Amarcord

Due to the flute's ability to perform rapid scale passages and lengthy melody notes the majority of works for flute and guitar tend to hone in on this characteristic and the flautist usually gets more pyrotechnics than the accompanying guitarist. This is not so with this particular new composition which is written by a composer who obviously knows the guitar intimately and has a thorough working knowledge of the intricacies of the fingerboard. All the technical difficulties, of which there are many, lie almost completely with the guitarist who has to negotiate some very tricky fingerwork in many areas of this piece, but the end result is more than worth the effort. Amarcord is in the form of a «fantasie« and contains some wonderful moments not the least which comes at the very start with a beautiful, almost elegiac, lengthy guitar. The flute's first entry is a series of simple glissandos played over a poignant guitar passage where, half way through, the flute begins to play in imitation. After this calm beginning things take a distinct change with several pages of arpeggiated guitar passages and many mood swings from rapid and graceful through to slow and melancholy. The piece relies heavily upon the guitar's wonderful characteristic of being capable of playing campanella (letting the notes linger on over the next notes) which is played to full effect in the enchanting finale to the piece. This is a brilliant new addition to the repertoire for flute and guitar and hopefully a piece which will be performed often. The presentation is excellent with full score and pull out pages for both instrumentalists. The fingering on the guitar part is excellent and really needs to be followed to get the proper effects. Steve Marsh (Classical Guitar Magazine)