GIULIANI: Polonaise Concertante op137
Duo Catanza (Scott Plato and Matthias Young)
Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) was one of the greatest guitarists of his time. Born in Italy, and also playing Cello, and possibly violin, he preferred guitar in the end and wrote 150 numbered opuses. One of the later Opuses was the set of three Polonaise Concertante, each consisting of and Allegretto and Trio, and performed here by the Duo Catanza on a CD single lasting roughly 16 minutes.
For those players / listeners who haven’t come across the set before, they are not as overtly dance – like as, for example the Chopin Polonaises, and are much more classical in style and feel, but are pleasant enough if a little straight – laced at times.
The recording is reasonably clear and the performances, whilst not always entirely perfect, as I did detect a few places where the players were not entirely together, are fine as far as they go, although a little more punch and liveliness might have improved things a little more in my opinion. Nevertheless if you like these rather obscure Polonaises you might consider giving this single a try.
Chris Dumigan