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Month: December 2021

30 Dec
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Chamber Music

Chamber Music with Guitar: Duilio Meucci Interview

Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco / News /

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s 125th birthday came and went in April 2020, during the first, terrifying COVID lockdown. Events and concerts were all cancelled; everyone was on edge. However, in spite of all the obstacles, Duilio Meucci, with his prodigious talents as a guitarist and as a video director, managed to find an ingenious way to pay homage to the composer. Duilio and his collaborators created a socially distanced recording of a few bars from the unforgettable second movement of Mario’s Quintet for Guitar and Strings, Op.143. The result was as inspired as it was moving: in less than two minutes, these musicians truly captured the spirit of the moment.  When Duilio informed us that he and his collaborators (the Quartetto Felix, the violinist Antonella D’Andrea, the flautist Marco Salvio, and guitarist Pietro Locatto) intended to record an entire CD of Mario’s chamber music with guitar, naturally we couldn’t wait to hear what they would come up with.  The CD, titled Notes: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Chamber Music , was released in 2021 by the label Stradivarius.
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27 Dec
Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Chamber Music Bandini Interview

Chamber Music with Guitar: Giampaolo Bandini Interview

Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco / News /

Guitarist Giampaolo Bandini has performed, championed and taught Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s music for many years. In 2017, at the l’Istituto Musicale “Luigi Boccherini” in Lucca, Italy he organized the most extensive festival ever dedicated to the Florentine composer’s guitar music. After releasing more than 10 CDs, Giampaolo chose to dedicate time during the pandemic to an exploration of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s complete chamber music with guitar. He put together an outstanding  group of musicians to collaborate with him on the project: the Quartetto Adorno (Edoardo Zosi violin, Liù Pelliciari, violin, Benedetta Bucci, viola, and Danilo Squitieri, cello); Stefano Cerrato, cello; Francesco Di Rosa, oboe; Alberto Miodini, piano; Augusto Mianti, English horn; and Andrea Oliva, flute. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Chamber Works: The Complete Edition (Decca)  was released in Fall 2021. The recording includes extensive liner notes by Professor Stefano Campagnolo.  Giampaolo graciously agreed to talk with us about his long standing interest and recent immersion in Mario’s chamber music. 
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18 Dec
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Chamber Music Sharon Isbin

Chamber Music with Guitar: Sharon Isbin Interview

Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco / News /

We are thrilled to begin our series of conversations about Mario’s Guitar chamber music with Sharon Isbin, multiple Grammy Award winner, Musical America’s 2020 Artist of the Year, and the director of the guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and the Juilliard School. Sharon recently recorded the Quintet for Guitar and Strings Op. 143 with the Pacifica Quartet (Simin Ganatra, violin; Austin Hartman, violin; Mark Holloway, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello) on their CD, Souvenirs of Spain & Italy (Cedille). 
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17 Dec
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Chamber Music with Guitar

Chamber Music with Guitar (1950-1968)

Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco / News /

After nearly two decades of writing for the guitar, in 1950 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote his first works of guitar chamber music. What began as experiments of a curious mind evolved into a group of works that are beloved today by both musicians and audiences.  The Quintet for Guitar and Strings op 143 (1950) is without a doubt the most high-profile of these works, since it was requested, premiered* and first recorded** by his friend Andrés Segovia.
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