Gnattali; Mignone: Complete Studies for Guitar

Gnattali, Radamés, Mignone, Francisco

Monarda, Andrea

96410

The guitar is, like football and coffee, an element linked to the collective imagination of Brazil. The guitar's contribution to Brazilian musical culture has been fluctuating: the great class differences of the colonial period had de-qualified it as the instrument of the ignorant and uneducated populace, as opposed to the piano, which instead carried the ideal of the richer bourgeoisie. This situation changed however at the beginning of the 20th century, when composers emerged who linked the “higher” and “lower” culture.

This 2-CD set present the complete studies for guitar by two Brazilian composers (both children of Italian immigrants): Radamés Gnattali (1906-1988) and Francisco Mignone (1897-1986).

Gnattali’s music is unique: the writing for the instrument is excellent, the harmonic solutions surprising and the inspiration inexhaustible. After Villa-Lobos, Gnattali's work is considered to be the most appreciated and performed. Francisco Mignone, before being regarded as a 'serious composer', was successful in the popular genre. Adopting the pseudonym Chico Bororó, he composed many valsas and maxixes: their popular influence can be found in all his later musical output. Mignone's works for guitar includes two great cycles, the Estudos and the Valsas, characterized by exceptional technical brilliance and uncommon versatility of styles, from folk to serial composition.

Played with rich colors and immense joy by Italian guitarist Andrea Monarda, about whom Ennio Morricone said: “I am truly grateful to M° Andrea Monarda for his precise analysis of my Quattro pezzi for guitar. I am grateful for the attention and the experience of the brilliant professional who, with his sensitive interpretation, ‘discovered’ the secret intentions of the composer.”

CD x 2

Brilliant Classics

5/2/22

5028421964102