Trittico
Paolo Rosini
D’Oz: 15 pages
Reviewed 30th September 2018
Paolo Rosini is a new name to me, but on the basis of this fabulous three movement Trittico, I want to see more. The opening Preludio immediately establishes itself with a fortissimo chord of E major colored with a foreign F#, a style of harmonizing that Rosini uses constantly. A jovial theme emerges out from it with a second and a third part thereafter, but each time there are moments of ‘crunch’ harmonies where a ‘wrong’ note is placed where it shouldn’t be. This is quite different form a lot of writers who sometimes (to my ears at least) just put a completely wrong note, that doesn’t work. Rosini’s do work, as they are foreign notes but still friendly to the ears. There are a lot of sudden hand position changes throughout and as a result it is far from easy, but you realize how cleverly written for guitar it is.
The second movement Arietta is emotionally charged throughout, with plenty of time signature changes but plenty of room for bringing out the con molto espressione marking at the start of the movement, with lots of lush chords and aching suspensions.
The final Mascherata ( Masquerade) begins in 6/8 ( but has multiple time signatures) is a running, almost constant eighth note melody which dives around the fingerboard, sometimes underpinned by chords, sometimes by a second counter melody below. A Sixteenth – note run and a sharp final chord provide a convincing close to what is a wonderful piece of writing.
Chris Dumigan
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