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“LA NAZIONE” of Florence – Wednesday, 25 January 1995
CLASSICAL MUSIC/A CONCERT OF DEL VESCOVO AT THE LYCEUM
“Del Vescovo, the Delight of the Guitar”
Articolo by Leonardo Pinzauti
FLORENCE – The enormous fascination (as well as the many misunderstandings) which the guitar awakens in wide public opinion, on one hand depends upon its being one of the most well known and "trivial" of instruments and, on the other hand, is because of its natural ability to reflect the most aristocratic cultural traditions, (therefore nearly the ideal means to hold intimate, soul-felt soliloquies) which venture to face the readings of music that go beyond a limited repertoire and to challenge the difficulties of a form of absurd virtuosities which so often go over-board. For this reason there has arisen, in those who have chosen the classical guitar, a kind of religious acceptation of the objective limitations of this instrument. In a civilisation in which everyone is yelling and huge crowds acclaim the hypnotic excitement of loud outbursts of sound, the guitarists retire in small concert halls and, like monks in prayer, prefer whispering to screaming and the delights of a conversation with a group of ideal friends to the delirium of stadiums. But it is exactly in this dimension that the guitar, with its gentle voice, can become a great protagonist and awaken precious emotions: this is what happened during the concert held by Ganesh Del Vescovo at the Lyceum.
This young musician, who is one of the recent pupils of the great school of Alvaro Company, presented a programme in which the fact of being a virtuoso appeared to be only an indispensable premise but not the ultimate aim. Even the colourful and elegant pages of Villa Lobos (five Preludes and three Studies) and those of Joaquin Rodrigo, which are actually a bit folkloristic (Invocation et Danse), though requiring skilful technical command, were offered by Del Vescovo with the delicacy, fantasy and wisdom of a person who considers the music in itself, just as is, as something that should well be taken care of rather than a means to show off one’s own cleverness. This characteristic was most certainly evident in the clarity of the passages, the variety of the dynamics and the timbres, the accuracy of the tones, etc. Above all, everything seemed to be an invitation to meditate upon the spiritual delights which the guitar can convey, especially when Del Vescovo faced, with great intensity, emphasis, expression and musical rigour, the suite that Bach had transposed to the lute from the cycle of the Suites for cello.
As it was easy to predict, the success was very great and warm but it was also characterized by a rare atmosphere, full of emotions. There were many requests of encores.
Leonardo Pinzauti
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