BAROQUE GUITAR FAVOURITES

• Barocke Gitarrenkonzerte
• Product type: ABIS MUSIC
• Brand: NAXOS

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) Concerto in E Minor, RV 277 Trio Sonata in C Major, RV 82 Trio Sonata in G Minor, RV 85 Concerto in D Major, RV 93 J. S. Bach (1685 - 1750) Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052Antonio Vivaldi was one of the best violinists of his day, and many ofhis concertos were written for his own performance. Among these is the Concertoin E minor, Opus 11, No.2, known as II Favorito, and one of those dedicated tothe Emperor Charles VI. This is one of the finest concertos of the period interms of expressiveness and organisation of musical content. The possibilitiesfor subtlety of expression and sustained notes available on the twentiethcentury guitar enabled me to transcribe this masterpiece with hardly anyalteration. A more obvious choice for transcription, however, is the lute musicwhich Vivaldi wrote, as both guitar and lute are sounded by plucking stringswith fingers. Part of the charm of the plucked string sound lies in the dyingaway of a note as soon as it is played. The concerto in D major brings the luteto the fore and many solo passages are supported by only the basso continuo.These lute pieces were written around 1730 and dedicated to a Bohemian, CountWrtby. It is perhaps appropriate that they were recorded in Slovakia withmusicians whose pedigree extends back to that time. The Trio Sonatas in C majorand G minor, RV 82 and RV 85, were originally written for violin, lute andcontinuo, instead of the more usual two violins. Again, transcription of thelute part for guitar is relatively straightforward.Johann Sebastian Bach transcribed several of Vivaldi's works andpossibly gained an appreciation of the Italian style through them. He alsofrequently transcribed his own works when occasion demanded, and many of hisharpsichord concertos were originally written for other instrumentalcombinations. If, for instance, there was a shortage of good violinists, or heneeded an instrumental interlude in a Cantata (which had to be producedweekly), he could quickly substitute a keyboard part for himself or one of hissons to play. The Concerto in D minor thus started life as a violin concerto,probably during the composer's days as court music director at Cothen between1717 and 1723. It next appears in Cantata 146 and then in Cantata 188,transcribed an octave lower for organ. The sombre middle movement is punctuatedby a choir singing the words to 'Wir m??ssen durch viel Tr??bsal'. Finally theconcerto was transcribed for harpsichord around 1735 and this is the version I useas the basis for the guitar version. Many guitaristic idioms were revealed inthe course of preparing this arrangement, for example homophony and theextensive use of pedal-notes on open strings. These are of course violinisticdevices as well. The piece uses, then transforms the premise of the Italianconcerto that soloist and orchestra should have contrasting themes. In themomentous first movement both orchestra and soloist are plunged into theturbulent theme which they share and dev