Re: ~*~ Stravinsky ~*~

"Angelo Gilardino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> You might recall how deeply
>I was touched when your wife Margarita stressed there was a Russian flavour
>in one of my Concertos!

I remember that.

>  The same statement came once from a Russian
>guitarist who wanted me to write a Concerto for a special, double string
>guitar he had invented. Before my declaration I felt unable to understand
>the soul of that sound from inside, and that I would have needed to spend a
>whole season in Russia, to absorb the world, he sent me at home, as a gift,
>a marvelous watercolour painted by an excellent Russian master - the view of
>a Russian village. I was not able to write the piece he wanted from me and I
>postponed the project, and then he died.

That was Vladimir Ustinov whose GRAN guitar had a short period of
interest in the US. David Schramm, who built some of these
instruments, can tell us if this is still being currently pursued.

> A whole Concerto, would be perhaps
>too much, but a guitar solo piece, as a homage to Sarenko, maybe one day
>will take form, thank to that water colour! The unique doubt I have: is it
>acceptable to write it for the 6 string, Western guitar?

Of course. The Asafiev Concerto which you edited for me was for the
6-string guitar, and as I mentioned in my Merida lecture, most Russian
guitarists today play it, and not the native 7-string one. Just heard
from Dmitry Illarionov that he started his GFA tour in Canada and that
his concerts in Edmonton and Winnipeg went very well. Anybody
attended?

As for a solo guitar piece, you have the perfect Russian-Italian
connection with Paganini's Sonata per chitarra accordata in viola
d'amore, i.e., DGDGBD.

With the exception of the missing B bass, this is the same tuning of
the Russian guitar, and of course the same open G tuning used by many
American acoustic guitar players. 


Matanya Ophee
Editions Orphe'e, Inc.,
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