Beethoven / Schneiderman / Yamaya Duo - Beethoven for Two Guitars - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With The Liberation of the Gothic, Björn Schmelzer and Graindelavoix deliver an imaginative reading of music by two English composers active at the end of the fifteenth century, the towering figure of John Browne and the slightly later and much less well- known Thomas Ashwell (or Ashewell). Björn Schmelzer draws a vivid connection between the florid polyphony of these two composers and the freedom of structure and ornament found in late Gothic architecture, notably that of the fourteenth- century Lady Chapel built as part of the InchShip of the FensInch, Ely Cathedral. Performing Ashwell's intricately-woven Missa Ave Maria - a landmark in polyphony - Schmelzer and his Antwerp-based ensemble echo, in the individual freedom accorded to these virtuoso singers, the rich ornamentation of foliage, seemingly in constant motion, decorating the walls of Ely's Lady Chapel. The singers add their own InchcoloraturaInch, an approach which continues to be central to Björn Schmelzer's interpretation of medieval and Renaissance works, as have been appearing on Glossa for a decade and a half now. In his booklet essay Schmelzer refers to the British writer and artist John Ruskin describing the Inchliberation of the GothicInch as also concerning Inchthe workers, who were not submitted to repetitive, mechanical work but invested in continuous and infinite variation.Inch Acting as surrounding pillars to Ashwell's Mass on this recording are two of the extended motets, much favoured by early Tudor English polyphonists - and encountered in the famous Eton Choirbook manuscript John Browne's Stabat mater and his first setting of the Salve regina.

A lot has been written but little has been told about the Neapolitan Ferdinando Carulli, considered the founder of nineteenth-century technique and didactical teaching of the guitar; his figure as composer (he left us an endless number of compositions), represents an essential reference for the study of the guitar. This album, performed by Sandro Volta and Mauro Bonelli, is focused on one of the least considered aspects, yet very important for the formation of a musician the music for two guitars in it's fundamental meaning on one hand exquisitely concertistic pieces, on the other hand dedicated to pure didactics - real InchLessonsInch - for which the compositions for two performers are particularly important. The interpretation of these works by Ferdinando Carulli was developed on the basis of the use of two period guitars with catgut strings from the collection of Lorenzo Frignani, in Modena, and on a Inchhistorically informedInch performance practice. The result is aesthetically quite different from that obtained with modern instruments it's distinctive qualities are a more audible InchnoiseInch when the fingers pluck the strings or run over them, a more marked difference in the timbres of the various ranges, and also a particular lightness of sound.

Duo Bergerac - Works for 2 Guitars [COMPACT DISCS] date 09/30/2000