Angelo Gilardino
Angelo Gilardino is an Italian composer, guitarist and musicologist.
Career
During his concert career, from 1958 to 1981, he premiered hundreds of new works for the guitar. He taught at the Liceo Musicale G. B. Viotti in Vercelli from 1965 to 1981, and held a professorship at the Antonio Vivaldi Conservatory in Alessandria from 1981 to 2004. The Conservatory awarded him the Marengo Music Prize in 1998.Gilardino has composed much music for solo guitar, as well as chamber music and concertos. His solo works include five volumes of Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza, two numbered sonatas as well as several titled sonatas and sonatinas, two sets of variations, and Ikonostas for a guitar tuned in G.
The Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza represent one of the most significant contributions to the guitar repertoire in the 20th century. The title places the collection in the tradition of the Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt. Numbers 1 through 48 have dedications that play an important role in identifying influences and traditions that are important to the composer, and help provide a context in which to interpret the individual etudes. These have been recorded by the guitarist Cristiano Porqueddu for Brilliant Classics.
He has also written four works for guitar with guitar orchestra, seven concertos for guitar, some in combination with other instruments, and several duets.
From 1967 to 2006, Gilardino supervised the publication of hundreds of new guitar works by Edizioni Musicali Bèrben. He has also discovered the Variazioni by Ottorino Respighi and several works written for the guitarist Andrés Segovia by Cyril Scott, Pierre de Bréville, Lennox Berkeley and many others. He was artistic director of the of Linares from 1997 to 2005.
In 2009 the Guitar Foundation of America conferred upon him the prestigious Artistic Achievement Award which is reserved for performers, composers, pedagogues, and scholars who have made monumental contributions to the development of the art and life of the classical guitar.
Quotes
- "I am not a good interpreter of my own music - I never played it and I avoid giving lessons with my music on the stand. " -
- "I have no connection with my pieces, except when I am composing them. Since then, especially when published, they belong to everybody, and I am no longer especially fond of a piece or of another. I feel insignificant and unimportant in respect of the music I write. I have to add - to be quite honest - that when teaching I do not like to deal with my own music. when it happens I have to teach a piece of my own, I feel rather uncertain about what to say." -
- "Actually, since 1981 to March of this year I was active as a professor in a conservatory and - even without giving concerts - I followed learning a lot about guitar, due mainly to the excellence of students who have cooperated with me. But, I confirm, you are right, I am no technician at all - my work with players has developed in the area of interpretation. I have taught people who could play much better than I did even when I was a concert player."
List of works
Solo guitar
- Canzone Notturna
- Estrellas para Estarellas
- Abreuana
- Araucaria
- Appaloosa
- Luceat
- Trepidazioni per Thebit
- Ocram
- Tenebrae factae sunt
- Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza
- Sonata No. 1
- Sonata No. 2
- Variazioni sulla Follìa
- Musica per l'angelo della Melancholìa
- Variazioni sulla Fortuna
- Winterzeit after Robert Schumann
- Colloquio con Andrés Segovia
- Sonatine des fleurs et des oiseaux
- Tríptico de las visiones
- Catskill Pond
- La casa del faro
- Sonata Mediterranea
- Sonata del Guadalquivir
- Annunciazione
- Ikonostas
- Memory of Antinous
- A Quiet Song - To the Memory of John W. Duarte
- Cantico di Gubbio
- Sonata di Lagonegro
- Winter Tales
- Sette Preludi
Guitar and guitar ensemble
- Concerto d'estate for guitar and guitar quartet
- Concierto de Córdoba for guitar and guitar quartet
- Poema d'inverno for guitar and guitar duo
- Concerto d'autunno for guitar and small guitar orchestra
- Feste lontane for four guitars
- Sonetti giuliani for four guitars
Guitar and orchestra
- Leçons de Ténèbres - concerto for guitar and chamber orchestra
- Fiori di novembre - concerto for mandolin, guitar and chamber orchestra
- Concerto Italiano for four guitars and orchestra
- La casa delle ombre - concerto for flute, guitar and strings
- Liederkonzert for two guitars and chamber orchestra
- En las tierras altas - concerto for accordion, guitar and strings
- Star of the Morning for guitar, cello and orchestra
- Concerto-Serenata for bass clarinet, guitar and strings
- Concerto di Novgorod for Russian seven-string guitar and orchestra
- Concerto di Oliena for guitar and orchestra
Chamber music
- Preghiere per gli innocenti for voice and guitar
- Canzoni dimenticate
- Sonatina-Lied No. 1 for bassoon and guitar
- Sonatina-Lied No. 2 for violin and guitar
- Fantasia concertante sul Gran Solo op. 14 di Sor for violin, viola, cello and guitar
- Retrato de Andrés Segovia for string orchestra
- Sonata Romantica for cello and guitar: an elaboration of the piece of the same name by Manuel M. Ponce for solo guitar
- Retrato de Francisco Tárrega for chamber orchestra with guitar
- Partita for vibraphone and guitar
- Sonatina-Lied No. 3 for flute and guitar
- Iberia for flute, viola and guitar
- Sonatina-Lied No. 4 for mandolin and guitar
- Quartetto "I castelli d'acqua" for two mandolins, mandola and guitar
- Sonatina-Lied No. 5 for oboe and guitar
- Quintetto di Lucedio for guitar and string quartet
- Trio - Fiori del deserto for flute, viola and guitar
Chitarra Battente
- Albero solitario - ricordo della grande pittrice Lucana Maria Padula for Chitarra battente and Guitar for Cordaminazioni
- Concerto di Matera for chitarra battente and ten instruments for Marcello De Carolis
Complete discography
Gilardino as performer
- Series of Contemporary Guitar Music - Angelo Gilardino plays Haug, Wissmer, Duarte, Tansman, Berkeley
- La Chitarra Nel Secolo XX - Vol. I, Compositori Italiani
Gilardino's compositions played by others
CD "Folías"
Guitart Collection Guit 2026
www.luigiattademo.it
GIANLUCA BARBERO plays
"Studio n. 6 – Soledad - Omaggio a Francisco Goya"
"Studio n. 47 – Le rose sulla neve – In memoriam Eso Peluzzi"
Map – Lr Cd 116
LUIGI BISCALDI and QUARTETTO DI ASTI
plays
"Concerto d'estate" per chitarra sola e quartetto di chitarre
"Concierto de Córdoba" para guitarra solista y cuarteto de guitarras
BERCD 833-2 Bèrben
PIERO BONAGURI
esegue "Colloquio con Andrés Segovia"
"Pocci 2004" Guitar Reference
VP Music Media
Chitarrista MICHAEL BRACKEN
plays "Sonata n. 2 – Hivern Florit"
"Good News"
Atma Disques
TRIO CITHAROEDIA
plays
"Poema d'inverno" per tre chitarre
"Ferenc Farkas, Angelo Gilardino
Complete works for Guitar Trio"
NIC 1051 - Guitart Collection
ANGELO COLONE
plays
"Studio n. 18 – Omaggio a de Falla"
"Sintesi"
Map – Lr Cd 087
ANGELO COLONE
esegue
plays
"Tema con variazioni "
"Già la pioggia è con noi "
"Sacrificio"
"Concerto per chitarra e orchestra da camera – Leçons de Ténèbres"
"Jondo
"Soledad
"Paesaggio lucano "
CD "Angelo Angelo"
www.angelocolone.it
MARCO DE SANTI
plays
"Quattro Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza"
"Ocram"
EMI I.071
WILLIAM FEASLEY
plays
"Soledad "
"Echoes of Goya"
SONORA SO22587CD
FABIO FEDERICO
plays
"Elegia di marzo"
"Mediterranea"
"Alleluia"
"El rosario"
"Jondo"
CD "Estudios"
Etnoworld Classical
www.fabiofederico.com
REZA GANJAVI
plays "Canzoni Dimenticate"
per varie formazioni a duo con chitarra
CD "In Friendship"
TILMAN HOPPSTOCK
plays
"Etude n. 3"
CD "The 20th Century Guitar"
Signum SigX90-00
LUIGI GIFFI
plays
"Elegia di marzo"
"Sacrificio"
"Quattuor in Musica"
MARTHA MASTERS
plays
"Colloquio con Andrés Segovia"
CD "Viaggio in Italia"
GSP1031CD
LUCIO MATARAZZO
plays "Quattro Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza"
CD "LM & friends"
CD GUITART COLLECTION
ALBERTO MESIRCA
plays
"Annunciazione – Omaggio al Beato Angelico"
"Ikonostas – Omaggio a Pavel Florenskij
"Ikonostas"
Map – Lr Cd 112
MICHAEL PARTINGTON
plays
"Studio n. 12 "
"20th Century Guitar"
Roserecord Rose 1004CD
CRISTIANO PORQUEDDU
plays
"Sonata n. 2 - Hivern Florit"
"Embarquement pour Cithère"
"Omaggio a Sergej Prokof'ev"
"Les arbres rouges"
Seicorde 188IT
www.cristianoporqueddu.com
CRISTIANO PORQUEDDU
plays
"Studies 1-12"
CD Trascendentia Vol.I
Seicorde 188IT
www.trascendentia.com
CRISTIANO PORQUEDDU
plays
"Studies 13-24"
Trascendentia Vol.II
Seicorde 188IT
www.trascendentia.com
CRISTIANO PORQUEDDU
plays
"Studies 25-36"
Trascendentia Vol.III
Seicorde 188IT
www.trascendentia.com
CRISTIANO PORQUEDDU
plays
"Studies 37-48"
Trascendentia Vol IV
Seicorde SNR019
www.trascendentia.com
CRISTIANO PORQUEDDU
plays
"Studies 49-60"
Trascendentia Vol V
www.trascendentia.com
MARCELLO RIVELLI
plays
"Sonata n. 2 - Hivern Florit"
Guitart Collection Guit 2030
GIANLUCA SABBADIN
plays
"Studio n. 47 – Le rose sulla neve"
"Studio n, 18 – El rosario"
"Studio n. 4 – Elegia di marzo"
CD "Recital per chitarra sola"
GIULIO TAMPALINI
plays
"Works for Guitar 2002-2004"
www.giuliotampalini.it
CORDAMINAZIONI
plays
"Albero solitario - ricordo della grande pittrice lucana Maria Padula"
www.cordaminazioni.com
Interviews
Recordings