Klarinet Archive - Posting 000434.txt from 2000/11

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Gragnani quartet
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 00:42:22 -0500

--- "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com> wrote:

> The second was a quartet by Gragnani for clarinet, viola and not one but TWO
> guitars. It sounded like a ball to play; the hardest part probably finding
> two guitarists who can count in time and stand each other.

The Gragnani is indeed a wonderful, very Classical-period piece. I, too,
first heard it on the radio, probably 10 years ago -- the same Kloecker re-
cording that you mentioned. I was so enthralled by it at the time that I
called up the radio station (KDFC, San Francisco -- now defunct, I think)
to find out the title of the album and the label of the CD (Koch-Schwann,
I believe). Perhaps you mis-heard the instrumentation, because my own copy
of the music is for violin, not viola. There is so much opportunity for
sensitivity and nuance, and what a gorgeous wrinkle to have two guitarists
as part of the quartet! It was one of the audience favorites at my under-
graduate senior recital, and I had the two best Master's guitar students
in the entire school. It truly requires accomplished guitarists, because
each member of the quartet is a star, and those guitar parts are pretty
demanding! I highly recommend this pleasurable piece to anybody who finds
themselves friends with a couple of decent classical guitarists. Good
violinists, of course, are a dime-a-dozen.

-- Neil

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