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The
24th Guitar Convention was held in Modena 29th
October 2011, in cooperation with the Accademia
Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti. This
year too, the scientific committee proposed an
event of primary importance, which confirmed in
this way a strict musicological method based on
an efficient chronological approach, from the
origins of the guitar history down to current
developments. Such an approach, as successfully
tried out in the 2010 Convention, has since
become a distinctive feature of this
undertaking. In fact, such a method has made it
possible to delve more deeply into significant
aspects related to the guitar throughout the
course of its historical development, and it
will stand as an element of continuity as for
its future editions.
The
reports and the musical interludes outline a
path full of new acquisitions, from the vihuela
and guitar Renaissance down to contemporary
music, through the Nineteenth century of Carulli
and Schubert, the twentieth-century developments
of Villa-Lobos and of the Segovia legacy, up to
including the latest research in matters of
sound, as experimented by the new composers'
generations.
On the
occasion of the convention two exhibitions were
organized: one on the Italian guitar-making of
our time, and the other one dedicated to maestro Cesare Lutzemberger (Trento 1918-2008) and
curated by his daughter Norma. Norma
Lutzemberger provided a documentation of special
interest, which belongs to her family musical
fund. A new project has thus been launched as
for the next convention, which consists of
creating a series of documentary exhibitions
focusing on important personalities who
distinguished themselves for their artistic endeavours around the guitar. The aim is that of
celebrating their memory through the exhibition
of unpublished documents, music objects and
memorabilia, autographs and other rarities which
are preserved in archives as well as in private
collections, and which are not always accessible
to the public.
The day
opened with greetings by Prof. Ferdinando Taddei,
president of the National Academy of Sciences,
Letters and Arts.
Then it
was the curator of the convention turn to
speak, Simona Boni, who showed some new and
original contributions studies promoted by Chitarra
in Italia in collaboration with various
scholars and teachers. She thus introduced the
XXIV Convention and the guitar recitals of the
day.
The
morning began with the contribution Comiença la
musica para guitarra by Massimo Lonardi, a
renowned expert in early music who performed
some splendid Renaissance vihuela pages. This
instrument represents the true ancestor of the
guitar: the performance was a real beginning,
then, as exemplified in the word title which
tellingly hints at the Iberian origin of this
particular repertoire. In fact, the works of
Luys Milán, Diego Pisador, Alonso Mudarra, Luys
de Narváez constitute a reference for the guitar
literature which flourished later in the
centuries, in different ages and contexts that
is absolutely necessary.
The
pleasure of listening to this charming music
being played on the instrument for which it had
been written and conceived, is also due to the
essential work of luthiers specialized in the
restoration and reconstruction of historical
instruments. Towards this direction stands the
second paper of the morning, held by the guitar
maker Anna Radice, who illustrated an intense
study on iconographic and textual sources as
well as rare period instruments which have come
down to us. Her accurate surveys have made it
possible to ascertain the existence of a
sixteenth-century guitar with four courses of
strings. The instrument was widespread in Spain,
in France, in the Netherlands and in England
until the end of the sixteenth century. She
associated her interesting explanation, specific
and most precise as for documentary references,
with the presentation of interesting images and
of the exposition of two to four-coursed guitar
reconstructed by the luthier herself.
The
participation of Eleonora Vulpiani opened up in
continuity with a both musical and organological
survey, through the gentle moves of a Siciliana
by Francesco Molino played on a valuable
historical copy of a lyre-guitar made by luthier
Gerardo Parrinello. After such musical
introduction, Eleonora Vulpiani outlined the
history of this very special instrument, which
was popular mainly in Paris between the late
eighteenth and the early decades of the
nineteenth century, in correspondence to the
Neoclassical period. And it is indeed from the
Greek-Roman aesthetics that the instrument
derives its elegant shape, such as it was
interpreted with refined artistic taste by the
makers of the time, and as was evidenced by the
many images collected by the speaker. The
lyre-guitar was broadly welcomed among the
French aristocracy and quickly spread throughout
the major European courts, thus drawing the
attention of some of the most influential
composers of the nineteenth century who devoted
to it a specific repertoire.
Still
keeping reference to the nineteenth-century
context, Nicoletta Confalone discussed the
relationship between Schubert and the guitar,
former subject of her degree dissertation in
Musicology An angel without heaven: the guitar
in search of Schubert. By means of an analysis
of considerable consistency, the researcher was
able to highlight the intimist character shared
by both the composer and the instrument, thus
revealing the story of a failed relationship, of
which some traces remain in the Trio Zur
Namensfeier meines Vaters D 80 for two tenors,
bass and guitar, and the reworking of the
Nocturne op. 21 by Matiegka transformed into
Schubert's Quartet D 96.
As a
conclusion of the morning session, Francesco
Biraghi offered a valuable opportunity to
examine the contribution of Ferdinando Carulli
to the chamber music repertoire with guitar. His
careful survey on the corpus of works by this
guitarist-composer shed new light on his lively
and sophisticated compositional style, which
right in this repertoire - not yet fully
acknowledged, in some ways - achieves the true
expression of his time. The Classico Terzetto
Italiano (Ubaldo Rosso, flute, Carlo De Martini,
violin, and Francesco Biraghi, guitar) devoted
to the works of this 'Neapolitan in Paris' a
rigorous study, and proposed at the convention a
much applauded performance of the Nocturne
op.
24/II n.1, with period instruments.
As
usual, the lunch served in the halls of the
palace was a welcome opportunity for
conversation and conviviality. After the group
portrait of the Convention convened "Maestri",
taken by photographer Marco Cavina, the works of
the Convention were carried on punctually in the
early afternoon.
Acclaimed concert guitarist Sara Gianfelici
presented an evocative programme, centred on the
theme Landscapes of the soul between the
Nineteenth and the Twientieth century. She
played some famous pages for guitar with great
expressiveness and richness in nuances: from the
song of melancholy and yearning of Elegie by
Mertz, to the brilliant portraits by Tárrega (Adelita,
María, Marieta, Pavana, Estudio de Velocidad),
finishing with the almost impressionistic tunes
of the three movements of La Catedral by Barrios
Mangoré.
Frederic Zigante's study about the many years of
research he devoted to the guitar music of
Villa-Lobos, research which led him to travel
among the Paris archives of the publishing house
Max Eschig, the Fondación Andrés Segovia in
Linares and the Museum Villa-Lobos in Rio de
Janeiro, showed great musicological interest.
The Maestro explained how he came to conceive a
new critical edition of the music of the
Brazilian composer, driven by the desire to
discover the reason for the numerous typos and
inconsistencies between the editions of Villa-Lobos's
works (especially the Douze Études) and the
various manuscripts found. Upon completion of
the speech, the convened were given a booklet -
printed on the occasion of this convention -
containing accurate excerpts of the analytical
work conducted by Zigante and which merged in
his recent critical edition of the works of
Villa-Lobos.
Current
developments in guitar composition were
discussed under the light of two different
experiences, arising from different fields of
sound experimentation.
Andrea
Dieci proposed the performance of three pieces
by Nicola Jappelli: Light Frameworks,
Sectional Drawings and Sharp Outlines. These
works, written for Andrea Dieci himself between
2002 and 2007, reveal very specific choices of
timbre and develop a musical harmony that can
move through unusual contexts for the guitar, a
feature made possible by the use of the bass
detuning. The result was an linguistic mixture
of clearly expressive force and rhythmic
characterization, whose interpretation was
skillfully mastered by Andrea Dieci.
A
different expressive context was rendered by
guitarist and composer Ganesh Del Vescovo. The
title of his speech, The guitar without
borders, introduces us to his constant
exploration of the many expressive possibilities
of the guitar, following an approach - both
instrumental and compositional at the same time
- that led him to experiment with modifications
of the instrument. The outcome of this research
is for example the cikari guitar,
designed by the Maestro by adding two metal
strings to the traditional tuning by means of a
movable bridge. The audience at the convention
had then the chance to listen to this evocative
instrument, through the performance of two
compositions drawn from a entitled called Risonanze. Ganesh
Del Vescovo performed then other compositions of
his for classical guitar: a Fantasy
inspired by Indian melodies and featuring a
musical development related to the Western
system, two Studies (on the pizzicato and
on percussions), of great interest as for the
techniques introduced in synergy with the
musical language, and the composition Schegge di luce (Splinters
of Light) that got the First prize at the
International Composition Competition "Claxica
2011."
The day
ended with the heartfelt speech by Alvaro
Company. Guitarist, composer and teacher,
teacher of generations of guitarists (among
other things, he was the first teacher in 1965,
the newly-established Chair of Guitar at the
Musical High School "O. Vecchi" in Modena),
Alvaro Company was a student and friend of
Andrés Segovia. Referring to this life-long
artistic acquaintance, he was able to analyze
and reflect on the meaning of the teachings of
the Andalusian Maestro. Hence, the exhortation
to all guitarists not to forget the sense of the
information outlined by Segovia both with his
human and artistic example and with his
educational work: there emerges the need to
resume his precious studies on timbre, to devote
with greater interest to chamber music for
guitar and to concerts with orchestra, and to
strengthen the relationship with composers.
In the
enlightening words of Maestro Company was
condensed a profound message, shared by the
spirit itself of the convention: it is necessary
to know the past in order to have a more
conscious look towards the future, in a
generational exchange among masters, musicians,
and new students. Uninterrupted research,
studies, and work on several music areas, the
ability to critically recognize the value of
those who, even before us, helped to open up new
perspectives: these are the ways to go towards
the infinite potential of the six strings.
S. Mastrogregori,
Il XXIV Convegno Chitarristico
Program Abstract
relations (in italian) Photos
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