Imagenes

Description

All the compositions featured on this album recorded by Alexandre Bernoud were originally written for the guitar, they were all composed during the 20th century by several contrasting musical personalities.

«Jazz Sonata» by Serbian composer Dusan Bogdanovic was written in 1982. It is a synthesis of two seemingly divergent compositional techniques. It relies on the Sonata form for its architectural profile, while simultaneously leaving enough space for the improvisational elements. The rhythm is a combination of mostly African and Balkan meters whereas the harmony and melody derive from late Romantic music and Jazz. The first movement is in a relatively strict Sonata form, the second movement follows a Ballad outline, the third movement is based on minimal, irregularly reiterated motifs and the last movement is built on an African pattern in 12/8 meter. It might be interesting to note that the last movement was originally conceived for a fusion Rock band.
Dusan Bogdanovic taught for many years at Belgrade Conservatory and then at San Francisco Conservatory. He is currently based in Geneva, the town where he studied guitar with Maria Livia Sao Marcos and composition and orchestration with Pierre Wissmer.

It is in Geneva – where he lived from 1930 to 1935 – that Andrés Segovia premiered the « Sonatina Meridional » written in 1932 by Manuel Ponce on Segovia’s request : “why don’t you write a Sonatina – not a Sonata – of purely Spanish character? It could be offered to Schott, to go in the series of medium difficulty”. The Mexican composer’s interest in the guitar dates from 1923, the year of his meeting with Segovia at the occasion of his first recital in Mexico. He dedicates his « Sonata Mexicana » to the guitarist who becomes soon a fervent supporter of his music. Segovia plays Manuel Ponce’s compositions in his concerts and helps him to publish his sonatas, preludes, themes and variations, pieces inspired by popular music as well as the famous « Concierto del sur ».

Did Frank Martin attend the premiere of the « Sonatina meridional » in Geneva? Either way, he lives in this town where he was born in 1890; he is the tenth and last child of a minister of religion. It is said that Segovia would have given the Swiss composer some pages by Castelnuovo Tedesco in order to make him discover the specific world of the guitar. In 1933, a manuscript copy of the « Quatre pièces brèves » – Martin’s unique contribution to the repertoire of the guitar – is offered to the Spanish guitarist. Worried about his silence, the composer realizes, a few months later, an arrangement on the same themes: the work, a suite for piano entitled « Guitare », is a portrait of Andrés Segovia… On request of his friend the conductor Ernest Ansermet, Martin also produces an orchestral version of the « Quatre pièces brèves » premiered a year later, in 1934.

South America is present on this recording through works by Colombian Jaime Cordoba and Argentinian Carlos Aguirre.

Jaime Cordoba started his musical studies with his father. He wrote, at an early age, duos, trios and quartets inspired by popular Colombian music. Later, in Equador where he lives during the 1970’s, he learns a lot about folklore with Homero Hidrovo, guitarist and requinto player. Then, in France, Jaime Cordoba studies at the Conservatoire national de Metz under the direction of Jean-Jacques Griesser and Claude Poletti. He meets Alexandre Bernoud in 2003 and composes “Suite colombiana” for his guitar quartet.

Thanks to his frequent contacts with Eduardo Isaac who lives in the same town, in South Argentina, pianist, composer and arranger, Carlos Aguirre discovers the world of the guitar. His compositions are a kind of compromise between the technique of classical guitar and popular rhythms from Argentina. « Romanza », « Rumor de tambores » (a candombe) and « La calma » makes part of his suite « Imagenes » which gave its name to Alexandre Bernoud’s album.