Alfred's Guitar 101, Ensemble: Desert Trail (score

Luca Francesconi is one of the most prominent Italian composer of his generation with a substantial and varied output to his credit. The release under review provides a good idea of his output although all the works recorded here are already some ten or twenty years old. Da Capo (1986) for small ensemble is the earliest work here and is probably one of Francesconi’s best-known and most popular. It is not difficult to understand why. It is a brilliantly scored, colourful piece full of nice instrumental touches and lively rhythms, although it opens and ends in a rather subdued manner. The other works were all composed at about the same time: between 1994 and 1995. They, too, display a considerable variety of means and moods. Etymo is the most substantial both in length and in content. The title, Etymo (as in etymology) is about the search for the origin and development of language. It sets texts from various poems from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal for soprano, large ensemble and electronics. The final words are drawn from Baudelaire’s Carnets intimes.

Alfabeto is a system of notation used in music for the five­course (‘Baroque’) guitar. Letters of the alphabet indicated chords and the precise left­hand fingering required; the direction in which they were to be strummed was also shown. The relationship of the alfabeto letter to the musical identity of the chord was arbitrary. There was some freedom of interpretation‚ dependent on the degree of knowledge of the player. The alfabeto system also underwent ‘mixed marriage’ with the notation of the more sophisticated ‘lute­like’ punteado style in which melodic passages were plucked with the individual fingers of the right hand – and which existed separately in its own right. The choice of instrumentation and manner of performance here stem‚ the booklet tells us‚ from ‘years of work on 17th­century repertoire‚ the result of a synthesis of musicological research and instinctive musicianship’. Lislevand is an exceptionally gifted performer and‚ as his recent recording of Bach suites shows (Naïve‚ 7/01)‚ he does not hesitate to add his own excellent embellishments.