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Music for Guitar & Choir by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Campogrande & Jappelli
Brilliant Classics

Music for Guitar & Choir by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Campogrande & Jappelli

$8.49
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Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Spera, Krueger
Format
CD
Label
Brilliant Classics
Released
May 01, 2020
Catalog #
BRI96085
UPC
5028421960852

About

The technical challenging of balancing a choir singing at full volume and a guitar, renowned for its gentle sound, has tended to discourage composers from pairing these resources. Handled sensitively, however, the combination yields a seductive sound-world, full of mystery and imagination, tending in this trio of works to evoke a reassuring feeling of familiarity: there is balance, a sense of form, awareness, and respect for a past that is renewed while it nourishes the present. At the peak of his maturity in 1959 and in a burst of creativity, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco set to music seven poems by Federico García Lorca as a cycle, Romancero Gitano Op.152. The vocal writing is limpid, capturing the colours and contrasts of Lorca’s text, whether it is representing the placid flow of three rivers (Baladilla de los Tres Rios) with an incessant stream of semiquavers, or depicting Carmen’s dance through the streets of Seville with an elegant and slightly grotesque “Tempo di Seguidilla” (Baile). Everywhere, what shines through, to quote the composer, is a sense ‘of the Spanish lands: the parched Castile, the pale olive groves, the scent of the orange orchards in Andalusia and, along the coast, the sea which breaks at the shore with vibrations, almost, of a guitar.’ Receiving their first recordings here are Nulla Sors Longa Est by Nicola Jappelli (b.1975) and Materna by Nicola Campogrande (b.1969). Jappelli’s chosen text was written by the Roman philosopher Seneca, and addresses the concept of happiness, ending with a bitter reflection on human frailty. Campogrande’s piece has a more positive outlook, celebrating motherhood in a commission from the guitarist on this recording, Nicolò Spera, to mark the birth of his daughter. Campogrande has set four texts – also in Latin – by the contemporary poet Marco Vacchetti, who was in turn inspired by Renaissance-era nativities painted by Piero della Francesca, Caravaggio, Luini and Solari.

 

REVIEW:

 

Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s soulful settings of the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca are the most affecting songs of the lot. Nicola Spera, Professor of classical guitar at the University of Colorado, is a fabulous guitarist, so with his flamenco-inspired playing, the orange trees and olive groves of Andalucia sound fragrant indeed.

 

– American Record Guide

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. — 10:17
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. —
    Duration
    10:17
    Composer
    Nicola Jappelli
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  2. 2 No. 2. — 06:10
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. —
    Duration
    06:10
    Composer
    Nicola Jappelli
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  3. 3 No. 3. — 08:48
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. —
    Duration
    08:48
    Composer
    Nicola Jappelli
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  4. 4 No. 1. Piero della Francesca, Madonna del parto 03:45
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 1. Piero della Francesca, Madonna del parto
    Duration
    03:45
    Composer
    Nicola Campogrande
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  5. 5 No. 2. Caravaggio, natività con i Santi Lorenzo e Francesco d'Assisi 04:09
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 2. Caravaggio, natività con i Santi Lorenzo e Francesco d'Assisi
    Duration
    04:09
    Composer
    Nicola Campogrande
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  6. 6 No. 3. Bernardo Luini, The Virgin Holding the Sleeping Child 03:22
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 3. Bernardo Luini, The Virgin Holding the Sleeping Child
    Duration
    03:22
    Composer
    Nicola Campogrande
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  7. 7 No. 4. Andrea Solari, Madonna del cuscino verde 01:46
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 4. Andrea Solari, Madonna del cuscino verde
    Duration
    01:46
    Composer
    Nicola Campogrande
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  8. 8 I. Baladilla de los Tres Rios 04:44
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. Baladilla de los Tres Rios
    Duration
    04:44
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  9. 9 II. La Guitarra 04:23
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. La Guitarra
    Duration
    04:23
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  10. 10 III. Punal 01:31
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Punal
    Duration
    01:31
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  11. 11 IV. Procesion: Procesion - Paso - Saeta 06:51
    Track
    11
    Title
    IV. Procesion: Procesion - Paso - Saeta
    Duration
    06:51
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  12. 12 V. Memento 01:54
    Track
    12
    Title
    V. Memento
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  13. 13 VI. Baile 02:07
    Track
    13
    Title
    VI. Baile
    Duration
    02:07
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger
  14. 14 VII. Crotalo 01:37
    Track
    14
    Title
    VII. Crotalo
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Nicolò Spera
    Ensemble
    St. Martin's Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Timothy J. Krueger