Giuliani: Complete Guitar Concertos

I'm close to 86, have been collecting classical records 78, 45 & 33 1/3, and cd's mainly Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mozart, Bach, etc. since my 12th birthday. Guess I have over several hundreds of them, some such as Beethovens 9th and the 5 pianos concertos by several soloists (Kempff, Backhaus, Arrau, and conductors. But I never considered a guitar as a concert instrument.Tuning a local radio (650 Khz), I heard a few bars of Giuliani's concerto Nº 2. Next step ws contacting you.Ad here I am, listening I contacted you, and, here I am, listening it almost daily for the last 2 weeks. BIGGEST SURPRISE IN MY LIFE)By the way, Kempff studied piano in Berlin sometime around 1914-18 with an aunt of mine, later, every time he visited Montevideo he stayed at by granparents and parents house here,(last time I had lunch with him was 1962 in Munich) same as Claudio Arrau. Time goes by, and presently my closest musical relationship is José Serebrier, a persoal friend for over 45 years, as well as Carole, his wife.So, I grew up in an intenss musical family But just played some piano (too lazy to take it up (seriously).THANKS, AMAZON, FOR EXISTING.SINCERELY YOURS,Ernesto W. Quincke

I do not like Mozart. I don't like silly fru-fru anything, be it music, literature, theater, or anything else. And Mozart is silly fru-fru.Giuliani is not silly fru-fru. This is some serious music, and it is all very good. He has often been compared to Mozart, but though they come from the same period they're hardly clones as some critics would suggest.These are fairly old recordings, I believe. From the late 1970, if I'm not mistaken. Usually you can't go wrong with Pepe Romero playing guitar or with the Academy of St. Martin in the Field. Together they are outstanding, as expected. Giuliani is not one of the better known composers. His guitar works are even less well known than heis. We are fortunate that musicians of this caliber actually recorded these works. I doubt any other such compilation of Giuliani's guitar works exist under one cover.

After a decades of acquiring an ever-increasing number and range of piano concertos, I was pleasantly astounded by how much I enjoyed the sound of a guitar where the piano would be. I won't embarrass myself by trying to say something unique about the unimpeachable musicianship of Mr. Romero, of the Academy of St. Martin, but I can attest that the sound on this recording is outstanding. Perhaps the strongest evidence of how much I loved this recording are the half dozen other guitar works I've added since hearing it, to my otherwise guitar-anemic collection.Highly recommended!

Wonderful music, wonderful performances

The guitar music on the 2 cds is great, but the jewel case is lousy which is why I did not give this five starts. I had to replace this one lousy jewel case with two single new ones. Dan Woodhead

I first heard the Guitar Concerti Nos. 1 & 2 on an old cassette tape from the Musical Heritage Society. This compilation from Philips Classics presents not only these but the Concerto No. 3 as well.Additionally, there are several other Giuliani works for Guitar & Orchestra, solo Guitar pieces, and the "Variazioni Concertanti", a duet with Celedonio Romero.These compositions are rarely performed or recorded. Giuliani's works are UNIQUE among the genre of Classical Guitar composition... reflecting as they do, that transitional period between the "Classic" and the "Romantic".Any devotee of Classical Guitar music who is not aware of Giuliani's work, is truly missing something!!!

Beautifully performed. Uplifting.

This is a wonderful CD for lovers of classical guitar. The music itself is engaging and very beautiful, and the guitar playing is excellent. These works are not often heard, but you are missing out if this in not in your collection!

Es gibt selten aktuelle Aufnahmen klassischer Gitarrenkonzerte, egal ob es sich um Kompositionen oder Adaptionen von Vivaldi oder Mozart handelt. Deshalb ist es ein Wunder, daß diese hervorragende Guiliani Zusammenstellung noch erhältlich ist, da diese vor langer Zeit gepresst wurde. Darum mein Dank an den Verkäufer.

オケ伴奏も申し分ないが、作品に深みがない、美しい曲ではあるが物足りない、ペペ・ロメロとギター曲が好きならば聴いても悪くはない。

Mauro Guiliani était le Paganini de la guitare au début du XIXe siècle, et il a beaucoup composé pour son instrument, des pièces de musique de chambre comme trois concertos proposés ici avec un beau complément de programme.Le premier concerto, carte de visite du compositeur pour son arrivée à Vienne, suit scrupuleusement les canons du concerto classique, avec un premier mouvement mettant en valeur le soliste, un mouvement lent en forme de sicilienne, poétique, et un final dansant (c'est une polonaise) virtuose et brillant. Un coup de maitre.Le second concerto offre une ampleur orchestrale plus développée, et permet de constater l'importance de l'influence des grands maitres que Guiliani peut fréquenter à Vienne. L'introduction orchestrale du premier mouvement est bien plus développée, et ce mouvement est bien plus long. L'articulation entre l'orchestre et le soliste est encore plus fouillée. Le second mouvement a des tonalités mozartiennes fort élégantes et très réussies, c'est un andantino rêveur et délicat. Le final enjoué et brillant est tout aussi réussi que dans le premier concerto.Avec le troisième concerto, on change d'époque. En 1824, Guiliani a quitté Vienne mais son écriture est chargée de tout le premier romantisme viennois. L'introduction orchestrale du premier mouvement donne clairement à entendre que l'on a changé d'époque ; Beethoven est passé par là. Mais Guiliani n'oublie pas sa légèreté et sa virtuosité. C'est dans le mouvement central que l'apport d'un orchestre complet s'entend le mieux, avec ce dialogue entre la guitare et les vents. Comme dans le premier concerto, c'est une sicilienne. Et comme dans le premier concerto, comme pour boucler la boucle, le final est une polonaise.Pour compléter ces trois concertos, le disque offre une pièce pour orchestre tout à fait dans le genre du premier romantisme : un "Thème avec variations et polonaise" qui permet de sortir du cadre formel du concerto mais en restant dans une forme concertante libre. Les contemporains de Guiliani comme Ferdinand Ries, Carl Czerny, Hummel adoraient ces formes libres pour le piano.En complément de programme, quelques pièces pour guitare solo ou en duo sont aussi virtuoses qu'agréables.Pour servir cette musique élégante et distinguée, le label Decca avait réuni la star espagnole de la guitare, Pepe Romero, accompagné avec brio par l'Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields dirigée, of course, par Sir Neville Marriner. Légèreté, élégance, allant du tempo, soyeux des cordes : tout est là.

First heard this composer on Classic FM. These are wonderful guitar concertos on this 2 CD package by this 18-century composer. Excellent recording and wonderful playing by Pepe Romero justify the price.

It's time Giuliani and all the other great composers for guitar were recognised and their works performed more. There is actually no lack of works for guitar and orchestra, and Giuliani's three concerti ought to be more well known and frequently performed pieces in the concert repertoire.