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Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Greeting Cards / Cristiano Porqueddu

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Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Greeting Cards / Cristiano Porqueddu

Between 1953 and 1967, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) wrote 53 works for various instrumental ensembles that were collected together as Opus 170 and given the title Greeting Cards. Castelnuovo-Tedesco described them as ‘alphabetic pieces’: he derived their musical themes derived from ascending and descending chromatic scales, in which each note is combined with a letter of the alphabet. On this new album, Cristiano Porqueddu plays the 21 Greeting Cards composed for the guitar. They are small, unexpected homages that Castelnuovo-Tedesco liked to give his friends, to musicians who played his works, to his pupils and occasionally also to people who were not musicians. He later declared them to be minor works, but each of them is filled with affection, regardless of the professional status of the subject. In this imaginary gallery there are thus portrayals of legendary musicians such as Jascha Heifetz and AndrĂ©s Segovia alongside several of his students, including AndrĂ© Previn, Christopher Parkening and Eugene Robin Escovado. Castelnuovo-Tedesco made each Greeting Card a vivid portrait of the dedicatee, usually by combining rhythms and atmospheres that reflected nationality, as with the Tonadilla sul nome di AndrĂ©s Segovia or the CanciĂłn venezolana sul nome di Alirio DĂ­az. However, there are also more abstract references, such as the Rondel on the name of Siegfried Behrend (No.6) or evocations generated by the name itself: the Fantasia sul nome di Henry e Ronald Purcell (No.38), for instance, or the Volo d’Angeli sul nome di Angelo Gilardino (No.47). What they all have in common is a depth of feeling that transcends their superficial status as ‘occasional’ pieces.

REVIEW:

Among the 53 compositions comprising Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Greeting Cards Op. 170, 21 are for solo guitar. Each piece is based on the name of a friend or colleague. Letters from their names correspond to pitches that are folded into two specific thematic groups derived from chromatic scales.
Of course you don’t have to know all this in order to appreciate Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s exquisite workmanship, his attractive harmonic palette, and his idiomatic guitar writing. The music abounds with variety and character. I’ll give a few examples. Take Brasileira sul nome di Laurindo Almeida, for instance. Who knew that wide interval leaps would be compatible with a samba’s churning momentum? Or how serially-derived melodies could convey gentle yet mercurial lyricism, as in Ballatella on the name of Christopher Parkening. I especially love the yearning songfulness of Romanza sul nome di Oscar Ghiglia, where the imitative lines and general harmonic scheme sound like updated Schumann. Also note the subtle and haunting use of harmonics in A Lullaby for Eugene to Eugene Robin Escovado.
Guitarist Cristiano Porqueddu obviously has lavished much time, care, thought, and preparation upon these works. His nuanced articulation allows him to sustain and spin out legato lines as if his fingers had bows, while short detached passages are clearly delineated and never harsh. Indeed, it’s interesting how his suave and rounded interpretation of the opening Tonadilla dedicated to AndrĂ©s Segovia differs from that master’s better known yet blunter, more aggressive performance. Dare I say that I prefer Porqueddu’s?
The guitarist offers works by the late Angelo Gilardino as bonus tracks. The Capriccio is essentially a study in rapid motoric patterns, while the three-movement Sonata Mediterranea fares best in its expansive, tuneful first-movement Cipressi. Had the third-movement Pini sul Mare been reduced to half its duration the music would make its thorny, dissonance-tinged point more effectively. Brilliant Classics’ fine engineering and annotations deserve high marks too.
-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Between 1953 and 1967, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) wrote 53 works for various instrumental ensembles that were collected together as Opus 170 and given the title Greeting Cards. Castelnuovo-Tedesco described them as ‘alphabetic pieces’: he derived their musical themes derived from ascending and descending chromatic scales, in which each note is combined with a letter of the alphabet. On this new album, Cristiano Porqueddu plays the 21 Greeting Cards composed for the guitar. They are small, unexpected homages that Castelnuovo-Tedesco liked to give his friends, to musicians who played his works, to his pupils and occasionally also to people who were not musicians. He later declared them to be minor works, but each of them is filled with affection, regardless of the professional status of the subject. In this imaginary gallery there are thus portrayals of legendary musicians such as Jascha Heifetz and AndrĂ©s Segovia alongside several of his students, including AndrĂ© Previn, Christopher Parkening and Eugene Robin Escovado. Castelnuovo-Tedesco made each Greeting Card a vivid portrait of the dedicatee, usually by combining rhythms and atmospheres that reflected nationality, as with the Tonadilla sul nome di AndrĂ©s Segovia or the CanciĂłn venezolana sul nome di Alirio DĂ­az. However, there are also more abstract references, such as the Rondel on the name of Siegfried Behrend (No.6) or evocations generated by the name itself: the Fantasia sul nome di Henry e Ronald Purcell (No.38), for instance, or the Volo d’Angeli sul nome di Angelo Gilardino (No.47). What they all have in common is a depth of feeling that transcends their superficial status as ‘occasional’ pieces.

REVIEW:

Among the 53 compositions comprising Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Greeting Cards Op. 170, 21 are for solo guitar. Each piece is based on the name of a friend or colleague. Letters from their names correspond to pitches that are folded into two specific thematic groups derived from chromatic scales.
Of course you don’t have to know all this in order to appreciate Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s exquisite workmanship, his attractive harmonic palette, and his idiomatic guitar writing. The music abounds with variety and character. I’ll give a few examples. Take Brasileira sul nome di Laurindo Almeida, for instance. Who knew that wide interval leaps would be compatible with a samba’s churning momentum? Or how serially-derived melodies could convey gentle yet mercurial lyricism, as in Ballatella on the name of Christopher Parkening. I especially love the yearning songfulness of Romanza sul nome di Oscar Ghiglia, where the imitative lines and general harmonic scheme sound like updated Schumann. Also note the subtle and haunting use of harmonics in A Lullaby for Eugene to Eugene Robin Escovado.
Guitarist Cristiano Porqueddu obviously has lavished much time, care, thought, and preparation upon these works. His nuanced articulation allows him to sustain and spin out legato lines as if his fingers had bows, while short detached passages are clearly delineated and never harsh. Indeed, it’s interesting how his suave and rounded interpretation of the opening Tonadilla dedicated to AndrĂ©s Segovia differs from that master’s better known yet blunter, more aggressive performance. Dare I say that I prefer Porqueddu’s?
The guitarist offers works by the late Angelo Gilardino as bonus tracks. The Capriccio is essentially a study in rapid motoric patterns, while the three-movement Sonata Mediterranea fares best in its expansive, tuneful first-movement Cipressi. Had the third-movement Pini sul Mare been reduced to half its duration the music would make its thorny, dissonance-tinged point more effectively. Brilliant Classics’ fine engineering and annotations deserve high marks too.
-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)
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Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Greeting Cards / Cristiano Porqueddu—
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Description

Between 1953 and 1967, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) wrote 53 works for various instrumental ensembles that were collected together as Opus 170 and given the title Greeting Cards. Castelnuovo-Tedesco described them as ‘alphabetic pieces’: he derived their musical themes derived from ascending and descending chromatic scales, in which each note is combined with a letter of the alphabet. On this new album, Cristiano Porqueddu plays the 21 Greeting Cards composed for the guitar. They are small, unexpected homages that Castelnuovo-Tedesco liked to give his friends, to musicians who played his works, to his pupils and occasionally also to people who were not musicians. He later declared them to be minor works, but each of them is filled with affection, regardless of the professional status of the subject. In this imaginary gallery there are thus portrayals of legendary musicians such as Jascha Heifetz and AndrĂ©s Segovia alongside several of his students, including AndrĂ© Previn, Christopher Parkening and Eugene Robin Escovado. Castelnuovo-Tedesco made each Greeting Card a vivid portrait of the dedicatee, usually by combining rhythms and atmospheres that reflected nationality, as with the Tonadilla sul nome di AndrĂ©s Segovia or the CanciĂłn venezolana sul nome di Alirio DĂ­az. However, there are also more abstract references, such as the Rondel on the name of Siegfried Behrend (No.6) or evocations generated by the name itself: the Fantasia sul nome di Henry e Ronald Purcell (No.38), for instance, or the Volo d’Angeli sul nome di Angelo Gilardino (No.47). What they all have in common is a depth of feeling that transcends their superficial status as ‘occasional’ pieces.

REVIEW:

Among the 53 compositions comprising Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Greeting Cards Op. 170, 21 are for solo guitar. Each piece is based on the name of a friend or colleague. Letters from their names correspond to pitches that are folded into two specific thematic groups derived from chromatic scales.
Of course you don’t have to know all this in order to appreciate Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s exquisite workmanship, his attractive harmonic palette, and his idiomatic guitar writing. The music abounds with variety and character. I’ll give a few examples. Take Brasileira sul nome di Laurindo Almeida, for instance. Who knew that wide interval leaps would be compatible with a samba’s churning momentum? Or how serially-derived melodies could convey gentle yet mercurial lyricism, as in Ballatella on the name of Christopher Parkening. I especially love the yearning songfulness of Romanza sul nome di Oscar Ghiglia, where the imitative lines and general harmonic scheme sound like updated Schumann. Also note the subtle and haunting use of harmonics in A Lullaby for Eugene to Eugene Robin Escovado.
Guitarist Cristiano Porqueddu obviously has lavished much time, care, thought, and preparation upon these works. His nuanced articulation allows him to sustain and spin out legato lines as if his fingers had bows, while short detached passages are clearly delineated and never harsh. Indeed, it’s interesting how his suave and rounded interpretation of the opening Tonadilla dedicated to AndrĂ©s Segovia differs from that master’s better known yet blunter, more aggressive performance. Dare I say that I prefer Porqueddu’s?
The guitarist offers works by the late Angelo Gilardino as bonus tracks. The Capriccio is essentially a study in rapid motoric patterns, while the three-movement Sonata Mediterranea fares best in its expansive, tuneful first-movement Cipressi. Had the third-movement Pini sul Mare been reduced to half its duration the music would make its thorny, dissonance-tinged point more effectively. Brilliant Classics’ fine engineering and annotations deserve high marks too.
-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)