Italian guitarist Fabrizio Proietti plays Sonata (Omaggio a Boccherini), Op. 77 (1934) by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968). This comes via the excellent Siccas Guitars and their YouTube and Proietti’s Youtube. I’ve always loved this sonata so usually share it whenever I get the chance. Nice playing by Proietti with wonderful phrasing and motivic attention. Excellent pacing and articulations in the Minuetto.
I found this nice little paragraph about the work by Graham Wade via this Naxos album:
In 1932 Andrés Segovia travelled with Manuel de Falla to the International Festival of Music in Venice. At the Festival, Segovia was introduced to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, the great Italian composer from Florence, who became enchanted and fascinated by the guitar and decided to explore its possibilities. Between 1932 and his death in 1968 he wrote over a hundred works for the instrument, including sets of variations, concertos, duos, impressionistic pieces of various kinds, and, among his finest solo compositions, the Sonata, Op. 77, ‘Omaggio a Boccherini’, written at Segovia’s request in 1934 for ‘a Sonata in four movements’.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco described this work as follows: ‘The Sonata is in four movements, but it is mainly in the first movement, Allegro con spirito, and in the Minuetto, that one can find the graciousness which was so characteristic of Boccherini. The Andantino, quasi canzone, on the other hand, refers to Boccherini’s ‘romantic’ mood, while the Finale: Vivo ed energico, highlights the bravura elements always present in his music.’
