For a brief period in the early 19th century, the guitar enjoyed a veritable hype. Salons in Paris and Vienna hosted musical soirees where the latest compositions were performed for an intimate audience. And when a true virtuoso guitarist came to play, like the Italians Carulli, Molino or Gragnani and the Bohemian Matiegka, the enthusiasm reached the level that can only be described as ‘guitaromanie’ – guitar mania.

They offered a completely new sound, because the guitar was a young instrument at the time. Sometime around the year 1800, the double strings were replaced by single strings with higher tension. And a sixth string was added; the low E. These changes allowed the guitar virtuosos to sound like an orchestra, vocalist and accompaniment with a single instrument. The sounds were intimate, but also expressive and spectacular, and something the salon audiences had never heard before. The guitar virtuosos usually performed their own work, or they arranged a familiar aria or overture from an opera specifically for the occasion. This album focuses on original music composed by the guitarists themselves, showing their creative and inventive spirits. Moreover, four of these pieces are also world premiere recordings.

The album was recorded using original guitars with gut strings from the early 19th century built by renowned luthiers of that time. The compositions by Molino, Carulli and Gragnani were performed on an Italian guitar crafted in 1812 by Carlo Guadagnini. The compositions by Matiegka were performed on guitars of two of Vienna’s most famous guitar makers; a guitar made around 1820 by Johann Georg Stauffer and a guitar built sometime around 1834 by Bernhard Enzensperger.

Izhar Elias, Guitar

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The album is exclusively available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256 and DSD 128 from NativeDSD.

Their music speaks as if they are talking with each other through their instruments. Each piece in this album has its own character and demands a different approach. The carrousel is chosen as symbol for this diversity.

This album, with it’s wide stylistic span, yet cohesive musical end result, is proof of this musicians mastery. And thanks to the sublime sound quality, every single inflection is audible.

Clarinet and guitar is an instrumental combination one seldom hears. A puzzling fact considering that the clarinet’s timbre can be light and intimate, therefore very well suited to the sound of the guitar.

When Levan and Izhar played on a Dutch radio show they first heard Carrousel performed by it’s Composer and Jazz Pianist Rembrandt Frerichs. They knew instantly that the piece would work for clarinet and guitar. Rembrandt Frerichs happily agreed to rearrange ”Carousel” for the duo resulting in a unique intimate arrangement of his composition.

Arranging pieces for clarinet and guitar requires a certain outside the box way of thinking. For example lots of pieces for the clarinet are written in B flat, while A major is one of the most common tonalities for the guitar. By tuning the guitar strings up a semitone one can play pieces in B flat while still benefit the use of open strings. Rigoletto’s fantasy (track 4) and the variations on the Carnival of Venice (track 8) where played in this way, by using a different guitar.

Levan Tskhadadze, Clarinet
Izhar Elias, Guitar

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The two sonatas on this album were composed in two periods during which life looked very different for the composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828). The first, the Piano Sonata in A major, D 664 was written while on a long trip during the summer of 1819, when he exchanged the busy and polluted streets of Vienna for the beauties of nature in northern Austria. The second, the Piano Sonata in Bb major, D 960, his last piano sonata, was composed almost ten years later in 1828. By this time, he was, at last, enjoying increasing fame as a composer, but his health had deteriorated so much that he did not survive to enjoy this success for long.

Schubert himself owned guitars made by the two best Viennese luthiers: Johann Georg Stauffer and Bernard Enzensperger. His Stauffer was an early example which, in terms of construction, dated back to just before the innovations that made this maker famous.

Schubert’s Enzensperger guitar already had some of those innovations, and it is an extra special feature of this recording that both Fernando and Izhar play on original Enzensperger guitars. These guitars were built between 1830 and 1834, so not many years after Schubert’s death. The guitar was a very popular instrument during the three decades that Schubert lived. It was played by people from all walks of life and was certainly used regularly in the musical salons in which Schubert himself took part.

There are first editions of his songs written for voice and guitar, some occasional works by him that use the guitar, pictures of Schubert featuring a guitar or a guitar player, and indeed written sources by members of his circle of friends, showing that there was a lot of guitar playing going on in his environment.

Fernando Riscado Cordas has arranged these masterpieces for guitar duo. An important factor in the choice of these works is that they share certain properties that are very suitable to the character of the guitar. As in all his instrumental music, the vocal character of Schubert’s piano sonatas can be heard very clearly in their melodies.

The phrases have very natural fluidity and contours, and an entirely unforced narrative character that suggests a sung text. The early 19th Century guitar, strung with gut strings, is an instrument that shines in being able to combine melody with harmony, enhancing this further with a rich palette of timbres. Because guitarists play each note with two fingertips and are always in direct contact with the string and the sound, they can create nuances in sound that are very detailed and that can change in an instant. The difference in character in the two melodic themes of Schubert’s sonatas can thus be presented with better clarity and with more effective coloration than, for example, on a piano.

The music on this album was played on two original early 19th century guitars by Bernard Enzensperger. They were strung with gut strings by Toro and Kürschner a’= 430 Hz.

To increase playability the keys of Sonata No. 21 have been altered:
I. Original: Bb major – arrangement: C major
II. Original: C# minor – arrangement: E minor
III.Original: Bb major/Bb minor – arrangement: C major/C minor
IV.Original: Bb major – arrangement: C major

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