Search - Angelo Gilardino, Cristiano Porqueddu :: Trascendentia

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"