Eugenio Catina
Da Vinci Edition : Score and separate parts ( 12, 8, and 8 pages respectively)
Italian player /composer Catina has here written a Sonata in 3 movements with some very interesting and unusual details.
The opening movement Sereno, senza fretta begins, on the face of it, in 4/4 but actually is marked as 3/8 + 5/8 with the guitar’s first string tuned to Eb, resulting in some quite original arpeggiated writing on the guitar at the opening The lack of a key signature here, lets you know that the music is full of accidentals in both parts and therefore the key is not the most important thing here. The flute player also has to be a very good player as that part really moves around and consists of complex timings and music that never sits still for an instant, and mostly in small note values and unusual rhythmic ideas.
Movement 2, Tranquillo, espressivo considerably calms the music down but is still very chromatic, and keyless in style. It is also quite a short movement, moving quickly into the final movement marked Agitato Con Forza and with several time signatures including 5/8 + 1/16, and 7/8 + 1/16, which don’t make for easy reading .Again the writing is complex, full of off – beat rhythms and musical ideas that are constantly flying around and sounding like almost nothing I have heard before. The guitar chords are frequently unusual and both players have to be considerably talented to get anything from this piece. The coda gradually starts to wind down and the final chord from the guitar is a low E natural, and A natural, topped with an Eb and an Ab, the flute playing a Db to a C.
This piece is quite unusual, definitely one for a very good duo, and certainly one which would not be to everyone’s musical tastes , but then again, anybody intrigued by my comments would possibly benefit from having a look at the score, because the work is quite original and might be right up your musical street!
Chris Dumigan
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