Search - Giulio Regondi :: Regondi: Guitar Works, Vol. 1

An unfamiliar composer

A. J. Finch | Malaysia | 11/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Regondi is unlikely to be a name which even most guitarists are familiar with. Unlike Sor before him or Tarrega afterwards, he wrote very little music for the guitar - or at least very little has survived. Indeed, half of his output, featured on this CD, was only rediscovered some 15 years ago.



Without access to the score it is not easy to determine which aspects of technique the ten studies are designed to practise. They do not have the immediate appeal (to me!) of Tarrega's works because their melodic content is not particularly outstanding. The second study is vaguely reminiscent of one of Alkan's piano studies (Op 35/3) because of its frequent modulations, the seventh has an impressively frenetic accompaniment in the bass and the final study clearly practices a variety of techniques from fast runs to chordal melodies. The last piece on the disc, the Fantaise Villageoise, is the most attractive and memorable and is the piece I shall listen to most often.

John Holmquist plays beautifully and I should like to see a copy of the score one day - I should certainly have even greater admiration for his talent if I could see the difficulties which he overcomes. It says much for his skill that I would need the score just to see what the difficulties are!

Richard Long's notes show an impressive degree of research. Regondi was apparently also a virtuoso on the concertina - there cannot be many who are virtuosi on the concertina and the guitar!"