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On
Saturday, 19 October 2013, the 26th Guitar
Convention was held in the prestigious Teatro
dell’Opera del Casinò. The refined context of
this celebrated Ligurian theatre, with its
elegant Art Deco lines, was host to a large
audience coming from all parts of Italy and
abroad. It was truly a sumptuous edition of the
initiative that from now on, by the decision of
the scientific committe and with the intention
to honor the tradition begun by Romolo Ferrari,
will be held in different cities around the
nation each year. The 26th Convention was made
possible thanks to the precious and instrumental
collaboration of Giorgio Revelli, president of
the Centro Culturale Tabiese which
sponsored the event, a recognised authority for
the promotion of culture in the Ligurian,
national and European territories.
In
continuation with the prior editions, an exhibit
was held for the Convention to remember eminent
guitarists from the past. In particular, in this
Ligurian edition, homage was paid to two
important masters active in the Genoa guitar
scene who at the same time had become
protagonists of a recognised artistic path that
extended well beyond the local confines:
Pasquale Taraffo (1887-1937) and Carlo Palladino
(1910-1995). Both were animated by an
extraordinary ability to communicate that was
best expressed through concertising and
teaching, as we can recognise in the personal
careers of each guitarist: each taking different
paths, but holding a common point of view. The
presentation of the exhibit was made possible
thanks to the proactive collaboration of Franco
Ghisalberti, who has done a good amount of
research over the years on Taraffo, and of Piara
Palladino, who carefully and caringly conserves
the musical archive belonging to her father.
Supplementing the proposed content in this day
of musical studies, packets were given out to
the participants with various materials to
provide a more in-depth analysis of the day’s
topics, including two significant items offered
for free: the cd published by the Brilliant
Classics label Albini musica ciclica,
with music by Giovanni Albini, kindly offered
the the composer himself, and the pamphlet,
Pasquale Taraffo the ‘Paganini of the guitar’,
printed just for this occasion by Franco
Ghisalberti.
The day
opened with the acknowledgements of the
president of the Centro Culturale Tabiese
Giorgio Revelli. Then it was Simona Boni’s turn,
the curator of the convention, who presented the
upcoming speakers and performers. After having
reminded the audience of the Guitar Convention’s
research goals, Boni announced the beginning of
a qualified project of document conservation
that credits the great efforts by Chitarra in
Italia in recent years: it would be the
creation of a guitar archive of national
importance, activated thanks to the good will of
the prestigious Biblioteca Estense
Universitaria of Modena. Before commencing
the Convention, the curator had informed that
for unexpected reasons, Raffaele Carpino, Pino
Briasco and Eli Tagore, whose presence was
foreseen in the program, would be unable to
attend. Unable to substitute their talk in such
a brief time, a different topic would be
presented by Marco Bazzotti on the guitar
magazines of the first half of the 1900s.
The
convention thus began as usual, from the
guitar’s origins to present day, with the
contribution entitled, “Del sonar
all’impronta.” Divagazione
improvvisate su musiche di Gaspar Sanz, Santiago
de Murcia e Anonimi, by Ugo Nastrucci.
It was an engaging
demonstration of the practice of improvising on
the baroque guitar, preceded by an interesting
reflection that placed attention on the practice
of that time, an expression at the same time of
great vitality and elusiveness. The
interpretation-performance that is absolutely
faithful and complying to the written page is
actually an idea derived from the “romantic
criteria,” which is not applicable in antique
music: as a consequence, the interpretations of
the period preceding Romanticism that do not
complete the score with the use of
embellishments and contributions to the written
score by the performer, are to be considered not
only incomplete, but in certain cases improper.
In the
next talk, Luigi Attademo presented the results
of his performance research on the guitar music
of Paganini, placing it in the wider context of
19th century instrumental technique. Of
particular interest was the analysis of some
technical details of Paganini’s writing,
differing from the idiomatic writing of the
instrument of the same period (for example, some
slurs or portamenti in the violinistic
writing). Then, some considerations on the
guitar model used by Paganini were developed,
also thanks to some additional visual aids. At
the conclusion of the talk, Attademo performed
some of the well-known music by Paganini (Romanza
from the Grande Sonata in A major, the
Sonata n.23, Ghiribizzi 37 and 38) on
a magnificent Guadagnini guitar from 1851, also
played by the concert performer in his recent
recording of the complete works by Paganini..
Still
dealing with works of the 19th century, the
musical intervention by Sara Gianfelici recalled
two great masters of our time through thier
fundamental contributions in teaching: Ruggero
Chiesa (whose 20th anniversary of his death is
remembered this year) and Carlo Ghersi. In
particular, we owe Ruggero Chiesa a great
impulse in the rediscovery and publication of
modern editions of important pieces from the
19th century repertoire, which he transmitted to
generations of students together with a
disciplined musicological approach and an
unforgettable artistic and human lesson. With
these words, Sara intended to remember the
profound legacy of his teachers: “A teacher is
such because he continues to teach us even when
when we no longer study with him for a good
number of years.” In their memory, he dedicated
two splendid interpretations: The
Introduction and Variations on the Aria “O Cara
Armonia” from the Magic Flute by W.A. Mozart
op.9 by Fernando Sor and the
Rossiniana n.2 op.120 by Mauro Giuliani.
To
conclude the morning, Fabrizio Giudice paid
homage to the virtuoso Pasquale Taraffo,
highlighting the principle aspects of his
artistic personality through the last direct
testimony provided by Anselmo Bersano and the
admirable demonstration offered by his numerous
recordings. Pasquale Taraffo had actually
recorded for the biggest recording labels of his
time and it’s for this reason that he can be
considered a pioneer of guitar discography.
Unfortunately, only recordings of his
compositions for guitar have survived; he never
wrote down his own music. Fabrizio Giudice
proposed, on a harp-guitar from 1898 built by
the Genovese Oreste Candi, the performance of
some of this music, accurately transcribed from
listening to the old 78 records: Prospero,
the Sinfonia from Norma by Bellini,
the Fantasia by Viñas.
At the
termination of the morning session, the
presenters riunited on the stage of the Teatro
dell’Opera del Casinò for the group photo taken
by Stefano di Luca. Lunch followed, served in
the refined halls of the Casinò adjoining the
theater: this way, the presenters could dialogue
with everyone. The convention would then
promptly resume in early afternoon.
The
second session of the Convention opened with
20th century topics, with a contribution by
Davide Ficco on the composer Bruno Bettinelli on
the 100th anniversary of his birth. After having
illustrated the ensemble works with guitar by
Bettinelli, his original musical language was
highlighted, which distinguishes itself both
from the many generically atonal compositions
that characterise part of 20th century music,
and also from aleatory music or more general
postwebernian music that hardly fits any
category. Bettinelli’s style surely appears
atonal and serial, but is stylistically entirely
personal and most of all characterised by a
great coherence of language. So, the possibility
to listen to the legacy of the ensemble works
with guitar by Bettinelli was welcomed by the
audience with great interest, made possible by
the participation of the soprano Oxana Mochenets
(for the Due Liriche from 1977), Diego
Milanese (for the Divertimento a due for
two guitars from 1982) and Paola Dusio
(in Musica a due for flute and guitar
from the same year).
Moving
along in an analysis of modern composition
languages, the Apeiron Quartet (comprising
Michele Ambrosi, Vlatko Bocevski, Vjekoslav
Cmobori and Raffaele Pisano) performed works by
three contemporary composers dedicated to the
particular formation of the guitar quartet, a
formation that requires a specific compositional
reflection both in its development and in the
arrangement of the instrumental writing. In an
interpretation rich in tone colours and intense
expression, the audience was able to
appreciate El
lenguaje de las estrellas (2007) by José
Antonio Chic, Impresije rijke Xingu
(2012) dedicated to the Apeiron Quartet by the
young and promising Croatian composer Ivan
Šuran
(present in the audience), and finally the
brilliant Tarentelle (1991) by François
Laurent.
After
these performances, an interesting talk was
given by Giovanni Albini discussing the theme:
Composing for the 21st century guitar:
approaches, problems and possibilities.
Albini tackled an efficient critical summary of
the problems and possibilities of composing for
the guitar today, illustrating examples taken
from the scores by different authors. In the
various experiences of compositional
investigation, very different paths appear, that
range from a typically idiomatic writing to an
“anti-guitaristic” virtuosity intent on creating
new sounds, from the use of non-standard tunings
to the use of resources offered by the most
recent technologies.
To
follow was a talk prepared by Marco Bazzotti who
for some time has dedicated himself to the
studies of twentieth century Italian guitar
music. Bazzotti was able to very effectively
describe, also with the projection of rare
images and photographs, the Italian musical
scene in the first half of the twentieth
century. He particularly referred to the vital
role of magazines such as La Chitarra and
L’Arte Chitarristica which revealed
themselves to be of great importance in the
diffusion of not only content, projects and
ideas, but also in the publishing and
dissemination of new music.
The
conclusion of the Convention was left to
Federico Briasco, who covered the artistic
career and life story of his father, Pino
Briasco, unfortunately unable to attend that
day. From the affectionate and personal account
by Federico, we learned of the fundamental
milestones in his father’s career, marked by a
continuous search and complete dedication to the
art of the guitar: from the first lessons
received thanks to the important encounter with
Carlo Palladino, to the performances of the
Genovese caruggi to the recognition
gained at guitar festivals, from the first
complete recording of the quartets for guitar
and strings by Paganini to the important
bureaucratic battle to add the chair of guitar
to the Italian conservatories. This story joins
the present-day, the deepness of a special
relationship that has been transmitted from one
generation to the next in sharing the same pure
love for the guitar, as Federico himself wanted
to convey to us, reading a significant phrase by
his father, “We must continue making news about
this splendid instrument to which both my son
and I have given everything, and that has given
everything back to us: the guitar.”
And
while Federico Briasco concluded his statement
leaving the guitar to speak for itself with the
performance of a few well-known pieces from the
repertoire, we had no choice but, even in the
greatness and mightiness of the sumptuous Teatro
del Casinò, to find ourselves in an atmosphere
that had become in an instant more heartfelt and
touched. We would like to attribute these words
of the Briascos, father and son, the sense of a
larger family of which we all feel part: only
this way, in this common love for our
instrument, will we, too, affirm that the
guitar, to which we have given everything, has
given everything back to us.
L. Marazzi, Il
XXVI Convegno Chitarristico
Program
Abstract relations (in italian)
Photos
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