This is a large work in three substantial movements with harmonies that are almost late 19th-century in their style.
The first movement Maestrale is an allegro ritmico with plenty of interesting part-writing from the outset making all the parts a true balanced trio. The initial theme is an ascending motif in a mixture of quavers and semiquavers that manages to go from the home key of A minor to a distant key such as C minor and still make it back home before the end of the page! Over the first few pages various keys are reached, hinted at only to move on elsewhere, until a passage using the classical equivalent of the electric guitarist's power chords enters (marked con violenza) accompanied eventually by lightning-fast runs and plenty of exciting hammer-ons and sudden accents. Over this sudden appears a variant of the opening ascending theme, which the guitarists toss around for a while until a sudden meno mosso occurs where you may have been expecting a further use of the power chords episode. This dolce theme is brief and changes into a tremolo figure in guitar one in waltz rhythm; a section that stays for quite a while.
Suddenly the music develops some strong accents again and swift runs herald in the delayed but expected power chords theme for one more time. An altered version of the opening theme then recurs and the movement ends in suitably fast and furious fashion.
Tramontana is an andante largo in E minor and begins with a gently clashing theme on guitar one accompanied by harmonics before all three players begin following each other's rhythms very closely with a rocking idea, based on the opening. The middle sees a key change to A major before the very end finally returns us back to the home key for the last four bars that is the coda.
Scirocco is an E minor 6/8 with a very noticeably Irish jig feel to it. Lots of excitement and a crescendo to fortissimo takes us into a sudden meno mosso that stay for quite a while until a tempo change leads us into a 4/4-2/4 idea that runs through a number of flat key areas. A molto agitato in D minor then takes over until a sudden acceleration takes us into a distant cousin of the power chords theme from mvt I. This stays around for a while until a presto brings back the jig rhythm. The Meno mosso then comes back, as we might have expected until a rise in speed takes us to the coda and a triplet idea on all three guitarists that in turn hurls us onto the final fortissimo chord.
This is a very enjoyable piece that is substantial in its intentions and in its technical requirements and one, which should win the composer many friends. A good trio would do well to attempt this fine piece, as I am sure it could be popular with players and audiences alike.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
