Projects
Torres Project
Great instruments have always been associated with great musicians, and this is true in the guitar world too, at least from the early 19th century onwards. Early in his career, Antonio de Torres (1817-1892), like other luthiers before him, found a performer ideally suited to his instruments – the young Andalusian guitarist Julián Arcas. The technical innovations in construction and timbre pioneered by Torres enabled Arcas to give full expression to his artistry in works such as the florid Fantasía with which Luigi Attademo opens this new studio album.This recording features an historic guitar, an instrument built in 1888 by the great, legendary guitar maker Antonio de Torres. Many composers were inspired by his magnificent instruments, and he was inspired by the composers who spurred him to extend the technical possibilities of the instrument.
The composers included in this appealing program are all Spanish: Julian Arcas, Antonio Cano, Francisco Tarrega, Enrique Granados, Antonio Jimemez Manjon, Isaac Albeniz, and Miguel Llobet.
The Paganini's Guitar Music
Paganini had already become a myth for musicians and men of letters during his lifetime (Heine's visionary portrait narrated in 'Florentine Nights' is unforgettable) and was, and is still today, considered the greatest violinist of all times. For this reason he is held to be a minor composer and his pieces for the guitar constitute a minor part of his works. Though not immediately evident, Paganini's production for the guitar has a highly original flair. Moreover, since these pieces were not envisaged for concerts, they make up a more “intimate” part of the compositions written by this great Genoese musician . In addition to which this production is not limited by the conventional virtuosity of the period, thanks to technical solutions which we consider innovative if we think that they were written at the beginning of the Nineteenth century (the period in which most of these works are dated) and to its being a synthesis of that instrumental virtuosity and the “cantabile” (which was the hallmark of the Italian musical theatre)
Fortepiano and Guitar
The project starts with the idea to recover a particular repertoire, especially from the Viennese tradition in the early 19th century, between 1800 and 1830, when the guitar and forte-piano music had a great development, and many guitarists-composers and pianists devoted themself to these instruments. Obviously, Romantic guitar and forte-piano have a tonal similarity and an affinity that allows to work very well together. So, recover the early repertoire means working on the balance between these two instruments. Together with Roberto Prosseda, we decided to work on transcriptions of works by Beethoven, and other composer who lived in the same period in Vienna, like Diabelli, Weber etc.
Guitar & Viola
Luigi Attademo and Simone Gramaglia (viola of the Quartetto di Cremona) give life to a new and unusual ensemble, offering original music from the nineteenth-century, twentieth-century and contemporary repertoire; and creating original transcriptions for their instruments. Among them, an original interpretation of the Arpeggione Sonata by Schubert and several transcriptions from the repertoire for violin and guitar of the music of Niccolo Paganini. Their first release will in fact be a CD entirely dedicated to Paganini and published by Brilliant Classicsin 2015.
