About
John W. Duarte was born in Sheffield, England on 2 October 1919. He started playing the ukulele, but soon moved to the guitar at the age of 15. The advent of guitar phenomenon John Williams, whom Duarte taught for 18 months before the young musician’s entry into the Royal College of Music, London, gave the composer an opportunity to expand his chamber music oeuvre.
The Concertante Quartet Op.22, a substantial work in four movements. In 2021 the composer’s son, Christopher Duarte, discovered some folk songs arranged for guitar and small orchestra among his father’s manuscripts. There is no mention of these arrangements in his list of works and no correspondence relating to their creation, but from the composer’s handwriting these probably date from the mid-late 1950s and may have been written for John Williams to play with fellow RCM students.
Next Market Day, scored for piccolo, snare drum and strings, is an energetic rendering of an Irish love song which Duarte revisited several times. The Coolin of Rùm (or, The Rùm Cuillin), scored for flute, oboe and strings, is a tune from the Isle of Rùm, one of the small islands near the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides. Cuillin is the name for a range of mountains in this area and Duarte may have been alluding to the name of a previous owner of Rùm, Maclean of Duart.
Duarte began work on what became A Tudor Fancy in early 1967. Following A Tudor Fancy, a concerto in all but name. The Concierto alegre Op.101 (1986) is deliberately light in woodwind (2 flutes, one each of the rest), a trumpet, strings, but with a battery of percussion, including two vibraphones. As with A Tudor Fancy, the music proceeds in a variety of ‘conversations’, with the orchestration kept deliberately light when the guitars are playing.
Tracklist 12 tracks
-
1 I. Tower Hill 05:11
- Track
- 1
- Title
- I. Tower Hill
- Duration
- 05:11
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
2 II. The Fall of the Leafe (All in a Garden Green) 11:32
- Track
- 2
- Title
- II. The Fall of the Leafe (All in a Garden Green)
- Duration
- 11:32
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
3 III. A Gigge 06:21
- Track
- 3
- Title
- III. A Gigge
- Duration
- 06:21
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
4 Next Market Day 02:09
- Track
- 4
- Title
- Next Market Day
- Duration
- 02:09
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Nicola Montella
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
5 The Coolin of Rùm 05:20
- Track
- 5
- Title
- The Coolin of Rùm
- Duration
- 05:20
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
6 I. Deciso 03:58
- Track
- 6
- Title
- I. Deciso
- Duration
- 03:58
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Ensemble
-
7 II. Con tenerezza 06:05
- Track
- 7
- Title
- II. Con tenerezza
- Duration
- 06:05
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Ensemble
-
8 III. Giocoso 04:17
- Track
- 8
- Title
- III. Giocoso
- Duration
- 04:17
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Ensemble
-
9 IV. Con brio 04:25
- Track
- 9
- Title
- IV. Con brio
- Duration
- 04:25
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Performer
- Antonio De Innocentis
- Ensemble
- Belfort Chamber Ensemble
-
10 I. — 07:14
- Track
- 10
- Title
- I. —
- Duration
- 07:14
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Ensemble
- The Belfort Guitar Duo, Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
11 II. — 11:54
- Track
- 11
- Title
- II. —
- Duration
- 11:54
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Ensemble
- The Belfort Guitar Duo, Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri
-
12 III. — 06:31
- Track
- 12
- Title
- III. —
- Duration
- 06:31
- Composer
- John W. Duarte
- Ensemble
- The Belfort Guitar Duo, Belfort Chamber Orchestra
- Conductor
- Gian Luigi Zampieri