CASARINISTEFANO

24 ETUDES FOR GUITAR

Adriano Sebastiani

guitar

Stefano Casarini b.195424 Etudes for Guitar

12 Grandes Études1. Comodo e cullante 3’192. Largo e cantabile 2’203. Ostinato e incisivo ma

sempre flessibile 3’054. Cantabile 3’015. Allegramente 3’436. Un poco rubando 2’577. Con leggera malinconia 2’468. Leggero e legatissimo 2’449. Poco mosso con largo respiro 2’2310. Un poco ostinato 2’0111. Sostenuto, con espressione 2’3912. Tempo giusto, ben ritmico 2’31

12 Petites Études13. Vivace e giocoso 1’1514. Un poco agitato 1’0715. Allegretto, con grazia 1’1316. Mosso ed energico 1’0117. Andante, con espressione 1’0218. Allegro poco, con leggerezza 1’3819. Andante sostenuto 2’1020. Calmo e ben legato 1’4421. Poco mosso e dolente 1’3822. Allegretto, un poco languido 1’3623. Larghetto, con serenità 2’0324. Leggero e legato 1’08

Recording: August 2017, Oratorio Vergine Assunta Serravalle Pistoiese (Pistoia), ItalyEngineering, Editing and Mastering: Luciano ColloretaExecutive Producer: Adriano SebastianiGuitars made by Luciano Maggi 2011 and Antonino Scandurra 2013Photos by Paolo MontellaCover: Ad Parnassum by Paul Klee, 1932p & © 2018 Brilliant Classics

Adriano Sebastiani guitar

Stefano Casarini: 24 Etudes for GuitarI first met Stefano Casarini in Lucca in 1977, at the house of Maria Lucchesi, a mutual friend dear to both of us. I immediately found his compositions to be utterly fascinating.

The first works I had the chance to examine more closely were some very simple duets for two guitars. They were easy pieces, and yet at the same time also elegant and full of good taste. Since then his compositions have evolved considerably, culminating in achievements of great interest, the fruit of his highly original, distinctive approach to harmony and counterpoint.

Many years were to pass before our paths crossed again, and when this did finally happen (on the return journey from a congress we had both taken part in), we chatted away, and I was happy to discover just how many compositions for and with the guitar he had written since our first encounter.

This was the beginning of a deep friendship, and meeting up with Stefano regularly has allowed me to delve deeper into his style and thus appreciate more fully his output in general, and his works for the guitar in particular.

I was very impressed by various of his compositions, but what struck me most were his numerous Studies for solo Guitar, most of them still in the form of unpublished manuscripts. The idea of making a recording of two series of twelve of these pieces gradually came to me as I was reading through his many works.

The 24 Études pour la Guitare are thus my interpretation of music that involves numerous different technical challenges that make it very demanding.

Casarini’s compositions are highly distinctive, never banal, certainly idiomatic and always to the point. By the same token they can also be intrepid, and inclined to create evocative atmospheres and states of mind that can convey deep feelings.

I hope that this first stage of a recording project may be followed by others that will provide listeners with a more complete picture of the style, value and beauty of Stefano Casarini’s guitar music.© Adriano SebastianiTranslation by Kate Singleton

Stefano Casarini: 24 Études pour la GuitareLa musica per Chitarra di Stefano Casarini ha sempre avuto un particolare fascino e una forte attrazione su di me fin dal nostro primo incontro, avvenuto a Lucca nel 1977, a casa di Maria Lucchesi, una nostra cara comune amica.

I primi brani che ebbi l’opportunità di esaminare furono alcuni duetti molto semplici per due chitarre, facili ma eleganti e ricchi di buon gusto. Da allora a oggi la sua scrittura si è evoluta in modo notevole conducendolo verso risultati di grande interesse, frutto di una ricerca armonica e contrappuntistica particolarmente originale e personale.

Trascorsero molti anni prima che le nostre strade si incrociassero nuovamente, e quando ciò accadde (in un viaggio di ritorno da un convegno a cui avevamo entrambi partecipato), parlando tra noi rimasi piacevolmente sorpreso dalla quantità di composizioni per e con Chitarra che aveva scritto durante quell’arco di tempo.

Da allora è nata una grande e profonda amicizia, e il frequentarci in modo costante mi ha permesso di conoscere sempre più a fondo il suo stile e la qualità della sua produzione musicale e chitarristica.

Sono rimasto molto colpito da diverse sue opere, ma in particolare dai suoi numerosi Studi per Chitarra sola, la maggior parte dei quali manoscritti e inediti. L’idea di realizzare un disco che ne raccogliesse due serie di dodici è maturata di conseguenza durante la lettura di molti dei suoi lavori.

I “24 Études pour la Guitare” nascono fondamentalmente come una sfida e grande è l’impegno dell’interprete nell’affrontare e superare problematiche di natura tecnica molto differenti tra loro.

Vorrei sottolineare anche l’assoluta peculiarità e unicità della sua scrittura, mai banale, molto idiomatica e sempre pertinente, ma a tratti anche ardita, capace di osare e creare atmosfere fortemente evocative e stati d’animo capaci di trasmettere profonde emozioni.

Mi auguro che questo sia l’inizio di un viaggio discografico che comprenda altre tappe e che offra la possibilità di mostrare lo stile, il valore e la bellezza della musica per chitarra di Stefano Casarini.© Adriano Sebastiani

Stefano Casarini studied Composition with Pietro Rigacci at the Luigi Boccherini Music Institute in Lucca, and Guitar under the guidance of M. Barsanti. As a member of the Trio Chitarristico Lucchese, since 1979 he has performed in numerous concerts in Italy and abroad, with tours in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Holland, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. With the same Trio he has presented various compositions by 19th century composers (F. Carulli, M. Zani de Ferranti, A. H. Varlet, A. de Lhoyer) in their “first modern performance”, playing such pieces on period instruments in a CD for the Italian label “Sonitus Recording” in 1990. Hi interest in early music began in 1991, when he started studying the Lute with Jacob Lindberg, P. Cherici and A. Damiani. In 1994 with Claudio Tumeo he founded the 1800 Lute and Guitar duo, performing in concerts in Switzerland, Portugal and Singapore. He has played with various other ensembles, including the Lute orchestra “Dodechakordon” directed by Lindberg himself, and Grand Consort Li Stromenti, directed by G. Lastraioli. With the latter he recorded a two CD set of Aurora Ingannata by G. Giacobbi together with the vocal ensemble “L’Homme Armé” (July 1996) for the Tactus label. In December 1997 for the Dynamic label he made the first ever recording of the Suites Medicee composed by L. Allegri for the Court of Grand Dukes of Tuscany Ferdinando I and Cosimo II.

In September 2001 Sinfonica published his 12 Studi Intermedi for guitar performed by the guitarist Andrea Vettoretti and in 2003 6 Studi da Concerto for guitar performed by the guitarist Carlo Marchione. In 2003 Berben Editions published his 12 Preludi and Phoenix published a CD entitled Reminiscenze, that includes “Autunnale” (Sonata n.2), “3 Valzer” and “12 Studi Intermedi” for guitar dedicated to the guitarist Andrea Vettoretti, who also plays works by Ganesh Del Vescovo. Casarini teaches guitar at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Capannori (Lucca).

Active as a performer, musicologist, recording artist and teacher, Italian classical guitarist Adriano Sebastiani is recognised as one of the most important Italian and International experts in guitar recordings, history, literature and chamber music. He studied the Art of the Guitar in Italy: in Florence with Alvaro Company (pupil of Andrés Segovia) and in Rome with Bruno Battisti D’Amario, obtaining his Masters degree in Guitar Performance at the prestigious San Pietro a Majella Conservatoire in Naples – the oldest music Academy in Italy. At the same time he completed his cultural education, obtaining his scientific high school Diploma and then a second Masters degree in Agricultural Science at the University of Florence. Recently he obtained his third Masters Degree in Musical Pedagogy at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatoire in Florence. He later attended guitar master classes held by acclaimed artists of the lute and guitar world like Leo Brouwer, Sérgio and Odair Assad, Dušan Bogdanovic, Ralph Towner, Oscar Roberto Casares and Hopkinson Smith. As part of a guitar duo he has won four first prizes in national and international competitions. Sebastiani has performed as a soloist and in chamber ensembles and with orchestras in Italy, Europe, Russia and the USA, and has worked with singers, violinists, string trios and quartets including Patrizia Cigna, Antonia Brown, Silvia Vajente, Siphiwe McKenzie, Stephen Harland, Leonardo De Lisi, Ingolf Turban, Dora Bratchkova, Bin Huang, Franco Mezzena, Fedor Kabelskii, Marco Fornaciari, Antonello Farulli, Dimitri Illarionov and the Boccherini Ensemble. His wide-ranging and varied repertoire includes original music for guitar of different periods and styles, the unique compositions of Ralph Towner, works for guitar and orchestra, lute music and many other chamber music works. Since 1975 Sebastiani has devoted himself to the study and collection of rare bibliographic and musical sources concerning guitar history and repertoire. As a musicologist he continues to collaborate with the most important international guitar magazines, including Guitar Review (New York), Il Fronimo and Seicorde (Milan), Soundboard (California) and Guitart (Naples), rediscovering and publishing several important works for and with guitar for the following publishers: Suvini Zerboni of Milan, Berben of Ancona, Philomele of Geneva, and

Tuscany Publications of Tampa (USA). He has also edited the catalogue of Paganini’s compositions for the book Nicolò Paganini, Il Cavaliere Filarmonico by Edward D.R. Neill. His most recent publication is the co-authored book Andrés Segovia e il suo repertorio, published by Grafos of Genoa. His recordings amount to an acclaimed total of twenty-two discs. Sebastiani is the first guitarist in the world to have recorded the complete works for violin, viola, mandolin and guitar, and the complete trios for strings and guitar by Paganini, a collection of songs for voice and guitar by Schubert, the complete works for voice and guitar by Giuliani, and a selection of songs for voice and guitar by Carulli. Among his latest albums are solo guitar music by Dušan Bogdanovic, Ralph Towner and Paganini. Bogdanovic and Towner, as well as Oliviero Lacagnina, Stefano Casarini, John Hall, Joan Yakkey, Anthony Sidney and Riccardo Riccardi, have all dedicated new works to him. Recently signed up with Brilliant Classics, he has released four recordings respectively devoted to the complete Songs for voice and guitar by Louis Spohr (94274), the Italian Ariettas by Gioachino Rossini (94628), the Songs by John Dowland (94480) and the Complete Songs by Carl Maria von Weber (95323). Sebastiani plays guitars by the Sicilian luthier Antonino Scandurra, Tuscan luthier Luciano Maggi and American luthier Alan Stewart Wilcox. He has taught at the Luigi Boccherini Institute in Lucca and at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatoire in Florence. He is head of the Guitar Department at the Liceo Classico Musicale F. Petrarca in Arezzo (Tuscany).

Stefano Casarini left and Adriano Sebastiani rightThanks to the Comune of Serravalle Pistoiese, to the Mayor and his collaborators