De ROGATIS : Soirée Madrilène, Divertimento, L'oasi Incantata, Fuochi Fatui, Mormorio Della Foresta, Tarantella Diabolica, Balletto, Fantasia Araba, Studio Per La Mano Sinistra, Alba Sul Mare, Recuerdos De España, Bagdad, Studio Sul Tremolo,Sonatina.
Cinzia Milani
Brilliant Classics: 95627
If a whole album of music written by a lady guitarist- composer whose music many of you will never have heard of, sounds a little daunting, then think again. Teresa de Rogatis (1893-1979) was born in Naples. She was extremely talented, and gave her first recital at the age of 7. She studied piano, composition, counterpoint, voice and conducting and left over 60 works, for both for piano and the guitar, fourteen of which are here, all completely new to me.
They are usually quite short, mostly 2 to 3 minutes in length, and not, as you might think, salon – like in style. The opening piece Soiree Madrilene is an emotional piece that begins slowly, and has a few moments of activity, before calming down again at the close. The harmonies are engaging and friendly but not too predictable, because the first thing you realise is that the lady had a style all her own.
Divertimento, flies around from one end of the fretboard to the other at a breakneck speed, whilst L’Oasi Incantata is slow moving piece with lots of very small notes that race around at a fast speed, whilst the beat remains slow. Again, the piece is emotive, and does not bring any other composer to mind, when I heard it.
Mormorio della foresta is an arpeggio piece with, at the opening a constant moving pattern with the melody first at the top, and then underneath the arpeggio. A middle section slows the beat down and a warm melody wrapped in some lovely harmonies takes over, until the opening idea returns. This is another beautiful work
Tarantella Diabolica is exactly what you might expect, a fast and furious race around the fingerboard, with all manner of incidents along the way, and a really excellent piece of writing (and playing)
I could go on and mention every piece separately, but I think it is suffice to say that this lady’s writing is most individual, and follows no particular style that I can hear, which, is a good thing when the music is as entertaining as this is. The playing by Cinzia Milani, is every bit as excellent as you might hope, and the recording is clear and natural.
Chris Dumigan
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