Review of Stefano Grondona plays Mazurkas Y Sardanas, Stradivarius, 2015
http://www.stradivarius.it/scheda.php?ID=801157037011200
Maestro Stefano Grondona spoils us. I manage this blog and I follow his music by several years and he never missed, every spring, his date with a new cd. Every year a new idea, a different repertoire, always something interesting to propose and to listen to. And, regardless of recorded music, always the same skill, the same fascinating sound, the same polished and deep musical erudition.
Also this year, punctual as always, Master delights us with this “Mazurkas Y sardanas” dedicated to the music of Alexandre Tansman and Gaspar Cassadò. I have already written elsewhere, and reconfirm everything 100%, about my respect and my admiration towards the sound and to the skill of the Maestro: even this record fully confirms all his skill and all his expertise. The Maestro wanted to play the “Quattro tempi di mazurka (1967)“, “Variazioni su un tema di Scriabine (1971)”, “Prelude et interlude (1955)” and Piece en forme de Passacaille (1953) all by Tansman and compositions for guitar by Cassadò. What struck me most this time though, maybe because I’m getting used to and spoiled by Grondona’s skills, is a certain air of intimacy and complicity that this record suggests me. Perhaps this was suggested me by what Grondona has written in the booklet accompanying the CD: I was very surprised to read pages so personal as those written by the Maestro about the influence exerted on him by the figure and the guitar sound of Segovia.
These (written) notes are very beautiful and blend perfectly with the notes (music) expressed by his guitar. Recording as always exquisite and excellent, pure Stradivarius’s style.
NeuGuitars 