ISBN 9790215324527. 9 x 12 inches.
Andrea Vezzoli: 14 Pieces (Bicinium in the Phrygian mode/ Canon at the Octave in the Dorian mode/ Two-part Invention in A minor/ Canon for Augmentation No. 1/ Canon for Augmentation No. 2/ Fughetta/ 3-part Counterpoint on a popular theme/ Tricinium in the Dorian mode/ 3-part Fugue in E minor No. 1/ Fugato/ Sanctorum meritis. 3-part Counterpoint on a Gregorian cantus firmus/ 3-part Fugue in E minor No. 2/ Antiphonal style/ 1-part Invention); Paolo Ugoletti: 4 Pieces (Tiento/ Anthem/ Duetto/ Fugue in D minor)
For some time I have been thinking of asking someone amongst my composer friends to write a series of counterpoints for guitar, also for educational purposes. It is a fairly obvious gap in teaching material for the instrument since the guitar student is at a disadvantage, unlike his fellow pianists and harpsichordists who can count on the two and three-part Inventions and the Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach. It is true that we have an impressive amount of music (sometimes also intended for teaching purposes), of the highest musical level, in the numerous collections of music for vihuela and Renaissance lute. But it is still modal music, not explicitly written for guitar, and furthermore not always available in transcriptions and editions which are easy to use by a student. Then, if one thinks of the compositions for Baroque lute the problems for the guitar student increase. And the most popular production for guitar (including for teaching purposes), starting from the early nineteenth century, was understandably only rarely concerned with imitative counterpoint.
Among the many composers with whom I have the honour to work, one of the ideal candidates to write a collection of this type was Paolo Ugoletti... who was not, however, particularly attracted by the idea of writing a collection of contrapuntal pieces also for educational purposes.
A few months ago a student of Paolo Ugoletti, Andrea Vezzoli, sent me a brief Fugue of his for the guitar that was written so well, musically and instrumentally, as to make me think of him as a potential collaborator in my project. Vezzoli responded enthusiastically to my proposal and quickly sent me this series of small pieces that are right in line with my intentions, creating a collection that appears perhaps for the first time, with these characteristics, in the repertoire for the guitar. Some pieces are in modal language, others are tonal and some go beyond the code of tonality. I asked the composer for this stylistic differentiation also for greater didactic benefit.
I then thought that the collection of Andrea Vezzoli could be followed by some of the many concert pieces in contrapuntal style written for me (without any specific teaching aim, and in the composer's very personal style) by Vezzoli's teacher Paolo Ugoletti. With this collaboration between different generations in mind working together on a project, I suggested to my former student Raffaello Ravasio to edit the fingering of the Fugue in D minor by Ugoletti. It is a very beautiful and difficult piece which so far I could not deal with personally.
The two composers then helped me to identify and describe the formal characteristics of the various pieces that appear in this volume, also in relation to the contrapuntal techniques used. To these observations borrowed from the composers I have added some relating to the fingering and performance techniques. The result is a kind of small guide to the study of counterpoint on the guitar, which is quite unusual and which I hope will be useful both for students and concert performers and teachers.
(Piero Bonaguri).
