Echoes of San Marco

SKU: UT.CH-289

ISBN 9790215325852. 9 x 12 inches.

Giovanni Podera: Fantasia (In memoriam Joaquín Rodrigo)
Marco Reghezza: Nana Estrellada
Marco Simoni: Junto a Rodrigo
Marco Smaili: Fronda de la tarde (Homenaje a Joaquín Rodrigo)
Paolo Ugoletti: Fuga a 4 voci

Following the successful publication of Homenaje a Rodrigo (2015), containing four pieces by Alessandro Spazzoli – one of which was performed in the presence of the composer’s daughter, Cecilia Rodrigo, during her visit to the International Convention in Alessandria –, here is the second volume. It contains more tributes to Rodrigo written on my input by five well-known Italian and Spanish composers, two of whom are also guitarists and have therefore written the fingering for their own pieces.
Giovanni Podera plunges us into a typically Rodrigo-like atmosphere with his evocative Fantasia, while the following three compositions are full of direct quotations from pieces also for guitar by the great composer from Valencia. Thus, Marco Simoni, in his expressive Junto a Rodrigo – which also provides the title to the volume – plays with themes taken from Junto al Generalife and from Dos piezas caballerescas for a cello ensemble as well as hinting at reminiscences of Tiento antiguo. As for Marco Smaili, in his impressionistic Fronda de la tarde, he evokes quite evidently Zarabanda lejana and Invocación y Danza, but there are more hidden references to Caminos de Santiago and even to the very famous Concierto de Aranjuez. Marco Reghezza builds his heart-breaking Nana estrellada on a sequence of chords used by Rodrigo in the fantasia ¡Que buen caminito!.
On the other hand, there are no direct quotations and echoes of Rodrigo’s way of writing in the Fuga a quattro voci by Paolo Ugoletti. However it was Rodrigo himself who constructed four-part imitative passages for guitar in Pasacalle and in the Ricercare of the Fantasia para un Gentilhombre. The close polyphony of the piece by Ugoletti may be considered as a tribute to this kind of craft shown by Rodrigo who, like Ugoletti, was able to write such dense and idiomatic counterpoint without being a guitar-player.
I am pleased that this volume comes out in the imminence of the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of the illustrious Spanish composer who gave so much to the musicians – and not only to them.
(Piero Bonaguri)

Mucha s gracias por este emotivo y excelente musical homenaje a mi padre. La edición es excelente y la difundiremos con todos nuestros medios por las redes sociales a nuestro alcance. Ha sido un gran trabajo por su parte, fruto de sus grandes conocimientos guitarrísticos y su devoción por Joaquín Rodrigo.  Le reitero mi gratitud y mi felicitación con el ruego transmita a los cinco compositores mi felicitación y deseos de éxito.
(Cecilia Rodrigo).

SKU: HL.1115715

ISBN 9781705179741. UPC: 196288105640. 9.0x12.0 inches.

Thinking I Hear Thee Call by Cheryl Frances-Hoad is inspired by the life of Florence Attridge, an Essex woman who, whilst working at the Marconi factory in Chelmsford during WWII, helped to make secret radio sets for spys. In this piece for soprano, speaker and electronics, we hear Florence recount her experiences, whilst, in another, secret location, in another time, a spy goes through the radio's (complicated!) set up instructions one last time before going on their first reconnaissance mission. The electronic element takes sounds that are associated with Florence's life and the history of Marconi, including morse code and Absent, the first song to be broadcast from the factory. The text for Florence's part was written by Frances M Lynch based on research by Patricia Fara, and the speakers text comes from the official manual for the The British Type 3 Mark II Spy Radio. The work was commissioned by electric voice theatre and first Performed Online during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Aug 24th 2020 as part of the 'Echoes from Essex'. The project was supported by the Arts Council Emergency Response Fund (National Lottery). The performers from electric voice theatre are: Frances M Lynch - Soprano (Florence Attridge) Margaret Cameron - Speaker (Spy). The performers recorded their parts individually in their homes and the final work was combined with the composer's electronic track and produced by Frances M Lynch & Herbie Clarke at Birnam Studios, London.