Francesco Molino edited Jan W.J. Burgers
Bergmann Edition : 16 pages
Over the years I have seen a few pieces by Molino, (1768 – 1847) usually in compilation books where every famous composer from the 1700s and 1800s has a piece or two in it. I’m sure you recognise the sort of book I mean but I have, sad to say, hardly if ever seen a volume completely devoted to this composer. Well, here is the first one!
The first thing to say is that the title of ‘easy’ Sonatas is a slight misnomer, unless what passed as easy in the 18th and 19th centuries is a lot different to what we call easy now. Yes they are uncomplicated musically speaking, for the most part, but the actual standard of playing required is certainly intermediate for a lot of the time.
The first Sonata is in C and in two movements, a Romanze marked Andante with numerous dotted rhythms to keep you on your toes and quite short at only 31 bars in length. The 2nd and final movement is a Rondo marked Allegretto, which does have plenty of harmonies therein that you will recognise, as one thing Molino does not do is stretch the harmonic vocabulary too much , but he varies the actual writing quite considerably making the piece really stand out as worth playing and a lot of fun besides.
Sonata 2 is in G Major is again in two movements, this time joined by a segue. The first is a set of four variations on an Andante theme where triplet semiquavers and demi – semi quavers in large proportion are all over the work. The segue then takes us to another Rondo, marked Allegretto with a bouncy theme that is great fun and accompanied by a constant flow of quavers in 6/8 that do keep the player busy.
The final Sonata 3 is again in two movements, and is in D Major, and at the speed Allegro is quite a handful, but again is a lovely piece and players will enjoy it immensely. The final movement is a Rondo Polacca in 3 / 4 with an engaging style and some quite difficult parts where the player has to really keep on top of it.
So in essence this set is most definitely not ‘easy’ as I understand it, but it is great fun to play, and I can definitely recommend it as a great publication for anyone who likes this era of guitar music.
Chris Dumigan
Comentarios