Archguitar Baroque / Blanchette, Michelini
The archguitar is a modern instrument, invented in the early 1980s by guitarist Peter Blanchette (the main performer on this disc) and Boston-area luthier Walter Stanul. The idea was to build an instrument that "feels like a guitar but sounds more like a lute." Importantly, the new instrument would address the two guitarists' frustration with the standard version's lack of bass strings, and thus would enable one player to perform works with wider range, vastly extending the repertoire possibilities. Rather than just build a bigger instrument, Stanul came up with an 11-string model that's closer in size to a standard guitar, but as you hear immediately on this recording, the sound is rather imposing, and the extra strings give a tremendous vibrancy to the instrument's natural resonance. (Incidentally, the website listed in the disc's liner notes, www.archlute.com, was not accessible when I tried it, but there is some sketchy information available at Stanul's site, http://babel.massart.edu/~carrie/yoshikosuga/Home.html, and at a few others that turned up in a web search.)
Primarily because of Blanchette's enthusiastic advocacy, world-wide concertizing, and several recordings, the archguitar has developed quite a following--including an additional cadre of performers--and this has resulted in the creation of countless transcriptions and many new compositions. The pieces heard here, taken from two different locations (a church in Copenhagen and a studio at University of Massachusetts, Amherst) and recorded in two different years (1983 and 1985), are primarily arrangements by Blanchette. He performs with fellow archguitarist Peter Michelini, who's also a touring partner. While most of these works are Bach keyboard pieces, it's best to not concentrate on the original versions as you listen. In these fresh, cleanly articulated, and very enjoyable readings we can hear all sorts of new sounds, strikingly vivid colors, and a kind of energy that's different from a keyboardist's fingerwork, but equally affecting and often very exciting. With two archguitars, there's also an incredible depth and richness of texture that's surprising if you're used to hearing Bach transcriptions played only by an ordinary guitar. The performance of Domenico Scarlatti's G major Sonata K. 105 is dazzling, showing the amazing range both of notes and sounds that virtuoso players can achieve.
Blanchette's technical and interpretive credentials have been well documented and highly praised, and on evidence of these performances the citations are deserved. There's a strange little one-note melodic glitch about one minute into his beautiful rendition of Bach's famous "Largo" from the F minor harpsichord concerto BWV 1056, and the balance in the well-loved C major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I oddly skews toward the lower-register part, but otherwise the program goes along without a hitch. The sound from the Copenhagen sessions is warmer than those recorded at UMass, which are slightly edgier and brighter and reveal more of the inevitable finger-scraping and squeaking noises. Try this if you're a guitar fan, or if you're looking to hear some really fine, fresh-faced performances of Bach--with a little Scarlatti, Handel, and Vivaldi thrown in.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Product Description:
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Release Date: October 02, 2001
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UPC: 053479324122
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Catalog Number: DOR-93241
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Label: Sono Luminus
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Number of Discs: 1
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Composer: Antonio Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti, George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach
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Orchestra/Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
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Performer: Peter Blanchette, Peter Michelini
Works:
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2: Prelude and Fugue no 10 in E minor, BWV 879 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Praeambulum in F major, BWV 927
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Sonata for Violin and Basso Continuo in A major, HWV 372/Op. 1 no 14: Allegro
Composer: George Frideric Handel
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Sonata for Harpsichord in D minor, K 9/L 413
Composer: Domenico Scarlatti
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Sonata for Harpsichord in G major, K 105/L 204
Composer: Domenico Scarlatti
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Prelude in C major, BWV 924
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no 2 in C minor, BWV 847 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no 1 in C, BWV 846 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Little Preludes (6): no 1 in C major, BWV 933
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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French Suite no 6 in E major, BWV 817: Allemande
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Sonata for Violin solo no 2 in A minor, BWV 1003: 1st movement, Grave
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no 3 in C sharp major, BWV 848 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no 20 in A minor, BWV 865 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no 9 in E major, BWV 854 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Little Preludes (6): no 5 in E major, BWV 937
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Sonata for Violin solo no 3 in C major, BWV 1005: 3rd movement, Largo
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar)
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Clavierbüchlein no 2 for Anna Magdalena Bach: Musette in D major, BWV Anh. 126 [doubtful]
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2: Prelude and Fugue no 3 in C sharp major, BWV 872 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no 17 in A flat major, BWV 862 - Prelude
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Concerto for Violin in B flat major, RV 381: Allegro
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Concerto for Harpsichord in F minor, BWV 1056: 2nd movement, Largo-Arioso
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)
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Capriccio in B flat major on the Departure of his Most Beloved Brother, BWV 992: 1st movement, Arios
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Archguitar Duo
Performer: Peter Blanchette (Guitar), Peter Michelini (Guitar)