Marisa Minder plays Concertino per chitarra e piccola orchestra (Concertino for Guitar and a Small Orchestra) by Hans Haug (1900–1967) and conducted by Alexander Zemtsov. This is CD release video for her Naxos album of chamber music including the the below repertoire. You can find the album on Naxos, Amazon, Spotify, and more. I listened to the full album on Spotify and the Haug Concertino is a beautiful work and Marisa Minder plays it with an elegant and virtuosic musicality. A very significant work and intense guitar part, Minder impressively pulls it off with ease.
- Hans Haug (1900–1967) – Concertino per chitarra e piccola orchestra (1950)
- Hans Haug – Wind Quintet (completed by H. Horobetz)
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) – Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet, Op. 143 (1950)
You can read up on all the repertoire via the Naxos album notes: “In 1950 Haug’s Concertino per chitarra e piccola orchestra (Concertino for Guitar and a Small Orchestra) was awarded a prize in a competition for composers held by Accademia chigiana in Siena. The author was promised that the brilliant Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia would premiere it in 1952, and that his work would later be printed. However, Segovia did not play the work, which delayed its being printed until 1970, that is after Haug’s death. The Concertino was performed for the first time by soloist Alexandre Lagoya in Lausanne.”
Also see Minder’s Youtube Video for this write-up:
In order to challenge and champion literature for the guitar, Andrés Segovia initiated a contest for composers at the Conservatory in Chigiana (Siena, Italy). Among other composers, who later gained fame, Segovia also encouraged Hans Haug to take part in this competition. Haug had not published a single work for classical guitar prior to that, yet he composed “Concertino per chitarra e piccola orchestra” for the contest. And for this clever, witty and in every sense praiseworthy piece of music he won the first prize awarded by a renowned jury. Andrés Segovia promised to premiere and release the award-winning works himself. However, his extensive performance schedule withheld him from ever turning to work on this comprehensive and challenging piece. That is why Haug’s wonderful Concertino remained untouched for a long time and, prior to this recording, was only known to be performed just once – in 1970 in Lausanne (Switzerland), three years after Haug’s death. It is very surprising that only few concerts for an orchestra and the guitar have been composed to date. The first recording of Bläserquintett also makes it clear why Hans Haug was rightfully one of the best-known Swiss composers in the 1950s. The Quintett is a short and compact piece of music particularly impressive due to its sophisticated layering of voices. This CD is completed with a nowadays popular work of guitar literature, also composed in 1950. Unlike Haug’s Concertino, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet, Op. 143 was repeatedly performed and recorded by Segovia. Thus, it soon became well known worldwide.
