The Sonata Canonica, Op. 196, by the prolific Italian-American composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, has opened many a duo-guitar recital. It's a pleasant neo-classic romp that's over in 10 minutes, with the lively use of counterpoint implied by the title. Not so common, or so easily programmed, is another Castelnuovo-Tedesco work from the early '60s, Les Guitares Bien Tempérées, Op. 199, a set of 24 preludes and fugues for two guitars, inspired by Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's preludes and fugues, ...
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The Sonata Canonica, Op. 196, by the prolific Italian-American composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, has opened many a duo-guitar recital. It's a pleasant neo-classic romp that's over in 10 minutes, with the lively use of counterpoint implied by the title. Not so common, or so easily programmed, is another Castelnuovo-Tedesco work from the early '60s, Les Guitares Bien Tempérées, Op. 199, a set of 24 preludes and fugues for two guitars, inspired by Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's preludes and fugues, unlike other sets written in homage to Bach, are arranged not in scalar sequence but in minor-major pairs a fifth apart, beginning with G minor and ending with C major. They're also exceptional in that they can be classified as light music. The dominant spirit is playfulness, and this emerges most of all, oddly enough, in the fugues. Each one has something unexpected. Perhaps a long, complex theme will be recovered piecemeal for its subsequent appearances, or perhaps it will be derived,...
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