Notes and Editorial Reviews
PIAZZOLLA
Lo que vendrá.
CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO
Preludes and Fugues: in e?; B?; b; E.
AMELKINA-VERA
Gustav’s Dream. Beings
. Prelude and Bagatelle
•
Kithara Duo
•
SOUNDSET SR 1035 (43: 05)
Kithara
is an ancient Greek word referring to a musical instrument that resembled a lyre. Usually, it had seven strings and
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a sound box at the bottom. Legend has it that Sappho played it while the sacred nymphs danced. Today that same word,
kithara
, means guitar in modern Greek. Guitarists Fernand Vera and his wife, Olga Amelkina-Vera, formed the Kithara Duo in 2002. Since then, they have performed in Europe, South America, and across the United States. Fernand is a Texas native who holds degrees from the University of North Texas and teaches at the guitar-oriented Collin College of Plano. Olga was born in Belarus, but moved to the United States in 1997. She has a doctorate in guitar performance and music history from the University of North Texas. In 2009, she won the Austin Guitar Society’s Guitar Ensemble Competition with her quartet Ninochka. She teaches at North Lake College and at Collin College. The Kithara Duo works on expanding the repertoire for two guitars by composing new music and arranging music written for other instruments.
Astor Piazzolla seems to have loved his
Lo que vendrá
(Things to Come) dearly because he recorded it numerous times in various versions. In all probability, he wrote it in Paris where he was studying with Nadia Boulanger. He made the first recording soon after he returned to Buenos Aires in 1958. Later, he used the main theme in a movie score. Sergio and Odair Assad recorded it in 1995 for the GHA label and the playing is excellent but the sound from the Kithara Duo is much clearer. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s preludes and fugues, which he modeled on Bach’s
Well Tempered Clavier
, come from his
Well-Tempered Guitars
, op. 199, written for Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya in 1962. It contains 24 pairs of preludes and fugues, four of which are performed on this disc. The complete set is available from Naxos with the Brasil Guitar Duo, and that is probably the best disc for listeners who are seriously interested in these pieces. Duo Batendo plays another complete performance, but it is available in MP3 format only.
The other compositions on the Kithara disc are by Amelkina-Vera.
Gustav’s Dream
is her idea of music that Mahler might have written for guitar, and it brings to mind a vision of old Vienna.
Beings
is a stronger work that describes mythical creatures. The Minotaur, an ancient monster, materializes out of the fog. The sylphs glide on the breeze, and the rather repetitive salamander lives through fire because of the coldness of his blood. All are well characterized and bring interesting pictures to mind. The somewhat jazzy harmonies of the Prelude and Bagatelle denote its modern roots and develop their themes in a pleasant manner. Eventually, they arrange themselves into a fugue.
During the last few years, artists have begun to study sound engineering so that they can have more complete control over their recordings. Vera himself engineered this 2010 compact disc and his sound is very lifelike. The beautiful gold-toned artwork on the album’s heavy paper packaging is the work of Amelkina-Vera. Obviously both have talents in several areas. They are to be congratulated on this most enjoyable recording.
FANFARE: Maria Nockin
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Works on This Recording
1.
Lo que vendra by Astor Piazzolla
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 4 Minutes 14 Secs.
2.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in E flat minor: Prelude by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 2 Minutes 57 Secs.
3.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in E flat minor: Fugue by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 2 Minutes 38 Secs.
4.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor: Prelude by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 2 Minutes 19 Secs.
5.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor: Fugue by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 2 Minutes 10 Secs.
6.
Gustav's Dream, for 2 guitars by Olga Amelkina-Vera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Contemporary
Written: 2008
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 5 Minutes 5 Secs.
7.
Beings, suite for 2 guitars by Olga Amelkina-Vera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Contemporary
Written: 2009
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 10 Minutes 17 Secs.
8.
Prelude and Bagatelle, for 2 guitars by Olga Amelkina-Vera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Contemporary
Written: 2009
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 4 Minutes 5 Secs.
9.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in B minor: Prelude by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 3 Minutes 6 Secs.
10.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in B minor: Fugue by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 2 Minutes 48 Secs.
11.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in E major: Prelude by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 3 Minutes 8 Secs.
12.
Les Guitares bien tempérées, Op. 109: Prelude and Fugue in E major: Fugue by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kithara
Period: Modern
Written: 1962; Italy
Date of Recording: 2010
Venue: Denton, Texas
Length: 2 Minutes 14 Secs.
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