guitare et piano (ou harpe)
Combining classical guitar with piano is a challenge, but it can be successful if the composer is ingenious enough. Perhaps the best example is the ravishing Fantasia, Op. 145, by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The parts for both instruments must be designed very carefully to give the guitar a part that can work through the greater volume of the piano, and the piano part conceived so as to give the player enough interest but not so thick a texture that it overwhelms the guitar. Marchelie’s Nuits andalouses strikes a very workable balance, integrating the parts with complementary textures and gestures. The piece is in two Andalusian-themed sections: a slow and sensuous “Tranquillo e misterioso” and then a “Vivo” that is reminiscent of the Petenera by Regino Sainz de la Maza in its harmonic structure and in the alternation of 3/4 and 6/8 measures. Both parts are at an intermediate technical level, so this could be used and enjoyed by students as well as professionals, and it would surely be an audience pleaser.
-David Grimes (Soundboard Magazine)
