Patrick Bournet's Italian Sketches are a set of four vivid impressions. Romance is a lyrical, charming movement. A certain amount of rhythmic flexibility applied to the pulse will allow the music to breath more naturally than a rigid tempo. Sogno agitato, I suppose a sort of uneasy dream, is written wholly with semi-quavers (16th notes). Therefore it's up to the performer to shape the structure of the music. The third movement La maschera is an intriguing barcarolle, superficially this looks straightforward, but there some unusual melodic and harmonic steps which need thinking about carefully. The final alleqro, a Tarentelle, uses the same harmonic and melodic language of the other three movements, with just enough unusual sounds and rhythms to keep the player and listener involved. Whilst there is nothing here to upset even the most conservative listener, the writing for the instrument has many textures which can feel uneasy at first to the player.
John Arran (Classical Guitar Magazine)
