Ivan Galic - Scent of a Dream - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Ausonia / Bach,J.S. - Concertos [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/10/2016

For this his third volume of works by Antoine Reicha, the pianist Ivan Ilic turns to one of the composer's most extraordinary works, L'Art de varier, Op. 57. 'The Art of Variation' consists of fifty-seven variations on a theme (that the number of variations match the opus number is not a coincidence) and was composed in 1802 - 03, at the beginning of the six-year period which Reicha spent in Vienna, where he studied with Haydn and re-kindled his previous friendship with Beethoven. The set is remarkable for it's scale and invention. Ivan Ilic describes the work as the missing link between Bach's 'Goldberg' Variations and Beethoven's 'Diabelli' Variations, which was certainly influenced by Reicha's work. The recording was made at Potton Hall in Suffolk, on a Steinway Model D grand piano.

This recording contains guitar music by five Spanish composers of the 19th & 20th centuries, as well as one important Venezuelan master of today. The starting point for our attention here is the work of the Spanish composer, guitarist and guitar teacher Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909), whose InchschoolInch influenced numerous Spanish composers who, like Tárrega himself, saw the guitar as Spain's national instrument. The 19th century was a time when large concert halls were being constructed, something which, as the guitar began to enjoy increasing popularity, became rather problematic for guitarists, particularly as far as the acoustics were concerned. It was the Spanish guitar maker Antonio Torres (1817-1892) who, basing his designs on those of previous guitar makers, combined with the most up-to-date research into acoustics, developed larger instruments, something which Tárrega found vitally interesting, so much so that he developed a new playing technique. Through the evolution of his style of legato fretting and his own particular perception of the diverse timbral possibilities of the guitar, Tárrega created sounds that virtually made the instrument sing.