ALVARO PIERRI, guitar - San Francisco Performances

ARTIST PROFILE
San Francisco Performances presents Alvaro
Pierri in his SF Performances recital debut. In
2013, the OMNI Foundation for the Performing
Arts presented his San Francisco recital debut.
present
ALVARO PIERRI, guitar
Friday, December 4, 2015 | 7:30pm
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
SOR
Introduction & Allegro, Opus 14
GIULIANI
Rossiniana, Opus 119
SÁINZ DE LA MAZA
Platero y yo
Habanera
Campanas del Alba RODRIGO Sonata a la Española
Allegro assai
Adagio
Allegro
INTERMISSION
GUINGA (ESCOBAR) Di Menor
Senhorinha
Palao de Lacan
PONCE
Sonata No. 3
BOGDANOVIĆ
Ricercare No. 2 (dedicated to Alvaro Pierri)
Jazz Sonatina
ANIDO
Preludio Pampeano
Aire Norteño
Allegretto
Chanson
Allegro moderato
Allegro grazioso
Adagio espressivo
Allegro molto
Impetuoso (vivo)
Cantabile (con fervore)
Toccata Brasilis (vivo)
Alvaro Pierri is represented by Lang Productions, Hoernesgasse 4/6, A-1030,
Vienna, Austria tel: +43 1 713 0904
For Tickets and More: sfperformances.org | 415.392.2545
Alvaro Pierri is internationally acclaimed
as a leading personality in the world of the
guitar. Press reviews around the world praise
“his breathtaking phrasing”…“his masterly
thought-out interpretations”…and “the unmatched musical colour spectrum that he creates on the guitar.”
He was born in Montevideo in Uruguay,
into a family of musicians. From the age of
11 he already was receiving awards and first
prizes in international guitar competitions.
He studied among others with his aunt Olga
Pierri, the composer Guido Santorsola, and
Abel Carlevaro.
Since his brilliant concert debut in New
York and his debut in Germany with the
string soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra, Alvaro Pierri is a regular guest at
major concert halls and radio and television
stations in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Contemporary composers such
as Leo Brouwer, Guido Santorsola, Francis
Schwartz, Jacques Hétu, Abel Carlevaro,
Carlo Domeniconi, Dušan Bogdanović have
written major works for Alvaro Pierri. He has
shared the stage with artists like Astor Piazzolla, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Terry Riley,
Leo Brouwer, and Charles Dutoit, among others.
Several of his CDs have been honored
with prizes, including the coveted Canadian FELIX award for the best classical CD
of the year. Recently Pioneer Classics Japan
issued a DVD featuring Spanish and South
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Kazuhito YAMASHITA
Performing the complete cello suites of J.S.Bach
Sat., Oct. 10, 2015 2:30 & 7:30pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
Niño De PURA
“Homenaje a Paco De Lucia”
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015 7:30 pm Herbst Theatre
D’ADDARIO Performance Series featuring Liying Zhu
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015 7:30 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
Duo MELIS
Friday, Nov. 13, 2015 7:30 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church*
Alvaro PIERRI
Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 7:30 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church*
BIASINI International Guitar Competition & Festival
Thurs. – Sun., Jan. 14 – 17, 2016 S.F. Conservatory of Music
DYNAMITE Guitars 1st Edition
Martin Taylor, Badi Assad, Frank Vignola & Vinnie Raniolo
Sat., February 6, 2016 7:30 pm Palace of Fine Arts
Leo KOTTKE
Thurs., Feb. 18, 2016 7:30 pm Herbst Theatre
Manuel BARRUECO
Sun., March 13, 2016 7:00 pm Herbst Theatre*
Julian LAGE & Chris ELDRIDGE
Sun., April 3, 2016 7:00 pm Herbst Theatre*
Sergio & Odair ASSAD w/ Clarice ASSAD
Sat., April 9, 2016 7:30 pm SFJAZZ Center*
Yamandu COSTA
Wed., April 13, 2016 7:30 pm Herbst Theatre
AMADEUS Guitar Duo
Sat., April 23, 2016 7:30 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
* Presented in association with San Francisco Performances
The Omni Foundation Guitar Series
is made possible in part by generous
grants from the D’Addario Music
Foundation and Grants for the
Arts/S.F. Hotel Tax Fund.
“The finest series for guitar in the United States,
without question!”
–Sergio Assad
The Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts wishes to aknowledge with thanks
the following people whose generous support has made this series possible.
DIRECTOR’S LEVEL
D’Addario Music Foundation
John & Joan D’Addario Foundation
Hill Guitar Company
Doug & Jeanne Monsour
Hai Nguyen
Herb & Reina Perez
Curt & Margaret Weil
Eric Wells & Maryanne Razzo
FOUNDER
Guitar Salon International
Donatello Bonato & Jane Kaplan
Heather Dodson
Felix & Maria Vergara
BENEFACTOR
Accord Case
Harris Guitar Foundation
PATRON
Classical Guitar Magazine
Guitar Solo Productions
IBM
Kim Buller
Ruth Fisher
Jesse & Sue Henry
Bill & Catherine Young
SPONSORS
KinderGuitar
Rick & Diane Grech
Jerzy & Alicja Orkiszewski
Rick Sara
Clyde & Joan Sugahara In Memory of
Curtis Renshaw
Travis White
S U STA I N I N G M E M BE R
Chuck Ashton
Michele Dana
Michael Gage
Bill Ghiorso
Mitchell Friedman
Stephanie Hill
Dan Koren
Daniel Leemon
Ann & Keith Mangold
Charles Ortiz
Alan Perlman
Rebecca Peters
Deborah Robbins & Henry Navas
John & Carolyn Shea
Peggy Simon
Roger Stoll
Roger Ward
Dennis White
ADVISORY BOARD
John D’Addario
Sergio Assad
Ruth A. Felt
Theresa Calpotura
Dean Kamei
John Harris
Scott Cmiel
David Pedersen
Curtis Renshaw
David Tanenbaum
Bill Young
415-242-4500 OmniConcerts.com
236 West Portal Ave. #1, San Francisco, CA 94127
American guitar music, and Deutsche Grammophon re-published a DVD of Alvaro Pierri
performing in duo with Astor Piazzolla.
Alvaro Pierri is also a worldwide acclaimed
teacher. He was professor at the University of
Santa Maria in Brazil, and later at McGill University and the UQAM (Academy of Music) in
Montreal, Canada. In 2002 he was appointed
professor at the prestigious Academy of Music
in Vienna (today University of Music and Performing Arts). He gives master classes at major
music festivals such as the New York Manhattan
Masters, Guitar Foundation of America, the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Vienna
Master Classes, Villa Musica, and in Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Brazil.
In 2008 Alvaro Pierri was appointed as honorary citizen of his hometown Montevideo, in
recognition of his outstanding artistic talent
and career and his permanent enriching contribution to the culture.
PROGRAM NOTES
Introduction & Allegro,
Opus 14
FERNANDO SOR
Born February 14, 1778, Barcelona
Died July 10, 1839, Paris
Fernando Sor is one of the greatest figures
in the history of guitar. Born in Barcelona, his
father introduced him to music, and at a very
early age he began an intensive musical education at the Monastery of Montserrat. At 18
he obtained a military position and in short
time he was promoted to full lieutenant,
apparently earned mostly from his musical
work. Moving to Madrid he earned the support of the famous Duchess of Alba. Despite
his patriotism, he left Spain for Paris and
eventually moved to London, where he lived
for eight years and was celebrated with great
enthusiasm. He then traveled widely—his
ballet Cendrillon premiered in Moscow and
his opera Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso in
St. Petersburg. He returned to Paris, further
cultivating his virtuosity on the guitar and
composing prolifically. Also a sought-after
teacher, he wrote a famous method and studies that are among the most important in the
guitar history.
Sonata No. 1, Opus 14, also known as
“Grand Solo,” is his first work for the guitar
with this structure. This sonata, like Opus 15,
Opus 22 and Opus 25, employs Sor’s singular
ideas within the frame of the classic sonata
form. The style recalls those of Haydn and
Mozart. The particularity here is that within
these two movements one can also feel a kind
of classic symphonic aim, illustrating Sor’s
mentions about the use of expressive tools
and tone color on the guitar. This piece was
specifically written in his method of 1830.
Other guitar methods (Aguado or Carulli) of
this time also propose the use of expressive
tools that often are attributed to much later
periods or esthetics.
The Introduction is a beautiful elegiac
overture and the Allegro is a joyful virtuoso
statement mixing rhythms and ideas from his
native country with some typical enthusiastic military music ideas. Everything becomes
a sensible and representative example of individual creativity within an established and
celebrated formal frame.
—Program Note by Alvaro Pierri
Rossiniana, Opus 119
MAURO GIULIANI
Born July 27, 1781, Bisceglie
Died May 7, 1829, Naples
Mauro Giuliani was the most famous guitarist-composer in Vienna, perhaps in all of
Europe, during the first two decades of the
19th century. Born in southern Italy, he was
greatly influenced by the virtuosic and fluent
style of Rossini. In 1806, at the age of twentyfive, he settled in Vienna and became part
of a musical establishment that included
Beethoven, Hummel, Weber, Diabelli and
many other leading musicians. His musical
activities ranged from the composition of beginners’ guitar exercises to performances of
his own guitar concerti, and even a performance in the world premiere of Beethoven’s
Seventh Symphony as a featured guest cellist.
It was, however, as a guitar virtuoso that
Giuliani was highly esteemed. A critic for a
British guitar journal wrote: “in his hands
the guitar became gifted with a power of
expression at once pure, thrilling and exquisite. He vocalized his adagios to a degree
impossible to be imagined by those who
never heard him—his melody was invested
with a character not only sustained and penetrating, yet of so earnest and pathetic description as to make it appear in reality the
natural characteristic of the instrument. In
a word he made the instrument sing.” Giuliani’s solo guitar music—a mercurial combination of grace, lyricism and dazzle—is always well wrought, and on occasion crosses
to deeper levels. His Le Rossiniane is a set of
six fantasias inspired by the beautiful melodic lines, arresting harmonic inflections
and colorful orchestral writing heard in the
operas of Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868),
For Tickets and More: sfperformances.org | 415.392.2545
the most successful opera composer of the
day and one of the greatest 19th-century exponents of the bel canto style.
—Program Note by Scott Cmiel
Platero y yo
Habanera
Campanas del Alba EDUARDO SÁINZ DE LA MAZA
Born January 5, 1903, Burgos
Died December 5, 1982, Barcelona
Regino Sáinz de la Maza is well known to
guitarists as the dedicatee of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. His brother Eduardo Sáinz
de la Maza was a guitarist and composer who
admired Debussy and wrote some exquisite,
though little known, guitar music. His Platero
y yo, like that of Castelnuovo-Tedesco, is set of
pieces meant to accompany poetry by Nobel
Prize winner Juan Ramón Jiménez about the
simple joys of Spanish rural life at the turn of
the twentieth century. The habanera is a Cuban
song/dance genre that gained immense popularity in Europe in the late nineteenth century.
Sáinz de la Maza combines the characteristic
habanera rhythms with the modal inflec-
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tions of flamenco to create his haunting and
mildly exotic sounding Habanera. Campanas
del Alba (Bells of the Dawn) is a beautiful study
in tremolo.
—Program Note by Scott Cmiel
Sonata a la Española
JOAQUÍN RODRIGO Born November 22, 1901, Sagunto
Died July 6, 1999, Madrid
The Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo
was born in 1901 on November 22, the name
day of the patron saint of music, Saint Cecelia. At the age of three he lost his sight almost completely as a result of an epidemic of
diphtheria. As he himself was later to affirm,
this event undoubtedly led to his vocation in
music. Rodrigo wrote all his works in braille,
dictating them subsequently to a copyist. The
music of Joaquín Rodrigo is a homage to the
rich and varied cultures of Spain. No other
Spanish composer has drawn on so many different aspects of his country’s spirit as sources of inspiration, from the history of Roman
Spain to the work of contemporary poets. His
music is refined and luminous with a particular predominance of striking melodies, and
original harmonies. Sonata a la Española was
composed in 1969 and has three movements.
The first of these, Allegro assai, introduces a
steady tread against music with a nasal-like
sound. The second, Adagio, has a theme centered on the lower strings of the guitar. The
final, Allegro moderato, is a bolero.
—Program Note by Scott Cmiel
Di Menor
Senhorinha
Palao de Lacan
GUINGA (CARLOS S. LEMOS ESCOBAR)
Born June 10, 1950, Madureira
The first time I heard Guinga I became his
unconditional fan, always waiting to enjoy
each one of his new compositions. Guinga
is a fabulous guitarist (his guitar works have
transformed the Brazilian guitar), an extraordinary composer, a very original musician,
and a brilliant arranger and orchestrator. He
performs with the top artists in Brazilian popular music like Beth Carvalho, Elis Regina,
Aldir Blanc, Cartola, Chico Buarque, Ivan
Lins, and Gjavan; and also with the great Michel Legrand. He is certainly one of the greatest musicians of this marvelous country. To
hear Guinga playing is for me to go on a jou-
4 | ney of pleasure and discovery into a world
of wonderful melodies, original harmonies
and a unique rhythm pulse. His music is like
a river of a mix of Brazilian Choro, Samba,
Valse and Frevo mixed with blues and jazz—
the most enjoyable music full of magic moments.
—Program Note by Alvaro Pierri
Sonata No . 3
MANUEL M. PONCE
Born December 8, 1882, Fresnillo
Died April 24, 1948, Mexico City
Manuel Ponce was a close friend and frequent collaborator with the great Spanish
guitarist Andrés Segovia. His primary musical style blends classical European structures, the vital musical ideas of twentieth
century modernism, and an earthy reliance
on Mexican folk roots. At one point there was
so much music by Ponce on Segovia’s programs and the available guitar literature was
so limited, that Segovia asked Ponce to write
music in other styles under a pseudonym.
His Sonata No. 3 is in three movements in a
fast-slow-fast pattern. The first movement
is the longest, most ambitious form with an
abundance of subtle shifts in harmony and
lyrical transitional material that blurs its formal design. The second movement is a slow
lamenting song with a short, joyful fast section. The final movement is a rondo where
the opening phrase returns repeatedly to alternate with new material.
—Program Note by Scott Cmiel
Ricercare No. 2
Jazz Sonatina
DUŠAN BOGDANOVIĆ
Born 1955, Belgrade
Dusan Bogdanović is a full music being, a
very gifted and sensible guitarist, improvisor, composer and researcher. He explores
all kind of musical styles and languages and
has a unique talent for creating the synthesis of ethnic, jazz and classical elements.
He is an extremely prolific composer who is
deeply influencing and enriching the guitar
repertoire.
Ricercare No. 2 was written in 1998 and
dedicated to Alvaro Pierri. It is one of Three
Ricercares with the subtitle Omaggio al Divino, an hommage to the great Italian Renaissance composer and luthenist Francesco Canova da Milano. This piece is a short,
soft and exquisite prelude, proposed in a
strict traditional slow tempo, developed
through melodic imitations, mixed passages
in chordal style with running scales in a tender and evocative polyphonic texture. These
ricercares reflect exactly Bogdanović’s own
instrumental and performing improvisatory
practice in which the exploration and synthesis of musical language are the trademark
of his unique style. The Jazz Sonatina is a
marvelous collage of native Balkan rhythms
and idioms, jazz elements and harmonies
well married with the sonata form, full of extremely original guitar performance tricks.
The first movement is a perfect example of
this. The meditative second movement is a
beautiful composition full of delicate tenderness and lyrical transparency. The energetic
intricacies, effects and subtleties of the third
movement require extreme delicacy in performance. One can only feel and think: “Viva
la vita!”
—Program Note by Alvaro Pierri
Preludio Pampeano
Aire Norteño
MARIA LUISA ANIDO
Born January 26, 1907, Morón, Buenos Aires
Died June 4, 1996, Tarragona
The Argentinian virtuoso-guitarist and
composer Maria Luisa Anido achieved acclaim worldwide as “The Great Lady of the
Guitar” and “The Female Segovia.” She
made wonderful recordings with Miguel Llobet, who was her master teacher for decades
starting when she was six years old. As a
composer she contributed not only to the recovery of Argentinian folklore in the frame
of academic compositions, but also to the revaluation of the guitar as a classical instrument. She wrote: “Composing is a wonderful
task because of the sincerity it carries within,
because of the act of creation itself... because
it reveals the depths of the human soul.”
Aire Norteño, her most popular piece, is a
“Bailecito,” a little dance present in all festivities in mountainous north-western Argentina, and which is generally played by
guitars, charangos, quenas and cajas. Anido
frequently played the bass notes pizzicato to
emphasize the contraposition of 3/4 time in
the bass and 6/8 in the melody, a characteristic that is frequently found in Argentine folklore. Alvaro Pierri develops the central part of
the dance with the typical rasgueados of the
Bailecitos and Chacareras.
—Program Note by Alvaro Pierri
For Tickets and More: sfperformances.org | 415.392.2545