TANSMAN Complete Works for Solo Guitar • 2
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Alexandre TANSMAN Complete Works for Solo Guitar • 2 Andrea De Vitis Alexandre Tansman (1897–1986) explained by the fact that Tansman and Segovia were Tansman and Segovia’s friendship was not only evident Complete Works for Solo Guitar • 2: ‘A sign of friendship’ separated by wars and racial persecutions in Europe which in their artistic collaborations, they also spent long periods forced the two musicians into exile in the Americas. Aside together, for example during summer vacations. Two Inventions (Hommage à Bach) (1967) 11:54 Prélude et Interlude (1955) 5:51 from that period, Tansman wrote, on average, a new movements of Inventions, which Tansman wrote in 1 Passepied (Allegro con moto) 1:54 ^ Prélude (Allegro con moto) 4:23 composition for guitar every two or three years. He created September 1967 in tribute to Bach, date back to a short 2 Sarabande (Lento cantabile) 2:29 & Interlude (Lento cantabile) 1:27 this opus almost exclusively as a sign of his friendship for vacation he took in Los Olivos, Andalusia, the summer 3 Sicilienne (Allegretto) 2:10 * Variations sur un thème de Scriabine (1971) 9:47 Andrés Segovia: none of the other famous guitarists who residence of Segovia and his wife, Emilita Corral de 4 Toccata à deux voix (Moderato) 2:13 Thème (Lento) – played his music had so many pieces written for them and Segovia. This suite was composed as an affectionate thank 5 Aria (Lento cantabile) 3:01 Var. I (L’istesso tempo) – only on two occasions did he compose guitar music which you to the couple for their hospitality. Tansman didn’t try to Hommage à Chopin (1966) 8:16 Var. II (Un poco più mosso) – wasn’t destined for the Spanish guitarist. The first time was imitate the formal rigour and contrapuntal perfection of 6 Prélude (Andante cantabile) 2:21 Var. III (Vivo non troppo) – in 1970 when, upon the request of Angelo Gilardino, he Bach’s famous Inventions for harpsichord; instead, he 7 Nocturne (Moderato) 2:42 Var. IV (Lento cantabile, un poco rubato) – wrote Pezzo in modo antico; the second in 1982, when elaborated a free contamination between counterpoint and 8 Valse romantique (Allegretto ma non troppo) 3:12 Var. V (Allegretto grazioso quasi mazurka) – Corazón Otero and Fernando Pereznieto (a Mexican painter dance rhythms. The result is an original work whose 9 Ballade ‘hommage à Chopin’ (1965) 9:55 Var. VI (Allegro con moto – Fugato) he particularly admired) asked him to write Hommage à interpretation goes well beyond mere instrumental execution Suite (1956) 16:05 ( Pièce en forme de passacaille (1953) 6:21 Lech Wałęsa, his last concert piece. and proves to be particularly complex on a stylistic level. 0 Notturno romantico (Lento e cantabile) 2:42 ) Pezzo in modo antico (1970) 4:57 Until Tansman and Segovia died (in 1986 and 1987, In 1965, he wrote Ballade in tribute to Fryderyk Chopin: respectively), Alexandre Tansman’s contribution to the guitar the piece, Tansman’s most wide-ranging single movement ! Alla polacca (Allegro con moto) 2:18 Deux Chansons populaires (1978) 6:20 repertory was considered valuable but quantitatively limited. for guitar, sank into oblivion (it was only published in 1998) @ Canzonetta (Lento) 2:20 ¡ Andante 2:49 But starting in 1991, many pieces came to light which but Segovia used it as a pretext to request three more pieces # Invenzione (Allegro moderato) 2:14 ™ Allegretto 3:31 $ Berceuse d’Orient (Andante cantabile) 3:48 Segovia hadn’t included in his concert repertory and which, from the composer (Prelude, Nocturne, and Valse % Segovia (Allegro con moto) 2:35 with Tansman’s consent, had been set aside and forgotten. romantique), which were published in 1968 as Hommage à The number of pieces which surfaced in Tansman’s personal Chopin. The Ballade is difficult on an instrumental level and Like many composers from the first half of the 20th century, as a musical supplement in the May 1926 issue of La Revue archive and the archive of the Fundación Andrés Segovia proved to be Tansman’s most imaginative piece for guitar. A Alexandre Tansman (12 June 1897, Łódź, Poland – 15 musicale (the same journal which had published Manuel de exceed those which had been known until that moment and, long and episodic composition, it is based on a form which November 1986, Paris, France) became interested in the Falla’s Homenaje the year before). That dinner marked the as a result, Alexandre Tansman’s opus for guitar is now was dear to Chopin but unusual in the guitar repertory and guitar after meeting the Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia beginning of a friendship which only ended with Tansman’s considered one of the most important of the 20th century, requires the performer to quickly pass from one instrumental (1893–1987). They met at a dinner which had been death in 1986. Of the various authors who composed for for the cultural and expressive variety of the compositions and expressive mood to another. organized by Henry Prunières as one of the activities of the Segovia, Tansman is the one who most openly distanced and the fruitful inspiration these compositions often reveal. The Suite in six movements (Notturno romantico, Alla journal he edited, La Revue musicale. The dinner guests himself from the Spanish-American clichés which, at the This unabridged recording, entrusted to the Italian polacca, Canzonetta, Invenzione, Berceuse d’Orient, included Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel, Florent Schmitt, and time, seemed the only kind of guitar music possible. guitarist Andrea De Vitis and the nuances of a magnificent Segovia) dates back to 1956. It was unpublished for many the members of the Groupe des Six. At the end of the meal, Tansman was certainly not the only one to do so but, as instrument built by the Parisian luthier Daniel Friederich years and Segovia extracted three pieces from it which he Prunières asked Segovia to play the guitar for them. Many opposed to other composers and despite this stylistic choice, (guitar no. 101 from 1963), does not follow the chronological published under the title Trois pièces, recorded in 1958, and years later, Tansman recalled, ‘I expected a Spanish guitarist he immediately entered the Spanish guitarist’s heart and – order of the compositions and has been divided into two included in 1962 in his Suite in modo polonico. The complete to play some flamenco and instead I heard Bach’s consequently – his repertory, to the point that he represents albums according to the composer’s inspirational sources version was recently found in two handwritten copies, one in Chaconne! I was overwhelmed by the Maestro’s ‘Segovia’s most advanced commitment to modern music’. and cultural reference points. De Vitis has also meticulously the archive of the Tansman family and the other in the performance’. Segovia probably didn’t realise the symbolic (A. Gilardino, Manuale di storia della chitarra). researched Tansman’s original manuscripts, resolving many Segovia Foundation archive. The Suite was conceived as a value this Bach composition had for Tansman: in fact, Alexandre Tansman’s legacy for the guitar ranges over a doubts and omissions which can be found in the printed musical portrait of Segovia, whose name is used for the final, Tansman had decided to dedicate his life to music after particularly long time frame: 57 years passed between his editions. Spanish-style movement: the suite has moderate attending a concert during which Eugène Ysaÿe performed first composition, the Mazurka from 1925, and his final one, This album brings together the works which reference movements (Notturno romantico, Canzonetta, Berceuse this famous piece. The composer expressed all his Hommage à Lech Wałęsa, written in 1982. During this Alexandre Tansman’s favourite musicians of the past, in d’Orient) which illustrate his extraordinary sound and admiration and interest to Segovia and offered to write a period, the Polish-French composer wrote new pieces for particular Johann Sebastian Bach and Tansman’s fellow elegant, romantically expressive phrasing; it also features work for guitar for him. A short while later, the Mazurka was the guitar almost uninterruptedly, with the exception of the countryman, Fryderyk Chopin. It also features references to brilliant pieces, one inspired by Poland, the other by Spain, born, and Segovia soon performed it during a concert at the period 1925–45, the two decades which passed between his folk music; the music of Alexander Scriabin, who was a close to highlight Segovia’s ability – which Tansman considered Conservatory in Paris. The composition was later published first and second guitar compositions. This silence is in part friend of the Tansmans, and Baroque music. superb – to ennoble folk songs and dances. In 1955, Segovia asked Tansman to write a series of flexible harmony – alternately mobile and static – of Andrea De Vitis preludes: the composer limited himself to writing the diptych Tansman’s music. Starting with the exposition of the bass Andrea De Vitis is considered one of the most talented guitarists of his generation. He studied with Leonardo De Angelis, Prélude et Interlude, which Segovia found unsuitable for the ostinato, the composition uses a bass D sharp which obliges Paolo Pegoraro, Adriano Del Sal, Arturo Tallini, Oscar Ghiglia, Carlo Marchione, Frédéric Zigante and Pavel Steidl. He guitar, despite his attempt to make it more playable by the performer to tune the sixth string in D, even though the has won over 40 awards at several prestigious competitions, including the Guitar Masters International Guitar Competition changing the key. The diptych, which was recently found piece is in E minor: the scordatura, which is, in itself, in Wrocław, the ‘Altamira’ Guitar Competition in Iserlohn, the Certamen Internacional de Guitarra Clásica Julián Arcas in among Segovia’s papers, has a very free harmonic language customary, seemed tonally unorthodox to Segovia and he Almería, the Forum Gitarre Wien, the Concorso Internazionale di Gargnano and the Guitar Foundation of America which was foreign to the dedicatee’s aesthetics.