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Publication Date

8-24-2017

Year of Release

2017

Note(s)

Júlio Ribeiro Alves, guitar

Program Notes

The selection of pieces from Appunti di viaggio (travel Diaries) by Giorgio Signorile provides an opportunity for dwelling on meaningful memories while relaxing and letting the imagination decide where it wants to go, led by the sounds of each entry of the Italian composer's diaries. E ancora non mi pesa il ricordo speaks of memory, feelings, and nostalgia. It was written on a summer night, on a street bench in Saluzzo, an ancient town near Turin. Preludio d’autunno is an intimate and delicate account of the color changes in the city of Cuneo, where Signorile resides, during the fall season. Summer souvenir was the first piece he composed: "I was looking for an arpeggio piece for a student and not finding it, I tried to write some musical phrases ... and since then I have not stopped!" The uplifting mood of Lasciati avvolgere is tied to the idea of "letting oneself be embraced by the music."

Agustin Barrios' Valses Op. 8 supposedly consisted of six waltzes. Nevertheless, only four are listed in his catalog of works, and only two actually display the opus number in the titles (Vals Op. 8, no. 3 and Vas Op. 8, no. 4). In addition, each waltz has been published as a separate piece at different times. For this performance, three of them have been grouped in a "mini-suite." Junto a tu corazón (Close to Your Heart) is, according to guitarist Antigoni Goni, "a mosaic of classical and popular elements, a piece in the form of a valse Boston, known for its sophisticated rhythm and contrasting slow minor key section." The major key is only featured during the third section of Vals Op. 8, no. 3, and it is enhanced by a vigorous melody and an increase in tempo. Vals Op. 8 no. 4, also known as Vais Brillante (Brilliant Waltz), is among Barrios' most popular pieces, thanks to the use of the campanella (Italian for "little bell"), a technique that favors playing with multiple strings crossing over an open string pedal on the guitar.

Marco Pereira is a leading figure in the Brazilian guitar scenario due to his creativity as a composer and his virtuosity as a performer. His style combines classical guitar tradition, Brazilian folk and popular music, and jazz improvisation. Estrela da Manhã (Morning Star) was inspired by the planet Venus (known in Brazil as "Dalva Star") spotted in the sky of Brasília, the capital of Brazil. It has a quasi-improvised mood and is marked by a distinct and elegant melody enriched by light syncopation and chord parallelism. The humorous genesis of O Choro de Juliana illustrates Pereira's relaxed creative mindset. Apparently, when his daughter Juliana was a baby, she had to be taken on long car rides late in the evening before she would stop crying and sleep. On one rare occasion when she took a longer nap, he wrote the piece (well, maybe the nap wasn't too long ...) in a bit longer than an hour!

Suite Nordestina, by Erisvaldo Borges, was written in 2016 and dedicated to Júlio Ribeiro Alves. Each movement carries, in the title, the name of one of the guitarist's daughters. In Baião de Cecília, the dancing rhythm of the "baião" is enhanced by passages that explore percussive effects on the guitar, and by the use of the Lydian and Mixolydian modes. Canção de Elena depicts the solitude of a "sertanejo" ("Brazilian cowboy") leading the cattle throughout the arid landscape of the northeastern region of Brazil known as "sertão." Syncopation and rhythmic energy are combined in Frevo de Clarissa, the concluding movement of the suite. The "frevo" dance is highly popular during the carnival season, particularly in the street parades of Olinda, Salvador, and Teresina. Alves looks forward to sharing his personal interpretive reading of this piece that, for obvious reasons, has a strong personal meaning to him.

Last in the program is Sonata, by Giorgio Tortora. The work, composed in 2009, was published by Les Productions d'OZ and recorded by Slovenian guitarist Marko Feri. Lions of Delphi has an overall enigmatic character due to constant meter shifts and the holding of the dissonances throughout. In Theme, the thematic ideas, insistently repeated, are "somewhat similar trees in a same little oasis" and help the listener to regain strength before continuing the journey. Signs is marked by an obsessive use of the opening motive, the reutilization of ideas from the previous movements, unexpected meter changes, percussive techniques, and strummed passages, elements that combine to bring the piece to a grand finale.

Note

Jomie Jazz Forum

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Facuity Recital, Júlio Ribeiro Alves, guitar,

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