Saturday 4 November
Raffles Hotel - Le Royal
11am Concert MATINÉE
Italian Masters

Maria Ivana Oliva, guitar

The Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7, was composed by Niccolò Paganini in Italy in 1826. In his Second Concerto, Paganini holds back on the demonstration of virtuosity in favor of greater individuality in the melodic style. The third movement of Paganini's Second Concerto owes its nickname "La Campanella" or "La Clochette" to the little bell which Paganini prescribes to presage each recurrence of the rondo theme. The character of the bell is also imitated in the orchestra and in some of the soloist's passages featuring harmonics. The outcome is a very transparent texture, with the rondo theme having hints of musical qualities associated with Romani music. This movement has served as the basis of compositions by other composers, such as the Étude S. 140 No. 3 "La campanella" by Liszt, and Strauss I's Walzer à la Paganini Op. 11.

***

Mauricio Giuliani (1781-1829)

Variations on a theme of Handel Op 107

The Variations Op.107 is one of Giuliani’s most popular set of variations. The theme comes from popularly nicknamed The Harmonious Blacksmith, the final movement, Air and variations, from Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord by George Frideric Handel. Giuliani does not follow Handel’s variations but simply uses the theme and writes his own set.

Mauricio Giuliani (1781-1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century. By the summer of 1806, fresh from his studies of counterpoint, cello and guitar in Italy, he had moved to Vienna without his family. In Vienna he became acquainted with the classical instrumental style. In 1807, Giuliani began to publish his own compositions. His concert tours took him all over Europe, and he was acclaimed for his virtuosity and musical taste. He achieved significant success and became a musical celebrity, equal to the best of the many instrumentalists and composers who were active in the Austrian capital city at the beginning of the 19th century.Giuliani defined a new role for the guitar in the context of European music. He was acquainted with the highest figures of Austrian society and with notable composers such as Rossini and Beethoven, and cooperated with the best active concert musicians in Vienna

***

Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901 / Tarrega (1852-1909)

Fantasia sui temi de La Traviata

Was this piece—based on motifs from three arias from Giuseppe Verdi’s popular 1853 opera La Traviata—written by Spanish composer Julian Arcas (1832–1882) or by Arcas’ better-known contemporary Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909), who is more often credited as its author ?

The evidence would seem to suggest that it was Arcas who penned it around 1860; he was the first to be reviewed performing it in 1862. Tárrega apparently played a nearly identical version of the piece at many of his concerts, and made some alterations to it through the years, but apparently there is no historical record of him actually claiming its authorship. We won’t go into the byzantine publishing history of the piece, which tilted toward Tárrega because of his long association with the work, but suffice it to say that through the years it has been popularly attributed to Tárrega

***

Simone Iannarelli *1970

Italian Coffee
12 short pieces for solo guitar

Simone Iannarelli is composer and classical guitarist, born in Rome
He is professor of guitar in Mexico, at the
University of Colima's Faculty of Fine Arts Music Department.

***

Giorgio Tortora *1950

Dulcea e Sophia Song
Guitamar
Nuvole

Giorgio Tortora, musician and orchestra conductor, was very young when he started learning classical guitar with his teacher, Mr. Bruno Tonazzi. He earned his classical guitar diploma with full marks at the music conservatory in Trieste. His intense concert activity made him perform at several national and international musical competitions, of which later he has been invited to as Italian jury member (Mauro Guliani in Bari). Nowadays he performs a successful concertistic career both as soloist and as part of different chamber music groups, attending important festivals and musical reviews as Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Settembre Musica in Torino, Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti in Rome, Musica in Museo in Reggio Calabria, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro Rosetum in Milano. Furthermore he performed in several European Countries as Hungary, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland. In 1992 he established the Concordia Guitar Orchestra as per Mr. Leo Brower's suggestion. The Concordia Guitar Orchestra is a particular group made of sixteen professional guitar players. Giorgio Tortora has performed with this ensemble in Italy and abroad, as orchestra conductor. In 1995 he estabished the Jazzy & Classic Chamber Orchestra, a musical quintet which he takes part to as musician. He recorded for different television broadcasting stations (Rai, Ortf, Bayerische Television, Radio France) and he also was part of discographic productions. One of them being the soundtrack of In the Mood for Love (music by Michel Galasso), a film that ran for Oscar Awards and was the winner of Cannes 2000. He has also been devoting himself to musicological research for several years and he has been taking care of different publications for classical guitar: La Battaglia di Marengo for flute and guitar, the Variazioni op. 38 of Mauro Giuliani for guitar and orchestra, the Sonata 1984 of Guido Viozzi, published by Chanterelle Verlag, and various teaching works. Furthermore, as a guitar player, he is often performing with different orchestras as Mitteleuropa Salon Orchester, Orchestra del Teatro Verdi of Trieste, Orchestra Filarmonica of Udine. In 2002 he was asked to direct Maria di Buenos Aires of Hoarcio Ferrer, with music by Astor Piazzolla, during an italian tour that started in the Verdi Theatre in Terni. Giorgio Tortora was the founder and artistic director of the Stagione Sinfonica di Gorizia for three consecutive years, of the Masterclasses Gorizia Armonica, of the Musica a 4 Stelle concert season performed in Grado for twelve editions.
Today he is the holder of the chair of Classic Guitar at Istituto di Musica in Gorizia.

***

Daniel Fortea (1878 -1953)

Elegia
Malaguenas
Vals
Toledo (Notturno Op.14)
My Fovorita
Gran Adinas Op.47
En mit Rifugio
Solea

Daniel Fortea was a Spanish guitarist, composer, and music educator.
In his childhood, Fortea learned the clarinette, guitar and bandurria. From 1898 until 1909 he studied with Francisco Tárrega in Castellón de la Plana. In 1909 Fortea founded in Madrid his own music school and began the Fortea Library, one of the most important collections of music for guitar. He also concertized and wrote works for guitar.

Daniel Fortea expressed his love for music very early on: it is said that he learned music theory and to play the clarinet, bandurria and guitar. As an adult, he learned to play the piano and the fundamentals of the violin. He studied guitar with the methods of Carcassi, Napoleón Coste, Dionisio Aguado and Fernando Sor. The bandore is studied with the methods and studies of Baldomero Cateura and Félix de Santos.

At the age of 20, and during his time as a soldier, he was lucky to meet the one who would be his great teacher and who would set the pattern for him to follow throughout his life: Francisco Tárrega.
Daniel Fortea visited Tárrega regularly between 1898 and 1909, and he received lessons from him and advice in the company of his close friends and colleagues, Miguel Llobet and Emilio Pujol. Not only was this a time for learning from Tárrega but, also a moment where both shared their love for music and other arts and humanitistic interests.