The 19th century tradition of Bel canto found its way to flourish into the piano repertoire by the great composers and performers’ legacy of piano arrangements. Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Granados, Rachmaninov, Horowitz, Bolet, Hoffmann, Paderewski, Rosenthal, Godowski, Lipatti and so many others molded original vocal pieces into rich and challenging arrangements for the keyboard, some of them of great difficulty and complexity.

Romanian pianist Mădălina-Claudia Dănilă decided to start experimenting with that tradition and arranged a beautiful song called ‘Ideale’ by Paolo Tosti (1846~1916). Tosti was an Italian composer and music teacher, remembered by his expressive songs of sweet sentimentality and melodious lines.

Mădălina's artistic purpose of arranging ‘Ideale’ was to give the right hand a vocally nuanced effect on the piano. The left hand accompaniment fit the mood and trajectory of the text surrounding the melody with vibrant arpeggios and chords covering all the piano registers.

Mădălina performs on a Yamaha C7X Grand Piano in this video, shot on location at Cunningham Piano in King of Prussia, PA.

Videography by Hugh Sung

Original Lyrics:

Io ti seguii come'iride di pace
Lungo le vie del cielo
Io ti seguii come un'amica face
Della notte nel velo
E ti sentii ne la luce, ne l'aria
Nel profumo dei fiori
E fu piena la stanza solitaria di te
Dei tuoi splendori
In te rapito
Al suon de la tua voce
Lungamente sognai
E de la terra ogni affanno, ogni croce
In quel giorno scordai
Torna, caro ideal
Torna un istante
A sorridermi ancora
E a me risplenderà nel tuo sembiante
Una novell'aurora
Una novell'aurora
Torna, caro ideal, torna, torna

English translation:

I followed you like the iris of peace
Along the ways of heaven
I followed you like a friend face
Of the night in the veil
And I felt neither the light nor the air
In the scent of flowers
And the lonely room was full of you
Of your splendors
In you kidnapped
At the sound of your voice
I dreamed for a long time
And from the earth every worry, every cross
On that day I forgot
Come back, dear ideal
Come back for a moment
To smile at me again
And to me it will shine in your face
A new dawn
A new dawn
Come back, dear ideal, come back, come back
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOAh8VQ2fIs