This album continues the process of presenting the original historical repertoire for mandolin that began with The Eighteenth-Century Mandolin, released in 2008. With the so-called “Romantic mandolin,” we are presented with a challenge in determining its historical demarcations. Beethoven, with his original compositions for the instrument, represents an important link between the Baroque style (characterized by the use of the basso continuo) and the Romantic. Many composers, such as Carlo Munier, Raffaele Calace, as well as the more recent Demo Bruzzone, found expressive inspiration in the Romantic style.
In 1796, while he was in Prague, Ludwig van Beethoven composed several pieces for the Countess Josephine von Clary-Aldringen, who sang and played the mandolin. Among the pieces written for the countess was the aria “Ah, perfido!”. On the first page of the adagio in E-flat, we find the dedication “pour la belle J.” The adagio in C-minor was probably written for his Viennese friend, Wenzel Krumpholz.
Carlo Munier, born in Naples, was a member of the Vinaccia family of luthiers. He was one of the most prominent mandolinists and composers of the nineteenth century. Shortly after finishing his studies, he moved to Florence where he garnered notoriety as a performer. The catalogue of his compositions contains some 350 works. He is considered one of the principal proponents of the mandolin, accredited with invigorating the repertoire, by moving away from popular forms and developing a more sophisticated style. His teaching methodologies are noteworthy and comprise a true mandolin “school.”
Raffaele Calace was a Neopolitan mandolinist, composer, and luthier. He graduated with honours from the Regio Conservatorio di Musica Napoletana. He wrote over 180 pieces for plucked-stringed instruments, and was dubbed “the Paganini of the mandolin” for the strength and expressivity of his works. He was a noted performer on a specially designed, large mandolin-like instrument, known as the liuto cantabile. Celebrated throughout the world, he studied and perfected the mandolin, and helped to transform it into the instrument we know today. He lengthened the fret board, bringing it to 29 frets, and enlarged the sound box, in order to create a concert mandolin that could compete with other instruments.
Nicodemo Bruzzone lived and worked in Sanremo on the Lugurian coast. He was a composer, arranger, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, and teacher. Following the local mandolin tradition, he directed the Euterpe mandolin club. He was a student of Francesco Sfilio, the last exponent of the Paganini school of violin. Bruzzone composed entertaining music, songs, and jazz, much of which has not yet been published.
The musicians
Carlo Aonzo performs regularly in Europe and the United States, where he has established himself as a principal proponent of the classical mandolin.
Graduating with honours from the conservatory in Padua, he has played with several musical institutions such as the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala in Milan and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra.
Among his awards are the “Vivaldi” first prize at the Vittorio Pitzianti National Mandolin Competition in Venice, and first prize at the Walnut Valley National Mandolin Contest in Winfield, Kansas.
He has recorded a concert video on the history of the solo mandolin repertory for Mel Bay (Carlo Aonzo: Classical Mandolin Virtuoso). His CDs include Serenata (Acoustic Music, Germany), Traversata, (Acoustic Disc, USA), Vivaldi – Concerti per mandolino, and Kaze, with guitarist Katsumi Nagaoka, which they performed on their concert tour of Japan in 2007.
He leads the annual Manhattan Mandolin Workshop in New York and in 2006 he began the International Italian Academy for the Mandolin.
As a researcher, he has worked on the origins of his instrument. He has collaborated with the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and has edited books on music for Bèrben publishers.
He has given presentations on the iconography of the mandolin at institutions such as Boston University and the National Instrument Museum in Rome.
Elena Buttiero earned her degree in piano from the Cuneo Conservatory. She has performed in many cities throughout Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, France, Serbia, Usa and Canada.
She recorded two CDs, on which she plays harp, with the Birkin Tree: Continental Reel (Robi Droli, Cgd East, 1996) and A Cheap Present (Felmay, 1998), which is distributed in Europe, Asia and America.
In the field of music pedagogy, she has published a solfeggio method, Il Centone (Carisch edizioni 2010). Since 1990 she has been a piano instructor on the faculty of the Scuola Media ad indirizzo musicale di Savona (Savona’s music-oriented middle school).
For more information, interviews, and requests for engagements:
www.myspace.com/carloaonzoeelenabuttiero
info@aonzo.com
elenabuttiero@tiscali.it
www.cdbaby.com/artist/carloaonzoelenabuttiero
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