Rodrigo: Concierto Madrigal For Two Guitars / Giuliani: Guitar Concerto No. 1, Op. 30 - Pepe & Angel Romero/Neville Marriner/Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Two lovely and virtuoso guitar concertos.

After Renaissance lute music and jazzed-up Bach pieces, the time seems just perfect to finally post some guitar concertos, something i wanted to do for a while now.

My first impulse was to do Rodrigo's Fantasía para un gentilhombre, which must be my favourite concert for guitar. But recently i found this absolutely lovely recording of a lesser known Rodrigo piece. The addition of Giuliani's uplifting first concerto made this album a natural choice.

Joaquin Rodrigo is of course the composter of the most famous of all guitar conciertos, the Concierto de Aranjuez, whose Adagio section has become a part of pop culture.

For the gorgeous Concierto Madrigal i hand over to the AMG:

"Rodrigo began this two-guitar concerto in 1966, intending it for the husband-and-wife duo of Alexandre Lagoya and Ida Presti. The 1970 premiere, however, fell to Pepe and Angel Romero, who recorded it several years later. More a suite than a traditional concerto, the Concierto madrigal falls into ten brief movements, many of them based on the anonymous Renaissance madrigal "Felices ojos mios" (Happy Eyes of Mine). 

The composer wrote that "the element that sustains [the work] is the variation. Each of the variations or episodes is indicated by the title, which gives a clue to its atmosphere or scenario, a delicate poetic sketching that imbues the whole score. At times, because of the origin of the theme, the episodes have a modal or archaic character; at other times, the melody that acts as a thread through the whole work is permeated by a much more popular feeling." All in all, the concerto is more akin to Rodrigo's similarly archaic Fantasía para un gentilhombre than to his more Romantic Concierto de Aranjuez...."

(complete review at: http://www.allmusic.com/composition/concierto-madrigal-for-2-guitars-orchestra-mc0002390477)

Mauro Giuliani was a famous 19th century guitar virtuoso, even Beethoven is reported to have transcribed some of his works for Giuliani to play. Remember that the guitar was considered an inferior instrument at the time. Contemporary reviews of Giuliani's live appearences often lament that he doesn't deploy his virtuosity to another instrument. But he not only made his instrument acceptable, he also wrote about 200 works for the guitar. His first concerto is also one of his best-known works. The AMG offers a compact analysis:

"The guitar, and its relative the lute, enjoyed some popularity in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. But by the nineteenth century the lute was more or less obsolete and the guitar, which by then had taken its familiar six-string form, had fallen out of favor. Perhaps the best-known guitarist of that century was Mauro Giuliani, who, after moving to Vienna in his middle twenties, almost single-handedly brought the instrument back to public notice through his playing, composing, and teaching. He also wrote what might be the first true guitar concerto, his Concerto No. 1 in A major, which he premiered in Vienna in April 1808 to considerable acclaim.

The concerto is in the usual three movements. The first, Allegro maestoso, is a sonata-allegro based on two genial themes, both of which have a playful, Rossini-like cast. Once the orchestra presents the tunes, the guitar takes them up and develops them with a variety of embellishments and much technical display. The second movement, an Andantino, is marked Siciliano. It begins with a melancholy theme in the minor for strings, later taken by the guitar. Interestingly, the charming second tune is in the major, and the movement continues in the major to the end. A sprightly refrain opens the third movement Allegretto, a polonaise. Here, and throughout the concerto, the guitarist is kept quite busy; Giuliani illustrates why he had such a reputation as a virtuoso."


Mauro Giuliani: Guitar Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 30:
1. Allegro maestoso
2. Andanti (Siciliano)
3. Polonaise (Allegretto)

Pepe Romero, guitar

Joaquin Rodrigo: Concierto Madrigal for two Guitars and Orchestra:
4. Fanfarre (Allegro marziale)
5. Madrigal (Andante nostalgico)
6. Entrada (Allegro vivace)
7. Pastorcito, to que vienes, pastorcito, tu que vas (Allegro vivace)
8. Girardilla (Presto)
9. Pastoral (Allegro)
10. Fandango
11. Arieta (Andante nostalgico)
12. Zapateado (Allegro vivace)
13. Caccia a la espanola (Allegro vivace-Andante nostalgico)

Pepe & Ángel Romero, guitar

Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner