Guitar and Violin Recital

The Italian Cultural Institute is pleased to present a recital for violin and guitar with duo Massimo Scattolin (guitar) and Paolo Tagliamento (violin), who will perform music by Niccolò Paganini, Mauro Giuliani and Pablo de Sarasate. It is said that Niccolò Paganini, Gioachino Rossini and Mauro Giuliani got together in Rome in 1818. To celebrate Carnivale, they decided to disguise themselves as blind men and sing a little song along the streets of the capital, with Paganini playing the guitar to the amusement of passers-by. The majority of the recital’s program is indeed focused on Paganini and Giuliani, leading figures of Italian chamber music of the time. Violin virtuoso Paganini knew how to play the guitar equally well, so much so that he almost always used it as an accompaniment in his compositions. We can therefore find it in the first sonata from the Centone and in the Cantabile, where the solo part is played on the violin. In the Sonata Concertata, on the other hand, the two instruments are given equal prominence, demonstrating the composer's profound knowledge of the guitar technique. Even in the Gran Duo Concertante op.85 by Giuliani the two instruments often exchange roles, but in a different way, giving preference to the part of the violin, and leaving only certain virtuosic passages to the guitar. In some parts of the work, although exquisitely Italian, one can clearly feel the influence that Vienna had on Giuliani while he lived there. Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate, great violin virtuoso, was in Budapest to give a series of concerts, and here he was able to appreciate the culture and folklore expressed in particular in the gypsy music played by the Roma people. This allowed Sarasate to find the inspiration for a new piece, a collection of gypsy arias and tunes, which he called Zigeunerweisen. The arrangement for guitar of the original piano part is by Massimo Scattolin.