Yet another imaginative arrangement from Mr. Zohn. You should of course not be surprised at finding an arrangement of Rossini on guitar, as there have been all manner of guitar versions of orchestral overtures done by players and performers in the past and many are very successful,
This one is no exception. It begins with an Andante which you must be careful not to take at too fast a pace, or you regret it around bar 9 onwards, when triplet semiquavers firmly make their presence felt! At bar 32 the Allegro enters with a tune you would no doubt know, even if you haven't recognised the title. There then follows 12 pages or so of a real Allegro where semiquavers are rarely far away from the page, It is all very playable indeed, and no one must think that this is a piece that doesn't fit on the guitar; for it does work, absolutely. It is however, no pushover. Anyone who anticipates trying this out has got to have a firm command of the fingerboard in all its glory, together with an innate ability to fly around the strings at top speed without fear of coming a cropper!
All in all then this is a fun piece, in a nice well thought out arrangement but a piece only really for the professional player to include in his next recital. Although having said that I can imagine a lot of people of lesser ability having a lot of fun trying to make it sound as good as it deserves. Nicely produced too.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
