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Rating: For an accurate presentation of Maurizio di Fulvio, I refer you to the official site of the guitarist from Chieti, which is really well done. Regarding Marco Felicioni, who is almost absent on the web, it's necessary for me to tell you something about him. He graduated in flute from the "Luisa D'Annunzio" Conservatory (Pescara) in 1985, then perfected his skills in flute and chamber music before devoting himself to studying numerous other instruments, all within the flute family, paying particular attention to ethnic and folk flutes. He has and still carries out a fervent concert activity both as a soloist and as an orchestral performer, as well as in chamber ensembles. He has collaborated with, among others, R. Muti, L. Bacalov, and J. Carreras.
The Felicioni-Di Fulvio duo was formed way back in 1993, inevitably showing an eclectic musical personality, and therefore enviable, which blossomed from a primarily classical and baroque background, yet with influences ranging from modern to contemporary, from jazz to European and South American folk music.
The present work, brought to light in 2004, develops one of the most original and daring ideas ever contemplated: rearranging some classical pieces for guitar and flute. In particular, the album is a modern tribute to the noble form from the history of music, the fugue: the perfect union of compositional genius and mathematical technique, where rigid theory is sublimated by the composer's ability to master those rules with class and taste. The unmatched genius of Johann Sebastian Bach ennobled this form, elevating it from a simple rhetorical exercise in style to an authentic and grand work of art, where rules do not imprison creativity but rather exalt it, inhibiting recourse to devices like catchy melodies, which with their triviality tend to trivialize the entire structure.
Armed with an extraordinary technical and cultural preparation, the duo has drawn extensively from the "corpus" of the German composer, while also turning their attention to other composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, John William Duarte, and Baden Powell.
The beginning is entrusted to "Sonata BWV 1033 in C major" by Bach: the realization of the basso continuo by the classical guitar, seemingly out of place, turns out to be functional for the enhancement of the flute in a solo key and therefore extremely effective. It continues with "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5" by Villa-Lobos, where the contamination of the Brazilian musical heritage with the European compositional tradition is admirable, and with the brief "title-track" by Duarte, a refined Anglo-Spanish composer-guitarist. The tribute to Bach returns in "Partita BWV 1013 in A minor" for solo flute: the absence of guitar accompaniment makes, if I may, the execution of the piece too bare (being entrusted to the pure monophony of the flute), decidedly penalizing the overall success of the work even on the level of mere enjoyment of the music, to the point that the twelve total minutes seem to swell alarmingly. "Invencao" by Baden Powell serves as a springboard for "The Fugue" by George Gershwin, taken from "Porgy and Bess", with an unusually syncopated and rhythmic character, while "La Catedral" by Agustín Barrios for solo guitar consecrates itself as the most dramatic and emotional piece of the entire batch. The continuous and balanced contrapuntal dialogue between guitar and flute characterizes the third and final homage to Bach, "The Fugue" from the Suite for Lute BWV 997. Fun fact: the piece, originally composed in C minor, has been rearranged for the occasion in D minor, perhaps also for reasons of executional convenience. "Ics" by Domenico de Simone is instead a delightful tribute precisely to the two Pescaran musicians, compositionally aiming to highlight the particular expressive characteristics of the group, through a rising climax of rhythm and vitality. Certainly an intriguing and noteworthy episode. The closing is up to "Bachianina" by Nogueira, the founding father of the "bossa nova" genre: here flute and guitar chase each other in a precious and pressing counterpoint until they reach each other in the final arpeggio. A piece that, in its four minutes, represents the ideal summary of what has been heard in almost an hour of great music.
An album that shows how great musicians are anything but extinct. Especially in Italy. A must-have, given also the honorable price (10 euros).
(The tracklist is not available on FreeDB, hence why I've commented on all the pieces in the review following their order on the album.)
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