Angelo Gilardino (b.1941) is a guitarist and composer who has done much to expand the contemporary repertoire of the classical guitar. Concertos, sonatas and variation sets all testify to a bright and airily melodic style and a series of studies of varying degrees of difficulty and virtuosity show Gilardino’s commitment to the generations of performers below him.
This particular set of 20 ‘easy studies’ is aimed at the young or at least new student: it covers any number of technical challenges such as tenuto, legato, staccato and marcato playing styles, but it does so in a way that makes learning never less than fun and worth pursuing, since the pieces have a worth beyond the mastering of their particular challenges.
Cristiano Porqueddu has made several recordings for Brilliant Classics, among them a 5CD set of Gilardino’s studies for more advanced guitarists. Next on the menu for this fine young Sardinian guitarist is a 5CD set of 19th-century guitar preludes, slated for release at the end of 2012: watch this space.
Other information:
- New recording, Recorded in 2012, Nuoro, Italy.
- This CD presents the complete “20 Studi Facili” , studies on a more modest scale, but offering attractive and colourful music in the form of a technical exercise for training a certain facet of guitar technique. A must for every guitar player (whether amateur or professional) and for adventurous music lovers in general.
- The issue of Gilardino’s Transcendental Studies for Guitar, by Cristiano Porqueddu created quite a stir; many excellent reviews praised both music and performer.
- The English and Italian liner notes provide a short introduction to every individual study.
