Italian
English
Foreward
to the guitar transcription by Ganesh Del Vescovo of
Franz Schubert’s “Six Moments Musicaux” opus 94
I first became interested in transcribing the “Moments Musicaux” so beautifully written for the piano by Franz Schubert, for my instrument , the guitar, simply for the pleasure of playing such wonderful music, that such a great composer had written for an instrument other than my own. Actually, in the beginning, I transcribed only two of the six pieces, (numbers 2 and 3 , obviously changing the key), and had no intention of transcribing all six, mainly because I thought it would be technically impossible to do so for just one guitar. I knew that Schubert loved the guitar and I found that his sensitivity and musical expression were close to the spirit of the instrument; but the idea of finally transcribing all six pieces was given to me on occasion of a special “Homage to Schubert and the Guitar”, to be held during the Guitar Festival in 2003 at Saluzzo, Italy. The direction of the Festival formally asked me to transcribe and play all the “Moments Musicaux “ during the concert I was going to have. And so I did!
The pieces are specifically written for the piano and may seem not at all suitable for being transcribed; but, on the other hand, as I proceeded with the guitar transcription, I realized that the poetic and intimate qualities of the music itself are similar to the very qualities of the guitar. As such, I did not actually find much difficulty in transcribing all six, (except for a part of number five that I had to nearly completely reconstruct in order to keep the transcription flowing).
I have dedicated the transcription of the pieces to my dear friends Kazuhito Yamashita and Keiko Fujiie in memory of the wonderful friendship I have with the whole family and of a particular concert rehearsal I gave just after having finished the transcription. It was the first time I played all six “Moments Musicaux” and M° Yamashita and his family were my guests in my home town, Ronzano, in the Abruzzo. Naturally, they honoured me with their presence at the little concert organized by the local population. That magical evening has left an indelible memory in my mind.
Ganesh Del Vescovo – November 2005