Search - Gilardino, Porqueddu :: Transcendentia Studies for Guitar

Trascendentia

G. Fleenor | Coopsville, Tx | 04/12/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my view these compositions are essential works in understanding the history of classical guitar music. Angelo Gilardino is a gifted, inspired composer who understands the complexity of the guitar and is able to compose very rich, dense and multifaceted sounding works for solo guitar. The music landscape is very modern and impressionistic. Most are diatonic and beautiful although a few very dissonant. The last CD 49-60 is my favorite.



Cristiano Porqueddu does a good job performing. Although it seems a bit too dry for my taste, partly from a very closely placed microphone and lack of reverb. Occasionally he seems a bit out of tune, although possibly this is from the tightly placed microphone. I have struggled playing many of these for years, in fact I thought some were impossible to play but Mr. Porqueddu proved me to be wrong. Porqueddu produces very little string noise despite the incredible dexterity needed to perform these wonderful compositions. Mr. Gilardino has a very unique sound which seems rooted in impressionistic music and quartal harmony. A few are too dissonant for my taste, most are extremely beautiful. I highly recommend the CD's. Most have a simple syncopation and are focused on rich harmony with simple melody. Many have long repeating ostinatos that are harmonized by rich complex jazzy chords. Gilardino is a deep composer who is able to modulate to guitar friendly keys while managing to sound natural. For example Studio n 49 Paesaggio Ligure modulates from B major to Am and sounds fantastic. The sheet music is equally impressive.



Mr Gilardino is at home with the premier echelon of guitar composers like Leo Brouwer, Hector Villa Lobos and Tôru Takemitsu."

Don't Let This One Get Away

Redgecko | USA | 11/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's very rare that classical music aficionados get the opportunity to buy a collection of pieces of such outstanding quality for such a low price. First, there is the quality of the compositions by the 20th century composer Angelo Gilardino. Gilardino is an Italian guitarist and composer, born in 1941, and here we can hear his 60 studies for guitar expertly played by Cristiano Porqueddu, an Italian guitarist previously unknown to me. Not many people have recorded Gilardino's music and it is always a treat to hear it played so well. They are decidedly modern sounding but sans the special effects. Most lovers of Segovia's repertoire will like many of these pieces. The recording is clear and Porqueddu's guitar playing is noise-free, no breathing noise and very rarely any string noise. The pieces range in length from 2:30 to over 9 minutes in length, with an average length of 5 minutes. The 60 studies cover all aspects of guitar playing and are so gorgeous that you might find it hard to believe that they can be called studies. They lack the pedantic sounding nature of the Leo Brouwer and Mateo Carcassi studies and offer more of the harmonically rich sounds of Fernando Sor's music, only they are generally much longer and incorporate some modern harmonies that one would expect of a 20th century composer. Many could be considered to be concert pieces.



The liner notes are extraordinary. Over 30 pages of small print offer a detailed dissection of the historical and musical significance of each of the 60 pieces. None of the liner notes in any of Naxos's dozens of wonderful guitar collection recordings approach these notes in detail. The notes are only in English, except, and this is a minor quibble, the forward by the composer and the last page about the guitarist, are in Italian!! This makes no sense, whatsoever! Certainly a thirty-five page booklet could have made room for English translations of this information.



Amazon has mistakenly listed this recording twice on their website. On one of the listings it costs $7.98 and on the other it is $19.00!! You choose. Either price is unbelievably low for such a quantity of sublime music, so hurry and acquire before the sales department at Brilliant Classics comes to their senses.



292 minutes of solo guitar recorded on 5 CDs



Highest Recommendation"