Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

David Starobin returns to the music of leading Italian composer/guitarist, Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), with a disc featuring Giuliani's solo and chamber music. Among the rarities are Two Rondos, op. 68, for piano and guitar, performed with the Israeli pianist, Inon Barnatan; Variations, op. 24a, played with Amalia Hall, winner of the Postacchini International Violin Competition (2013); and Variations on a March by Cherubini, arguably the finest solo of the composer's late period. The Italian journal Il Fronimo (Milan) wrote of Starobin: "David Starobin has grasped the authentic spirit, aided by his perfect instrumental technique. Here, the music acquires its truest meaning, exalting the quality of phrasing as it is rarely ever heard. Starobin's is a truly influential artistry, a great personality who does honor to both music and the guitar." - Bridge Records

David Starobin's recordings of 19th century music on Viennese guitars have been hailed as path-breaking, including his recent Matiegka sonatas disc, (BRIDGE 9567). Donald Rosenberg, in Gramophone wrote: "These works unfold with a spectrum of creative possibility, especially in Starobin's eloquent hands. The guitarist brings refinement to every turn of phrase, whether the music is marching, dancing or crying. This recording is a swansong to savor." In honor of the 200th birth year of Giulio Regondi, Victorian composer, guitarist, and concertinist, Starobin's new Regondi release combines previously unissued recordings, alongside re-mastered performances from Starobin's back catalog. In addition to Regondi's most well known works (Nocturne Reverie, op. 19 and Introduction et Caprice, op. 23), Starobin includes four transcriptions from Regondi's concertina etudes, guitar etudes nos. 2 and 10, and Regondi's Fetes Villageoise, op. 20 and Air Varie, No. 1, op. 21.

Bridge Records is pleased to issue guitarist David Starobin's final studio recording, W.T. Matiegka's Six Sonatas, op. 31, performed on a Viennese style guitar. Starobin regards Matiegka's sonatas as "in their time, the pinnacle of expression on the guitar, offering the most detailed notation of both articulation and character--a clear window onto performance style in the era of Beethoven and Schubert."

REVIEWS:

[Starobin's] gift for interpretation is evident throughout the present recording and illustrates his artistic ability to “serve” the score. This recording encourages close listening as the guitarist’s technique never intrudes, while the interpretive quality offers myriad opportunities for one’s attention to settle more and more deeply into Matiegka’s compositions.

— EarRelevant

No less a figure than the young Schubert acknowledged Matiegka's skill by making an arrangement of one of his trios. Also a contemporary of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, Matiegka absorbed the musical practices of the day and applied them expertly in his guitar sonatas, of which 11 survive. The sonatas of Op. 31 all contain three short movements, but there's never a hint of repetition or familiarity as these works unfold with a spectrum of creative possibility, especially in Starobin's eloquent hands. The guitarist brings refinement to every turn of phrase, whether the music is marching, dancing or crying. Generations of guitarists will thank Starobin for bringing Matiegka's pieces to light. This recording is a swansong to savor.

— Gramophone

Classical Music