F. Rebay: Music Works for Two Guitars Enrico Maria Barbareschi

• Ferdinand Rebay (1880 - 1953): Sonate Nr. 1 für Gitarre E Major:
• 1 Rebay: Sonate Nr. 1 für Gitarre E Major: No. 1 Fliessend bewegt, aber nicht zu lebahft 06:25
• 2 Rebay: Sonate Nr. 1 für Gitarre E Major: No. 2 Thema mit Variationen 05:19
• 3 Rebay: Sonate Nr. 1 für Gitarre E Major: No. 3 Scherzo. Gut bewegt, aber nicht zu schnell! 05:22
• 4 Rebay: Sonate Nr. 1 für Gitarre E Major: No. 4 Finale. A la Marcia 02:45
• Variationen über “Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman” für Gitarre:
• 5 Rebay: Variationen über “Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman” für Gitarre 06:56
• Variationen über ein eigenes Thema für zwei Gitarren:
• 6 Rebay: Variationen über ein eigenes Thema für zwei Gitarren 04:58
• Eine Kleine Passacaglia für zwei Gitarren:
• 7 Rebay: Eine Kleine Passacaglia für zwei Gitarren 10:56
• Serenade für zwei Gitarren:
• 8 Rebay: Serenade für zwei Gitarren: No. 1 Lyrisch Praeludium 02:11
• 9 Rebay: Serenade für zwei Gitarren: No. 2 Thema mit Variationen 04:40
• 10 Rebay: Serenade für zwei Gitarren: No. 3 Scherzo. Presto 05:01
• 11 Rebay: Serenade für zwei Gitarren: No. 4 Marschmässig bewegt(frölich) 05:55
• Total Runtime 01:00:28

Info for F. Rebay: Music Works for Two Guitars

The rediscovery of the works by Ferdinand Rebay (Vienna, June 11th, 1880 – November 6th, 1953) is due mainly to an article by Johann Gaitzsch published in 2006 on the journal Soundboard. It immediately elicited deep interest in the international community of guitarists.

Recently, the publication of Luiz Mantovani’s dissertation, “Ferdinand Rebay and the Reinvention of Guitar Chamber Music”, as well as the compilation of a catalogue of most of his works by Maria Gelew, have contributed to shed new light on the Viennese composer’s life and work.

Rebay was born in a family of musicians. His father was a music publisher and dealer, and his mother, a teacher and pianist, had been a pupil of Bruckner himself. As a consequence, Rebay had an excellent musical education. Once he learnt to play the violin and the piano, he entered as a choirboy in the Abbey of Heiligenkreuz. In 1901 he was admitted to the piano class of J. Hofmann at the Vienna Conservatoire, and, even more importantly, to the composition class of the famous teacher Robert Fuchs, who had taught also Mahler, Wolf, and Sibelius; he graduated in 1904.

Since 1905, he was entrusted with the direction of the Wiener Chorverein, and later of the Wiener Schubertbund. In 1920 he was appointed a piano teacher at the Wienerakademie, where he got in contact with Jakob Ortner, who taught guitar at the same institution. This led him to compose the first chamber music works dedicated to the six-stringed instrument.

The fruitful cooperation with Ortner, combined with the presence of his niece Gerta Hammerschmid (a guitarist in turn), encouraged Rebay to keep composing for our instrument up to the last years of his life.

Following what was written by Fritz Niedermann, in 1953, for Rebay’s obituary on the journal Gitarrenfreund, the composer wrote about six hundred works for the guitar, both as a solo and as a chamber music instrument. His musical traits are clearly inspired by the Neoclassical trends characterizing the first half of the twentieth century. They are very far from the instances of the so-called Second Viennese School. His style is very personal, and it is reminiscent of the atmospheres of contemporaneous Vienna. There are the last echoes of a Germanic late-Romanticism, imbued with lyricism (one may think of Richard Strauss), there are transparent Impressionist and Ravelian atmospheres (one may cite the Quartet and the works for strings and piano by the great Maurice), but also the clear Neoclassical and German connotations of Hindemith. In sum, the entire artistic, cultural, and musical substrate whence also Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Ponce drew abundant inspiration: their names are well known by guitarists in turn.

The Variations on an Original Theme for two guitars (“Variationen über ein eigenes Thema”) opening the album are dedicated to Viennese guitarist Luise Walker. They constitute a typical example of his favourite form, i.e. the Theme with Variations, employed abundantly by Rebay in his guitar output and generously represented in this CD. This work distinguishes itself for its particularly extroverted and brilliant character. After a brief introduction, a D-minor theme with a vaguely Hungarian flavour is presented. It is followed by a pattern in which each variation merges with the following one, creating an uninterrupted flow. This leads us through a great variety of atmospheres, and of technical and stylistic registers. It finally emerges into a brilliant and majestic finale: here, after a reckless Tarantella, the theme comes back – this time in the major mode, in the tempo of a quick March (“Geschwind – Marsch”).

Enrico Maria Barbareschi, guitar
Leopoldo Saracino, guitar

Enrico Maria Barbareschi
born in 1965, completed his musical studies in Milan at the Civica Scuola di Musica under the guidance of Maestro Claudio Rossi, graduating in 1986 at the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory.

He attended master classes held by renowned musicians such as Alirio Diaz, Oscar Ghiglia, Aldo Minella and Ruggero Chiesa. In 1989 he was ranked second in the auditions for the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala in Milan, an institution with whom he collaborated for the realization of the works "Der Jasager" by Kurt Weill and "Pollicino" by Hans Werner Henze, making recordings for the Ricordi record company.

Since 1999 he has been playing in a duo with the flautist Miriam Cipriani, with whom he recorded a cd, and in a Trio with the latter and the clarinettist Roberto Gander.

He is also involved in the field of education and is author of the book "Corso di chitarra classica”, published by De Vecchi Editore.

He is Professor of guitar at the "Giuseppe Nicolini" state Conservatory of Piacenza (IT).

Leopoldo Saracino is one of the leading guitarists in Italy. Born in Milano (Italy) in 1965 he made his debut at the age of 14. Since that time he has pursued a varied career as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician that brought him in Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Greece, Canada and of course all over Italy. He studied with Ruggero Chiesa, at the State Conservatorium G.Verdi of Milan. Subsequent studies have been with David Russell, Oscar Ghiglia, Leo Brouwer, and David Tanenbaum. He won several international competitions, such as the international competition "M.Giuliani", the International Prize of Contemporary Music of Lagonegro and the Scandinavian International Guitar Competition. His particular interest is the original music of the 19th century played on an original instrument of Louis Panormo. He is regularly touring all Europe with concert programs including works by Rossini, Paganini, Giuliani among others. His love for chamber music brought him to the recordings of various Cds with several Masterpieces of the chamber repertoire of the classic style. To remember is the first modern recordings of the complete works of Ferdinando Carulli for guitar and Fortepiano in 8 Cds for the Label Nuova Era or the recordings of chamber works by Filippo Gragnani and Anton Diabelli. As solo player he recorded the 36 Capricci for solo guitar by Luigi Legnani. He likes also playing the traditional guitar and his repertoire is particularly wide and range from baroque to contemporary music. Leopoldo Saracino is not only a busy recitalist but his activity includes a lot of concerts with Contemporary music Ensembles. Among them he tour regularly with New Made Ensemble and Dedalo Ensemble. He collaborates with MDI Ensemble in the recording session of a CD dedicated to the italian composer Stefano Gervasoni. He is also member of the Italy based Guitar trio “Chitarra-trio” with whom he made the cd “Music for 18 strings”. He is professor in the state Conservatory in Brescia (Italy) and is regularly invited to hold masterclasses in Italy and Germany.

This album contains no booklet.