Fernando Sor - The 19th-Century Guitar (Gianluigi Giglio)

Information

Composer: Fernando Sor

1. Introduction and Variations on 'Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre'
2. Les folies d'Espagne and a minuet, Op. 15a
3. Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart, Op. 9
4. Easy Fantasy in A minor, Op. 58
5. Six Bagatelles, Op. 43 'Mes ennuis': No. 3, Cantabile
6. Six Bagatelles, Op. 43 'Mes ennuis': No. 5, Andante
7. Elegiac Fantasy in E major, Op. 59: Introduction – Andante largo
8. Elegiac Fantasy in E major, Op. 59: March funèbre – Andante moderato
9. Capriccio in E major 'Le calme', Op. 50
10. 24 Progressive Lessons for Beginners, Op. 31: No. 23 in E major 'The movement of a religious prayer'

Gianluigi Giglio, guitar

Date: 2019

Label: SOMM

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Review

The salon and pedagogical miniatures of the 19th-century guitarist-composers Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Dionisio Aguado, Matteo Carcassi et al sound less at home on a modern concert guitar than they once did. Even generalists such as Gianluigi Giglio prefer to use period instruments and gut strings. It could almost be said that this repertoire grows in stature as the instrument shrinks.

This is because the bracing, smaller scale, narrower waist and lighter construction and string tension of an 1834 René Lacôte like the one played here both limit and enhance the tonal and dynamic range available to the player. It is also because the physical act of using such an instrument alters one’s psychological and physiological perspectives. It is a generative engagement with the music that has little to do with attempts to reproduce it ‘as the composer intended’.

Listen to players such as William Carter, Ricardo Gallén, Stefano Grondona, Wulfin Lieske and David Starobin. A study becomes an andante for string quartet. A modest theme-and-variations becomes a symphonic event. It’s the same here, in a Sor recital that tapers sensitively from sets of variations through fantasies to pieces of sweet repose.

Giglio has a remarkable ear for the latent expressivity of a single tone, whether in isolation or in the company of its brethren. Moreover, his playing throughout is as lyrical as it is expository. But it is his accommodating himself to the instrument’s limitations in order to unlock the music’s true potential that proves truly revelatory.

— William Yeoman

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Fernando Sor (baptized 14 February 1778 – 10 July 1839) was a Catalan Romantic guitarist, composer and teacher. Trained at Montserrat's choir school, he wrote his first opera in 1797 and later worked under the French administration after Spain's defeat by Napoleon. Sor lived in Paris and London, composing prolifically and publishing influential works. His Méthode pour la guitar (1830) became a foundational study text. Though forgotten after his death, Sor's music was revived in the 20th century, and he is now celebrated for his guitar compositions, such as the Grand Sonata, Op. 22 and the Variations, Op. 9.

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Gianluigi Giglio (born 1963) is an Italian guitarist. A top graduate of the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory and the Cimarosa Conservatory, he trained further with Oscar Ghiglia, Leo Brouwer and Angelo Gilardino, and performs widely as a soloist and chamber musician. A specialist in early 19th-century guitar, he performs on rare historic instruments and has released acclaimed recordings, including a CD of Francesco Molino's Trios, which was considered "Best CD of 2009" by the English Magazine Classical Guitar. He teaches at the G. Martucci Conservatory and directs the Heartstrings Guitar Festival in Ravello.

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