Brilliant Classics should not be surprised if they elicit enquiries
from their local Trading Standards office regarding this disc.
Not only are two thirds of the disc taken up by material previously
released by Brilliant only two years ago - a five CD boxed set
of Gilardino's complete (60) Studies in Virtuosity &
Transcendence (Brilliant Classics 8886) - but the so-called
"Sardinia Chamber Orchestra" is, incredibly, synthesized:
while Porqueddu's guitar in the Concerto di Oliena is
real, the orchestral parts are computer-generated! And do Brilliant
state this on the disc? No. In fact, the Orchestra is not listed
or otherwise mentioned once in the documentation. On the Brilliant
website then? Wrong again. Googling "Sardinia Chamber Orchestra"
brings few rewards either, until the minimalistic official
site of this disc reveals the 'digital' nature of this elusive
ensemble. Curiously though, there is a YouTube video of the
Orchestra playing live in a church in 2009, so quite what happened
to them when it came to the recording of this CD is anyone's
guess.
The essay in the booklet verges frequently on gibberish. A typical
example: "The secondo tempo meditates for extreme registers
and a weary thematic formula. A preciously polychrome script
introduces the voice of the guitar, which at first adapts to
the theme, and then, unquiet, begins to swarm with arpeggios
that touch on the whole keyboard, but indulge on the over acutes:
it allows itself be accompanied for a while by two wings of
sombre arches and celesta, embroidering together with them an
unstable polymetric counterpoint". Even Brilliant's publicity
blurb, widely reproduced on various online stores' websites,
refers to violins as "arches" and things like "dynamic
[images] which purport the most genuine sensory-motor pleasure".
This shoddiness is a great pity, because both Angelo Gilardino
and Cristiano Porqueddu deserve far better treatment. Porqueddu's
technique, intonation and expressiveness are top quality in
both the Concerto and the evocative, immensely imaginative
Studi, which are not only frequently beautiful, but also
extremely testing - often at the same time. And Gilardino, aside
from his important musicological work restoring guitar repertoire
(see this recent review,
and also this review,
for example), is evidently a fine composer for the instrument:
the Concerto di Oliena - named after the Italian town
- is a kind of late 20th century Concierto de Aranjuez,
though much darker in hue; there is no vulgar virtuosity, but
plenty of drama and animation, all in a very accessible neo-Romantic
idiom. That is to say, as far as one can tell from the bogus,
soupy sound of the 'orchestra', especially the strings, which
sound appalling.
There are no good reasons to buy this disc - for the brilliant
Studi, Brilliant Classics 8886 is a vastly superior deal
- and several compelling ones not to. It can only be hoped that
Brilliant receive so much negative feedback from this ill-conceived
release that they are forced to reconsider the kinds of decisions
that lead them to market products like this.
Byzantion
Cristiano Porqueddu (guitar) 
