Francesco di Giandomenico : Music for a While 3 Sketches for guitar ensemble DOz

Francesco di Giandomenico

Les Productions D’Oz: Score and separate parts, 16, 6, 7, 6, and 6 pages respectively

This is the second publications I have seen recently from this composer, and is quite a different work than its predecessor. It is by the way part of the Chuck Hulihan Collection

The first thing is that the pieces are much more moderate in their difficulty to the other book. All the three pieces here are in four parts but they are definitely playable by reasonable players .You can find a very decent performance of the whole set on YouTube too, should you be interested.

Sketch No1 is based on one of the set of For Children by Bartok (all themselves being piano works arranged from folk tunes, and incidentally ones which I myself arranged for two guitars some years ago!) Guitar 4 begins with a bass riff, after 4 bars of which guitar 3 introduces his own riff. At bar 13 guitars 1 and 2 harmonise on the main tune, and it all drives along at 140 crochets a minute. At only 2 pages of score and a total of 64 bars it is the shortest of the 3.

Sketch No2 is a sort of canon idea based on the famous piece by Pachelbel. Again the piece starts simply and then gradually develops more ideas until the last two thirds of the piece are mostly driving quavers with the odd longer note passage on one of the 4 parts. The last few bars bring the piece to a slam- bang finish.

Sketch No3 is marked Ironic and Grotesque and, according to the Preface is based on the circus and its very unusual world. There is a surprising key change in this piece, as it begins in A minor, but at bar 54 moves into Bb minor and then after 30 bars into E minor, where it finds its way back to the home key .Again the pieces relies on the gradual build of tension and volume so that it subsequently reaches the coda with everyone playing fortissimo and come to a loud final bar.

These are fun pieces, lasting for 7 or 8 minutes in total, and an ideal little set for a concert, that both players and audience will definitely enjoy!

Chris Dumigan