Note Acquarelle

J S Bach

1) Prelude Fuga Allegro BWV 998 – Prelude

2) Prelude Fuga Allegro BWV 998 – Fuga

3) Prelude Fuga Allegro BWV 998 – Allegro

Alexandre Tansman

4) Variations sur un thème de Scriabin

Frank Martin

5) Quatre Pieces Breves – Preludio

6) Quatre Pieces Breves – Air

7) Quatre Pieces Breves – Plainte

8) Quatre Pieces Breves - Comme une Gigue

Francis Kleynjans

9) Cinq Notturnes - Nocturne n 1

10) Cinq Notturnes - Nocturne n 4

John W Duarte

11) English Suite op 31 – Prelude

12) English Suite op 31 - Folk Song

13) English Suite op 31 - Round Dance

Stanley Myers

14) Cavatina




Aquarelle is a collection of pieces that largely accompanied me in the long guitar path I began years ago and that oftentimes has characterized the style and the taste with which today I’m devoting to my musical world. The revisiting of these pieces has been a pleasant alternation of rediscovers and reconfirmations of an endless panorama of sonorities and harmonies that is a fundamental part of my life.

The Preludio Fuga and Allegro by Johann Sebastian Bach and the Quatre Pieces Breves by Frank Martin have been a stronghold during my Conservatory study period and resuming them has given me the opportunity of reliving, with today’s ripeness, the extraordinary musical richness that compose them. The elements of Bachian baroque, in their complex structure and in contrast with Martin’s daring harmonies, which are really close to the dodecaphonic method, create a fascinating contrast of musical forms that are antipodes among them.

The composition Variations sur un thème de Scriabin, by Alexandre Tansman, is itself a memory from my youth as I listened it for the first time during an advanced course held years ago at Chigiana Academy of Siena. The piece conquered me at once because of its gentleness and the expressiveness of the theme, and performing it again today allowed me to dive back in the emotions bounded to that period, sometimes difficult for a student, during which the overcoming of each obstacole, that appeared hard to overcame, determined new stimuli, great enthusiasm and happiness.

Even if I heard and appreciated it already since the first years of Conservatory, only in these recent times I’m dedicating to the English Suite by John Duarte and today I’m discovering slowly and gradually not only its fascinating aspects but also its variegated emotional shades. In this occasion - as always happens to me when I start to study a new composition - I realised once again that the reach of a piece in the mind and under the fingers represents the big challenge that finds satisfaction in the whole realisation of the execution.

Notturni by Francis Kleynjans are instead a new discovery: the grace, the intensity and the gentleness of the melodies, supported by harmonic choices particularly suitable for guitar, have immediately conquered my attention and I had no doubt that they would be really interesting and pleasant to listen to.

Particularly thanks to the author of the cover graphic Mr. Gianni Mollica, to Mr. Salvatore Santangelo for his precious collaboration on the editing and to Mr. Giovanni Renzo for his crucial help in mastering.