IN FA major of Scarlatti as in some Schumann-like winces, a lyrical vibration of a melody has had big wing flaps with an aristocratic touch…When an authentic moment of art like the one created by Drago, is destined to a young audience, that moments acquires a rare moral value that is extremely precious, especially today.”

Umberto Padroni

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“...Alessandro Drago is a reflective and very sensitive pianist…When needed, he can also be full of expressive outbursts like during the interpretation of the Symphonic Studies of Schumann where the dithyrambic leaps, sudden lyrical irradiation, fantastic vibrations were happily alternating and twisted the technique of agility, lively brio with the commotion full of dramatic power. 

 Drago took from the music and created with a lot of good taste the inflamed fantasy that Schumann lavishes in the varying scheme inherited from the classical tradition. After three Scarlatti’s Sonatas of vivid colors, the Roman pianist accomplished an excellent execution of the “Sonata in re minor” op 31 n°2 by Beethoven.”

Luigi Bellingardi

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“His pure filigree technique followed by a profound penetration into the mystery of music did not leave the audience indifferent. We were very happy to get to know his art.”
Prof. Victor Kasslin

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Beyond the keyboard with Mozart and Beethoven ".....listening to the Sonata Arietta op. 111 by Beethoven was like witnessing a gradual pulverizing of the sound and notes before a limitless horizon, beyond the possibilities of a keyboard but with full knowledge and moral awareness of what a piano can do – if used properly – beyond its usual limits”.
Bonvicini

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An excellent recital".....If this man plays like this in his 30s, I can only imagine the level he will arrive to in the next ten or fifteen years. 

Usually, as a critic I have an analytical view of an observant……all the critical tendencies are cancelled during the Fantasy in do major op 17 of Schumann…Drago put passion and visceral vigor and played with his heart and soul which most certainly produced a magnificent work.

J. K.

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Between passion and discipline“…has the capacity of immerging himself into the music which rises with fluidity and discipline. …listening to the Sonata of Chopin op 35 in Si b min was a true pleasure. 

He understands and attributes heart’s warmth to this music together with an elegant and polished sound…What a “Funeral March”! 

Alessandro Drago has the calm to give weight to every sound. He completed the finale magnificently…Great applause and two encores.”

Dagmar Schenk-Güllig

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“Alessandro Drago is certainly one of the most prominent and talented pianist of his young generation...In the refinement of the tones and the expressive phrasing, the pianist showed his profound musicality”.

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"From the beginning, Luca Fiorentini e Alessandro Drago, made a great impression without wasting not even one minute and executing with extreme elegance the masterpieces of the classical music.….in the Sonata op 69 of L. v.Beethoven…the artists develop high, strong and extremely accentuated thoughts which fully increase the pressing timbre and intensity. 

With the Sonata in mi min. by Brahms…fluent and melodic themes, mixed with magnificent variations of sound in a very lively movement have characterized a game of alternation understood and full of expression of the two artists. Even the sharp and powerful finale was transformed into an emotional musical experience…"

Angelica Kannenberg

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"...The fact that Drago is a pianist of prestigious culture of the sound was evident from the first moments of the concert, in the first of the five pieces op83 by M. Bruch. 

A pianist under whose hands even the smallest sound succession acquires meaning and weight. …That kind of a capacity to connect the musical development and conferring their measures and form provides Drago’s colleagues, in Bruch’s pieces, even the display of great freedom.”

Stefan Dosch

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"…Five of “Eight pieces for the clarinet, cello and piano op.83” by Bruch, the clarinetist Francesco Sorrentino and the great pianist Alessandro Drago offered a convincing interpretation. 

Even though the piano is completely open and the phase is rather large, Drago created with very little use of pedal, a clear and fantastic sound wave. 

In these sound fibers colored mostly with a dark and minor tones, the two melodic instruments have interweaved enchanting motifs.”... After long applauses, Drago, Sorrentino and Hampl concluded the musical cycle with an even better repetition of the first part of Bruch in “la min.”

Markus Lutz

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"... The excellent “sound culture” of the Rimsky-Korsakov Quartet with Michael Bondarev (1st violin), Ekaterina Belisova (2nd violin), Alexej Popov (viola) and Sergej Belissow (cello) is formed from the unconditional fusion of the execution of excellent artists that, while being still very individually recognizable, gave a great liveliness to the music. ... 

The culminating point of the concert was the Quintet of R. Schumann in Mib mag. The dominant piano part was played by Alessandro Drago with a convincing identification with the Schumann’s style and superior plasmatic and technical capacity. 

He came abreast of the Rimsky-Korsakov Quartet. In the charming dialectic of the contrasts, the triumphant and complete impulse was emphasized as a dreamy poetry of lively passages, loving tenderness and strong longing. The exhilarating execution aroused a great wave of enthusiasm.”

C. Haake

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"...The collaboration of Drago and the Quartet Rimsky-Korsakov is excellent…They showed a commendable harmony on the technical and artistic level. …We listened to the well-measured and convincing interpretative concepts guided by the enthusiasm of the musicians that are not even near the risk of being guided by the routine.”
Luigi Bellingardi

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