Ugoletti: Accordion & Guitar Concerto, Dickinson Arias - CD

ENGLISH

<br><br>Unconstrained by textbook notions of schools and –isms, the music of Paolo Ugoletti (b.1956) is unafraid of making expressive points through intense chromaticism, painful dissonance and good, old-fashioned C major, as these two quite different works show. The first, apparently abstract, piece is an instrumental concerto that both exploits and transcends familiarity and associative notions of its solo instruments with popular idioms, travelling from Piazzolla’s smoke-filled nightclubs to the melancholy sidewalks of the Seine in search of a personal idiom that is significantly influenced both by his studies with the Italian modernist Franco Donatoni and by personal enthusiasm for the improvisatory spirit of Irish folk music. <br /> <br /> The American poet Emily Dickinson is one of Ugoletti’s favourite writers, and he has set six of her poems in a cycle that is as allusive, detailed and exuberant as the poet’s own language, and dedicated it to the soloist on this recording, the Chinese soprano Lin Ling Hui. <br /> <br /> Other information:<br /> - Booklet includes notes on the music by Hartmut Haenchen.<br /> - It is difficult to put a label on Italian composer Paolo Ugoletti (born 1956). He is inspired and influenced by a wide variety of composers and genres, from the severe modernism of Franco Donatoni to the good humour and rhythmical buoyancy of Irish folk music. <br /> - This CD presents first recordings of two major works by Ugoletti: the concerto for the attractive and original combination of accordion and guitar (with a wink to Piazzolla) and the Emily Dickinson Arias, poetry by one of Ugoletti’s favourite authors set to music, for soprano and orchestra.<br /> - Beautifully sung by soprano Lin Ling Hui (the dedicatee of the Dickinson Arias) and played by the esteemed guitarist Giulio Tampalini and accordionist Gino Zambelli. <br /> - Liner notes by the composer.<br /> - 'This collection is a stunning testimony to Wilhelm Friedemann's talents, and the performances are marked by vitality and intensity.' (American Record Guide)